Note : Okay. The deal is that Sixteen Years happens sixteen years after Through Time. Stuff happened, though, between the two stories, so that means there are going to be some flashbacks in some chapters, and they won't be in chronological order, I will only add them for the general undertsnading of the story. Also, Josée just came back from her ten months exchange program in Québec (I just HAD to bring it in my stories), and some important stuff happened there, so there will be other flashbacks about that too… Although I think the two "pasts" are easy to tell from each other, I will add something like "a few months before" or "five years before that day", or something of the sort to help you. I'm guessing the story will be stlightly different (in style, I mean) than Through Time, but I sincerely hope you're going to like it as much as the previous.
No disclaimer, I noticed there are more of my characters than Marvel's in this… So they're all mine. So be it.
The Highwaywoman : If you found the prologue exciting, you're going to like the other chapters!!! Glad you like the cajun, though. Otherwise you'd hate my fictions…
T. and Tammy : Thanks, here's the "more" you've been waiting for!
Mere : The characters will flow more in the following chapters… and I'm a afraid it will get a bit complicated, with the flashbacks and stuff… Oh well. I'm the writer, am I?
ishandahalf : Fiew! You like it! Who needs a plot indeed! I could go on and write endless and pointless fluffy stuff about Remy and Rogue, and I'm pretty sure you'd like it, but it would be nice to have a story, wouldn't it? About the sixteen years already passed, well, I just couldn't wait for the kids to grow up. But I won't let the past in the dark, and there will be a lot of flashbacks in this.
crazytook : You want to learn French? Really? Wow, that's nice to know, and not unimportant at all, at least not in my eyes… and ask me if you have any questions about it! Oh, and what books are you reading that had been traducting from French? I've done the same thing, and I always prefer the English version of books (and movies) to the French traduction. Another thing : I always appreciate reviews, but my handicap being my first language (wich is not English), there are sometimes some words I can't understand, and that don't seem to exist in French English dictionnaries. What is "sappy"? *blush blush blush* I hate it when I have to ask something like that…
Cara Mia : Always nice to see someone who has a bit of French knowledge, let alone talk it, on fanfiction.net. Howdee! Here's another chapter, but the inspiration is taking long to come to me this time…
Becki : Sure. Josée is pronounced "Jo-sey" (not Ho-sey, please!), and Louis "Lou-ee" (we don't pronounce the "s" in French as (I think) you do in English). There will be lots of French names in this story (Josée did go in Québec for ten months, and she's met… oooooh, I'm talking too much now, am I?), and will explain the pronounciation along. And I keep writing, I keep writing…
Yasei Raiden : Glad you love the twins! I was having a hard time choosing between male or female, and it was my husband who told me (he was getting quite annoyed, I had to admit) "why don't you do both?" So, everyone, say "Merci Pierre-Luc!". And I love the names, too. I pick my names from people I know and love dearly, so the personnalities weren't very hard to create either! Oh, BTW! I appreciate reviews on my English, but you don't have to tell me everytime I make spelling errors… lol. I know I do. But I rather have something concrete to work on, like my sigh/sight thingy. No hard feelings, though! I know the intentions were loyal and kind! lol
Enjoy.
Où est allé tout ce monde qui avait quelque chose à raconter? On a mis quelqu'un au monde, on devrait peut-être l'écouter! (Harmonium)
Link
~~
Five years ago
I was listening to Lydia and Josée's laughters in the living room, and smiled, putting a little more whipped cream on the Black Forest cake I was making for the twins 11th birthday. Louis and Matthew were with Remy and Scott outside, playing ball or something, and the thought made me smile even more. As much as the two men couldn't really stand each other when they first known, now they could almost be considered as friends. Almost. They still didn't have the same personnalities, nor tastes, nor ways of living in general. Still, they had a point in common: being the fathers of the two bests friends in the world. And hearing the squeals and giggles outside, I was guessing they were making a good job out of it.
Suddently something went wrong. I heard Remy's exclamation outside, and the screeching of tires of a car coming to a suddent stop. I was already running to the front door when I heard Josée cry out in the living room, and I ran towards her crying.
She was sitting on the smooth carpet, clutching her leg. Hot tears were running down her cheeks, and she kept calling for me. Lydia was sitting down next to her, a hand on Josée's shoulder. I sat down next to her and met Lydia's eyes, filled with fear and incomprehension. "She was just getting up to go to the kitchen, and she just fell down, like something bad happened to her leg…" I was worried. Nothing had ever happened to my kids, nothing. Not a cold, colics, flu, headaches, nothing. The pain she seemed to have in her leg seemed more than real, though, and I bent to pick her small body up in my arms.
I had managed to get on my legs with my daughter in my arms when Remy stormed into the house, carrying an uncouscious Louis in the same fashion, and my heart leaped. What was happening with my children all of a sudden?
"Call de mansion, Rogue! Call Beast, Louis got hit by a car." Scott was coming right after him, leading Matthew by the hand, and a small man was following, nervously twisting his hat in his hand. He stopped in the doorway, seeing me settle down Josée on a couch and picking up the phone, and whispered nervously, words coming out of his mouth at high speed.
"I'm sooo sorry, m'am, I never saw him, he just ran in the street after his ball and I couldn't stop…" I flapped a hand, dismissing his words, and bent my head to talk to whoever was on the phone in the mansion, half a mile away.
