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: Post X2 spoilers, and spoilers for Corrinth's Guardians of Destiny, which incidentally is excellent so go read it! Reviews always appreciated.
Scene 05
"You **hollered** Jean?" Blaze tapped her finger to her temple on the word hollered, acknowledging the telepath's work.
"Yes, but on Gambit's instructions. " Jean folded her arms across her chest, lips tight. "He's brought in a new student, but she's not the most trusting type."
"And he wants me not you to help settle her down?" Blaze smiled shrewdly, noting the telepath's unimpressed body language. "Don't take it personally will you?"
"It's the girl I feel sorry for, latching on to Gambit like this." Jean bit back.
"Which would be why he's asked for me, because I can follow his lead." Blaze pushed the door to the office open, leaving the thought that Jean couldn't stand taking orders from Remy blatantly obvious but unsaid in the air between the telepath and the fire elemental.
"It not hard, Petite, you just got to relax a lil'..." Gambit sat up straight in the large chair that had once belonged to Professor Xavier. Sideways from him, positioned so the desk wasn't cutting across their conversation, a young girl emitting shimmering darkness gripped the arms of her chair as though any minute the chair would become a white-knuckle roller coaster. Blaze realised another reason why her old friend wanted her opinion on this kid, there weren't many mutants who could transform their whole body's appearance so completely. Blaze flexed her power internally, readying herself for a demonstration that the child was not alone.
"I can't do it!" The child spat back. Blaze could hear sobs in the child's voice, and her heart went out to the girl. All mutants went through a period of fear of their powers, and Blaze's had been longer run than most. This child was showing all the classic signs as Gambit acknowledged his friend was there and beckoned her into their circle.
"I got someone for you to meet, Petite. This Blaze, our languages teacher. She show you how easy it be to change back an' forth."
"Hello..." The child offered, hesitantly. Jessie hadn't been too impressed with either of the other staff members she had met so far, the Principle Mr Summers or his wife Dr Summers. She was beginning to think this had been a big mistake. "I'm Jessie."
"Nice to meet you." Blaze replied, fighting against her sudden emotions as the girl's name struck a chord within her. It wasn't possible; there must be thousands of children across America with the same name. "You having problems controlling your powers? Don't worry, it happens to the best of us."
"Even him?" Jessie nodded her head at Gambit, who grinned and winked at her, folding his arms and letting Blaze take over.
"Remy the best of us? I think not!" Blaze teased, extending her bare arms and feeling sudden exhilaration as she began to ripple with fire. In a fraction of a second, the flesh-and-blood redhead was replaced with a shimmering spectre cast of fire. So complete was the transformation that the room was lit up like noon, and Jessie could even see the wall through the Englishwoman. For a brief moment Blaze held herself this way, watching the child as she realised she really wasn't alone. It was a bit of a trick Blaze had to admit, she'd never been stuck as a firefly as Jessie was now a shadow, and indeed she'd only had this particular skill three years. But when it came to not controlling powers, Blaze had a stack of experience.
As the room fell darker again, Blaze walked forward and took one of Jessie's hands, not flinching as the energy within Jessie fought for any way to escape via the woman. Suddenly plunged into darkness Remy realised he was still wearing his sunglasses and removed them casually to flick them onto the desk. Jessie looked from the fire elemental to the Cajun, and then gasped aloud as she saw Gambit's red-on-black eyes for the first time. Blaze frowned suddenly, just as the child in her shock dropped her guard that had been unconsciously keeping her mutant powers active.
"You're not blind?" Jessie asked Gambit quickly, as slowly the ambient light began to be reflected off the girl's skin rather than absorbed into it.
"No. Why?" Gambit answered, confused. He stood as Blaze, looking like she had seen a ghost, took Jessie's chin in her hand and made the girl look into her eyes. Then in shock, terror, uncontrollable emotion Blaze let the girl go.
"Hey, look!" Jessie didn't seem to notice Blaze's strange reaction, standing quickly and twirling delicately in the centre of the room. "I'm normal again! And if you're not blind, maybe I'm not going blind either!" The child looked up at Gambit, and suddenly he saw what it was Blaze had reacted to. The whites of Jessie's eyes weren't yet as deeply pigmented as Remy's, seeming more blue-grey than black, but the irises had a definite red tone. His daughter?
"It gettin' late." Gambit struggled to keep all emotion, all shock and all confusion out of his voice. "Dr Summers is outside, she get you food an' settle you in Petite."
