Authors: AC, Admiral, Chaos, Maria_Cline, Dreamweaver, Flame, Jubilee_79, Lady_Yann, Le Fae, Leilee, Rainfall, Snowbaby and Teb.
Rating: PG-13 for language and violence
Disclaimer: All Marvel Characters belong to Marvel Comics. All non-Marvel Characters belong to the authors of this story. No money is being made off of this story.
Amanda had just come home from work and was looking forward to watching a new episode of the top rated X-men TV show. The X-men had been her favorite comic for years and she was glad that she had helped make the show a success. She loved writing the various plots, and everyone just seemed to follow her lead. She didn't know how she had become the head writer, but leadership seemed to come easy for her.
After she watched the show, she checked her voice mail. There was one message from Cara. Cara was her friend whom she had met over the internet; both she and Maria were the first two to post on her story Reality Bites. After that, they continued to write stories together and decided to meet, and the rest was history.
Amanda knew Cara was trying to set her up with another guy, but Amanda knew it would be pointless. Amanda was looking for a special type of man. He had to be intelligent, kind, a visionary, a leader, and he had to have blue eyes. No guy she had been with had lived up to her ideal. Cara was worried that she would never marry and settle down, but Amanda was determined to wait.
After she checked her voice mail, she took a shower and then decided to go on the net. She loved to get ideas from fans for the show and would pay them if she used one. Fanfics, in her opinion, were sometimes better then the comics. She hooked up to the net and saw that she had mail. She looked at the address and realized that she didn't know it. She decided to open it.
Something Sinister is on the way. Are you ready to join the fight? Keep the X in your Vision.
Amanda freaked out when she saw that the rest of the page had Vision-X written down it. She remembered that Vision-X had been the name of a superhero team she had used in one of her stories. She also vaguely remembered that the villain in it was Sinister. When she looked at the address, she noticed it said @anonback. Amanda decided she needed to call Cara.
A.C.
Sammi woke up to the sun shining on her face. She placed her hands over her face and felt it. The rings on her left ring finger. She pulled her hand back and sighed. /I can't believe after 4 years, we're finally married. And today we're leaving on our Honeymoon. I can't wait./ She thought.
She turned on her side and saw his back. She leaned over and cuddled up closer to him. She felt him stir and said, "Mornin', sweetheart."
He turned his face to hers, still not really believing that they were married. He kissed her lips and said, "If you're a dream, I never want to wake up."
She kissed him again, and said, "Nope. It's not a dream. You're stuck with me forever."
She smiled and he smiled back and said, " Well, you're stuck with me, too. I love you, Sammi."
She kissed him again, but longer this time and said when she broke it, "I love you, too, Jonas."
She laid her head down on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. She could stay like that forever. She remembered when she woke up after coming back; it was only a few minutes after she had been brought to the other dimension. She was crushed when she thought it was a dream. She felt like she lost her family again, but this time it seemed worse. She lost her best friend, the love of her life, and her father. She spent three months after that throwing herself into her work.
She never painted that much in her life. She had paintings of everyone; Leilee, Cara, Ryan, Sabretooth, Xavier, Remy, Storm, Sean, Angelo, Teb, Athena, Bobby, and Rogue. And the ones she had the most paintings of were Logan, Jonas, Jamar and Jubilee. Anyone who saw them had told her she should try and get a job with Marvel, but she never tried. She felt it would have been too painful to be around all of it every day.
After that first year, she decided to move on she put everything behind her. She sold all of her paintings except for one of each member of Vision X, and of Jubilee and Logan. The money from her paintings put her through school where went on to be a writer. She wrote a few X-Men novels, and two of Generation X. One night after one too many drinks, she went back to the storyboard and started writing on a story; it felt like old times, and she was addicted again. One day when she checked her email there was a letter from another writer on the board. They started writing back and forth only using their board names.
After writing for a few months, Sammi got up the nerve and asked his name. When she found out his name was Jonas, she wrote him about her dream. After that, she knew it wasn't a dream after all, and that she had been given another chance at love.
Sammi snapped out of her memories when she suddenly heard a small sizzling noise. She looked at Jonas and asked, "Did you hear that?"
"What? I didn't hear anything, What did it sound like?" He asked. He didn't hear anything but he was curious as to what she had heard.
"It was a kinda sizzling and cracking noise. I don't hear it anymore, but I could have sworn that I heard it before. I just can't place it." She said, placing her head back down.
