**A young child develops her mutant abilities under the watchful eye of a
mysterious doctor, but for once it is not what she is but who she is that
is of most importance to the X-Men. **
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men movie- verse. Duncan and Hana belong to Corrinth, as does Ilehana Xavier should she be mentioned. Star owns Golan, should he be mentioned too. All other OCs belong to me, especially Blaze and Jessie.
A/N: Okay, this story is the culmination (now that's a long word for a Friday morning!) of Corrinth's and mine timeline so far. In other words, this is set pretty much straight after the end of Guardians of Destiny, a whopping thirteen years after X2. I'll warn you now, there's post X2 spoilers a plenty coming up. Also spoilers for Corrinth's Guardians of Destiny, which incidentally is excellent, so go read it! But don't let all that put you off, I have very good reasons why this has to be so far in the future, so enjoy and if you have any questions about the timeline Corrinth and I write to, either email one of us or feel free to read all that has gone before.
To Corrinth, this story is, well not all your fault, but you set me a challenge in Guardians of Destiny through the parting words of one Ilehana Xavier... "Gam... Remy, Laura, I hope that, after all this, you will both realise where it is you truly belong." So here goes with my answer... dedicated to you buddy, long live the sidekick wall and may the mutant wolf pups run long and free!
Scene 01
The three little angels, terrors of the neighbourhood, pride of their parents, hid behind the parked car and waited for the newspaper boy to cycle unsuspecting down the broad avenue. Mia, the youngest of the gang was a nine-year-old black girl with deeply thoughtful eyes and a wicked streak the other two encouraged to blossom. Kerry was a ten-year-old beauty pageant winner with long blonde hair she hated and big blue eyes that meant she could get out of anything. Their leader was Jessie, the willowy redhead who looked as if she wouldn't say boo to a goose. Looks weren't everything though, and right now she clutched a full water balloon ready in her hand, waiting with a grin on her face.
"Ready? Fire!" The paperboy, who also happened to be Kerry's older brother Tom, was drenched from head to foot under a hailstorm of balloons. He screamed something unintelligible about telling his Mom, and peddled off furiously towards home, dripping as he went. The three best friends collapsed in a heap laughing.
"That was excellent!" Kerry squealed, accepting a high-five from Jessie. "Am I gonna get it when I get home though!"
"Just say he started it!" Mia laughed, "He ain't got no proof!"
"Jessie! Dinner's ready!" Came the call from the house behind them. Jess groaned as she stood up.
"No fair... Oh well, see you both tomorrow." She stuffed the rest of the packet of water balloons in her back jeans pocket. "What's our English homework again?"
"Read act one scene one of Romeo and Juliet..." Both other girls recited in a bland tone, though their eyes were dancing. Jess'd forget her head if it wasn't attached.
"Cool, think Mom's got that old film version, so I'll watch that instead." She was also lazy, but she didn't see it as such a bad thing, using her initiative. Running up her front path with a backwards wave she shouted back to her friends. "Later dudes!"
Jessie's dog Scruffy bounded all over her as she slammed the door shut behind her. In the kitchen she could hear her Dad singing terribly as he served the evening meal. Her Mom appeared, dressed impeccably as always, from upstairs and shooed the excitable pup away.
"Go wash up trouble." The blonde woman pressed a kiss to Jess' forehead, leaving a lipstick mark behind. "Looks like you need it."
"Aww, Mom." Jess ran to the bathroom, before skidding into the dinning room like an excitable pup herself on the polished wooden floor.
"Hey Sport." Her Dad greeted her with a grin and a plateful of burgers and fries. "What's new at school?"
"Not a lot." Jessie answered automatically; did kids ever tell their parents anything about school? Did parents really expect longwinded answers to the timeless question? Jess was so busy musing whilst stuffing her meal down her that she missed the worried glances that past between her parents. A few moments of silence followed, before Jess noticed she was the only one eating, and looked up. "What's wrong?"
"Um..." Her Dad, a complete coward by trademark, avoided her eyes and poked a fry with his fork. "You remember Doctor McMahon Jess?"
"Yeah?" Jessie answered with more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice. In hadn't been that long since her parents had taken her to see the eye specialist. She hadn't liked the man one bit; he was creepy, always watching her like she was some kind of lab rat.
"Well, I had a phone call from him at work today." Jess' Mom took over telling the story, not afraid to meet her daughter's eyes no matter how unnerving it was. She was still her daughter after all and she still loved her. "The test results have come back at long last."
"And?" Jessie put her cutlery down either side of the plate, knowing that if the news were good, her parents would have told her already.
"Its bad news I'm afraid sweetie... You remember what he told you about pigmentation being so important to how you eye works?" Jessie only nodded this time, eyes filling with frightened tears. "Your pigmentation is not only breaking down in the surface tissue, baby. It's happening inside your eyes as well..."
"But I can see fine!" Jessie screeched, throwing back the chair she sat on and running from the room. "I'm not going blind!" The two parents looked at each other as she thundered upstairs to her room and slammed the door, fear obvious on both their faces.
"We had to tell her..." Mark Price addressed his wife Lila with weariness in his voice. "Didn't we?"
"Yes." Lila nodded, putting her slender jaw in her hand and her elbows on the table. "But... But how much of the truth do we tell her now? If she goes blind before we tell her..."
"It'll be okay." Mark came and put his arms around his wife. "We've time yet."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jessie picked up the cordless phone in her room, thinking about calling Mia and Kerry to complain about the unfairness of it all. Scruffy scratched at the bedroom door, trying to get in to comfort his mistress. In a fit of stubborn anger she flung the phone away across the bed, punched the remote for her stereo and lay down in tears on the bed as cheesy pop music pounded through the room.
