A/N: I just realized I never mentioned when this story took place. . .it's
pretty much after "The Hex Factor" or "Day of Reckoning". Fairly short
chapter, but thanks to all of those who have reviewed! You guys have no
idea how much these review mean to me!
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Moonlight broke in through shafts in the heavy, red velvet curtains that hung loosely around the picture window. Steady breathing could be heard coming softly from the four-poster bed, filtering through the cracks between the canopy drapes. Lying peacefully on the satin sheets, her heavy- lidded eyes shut tightly, lay Arisnoë, deeply immersed in a dream that was not her own.
She hadn't meant to enter the dream, but it was rimmed with such a luscious shade of red, a color she couldn't begin to describe, that she had been drawn to it - unable to keep herself from entering.
Arisnoë was in a flourishing garden - a rose garden. The sweet scent of the heavily perfumed flower was so overpowering that even Arisnoë was full of the light-headed feeling of love. Peering deeper into the garden, Arisnoë could make out two forms sitting close on an intricately carved stone bench. As she stepped closer to get a better view, one of the shapes stood up, blocking the other with his firm body.
"Scott? What's wrong?" A honey-sweetened voice questioned.
"Shh, don't say anything." He whispered back.
'So this is the mysterious Scott Summers' Arisnoë thought to herself. But before she could make another move she was thrown forcefully out of the dream.
"Arisnoë? Honey, iz every zing alright?" A motherly voice called anxiously from the doorway.
"I'm fine Muzzer, just a nightmare. Go back to sleep." Arisnoë sat up in her bed, rubbing her pulsating temple.
"Are you sure? Maybe I should call Raven."
"No! Mum, I'm fine!" Her heart sped up at the mention of Raven's name, she could not risk her benefactress discovering her inability to open Summers' readily open mind. As her mother pulled the door to a gentle close, Arisnoë's sleek head fell back on the sunken pillows. Why had she been thrown from Scott's dream? It had never happened before; never had Arisnoë ever been forced from a dream, she had always chosen when to leave, so why now? 'Unless. . .no, it couldn't be." She soliloquized back and forth in her head, 'But he is friends with the telepathic, he would have had plenty of time to practice.' And turning over, waiting to enter a dream world of her own, Arisnoë pondered her lingering questions; Had Scott known that there was an intruder in his dream and purposely thrown her out? Was he capable of blocking his mind and was this why he was so hard to reach? And the most terrifying question of all, did he know that Arisnoë was out there, and did he know the threat she was to him?
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"Evan, wait up!" The slang came off sounding thick and awkward from Arisnoë's foreign tongue. Her golden cross pendant beat lightly on her chest as she ran, glinting in the afternoon sunlight.
"Hey Ari, what's up?"
"Not much," she smiled fondly at him as he grinned on her quick pick up of his lingo. "I just wanted to talk."
Evan's grin widened and Arisnoë could feel him opening his mind up to her. 'Alright Arisnoë, you can do this, just slip into his mind.' But even as she forced the thoughts into her mind, Arisnoë couldn't help wondering what it would be like to trace her fingers across the line of bare skin between his bleached hair . . . 'No! Do not let your personal feeling interfere!' She reprimanded herself. If she let herself think of Evan in a matter other than as the link to the X-men . . . well, she didn't want to think of what Raven would do to her. She knew the powers of the shape shifter were greater than what they seemed.
"Ari, is everything ok?" Evan sounded concerned.
"Hm? Oh, yes, everyzing is fine . . . just tired, I guess."
"Alright then," Evan forced a cheery voice as they casually chatted about school, but Arisnoë could tell he didn't believe her. His thoughts were lying there, open in his mind, with just a little probing she could uncover all his secrets, discover his powers and Scott's, she could please Raven . . . but Arisnoë could not bring herself to do it. She had grown too attached to Evan, he didn't know the threat she held to him, he had complete trust in her and no one had ever trusted Arisnoë that way before. 'Eventually,' she promised herself, 'eventually I will probe his mind, but not yet.' But what Arisnoë didn't realize was that as time dragged on, she was slowly falling in love with Evan Daniels.
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Lance swung the front door open, striding into the Brotherhood home.
"Ah, so the prodigal brother returns." In a flash, Pietro Maximoff was leaning against the door frame as Fred lumbered in the room after him.
"The term is prodigal son." He shifted his menacing gaze between his two friends, "and I wasn't gone that long."
"Three days, it's funny what can happen when you're away for three days." The speed demon spoke almost as fast as he could run. "It's long enough to make one wonder if a man had turned traitor and joined the X-men again."
Lance narrowed his eyes and glared steadily at Pietro who smirked in response. "I was visiting my girlfriend, she's hurt, remember? And I care about her, which is more than you can say about anyone."
"Believe me, Lance, if I bothered with a girlfriend, and you know I could easily get one-" did he ever, Lance wasn't easily going to forget the sight of Pietro with three girls hanging on his arms at the last dance. "I wouldn't be wasting my time with the enemy."
Fred Dukes chuckled as Pietro continued to spin criticism around Lance's head.
"What are you laughing at, Blob? You're both forgetting that if this genius over here," he nodded his head at Fred, "hadn't tried to kidnap his crush there could be two of us with girlfriends at the Institute." Lance pushed his way between the two boys and up the stairs to his room. "Besides, he tossed casually over his shoulder, "don't they always say to keep your enemies closer than your friends?"
