Hey! The tragic part is coming up really soon so prepare! Oh yeah, and since I used to write mystery stories or suspense, I decided to turn this story into a horror/tragic/suspense/romance story. You'll find out about the strange thing if you read this chapter! And believe me, you'll be amazed!

Chapter Four: Simple and Clean (Semi-Final)

Belle fixed her black and light blue uniform quickly and followed me out of the hotel door. Ya' wouldn't believe who we found in the lobby.

"Chere'!! Y' came ta see Remy no?" asked Remy excitedly.

Rogue grabbed Remy's wrist and began dragging him out of the hotel. Belle and I exchanged glances and followed the couple out.
Outside, Rogue told us about the Russian mafia stopping by sometime for a file similar to the one we have. I arched an eyebrow and took out the disk, wondering what exactly was saved inside it. Belle tipped her head to the side and crossed her arms curiously.

"But why would they want this disk so much?"

Rogue shrugged. "Ah'm wonderin' the same fer Magneto."

"Maybe it has ta do wit Apocalypse." Wondered Remy as he scuffed his boot against the snow.

Belle sighed, letting a silver plume of breath fly slowly towards the gray sky. It seemed like it was going to snow soon. But I couldn't take this cold. Not without a coat or something.

"Can we just hurry up and leave? This isn't my type of weather." I demanded.

I heard Belle snicker as Remy shrugged then led us into his car. Finally, we were leaving. As he started revving the car up, a scream was heard from inside the hotel. Our heads lashed to find the secretary and several bell boys running out of the building, followed by several gunfire. Belle turned to me and snatched the disk from my hand.

"I told you! Piotr was right!"

I sighed and snatched the disk back from her, shoving it in my pocket. "Remind me ta talk ta the bloke when we get back."

Remy and Rogue jumped out of the car and raced into the building to stop the commotion. It began snowing.

"Make sure they don't get out!" Rogue called back to us.

I signaled an 'okay' ta her and got my fuel tank ready. Anytime now, I was sure a lackey or two would pop up so I could turn 'em into crispy critters. I then felt Belle poking me lightly. I turned and looked at her strangely.

"Yes luv?" I asked sweetly.

Belle raised an eyebrow. "I can't control snow. Only water. Can you melt the ice for me?"

We looked at each other for a quick moment. I turned back and started melting the ice below the flames, shooting out from the tip of my palms. The good news was that Belle now had water to control. The bad news was that it seemed to melt and turn into a lake, surrounding Remy's corvette. But it was better than nothin'.

"Thanks." She responded after a kiss.

And I was right. Three men flew out of the hotel glass doors. They had already seemed beat up enough so we decided to scare them off. I moved my hands around as the fire shot out in front of the wounded men. Belle decided to join along and bent down to the top of the water below. I watched her hands slowly come up, rising the water faster each time. I took a guess at what she was going to make as I created my signature flaming horseman. I looked over again and saw Belle's water sculpture turn into a large unicorn with a long sharpened horn starting at its mane.

"Ya' copied me!" I shouted playfully.

The men started to turn aghast at the sight of our creations as we started to argue playfully.

"Nuh uh! I have a unicorn, you have a horseman."

I smirked and sent the horseman ta chase after the men. "Sure luv. Sure."

Belle transformed her unicorn into a snake-like dragon, breathing bubbles from the tip of its wings. She looked and smirked at me evilly.

"There, happy now?"

The men raced around, trying to find somewhere to hide, or at least run to. The three men stopped at an ice patch where it never melted before. They started making faces, teasing us. As if we couldn't reach them. Shows how much they know huh? Belle sent her dragon out, wrapping it around the patch and creating a large water barricade as I moved my horseman closer to them. The dragon went down into the water, bringing the patch of ice up into the air like a geyser. Belle turned to me and waited.

"Okay, go ahead and do your thing." She said, as if she was disappointed.

I nodded and smirked devilishly as the horseman molded into a giant flame, surrounding the patch of ice, melting it slowly. It was quite fun ta hear the blokes scream for mercy before they fell into the ice cold water.

"Please!! Mercy! Have mercy on us!" shouted one of them.

Belle looked to me. "Well, what should we do?"

I crossed my arms as the men fell into the water. "I say we let 'em freeze."

She looked at me strangely then sat down on the edge of the car. "Whatever."

"Well, I'm sure they could get out on their own." I responded.

I sat down next to Belle as she rested her head on my shoulder. To admit, I was actually happy Belle came along. Well, not exactly came along but, ya' know what I mean. Suddenly, I felt Belle jerk back for a moment, making me feel uneasy. I lashed to her and noticed she began to breath hard, stunned with fear.

"What was that?" I asked her.

