Last time:
Rogue awoke with a shiver and fully alert. [What the hell was that?] Her window was wide open, and she was lying on her bed. Fully dressed, thankfully.
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A/n: This segment I wanted to try 1st person POV. I have read lots of other people's stories and I generally like it, but I am usually unsuccessful in writing it. Regardless, here is my best shot. Let me know what you think. I considered adding in a surprise Remy appearance, but realized I wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to change this into a Remy/Marie piece if I did, so I left it out. Let me know if anyone would like him to show up in a non-important kind of way. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews – you are keeping me encouraged when it comes to updating.
Summary: X-men Twilight crossover. Dogdeball
[Person's personal thoughts]
Other character's thoughts
'Visions'
Projected thoughts from OC
[Projected or strong personal thoughts]
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EPOV
[Faster faster faster] I ran from Chief Soileau's house and into the woods, stalling at the edge waiting to hear Marie as she woke up. [God I hope she doesn't realize I left her window open.]
I heard her gasp as she awoke, and then heard nothing. I strained to hear anything, but it appeared she wasn't going to freak out. [May as well head home. I'm sure Alice saw all of that.] The sound of a window shutting and locking reached my ears. [Too easy]
As I ran back to the house, I couldn't help by think of Marie's dreams. [Why did I comfort her? She just sounded so distraught. Who is Bobby? Leichentärger zu Wache Is that German? Maybe Carlisle knows.]
As I came up on the house, I could hear voices arguing. Rosalie's voice loudly resonated through the forest. [What a moment of insight on Esme's part for us to live so far back from the highway.]
"There has to something else going on Carlisle! There is no record of an 'Anna Marie Soileau.' I looked! No birth certificate, no public records. It's like she appeared out of nowhere."
"She could have had her name changed Rosalie – after such a traumatic experience, I imagine she wanted a fresh start." Carlisle replied in a calm, collected voice.
"But that doesn't even make sense. Chief Soileau had only one sister, who never had any kids, and who died over 2 years ago!" Rosalie practically shouted.
Jasper's voice pitched in, quiet but not quite peaceful, just as I wandered into the front lawn, "And why do you care Rosalie? Like you said, she's a human – no real threat. I think the real question here is, where's the jealousy I'm feeling off of you coming from?"
A loud cracking sound welcomed me as I stepped inside, to see Rosalie pinned to the wall by a much shorter Alice.
"If you ever consider laying a hand on my husband again, I will have your head Rosalie." Alice snarled.
"Calm down," Esme said in a firm tone. Alice dropped Rosalie immediately and swept to Jasper's side, who in turn let out a wave of calm to everyone in the room. Esme turned to me, "How is Marie, Edward?"
"She's fine. She had another nightmare, but I'm sure she'll go back to sleep soon." I lied as convincingly as I could manage, knowing only Jasper would detect my dishonesty because of his gift.
"Well I am sorry to hear that. She did mention sleeping troubles during her appointment with me today."
I watched Carlisle's memory, and snarled when I realized exactly why she went to the hospital today. [Fighting?] "She's doing what? How could you approve her for that kind of activity? That is extremely dangerous." [What if she gets hurt?]
"Edward, I would fear those she chooses to spar with. She is in excellent physical condition – it seems as though she has been in training for a while. Though I did tell her that if her sleeping doesn't improve, she would need to quit."
I was seeing red. [How dare he approve her for that?]. The heavy, cold weight of Carlisle's hand landed on my shoulder firmly, "I know you don't like it son, but she has every right to participate. She is less fragile than you make her out to be, you know."
"This still doesn't address the real question. Who is she? I don't trust her. What if she expects something? We would have no way of knowing." Rosalie added in. You can't even read her Edward, and Jasper can't get a good read. You should have seen her in Gym – she has military-level training in fighting. She's a wildcard.
"We have decided to postpone judgment. We will continue to do that. Just because we cannot read her doesn't mean she is automatically a threat. We will deal with her suspicions if and when they arrive. Now, I suggest everyone take some time to calm down – after all, you do all have school tomorrow." Carlisle left the room with Esme on his arm, and Rosalie followed shortly after, dragging Emmett away, with a scowl on her face.