He started to stroke her hair and said, "It was probably nothing. But we have to get up, we have a plane to catch."
"Yeah, I know." She said, slowly getting up. "But I need coffee. Do you want anything? I'll make breakfast."
"Do you think pancakes is too much?" He asked, giving her a smile.
"Nope. I'll be back." She got up and put on her bathrobe and started walking out the door, when she heard him say, "I hope she doesn't burn them again."
"It wasn't my fault they burned before. Blame Cara, she was cooking them." She said, and turned to see the shocked look on his face. "What?" She asked.
"Honey, I didn't say that out loud. I thought it." Jonas said.
"I heard you." She started to say, but stopped as she felt an itching sensation on the back of her hands.
Out of curiosity, she tried something she hadn't done in over three years. She tried to pop her claws. 'SNICKT!' The claws that she thought had been just a dream popped out! When she met Jonas on the board and they got to writing emails to each other, one day she mentioned the dream and they realized that it wasn't a dream... it had really happened, and now it was happening again.
"Goddess, Jonas do you see them?" She asked hoping they were a figment of her imagination.
"Yeah, I see them. Pull them back and get you coffee. Call Cara and see if this is happening to her, too. I'll be down in a moment, after I call Jamar." Jonas said as he picked up the phone. He needed to keep calm for Sammi. He knew what it did to her, when she woke up. He also knew that if Sammi didn't freak, then Cara or Ryan would.
Sammi walked down the hallway, but stopped when she heard someone in the kitchen. She slowly walked up to the doorway and peeked around. There she saw someone standing in the doorway with the refrigerator door open. She looked at the person that looked to be a male with reddish brown hair, and he was wearing a trench coat.
/I know that coat,/ She thought.
"Remy?" She said loud enough for the man to hear her. He turned around and she saw his trademark red-on-black eyes. She ran up to the stunned man and gave him a big hug. She stepped back and looked at him. She turned her head and yelled, "JONAS! WE HAVE COMPANY!!"
jubilee_79
Jamar had become frustrated sitting on the overstuffed leather couch. He'd been telling the man things that he felt were real, and yet the man contradicted him at every turn.
"Alright, Mr. Alexander. Let us try this again. You appear to be no longer suffering from the legion of personalities which once plagued you. Although it now appears that you have concocted a fanciful story to account for the presence of normality in your life."
"Are you trying to say that I'm just making all this up because I'm afraid to go back to my normal life?"
"It's only fear of an uncertain future that's pushing you thusly. You are no longer stressed by the burden of your illness or your delusions as you once were. Your paranoia and doubts are normal." /ABOUT AS NORMAL AS FOOTBALL BAT, YOU NUTJOB./
Jamar falls off the couch as his mind whirls in an attempt to keep up. /This isn't happening. Is it? / The temperature begins to drop slightly as nervousness takes over. His cell phone chimes in. He fumbles for the call key.
"Hello!?"
"Jamar?"
"Jonas!? Is something wrong?"
"Well...Yeah...Uh...someone just dropped in on us and we'd like for you to come over as soon as you can. Oh, and by the way, you wouldn't happened to have noticed anything weird today, would ya?"
"Uh...nope...nothing at all. I'll be there in a few minutes. Dr. Smivey, I've gotta run, something urgent has come up."
"I don't think you should leave right now we're at a critical stage. If you're having trouble adjusting, maybe I should recommend to Dr. Swan that you be readmitted to Crestwood."
"SESSIONS OVER, YOU'LL SEE ME NEXT MONTH."
"Well, the session's over for now. I'll see you next month."
Jamar rushes out of the office and into the elevator. When the elevator opened into the parking garage, Jamar was out and racing towards his car. /Everything is always a mad dash to do things./ he thought.
Jumping into the car, Jamar peeled out, leaving tire marks on the pavement. Once on the highway there was very heavy traffic, so it afforded him time to think. His mind was drifting, trying to come to grips with things that had transpired in the last three years.
//I'd come outta surgery fine. They claimed it was a complete success, even though one doctor said it shouldn't have worked. They placed me back in the ward. I knew that if I stayed one more week with these crazies I'd really go insane. Just when I was about fed up, they brought in two new patients, Cara and Ryan. The ladies looked a bit outta place, but who really looks crazy now a days?
It seemed that Ryan had gotten into a little trouble with her boyfriend and a tiny little fire. The court appointed attorney had convinced the judge that she was mentally incapacitated at the time, so she'd been sent to Crestwood for help. Cara was having some extreme medical problems and had come to see a specialist about them. As soon as I saw her eyes, I knew I'd seen her before. The feeling of déjà vu wouldn't leave me.
