Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men Evolution; I only own the plot and the characters that you don't recognize.
Hana: Hello again everyone and thank you for reading. I am going to be alternating between Sage and Gambit in a few chapters now until they meet up again, since it has been a while since we heard anything from the Cajun thief.
You have waited long enough, on with chapter 11!
What Fate Throws Aside
Chapter 11: Without you
*gambits Pov*
I fumble with the lighter for the third time before I finally manage to get the thing to light. There is a slight chill in the air tonight and I can feel the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Tonight marks the fourth time this week that I have had dreams of her, and even though it has only been a few days since she left to me it feels like a lifetime. Her smile haunts my every waking moment, I hear her laugh even when there is nobody around. I even thought I saw her this morning at the cafe. I down off of the rooftop and see a few people wandering the streets. I hear a slight noise behind me before someone sits down beside me. I look up and see an old friend of mine, James, with a beer in his hand.
"Ya looked as though ya could use dis Mon Ami. Dis ain't like ya, to be torn up over some Jeune femme."
"Gambit is sure he don know what ya are talking about."
"Oh sure, ya can try to hide it, but I'm sure ya love dat girl. Now the question is, what is Gambit gonna do about it?"
"What can dis ol cajun do? She made her choice, she left. Gambit can only try so hard ta make her stay when she don want ta."
"Oh Remy, you have it bad Mon Ami. Ya could go after her ya know, let her know that ya aren't givin up."
"Gambit can't go after her just yet, he has some things he has ta do first an he is leavin' tonight. He don know when he will be back either so just watch out for everything while he is gone ok?"
"Alright ol friend, I'll keep watch until you get back, but please bring her back with ya, I can't stand all dis heart break."
I laugh as I get up to leave not knowing when I will be back to New Orleans. All I know is that Magneto said that I had to leave tonight if I wanted to catch him before he left.
*sage pov*
I jump back as another rock flies towards me for what has to be the hundredth time today. Jean seems to think that my powers only respond when I am going to be injured so she has been throwing rocks of different sizes at me for the last hour and a half. I tried telling her that my trigger is fear but she won't listen, so aparently rocks are a better solution. I get pulled out of my thoughts when a sizeable rock hits me in the shin.
"Darn it Jean, would you just stop with the rocks already? I have already told you that it isn't going to work. The only thing that you are accomplishing is making me angry and I don't know what my powers do if I am angry because I try not to get this mad."
"Sage there is only one way to know what they will do when you get angry and that is to get you angry." That being said she threw another rock at me.
I sidestep the first one only to have the second one hit me in the shoulder. I feel a slight buzzing along my skin and know that something is about to happen, I just hope that Jean is ready for it.
"There, now hold that feeling Sage. See if you can move that buzzing into the palm of your hand to make a ball or something."
I focus on the buzzing trying to get it to stop being like a cloak and get it to move into my hand. After a few intense moments I am about to give up when I notice that the buzzing on the back of my shoulders and sides isn't there any more. After another few moments I can feel the energy sliding down my arms towards my upturned palms. I open my eyes to see that it has formed some sort of ball in each hand. Jean comes a little closer to inspect them while I focus on keeping them there. She reaches out to touch one but recoils as soon as she makes contact, the ball changed shape to a sort of rope and wrapped around her wrist in the blink of an eye.
"Sage try to get it to let me go. Remember to focus on control, you are the master of the shadows, they have no control over you."
I close my eyes and picture the rope unwrapping from Jean's wrist to turn back into the ball. When I hear a gasp from Jean I know it must bee working, After a few seconds I open my eyes to see the rope slowly revert back to the ball. I look up at jean and we both let out a laugh, I can manipulate them without being scared or angry!
"Alright Jean, what next?" I ask, my voice filled with confidence.
"Nothing more for today Sage, tomorrow we will practice trying to throw the balls to see what happens, but we have done enought for today. Go take a break and get some lunch if you're hungry."
I shrug and head back to my room to change clothes before lunch. When I open the door I find Liz laying on her bed on her back with a book above her head. She looks over at me and waves slightly as I head to the bathroom to shower. I turn the hot water on and wait for it to heat up while I peel off my uniform. I take a look at my shin where the largest of the rocks hit me and notice some bruising and slight swelling but nothing that won't go away in a few days. I step into the spray and close the curtain tightly behind me to keep the heat in before laying my head against the tiled enclosure. I close my eyes and for the first time in a few days I wonder what Remy is doing. The sadness that was pouring off of him the last time I saw him was almost enough to make me stay, but I needed to come here and learn to control my powers.
I shake my head to clear my thoughts, but I can still see his smirk and hear his voice in the back of my mind. I grab my soap and clean up before washing my hair with cherry scented shampoo ad conditioner. After turning off the water and grabbing a fluffy green towel from the rack outside the shower I realise that I forgot my clothes. I cautiously peek my head out the door to see if Liz is still in the room which thankfully she isn't. I run over to the dresser and grab some clothes before heading to the closet for a shirt and some pants. As I pull a shirt out of my duffel bag I catch a wiff of something, it almost smells like tobacco. Great even my clothes are conspiring against me. I throw on the shirt and a pair of jeans before heading out the door to go to the library since I'm not all that hungry now.
The library is completely empty by the time I get there which is fine by me. I head over to the mystery section and grab a few books before heading off to find a good spot to read them at. A table off in the corner catches my eye, it is in an out of the way place so I won't be disturbed. I set the books down before I sit in the chair and get comfortable, I can read forever if I am comfortable enough. As I start to read I can feel myself drifting off into the zone where I block out the world around me as I get sucked into the pages.
After a few hours I become increasingly aware of someone talking to me. I look over the top of the book and find Kitty sitting across from me. When she sees that she has finally gotten my attention her face lights up.
"It's, like, about time that you put that book down. I haveen sitting here for, like, ever. "
"Sorry Kitty, I get lose in books when I read. What were you saying?" I put the book back in the stack between us.
"I was wondering if you are going to go swimming later it's, like, the last week before school starts you know. Lighten up and have some fun!"
"Umm, I don't have a suit Kitty. Besides I am perfectly fine sitting in here surrounded by books."
She looks at me like I have two heads.
"You don't have a suit? I'm sure we could find one that would fit you, maybe Liz has one that you can borrow until we can get you one."
I let out a defeated sigh and allow myself to be dragged from the room in search of Liz and a swim suit. I can't help but wonder how that book ends though, it was quite an interesting story. I guess I will have to finish it later. We pass Kurt in the hall and I try to wave as I am dragged off further down the hall, he just laughs and waves us off before disappearing in a cloud of strange smelling smoke.