Shopping Mall near Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters

Shopping Mall near Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters

"Sugah! Ah'm coming out 'n a red dress, tell how ah look!" A red-headed woman with a shock of white sang.

"Chere, you look good 'n red." A tall slender man crooned in a distinct creolian accent as he reached to kiss her gloved hand.

"Yeh filthy swamp rat! Doan start with manners now!" She shreiked in delight.

"Gumbo, you an' Rogue done playin' barbie?" An unshaven gruff looking man said in a no-nonsense voice.

"Yes Logan, ah've finished playin' 'barbie', doan know if Remy is done though." Rogue mocked.

Just Outside New York City

"Mom! I hate living here! Confined to this- this jail!" A winged girl screamed in pure anguish.

"This is not a jail, it's your home." She replied calmly, she was used to these frequent outbursts form her 'abnormal' daughter.

"Yeah it's my home with fifty billion others! Lets see, there's Frederic, my tutor who has never seen me, only heard my answers to his lectures on world history, Ivy, my nurse who has seen me, what two time's my whole life? Then the new cook who wonders how sick I really am. Need I go on? The clearly angry girl spewed.

"I'm doind this for your own good, you wouldn't want people gossiping about your- abnormalties."

"Mom, face it, I'm one of those freakish mutants, you can't deny it. I don't care what they think, I want friends-"

"You have me."

"You're my mother, I want someone to enjoy life with. A friend." She put simply.

"Angel Barque`, I don't want to hear anymore, you were born this way, now you must live this way."

"No! I won't!" Angel cried before dashing up the stairs to a tower, she was going to jump. Jump free from her constricted world.

The brisk wind played with her golden hair as she breathed it in. Air, I do love fresh air. She noted to herself as she clambered up the railing that seperated her from the rest of the world. Angel paused a moment, wondering if the two wings, that had condemned her, worked. Don't be silly, of course they work! Was her thought as she leapt into the cloudless afternoon sky.

"Hey look! It's an Angel!" A white haired woman screamed in fear as she clutched a cross and went on. " The end is near, the end is near!" Angel put a finger to her lips to silence the woman. The old lady fell into a faint.

Angel landed a little while later on a vacant street, where she carefully folded her wings and casually strolled up the street. She turned a corner and- WHAM!

"Hey! Watch wh- Aaah! A mutant! Get away from here, freak!" A teenage boy was taken by suprise, then once regonizing her for what she was took a defensive role.

"I'm sorry- sorry."

"I- leave us alone! We don't want your kind."Then it hit her. Her kind, freaks of nature, wierdos...Her mother was correct. She stifled a sob and soared into the sky.

I'm a freak, I'm a freak, I'm a freak... Played over and over in her troubled head. All of a sudden a warm energy swept over her. She radiated gold then dropped like a rock.

Streets of West Chester, New York

"Could ya' speed up a bit? I'm missin' my football." Logan grumbled.

"Doan worry, mon ami, Remy make it up to you.'

"Hrumph...love-birds...youngin's"

"Logan watch out!" Rogue yelled.

"Wha' the flamin'!"*PLOP*

"Good catch Logan." Remy congradulated. Logan opened his arms to reveal what looked like a fallen angel.

"Holy smokes, it's a angel!" Rogue shouted.

"Am I dead?" Angel looked up at her rescuer. She squirmed a bit and he set her back on her shaky feet. Angel stretched her wings and refolded them.

"Anje`, you had a might big fall, you okay?" A tall lean man drawled in an unmistakable creolian accent.

"Yes, I think I'm fine, how do you know my name?" She queried.

"Ya' name Anje` or you speak 'nawlins(nawlins-NewOrleans in Louisana French) french?"

" I know french." I can't believe it this man is talking to me, the freak... Then she felt the familiar energy, then collasped.

Xavier Mansion-Infirmary-Two Days Later

She woke up spread out in a hosiptal-like bed, a wrap around her arm. Where am I?

You are in Charles Xaviers Instituition for- A calm voice responded to her in her head.

Freaks. She thought fiercely back.

"No we are not freaks, we are mutants." The female voice that was in her head had spoke.

"Who brought me here?"

" The mutants called Wolverine, Gambit and Rogue."

