Remy Lebeau regretted his actions with Angel through Rogue and Kurt the instant she came awake. All hell broke lose when she came to in a strange house, an even stranger bedroom and with a camera staring at her.
"REMY LEBEAU, I SWEAR I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"she screeched in a voice that could rival banshee and make Logan cringe from the other side of the mansion. "REMY!"
Remy appeared at the doorway to the bedroom. "Y'called, mon ange?"he questioned, idly shuffling a deck of cards. His expression was cocky and smirking until one of her shoes hit him the chest; the second time the incident had occured. "Angel!"
"I told you I wasn't going on this friggin' reality show! You never listen to me or what I want...I hate you and I hate Rogue for touching me and Kurt for holding me. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you."
He yawned,"Done yet, cher?"
Her rage deflated as she stood from the bed, straightening her clothes. "I'm done...why's this so important, Remy? I don't want to waste time with some tv psychiatrist that'll try to explain my problems,"Angel stated as if it explained everything. She walked to him and took the deck from his hands, not bothering to put her shoes back on; she shuffled it with only a little less grace then him.
"It just be, cher, Roguey said she be sorry..." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her downstairs, ignoring the fact that she dropped several of his cards in the process. More of his cards had been lost by her then he'd ever used in battle against anyone even during his not so good-guy days.
"I still don't like you right now. Don't touch me..." She shoved his arm away and tossed the remaining cards over the side of the stairwell; someone yelled an obscenity.
"Careful, petite!"
Angel rolled her eyes, already jumping over the railing to land on the floor. Her footing almost gave out but she smiled up at Remy before taking off down the hall; he hurried after her.
"ANGEL!"
Her next shriek was of joy instead of rage. "Johnny, you're here!"she all but screamed.
Remy scowled at the sight that greeted him in the living room. Angel's arms were wound tightly around John Allerdyce a.k.a. Pyro's neck and he didn't appear to be objecting too much. His arms held around her waist as he smirked at Remy over her shoulder. The greet was anything but friendly.
"G'day, mate,"John announced much too cheerfully. His smiled showed that the attention didn't bother him in the least. "The shelia and I were just talking, right, Angel?"
"Right, Johnny...whatcha doin' here?" She smiled up at him after releasing his neck from her death grip. "I thought this was 'reality tv'?"
"It is, shelia but....I get to chaperon! Ain't it great?"
"DUDE! That's neat!"
"Non, mon ange, I t'ink it's time to meet de o'der house mates, non?" Remy tightened his grip on her arm then all but hauled her away and out of the room. "Adios, John."
"That's Spanish, Remy.I thought you spoke french...bye, Johnny!"
TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER (TARA'S POV)
"Dad, this is dumb...why do Tara and I got to do this?"
I leaned me head back and closed my eyes, counting to twenty, at Natasha's insistent questioning. It had gone on the entire time we'd driven toward the set of their new reality tv show; me, myselfself, I was still trying to figure out how they got on the thing.
Sabre spoke as if reading my thoughts. "Magneto wanted to recruit some...younger mutants for the Brotherhood. You can gain their trust easier then us...it was a simple matter of sending in tapes of your behavior. You got on..."
Great, show how abused and mistreated I get and put me on tv. Thanks, Vicky, thanks alot. And thanks to you, too, Mortimer Toynbee!
The car slowed down and stopped outside a large house with tons of video equiptment, tv vans, and some expensive looking cars except for several older ones that reminded me of the mansion and Remy's car. A motorcycle also leaned nearby, reminding me of Logan.
I wanted to cry.
Natasha's tapping on the window and Sabre's growl prompted me to get out of the car. I climbed from the vehicle then took my bags from the odd shaped pile in the middle of the parking lot; we looked like a couple of hobos.
"Do you feel as much like a fool as I do?"Natasha asked while we made our way across the parking lot. Some lingering guys made a comment but shut up after Tasha's first attempt to 'reason' with them. The reasoning involved her talons and their throats; things went dead silent.
I sighed,"Please don't kill anyone, Tasha. I'd hate to explain to your uncle and Magneto how you got arrested....ON REALITY TV."
"You suck the fun out of everything, Tara. What would life be like if I didn't get to terrorize some poor stage guys?"
"Oh, I dunno...a little normal?"
"Normal is overrated, kid."
