[A/N: X-Men isn't owned by me, just Tori. Tori is not a kitty hater. She's just not up to being friendly at the moment. But beware, there will be major Scott bashing in the upcoming chapters. I can't stand that guy! Alot of admiration for Logan and Gambit tho'. There may even be a fight between Tori and one of the girls, in the near future. R/R please.~Kuroi Tori]
*_*_*_*_*_*On with the show*_*_*_*_*_*
Tori sat quietly within the chair in front of Xavier. She found it uncomfortable to stare at him as he silently read the lengthy letter. Her eyes adverted to the carpet below her feet. Kurt was crouched beside her, his tail wavering behind him as he sat in silence. Occasionally, he'd look over to Tori.
"vell professor?" Kurt couldn't take the sound of death any longer. Tori looked over to him then to the professor. Xavier placed the 4 page letter down in front of him and folded his hands.
"Well,..." He started only to be cut off by Tori.
"I knew it. You can't help me." She coldly stated, turning away. Kurt tilted his head then turned to the professor.
"I didn't say that."
"You're thinking it." She retorts. Cold orbs searched the professor's face for any sign of indifference to her accusation. The professor lowered his eyes to the letter briefly.
"There is a way...with time of course."
"A way for vhat? Something wrong?" Kurt asked eager to know the answer. He wanted full details about who Tori was and where she came from. If he wanted to find answers for some mystery, maybe he should have become a Private Investigator(1).
"You're wasting my time." She sighed. She braced her hands against the arms of the chair and stood up. Kurt and the professor watched as she made her way toward the double doors.
"If you're willing to advance, you must stay here at the institute. That's the only way to harness this power of yours."
Tori stopped with her hand against the door handle. She looked back at the two from over her shoulder and tossed a brief statement over it.
"Fine. Whatever."
-Flashback-
"You're finally up." A voice echoed around the room and into her ears. Slowly her eyes opened with a blurred outlook. She shook her head and waited for the objects in the room to form.
"Where am I?"
"You're in a holding facility." Tori followed the voice and found a chair occupied by that blue woman. Clothed in white, Mystique came to a stance and walked over to the cell Tori was held in. She placed her hands against the bars and looked down on the small child. Tori looked around her room and found another with red hair overlapped by white stripes, curled up in the corner. "I really didn't want to put you two in here but it was my orders."
"What do you want with me?" Tori asked, grabbing onto the cold steel bars. The metal rattled within her grasp. Mystique backed up a bit with a hand in front of her to guard herself. When she realized nothing happened, she crossed her arms and grunted.
" It's not what I want with you. It's what Magneto wants with you."
"Magneto...?" Mystique turned to face the doorway and started in her walk. Tori rattled the bars to get her attention but Mystique refused to turn around. "What does he want with me? huh? Mystique!"
"You'll find out." Tori watched as Mystique disappeared through the sliding doors and sighed with that unexplained answer she received. She fell back against the cold ground and listened to the silence. She heard faint sniffles coming from a corner and turned to find the little girl shivering in a cloak. She sat up and crawled toward her.
"H..Hey. Are you all right?" Tori reached for the girl's shoulder but the little girl turned from her and pulled the cloak ever-so-tightly to herself. Tori eased back a bit.
"Don't touch me." The lil' girl warned, cowering even deeper into what little warmth she could gather from the cloak. Tori sniffed lightly and directed her eyes to the concrete beneath them. Her eyes widened at the small pool of blood that formed around her body.
"Hey!" Tori reached forward and pulled away at the cloak, causing the little girl to scream as she tried to bat her away. Tori struggled to take the cloak from her. "I'm trying to help you!"
"No!" She screamed when the cloak fell away from her grasp. She reached her hand to Tori's face and placed the other along the hand that grasped her coat. It seemed like time froze between them as they screamed and images were brought up. First the girl's memories phased through them, then Tori's. The fear between them broke them apart and they both fell back away from each other. Tori was the first to emerge from the floor, breathing heavily as sweat beaded down her face. She looked over to the girl.
"Are you okay?"
"Okay?" The little girl looked to her hands in disbelief. "Nothing happened." She looked to her stomach, pushing away at the clothing that concealed it. "it's gone..." She looked up to Tori as she leaned her back against the metal bars. "What did you do?"
Tori panted heavily and looked down on herself. She held her hand against her stomach and cried out in pain as she arched forward a bit.
"Rogue..." She started. The little girl's eyes widened. How did she know her name?(2). "I'm like a coin. I have two sides. I can take pain or give it. It all..." she wheezed. "...depends on me." Her head hung low with silence and Rogue's eyes widened.
