THANKs for the reviews!
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Chapter 21: Dawning of Oblivion
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"Remy, you did, like, so great in training today!" Kitty said, walking alongside the Cajun and Rogue as they were exiting the Danger Room; the other X-men not far ahead.
"Merci, petite," he told Kitty. His muscular arms shinning with sweat as the true tiresomeness the workout had caused began to set in. "But t'ink from now on I'll stick wit' my own trainin' methods."
Rogue smiled, "Told ya all that showin' off wit' your martial art moves would wear ya out."
Remy straightened his posture, as the three were headed upstairs. "Dat was not'ing, I've been through worse, chèrie," he said boastfully.
"Oh, Rogue, you and I have got to talk about something," Kitty said suddenly. "Excuse us, Remy."
Kitty began towing a very confused Rogue toward their room and away from the Cajun.
~~~~~~~
"What is it ya have t' tell me that we can't talk about in front o' Remy?" Rogue demanded, as she stood in front of her friend inside their room.
Kitty opened the door to her closet and explored for a while without a word; throwing various outfits behind her and onto her bed if they were in the way of her searching.
"You see, Rogue, there's, like, this dress that my aunt bought me for Christmas about a year or two ago and I, like, never wore it because it wasn't my size. But I bet its just your size," Kitty said and she continued to raid her closet. A few moments later she turned around with an emerald dress lying in her arms.
Rogue was in awe, "It's beautiful."
"Yeah," Kitty agreed, as she stared down at the dress. "And if you think it's pretty now wait until you wear it tonight! Remy won't be able to stop drooling!"
Rogue grimaced, "Ah can't wear that! Ah mean, it's nice an' all, but-"
"But what? Rogue, it's perfect. I mean I know we're on this mission tonight and everything, but why not have a little fun while we're there! It IS a Ball, you know?" Kitty said.
Rogue sat down on the edge of her bed. "That's not the problem," she said.
"Then what is?" Kitty asked.
"Ah jus' don' want t' hurt him. Every time someone gets close t' me they get hurt, like when Ah put Cody in a coma, remember? 'Sides, Ah could never make him fully happy. Ah can't touch. Ah don't deserve him," Rogue said, holding back tears.
"Why don't you let him decide that," Kitty said with a smile. Every once and a while the carefree mutant code named Shadowcat could give some good advice.
Kitty then turned her attention to two dresses on her bed, which she had thrown out of her closet earlier. "Now that we've gotten your attire figured out, which dress do you think I should wear-the red one, or the pink, or neither?"
~~~~~~~
Julia's eyes slowly opened. At first everything was obscure, but then a face came into focus, as did the surroundings. She seemed to be in some sort of brightly lit warehouse and looming over her was the magnetic master himself. He stood over her as she was sitting up on the floor, his remaining loyal minions, Sabertooth and Pyro, beside him.
*How did I get here? * Oblivion thought at first. Then she remembered she had been forced to come to this place, ordered. This was definite confirmation that not only did the shackles work, but that Magneto also was serious about his plans for her.
"Good evening, Oblivion," Magneto said. A kind phrase, yet coming from his lips it sounded as deadly as a threat. "I suppose you now understand the importance you are to me. I've gone through much trouble to find you, capture you, control you. And now it is time to see the results of my labors, and you, my dear, get to be a part of history tonight."
John handed her a white dress, which caused a look of confusion to spread across her face.
"Go into the bathroom and put the dress on," John instructed.
She stood up, but threw the dress down on to the floor and scrubbed it with her foot. She glared at Magneto so strongly that he nearly flinched.
"You must wear the appropriate attire for the occasion, or the guards at Delegates' Ball will be suspicious," Magneto said. "Now, either you put on the dress, or Sabertooth will put it on you himself."
She glanced at Sabertooth and remembered the time he'd almost raped her, had it not been for Pietro intervening. "Where's the bathroom?" she asked.
~~~~~~~
"Do you see her?" Lance asked.
Pietro stood in front of him in Julia's room, after zipping in and out of every room in the house.