Natasha opened the door, allowing us entry into the mansion. The bags in her hands dropped. "Holy hell! This place is huge...I'm going to like this."
I shrugged. "X-Mansion's bigger. I'd rather be there."
"Don't be a mope,"she replied, already making her way inside and toward the sound of voices while speaking to a camera guy lingering around. "Take care of our stuff. Come on, Tara..."
"Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name..."I mumbled a bit sarcastically but reluctantly followed my friend. The doors in front of us opened to a large room with perfectly arranged furniture; it gave me a sick feeling since I hadn't seen furniture that wasn't made of metal in the last few years.
An incredibly 'greasy' man with slicked back black hair and a turned up mustache, wearing a tacky wanna-be-Armani suit walked...no, make that slithered up to us. His smile was one that reminded at least me of the Grinch; termites could live there, comfortablly.
"You must be Tara Toynbee and Natasha Creed...the others are here. Follow me, ladies,"he said with a cheesy accent that could have been recovered from some old comic boot or tv series. "It's time to meet the other housemates."
"Joy.." I stared at my shoes.
"Notice the bounce in my step and the happiness flowing from me,"Natasha replied, glowering at the guy. A strange resemblence to her father showed.
I shuddered.
Cheesy Accent led ud further into the house toward a pair of closed doors where forces could be heard. There seemed to be several diffrent voices and a few were recognizable, vaguely, in my subconscience; I shook my head, knowing it was the hallucinations. There were frequent hallucinations since the concussion Sabre had given me several months back, about nine.
"Ladies, I present to you the new cast of The Unreal World...Tara, Natasha, these are our other housemates as you will call them. Russ Collins, Corey Desmonds, Kellie and Derek Senthesis, and Angel Blade-Lebeau...your resident advisor Mr. John Allerd--"
I stopped listening when she heard the last name. It had to be a coincidence. Angel Blade had been my best friend from around three to fifteen; our adoption had never gone as far as accepting our 'guardians' last names; maybe Angel had?
I scanned the room, taking in faces. One stood out in particular. The face was paler and with much less color but there was no doubting it.
Angel?I wondered about the girl sitting there for a moment.
As if the thought reached her she suddenly looked up. The light played off her features and Tara knew it was who she had originally thought. Her mind raced for a moment.
"Angel!"
ANGEL'S POV
Mr. Greasy Hair, I mean, Mr. David Orleans has decided to give a speech about house mates. Not that I was paying attention since Russ has been teaching me how to play spoons; it's this real neat game with some spoons he found and a deck of Remy's cards.
Spoons was simple enough. Draw four cards of one kind, pass the bad cards to the left, and when you had four you grabbed a spoon; the other person had to try too. It wasn't working well since the game usually required three people or more.
Something disturbed what little concentration I had managed to gain over my years. A voice thought. Not a difficult or even disturbing thought. It was simple-Angel. I lifted my head and looked around, trying to figure out where the 'voice' or thought came from.
Russ gave me a raised eyebrow look but I ignored it. Something was wrong.
Then I heard it.
"Angel!"
"I know it sounds like Tara but Jean said the pills wouldn't start working yet. There is absolutely no way you are my fifteen-year-old best friend,"I stated, feeling like an idiot.
Silence echoed in the room.
The voice that followed next was that of a five-year-old girl who had played hide and seek with her and tortured their 'respective parents'. "You don't remember me at all? I'm the work of a pill?"
"Stop it! This isn't a funny joke." I close my eyes, not wanting to cry. I had only cried for Tara once and no one had bene around; that wasn't going to change now.
"This is the welcome I get?! You just forget your best friend of almost fourteen years?!? Well fine!"
Something in the tone of voice drew my attention. I looked up and all the resentment, self-doubts, and anger fell away; I felt everything in the room. A lot of confusion, a lot of anguish, and a lot of pain.
Tara had moved to walk away along with our friend from Minor Distortion, Natasha Creed. Her appearance hadn't changed much except she seemed smaller and one of her arms was covered in what might be a makeshift cast.
I hesitated. "Tara, wait..."
She stopped. "What?"
"I'm sorry, I thought it was a joke,"I relaid, throwing my cards down on the table; I think one might have hit Russ; I'm not real sure. "It's just I haven't even had any reports except what Toad said occassionally so I just didn't want to deal with it..I'm sorry."
