DISCLAIMER:I don't own the X-Men or any other characters, etc. Marvel, etc. I do lay claim to the FOH members, but only with reluctance.
A/N: Guys, and gals, I am so excited!!!!!!!!!! I just found out Marvel is making a NEW X-Cartoon entitled 'Wolverine and the X-Men'!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, so it obviously centers around Wolvie, but hey, it's an X-Cartoon! And Rogue is in it! And so is Gambit! I've officially died and gone to Heaven! Lol Okay, somebody help me, the plot fairies won't let me land!
Chapter Thirty-Seven:
Rogue and Gambit pause on his bike as they look at the entrance to the gates of the Institute. "You absolutely sure about t'is, chere?"
Rogue gulps, "Yeah. . . Ah mean. . . We'll fit in just fine. . . The X-Men are my friends, well, most of them. . ." she adds the last part, thinking of Scott.
"Sure, t'ey like you, mon chere, mais do t'ey like Remy?" he groans.
"All the girls think you're dreamy."
"Really now?" he says in a teasing voice. Gambit loves to flirt as much as Rogue does. They'd never cheat on each other, but it is so much fun making other people believe they might.
"Piotr is there too. . ." Rogue says softly.
They've both missed him a lot. Remy nods.
"You think they'll except me after all this Apocalypse junk?" she asks nervously.
"Of course t'ey will. T'ey all know it's not your fault." Remy assures her.
"Then, what are we waiting for?"
Magneto's pods land near the Sphinx. His team emerges to find about fifty people all bent in Islamic-like prayer towards the building. "Oh, this is going to be too easy. . ." the evil dictator grins.
Only it isn't all that easy. Out of the fifty people bent over with their heads touching the ground in front of their knees, only ten of them know more than a legend or two about the return of an ancient king that would purify the lands of Egypt.
Magneto is getting frustrated faster than an adult trying to open a child-proof medicine bottle. He tosses another person out of the Sphinx.
Pietro is getting bored. He zips around and around, looking at all the pretty pictures and making up semi-pornographic stories to go with them. Pyro thinks these stories are funny. Emma, though she rolls her eyes, thinks they are funny too. "Would you guys grow up?" she groans, trying not to laugh at Pietro's latest gag.
Pyro is laughing. Wanda hits him. "You guys are embarrassing!"
Toad is alternating between laughing at the jokes and glaring at Pyro and Wanda.
Lance is trying to show off for Emma by dragging helpless natives into the Sphinx to Magneto. He's keeping a tally. So far he has dragged in about five. Blob has dragged in ten, but that's only because he can drag in more than one at a time. Pyro has dragged in about three, but scared in about twenty with his powers. Sabretooth has dragged in about seven. . . the show off. Of course, he realizes Sabretooth isn't really showing off, just enjoying his work. Wanda refuses to help and keep asking her father why he dragged her along. Pietro has dragged in two. Toad has only brought in one. There were still two more to bring in. Magneto has done nothing but stand still and look intimidating, oh and get frustrated to the point of turning one of the metal pods into a ball the size of a soup can. . .
Emma smiles at Lance and then looks at his latest victim. "Don't be afraid. This won't hurt a bit." She reads his mind. This one knows no more than the other ones. She looks up at Magneto who is watching with expectant eyes. She shakes her head.
Magneto screams in frustration. "One of them has to know something!"
"All they know is Apocalypse is an ancient king who would be reborn to purify and rule Egypt," she shrugs.
"But he doesn't want to just rule Egypt, does he?" he screams. "He wants to rule the world! And it is up to us, to me, to stop him!"
His followers look at him likes he's lost his mind.
Sinister is about to make a breakthrough on his clone, when suddenly, he's interrupted. "Siena! I was just about to figure this out! You made me spill it!" He had been able to regenerate the blood cells, and keep them active, so he has more to study.
Siena rolls her eyes. "You have to come look at these baby name books. I want my daughter to have a nice name all picked out before she's born."
"My son will have a wonderful name, Nathaniel." Essex states.
"Our daughter needs a good name, and if by some slight chance we have a boy, I am NOT naming him Nathaniel!" Siena remarks angrily.
Sinister unhappily cleans up his mess, grumbling. "What about Beulah? That's a pretty name."
Siena scrunches up her nose, "Try to stay in the twenty-first century, Nathaniel, dear."
He grumbles again, "Well, I won't have a daughter named after some kind of soda pop."
Siena rolls her eyes. "I'm not that crazy. . . but then again. . . I did sleep with you. Maybe I am that crazy."
Sinister groans, "Samantha?"
Siena shakes her head, "Debbie?"
Sinister makes a face, "Celina?"
Siena thinks about it. "That's nice. I like it."
Sinister is about to go back to his work, "but what if it's a boy?"