"She's not here," Pietro said. "I should've known something was wrong. Last night she woke me up late and she seemed upset about something, I should've-"
"It's not your fault, man. Something must have happened, and I have a feeling something bad," Lance said.
"Yeah, Lance is right," agreed Fred. "She wouldn't just leave us without saying anything-would she?"
"Of course not," Todd said, "I mean, I don't know about the rest of you, but I think this has Magneto's stench all over it, yo," Todd said.
Pietro stared sadly out of the window a moment then turned to look at his teammates, his friends. "We need to go look for her," he said.
"But where do we even start? We don't know where Magneto's hanging out now that he abandoned his last base after we attacked it a few days ago," Todd said.
"Well, let's start looking at his old base, there we might be able to find some kind of clue as to where Magneto has taken her now," Pietro said.
~~~~~~~
The time of the Delegates' Ball slowly approached; the sky darkening, stars tinkling as they became more discernible the later it became. At the foot of the staircase inside of Xavier's mansion stood Scott, Kurt and Remy, all of who were in suits; Kurt, of course, had on his image inducer.
Logan was not far from them with his back leaning against a wall. Logan wasn't wearing a suit; they always made him feel suffocated. He hated to wear formal ensembles even though he didn't look half bad wearing them. Thus, instead of having to be one of the X-men that had to pretend to be a guest and dress up, he decided to pose as a guard. Xavier apparently had friends in high places, so the standard black uniform for the guards at the Ball didn't take long to get, not to mention acquiring guests' tickets.
Then Kitty, Jean and Rogue descended the staircase. Kitty was wearing a short, sky blue dress with matching high-heals and her dark amber colored hair hung on her shoulders. Jean was in a bright red dress that coordinated with the color of her hair. And last to come down the steps was Rogue. The dress Kitty had given Rogue seemed to have been perfectly made for her along with matching elbow-length gloves. The dress was long, down to her ankles with a slit up the side, and its color emphasized her eyes since it was almost the exact color as them, emerald. The tightness of the dress accentuating her body's curves and, surprisingly enough, there was not an ounce of makeup on her face, except for a touch of lipstick on her lips.
All three boys stood and marveled the three beauties before them until Xavier entered the room. Storm, Spike, and Flare right behind him, already dressed in black, guard uniforms and wearing headsets. Hank was doing research in the lab since he was staying behind this time with the professor.
"Now, you all know what you are to do. Capture Oblivion, but do not hurt her if possible. If she is being controlled as Gambit has said, she will not be harming anyone of her own freewill," Xavier reminded his X-men.
~~~~~~~
"Aren't you all a little young to be going to this ball?" the male guard inquired.
Jean and Scott stood in front of the guard nervously. Rogue and Remy were behind them in line, followed by Kitty and Kurt. Even though Kitty would have preferred to go with Lance to the Delegates' Ball, she didn't have an option, and at least Kurt was a good friend, so it wouldn't be so bad.
"We have written invitations from tonight's host, Mr. Doyle himself," Jean said with upper class smugness that she hoped made her sound more believable to be going to such a fancy ball.
Scott handed the guard their invitations. The guard stared at them curiously, then allowed them to enter the building. Inside the building were colorfully elaborate murals of nature and scenery spread over the walls. The floor was solid, white marble and from the ceiling hung five crystal chandeliers that stretched apart to appear evenly distanced with the enormous length of the room. There were groups of delegates and their wives scattered about-laughing, talking and their glasses never empty of the provided costly wine. The six X-men surveyed all of this as they entered the Ball and for a moment almost forgot why they had come.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention," came a voice from the center stage of the room. A man in his mid forties, wearing a black suit stood at a podium, speaking into the attached microphone. "My name is Allan Doyle and I'm the host of this year's Delegates' Ball. First, I'd like to say I appreciate each representative from the United Nations for attending the celebration of the accordance amongst our countries this evening..."
~~~~~~~
As Allan Doyle continued his speech the X-men impersonating guards were moving stealthily around the perimeter of the building. Each of the four, which were Spike, Strom, Flare and Wolverine, had an area to themselves to watch and wait for Magneto's arrival.