Tara turned and faced her. "A joke? Why would I make a joke about this?"
"I dunno! People seem to think it's fun to make my life miserable...it was treated as a big joke especially by Bobby."
Mr. Greasy Hair cleared his throat. "Angel, Tara, is this something the rest of us should know?"he inquired, tilting his head in a way that was comical of the cat in the hat.
I tried not to laugh.
A new voice, a familiar accented one drew our attention away. "Hey, kid, what the hell are you doing here?"
Tara's eyes widened and her expression changed into a smile. She stared at Logan for a moment. He'd only arrived recently to check on Remy and her at Roguey's insistance.
In the next moment Tara had pulled away from our hug and run to Logan. The funny part, at least to me, was when he didn't push her away but instead returned the hug.
"How the hell are you and what's your excuse for being here?"he asked, setting her back on her feet after a moment. His expression wasn't a smile but it was closer then any of us had seen it in months.
Remy's hand touched my shoulder. It massaged the place for a moment as if he knew I was still confused.
"Y'see de important, mon angel?"
"Tara's here. Did you know?" I turned to face him.
The deck of cards shuffled between his hands, faster then I'd ever managed. Maybe I spent too much time around him because it made me want to learn to shuffle that fast; maybe I didn't spend enough.
"Oui."
My smile turned genuine then. "Thanks, Remy. You're unorthidox and very mean for hiding it from me but thanks..."
The Unreal World. Tara. Tasha. Johnny for a chaperone. A week away from David without having to baby-sit. Frequent contact with Remy or anyone else I chose. Free alcohol and romance novels *gags* unlimited supply. Two new mutants-one fork obsessed, one depressed. Normal twins. What could go wrong?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next chapter will start a few days into The Unreal World. For those wondering it is a mockery of THE REAL WORLD on MTV; I hate the show so why not screw it around some? If you read Retribution X written by Anything but Ordinary3.....get ready. Guest appearance from at least Ash and Kat!
I have permission to use them without causing much harm to them; things will get a little weird. It's something Anything but Ordinary3 suggested and I agree; two diffrent universes collide and wreak havok.
If you don't read Retribution X....START! She is recommended for good reason-read it or be totally confused when the two universes meet.
"REMY LEBEAU, I SWEAR I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"she screeched in a voice that could rival banshee and make Logan cringe from the other side of the mansion. "REMY!"
Remy appeared at the doorway to the bedroom. "Y'called, mon ange?"he questioned, idly shuffling a deck of cards. His expression was cocky and smirking until one of her shoes hit him the chest; the second time the incident had occured. "Angel!"
"I told you I wasn't going on this friggin' reality show! You never listen to me or what I want...I hate you and I hate Rogue for touching me and Kurt for holding me. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you."
He yawned,"Done yet, cher?"
Her rage deflated as she stood from the bed, straightening her clothes. "I'm done...why's this so important, Remy? I don't want to waste time with some tv psychiatrist that'll try to explain my problems,"Angel stated as if it explained everything. She walked to him and took the deck from his hands, not bothering to put her shoes back on; she shuffled it with only a little less grace then him.
"It just be, cher, Roguey said she be sorry..." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her downstairs, ignoring the fact that she dropped several of his cards in the process. More of his cards had been lost by her then he'd ever used in battle against anyone even during his not so good-guy days.
"I still don't like you right now. Don't touch me..." She shoved his arm away and tossed the remaining cards over the side of the stairwell; someone yelled an obscenity.
"Careful, petite!"
Angel rolled her eyes, already jumping over the railing to land on the floor. Her footing almost gave out but she smiled up at Remy before taking off down the hall; he hurried after her.
"ANGEL!"
Her next shriek was of joy instead of rage. "Johnny, you're here!"she all but screamed.
Remy scowled at the sight that greeted him in the living room. Angel's arms were wound tightly around John Allerdyce a.k.a. Pyro's neck and he didn't appear to be objecting too much. His arms held around her waist as he smirked at Remy over her shoulder. The greet was anything but friendly.
"G'day, mate,"John announced much too cheerfully. His smiled showed that the attention didn't bother him in the least. "The shelia and I were just talking, right, Angel?"
"Right, Johnny...whatcha doin' here?" She smiled up at him after releasing his neck from her death grip. "I thought this was 'reality tv'?"
