Rating: PG-13 for language and violence
Disclaimer: All Marvel characters belong to Marvel. All non-Marvel characters belong to the authors of this story. No money is being made off of this story.
The light was bright as it poured through the shades of Cara and Jamar's bungalow. They'd been cut off from the group for the past couple of days. There were a lot of thoughts and emotions being flung around.
/I love you, sweetheart./ Jamar says as he opens himself up to Cara.
/I love you too./
"JJJJJJJJAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!"
The impact of the call knocks him out of bed.
"Whoah! Something's up. I'll be back in a moment, luv." He says as he quickly kisses her, and 'ports out of the bungalow.
/..But hon... you don't have on any pants./
Jamar reappears somewhere on the beach. Athena trips, but Jamar is there to catch her.
She breathes heavily. "uh...j...a..mar..b.b.b.obby anddd...i are gettting married w..ill... you...give.. m.m.me away?"
"Whoa, calm down, Athena. You and Popsicle are getting married?! Yes, I'd be honored to give you away."
Athena's breathing becomes less ragged as she calms down, and notices Jamar fully.
"Jamar, really big red hearts...Oh behave!"
Jamar visibly blushes before he ices up his lower half. Jamar helps Athena up. She is still quite jumpy. He tries to hold her steady a little with telekinesis. She starts to walk off quickly.
"What's up? Where are you going so fast?"
"I gotta go find a minister."
"You calm down, hon, and I'll handle that alright."
A bright purple hole opens in the sky. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" *!!!THUMP!!!* A very dazed and confused priest hits the sand hard, bouncing.
"Uh... Sorry Father!"
The man is obviously flustered as he looks around and collects himself. The man stands, looking around in his boxers which have little angels with gold halos on them.
Athena smiles, taking the priest by the arm and explains the situation.
Chaos
Amanda saw Logan and decided to talk to him. She knew he was anxious to save Sammi, but she had a feeling that despite anything they tried, Sammi could only save herself.
"I know you are worried, Logan, but I need you to be patient. There is so much you don't know, and so much that must be faced." stated Amanda.
"This coming from a woman who blew up a cop car because she was annoyed?" asked Logan.
"Let's say that I've gained spiritual enlightenment since then. I know this is hard, but you must be patient. Sammi, Jonas, and your grandchildren depend on it." stated Amanda.
"Why don't you just get rid of Anon? I've seen your powers. You're the Phoenix. You could stop her." demanded Logan.
"First of all, I am not the Phoenix. I'm what the Phoenix was before it joined with Jean," replied Amanda.
Logan looked stunned. What did she mean by that? The Phoenix was power incarnate.
"Secondly, if I kill Anon, then I become her. You see, Logan... if any of us give into to the hatred, we become it. That is how Sinister and Anon got Sammi. I think that they filled her with so much hate that it has changed her. In order to get Sammi back, I think she needs to see the hate for what it is, and then let it go."
"She's my daughter. How can I sit around and do nothin'?" demanded Logan.
"You have to have hope, Logan. We have a great battle ahead, and we need to keep our hope and faith in each other strong to win. Believe in the love you two have for each other, and have faith in the fact that I will get your daughter back. Without that, Logan, we may lose you as well."
Logan looked in her eyes and saw the truth. He knew he would get his girl back. He had to believe it.
"Come on. We have a wedding to plan for." Amanda said as she pulled Logan with her.
A.C.
Jamar watches as Athena and the priest walk down the beach. /Well, one crisis averted./
A gentle and familiar presence caresses his senses with feelings of love. Jamar turns to see Cara standing behind him in a pink and gray outfit.
"Ahem!" She mutters, holding out a pair of pants, which he quickly takes and puts on.
"Thank you, sweetheart."
"You're welcome... but next time, luv, remember your pants. So now that we're up, I think it'd probably be a good idea to grab a little breakfast."
"I'm starved. I think we should see if our son will be joining us today or not." Jamar begins to search for LJ, but Cara stops him.