She shrugged and tried to relax. Suddenly, a hand bursted from the water and pulled on Belle's uniform, trying to drag her down. I quickly went behind her and managed to make the hand let go of her. But, for some reason, the bloody bastard decided to bring me down. Belle began to panic, screaming my name and sticking her hand into the ice cold water to try and pull me back up. I wasn't sure what was happening at the moment. I struggled to keep my breath and make the bloke let go. He was truly quite persistent. The man jerked me down farther. It seemed the water was deeper than I thought. Finally, the man made us switch places, making me slam against the ground hard on my back. My mouth came open, making some water go in. For some reason, I thought my life would end right at that exact moment. My breath was running short. I had to breathe sometime. The man began slamming me up and down on the ground, trying to make me inhale. I knew I couldn't roast 'im underwater. So I had nothing to depend on. My body grew weak from the cold, numbing every second. The frozen feeling just at my fingertips and the tip of my nose. Death was waitin' just around the corner. I wouldn't be able ta see Belle anymore, I wouldn't be able to see anyone. Just complete darkness. Like a dark void, spiraling around with no place to stop or go. Before I could think any longer, I felt the water splitting apart. My eyes were closed tight as I lied motionless on the ground. What was gonna happen? I had no clue. Just that my life felt like it was slipping away. Right away at my frozen fingertips.

***********

I woke up to the sounds of crying. My eyes wandered first, trying to focus onto where I was. Right then, I knew I was back at the Acolyte base. I looked around a little more until I noticed Belle sleeping right next to me on my black covered bed. I sat up and looked at her for a moment. I smiled when I noticed she was crying in her sleep. Deciding not to wake 'er up, I slipped away from the bed and walked out to the hallways of the base. Hoping to find Remy to ask what had happened. The lights, hanging from the roof, were brightened. Magz must've made Sabertooth put in the new light bulbs finally. But I liked it when it was dim. As I continued along the new brightened path, I heard heavy footsteps coming around the corner. Ignoring the fact that I was about to crash into whoever was on the other side, I decided to stop, just at the tip of the turn and turn on the fire blaster connected onto my wrist band. I pointed it down and made flames shoot out of it, making the floor create a wide hole. Just big enough for some idiotic bloke ta land in. The footsteps grew louder, making me realize that it was Piotr coming ta make the turn. This was the perfect opportunity to tell 'im not ta tell Belle stupid stories.

"La la la run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the colossal giant!"

Ugh. That stupid tin man song he came up with. I can't stand it. Now he really deserved gettin' his foot caught up in there.

"Patty cake, patty cake, my little game. bake me an X-Men as fast you can. pull and pat and smack it was a X. Put in the oven and bake for MEEEEE!!"

Good timing. Piotr finally landed his giant metal foot in the hole I made. He struggled for a moment, and then began grumblin' in his lingo. Believe me; if you heard any of his otha songs, I'm sure you'd wanna kill 'im. I walked past him, hummin' a tune that Belle used ta sing. I decided ta spare the tin man 'till Magz's meeting. But, without thinkin' twice, Piotr decided to beg.

"Uh, John? Can you help me for a moment?" he asked in his deep voice.

I looked back, still walking towards the metal corridors to the elevator. "Sorry Piotr. Gotta' go attend a meeting." I replied.

"BUT!" he responded hastily.

I pressed the button to the elevator and began waiting. "Soorrryyy. I'm in a hurry."

Piotr made his usual "Hmph" sound and tried again ta pull 'imself out. "Please? I need to attend the meeting also."

I turned around and sighed at the Russian. "Then tell me why you've been tellin' stories ta Belle."

He looked at me like I was stupid. "What stories?"

I sighed again and walked backwards into the elevator. "Neva mind. I'll see ya' at the meeting!"

The elevators closed. Piotr watched it with pout and started to struggle again.

*********

"'bout time y' came Johnny."

Remy voice made me turn immediately to him. I sighed then sat down in a chair next to him, hoping he would fill me in on details.

"So what happened?" I asked as Mastermind and Sabertooth walked in.

The Cajun threw his feet onto the metal table and crossed his arms behind him to get comfortable. I guess that he knew it was going to be a long meeting.

"Well, when Belle spreaded the water apart, she went down and kicked the man offa y'. Afta that, Rogue and I managed ta get outta the hotel. Belle then snatched the disk from y' and started trying to pull y' up until some guy decided to attack her with the barrel of his gun."

I was shocked ta hear Remy finally speak in 1st person. "Continue." I said slowly.

"Then, well, all I gotta say is that we kinda' failed the mission and kinda' succeeded."

Then, a familiar eerie voice echoed through our minds. "That is why I called for this meeting."