"It is, shelia but....I get to chaperon! Ain't it great?"
"DUDE! That's neat!"
"Non, mon ange, I t'ink it's time to meet de o'der house mates, non?" Remy tightened his grip on her arm then all but hauled her away and out of the room. "Adios, John."
"That's Spanish, Remy.I thought you spoke french...bye, Johnny!"
TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER (TARA'S POV)
"Dad, this is dumb...why do Tara and I got to do this?"
I leaned me head back and closed my eyes, counting to twenty, at Natasha's insistent questioning. It had gone on the entire time we'd driven toward the set of their new reality tv show; me, myselfself, I was still trying to figure out how they got on the thing.
Sabre spoke as if reading my thoughts. "Magneto wanted to recruit some...younger mutants for the Brotherhood. You can gain their trust easier then us...it was a simple matter of sending in tapes of your behavior. You got on..."
Great, show how abused and mistreated I get and put me on tv. Thanks, Vicky, thanks alot. And thanks to you, too, Mortimer Toynbee!
The car slowed down and stopped outside a large house with tons of video equiptment, tv vans, and some expensive looking cars except for several older ones that reminded me of the mansion and Remy's car. A motorcycle also leaned nearby, reminding me of Logan.
I wanted to cry.
Natasha's tapping on the window and Sabre's growl prompted me to get out of the car. I climbed from the vehicle then took my bags from the odd shaped pile in the middle of the parking lot; we looked like a couple of hobos.
"Do you feel as much like a fool as I do?"Natasha asked while we made our way across the parking lot. Some lingering guys made a comment but shut up after Tasha's first attempt to 'reason' with them. The reasoning involved her talons and their throats; things went dead silent.
I sighed,"Please don't kill anyone, Tasha. I'd hate to explain to your uncle and Magneto how you got arrested....ON REALITY TV."
"You suck the fun out of everything, Tara. What would life be like if I didn't get to terrorize some poor stage guys?"
"Oh, I dunno...a little normal?"
"Normal is overrated, kid."
Natasha opened the door, allowing us entry into the mansion. The bags in her hands dropped. "Holy hell! This place is huge...I'm going to like this."
I shrugged. "X-Mansion's bigger. I'd rather be there."
"Don't be a mope,"she replied, already making her way inside and toward the sound of voices while speaking to a camera guy lingering around. "Take care of our stuff. Come on, Tara..."
"Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name..."I mumbled a bit sarcastically but reluctantly followed my friend. The doors in front of us opened to a large room with perfectly arranged furniture; it gave me a sick feeling since I hadn't seen furniture that wasn't made of metal in the last few years.
An incredibly 'greasy' man with slicked back black hair and a turned up mustache, wearing a tacky wanna-be-Armani suit walked...no, make that slithered up to us. His smile was one that reminded at least me of the Grinch; termites could live there, comfortablly.
"You must be Tara Toynbee and Natasha Creed...the others are here. Follow me, ladies,"he said with a cheesy accent that could have been recovered from some old comic boot or tv series. "It's time to meet the other housemates."
"Joy.." I stared at my shoes.
"Notice the bounce in my step and the happiness flowing from me,"Natasha replied, glowering at the guy. A strange resemblence to her father showed.
I shuddered.
Cheesy Accent led ud further into the house toward a pair of closed doors where forces could be heard. There seemed to be several diffrent voices and a few were recognizable, vaguely, in my subconscience; I shook my head, knowing it was the hallucinations. There were frequent hallucinations since the concussion Sabre had given me several months back, about nine.
"Ladies, I present to you the new cast of The Unreal World...Tara, Natasha, these are our other housemates as you will call them. Russ Collins, Corey Desmonds, Kellie and Derek Senthesis, and Angel Blade-Lebeau...your resident advisor Mr. John Allerd--"
I stopped listening when she heard the last name. It had to be a coincidence. Angel Blade had been my best friend from around three to fifteen; our adoption had never gone as far as accepting our 'guardians' last names; maybe Angel had?
I scanned the room, taking in faces. One stood out in particular. The face was paler and with much less color but there was no doubting it.
Angel?I wondered about the girl sitting there for a moment.
As if the thought reached her she suddenly looked up. The light played off her features and Tara knew it was who she had originally thought. Her mind raced for a moment.