That night was when the dreams began. {{A strange man kneeling. The floor was glowing pink. Cara was kneeling across from the man. A purple flash and large explosion, then I woke up.}} The next morning I talked to Cara about the dream just for a laugh. Then she told me she had seen something similar that night. Three days had passed without either of us speaking about the dreams we'd had.
Then late one night, Ryan began to scream. In a fit of tossing and turning she became so hysterical that the orderlies had to come and sedate her for the evening. She told us the next morning that she'd had a nightmare about a dragon trying to kill her. By then we knew something was up. We thought that maybe the orderlies were slipping us shroom juice or something. Then I started asking myself "Why is this happening? What would Sammi do?" We had all been in the hospital about two months when Cara and I were released. Ryan had a bit of a problem with her release since she had committed a crime recently. This was also when they found out she was pregnant. It seems she was about five months along. She swore her ex wasn't the father.
I was surprised to see Sammi after so long, but it didn't really seem that long to me. After seeing how close we all had become during our time at Crestwood, Sammi asked us to stay with her and her boyfriend/fiancé. After about four months, Ryan's daughter Kat came to live with us. She's a great kid, so full of energy…kinda reminds of somebody especially when she gets into trouble. Ryan was eventually released, making us one big happy family. Then after months of being told we were crazy at Crestwood, we learned our dreams were actually repressed memories. //
A blaring horn brought him out of his reverie. The man behind him passed him, giving Jamar the finger. Jamar pulled off the highway and into the driveway. /After braving the highway, the thought never crossed my mind to just teleport over. I wonder if I remember how./ Jamar looks around to see if there is anyone in sight, and then disappears in a purple flash.
Cara, Sammi, and Jonas sit talking with Gambit, when a loud crackling sound is heard in the bathroom followed by a crash and the sound of running water.
"What was that?"
A very ruffled Jamar comes walking out in a wet Sports jacket. He stops, staring in shock as Gambit sits across the room with his legs slung over the side of a chair.
"Sammi, what's going on?"
"Are you gonna be alright dere, homme?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine in a moment." Jamar glances over to where Ryan is sitting. He was glad that Cara had taken Kat over to her friend Cindy's house. /I can't imagine how this is affecting her. Creed is…was, very dear to her. She still hasn't come to grips with everything that has happened, but at least she has Kat and the rest of us./
Chaos
At that moment, Cara's cell phone rang. Cara pulled it out of her pocket and answered.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Cara. It's me, Amanda. Can I talk to you?" she heard the worried voice of Amanda on the other end of the line.
"Sure, hold on." Cara said into the phone. "It's Amanda," she told the others. "I'll be right back..." she said as she got up and took the phone into the kitchen.
"Amanda? What's up? You sound really worried." she asked.
"We've got trouble. Do you remember that story we wrote together, a few years ago? Wasn't there a character in it called Anon?"
Cara felt herself stiffen. Anon. That was a name she hadn't heard in nearly five years...why would Amanda be asking her about it now?
"Yes, there was, I remember. Why do you ask?"
"Because I received a warning in an e-mail message...and the return address said @anonback. Do you think we should tell the others?"
Cara stood silent for a moment. "Yes, I think we should. Forward the e-mail to me so I can show the others." Then Cara remembered something.
She looked out the kitchen door at Gambit, then said on the phone, "Um, Amanda...there is something else that YOU should know, but I really can't tell you over the phone. I think you're going to have to see it for yourself... How soon can you be here?"
"You want me to come there?"
"Yes, I think it would be best...also, see if you can get in touch with Maria, and ask her to come too."
"Both me and Maria...this must be big."
"Bigger than Big...you'll understand when you get here." Cara finished.
Rainfall
Cara hung up, then went out of the kitchen to tell the others. She saw by the look on Jamar's face that he'd heard the conversation. That was when Cara remembered the mindlink.
"Well I could..." Jamar stops in midsentence as he sees the look of displeasure and threat of bodily harm on Cara's face.
/You could what? Try teleporting them here? Did it occur to you earlier that you might have appeared inside of the wall or something, hmm?/
/But I didn't.../ Cara continues to give him a stern look /...Well, it was good idea at the time./
Sammi picked up on the telepathic communication between the two, and began laughing, no longer able to hold it back. The telepathic exchange between her brother and sister-in-law stops.