"Did someone call Remy?" Remy annouced his presence in the room. "How ya' feelin petite anje`?"

"Cramped." Angel stated flatly.

"You wings tied up."

"Ooh." She said as she fluttered her wings in attempt to get them free from their bindings.

"Here Remy help you." He murmered as he gently untied the strings.

"How ya' feelin' sugah?" Rogue asked as she stepped into the room.

"Fine." Remy and Angel answered in unison.

"Remy ya' conceited swamp rat! Ah wasn't talking 'bout you, ah was talking to the girl." Rogue smacked him lightly in the back of the head.

"Where's the one that caught me?"

"Watching that darned football game of his." Rogue huffed.

"Oh, I've only heard men like football..." Angel trailed off.

"What do ya' mean 'only heard of'?! It's a known fact," exclaimed a short, girl with short black hair known as Jubilee, who had just bounded into the room. "Jeez Louise! What a wing span ya' got there. Can ya' fly?" She quizzed.

"Just my question, or do ya' jus' fall?" Logan had overheard the conversation form the living room(he has REALLY sensative hearing). Just out of spite Angel stretched her wings and flew over to him.

"Does that answer your question?" She answered sweetly. " Thanks for catching me, I could've died" Logan nodded curtly, he hardly acknowledged her thanks.

Could this be proffessional flirting? Jubilee asked herself. "You've gotta teach me that..."Jubille said absent-mindedly.

"What?"

"Uh- er, fly." Jubilee turned five shades of red in a mater of five seconds.

"Sorry hon, it's something yeh born with." Rogue concluded.

"I see you're feeling better?" The Proffessor smiled. He hovered over the floor. "If you please X-Men I'd like to ask a Angel a few questions in privacy, Jean you stay." He commanded. Everyone trooped out. "Now, Angel, quite a coicidence..." He muttered as he studied her wings admiringly. "What is you age?"

"I am sixteen, sir."

"Where are your parents?"

"I have none..." She lied.

'You can tell me child...'

Actually my mother thinks me abnormal and has kept me hidden away for my past sixteen years. My father left when I was eight." Angel responded to his probing.

Charles peered into her mind. 'He disowned her. Sobbing, pleading, hurting, anger.'

Tears began to well up in her emerald green eyes. She fought hard to keep them back.

"There, there don't cry..." Jean soothed as she petted the girl's silky hair.

"My father- disowned me. My mother- ashamed. Me- confused and hurt." She wept silently for her lost childhood, holding herself in her wings.

"I should've known, she has suffered a torn family." The Professor finished. He left her shaking uncontrollably.

"Petite Anje, why ya' cryin'?" Remy came in to check in on the small Angel and found her crying softly into her pillow.

"I ha-have n-no fam-i-ily" Angel choked the words out, just as Remy moved around the bed to sit down beside her. He opened his arms to her and she threw them around his neck and continued sobbing.

"Doan you be tellin' ole Remy here a lie, Anje, Roguie and Remy ya' family now." Remy comforted. Something caught his eye. 'Rogue' He mentally noted. Rogue sat on the bed(now drooping under the weight of the small 'family') and positioned herself so her and Remy were sandwiching the girl.

"Hush sugah baby, we're here." Rogue murmered as the trio rocked together.

Rogue woke Angel the next morning for breakfast in bed. She was suprised to see Angel refuse.

"But sugah if ya' doan eat..." She pleaded with the stubborn girl.

"Oh I'll eat alright but could we maybe, eat together, like a family?" Angel asked sweetly.

"Sure sugah. Remy would be stalkin' around the mansion like a badger with a toothache if his 'petite anje' doan take none o' his famous french toast!" Rogue sighed with relief. "CAAJUUN!" She called down the hallway to the kitchen.

"Yes mon cherie?" Remy appeared at the doorway to the infirmary, long chesnut hair pulled into a low ponytail and decked in an apron that read: 'Kiss the Handsome Cook'. Angel let out a giggle at the sight. He held a rubber spatula in one hand and a mixing bowl in the other.

"Wha' you laugin' at anje?" His startling red on black eyes crinkling at the corners in merriment.

"Angel wants to eat with us, like a family." Rogue informed Remy, proudly beaming. Remy smiled.