Hey Eddie. Did you catch a glimpse of her...(Emmett)
I growled at Emmett, silencing him. As I turned to go upstairs, Alice and Jasper stood in front of me, stopping me with their curious bu reserved expressions.
Jealous Edward? Of what? Jasper played back my emotions from when I approached the house. [Why was I so jealous? Oh yeah, 'Bobby'].
I spoke low and fast, close enough to the couple so that only they could make out my words. "She was having a really bad nightmare. It seemed like it was constantly changing. Even her language would change. I could swear she had an Australian accent at one point, and then spoke in German. She called out, asking to 'please make it stop'."
I swallowed, remembering the feel of her in my arms, warm and soft, even through her school clothes, and took a deep breath, "I held her to me to calm her down, I rubbed her arms and hummed to her. I didn't expect her to wake up. I barely got out of her room before she opened her eyes."
If she didn't freak out, then she doesn't know. I'm sure you did the right thing. But that doesn't explain the jealousy Edward. (Jasper)
"She was okay with me holding her at first, but then she said a name, Bobby. That seemed to bother her, and that was when she woke up."
If she was bothered by thinking you were this 'Bobby' character, then you have nothing to be jealous of. Jasper dismissed. He looked into my eyes for moment, and seeming satisfied with what he saw, left with Alice, leaving me alone in the living room.
RPOV
I slammed my window shut as fast as I dared without waking Charlie. [What is going on up there? Who opened my window?]. I was freaking pissed.
I can assure you Rogue that no one here opened it. (Erik)
"And how did I wake up in my bed when I clearly remember falling asleep on my desk?" I whispered out loud, so upset I couldn't just think to my voices anymore. [What the fuck is going on?] I unconsciously started picking up things around my room; for some reason, cleaning things outside my mind seems to help when I am trying to clear my own thoughts and emotions.
You smell that Marie. It's just like the other night. (Logan)
"Was someone here?" I could barely whisper, the thought of someone being in my room while I was unconscious shaking me to the bones.
I think so. But I don't know who. (Logan)
I shook a little with the realization, and eventually came to a conclusion. [Whoever it is, won't get that opportunity again. They obviously weren't seeking to hurt me anyway, even though they could have had plenty of time. I am redoing this room this weekend, so I can just change the window's latch so that it won't open unless broken.]
I finished the homework that I had fallen asleep on. Erik was pretty helpful with Math, and Logan with French. I could hear Charlie start to stir, and crawled into bed to make it appear that I was sleeping when he came in to check on me.
After he left, I got dressed for school, wearing long black pants, a long-sleeved, dark blue turtle neck shirt, and wrist-length, tan silk gloves. I sighed when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. [Damn, I do look like a mummy, even without a scarf.]
Try wearing your red shirt from Jubes. You look smokin' hot, and it only shows chest and shoulders, so you'll still be in your comfort zone. (John)
I chuckled to myself. [Of course John. You could stand lay off the lame fire-comments once in a while, you know. ]
I pulled the shirt out of my drawers. Jubilee bought it for me last Christmas, but I had never worn it without a scarf on and a tank underneath it. It was extremely low cut. I put it on anyway. It was off the shoulder and dipped down in the front showing a hint of cleavage, but the sleeves were long and belled-out at the ends. [I like it. The red looks good. Not scandalous but not plain either, good call John.]
Everything looks better in red. (John)
[How perceptive John.] I smirked at my reflection, before grabbing my school bag and a toaster pastry from the kitchen, and running out to my truck. [I get to fight today!]
The day passed pretty quickly. The quiet girl I met yesterday in gym was in a few of my classes, I think her name was Angela, and fortunately Lauren was only in one. I got more stares today, It's the shirt – I told you it looked good, but no one dared come talk to me. [Guess word got around after the whole Lauren confrontation.]