"Great," Jessie twirled again, grinning with a childish innocence as she left the room. Silence descended in the office, broken only by Blaze's hacking sobs. Gambit stood absolutely still, feeling like he'd just done thirty rounds with the Wolverine. He tried to speak and found he had no words to say. Screwing his eyes tight shut for a moment he tried again.
"Chere, I..." Why did he sound so pathetic? Why wouldn't Blaze look at him? Had he let her down that much? He couldn't even think about who the mother might be... "I don't know who she is. I'se sorry, you know I would've told you Laura if..."
"Would you?" Blaze turned on him, eyes burning, newly bobbed hair flaming. "Why? What business would it have been of mine if you'd left some poor woman with a kid somewhere?" She let him consider that for a moment, consider why he felt like he had betrayed her. Standing she dropped her eyes and failed to call her fire back into herself. Remy was not going to like what she had to say next one bit... Her heart pounded hard against her ribcage and she felt cold and aching beyond all belief. The time for keeping secrets was over. "But you didn't. You didn't leave anyone. She left you, and she had no intention of ever coming back. But you know as well as I do things don't play out the way you intend them to..."
Gambit's mind went into overdrive as everything became chillingly clear. About ten years ago Blaze had left him on a yacht in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, taken a helicopter and left him alone. A little over a year later, she had reappeared, older, sadder, broken hearted. For all these years she had not let him, nor any of the other X-Men, know why she had left or who had broken her heart. Gambit had always presumed it was some man she'd met, perhaps Archangel who'd been the reason she came back home. He'd longed for vengeance for her, but now he knew the truth.
"You? You Jessie's Mom? You didn't t'ink I might wanna know I'se a daughter?" His voice started soft, hesitant but by the end of his speech he was shouting.
"You think I haven't wanted to tell you every single day for all these years?" Blaze bit back, not fighting her tears, not hiding the fact she was shaking from head to foot. "But I made my decision, and no matter how much it hurt me I've stood by it!"
"You lied to me! You supposed to be my best friend damn it! You t'ink I didn't deserve to know?" He crossed the room and pushed her forcefully up against the office wall.
"I have never in my life lied to you Remy!" Blaze didn't gasp as he gripped her arms too hard, concentrated on not setting anything on fire despite however much she longed to. He was shaking too, she saw, so hurt that she'd kept this dreadful secret from him. But what choice had she had? Stay with the X-Men and pretend to be a happy family? Bring baby Jessica back with her when she realised she could never out-run her duty? Risk her daughter getting hurt, even killed, in the war between mutants and humans?
"You t'ink I'm not good enough to raise my own kid, that it?" He saw but didn't register the floods of tears that ran down Blaze's cheeks, didn't see that he was hurting her. What had she thought he'd do? Hurt his own daughter?
"No!" Blaze screamed back. "Listen to me Remy!"
"Bad time?" Logan pushed the door open, eyebrow raised as he saw Gambit holding Blaze forcefully against the wall, both mutants stinking to his accentuated senses of fear and anguish.
"Yeah." Gambit growled back, dropping his hands away from Blaze's arms as Wolverine let his adimantium claws glide smoothly through his knuckles, just in case the Cajun wanted some.
"Tough. Sort your lovers' tiff out later, we got a call." Wolverine snarled, but Blaze wasn't having any of it. Walking towards the animalistic mutant she called on every reserve of her firepower, knowing she put irrational fear in animals. Shifting into her fire-form she didn't hold back as she had done to encourage Jessie, but piled in her anger and anguish until she saw Wolverine drop his predatory eyes.
"Sort it out yourself, Logan! We're busy!" Blaze snarled, taking another step forward and seeing Wolverine buckle under the heat and brightness of her body. He managed to retain enough sense not to run from the room, but didn't see Blaze collapse empty behind him. Unthinking Gambit made a step forward towards her, but she called on her fire again, holding a fireball in her hand aimed against him. "Stay the hell away from me!"
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"Where are they?" Scott asked Logan as the predatory mutant took his position on board the Eagle stealth-jet.
"Not coming." Logan grunted, still ashamed that he'd been actually afraid of Blaze's show of power against him. "So don't take it out on me."
"What do you mean, not coming? We need Blaze and Gambit here!" Cyclops' brown eyes flashed angry now he no longer needed to hide them behind a visor. The two ex-thieves wouldn't have had the guts to turn down Ilehana or the Professor, how dare they question his authority?
"Hey, you wanna go in there and break up their fight Bub, be my guest. My guess is at least one of 'em wont be standin' when we get back."
"What are they fighting about?" Kitty asked, concerned. "Will they be okay?"
"Who knows Half-Pint?" Logan shrugged, keeping the few lines of argument he had overheard to himself. "But my money's on the Firefly."