"He'll be alright. I think he went in search of his grandfather."
"Come on. We have a wedding to plan for." Amanda says as she pulls Logan with her. Wolverine hesitates as a bush moves to the right of Amanda. /Hmmm..../ Wolverine eyes it carefully, then shakes his head and continues walking.
"RAHHHRRR!" Wolverine is dropped hard to the ground, the impact taking the air out of him. After the dust clears, he can see the figure of a blue haired kid sitting on his chest... a lopsided grin plastered to his face.
"Gotcha, grandpa! Tag... yer it." LJ says before rushing back into the underbrush.
Amanda laughs at the expression on Wolverine's face. "Go ahead, Logan... there'll be plenty to do. Take care of the little rugrat."
Both Cara and Jamar witness this. They can't help but poke fun at him. //What's wrong, grandpa? Finally met your match? It seems that LJ is the "best at what he does", and he's only 9.//
With that, Wolverine is off in chase of his grandson.
Chaos
(The pound sign [#] denotes speech that is translated from Bobcat)
LJ laughs to himself. /This is gonna be fun./ As he thinks this, a voice cuts through his thoughts.
/Logan Jamal, do not hurt your grandfather, okay?/
/Alright mom./
Logan trudges through the underbrush smelling the air. There's no scent. /Good job, kid's maskin' his scent. But I'm the original Bad A**. I'm the best at what I do./
Just then, he's hit from behind by a coconut. Logan stands there rubbing his head. He turns at a sound. Popping his claws he whirls, bisecting a coconut which continues to float in front of him.
/A distraction.../ it's too late to move as a tree unloads it's coconuts all over Logan.
LJ sits in a tree overlooking the scene, his body morphed into something resembling the predator. He laughs to himself as he sends a message to Kat.
**Kat!?**
Kat is crawling all of 'Tooth as they wrestle on the beach. She pounces on him, knocking him back down. She wiggles her nose at him.
**Hey, Kat, wanna have some fun with my grandpa and Mr. Creed, Hunh?**
/Sure. It sounds like fun. Can Robby and Mac play too?/
**Yeah, the more the merrier!**
"Dad, will you show me how to track? I wanna be just like you."
"Sure thing, pup." As he says that, Kat morphs into a bobcat and runs off into the woods. Sabretooth slowly follows, giving Kat a head start.
Wolverine claws his way out from under a few hundred coconuts, and begins scanning the area. /Hmmm... somethin's not right here./ A blur forms at the corner of his vision in the outline of a kid, which disappears.
Kat comes running into the woods wide-open, jumping up the side of a tree where she finds LJ waiting. She is still in bobcat form.
#Kewl outfit. I wonder if I can do that.#
**Don't try too hard. If you relax, It'll happen.**
Within minutes, Kat's form mimics that of LJ's. They quiet down as Sabretooth bounds into the woods and stops.
/Now where did the pup go?/ Creed continues looking and smelling.
LJ shifts the air around telekinetically, keeping the scent of Logan and that of Kat's transformation away from Creed.
"What do you think guys, yer mom'll love it... don'tcha think?" Bobby says.
"Can't I hold 'em?" Robby asks.
"Okay, but be careful." He says as he hands Robby the wedding rings.
Robby looks at Mac, and they both run for the door.
"What the..?" Bobby says standing up.
He takes one step, and flips over onto his back. After a careful look, Bobby notices a patch of ice and that his shoelaces have been tied together. Looking out the door, he sees an ice path heading for the woods.
Bobby enters the woods barefoot. They'd tied his shoes good. If they hadn't done it to HIM, he'd have been proud at how well they'd pulled this prank. /But I'm gonna get 'em though./
The sound of laughter draws Bobby ever deeper into the woods. /Aha! I gotcha./
Wolverine followed a trail, only to find it had been left by a bobcat. /That kid's good. Where could he be?/
Just then the winds subtley changed. Wolverine sniffs the air, catching a familiar scent. /Gotcha!/ He takes off in the direction of it. /I'm still the best at what I do./
/Heh Heh Heh... found ya, pup. Yer good, but ya need practice./
Sabretooth runs full tilt and lunges over the side of a bunch of shrubs.