Siena ponders it, "It won't be. But if I'm wrong and we have a boy. . . I'll let you name him anything you like."
"Anything?"
"Anything but Nathaniel. The world already has you. It doesn't need another Nathaniel Essex."
Sinister grins, "True. Then, I'll name him Elijah."
Siena shakes her head and groans. She's sure she'll never have a son named Elijah. "Fine. I did say anything but Nathaniel. After all, we're going to have a girl."
Sinister grins a wicked smile. "I'm sure you are wrong."
Siena smirks at him, "How do you know?"
Sinister thinks this over. He's just sure of it. He doesn't know why. "Um. . . Father's intuition?"
Siena laughs. "There's no such thing!"
Graydon is at a convention. He's shaking human hands and kissing human babies. Well, he hopes they are human. He'd hate to think his lips had touched mutant flesh. . . again. Unfortunately, the convention is lasting a little longer than planned and his pills are starting to wear off. Mutant flesh, eh? How about your own mutant flesh?
"These mutant have got to be stopped!" a man, a senator is saying.
"Yes, I completely agree. And I am just the man to do it," Graydon tells him. Ya mean, you're just the mutant ta do it. Right Gray? He's trying to ignore the voice.
"Yes, yes," the man is saying. "How do you feel about mutant registration?"
"I believe it's a step in the right direction, but these menaces must be destroyed," Graydon answers. Registration? Great. . . next they'll be herdin' us away like cattle, huh, brotheh deah? He grimaces.
"Yes," the man mistakenly takes the grimace as displeasure at the much-needed job of "disposing" of the mutants. "That may be a necessary evil, if they get out of hand."
"They are out of hand. Did you know I was thrown through a window by a mutant? For no good reason. I was walking by, minding my own business when a mutant came and picked me up and threw me right through a broken window! I could have been killed. This mutant didn't know me from Adam. They are out to get us." Didn't know you from Adam? Come on, Gray. . . no one's gonna believe your dear ol' Daddy didn't know who he was throwin'. . .
"That's awful!" the man exclaims. "However did you get away?"
"Fortunately, the police appeared and scared the mutie off. I'm so grateful to them. They saved my life," Graydon says, looking rather penitant. Grateful? Ya wanted ta tear theih heads off! Ya little mutie freak!
"I'm so glad they showed up when they did, Mr. Creed," the man continues.
"Oh, yes, me too," Graydon smiles. Liar, Liar, pants on fire! Y'all're a jerk, Graydon Creed. . . son of Victor Creed. . .
"Well, I'd better go now. My wife is waving for me," the senator says.
"It's been a pleasure," Graydon lies again. Son of Raven Darkholme. . . "Shut up," he whispers as soon as the senator is out of range. A real pleasure talkin' ta someone who hates youh kind before he even gets ta know ya. "I said shut up!"
A man looks at him funny and apologizes, "I'm sorry, I didn't know I was bothering you, Mr. Creed."
"Oh, dear, yes, yes. . . well, I need to go get some sleep," he tries to explain. L-I-A-R spells liar and that's just whatcha are, Gray.
"Oh, I'll call Mr. Nicoli, right now, Mr. President, sir," the man says.
"Thank you," Graydon nods. Sleep won't get rid of my voice, Graydon, sugah. . . ya know that. "Just leave me alone. . ." he mumbles.
Rogue uses Kurt's powers to teleport them and the bike into the garage.
Remy raises an eyebrow at her as she removes her helmet.
"What? It was the best way of gettin' past their security systems."
He shrugs, "Guess so, except for one t'ing. . ."
"What is it, Remy?"
"Bonjour, Mr. Logan."
Rogue turns around fast. There Logan is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed watching them. "Uh, hi Logan."
"You smell nervous," Logan growls. "What's going on?"
She looks down at the cement floor. Remy is just smirking at him. "Ah thought maybe we could talk ta Papa. . . that's all."
"So ya sneak in here?" Logan says.
"Security systems. . ." she mutters.
"I heard ya the first time," Logan says. "Come on." He grabs them both by the collars and drags them along behind him.
Kitty and Piotr are sitting looking at a painting with Illyana beside them. Piotr is trying to explain the difference in the brush strokes and Illyana is trying to explain why she thinks he used the wrong colors.
"It's not all red," she explains. "They have other colors in limbo."
"You said the rocks are red," he says.
"Yes, but. . ."
"Vell, I just painted you, surrounded by rocks, then."
"Fine," she sighs. She realizes he won't understand unless he goes there.
/X-Men report to my office/ Xavier sends through their minds.
"Like, great. . ." Kitty says, "I wonder what happened."
"Vhat makes you think something has happened?" Piotr asks her.
"When does he, like, call us all to his office unless something, like, happened?"
"That is true," Illyana says as the three of them get up and walk downstairs.
Logan is growling in the corner, but he says nothing as the X-Men and the New Mutants file in.