Wolverine had to watch over the area that was closest to the building's entrance. He observed the people who waited in line to be permitted into the Ball and noted as a female came up the aisle. Her face felt familiar to him somehow.
She was tall, with pale skin and short black hair. She was wearing a long, white dress that hugged her body's shapeliness. There were slits on either of the dress's sides to show off her legs as well as the white high healed sandals, which had matching colored lace twined around her legs and stopped at her knees. She was an exquisite sight and it made him wonder how beautiful Flare would've looked if she'd been one of the team Xavier had chosen to masquerade as a guest.
~~~~~~~
After the evening's host, Mr. Doyle, had finished his speech he had instructed the small orchestra in the room to begin playing and most of the couples at the Ball were dancing. Jean and Scott had been the first to walk out to the middle of the floor. And even Kitty decided it would be fun to dance with Kurt for a little while, just to pass the time and take part in the party.
Rogue, however, was sitting at their table, enjoying the fact that she could taste expensive wine for the first time in her life; even though she wasn't twenty-one yet. She didn't drink much-just a taste-she had heard how drunk a couple glasses of wine could get anyone and she was too young for a hangover.
Remy was standing beside the table, staring at her with persuasive black on crimson eyes. "Want t' dance?" Remy asked with his most charming smile. He saw her look away, but continued his persistence. "Come on, don' y' want t' live a little? Magneto isn't here yet, so I t'ink we should enjoy ourselves till he is."
"Is that what ya think, Cajun?" she asked with slight sarcasm. Then gazed into his eyes and a small smile curved her lips. "All right, Ah'll dance wit' ya, but only one dance."
He took her silk gloved hand and led her onto the floor, "One dance all Remy need, long as he wit y', chèrie."
Remy put his arms around Rogue's waste and her arms encircled his neck. Their bodies swayed together as the soft, ardent sounds of the Ball's orchestra floated through the air.
Remy pulled her closer and at first she was frightened, but after pulling back a little to gaze into his odd colored eyes her fear, her worries, vanished. Her head rested on his shoulder and she lost herself in the blissfulness that she felt every time she danced with him. Being so close to Remy somehow made her forget about not being able to touch, made her desert depressing thoughts of her curse.
She silently wondered if this was what love felt like.
~~~~~~~
"Why did you bring me here?" Julia demanded as she threw off the black haired wig Magneto had made her wear so no one would recognize her odd colored hair and she'd be less conspicuous. She was standing behind the black curtain of the center stage.
"Because as I've told you tonight is going to be history. Tonight you will make a demonstration of your true power and make these pathetic humans, delegates as well as the countries they represent, tremble at my feet. Tonight is the beginning of our reign-the dawning of Oblivion, I suppose," Magneto said in almost amusement to himself.
"Why do you want to do this?" Julia asked confused.
"That is to be revealed when we make our presence known," Magneto said.
"I won't hurt anyone for you," she said sternly.
Magneto gave her a glare that made her shiver, "You do not have a choice."
~~~~~~~
"Remy, there's somethin' Ah need t' tell ya," Rogue began as she pulled away from him a bit, so she could look into his eyes again.
"Yeah, chèrie?" he asked gently.
Just as Rogue was about to reply she noticed that everyone had stopped dancing and talking. They all now had their attention directed at the stage. Then as she and Remy turned around they saw Magneto standing at the podium.
"I am called Magneto. For most of my life I, as well as many others like myself, have been ridiculed, demeaned and even beaten simply because I was different from normal people. I am a mutant..." he said and at that admission some gasps could be heard in the room and the scent of fear arose in the atmosphere.
~~~~~~~
"Logan, something's wrong. I've got a gut feeling Oblivion's here somewhere. I just know it," Flare said, as she stood in front of him, outside of the building.
He stared at Flare a moment, and then spoke into his headset, "Storm, Spike, let's head into the building. There might be trouble."
"Evan and I will meet you inside," Storm said through the microphone in her headset.
~~~~~~~
"You're probably wondering why I'm here tonight. Well, I have come because the predigest ways of the world against mutants will not change, so I will force it to. Homo sapiens have had their time for dominance and now, it is our turn," Magneto said.