Bobby enters the clearing, but doesn't see any kids. /Damn!/
All of a sudden, he hears a rustling, then....
"RAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"RAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"
Both Sabretooth and Wolverine pounce on an unsuspecting Bobby Drake, who ices up. It was a good thing too, because he had just lost bladder control.
Chaos
Twenty minutes later, all parties involved sat silently in Athena and Bobby's bungalow. Athena was angrily pacing the room as the four children awaited punishment. Finally, she spun around.
"Kat, L.J., get to your rooms NOW. I don't want to see or hear either one of you again until lunch. You are grounded until your parents decide what to do to you. Robbie, Mac, I have never been so dissappointed or ashamed of you. I raised you to know better than this. If this is how you choose to behave, then I don't want you to be here. There's a pilot waiting right now to take the two of you back to Nashville and Mishka. If I have to get onto you two one more time, I'll let Mishka enroll you in that military boarding school that she's always talking about. Understood?" Athena asked sternly.
The boys nodded solemly, and left with the pilot after hugging Athena and Bobby.
"And you two," Athena turned to Logan and Victor. "The best at what you do, isn't that what you always say, Logan? Well if you're the best at what you do, and you don't know better than this, then maybe you're obsolete!" Athena screamed.
Suddenly large balls of fire blew Victor and Logan all the way to their own bungalows, leaving the two men dazed. Athena turned to look at the others gathered in the room.
"If there are anymore shananigans around here, and I do mean any, whoever is involved will know what it's like to burn in hell. Do you all understand?"
Heads nod, and faces show fear all around the room.
Athena continues, "I'm not asking much, just that my wedding day be peaceful and happy. So far that hasn't happened! I swear if I don't get away from here, I'll explode!"
All of a sudden, Athena just vanished into thin air; leaving a stunned and ice covered room in her wake.
Flame
Ryan's eye's widened.
"What happened to her??" She screamed.
Everyone began looking around the room. Bobby began to panic.
"ATHENA!!" Bobby screamed and began searching the room. "Where did she go?" Bobby had a look of sheer terror in his eyes. He couldn't lose her now that he had found her again.
"Maybe we should split up and search the Island," Ryan said.
"Good idea," said Bobby.
The group split up, and Ryan went in search of Victor so he could use his nose to find Athena.
Le Fae
Cara and Jamar had just finished their breakfast. The latter part had been spent walking along the beach. The beach had become crowded. Families gathered to spend a blissfully happy day at the beach. They continued to walk the coastline, lost within their thoughts.
/This is such a great place…So beautiful. I must remember to ask Amanda where exactly we are./
/I don't think I want to ever leave. I bet it would be a great place to raise children./ Cara says with a bit of wistfulness. This is not totally lost on Jamar, who squeezes her hand.
/I know how you want a big family. We've already got LJ, and he loves you to death. And others will follow. You are so full of love... You're gonna make a great mother./
A wave of fear, anger, and frustration flows down the beach.
"What was that?" Cara asks Jamar.
"I'm not sure... but why do I have the nagging feeling that it has something to do with LJ?"
Cara feels dizzy, and falls against Jamar who steadies her.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm just feeling a bit faint... maybe I've had too much sun."
"Well, let's get back to the bungalow," Jamar says as he picks up Cara.
With a wave of his hand, they both appear inside the bungalow.
"I'm okay, hon. You can put me down... I was just a little hot. I could just use something to drink though," She says as she steps into the kitchen. The fridge had been well stocked. /Hmmm…I wonder why I have a sudden craving for a triple chocolate, peanut butter shake? I haven't had one of those in years.../
"Do you think you should be eating that much sweet stuff after suffering a heat stroke?"