-End Flashback-
* * *
"I got it!" Logan yelled looking up with a grin. "I know what I'll call her!"
Scott and the others groaned at the interruption of peace they were having in the Rec. Room. Kitty, Amara, Bobby, and Jubilee were playing Monopoly on the coffee table while Gambit shuffled his cards for a quick game of Blackjack with Archangel.
"What will you call her?" Ororo asked without lifting her eyes from the reading. Scott threw up his hands and sighed.
"I'll call her ARCANE!"
"Arcane? How long did it take you to think of that one?" Scott asked arching a brow as he leaned against the fireplace with his arms crossed. Logan shut the thesaurus and slipped it into his coat pocket.
"Only as long as it takes you to come that head of yours."
"You got something against my hair, 'wolvie'?"
"Don't start with me, Scooter. I don't have time for any of your bull today." Logan sneered as he got up to go to the kitchen. Like always, he would head there for another beer or two.
"Gambit wins again!" The Cajun yelled, raising both of his gloved hands into the air. He turned to see Tori and Kurt coming down the stairs together. Xavier wasn't too far behind them. "Who dat?"
All heads turned to the three who entered. Tori shifted her beret to fit just right onto her head. Ororo sat her book on her lap and turned to Xavier.
"I have some news about our guest." He started. Tori glanced over all of the faces. She turned her gaze to the professor and folded her hands behind her back. "She's going to be staying with us."
"Goody." Hank said as he stepped his mighty blue frame into the room. He shifted the small glasses over the bridge of his nose and found a place to sit. "Welcome to the X-Men."
Jean was the first to advance toward her followed by Jubilee.
"It's an honor to have you with us." Tori watched as she extended her hand and in silence watched as it was left hanging in the air until she uncomfortable pulled it back to fall at her side. "well...I'm Jean."
Jubilation Lee was next in line and she gently pushed Jean aside.
"Isolation, huh? Yep. Me too." She held up some Hot-Boy Magazines and grinned. "Trust. You and I are going to have a wonderful time here. You'll get used to it."
Tori slightly smiled, but withheld her pearly whites from being seen. She watched as Jubilee leaned forward with a hand to her mouth. "Don't worry about the others. Me, You , and Rogue are the only sane ones here."
"I heard that!" Gambit yelled from his card-playing table. He walked over to Tori and smiled. She tilted her head and stared at his complex eye design. He was different. She never saw anything like that before.
"You...are different" She spoke. Gambit gasped and tilted his head back in surprise. He looked around.
"Did you just speak ... to GAMBIT?!" Tori smiled cheerily and nodded. Kurt BAMFed over to Kitty in the meantime.
"Oui. Et je parle français également."(3) Gambit was shocked. He placed an arm around her shoulder and smiled.
"I t'ink we'll be da best of friends." Gambit nodded reassuringly. "I be Gambit. Beer Keg over d'ere calls meh Gumbo."
Tori giggled. She didn't want to tell him of the many times he'd reiterate his name to her even when he was unaware of it, so she nodded and followed his pointing hand to Logan. She nodded to him.
"Monsieur...uhh." She paused. She didn't want to call him "Beer Keg".
"Logan." He pulled Gambit's arm from around her shoulder and pushed him to sit on the couch. "Sorry about that. Any newcomer he meets, he tries to get to know them... personally."
Tori nodded then smiled. Logan looked around the room and pointed to each member of the X-Men.
"You should already know the professor...fuzzball.. kitty. That's Scooter...Jubilee... Jean... Archangel. The little tikes there are Wolsbane, Bobby, BoomBoom, Amara--"
"Monsieur Logan." She stopped his rambling. "I'm sure I'll meet everyone tomorrow, if I haven't tonight."
Logan nodded. "Sorry."
"That's okay." She smiled over to Rogue who thought she was sneaky enough to stare at her from behind her gothic novel. Rogue abruptly turned away, trying to hide her stare.
"Do Ah know you?" Rogue asked, embarrassed that she was caught in her stare. Her eyes never returned to Tori, they remained on a page of her book. Tori smiled and shook her head. "Nope."
"Look at her, salvaging in their oncoming friendship. She better know what she's doing." Red lips sneered into a fanged scowl. Cloaked, Mystique watched as Tori's isolation crumbled before her eyes. She shut her eyes to soothe her building anger and turned away. Pulling on the hood of her cloak, she pivoted and the cloak's tail followed in her turn. She left as quietly as she came.
-------------------------------------------
(1): Clue to my next X-Men Fanfic.