I looked at the door to the lunchroom, but thought better of it and headed to the gym instead. [I'm not that hungry. And the food here makes me want to vomit anyway. Besides, a little practice couldn't hurt.] After handing the coach my filled-out forms, I changed into my gym apparel. I did some stretches and did yoga for almost the entire lunch period. [Nice and relaxed. Maybe Alice's brother won't act like a complete ogre today. I don't understand why he would ask me on a date if he can't stand to sit next to me for an hour anyway.]
Because you make him uncomfortable. I can't wait to see his reaction to your shirt. (John)
I was lost in my thoughts, when I entered the locker room. I didn't notice her until I was surrounded b a bundle of ice-cold arms. I immediately dropped into a defensive stance, pushing whomever it was off of me and thanking myself for wearing full 'Rogue' garb. [Of course, it's Alice. Oops, I conveniently forgot to ask my uncle about going shopping with her.] I opened my mouth to give her a good mouthing off for sneaking up on me, but she beat me to it.
"Oh Marie! I love the shirt you wore today. It looks totally awesome on you." Alice said, totally un-affronted by me throwing her off me. [Wait, what?]
"Umm, thanks?" [How did she know what shirt I wore today? I'm still decked out in my gym clothes.].
"I saw you in the hall this morning, and I just had to tell you. I think Edward will love it. I wanted to let you know that I got my dad to call your uncle, and he said it's fine if you go with me. I wanted to leave right after your tryouts, that way we can make it to Port Angeles before the shopping mall closes."
"I'm sorry Alice, but... wait, how did you know I have tryouts this afternoon?"
"Oh Rosalie mentioned it. She said she overheard you and the coach talking yesterday. So are you in or what?"
"Umm, yeah, I guess so."
"YEEE! Great. You so won't regret this Marie. I can't wait to dress you up!"
"Right... well I have to get to class, so..."
"Oh right. See you this afternoon." She left, and I looked at the clock. [Crap, I have Bio in 5 minutes]
I stripped and threw on my school clothes and barely made it to Biology before Mr. Banner shut the door.
[Barely] "Thank you for joining us today Ms. Soileau," Mr. Banner greeted me and launched right into his lesson. I sat down next to Edward, paying little attention to Mr. Banner as he went through his lecture. [Edward keeps catching small glimpses of my chest. Thanks a lot John – I feel really exposed. Crap, and he asked me out. How do I politely tell him no thank you?] Apparently, Mr. Banner's lesson wasn't on his mind; he slipped a note under my hand.
-Missed you at lunch. Our table is pretty stagnant without you. Where'd you go?-
I sighed, realizing the next question was going to be if I had considered this weekend. [Well, here goes heart-breaker Rogue.]
Whatever. I still think you should give it a shot. Just a date or two – you might as well enjoy yourself a little. (John)
What's up. Do you want to feel her go through a date with a dude? (Bobby)
Honestly, if it means you would stop bickering so much, I wouldn't mind at all. (Erik)
A small step for your heart would be a big step for your soul, Rogue. (Piotr) [A/N: metal-up guy Colossus]
Do what you think is right Marie. I know it's a big step for you. (Logan)
[Great, not even my voices can agree.]
- I skipped lunch – big breakfast. I went to get some peace and quiet before another few hours drowning in boredom. Class is so mind-numbing-
I passed him back the note and turned to Mr. Banner, who was finishing up with his lecture on Meiosis and Mitosis. When I spared a glance at Edward, he was staring at me. He quickly penned back an answer, but as I went to read it, Mr. Banner caught my attention instead.
"Alright class, today's lab is identifying the different stages of Meiosis in these slides. It's closed book and closed notes. You have 30 minutes."
A collective groan echoed in the room. [Whatever, I have done this already. Should be a piece of cake, unless Edward wants to doubt me.] I slipped the note into my notebook and pulled out a pen instead, slipping the first slide under the microscope and taking a look. "Telophase I"
Edward looked warily at me, at my notebook, and then at the microscope. He gestured towards it, "Mind if I take a look?"
"Be my guest" I passed it his way, and adjusted my gloves. He looked quickly, and nodded. "You should write it down. My handwriting looks like chicken-scratch. You know how to spell it right?"