"Oh, I'll be fine." She says, then stops as she begins to sense three distinct presences in the room. Jamar doesn't seem to notice anything amiss as he watches her fix a shake. Cara concentrates deeply, her eyes half-closing, then suddenly opening very wide before she smiles. "Honey!"
"Yes, luv?"
"We…." Cara is cut off as Amanda's telepathic voice interrupts her, explaining the situation with Athena.
"Uh oh! Logan Jamal!" Jamar snickers a little bit before once again becoming serious.
He reaches across the room, his hand disappearing and reappearing with LJ at the other end.
"What am I gonna do with you?" Cara asks sternly.
"I SHOULD BE GIVEN ICE CREAM AND SENT OUT TO PLAY." he tries the Jedi style mind trick on Cara.
"Sorry LJ, but that only works for your Father...you're out of luck. Now, we're going to see what we can do to straighten this mess out..." Cara says with a small smirk on her face.
"You go to your room and think about what you've done. We'll be leaving after your mother finishes her shake. You better hope Athena's in a better mood when we find her."
Chaos
Amanda used her powers to locate where Athena was. It wasn't too hard. It was a small island, and she knew everyone's psychic signatures. She was slightly concerned about Athena's reaction to what amounted to a little harmless X-Men style fun. After some of the things they had pulled with the X-men at the mansion, Athena couldn't really yell too much at the kids.
Amanda sensed that something had been bugging Athena all day. She wasn't quite as happy as she should be. The whole flame throwing deeply disturbed Amanda. She decided she should talk to Athena first before she told Bobby where his bride-to-be was.
/Jamar, lock on to my psychic signature and teleport to where I am./
/Amanda, we're trying to find Athena./
/I know. I found her, but something is wrong and I don't know what it is. I think you should talk to her./
/I'll be right there, fearless leader./
Amanda was worried. She didn't need the team falling apart yet. They would soon be challenged by Nightmare, Sinister, Anon, and Samantha. What ever was wrong, she hoped Jamar could help.
We have such little time left, she thought to herself.
A.C.
Ryan found Sabretooth, looking very bewildered and angry about what happened. She tried to stifle the giggle that was threatening to come out. He just looked so cute when he was confused.
"We need to punish Kat." Ryan said, trying to keep a serious face.
"What are you smirking at, frail?" Sabretooth said, giving her another confused look.
"You just look so cute right now. I'm sorry, I need to stop… let's go get Kat," Ryan said, putting a straight face on.
"Keep that thought in the back of your mind for later." Sabretooth said as the two walked to their daughter's room.
When they entered the room, they found it to be empty... but both knew better. Ryan knew better simply because she knew Kat's little games… and Victor knew better because he could smell her.
"Honey, where did Kat go?" Ryan said in a mock concerned voice.
"I don't know, frail. Hey, when did she get this funny looking cat? Frail, can't you even get the kid a decent pet? This one has no tail." Sabretooth said, pointing to an orange tabby cat that was sitting in the corner of the room.
Both of them knew it was Kat morphed into a tabby, but they decided to play along. When Kat got nervous about being in trouble, she would have problems with her morphing abilities.
"Maybe we should put it to sleep?"
"Poppa, no, it's me!" Kat screamed as she morphed into her regular form.
"Scrappy girl, why did you trick your father like that? And why did you get the boys to go along with those pranks?" Ryan asked as she sat her daughter on her knee.
"I'm sorry, Mommy…. I was just feeling left out. Everyone is so busy.. I didn't want to hurt anybody." Kat said as she hung her head low.
"Well, pup, I think you need to apologize to your Uncle Bobby and Auntie Athena… they didn't think it was funny, and they really didn't need this kind of stress before their wedding." Sabretooth said.
"And you need to apologize to your father for tricking him." Ryan said to Kat, and then turned to Victor, "and you need to apologize for scaring the heck out of Bobby. You should be more careful, Victor!"