(2): Mystique did say her name in the flashback/dream that Tori had.
(3): "Yes. And I speak french also." -Remember, she does carry a French Accent.
*_*_*_*_*_*On with the show*_*_*_*_*_*
Tori sat quietly within the chair in front of Xavier. She found it uncomfortable to stare at him as he silently read the lengthy letter. Her eyes adverted to the carpet below her feet. Kurt was crouched beside her, his tail wavering behind him as he sat in silence. Occasionally, he'd look over to Tori.
"vell professor?" Kurt couldn't take the sound of death any longer. Tori looked over to him then to the professor. Xavier placed the 4 page letter down in front of him and folded his hands.
"Well,..." He started only to be cut off by Tori.
"I knew it. You can't help me." She coldly stated, turning away. Kurt tilted his head then turned to the professor.
"I didn't say that."
"You're thinking it." She retorts. Cold orbs searched the professor's face for any sign of indifference to her accusation. The professor lowered his eyes to the letter briefly.
"There is a way...with time of course."
"A way for vhat? Something wrong?" Kurt asked eager to know the answer. He wanted full details about who Tori was and where she came from. If he wanted to find answers for some mystery, maybe he should have become a Private Investigator(1).
"You're wasting my time." She sighed. She braced her hands against the arms of the chair and stood up. Kurt and the professor watched as she made her way toward the double doors.
"If you're willing to advance, you must stay here at the institute. That's the only way to harness this power of yours."
Tori stopped with her hand against the door handle. She looked back at the two from over her shoulder and tossed a brief statement over it.
"Fine. Whatever."
-Flashback-
"You're finally up." A voice echoed around the room and into her ears. Slowly her eyes opened with a blurred outlook. She shook her head and waited for the objects in the room to form.
"Where am I?"
"You're in a holding facility." Tori followed the voice and found a chair occupied by that blue woman. Clothed in white, Mystique came to a stance and walked over to the cell Tori was held in. She placed her hands against the bars and looked down on the small child. Tori looked around her room and found another with red hair overlapped by white stripes, curled up in the corner. "I really didn't want to put you two in here but it was my orders."
"What do you want with me?" Tori asked, grabbing onto the cold steel bars. The metal rattled within her grasp. Mystique backed up a bit with a hand in front of her to guard herself. When she realized nothing happened, she crossed her arms and grunted.
" It's not what I want with you. It's what Magneto wants with you."
"Magneto...?" Mystique turned to face the doorway and started in her walk. Tori rattled the bars to get her attention but Mystique refused to turn around. "What does he want with me? huh? Mystique!"
"You'll find out." Tori watched as Mystique disappeared through the sliding doors and sighed with that unexplained answer she received. She fell back against the cold ground and listened to the silence. She heard faint sniffles coming from a corner and turned to find the little girl shivering in a cloak. She sat up and crawled toward her.
"H..Hey. Are you all right?" Tori reached for the girl's shoulder but the little girl turned from her and pulled the cloak ever-so-tightly to herself. Tori eased back a bit.
"Don't touch me." The lil' girl warned, cowering even deeper into what little warmth she could gather from the cloak. Tori sniffed lightly and directed her eyes to the concrete beneath them. Her eyes widened at the small pool of blood that formed around her body.
"Hey!" Tori reached forward and pulled away at the cloak, causing the little girl to scream as she tried to bat her away. Tori struggled to take the cloak from her. "I'm trying to help you!"
"No!" She screamed when the cloak fell away from her grasp. She reached her hand to Tori's face and placed the other along the hand that grasped her coat. It seemed like time froze between them as they screamed and images were brought up. First the girl's memories phased through them, then Tori's. The fear between them broke them apart and they both fell back away from each other. Tori was the first to emerge from the floor, breathing heavily as sweat beaded down her face. She looked over to the girl.
"Are you okay?"
"Okay?" The little girl looked to her hands in disbelief. "Nothing happened." She looked to her stomach, pushing away at the clothing that concealed it. "it's gone..." She looked up to Tori as she leaned her back against the metal bars. "What did you do?"
Tori panted heavily and looked down on herself. She held her hand against her stomach and cried out in pain as she arched forward a bit.
"Rogue..." She started. The little girl's eyes widened. How did she know her name?(2). "I'm like a coin. I have two sides. I can take pain or give it. It all..." she wheezed. "...depends on me." Her head hung low with silence and Rogue's eyes widened.
-End Flashback-
* * *
"I got it!" Logan yelled looking up with a grin. "I know what I'll call her!"