***
"He's going to be alright. His left leg was broken quite bad, but neatly, and it will heal rather quickly. He banged his head on the pavement but only has a few bumps on his head. He's as thick headed than you, Remy. I wouldn't worry about it." Henry smiled. I was reassured about Louis, but…
"What about Josée?" Henry pursed his lips.
"Good question. I couldn't find anything, no bruises, no sprain… I don't know where the pain is coming from. I have an idea, though." He took a deep breath, and continued. "Twins often have some kind of connection between them. It can be stronger when the two are identical, but it also happens in our kind of case. It can be a mental link as well as a physical one. I've heard of twins who got a small pinch when their twin got hurt, and of twins who got guess what their brother or sister was thinking of, and finish each other's sentences. But I've never heard of twins who could feel the SAME pain. It probably has something to do with mutant genes, and I'm sure these two have many other surprises for us…"
~~
She was nervous. Louis probably was too. She could also feel curiosity… and hurt. Josée sighed. She had barely kissed her brother's cheek at the airport, and hadn't spoken a word to him since her arrival in the house. She had gone up the stairs without a word under her parent's surprised look, and had been sitting on her bed for nearly an hour, wondering what to say to her brother.
They could feel each other's hurt. Not only physicaly, as they had discovered a few years ago, but also mentaly since they were 12. This they haven't told Remy and Rogue, wanting to keep something from themselves.Their link was so strong she had felt empty when she was alone in Québec, but now that she was back, the feeling of being whole again was back too. She wish it was gone for now.
Her father could feel it too, because of his strong empathy powers. Her mother too, but only because she knew her so well and because, well… because she was her mother, and mothers feel that. But she was afraid of Louis' reading, and was ashame of it. She took a deep breath, and head down the stairs.
***
He sat in the living room, absentmindedly watching something boring on the television. He was hurt, very deeply, by his sister's attitude. They were supposed to be the closest friends, the unseparable brother and sister. They were, before she left, and now she was back, and ignoring him. He could feel something had changed inside her. He used to know her like he knew himself, and she had come back as a girl he didn't know anymore. Sure, he had changed too. They were going to be 16 in a few weeks, they were teenagers, they were supposed to change, to turn into the adults they would become in a few years. But he never thought they would grow appart. He never wanted that.
He shifted a bit in the couch, uncomfortable with his thoughts. Maybe he was just being a paranoid, and things would come back to normal. They had been appart for almost a year, things would return as they were before she left.
He smiled a bit when she entered the living room and sat down on the couch next to him. He turned his head to meet her eyes, and recognized her, finaly. "I missed you, Jo." She smiled, looking so much like their mother.
"I missed you so much, Louis. And now that I haven't seen you for so long, I notice how much you look like dad… Hey, you even got the hair." She drove her fingers in his dishelved auburn hair. He snorted.
"Okay, so I need a haircut. Doesn't mean I have dad's hair, they're not grey yet…"
"Oh yeah, I noticed the grey temples! What did you do to him, Lou? Turned him crazy in a few months?" He raised his hands in defense, shaking his head vehemently.
"That grew alone, sis! Besides, mom ain't got any grey hair."
"Mom still looks like she's no more than thirty, Lou! I don't think she's ever going to have grey hair."
"Okay, so I did try to turn him crazy. I was bored all alone, was it my fault?" He regreted his words the moment he said them, and her smile faded. "Sorry, Jo. I didn't mean that."
"No, you're right. It's not your fault I left you alone here." There was a long silence, and she let him see all that was inside her. Happiness of being home, of seing him. Stress and anticipation. And behind all of this, hurt and sadness. And a huge open wound, an unhealed heartache. He raised his hand, reaching for her shoulder, and gathered her as tears welled up in her eyes.
"What happened, Jo? Who did that to you?" There was a touch of bitterness in his voice, and she stiffened.
"Nobody did anything to me, Louis. I can hurt myself all alone, I'm a big girl now." He waited for her to talk. "The girl I made the exchange with, her name is Lilianne*. She the one who's coming here next year. You're gonna like her, she's full of energy and talks all the time. Not the kind of girl you get uncomfortable with, no awkward silences. Never. She just talks about everything and becomes everybody's friend."
"You two must have got along well."
"From the beginning. She has as older brother, he's something like 16 or 17 years old. His name's Antoine**. He's… well. He made me think of you, and dad." He frowned over her head. "And, well, we… we got… close."
"And I'm guessing "close" is an euphemism." She smiled in his shirt.
"That's why I was afraid to talk to you. Yes, close is an euphemism."
"You fell in love with someone who was like me and dad? You're freaking me out, Jo!" She giggled and pushed him away, meeting his eyes. Seeing he looked serious, though, she laughed even more.
"I didn't fall in love with him because he was like you and dad! We got close because of it. He was… reassuring." Louis lifted a brow. Reassuring? What did she mean, reassuring? How could a guy be rea… "Not in that way, Lou!" She poked him in the ribs.
"Hey, I didn't say a thing!"
"You don't need to talk. I know you, and I can read you like an open book."
"You know what? I'm glad you still can."
To be continued!
Becki, this is for you :
* Lilianne is pronounced Lee-lee-ann (pretty much like you would pronounce it "English style")
** Antoine. Okay, a little bit more complicated to explain. The "An" sounds something like when you say "Huh?", not "Hann", so I guess it sounds something like Huh-twann, but without the aspirated H at the beginning… phew. I wish I could just say it to you!
***************BONNE FÊTE NATIONALE À TOUS LES QUÉBÉCOIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!***************