He smirked at me, "Yes I know how to spell telophase. I might have missed class, but I made up the material." [Wow, what's with the attitude?] He pointed to the slide box. "Next?"
I grabbed the next slide, and carefully passed it to him. He fingers barely brushed mine, but even through the gloved material, I felt a sharp zing through my fingertips and pulled away quickly – too quickly. He didn't have a good grip on the slide, and it started to fall. [Fuck don't fall. Don't break.] I reached out to catch it before it fell, but Edward beat me to it. Luckily it didn't break. I made a mental note to avoid actual contact for the rest of the lab.
We went through the slides in a similar fashion, him identifying one, me checking, and then my turn, and so on. We were done in less than 10 minutes, but most of the class was still on the second slide. I remembered the forgotten note, and grabbed it.
- I didn't mean to seem so forward about this weekend. It was inappropriate, and I do apologize. Would you be up for joining me, Alice, and Jasper for a day trip into Seattle instead? I can promise no clothes shopping. -
I looked back at him, then at Mr. Banner, who was grossly immersed in a book again. Around the class, a few pairs of students were cheating with textbooks or with notes, but I couldn't have cared less.
[A double date then – I guess that is better than a true date. I could go with that.]
- Sure that sounds great. I'm redoing my room at my Uncle's tonight and tomorrow though – I want to have it done before Sunday night.-
- We could help, if you want help that is. I am sure Alice would love to get her hands on your room. She is as avid about decorating rooms as she is about decorating people.-
I laughed lightly at the thought of Alice touching my room. [I'm no pink-loving kind of girl. I'm sure she would disapprove of my decorating choices more than my clothing choices. Not that I'm decorating – just soundproofing.] I started to pen back an answer, but Edward's charming voice whispered to me "Incoming" and I hid the note quickly.
"Mr. Cullen, didn't you think Ms. Soileau should have at least tried to answer some of these?"
I cut off Edward's reply, "Actually Mr. Banner, I answered more than half of them." I smiled up at him sweetly.
"Really Ms. Soileau? What are the distinguishing characteristics between metaphase I and metaphase II?"
"Metaphase I is the line up of homologous pairs of chromosomes, tetrads, along the equator of the cell. It's part of meiosis I, or the reduction division of a gamete. Metaphase II is similar except with of sister chromosomes." I spoke quickly but with purpose, proud of myself and a little irritated that this teacher was being so rude.
Mr. Banner looked shocked, but quickly recovered. "Were you in an advanced placement class back in Mississippi, Marie?"
"No sir, I wasn't." [At least not in Mississippi, that is.] "I just made sure to study."
"Well, looks like you've got the right partner then." He huffed and walked up to another group, catching them cheating, and reprimanded them.
"You studied?" Edward sounded as shocked as he looked.
I glared at him. [What do you think I am, an idiot?] "Actually, I did. Why, is that surprising?"
He looked like he should be blushing – apparently he didn't realize what he was saying, "No I didn't mean it like that, it's just... well, you haven't exactly been paying attention in class, so I figured you would be behind."
[He looks so embarrassed. I guess I can spare him; he probably didn't mean it.] "Well, I kind of lied by omission. I wasn't in an advanced placement course in Mississippi, but I have covered this material before. Your school, or I guess our school, is a little behind where we were." [Engineering consent – did I get this from you Erik?]
And you do it so well, Rogue. May I say I am actually quite proud. (Erik)
"Alright class, time is up. Please pass your labs forward and pack up the supplies." Mr. Banner announced, much to the chagrin of the rest of the students.
"So, would you like assistance redecorating?"
"No thanks, I'm pretty picky about my things. Besides, it won't be mine unless I redo it." [Geeze, it's not like I'm doing all that much. Just installing some soundboard. ]
ring ring ring
"Cya around Edward."
I ran through the rest of my classes, happy to have some peace and time to think. In gym, I staunchly avoided Rosalie and Emmett's eyes, dressing in quickly and immediately launching into a series of stretches. Before I could fall into doing routines, however, the coach interrupted everyone and announced a game of dodgeball. [Oh joy].