Scott and the others groaned at the interruption of peace they were having in the Rec. Room. Kitty, Amara, Bobby, and Jubilee were playing Monopoly on the coffee table while Gambit shuffled his cards for a quick game of Blackjack with Archangel.
"What will you call her?" Ororo asked without lifting her eyes from the reading. Scott threw up his hands and sighed.
"I'll call her ARCANE!"
"Arcane? How long did it take you to think of that one?" Scott asked arching a brow as he leaned against the fireplace with his arms crossed. Logan shut the thesaurus and slipped it into his coat pocket.
"Only as long as it takes you to come that head of yours."
"You got something against my hair, 'wolvie'?"
"Don't start with me, Scooter. I don't have time for any of your bull today." Logan sneered as he got up to go to the kitchen. Like always, he would head there for another beer or two.
"Gambit wins again!" The Cajun yelled, raising both of his gloved hands into the air. He turned to see Tori and Kurt coming down the stairs together. Xavier wasn't too far behind them. "Who dat?"
All heads turned to the three who entered. Tori shifted her beret to fit just right onto her head. Ororo sat her book on her lap and turned to Xavier.
"I have some news about our guest." He started. Tori glanced over all of the faces. She turned her gaze to the professor and folded her hands behind her back. "She's going to be staying with us."
"Goody." Hank said as he stepped his mighty blue frame into the room. He shifted the small glasses over the bridge of his nose and found a place to sit. "Welcome to the X-Men."
Jean was the first to advance toward her followed by Jubilee.
"It's an honor to have you with us." Tori watched as she extended her hand and in silence watched as it was left hanging in the air until she uncomfortable pulled it back to fall at her side. "well...I'm Jean."
Jubilation Lee was next in line and she gently pushed Jean aside.
"Isolation, huh? Yep. Me too." She held up some Hot-Boy Magazines and grinned. "Trust. You and I are going to have a wonderful time here. You'll get used to it."
Tori slightly smiled, but withheld her pearly whites from being seen. She watched as Jubilee leaned forward with a hand to her mouth. "Don't worry about the others. Me, You , and Rogue are the only sane ones here."
"I heard that!" Gambit yelled from his card-playing table. He walked over to Tori and smiled. She tilted her head and stared at his complex eye design. He was different. She never saw anything like that before.
"You...are different" She spoke. Gambit gasped and tilted his head back in surprise. He looked around.
"Did you just speak ... to GAMBIT?!" Tori smiled cheerily and nodded. Kurt BAMFed over to Kitty in the meantime.
"Oui. Et je parle français également."(3) Gambit was shocked. He placed an arm around her shoulder and smiled.
"I t'ink we'll be da best of friends." Gambit nodded reassuringly. "I be Gambit. Beer Keg over d'ere calls meh Gumbo."
Tori giggled. She didn't want to tell him of the many times he'd reiterate his name to her even when he was unaware of it, so she nodded and followed his pointing hand to Logan. She nodded to him.
"Monsieur...uhh." She paused. She didn't want to call him "Beer Keg".
"Logan." He pulled Gambit's arm from around her shoulder and pushed him to sit on the couch. "Sorry about that. Any newcomer he meets, he tries to get to know them... personally."
Tori nodded then smiled. Logan looked around the room and pointed to each member of the X-Men.
"You should already know the professor...fuzzball.. kitty. That's Scooter...Jubilee... Jean... Archangel. The little tikes there are Wolsbane, Bobby, BoomBoom, Amara--"
"Monsieur Logan." She stopped his rambling. "I'm sure I'll meet everyone tomorrow, if I haven't tonight."
Logan nodded. "Sorry."
"That's okay." She smiled over to Rogue who thought she was sneaky enough to stare at her from behind her gothic novel. Rogue abruptly turned away, trying to hide her stare.
"Do Ah know you?" Rogue asked, embarrassed that she was caught in her stare. Her eyes never returned to Tori, they remained on a page of her book. Tori smiled and shook her head. "Nope."
"Look at her, salvaging in their oncoming friendship. She better know what she's doing." Red lips sneered into a fanged scowl. Cloaked, Mystique watched as Tori's isolation crumbled before her eyes. She shut her eyes to soothe her building anger and turned away. Pulling on the hood of her cloak, she pivoted and the cloak's tail followed in her turn. She left as quietly as she came.
-------------------------------------------
(1): Clue to my next X-Men Fanfic.
(2): Mystique did say her name in the flashback/dream that Tori had.
(3): "Yes. And I speak french also." -Remember, she does carry a French Accent.