"Me?" he said, looking confused again.
"Yes, you! What if it had been Kat you found? You could have hurt her... and besides that, you really scared Bobby." Ryan had to fight the urge to kiss him again, he just looked so cute right now.
Le Fae
A portal opens onto the beach and deposits a lone occupant onto the sand. /Hmmm…. Very scenic./ He walks several steps, then levitates a couple of feet, trying to get a feel for the surrounding area.
/Amanda, are you sure that this is the correct island? I might have 'ported out wrong./
/I'm certain Jamar. She's around your position. /
/Hold on, I think I see her./
On the other side of the beach, Athena sat on some rocks overlooking the water. An area to her right looked as if a meteor had hit it. There were scorch marks everywhere. Jamar lowers himself to the ground behind her.
"Is this seat taken?" Jamar asks, flashing a lopsided grin.
Athena turns and hurls a fireball at him, which passes right through him.
"I'll take that as a yes then."
/Be careful, honey. / Cara's voice says in his mind.
Jamar stops joking, and his face becomes a mask of seriousness.
"I apologize for the prank that LJ pulled earlier. He's really sorry. I don't know if that makes you feel any better, but maybe there's a way we can cheer you up." /Cara, luv, is that surprise we talked about almost ready?/
/Well the first part is... the rest is up to you. /
"Come on, Athena. Cara and I have something special planned for you."
"What is it?"
"You'll just have to come with me and check it out, okay?" He reaches out his hand to her, palm up.
"No more pranks, Jamar."
"I promise you, no more pranks. If there are any more pranks, I'll fry their brains myself... deal?"
"Okay!" She takes his hand, and they disappear in a ball of purple fire.
They step out of the portal, and are met by Cara and Amanda who throw a lei over the necks of Athena and Jamar. Behind them is a large table with the members of the X-family gathered around it. Bobby sits at the head, wearing a crown made of coral and ringed with seashells and starfish.
"WELCOME BACK, ATHENA!!!" The X-women place a crown on her head, and motion her to her seat.
The kids, happy to be out for the festivities, amuse themselves by throwing around an ice ball.
"Sorry kids, this is a NO POWERS ZONE."
With the help of Amanda, Jamar blankets the area in a negation field. The ice ball quickly melts. There is a chatter of disapproval from some, but the looks on Jamar and Amanda's face silences the throng. Then they both raise their glasses to toast the beautiful couple.
Chaos
Amanda smiled at Jamar. Each had decided to give a toast, and she was to go first. She had thought about what to say for a while, and hoped it didn't sound too stupid.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I have always loved weddings. I think they represent the future and Hope. Most importantly, I think they represent love. The love of two people for each other, and the love of friends and family who join in the celebration.
"Athena and Bobby, under all circumstances, should never have met. They both lived in different dimensions, and led very different lives. I don't know if we will ever know what really brought us all together, but I feel that this wedding is yet another reminder that it was a good thing." Amanda turns to the happy couple and smiles," I hope that today marks the first day of the rest of your lives together, and I hope you will always be as happy as you are now."
Cheers rose up and every smiled at the happy couple. As they headed to the priest, Amanda hung back to watch the happy gathering.
"This is almost as great as my wedding." stated Jamar.
"I'm so happy for them." stated Amanda
"So, when are we going to attend yours?" teased Jamar.
"If Charles ever asks, you mean?"
"I'm sure it's only a matter of time till you, Ryan, and Leilee marry your X-charmings."
"I wouldn't count on Charles and me. There are too many barriers. I'm just going to enjoy our time together, and not get depressed about a lack of our future."
"This wouldn't have to do with your new powers, would it?" Jamar asked.
Amanda just smiled and headed towards the group. Jamar watched as she headed towards Charles and took his hand. Jamar knew that Amanda was hiding something. He couldn't read her mind because of her new abilities, but he was determined to find out what it was.
A.C.