The black curtain fell onto the stage and Oblivion was exposed, positioned in mid-air, her long, white dress and red strained blond hair floating about her. Her eyes became pupil-empty and her once golden brown eyes became pure gold as Magneto began to try to unlock the power buried inside her. With the shackles still on her wrists Magneto was controlling her, willing her every move and even her words.
"The dawning of human suffering, of humanity's oblivion has come," Julia said with an even tone, her voice hollow and emotionless. Though they were not her words, they were under the control of Magneto and she was helpless to stop it. She watched what she didn't want to happen come to pass as she was trapped in her own mind.
Suddenly, the floor began to tremble, as did the ground outside as the rest of the X-men were coming in, and a strange wind swept around the room.
"We have to stop her before she can create a massive shockwave," Flare told the X-men. She knew that the sudden wind and shaking in the floor were warning signs of Oblivion building up power for a shockwave of great size.
Evan shot several spikes at Oblivion, but they were halted in the air when they came within a foot of her. In seconds, the spikes ruptured and their debris flung at the people, causing some of them to get scratched and bruised.
Remy pulled out three cards from inside his suit and charged them heavily with energy before throwing them at Oblivion. The cards stopped in mid-air as Evan's spikes had, except this time she allowed the cards to do what Remy had intended, to explode. People were blown backwards by the explosions of the three playing cards and began scrambling for the exit, which were double doors made of metal; Magneto easily forced the metal doors to stay closed and the delegates and guests were trapped.
"She must have evolved after Wanda and Mystique kidnapped her because she's learned how to form a shockwave into a force field and use it to stop things before they hit her-she couldn't do that before," Flare said. She glanced around the room. "Damnit, with all these people in here I can't fight her without burning the place down. We have to get everyone out of here."
Oblivion's energy was rising in her body. She could feel the intoxicating power rushing through her veins and begging to be freed.
No! her mind screamed at Magneto. I won't hurt anyone!
She struggled to withhold the power inside herself and tried to fight Magneto's control.
Obey me! Magneto ordered and her shackles sent small shocks to her as she battled his mind's power over her.
The floor continued quivering and the chandeliers were shaken loose from their wires in the ceiling. Scott blasted a chandelier away from a delegate and his wife before it fell on them. The rest of the X-men were doing similar acts, trying to save as many people as they could.
"Evan!" Storm screamed.
He was caught beneath a chandelier after pushing a delegate's wife out of the way. Rogue lifted the chandelier easily off her teammate with her superstrength.
Storm gathered up her nephew in her arms. His body was motionless and blood seeped from his mouth.
"Nightcrawler, transport him to the hospital," Cyclops instructed.
Kurt nodded and he and an injured Evan disappeared, leaving behind a fading cloud of smoke.
In pure rage for her nephew's pain, Storm began going toward Oblivion with hurricane winds and white mists in her eyes. She threw bolts of lighting wildly at Oblivion in her rage, but not one of the bolts touched the girl.
In response, Oblivion released a small shockwave from her hand directly at Storm. The weather witch felt agonizing pain like she'd never experienced before as the blue, translucent wave swept through her; it thrust Storm into a wall and she fell lifelessly to the floor.
Flare and Jean rushed over to Storm. Flare bent down to one knee and checked the white haired woman's pulse in her neck.
"She's alive. The shockwave hadn't been strong enough to hurt her too badly," Flare said," but she's unconscious and we have to get her out of here."
Wolverine extracted his claws and charged at Oblivion while she was distracted with sending out another wave towards Flare and Jean, who were occupied with Storm's condition.
Flare spun around, hearing Wolverine's metal claws cutting through the air. "Logan, NO!" she screamed. She threw a fireball at him, but not directly, only near him so that it's exploding impact would push him away from Julia.
The ground began to shake and a mysterious wind began to toss around some debris; the warning signs of her creating a shockwave had returned. Magneto was now forcing Oblivion to do what she prayed he wouldn't. She could no longer resist the pressure of the power within her. A huge shockwave of intense energy released from her body, drowning the room in its azure light.
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A/N: PLEASE REVIEW!!!
