Title: Not Like It Should Be
Author: Natalia Melissa Vronsky
Email: blackqueenphoenix@yahoo.com or sputiehead@aol.com
Web-page: www.geocities.com/blackqueenphoenix
Part: three of ?
Category: Rogue/Gambit (kitty, jubilee, john, bobby)-Ariana POV
Rating: R for language... and violence/references to violence.
Summary: We get to know Ariana... and she get's to know The X-Men... or what's left of them.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters... Marvel Character Inc. does... 20th Century Fox does. I have NO money. I don't even have a job. I live offa my parents for Pete's sake! So don't sue me.
*Ariana Jenkins* is mine, Melt is mine, Chiara is mine... there are a few more in the story who are mine. Please don't use them without asking. I promise... if you ask... I'll say yes. Chiara means "clear" in Italian... just in case you wanted to know. :)
Author's Notes: Yes... Professor X, Scott, Jean, Logan, Storm and Hank are dead. Other X-people do make appearances in this one. Forgive the lame code-names of my made-up characters. I see now why Marvel writers are calling X-Force by names like, U-Go-Girl.
By the by, anyone notice how weird it is that Jean's got her telekinesis back now that Betsy is dead? Dun-dun-dunh!
Thanks: to Cassie and Daisy for being the worlds bestest beta's. :)
Dedicated: To all those lost on Sept. 11, 2001... and all those effected in any way shape or form by what happened...
Archive: Feel free to archive anywhere... I don't care so long as it's not at some "worst fan-fiction ever" page... also... just let me know, 'kay?
Feedback: PLEASE! I don't care if'n you flame me... just respond... it's nice to know what others think of my work. PLEASE!

"I tried talking to the other girl, ShadowCat, sometime later.

We had finished eating a scant dinner of dried vegetables.

She had simply brushed me off, saying she was busy.

She, in all honesty, was. She and Ice-Man headed out to look for more people.

I figured I'd try my luck with Rogue and Gambit... hoping they'd talk to me. They seemed content to keep a distance from everyone, even their teammates.

Shuddering, I walked over a couple of people.

Jubilee had told me that none inside the underground tunnels were dead. When people did die, they took them above and buried them.

Still, the pale faces, so close to death made me want to throw up.

Rogue was saying something in a hushed tone. Gambit looked up at me.

'Oui?'

'Uh... I wanted to help... next time you guys go looking for people.' I said nervously. Those eyes could creep out the devil.

'Non.' Gambit said, looking back down.

'Why not?' I cried, sounding my full fifteen years. Great way to make a first impression.

'It's nothin' personal.' Rogue stated, rubbing her temples. 'It's just too dangerous out there... no sense in you gettin' hurt.'

'I've taken care of myself for years now.' I said angrily, hating the tone in her voice. 'I have powers... and I can help people too.'

'What are your powers?' Rogue asked me, interest in her voice.

'I can stop things...for a short period of time.'

'Stop things? Like?' Gambit asked.

'People... rain... wind... anything around me. I don't know if things stop far from me... but things in the same room as me stop. That's how I'd survive... I'd get in trouble... and I'd stop things then leave.'

'Stay down here, Sugah. We may need you later.'

'But...'

'Y'either listen or leave.' Gambit said.

'We're just tryin' ta keep whatever mutants we can safe right now.'

'Why?' I glanced down at the papers in front of them. They looked like blueprints. 'Are you gonna try to get into Apocalypses fortress?'

Rogue smiled. She was truly beautiful. 'Stay down here. Help watch the little kids. Okay?' She motioned to a groups of twenty to twenty five children, all appearing to be under the age of ten.

'Yeah, okay.' I said, walking over to the kids.

A few of people my age were sitting with the kids already.

"Hey." A pretty girl with dark skin said.

'Hi. I'm Ariana.'

'I'm M.' She said in an airy manner. 'That's Husk. We used to live at one of the branches of Xavier's School.' I guess she was trying to establish that she was better than me because of that fact.

'Yeah?' Trying, and failing to sound interested.

'You got powers?' Husk asked.

'Yeah.' I explained to them what I could do.

'That's Melt...' Paige pointed to a boy, no more than twenty, with bleach blonde hair. 'He can liquefy anythin' solid.'

'Even people?' I asked, addressing Melt.

'Haven't tried...' He laughed. 'Yet.'

'Mi chiamo Chiara.' Another girl said.

'Huh?' I looked at the others confused.

'Sorry.' She said, heavy Italian accent. 'I Chiara. I telepath and telekinetic.'

'What are your powers?' I looked to M and Husk, noting how I was getting code-names, not real names.

'I can fly and I have telepathic abilities.' M said, grabbing hold of a little boy who was trying to hit a girl that was obviously his sister. 'Cut it out, brat.' She set him down. 'And super-strength.'

'I can shed layers of my skin, and I'll have another power when I do.' Husk said.

'There are a few others... but they've been missing.' Melt said.

'What happened?'

'They went out when the X-Men were gone... they wanted to be hero's too, since we aren't allowed to help... and they just never came back.'

'They alive.' Chiara said, tapping her head. 'Don' know where, though.'

I could see why Gambit had sounded so harsh when I offered to go out. They were worried about losing more people.

Suddenly, Jubilee, Pyro, Rogue and Gambit rushed to the opening of the tunnel.

Minutes later they returned with a blonde haired man with wings like an angel, and a beautiful woman with purple hair.

M and Husk jumped up and ran over, hugging the two.

'Who are they?' I asked when M and Husk returned.

'Angel and Psylocke.' M said. 'They're X-Men. We thought they'd died.'

I noticed that Angel wore a leather uniform, while Psylocke was scantily clad in a bluish/purple outfit than clung to her like a second skin.

The addition of those two seemed to cheer up the X-Men considerably."

~ Ariana Jenkins ~

Part four will be the last in Ariana's POV. Rogue and Gambit will have a turn... and someone dies in part six.

As they're being shot at...
Gambit: "Dis is not my idea of a good time."
Rogue: "Tell me about it!"
Gambit: "Dis is one of the best!"
Rogue: "You're crazy, Gambit, you know that!"
Gambit: "Crazy for you, Chere. Ain't you figured dat out by now?"
Rogue: "Absolutely, positively, certifiable!" X-Treme X-Men #5