Cara glared at her, responding out loud, "Don't encourage him."
"He doesn't need encouraging..."
Another glare from Cara silenced Sammi...but she was still shaking with laughter.
Chaos and Rainfall
Cara sighed, then said, "Amanda told me about a threatening e-mail which she received from some unknown party. I asked her to forward it to me, and also to come over here. Whatever is happening, it involves all of us."
Then Cara turned around and went back into the kitchen. She wasn't really angry, just a little preoccupied....and she didn't notice the wary expression on Gambit's face.
/De petit's eyes, dey beginnin' to glow... and Gambit know what dat mean's.../ he thought to himself, as he stood up and followed Cara into the kitchen. He remembered what happened when she had first gotten her powers, and he was afraid that something similar might happen now.
Cara stood by the open window, staring off into space. She was thinking about Anon. Even now, the name sent chills running up and down her spine. She was worried. Cara absentmindedly drummed her fingertips on Sammi's toaster, and didn't notice that it had begun to glow.
Gambit noticed though...he rushed at Cara, grabbed the toaster and flung it through the open window, then pushed Cara to the ground, sheilding her from the resulting blast which rocked the building.
Jamar and the others ran into the kitchen. Cara and Gambit sat on the floor, coughing and wiping dust and dirt out of their eyes.
"Are you alright?" Jamar asked as he helped Cara to her feet.
"Yes, I'm fine... Gambit saved me... but, Honey? We owe Sammi a new toaster... and a new kitchen window."
"A new toaster, huh?" Jamar said as he raised one eyebrow, and stifled a grin.
/It was an accident, I swear.../ Cara said on a veiled mindlink, so Sammi couldn't pick up on their discussion... and she gave Jamar her most innocent expression.
Jamar gave her a knowing look and replied through the veiled mindlink. /But I know you had it out for that toaster from the beginning.../
Cara could feel his laughter begin to flow through her... apparently, her empathy was also returning.
/heh heh heh, Hey, it burned my pop tarts!/ she finished, as she began to giggle.
Rainfall and Chaos
Ryan thought back to the day she had finally gotten out of the nut house. It was the happiest day of her life. She had put all the bad memories behind her and could get on with her life and raise her daughter. Now it was all coming back. If the doctor found out she was having delusions again, she would be locked up again. They would take away her daughter for sure. This can't be real, she thought, I don't want to go back.
"After I found my boyfriend and my best friend together I freaked out. I couldn't deal with reality anymore. It is all kind of a big blur after that. I went out drinking and then I was arrested. I was let out on bail and started to drink some more. I don't really remember what happened after that. I only remember waking up in a hospital bed. Apparently I had alcohol poisoning and I was pregnant. Luckily the baby was alright."
"And what about the fantasy? The one where the father of your baby was a comic book villain? What do you think of that now, Ryan?"
"It was just that…. A fantasy…I must have been brutally raped when I was drunk and that experience combined with losing my job and finding my boyfriend led me to dream up some fictional story to deal with it all."
"How do you feel about what you did to your boyfriend?"
"I'm sorry about what I did. I should have handled the situation differently." /Yeah I should have turned the car around and ran over the fire hydrant so he couldn't put out his burning furniture,/ Ryan thought to herself.
"Do you feel remorse for your actions, Ryan?"
"Yes, I feel horrible about all of it."
"What do you plan to do when you get out?"
"I want to play with my daughter. I want to take her to the beach and teach her to surf. I want to be the mother I haven't be able to be for her because I'm in here." Ryan said with tears in her eyes. She wanted more then anything to get out of this place and be with her little Scrappy… her little Kat.
"Alright, you are dismissed, Ryan. We will let you know if we are still going to allow you to be released today or not in about an hour."
With that said, Ryan left the room. She knew it was up to the board now, and she only hoped they would let her out this time. At least she kept her cool this time. Some people thought she got off easy for her crimes. She only had to spend time in a cushy mental hospital instead of a prison. If she had going to prison, she probably would have been out by now. Every time she would meet with the board the doctors would find some reason to keep her in. She not only had to face a parole board, but she had to face the doctors. Doctors kept her in this place and away from her daughter. They said she was delusional; maybe they were right.
She sat in her room away from the rest of the patients. Ever since Cara and Jamar had gotten out, she didn't want to socialize with anyone. They came by and visited her, and would bring little Kat with them. She hated the thought of her daughter having to come to this place just to see her Mother. They have to let me out this time, Ryan thought.