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Chapter 21: Dawning of Oblivion
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"Remy, you did, like, so great in training today!" Kitty said, walking alongside the Cajun and Rogue as they were exiting the Danger Room; the other X-men not far ahead.
"Merci, petite," he told Kitty. His muscular arms shinning with sweat as the true tiresomeness the workout had caused began to set in. "But t'ink from now on I'll stick wit' my own trainin' methods."
Rogue smiled, "Told ya all that showin' off wit' your martial art moves would wear ya out."
Remy straightened his posture, as the three were headed upstairs. "Dat was not'ing, I've been through worse, chèrie," he said boastfully.
"Oh, Rogue, you and I have got to talk about something," Kitty said suddenly. "Excuse us, Remy."
Kitty began towing a very confused Rogue toward their room and away from the Cajun.
~~~~~~~
"What is it ya have t' tell me that we can't talk about in front o' Remy?" Rogue demanded, as she stood in front of her friend inside their room.
Kitty opened the door to her closet and explored for a while without a word; throwing various outfits behind her and onto her bed if they were in the way of her searching.
"You see, Rogue, there's, like, this dress that my aunt bought me for Christmas about a year or two ago and I, like, never wore it because it wasn't my size. But I bet its just your size," Kitty said and she continued to raid her closet. A few moments later she turned around with an emerald dress lying in her arms.
Rogue was in awe, "It's beautiful."
"Yeah," Kitty agreed, as she stared down at the dress. "And if you think it's pretty now wait until you wear it tonight! Remy won't be able to stop drooling!"
Rogue grimaced, "Ah can't wear that! Ah mean, it's nice an' all, but-"
"But what? Rogue, it's perfect. I mean I know we're on this mission tonight and everything, but why not have a little fun while we're there! It IS a Ball, you know?" Kitty said.
Rogue sat down on the edge of her bed. "That's not the problem," she said.
"Then what is?" Kitty asked.
"Ah jus' don' want t' hurt him. Every time someone gets close t' me they get hurt, like when Ah put Cody in a coma, remember? 'Sides, Ah could never make him fully happy. Ah can't touch. Ah don't deserve him," Rogue said, holding back tears.
"Why don't you let him decide that," Kitty said with a smile. Every once and a while the carefree mutant code named Shadowcat could give some good advice.
Kitty then turned her attention to two dresses on her bed, which she had thrown out of her closet earlier. "Now that we've gotten your attire figured out, which dress do you think I should wear-the red one, or the pink, or neither?"
~~~~~~~
Julia's eyes slowly opened. At first everything was obscure, but then a face came into focus, as did the surroundings. She seemed to be in some sort of brightly lit warehouse and looming over her was the magnetic master himself. He stood over her as she was sitting up on the floor, his remaining loyal minions, Sabertooth and Pyro, beside him.
*How did I get here? * Oblivion thought at first. Then she remembered she had been forced to come to this place, ordered. This was definite confirmation that not only did the shackles work, but that Magneto also was serious about his plans for her.
"Good evening, Oblivion," Magneto said. A kind phrase, yet coming from his lips it sounded as deadly as a threat. "I suppose you now understand the importance you are to me. I've gone through much trouble to find you, capture you, control you. And now it is time to see the results of my labors, and you, my dear, get to be a part of history tonight."
John handed her a white dress, which caused a look of confusion to spread across her face.
"Go into the bathroom and put the dress on," John instructed.
She stood up, but threw the dress down on to the floor and scrubbed it with her foot. She glared at Magneto so strongly that he nearly flinched.
"You must wear the appropriate attire for the occasion, or the guards at Delegates' Ball will be suspicious," Magneto said. "Now, either you put on the dress, or Sabertooth will put it on you himself."
She glanced at Sabertooth and remembered the time he'd almost raped her, had it not been for Pietro intervening. "Where's the bathroom?" she asked.
~~~~~~~
"Do you see her?" Lance asked.
Pietro stood in front of him in Julia's room, after zipping in and out of every room in the house.