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Moonlight broke in through shafts in the heavy, red velvet curtains that hung loosely around the picture window. Steady breathing could be heard coming softly from the four-poster bed, filtering through the cracks between the canopy drapes. Lying peacefully on the satin sheets, her heavy- lidded eyes shut tightly, lay Arisnoë, deeply immersed in a dream that was not her own.
She hadn't meant to enter the dream, but it was rimmed with such a luscious shade of red, a color she couldn't begin to describe, that she had been drawn to it - unable to keep herself from entering.
Arisnoë was in a flourishing garden - a rose garden. The sweet scent of the heavily perfumed flower was so overpowering that even Arisnoë was full of the light-headed feeling of love. Peering deeper into the garden, Arisnoë could make out two forms sitting close on an intricately carved stone bench. As she stepped closer to get a better view, one of the shapes stood up, blocking the other with his firm body.
"Scott? What's wrong?" A honey-sweetened voice questioned.
"Shh, don't say anything." He whispered back.
'So this is the mysterious Scott Summers' Arisnoë thought to herself. But before she could make another move she was thrown forcefully out of the dream.
"Arisnoë? Honey, iz every zing alright?" A motherly voice called anxiously from the doorway.
"I'm fine Muzzer, just a nightmare. Go back to sleep." Arisnoë sat up in her bed, rubbing her pulsating temple.
"Are you sure? Maybe I should call Raven."
"No! Mum, I'm fine!" Her heart sped up at the mention of Raven's name, she could not risk her benefactress discovering her inability to open Summers' readily open mind. As her mother pulled the door to a gentle close, Arisnoë's sleek head fell back on the sunken pillows. Why had she been thrown from Scott's dream? It had never happened before; never had Arisnoë ever been forced from a dream, she had always chosen when to leave, so why now? 'Unless. . .no, it couldn't be." She soliloquized back and forth in her head, 'But he is friends with the telepathic, he would have had plenty of time to practice.' And turning over, waiting to enter a dream world of her own, Arisnoë pondered her lingering questions; Had Scott known that there was an intruder in his dream and purposely thrown her out? Was he capable of blocking his mind and was this why he was so hard to reach? And the most terrifying question of all, did he know that Arisnoë was out there, and did he know the threat she was to him?
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"Evan, wait up!" The slang came off sounding thick and awkward from Arisnoë's foreign tongue. Her golden cross pendant beat lightly on her chest as she ran, glinting in the afternoon sunlight.
"Hey Ari, what's up?"
"Not much," she smiled fondly at him as he grinned on her quick pick up of his lingo. "I just wanted to talk."
Evan's grin widened and Arisnoë could feel him opening his mind up to her. 'Alright Arisnoë, you can do this, just slip into his mind.' But even as she forced the thoughts into her mind, Arisnoë couldn't help wondering what it would be like to trace her fingers across the line of bare skin between his bleached hair . . . 'No! Do not let your personal feeling interfere!' She reprimanded herself. If she let herself think of Evan in a matter other than as the link to the X-men . . . well, she didn't want to think of what Raven would do to her. She knew the powers of the shape shifter were greater than what they seemed.
"Ari, is everything ok?" Evan sounded concerned.
"Hm? Oh, yes, everyzing is fine . . . just tired, I guess."
"Alright then," Evan forced a cheery voice as they casually chatted about school, but Arisnoë could tell he didn't believe her. His thoughts were lying there, open in his mind, with just a little probing she could uncover all his secrets, discover his powers and Scott's, she could please Raven . . . but Arisnoë could not bring herself to do it. She had grown too attached to Evan, he didn't know the threat she held to him, he had complete trust in her and no one had ever trusted Arisnoë that way before. 'Eventually,' she promised herself, 'eventually I will probe his mind, but not yet.' But what Arisnoë didn't realize was that as time dragged on, she was slowly falling in love with Evan Daniels.
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Lance swung the front door open, striding into the Brotherhood home.
"Ah, so the prodigal brother returns." In a flash, Pietro Maximoff was leaning against the door frame as Fred lumbered in the room after him.
"The term is prodigal son." He shifted his menacing gaze between his two friends, "and I wasn't gone that long."
"Three days, it's funny what can happen when you're away for three days." The speed demon spoke almost as fast as he could run. "It's long enough to make one wonder if a man had turned traitor and joined the X-men again."
Lance narrowed his eyes and glared steadily at Pietro who smirked in response. "I was visiting my girlfriend, she's hurt, remember? And I care about her, which is more than you can say about anyone."
"Believe me, Lance, if I bothered with a girlfriend, and you know I could easily get one-" did he ever, Lance wasn't easily going to forget the sight of Pietro with three girls hanging on his arms at the last dance. "I wouldn't be wasting my time with the enemy."
Fred Dukes chuckled as Pietro continued to spin criticism around Lance's head.
"What are you laughing at, Blob? You're both forgetting that if this genius over here," he nodded his head at Fred, "hadn't tried to kidnap his crush there could be two of us with girlfriends at the Institute." Lance pushed his way between the two boys and up the stairs to his room. "Besides, he tossed casually over his shoulder, "don't they always say to keep your enemies closer than your friends?"
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