"Now Angel, what mutant ability do you posess?" The Professor quizzed later that same day.

"Isn't it ovious? I can fly." She responded.

"No, what caused you to drop from the sky all of a sudden?" He pushed on further.

"I- don't- know." She stammered, trying to find the reason for her fall.

"Were you struck with anything?" He tried to help her recall the days before previous events.

"No, I don't think so. I just remember felling warm- like electric." The deep in thought girl replied.

"Hmmm...sounds like Gambit's powers. Angel, have you flown before two days ago?"

"No."

"I guess I'll call Archangel." Professor finallized.

"Remy gonna take you out, coccinelle."

"But what about my wings?" Angel asked quietly.

"Doan worry, dis help." Remy explained as he handed her a necklace with a silver wing charm on it. "Hank made it 'specially for you, it make 'dose wings of yer's dissapear when ya' want, and reappear when ya' want 'dem"

"Who's Hank?"

"Oh I fergot ya haven't met him yet. He's da' scientist on staff, he also likes Remy's strawberry pancakes. Hank is hard ta' miss though. Well where do ya wanna go petite anje?"

Two Hours Later-New York City-5th Avenue

"Ah! What a belle!" Remy exclaimed as Angel modeled a beautiful white gown. She blushed at his compliment. "Dis here dress was made fer my petite anje! Anje simply must have it!" He added the white gown to the stack of dresses made for his small angel. "Where to next?" Remy asked once they departed form the ritsy street.

"The TOY STORE!" Angel yelled as she threw up her arms and spun around. Remy and her hooked arms and danced down the street, scattering the natives around them.

Later that Day-Evening

"I've been shopping on 5th avenue, went to central park, enjoyed a hotdog for the first time, took a carriage ride, climbed the Statue of Liberty, and now I want to... go to the circus!"

"Ye' wish is Remy's command." He laughed at this girl's passion for activity.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages..." The ringmaster began.

"Remy, may I go buy us some cokes?"

"If anje wishes" Remy replied.

"Thanks Remy." She pecked his cheek as he gave her a five dollar bill.

"I- we need to do this?"A squeaky voice asked an invisible person.

"Yes you need to do this, the circus is cheating if thet use mutants. Therefore we must eliminate them. You take Rhett, at third act." A gruff voice responded.

"But he's in the center ring at third act..."

"So we make an example of him to any other mutants in the circus." Angel shuddered.

'I know what I must do' She thought. "Excuse me? Heelloo? Can I get some service here?" She put on her teen-with-a-major-atitude voice. She cringed as an older buffed dude replied in a familiar squeaky voice.

"How can I help you?"

"Two cokes."

"Two dollars." She left to relay the info to Remy.

"Remy." She began.

"Wait, Remy love 'dis second act." He shushed.

"Remy listen..."

"Oh good da p'tite anje get us cokes." He reached for a coke.

"Remy what-ever-your-middle-name La Beau." She started in a motherly tone.

"Darn, it over. What, my p'tite madame?"

"Never mind." 'Fine I'll do this by myself, I think' She scrutinized the center stage. There were trapeze, and five men climbing the ladders, spikes were being pulled out onto the floor. 'Where's the net? One must be the sabator' Then she noticed "squeaky". He kept looking at what she supposed the Rhett charcter. 'Gee, he looks normal enough...Even handsome...' She looked down at what she was wearing. 'Of all days I had to wear a skirt' She silently complained. Angel watched "squeaky" flip in the air and grab a trapeze. Then she saw it coming.

"NOOO!" She screamed as her wings ripped from her back and leapt from her seat in the stadium. Remy sat there an watched the dramatic scene unfold. Angel flew over to the man suspended in the air just above the spikes. She grabbed him under the arms and lifted him to safety. 'Wait where was safety?' Angel didn't care, she just had to get him out of here.

She lifted him higher over New York City. 'Central Park! It's safe there!' She looked down at the limp, muscular man she held in an iron grip. 'He sure weighs a lot! That's okay 'cause he's beautiful!' She carefully set him on the ground. Angel quickly folded her wings and sat down beside him. Moaning, he began to revive. Acting on impulse, Angel leaned down and stroked his face. He flinched.