"She's not here," Pietro said. "I should've known something was wrong. Last night she woke me up late and she seemed upset about something, I should've-"
"It's not your fault, man. Something must have happened, and I have a feeling something bad," Lance said.
"Yeah, Lance is right," agreed Fred. "She wouldn't just leave us without saying anything-would she?"
"Of course not," Todd said, "I mean, I don't know about the rest of you, but I think this has Magneto's stench all over it, yo," Todd said.
Pietro stared sadly out of the window a moment then turned to look at his teammates, his friends. "We need to go look for her," he said.
"But where do we even start? We don't know where Magneto's hanging out now that he abandoned his last base after we attacked it a few days ago," Todd said.
"Well, let's start looking at his old base, there we might be able to find some kind of clue as to where Magneto has taken her now," Pietro said.
~~~~~~~
The time of the Delegates' Ball slowly approached; the sky darkening, stars tinkling as they became more discernible the later it became. At the foot of the staircase inside of Xavier's mansion stood Scott, Kurt and Remy, all of who were in suits; Kurt, of course, had on his image inducer.
Logan was not far from them with his back leaning against a wall. Logan wasn't wearing a suit; they always made him feel suffocated. He hated to wear formal ensembles even though he didn't look half bad wearing them. Thus, instead of having to be one of the X-men that had to pretend to be a guest and dress up, he decided to pose as a guard. Xavier apparently had friends in high places, so the standard black uniform for the guards at the Ball didn't take long to get, not to mention acquiring guests' tickets.
Then Kitty, Jean and Rogue descended the staircase. Kitty was wearing a short, sky blue dress with matching high-heals and her dark amber colored hair hung on her shoulders. Jean was in a bright red dress that coordinated with the color of her hair. And last to come down the steps was Rogue. The dress Kitty had given Rogue seemed to have been perfectly made for her along with matching elbow-length gloves. The dress was long, down to her ankles with a slit up the side, and its color emphasized her eyes since it was almost the exact color as them, emerald. The tightness of the dress accentuating her body's curves and, surprisingly enough, there was not an ounce of makeup on her face, except for a touch of lipstick on her lips.
All three boys stood and marveled the three beauties before them until Xavier entered the room. Storm, Spike, and Flare right behind him, already dressed in black, guard uniforms and wearing headsets. Hank was doing research in the lab since he was staying behind this time with the professor.
"Now, you all know what you are to do. Capture Oblivion, but do not hurt her if possible. If she is being controlled as Gambit has said, she will not be harming anyone of her own freewill," Xavier reminded his X-men.
~~~~~~~
"Aren't you all a little young to be going to this ball?" the male guard inquired.
Jean and Scott stood in front of the guard nervously. Rogue and Remy were behind them in line, followed by Kitty and Kurt. Even though Kitty would have preferred to go with Lance to the Delegates' Ball, she didn't have an option, and at least Kurt was a good friend, so it wouldn't be so bad.
"We have written invitations from tonight's host, Mr. Doyle himself," Jean said with upper class smugness that she hoped made her sound more believable to be going to such a fancy ball.
Scott handed the guard their invitations. The guard stared at them curiously, then allowed them to enter the building. Inside the building were colorfully elaborate murals of nature and scenery spread over the walls. The floor was solid, white marble and from the ceiling hung five crystal chandeliers that stretched apart to appear evenly distanced with the enormous length of the room. There were groups of delegates and their wives scattered about-laughing, talking and their glasses never empty of the provided costly wine. The six X-men surveyed all of this as they entered the Ball and for a moment almost forgot why they had come.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention," came a voice from the center stage of the room. A man in his mid forties, wearing a black suit stood at a podium, speaking into the attached microphone. "My name is Allan Doyle and I'm the host of this year's Delegates' Ball. First, I'd like to say I appreciate each representative from the United Nations for attending the celebration of the accordance amongst our countries this evening..."
~~~~~~~
As Allan Doyle continued his speech the X-men impersonating guards were moving stealthily around the perimeter of the building. Each of the four, which were Spike, Strom, Flare and Wolverine, had an area to themselves to watch and wait for Magneto's arrival.