It was boys against girls, [Pretty biased grouping], but I didn't complain. Each group had a side of the gym that was exclusive to that team. Lauren and her trio were out pretty quickly, though all of them tried to trip me at one point or another. I was eventually the last girl standing, and Mike, as well as another guy I recognized vaguely as Eric or Aaron, and a few guys I didn't recognize from any other classes.
"Alright boys, let's show this little girl how its done." Mike said haughtily. I laughed, and replied in as steely a voice as I could muster, "Do your worst...for I will do mine." The guys looked at me curiously, and maybe with a tinge of fear. [Hah, They'd really be afraid if they recognized the quote.] I had 2 of the 3 balls in the room.
I paced slowly back and forth on my side of the room, zoning out the now interested crowd in the bleachers of students that had been knocked out – the ones cheering were going for the team that would be loosing anyway, most of them were not paying attention to the game at all and just gossiping. Mike had the only other ball, and he aimed it right at me. I caught it deftly in my gloved hands, and smirked at his aghast expression. "One down, five to go."
I took two of the balls, gently placing the third along my wall of the gym. I turned back to the guys, thinking of a good distraction. They were scattered across the other side of the court, making them easy targets. I started taunting them with a children's song, singing loudly so I could clearly be heard over the din and roar of the students in the bleachers. "Five little monkeys, sittin' ina tree. Teasin' Ms. Alligator, ya can't catch meh." I was quietly pacing back and forth in front of them, with my back turned. "Along came Missus Alligator, as quiet as cahn beh..."
I spun around quickly, faking a throw with my right hand towards one in the middle, while actually throwing my left ball into the Eric guy. It bounced off of his face hard, and rolled back to my side before any of the guys could catch it. "And snap went she." The girls in the bleachers, finally paying attention, cheered as Eric left the floor. I smiled a sickly sweet smile at the remaining boys, who now looked angry that I had been able to take down another one of them. [They still have no strategy.]
Really Rogue. These humans have so little potential.(Erik)
"Four little piggies sittin' under a tree. Teasin' Missus She-wolf ya can't catch me." This time, I didn't have to project my voice at all, so I dropped it lower and I dropped lower into a crouch that would have done Wolverine proud. [Guess they decided that this was interesting after all.] "Along came Missus She-wolf, quiet as cahn beh..." This time, I threw both balls, right at the boys feet that were on the edge of the pack. "And snap went she." It hit their feet without them catching it, but only one of them made it to my side, as another boy ran forward and picked up the other one. The girls cheered again, and even some of the guys joined in. I looked in the stands and was shocked when I saw not only Rosalie and Emmett, cheering me on, but their siblings had joined them too. I decided to change tactics as I went to the wall and grabbed my other ball, so that once again I was double-fisting balls.
"I can see the mountains."
The boy holding a ball threw it at me, but missed by a long shot. [I think my voice startled him].
Excellent idea Rogue.
[Thanks Erik] I grabbed the third ball, preparing for my finale.
"I can see the sky."
"With three more minutes to go."
I flipped my wrist and threw all three balls at once, with accuracy that surprised even me. Two of the three boys were struck across the head, and were out. The third, however, snatched the ball single-handedly before it hit his head. I hung my head in defeat, as the boys in the gym cheered on the boy whose name was apparently Darrel.
Oh suck it up Marie. He did great, and if you hadn't been so cocky, you probably could have got him. (Logan)
Good strategy Rogue. But poor execution. Haste leaves room for waster. (Erik)
I went up to the guy that had apparently beat me to congratulate him, "Nice game, Darrel."
He stared at me a little while longer, or rather at my gloves. I cleared my throat loudly as I put my hands behind my back, and he snapped out of it looking straight at me with a sly smile on his face. "Was my pleasure. What's your name?"
"I'm Marie."
"One name wonder huh? Well, I'm Darrel Carver." He paused, and then got an excited gleam in his eye. "You're the girl joining the fight club. Awesome, I can't wait to see you try to take someone down on the mats."
"Oh you'll see. I don't try; I do." With that, I walked back towards the locker room, not to change, since gym was my last class and we had practice this afternoon, but to cool off. [And make a nice exit.]
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