Rhett opened his eyes slowly to see and girl- no an angel, beside him. He opened his mouth to speak but the angel but one delicate finger to his lips and rested her flaxen head on his massive chest.

'Just like I've seen in the movies!' She thought excitedly. To her suprise he put his muscled arms around her and asked...

"Am I dead?"

"No, I saved your mutant butt."

"Thanks." He whispered back and fell asleep with a beautiful angel on his chest.

Midnight-Xavier Mansion

"Toasted mosquitoes! He'd better not've taken her clubbing or he'll wish he'd never been born..." Rogue threatened Remy, even though he wasn't there and suiting the mother role very nicely.

"Tell me when the clubbers get home, I can't miss this!" Logan joked from the couch.

Streets of New York

"Anje? Coccinelle? Anje you betta return that good man back to the circus or ye'll *gulp* be punished" Remy ran around Central Park yelling at the top of his creolian lungs.

Angel stirred from her sleep. 'Funny, I could've swore I heard Remy's voice' She look lovingly down at the slumbering man that held her close.

"P'tite anje!--What are you doing?!" Remy yelled at the man that held Angel 'captive.

Rhett was awake long enoguh to see a staff about to crack him upside the head and then went out cold.

"Remy!" Angel shouted.

"Ye free now." Remy soothed as he held her firmly in his arms.

"No! You hurt him! The man I resqued!" She cried angerily as she pounded against him with her puny fists.

"Ophmf- you gonna hurt Remy- ophmf- if you keep dis up" He laughed though every now and then a blow did land on his stomach causing him to gasp for air. Angel looked over at Rhett and saw a lump forming on his handsome head, she leapt to him and held his head in her lap. She had thoguht he'd died and was sobbing. Remy, relizing what she thought he'd done to this man, put a comfoting hand on her shoulder and told her, "he gonna be alright, jes' a bruise."

"Jeez, I must be in heaven, because there are two of you." Rhett stumbled over the words as he smiled weakly up at Angel.

"We gotta get 'im back to de mansion, where Hank'll fix 'im up real good, p'tite anje."

Xavier Mansion

The door to the mansion creaked open. Rogue pounced on Remy. Logan jumped, which startled Jubilee from her sleep.

"Sorry, darlin'." Logan patted her head before she settled it back on his shoulder.

"Where you been Mr. La Beau?" Rogue asked icily. Angel and Remy exchanged sheepish looks.

"Out." he replied coolly.

"Angel, dah'ling, please tell me ya' weren't out clubbing- Who's he?" Rogue glanced between Remy and Angel to find a tall, muscular man with a picture perfect face.

"Mine." Rogue blushed. "Seriously, he's Rhett the mutant trapeze artist, that's all I know"

"Actually I'm a gymnast," Rhett perked up. Jubilee jumped at the sound of another male voice, other than her fellow team mates.

'What a hunk!' She thought. Logan shot her a warning look and she shrank back.

"Uhhh, my head," Rhett moaned.

"Uh- Logan, some assistance here!" Angel buckled her knees under the weight of Rhett's muscle bound body, Remy had forgotten about Rhett and was pleading forgiveness from Rogue.

1 Hour Later- Xavier Mansion

"Rogue? It was my fault we didn't get home on time. I- uh- resqued Rhett," Angel confessed nervously.

"That's okay sugah," she hesitated then went on. "Ah think mah maternal in'stints got the bes' of me to'night, Remy an' you had me more nervous than a hen in a poultry shop. Ah wanted ta' kill Remy when he open that door." Angel laughed.

"Thanks Rogue. Well I'm going to check on Rhett, and see if he's okay," She thanked Rogue.

Sick Bay

"Ah, so the fair lady visits the lowly commoner." Angel heard Rhett shout from the sick bay. "Alas she bears flowers, could it be love?" She blushed as she knelt down to give him a kiss on the forehead.

"I think you're delirious," she whispered softly.

"Me? Delirious, nah, I'm just my witty, charming self," he laughed as he wobbled out of bed, bowed and dramatically kissed her hand. "My great thanks to my daring resquer. All right I admit it I am delirious, but it feels good," he hiccumped. Angel giggled. "Ah, so she laughs at me, what impression is that?" Rhett wondered out-loud. "But that's allright. I know that if I love her, someday that love will be returned-" He laughed wildly then kissed her with a passion Angel never felt before and her eyes widened in shock. "With a recipiet or not."