Wolverine had to watch over the area that was closest to the building's entrance. He observed the people who waited in line to be permitted into the Ball and noted as a female came up the aisle. Her face felt familiar to him somehow.
She was tall, with pale skin and short black hair. She was wearing a long, white dress that hugged her body's shapeliness. There were slits on either of the dress's sides to show off her legs as well as the white high healed sandals, which had matching colored lace twined around her legs and stopped at her knees. She was an exquisite sight and it made him wonder how beautiful Flare would've looked if she'd been one of the team Xavier had chosen to masquerade as a guest.
~~~~~~~
After the evening's host, Mr. Doyle, had finished his speech he had instructed the small orchestra in the room to begin playing and most of the couples at the Ball were dancing. Jean and Scott had been the first to walk out to the middle of the floor. And even Kitty decided it would be fun to dance with Kurt for a little while, just to pass the time and take part in the party.
Rogue, however, was sitting at their table, enjoying the fact that she could taste expensive wine for the first time in her life; even though she wasn't twenty-one yet. She didn't drink much-just a taste-she had heard how drunk a couple glasses of wine could get anyone and she was too young for a hangover.
Remy was standing beside the table, staring at her with persuasive black on crimson eyes. "Want t' dance?" Remy asked with his most charming smile. He saw her look away, but continued his persistence. "Come on, don' y' want t' live a little? Magneto isn't here yet, so I t'ink we should enjoy ourselves till he is."
"Is that what ya think, Cajun?" she asked with slight sarcasm. Then gazed into his eyes and a small smile curved her lips. "All right, Ah'll dance wit' ya, but only one dance."
He took her silk gloved hand and led her onto the floor, "One dance all Remy need, long as he wit y', chèrie."
Remy put his arms around Rogue's waste and her arms encircled his neck. Their bodies swayed together as the soft, ardent sounds of the Ball's orchestra floated through the air.
Remy pulled her closer and at first she was frightened, but after pulling back a little to gaze into his odd colored eyes her fear, her worries, vanished. Her head rested on his shoulder and she lost herself in the blissfulness that she felt every time she danced with him. Being so close to Remy somehow made her forget about not being able to touch, made her desert depressing thoughts of her curse.
She silently wondered if this was what love felt like.
~~~~~~~
"Why did you bring me here?" Julia demanded as she threw off the black haired wig Magneto had made her wear so no one would recognize her odd colored hair and she'd be less conspicuous. She was standing behind the black curtain of the center stage.
"Because as I've told you tonight is going to be history. Tonight you will make a demonstration of your true power and make these pathetic humans, delegates as well as the countries they represent, tremble at my feet. Tonight is the beginning of our reign-the dawning of Oblivion, I suppose," Magneto said in almost amusement to himself.
"Why do you want to do this?" Julia asked confused.
"That is to be revealed when we make our presence known," Magneto said.
"I won't hurt anyone for you," she said sternly.
Magneto gave her a glare that made her shiver, "You do not have a choice."
~~~~~~~
"Remy, there's somethin' Ah need t' tell ya," Rogue began as she pulled away from him a bit, so she could look into his eyes again.
"Yeah, chèrie?" he asked gently.
Just as Rogue was about to reply she noticed that everyone had stopped dancing and talking. They all now had their attention directed at the stage. Then as she and Remy turned around they saw Magneto standing at the podium.
"I am called Magneto. For most of my life I, as well as many others like myself, have been ridiculed, demeaned and even beaten simply because I was different from normal people. I am a mutant..." he said and at that admission some gasps could be heard in the room and the scent of fear arose in the atmosphere.
~~~~~~~
"Logan, something's wrong. I've got a gut feeling Oblivion's here somewhere. I just know it," Flare said, as she stood in front of him, outside of the building.
He stared at Flare a moment, and then spoke into his headset, "Storm, Spike, let's head into the building. There might be trouble."
"Evan and I will meet you inside," Storm said through the microphone in her headset.
~~~~~~~
"You're probably wondering why I'm here tonight. Well, I have come because the predigest ways of the world against mutants will not change, so I will force it to. Homo sapiens have had their time for dominance and now, it is our turn," Magneto said.
