"Bonjour Cherie," Gambit greeted Blaze as he sat down opposite her. She leant back comfortably into the coffee shop's brown leather sofa, crossing her long bare legs and smiling.
"I was wondering when you'd catch me up. How long have you been following me now Gambit, half an hour?"
"If yah knew I was chasin' you, how come you didn't stop and wait for me?" he asked, running his eyes over her critically. Today she dressed smartly in an above-knee length pleated grey skirt matched perfectly with the blue-grey fitted blouse and grey-black strappy shoes. It took him a second to realise she was giving him the same judicious look. Their eyes met and they both smiled.
"Because, as I know you'll agree, the fun is all in the chase…" Blaze glanced about the coffee shop briefly, getting the attention of a barista, "Fabio, can I have another of your gorgeous lattes for my friend please?" The barista obliged a little unwillingly, preferring to have Blaze's company to himself.
"So, no Claws today?" Remy asked, referring to Ilehana.
"Not today," Blaze answered. "She's got family business. Thank you Fabio," she smiled disarmingly at the waiter who muttered something and wandered off.
"She got relatives around here then? What did you say her surname was?"
"Why are you so interested in Vixen, Gambit?" Blaze asked him, eyes narrowing with suspicion. "I'd happily introduce you to her, but she's already smitten on some guy named Logan, so there's no point."
"I was just wonderin' how long I could expect the pleasure of your company, Cherie," Gambit filed away the information Blaze had unwittingly given him for reporting back to Magneto, whilst trying to cover his near-error. Blaze may be innocent as to Ilehana's connections to the X-Men, but she wasn't slow either. He'd have to play this one carefully.
"About as long as anyone else I'm afraid," Blaze replied casually, "until I get bored."
"Then I t'ink I can guarantee we won't be partin' acquaintance just yet." Gambit smiled, red-on-black eyes sparkling wickedly. Blaze smiled too, this man seemed too like her for his own good…
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"Are you sure you're ready for this, Ilehana?" Charles Xavier couldn't help but feel nervous for his daughter. Old wounds reopened took the longest to heal. He'd only ever wanted to protect her, to keep her safe. It drove everything he did and everything he was, but now it seemed no plan was perfect.
"I need to know Dad," Vixen opened up her mind to him with more confidence than she really felt. Gently his telepathic self reached into the darkest corners of her memory, removing so easily the barriers he had once placed there, marvelling at how crumbled and weak they had become. He'd thought the walls he built unbreakable but this only proved what a powerful mind Ilehana had now.
Ilehana gasped, mind suddenly rolling like a ship at sea with the power of these new memories. The shop from her dreams, her mother's smile, talking telepathically to the mice… Fear paralysed her as the men entered. She knew what was coming. The boy behind the counter reacted with terror; he was a mutant! Untried and untrained he started to bring the whole building down on top of the occupants. The refrigeration unit fell, covering the child Ilehana in protective darkness. Screams ran through the air as the building crumbled. Then there was nothing.
Vixen opened her eyes only slowly, feeling her father's arms wrapped protectively around her as if she still were the child in her memories. How close had she come to dying that day? If that unit hadn't fallen to protect her… Could she ever blame her father for doing what he had done to her memories? Would she have not done the same thing? And the boy, a mutant with no control over his powers, was he the reason her father had begun offering a home, training, a purpose to mutant children?
Ilehana forcefully put all thoughts from her mind and joined her father in tearful mourning once more for her mother, his wife.