Our heads turned to the dark shadows, revealing our leader, Magneto. He wasn't wearin' his stupid helmet, which was kinda' a good thing. It gives us Acolytes that dumb effect in someway. It's hard to explain.

"How's it goin', Magz?" asked Remy in his cool tone.

I rolled my eyes at the ideas that might be bouncin' through Remy's head. Trying to impress the boss was the oldest trick.

"There's no need to try and impress, Gambit. You know you have failed the mission. But I will give you all most of the credit."

The door creaked open. Piotr stepped into the meeting room and sat diagonally in front of me, glaring at me as he removed parts of the floor from his left leg. I smirked as Belle walked inside. She had changed out of her uniform and into her black baggy jeans and white halter with matching white shoes. Her hair was now up in a high ponytail with strands of hair hanging down like that Shadowcat sheila. Magneto greeted her with a welcoming smile.

"Welcome Belle. I'm glad you have joined this meeting." He said with his cheesy smile.

I sware. Magz has always tried to hit on Belle. But of course, she doesn't like old blokes with no sense of humor. I watched Belle take a seat ahead of me and smiled gently. She mouthed the words: "You alright?" to me. I nodded then turned my attention back to Magz before he started fussin'.

"Continuing on, I found out that the Russian mafia now has the file in their captive still in Russia. I need Belle, Pyro, Sabertooth, and Gambit to go back and steal the disk back. Then return it here immediately."

Piotr did his "Hmph" again to grab Magz's attention. "What about me?"

Magz looked at him for a moment and nodded. "Then I shall send all of the Acolytes. Including me."

I sighed disappointedly at Magneto's new idea. I could imagine what he would try ta do to impress Belle, being she's the only girl connected to the Acolytes besides Rogue. I looked ova to her. It seemed she wasn't even paying attention. She was too busy listenin' ta Piotr yap again.

"Now, all of you, get into your uniforms and let's get going." Commanded Magneto.

*************

Belle and I walked through the halls to get changed. As we did, we talked about the new plans that Magz had just made up. I definitely wasn't agreeing ta those.

"Well, I think it's alright. Piotr's from Russia so he could navigate. Sabertooth could be defense while the rest of us would be the offense or be the team that gets the disk."

I shook my head. "I know, but I don't like the fact that Magneto's comin'."

Belle looked at me and patted her halter. "Why not?"

"Just because. I don't like being watched by a perfectionist."

"He's not a perfectionist. He just acts like one." She sighed.

"So he's a poser."

She gave me a light shove and shook her head. "No, he just wants to make his plans successful."

"He has perfectionist written all ova his face."

"Well, I'm sure there's another reason why you don't want him coming."

I heard Belle's wings flap lightly. I thought she was getting irritated so I decided ta just come out and say it.

"I think he's just wantin' ta be around ya'."

Belle smiled. "So you're jealous?"

I shook my hand wildly as we took a turn and stopped at my door. "Of that old bloke? No way!"

She smiled playfully and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Good." She tipped her head to the side for a moment, still smiling. "'cause I love you. Not him."

Our noses touched then our lips joined. She pulled away as I unlocked the door.

"You're so sweet luv." I paused and watched her go in first. "Way too sweet for me."

She arched an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips. "So you're saying that I spoil you?"

We got closer again to kiss until Sabertooth came into the room. He stared at us strangely for a second like he's neva seen someone kiss his sheila. I sware, that bloke's got some serious issues. He still plays with his dumb dolls!

"Yes?" I asked rudely.

Sabertooth scratched his head then moved his attention to Belle, whose arms were once again around my neck. His dark eyes moved down towards her hips where my hands were.

"Are you guys trying to kill each other?" he asked, trying to be cute.

We both sighed, hoping Sabertooth would leave. Like he would get the message. His brain is the size half of a kookaburra.

Belle smiled forgivingly. "No we're not trying to kill each other Sabertooth." She giggled. "Did you want something?"

He nodded and cracked a smile. "You comin' on the mission right?"

I arched an eyebrow at what I was hearing.

"Of course! Plus I get to go along with Pyro so, I'm willing to."

Suddenly, an alarm went off, screaming wildly through the hallways echoing. Belle looked up and gazed around, wondering where the disturbance was coming from. Suddenly, Gambit came rushing into the hallway they were in. He panted and gazed at Belle with eyes that was most secretive. She suddenly felt this rush of memories, like she knew him before. Breaking her thoughts, he began to speak.

"The Russian Mafia's come back for us!! Get goin' to the front!!" he demanded.

Okay then people!! I like that chapter. But the next chapter, is sadly the last of this story. Cuz I kinda' want to end it so I could work more on the sequel. Soo, see ya' next time!! Reviews please!!