The black curtain fell onto the stage and Oblivion was exposed, positioned in mid-air, her long, white dress and red strained blond hair floating about her. Her eyes became pupil-empty and her once golden brown eyes became pure gold as Magneto began to try to unlock the power buried inside her. With the shackles still on her wrists Magneto was controlling her, willing her every move and even her words.
"The dawning of human suffering, of humanity's oblivion has come," Julia said with an even tone, her voice hollow and emotionless. Though they were not her words, they were under the control of Magneto and she was helpless to stop it. She watched what she didn't want to happen come to pass as she was trapped in her own mind.
Suddenly, the floor began to tremble, as did the ground outside as the rest of the X-men were coming in, and a strange wind swept around the room.
"We have to stop her before she can create a massive shockwave," Flare told the X-men. She knew that the sudden wind and shaking in the floor were warning signs of Oblivion building up power for a shockwave of great size.
Evan shot several spikes at Oblivion, but they were halted in the air when they came within a foot of her. In seconds, the spikes ruptured and their debris flung at the people, causing some of them to get scratched and bruised.
Remy pulled out three cards from inside his suit and charged them heavily with energy before throwing them at Oblivion. The cards stopped in mid-air as Evan's spikes had, except this time she allowed the cards to do what Remy had intended, to explode. People were blown backwards by the explosions of the three playing cards and began scrambling for the exit, which were double doors made of metal; Magneto easily forced the metal doors to stay closed and the delegates and guests were trapped.
"She must have evolved after Wanda and Mystique kidnapped her because she's learned how to form a shockwave into a force field and use it to stop things before they hit her-she couldn't do that before," Flare said. She glanced around the room. "Damnit, with all these people in here I can't fight her without burning the place down. We have to get everyone out of here."
Oblivion's energy was rising in her body. She could feel the intoxicating power rushing through her veins and begging to be freed.
No! her mind screamed at Magneto. I won't hurt anyone!
She struggled to withhold the power inside herself and tried to fight Magneto's control.
Obey me! Magneto ordered and her shackles sent small shocks to her as she battled his mind's power over her.
The floor continued quivering and the chandeliers were shaken loose from their wires in the ceiling. Scott blasted a chandelier away from a delegate and his wife before it fell on them. The rest of the X-men were doing similar acts, trying to save as many people as they could.
"Evan!" Storm screamed.
He was caught beneath a chandelier after pushing a delegate's wife out of the way. Rogue lifted the chandelier easily off her teammate with her superstrength.
Storm gathered up her nephew in her arms. His body was motionless and blood seeped from his mouth.
"Nightcrawler, transport him to the hospital," Cyclops instructed.
Kurt nodded and he and an injured Evan disappeared, leaving behind a fading cloud of smoke.
In pure rage for her nephew's pain, Storm began going toward Oblivion with hurricane winds and white mists in her eyes. She threw bolts of lighting wildly at Oblivion in her rage, but not one of the bolts touched the girl.
In response, Oblivion released a small shockwave from her hand directly at Storm. The weather witch felt agonizing pain like she'd never experienced before as the blue, translucent wave swept through her; it thrust Storm into a wall and she fell lifelessly to the floor.
Flare and Jean rushed over to Storm. Flare bent down to one knee and checked the white haired woman's pulse in her neck.
"She's alive. The shockwave hadn't been strong enough to hurt her too badly," Flare said," but she's unconscious and we have to get her out of here."
Wolverine extracted his claws and charged at Oblivion while she was distracted with sending out another wave towards Flare and Jean, who were occupied with Storm's condition.
Flare spun around, hearing Wolverine's metal claws cutting through the air. "Logan, NO!" she screamed. She threw a fireball at him, but not directly, only near him so that it's exploding impact would push him away from Julia.
The ground began to shake and a mysterious wind began to toss around some debris; the warning signs of her creating a shockwave had returned. Magneto was now forcing Oblivion to do what she prayed he wouldn't. She could no longer resist the pressure of the power within her. A huge shockwave of intense energy released from her body, drowning the room in its azure light.
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A/N: PLEASE REVIEW!!!