A/N: Post X2 spoilers, and spoilers for Corrinth's Guardians of Destiny, which incidentally is excellent so go read it! Reviews always appreciated.
Scene 05
"You **hollered** Jean?" Blaze tapped her finger to her temple on the word hollered, acknowledging the telepath's work.
"Yes, but on Gambit's instructions. " Jean folded her arms across her chest, lips tight. "He's brought in a new student, but she's not the most trusting type."
"And he wants me not you to help settle her down?" Blaze smiled shrewdly, noting the telepath's unimpressed body language. "Don't take it personally will you?"
"It's the girl I feel sorry for, latching on to Gambit like this." Jean bit back.
"Which would be why he's asked for me, because I can follow his lead." Blaze pushed the door to the office open, leaving the thought that Jean couldn't stand taking orders from Remy blatantly obvious but unsaid in the air between the telepath and the fire elemental.
"It not hard, Petite, you just got to relax a lil'..." Gambit sat up straight in the large chair that had once belonged to Professor Xavier. Sideways from him, positioned so the desk wasn't cutting across their conversation, a young girl emitting shimmering darkness gripped the arms of her chair as though any minute the chair would become a white-knuckle roller coaster. Blaze realised another reason why her old friend wanted her opinion on this kid, there weren't many mutants who could transform their whole body's appearance so completely. Blaze flexed her power internally, readying herself for a demonstration that the child was not alone.
"I can't do it!" The child spat back. Blaze could hear sobs in the child's voice, and her heart went out to the girl. All mutants went through a period of fear of their powers, and Blaze's had been longer run than most. This child was showing all the classic signs as Gambit acknowledged his friend was there and beckoned her into their circle.
"I got someone for you to meet, Petite. This Blaze, our languages teacher. She show you how easy it be to change back an' forth."
"Hello..." The child offered, hesitantly. Jessie hadn't been too impressed with either of the other staff members she had met so far, the Principle Mr Summers or his wife Dr Summers. She was beginning to think this had been a big mistake. "I'm Jessie."
"Nice to meet you." Blaze replied, fighting against her sudden emotions as the girl's name struck a chord within her. It wasn't possible; there must be thousands of children across America with the same name. "You having problems controlling your powers? Don't worry, it happens to the best of us."
"Even him?" Jessie nodded her head at Gambit, who grinned and winked at her, folding his arms and letting Blaze take over.
"Remy the best of us? I think not!" Blaze teased, extending her bare arms and feeling sudden exhilaration as she began to ripple with fire. In a fraction of a second, the flesh-and-blood redhead was replaced with a shimmering spectre cast of fire. So complete was the transformation that the room was lit up like noon, and Jessie could even see the wall through the Englishwoman. For a brief moment Blaze held herself this way, watching the child as she realised she really wasn't alone. It was a bit of a trick Blaze had to admit, she'd never been stuck as a firefly as Jessie was now a shadow, and indeed she'd only had this particular skill three years. But when it came to not controlling powers, Blaze had a stack of experience.
As the room fell darker again, Blaze walked forward and took one of Jessie's hands, not flinching as the energy within Jessie fought for any way to escape via the woman. Suddenly plunged into darkness Remy realised he was still wearing his sunglasses and removed them casually to flick them onto the desk. Jessie looked from the fire elemental to the Cajun, and then gasped aloud as she saw Gambit's red-on-black eyes for the first time. Blaze frowned suddenly, just as the child in her shock dropped her guard that had been unconsciously keeping her mutant powers active.
"You're not blind?" Jessie asked Gambit quickly, as slowly the ambient light began to be reflected off the girl's skin rather than absorbed into it.
"No. Why?" Gambit answered, confused. He stood as Blaze, looking like she had seen a ghost, took Jessie's chin in her hand and made the girl look into her eyes. Then in shock, terror, uncontrollable emotion Blaze let the girl go.
"Hey, look!" Jessie didn't seem to notice Blaze's strange reaction, standing quickly and twirling delicately in the centre of the room. "I'm normal again! And if you're not blind, maybe I'm not going blind either!" The child looked up at Gambit, and suddenly he saw what it was Blaze had reacted to. The whites of Jessie's eyes weren't yet as deeply pigmented as Remy's, seeming more blue-grey than black, but the irises had a definite red tone. His daughter?
"It gettin' late." Gambit struggled to keep all emotion, all shock and all confusion out of his voice. "Dr Summers is outside, she get you food an' settle you in Petite."