"Hey girl, good news. They are going to let you out!" Jamie one of the orderlies told her. " They want you to have a physical and then they are going to make you sign some papers. You should be done by the time Cara gets here with Kat."
Le Fae
Maria typed furiously as she did another story. Unlike the others, she used her experiences on another world to fuel her creativity. She created her own superheroine called, "The Invisible One" on a comic for a small time press.
"How's it going, Maria?" her boss Rob asked.
"I'm almost done."
"Good."
She kept on typing. Suddenly, a strange feeling went over her like a warm wave. A strange familiar feeling.
"Hey, Maria." Rob said as he reentered. "MARIA?!"
"Yeah?" Maria asked as she stopped.
"M-Maria... I hope I'm just hallucinating."
"What do you... mean?" Maria asked as she looked down at her hands to realize that they have became transparent. "Oh boy."
Maria Cline
Jonas came into the kitchen, and sighed. "Well, I guess the Honeymoon is over..." he said and looked disappointedly at Sammi.
Sammi frowned... "Great, I forgot... Damn."
Jonas hugged her from behind and kissed the back of her head.
"I'll call Alex and tell his to cancel the flight." with that, Jonas walked out from the kitchen again.
"Honeymoon?" Gambit asked, and grinned at Sammi.
"Hello, it's Jonas... Alex, something has come up, can you cancel the flight?"
Jonas turned on the monitor of his computer.
"Oh, it's nothing important, really. But we have to sort it out first before the Honeymoon. What? No, nothing is wrong."
"Btw, do you have the latest reports on the new X-men FX?... Great! Give me the cell phone number of the lead writer... It should be in there..."
He typed the number into his computer.
"Thanks Alex, now you be sure to get Spielberg's signature for Indy 4... Well, if he think ILM can do it better, show him what we can do... come on, ILM is OLD news."
"Alex, you're the man... yeah I'll tell her... Thanks again, what would I do with out you."
Jonas huge up the phone and smiled. He and Alex had started "Imagine Image" shortly after he had come back, developing a new 3D animation method. They quickly grew in size to one of the biggest FX company around. After they received an Oscar for Best FX, they quickly became the hottest around.
He looked at the Wedding photo on the desk... he still could not fully believe it. But it was true, they were married... his mind was snapped back in to the real world as Sammi came into the room.
"What was that about her cell phone number?"
Jonas started a tracking program on his computer and quickly located where Amanda was... he was lucky Amanda's work phone was not unlisted.
"Look, Amanda still believes that it was a dream, right? Well, even if her power is coming back like all of yours, she might not know how to handle herself if someone tries to get to her."
"Jonas..." Sammi put a finger on his chest. "Don't EVEN think about it, I know that ever since your memory came back, you have had all of your dragon abilities. But you've rarely used them and we agreed on that... didn't we?"
"Look Sammi, she might be in trouble, we have to make sure. I love you, but we have to protect each other. I'm the only one that is ready to use any of my powers yet. I'm only going to make sure they are ok, alright? No one will see me."
Cara came into the room a short moment after Sammi. The glass door was open... Sammi looked irritated.
"That stubborn... if he gets hurt, I'm going to kill him!"
Admiral
Amanda had enter the building where Maria worked, when a strange sensation came over her. Carefully she entered the elevator to take her to the top floor, when it hit her. In one moment her mind was flooded with a million images. She screamed from the overload, when she heard someone tell her to relax and go with the flow. As she relaxed, her mind was able to take it in and she had her powers under control. When she turn to thank the man, she gasped in shock.
"Scott!" Amanda exclaimed.
"It's good to see you again, though I would have preferred to see you at the mansion." he replied with a wry grin.
"You're real! I wasn't dreaming!"
"No, you weren't. I wish I was. Do you know how many people have asked for my autograph? They think I'm a T.V. star on..."
"The X-men. I know. I write for the show, and the actor bares a similarity to you."
"You write for what?!"
"Yeah, but don't watch the show. You wouldn't like all the near death scenarios I put you guys in."
"I'll take it under advisement. Where are we?" Scott asked.
"We are going to see Maria, and we'd better do it soon. If I got my powers back, then that means so has she... and if she screams..."
Before Scott could reply, the elevator opened and both stepped out to be greeted with the full force of a sonic scream. Both covered their ears. As they looked up, they could see a massive group of people running towards them.
Scott looked at Amanda and said, " I think we're in trouble."
A.C.