"Angel!"
ANGEL'S POV
Mr. Greasy Hair, I mean, Mr. David Orleans has decided to give a speech about house mates. Not that I was paying attention since Russ has been teaching me how to play spoons; it's this real neat game with some spoons he found and a deck of Remy's cards.
Spoons was simple enough. Draw four cards of one kind, pass the bad cards to the left, and when you had four you grabbed a spoon; the other person had to try too. It wasn't working well since the game usually required three people or more.
Something disturbed what little concentration I had managed to gain over my years. A voice thought. Not a difficult or even disturbing thought. It was simple-Angel. I lifted my head and looked around, trying to figure out where the 'voice' or thought came from.
Russ gave me a raised eyebrow look but I ignored it. Something was wrong.
Then I heard it.
"Angel!"
"I know it sounds like Tara but Jean said the pills wouldn't start working yet. There is absolutely no way you are my fifteen-year-old best friend,"I stated, feeling like an idiot.
Silence echoed in the room.
The voice that followed next was that of a five-year-old girl who had played hide and seek with her and tortured their 'respective parents'. "You don't remember me at all? I'm the work of a pill?"
"Stop it! This isn't a funny joke." I close my eyes, not wanting to cry. I had only cried for Tara once and no one had bene around; that wasn't going to change now.
"This is the welcome I get?! You just forget your best friend of almost fourteen years?!? Well fine!"
Something in the tone of voice drew my attention. I looked up and all the resentment, self-doubts, and anger fell away; I felt everything in the room. A lot of confusion, a lot of anguish, and a lot of pain.
Tara had moved to walk away along with our friend from Minor Distortion, Natasha Creed. Her appearance hadn't changed much except she seemed smaller and one of her arms was covered in what might be a makeshift cast.
I hesitated. "Tara, wait..."
She stopped. "What?"
"I'm sorry, I thought it was a joke,"I relaid, throwing my cards down on the table; I think one might have hit Russ; I'm not real sure. "It's just I haven't even had any reports except what Toad said occassionally so I just didn't want to deal with it..I'm sorry."
Tara turned and faced her. "A joke? Why would I make a joke about this?"
"I dunno! People seem to think it's fun to make my life miserable...it was treated as a big joke especially by Bobby."
Mr. Greasy Hair cleared his throat. "Angel, Tara, is this something the rest of us should know?"he inquired, tilting his head in a way that was comical of the cat in the hat.
I tried not to laugh.
A new voice, a familiar accented one drew our attention away. "Hey, kid, what the hell are you doing here?"
Tara's eyes widened and her expression changed into a smile. She stared at Logan for a moment. He'd only arrived recently to check on Remy and her at Roguey's insistance.
In the next moment Tara had pulled away from our hug and run to Logan. The funny part, at least to me, was when he didn't push her away but instead returned the hug.
"How the hell are you and what's your excuse for being here?"he asked, setting her back on her feet after a moment. His expression wasn't a smile but it was closer then any of us had seen it in months.
Remy's hand touched my shoulder. It massaged the place for a moment as if he knew I was still confused.
"Y'see de important, mon angel?"
"Tara's here. Did you know?" I turned to face him.
The deck of cards shuffled between his hands, faster then I'd ever managed. Maybe I spent too much time around him because it made me want to learn to shuffle that fast; maybe I didn't spend enough.
"Oui."
My smile turned genuine then. "Thanks, Remy. You're unorthidox and very mean for hiding it from me but thanks..."
The Unreal World. Tara. Tasha. Johnny for a chaperone. A week away from David without having to baby-sit. Frequent contact with Remy or anyone else I chose. Free alcohol and romance novels *gags* unlimited supply. Two new mutants-one fork obsessed, one depressed. Normal twins. What could go wrong?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next chapter will start a few days into The Unreal World. For those wondering it is a mockery of THE REAL WORLD on MTV; I hate the show so why not screw it around some? If you read Retribution X written by Anything but Ordinary3.....get ready. Guest appearance from at least Ash and Kat!
I have permission to use them without causing much harm to them; things will get a little weird. It's something Anything but Ordinary3 suggested and I agree; two diffrent universes collide and wreak havok.
If you don't read Retribution X....START! She is recommended for good reason-read it or be totally confused when the two universes meet.