"Great," Jessie twirled again, grinning with a childish innocence as she left the room. Silence descended in the office, broken only by Blaze's hacking sobs. Gambit stood absolutely still, feeling like he'd just done thirty rounds with the Wolverine. He tried to speak and found he had no words to say. Screwing his eyes tight shut for a moment he tried again.
"Chere, I..." Why did he sound so pathetic? Why wouldn't Blaze look at him? Had he let her down that much? He couldn't even think about who the mother might be... "I don't know who she is. I'se sorry, you know I would've told you Laura if..."
"Would you?" Blaze turned on him, eyes burning, newly bobbed hair flaming. "Why? What business would it have been of mine if you'd left some poor woman with a kid somewhere?" She let him consider that for a moment, consider why he felt like he had betrayed her. Standing she dropped her eyes and failed to call her fire back into herself. Remy was not going to like what she had to say next one bit... Her heart pounded hard against her ribcage and she felt cold and aching beyond all belief. The time for keeping secrets was over. "But you didn't. You didn't leave anyone. She left you, and she had no intention of ever coming back. But you know as well as I do things don't play out the way you intend them to..."
Gambit's mind went into overdrive as everything became chillingly clear. About ten years ago Blaze had left him on a yacht in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, taken a helicopter and left him alone. A little over a year later, she had reappeared, older, sadder, broken hearted. For all these years she had not let him, nor any of the other X-Men, know why she had left or who had broken her heart. Gambit had always presumed it was some man she'd met, perhaps Archangel who'd been the reason she came back home. He'd longed for vengeance for her, but now he knew the truth.
"You? You Jessie's Mom? You didn't t'ink I might wanna know I'se a daughter?" His voice started soft, hesitant but by the end of his speech he was shouting.
"You think I haven't wanted to tell you every single day for all these years?" Blaze bit back, not fighting her tears, not hiding the fact she was shaking from head to foot. "But I made my decision, and no matter how much it hurt me I've stood by it!"
"You lied to me! You supposed to be my best friend damn it! You t'ink I didn't deserve to know?" He crossed the room and pushed her forcefully up against the office wall.
"I have never in my life lied to you Remy!" Blaze didn't gasp as he gripped her arms too hard, concentrated on not setting anything on fire despite however much she longed to. He was shaking too, she saw, so hurt that she'd kept this dreadful secret from him. But what choice had she had? Stay with the X-Men and pretend to be a happy family? Bring baby Jessica back with her when she realised she could never out-run her duty? Risk her daughter getting hurt, even killed, in the war between mutants and humans?
"You t'ink I'm not good enough to raise my own kid, that it?" He saw but didn't register the floods of tears that ran down Blaze's cheeks, didn't see that he was hurting her. What had she thought he'd do? Hurt his own daughter?
"No!" Blaze screamed back. "Listen to me Remy!"
"Bad time?" Logan pushed the door open, eyebrow raised as he saw Gambit holding Blaze forcefully against the wall, both mutants stinking to his accentuated senses of fear and anguish.
"Yeah." Gambit growled back, dropping his hands away from Blaze's arms as Wolverine let his adimantium claws glide smoothly through his knuckles, just in case the Cajun wanted some.
"Tough. Sort your lovers' tiff out later, we got a call." Wolverine snarled, but Blaze wasn't having any of it. Walking towards the animalistic mutant she called on every reserve of her firepower, knowing she put irrational fear in animals. Shifting into her fire-form she didn't hold back as she had done to encourage Jessie, but piled in her anger and anguish until she saw Wolverine drop his predatory eyes.
"Sort it out yourself, Logan! We're busy!" Blaze snarled, taking another step forward and seeing Wolverine buckle under the heat and brightness of her body. He managed to retain enough sense not to run from the room, but didn't see Blaze collapse empty behind him. Unthinking Gambit made a step forward towards her, but she called on her fire again, holding a fireball in her hand aimed against him. "Stay the hell away from me!"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Where are they?" Scott asked Logan as the predatory mutant took his position on board the Eagle stealth-jet.
"Not coming." Logan grunted, still ashamed that he'd been actually afraid of Blaze's show of power against him. "So don't take it out on me."
"What do you mean, not coming? We need Blaze and Gambit here!" Cyclops' brown eyes flashed angry now he no longer needed to hide them behind a visor. The two ex-thieves wouldn't have had the guts to turn down Ilehana or the Professor, how dare they question his authority?
"Hey, you wanna go in there and break up their fight Bub, be my guest. My guess is at least one of 'em wont be standin' when we get back."
"What are they fighting about?" Kitty asked, concerned. "Will they be okay?"
"Who knows Half-Pint?" Logan shrugged, keeping the few lines of argument he had overheard to himself. "But my money's on the Firefly."