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men movie- verse. Duncan and Hana belong to Corrinth, as does Ilehana Xavier should she be mentioned. Star owns Golan, should he be mentioned too. All other OCs belong to me, especially Blaze and Jessie.
A/N: Okay, this story is the culmination (now that's a long word for a Friday morning!) of Corrinth's and mine timeline so far. In other words, this is set pretty much straight after the end of Guardians of Destiny, a whopping thirteen years after X2. I'll warn you now, there's post X2 spoilers a plenty coming up. Also spoilers for Corrinth's Guardians of Destiny, which incidentally is excellent, so go read it! But don't let all that put you off, I have very good reasons why this has to be so far in the future, so enjoy and if you have any questions about the timeline Corrinth and I write to, either email one of us or feel free to read all that has gone before.
To Corrinth, this story is, well not all your fault, but you set me a challenge in Guardians of Destiny through the parting words of one Ilehana Xavier... "Gam... Remy, Laura, I hope that, after all this, you will both realise where it is you truly belong." So here goes with my answer... dedicated to you buddy, long live the sidekick wall and may the mutant wolf pups run long and free!
Scene 01
The three little angels, terrors of the neighbourhood, pride of their parents, hid behind the parked car and waited for the newspaper boy to cycle unsuspecting down the broad avenue. Mia, the youngest of the gang was a nine-year-old black girl with deeply thoughtful eyes and a wicked streak the other two encouraged to blossom. Kerry was a ten-year-old beauty pageant winner with long blonde hair she hated and big blue eyes that meant she could get out of anything. Their leader was Jessie, the willowy redhead who looked as if she wouldn't say boo to a goose. Looks weren't everything though, and right now she clutched a full water balloon ready in her hand, waiting with a grin on her face.
"Ready? Fire!" The paperboy, who also happened to be Kerry's older brother Tom, was drenched from head to foot under a hailstorm of balloons. He screamed something unintelligible about telling his Mom, and peddled off furiously towards home, dripping as he went. The three best friends collapsed in a heap laughing.
"That was excellent!" Kerry squealed, accepting a high-five from Jessie. "Am I gonna get it when I get home though!"
"Just say he started it!" Mia laughed, "He ain't got no proof!"
"Jessie! Dinner's ready!" Came the call from the house behind them. Jess groaned as she stood up.
"No fair... Oh well, see you both tomorrow." She stuffed the rest of the packet of water balloons in her back jeans pocket. "What's our English homework again?"
"Read act one scene one of Romeo and Juliet..." Both other girls recited in a bland tone, though their eyes were dancing. Jess'd forget her head if it wasn't attached.
"Cool, think Mom's got that old film version, so I'll watch that instead." She was also lazy, but she didn't see it as such a bad thing, using her initiative. Running up her front path with a backwards wave she shouted back to her friends. "Later dudes!"
Jessie's dog Scruffy bounded all over her as she slammed the door shut behind her. In the kitchen she could hear her Dad singing terribly as he served the evening meal. Her Mom appeared, dressed impeccably as always, from upstairs and shooed the excitable pup away.
"Go wash up trouble." The blonde woman pressed a kiss to Jess' forehead, leaving a lipstick mark behind. "Looks like you need it."
"Aww, Mom." Jess ran to the bathroom, before skidding into the dinning room like an excitable pup herself on the polished wooden floor.
"Hey Sport." Her Dad greeted her with a grin and a plateful of burgers and fries. "What's new at school?"
"Not a lot." Jessie answered automatically; did kids ever tell their parents anything about school? Did parents really expect longwinded answers to the timeless question? Jess was so busy musing whilst stuffing her meal down her that she missed the worried glances that past between her parents. A few moments of silence followed, before Jess noticed she was the only one eating, and looked up. "What's wrong?"
"Um..." Her Dad, a complete coward by trademark, avoided her eyes and poked a fry with his fork. "You remember Doctor McMahon Jess?"
"Yeah?" Jessie answered with more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice. In hadn't been that long since her parents had taken her to see the eye specialist. She hadn't liked the man one bit; he was creepy, always watching her like she was some kind of lab rat.
"Well, I had a phone call from him at work today." Jess' Mom took over telling the story, not afraid to meet her daughter's eyes no matter how unnerving it was. She was still her daughter after all and she still loved her. "The test results have come back at long last."
"And?" Jessie put her cutlery down either side of the plate, knowing that if the news were good, her parents would have told her already.
"Its bad news I'm afraid sweetie... You remember what he told you about pigmentation being so important to how you eye works?" Jessie only nodded this time, eyes filling with frightened tears. "Your pigmentation is not only breaking down in the surface tissue, baby. It's happening inside your eyes as well..."
"But I can see fine!" Jessie screeched, throwing back the chair she sat on and running from the room. "I'm not going blind!" The two parents looked at each other as she thundered upstairs to her room and slammed the door, fear obvious on both their faces.
"We had to tell her..." Mark Price addressed his wife Lila with weariness in his voice. "Didn't we?"
"Yes." Lila nodded, putting her slender jaw in her hand and her elbows on the table. "But... But how much of the truth do we tell her now? If she goes blind before we tell her..."
"It'll be okay." Mark came and put his arms around his wife. "We've time yet."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jessie picked up the cordless phone in her room, thinking about calling Mia and Kerry to complain about the unfairness of it all. Scruffy scratched at the bedroom door, trying to get in to comfort his mistress. In a fit of stubborn anger she flung the phone away across the bed, punched the remote for her stereo and lay down in tears on the bed as cheesy pop music pounded through the room.