Scott is the first one to notice. "What are they doing here?"
"I'm glad you asked that, Scott," Xavier states. "To put it simply, Rogue and Gambit would like to join the X-Men."
Kitty squeals. She runs up and carefully hugs the covered Rogue. "This is, like, so great!"
Jean is smiling. "Welcome to the X-Men."
Kurt is over hugging Rogue too, as soon as he can drag Kitty off her.
They all seem so happy. Everyone, except Scott. Some of the New Mutants are a little wary too, especially of the tall demon-eyed scary guy in the trench coat.
Piotr is very excited too, but unlike the others, he doesn't show it outwardly. They both know him well enough to know how happy he is.
"What made you change your mind?" Amara asks, finally.
Rogue looks warily at Gambit. "Magsy's. . ."
Gambit looks at her, "Magneto has lost it."
"Completely," Rogue sighs. "He's gone insane!"
"T'is Apocalypse stuff has got him really worked up."
Rogue looks at him, "Worked up? Ya call that worked up? He's on a suicide mission!"
Gambit, "Maybe he'll calm down when he realizes he can't find any information in the Sphinx."
"Wait a minute," Jean says, "He went back there?"
Xavier looks shocked.
Gambit and Rogue nod.
"Who did he take with him?" Scott wonders.
"Everyone. . ."
Deep inside the Sphinx, Magneto is not happy. Emma had looked into every mind. None of them knew where Apocalypse had gone. He is about to throw something when Wanda stops him. "Father. . . you should come look at this."
He stops and follows her. One of the Egyptians had a portable television. The news is on every channel.
"A strange dome has surrounded this Mayan pyramid in Mexico. The dome is made up of what we can only call energy at the momenr. There is a strange being hovering nearby it. Some people are saying it is a mutant. This incident has incited several riots in downtown Mexico City." Pictures of the dome, Apocalypse, and rioting Mexicans appear as the announcer relays this information.
Magneto clinches his fist. "Apocalypse." He starts gathering metal to make a sphere.
"Where are you going?" Wanda asks.
"I'm going to Mexico."
"Youcan't!" Pietro tries.
"We could get killed!" Emma states the obvious.
"You aren't going. None of you are." Magneto finishes the sphere and start flying to it. "This fight is between higher evolutionaries and I guarantee you, only one of us will survive."
The sphere takes off, crashing through the walls and sand and flying through the air at a rate of speed that make it impossible to watch.
"I can't believe he just left us!" Toad says. "How are we gonna get home?"
"I'lltakecareofthat," Pietro sighs.
"You're my hero," Emma says.
Pietro smiles happily. He really thinks he's winning this fight with Lance over Emma.
"Well, the cats away," Pyro exclaims. "Time for the mice to play!" He laughs heartily.
Wanda groans, "Why do I love you?"
"You love me?" Pyro says, caught off guard.
She grins. "I don't know why, though."
"It's probably because I'm so cute," he laughs.
"That's just gross," Lance says.
"Yeah. . ." Blob says.
Wanda gets angry. Loving Pyro is gross? She'll show them gross. "Johnny?"
"Yeah," he says turning around to face her.
She throws her arms around his neck and kisses him. He smiles and kisses her back. He doesn't mind the audience at all.
Toad's jaw drops. He start wailing, "Aw. . . now I'll never have a chance, yo!"
Fred ruffles his hair, "You win some, you lose some."
"Why do I always seem to lose, though?" Todd asks.
"Maybe it's the smell?" Emma offers.
Blob, Avalanche, and Quicksilver all nod.
Sabretooth walks up. "Where's Magneto?"
Pietro shrugs, "Mexico?"
To be continued . . .
A/N: So, the writer's block is still disipating! Yay! My granpa has been moved to an assisted living center where he can't walk out the front door without setting off an alarm. rolls eyes Oh well. We grandkids are staying out of it and letting his kids decide what to do with him. I've still been writing more of the sequel for this than this story. The sequel is more fun for me right now because this one is so serious at the moment. Don't worry, lighter moments to come!
Will Magneto live or die? Will Rogue and Remy fit in at the Institute? Will Apocalypse take over the world? Will the Acolytes make it home? Will Graydon ever seek therapy? Will Harrison find out he's a mutant? Will Sinister's baby be a boy or a girl? Will I ever stop making up these ridiculous questions? All these answers and more as A Split in Reality continues.
Please Review:) Pretty Please, with sugar on top. :) And a cherry!!!! And nuts. . . And Chocolate sauce! And Whipped Cream! And a banana! And butterscotch! And, um, gummy bears:) ! And candy corn! And um, peanut butter? Jelly? Um, raisins? And M&Ms! And. . . um. . . Marshmellows! And Gummy Lifesavers! And Stride Gum! And cinnamon toothpicks!