Morning at the Mansion

*DING DONG*

"I'll get it!" Jubilee shouted as she shot from the breakfast table. "Hello?" She spoke into the intercom.

"Hi Jubilation, it's Warren, may I come in?" A voice came back. Jubilee quickly opened the door and embraced the winged man.

"Good to see you to..." Warren was quite suprised at the affectionate greeting. Jubilee lead him back to the kitchen where Remy was trying out his latest concoction. "Who are you in trouble with now, cajun, Rogue, Professor, Logan?" Warren asked the master cook.

"None of 'dem, petite Anje' da' new x-men girl you gonna help train." Remy sweated over the hot stove.

"What are you making anyways?" Warren tried to sneak a bite, Remy swatted him with a rubber spatchula.

"Angelique bacon," he replied proudly.

"Oh. Sounds- uh tempting *gag*" Warren stifled a laugh.

"Git outta here!" Remy scoffed angerily.

"Archangel, glad you arrived safely," the Professor began.

"Well I am too. So where is this Angel of yours?" Warren rubbed his hands together, eager to get this training done and get back to Besty.

"Most likely in her room, sleeping. Like any other sixteen year old girl at 9:30 in the morning. I'm afraid-"

"I'm right here!" Angel suddely piped, she'd been eavesdropping in the hallway. Angel walked gracefully wearing one of Remy's old button down shirts into the large office they were meeting in.

"I was told you have wings?" Warren quizzed.

"They are right here," she replied as she delicately unfolded them from the back of her shirt, unlike the dramatic ripping display.

"Impressive wingspan, we might need to go outside."

"So basically I want you to practice flying everyday in the danger room and workout with me two to three hours a day, you defnatly need to work on your upper body strength, it looks like you pulled something when you carried Rhett off," he finished to a sweaty, smelly Angel. "Oh yes, ettiquete with me."

"You?" She queried demurely

"Have a problem with that?"

"I just thought that, well since Remy seems to be the most polite here, that I'd- well have ettiquete with him." Warren threw his head back and laughed.

4 Days Later

"Rhett!" Angel sang as she bounded into the sick bay. "Rhett?" Her lower quivered a bit as she realized he'd left, tears began welling up in her eyes.

"You wouldn't by chance know where a really short, beautiful girl with these wonderfully, gorgous wings, would you?" Rhett's strong voice came booming from the doorway.

"Rhett!" She shouted joyfully as she hugges him close. "I thought you left without saying goodbye," she confessed., rubbing tears from her eyes.

"Me? Nah, I'm actually staying, I was just going out to get stuff to personalize my new room, would you like to come with me?"

"Remy, did you know Thanksgiving is coming?" Rogue queried.

"I guess Remy better stake claims on de' kitchen."

"Seriously, Ah think of all people we should be the mos' thankful, with Angel taking a liking to us and everything."

"Yea, petite Anje' sure is a sweet thing."

I wish I could. . .just once. . . touch him. . .

Hanks Laboratory

"Hank! Ah wanna touch things!" Rogue threw open the door to Hank's lab and bellowed.

"Now Rogue, we've one through this before, I don't want to turn you blue and furry," the blue and furry doctor explained calmly.

"Hank, Ah can shave. . ." she said through gritted teeth.

"I'm not doing experiments on friends."

"Hank, Ah'm not gonna be yer friend if ya' keep this up," she threatened.

"Is this at this the request of Remy?"

"NO! It's the cause of twenty-six years of lonliness!"

"Wax lips work very nicely. . ."

"HANK! Listen to me!"

"I am not deaf, though after that I think I may be. I'll run tests, I'm not promising anything, but tests." Rogue gave a joyful leap and flew out.

Central Park

"Strut that stuff!" Rhett crooned as he snapped a few more pictures of Angel.

"My turn!" She annouced gleefully. "Stay right there." Angel tried to conceal her laughter as she took a dozen photos of Rhett with his lips puckered and eyes crossed.

"You're not going to blackmail me with those are you?"

"I don't know, would I?" She looked coyly at him, eyes dancing in mirth. He laughed then grabbed her and cuddled her to his chest.