DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN X-MEN: EVOLUTION OR ANYTHING FROM BLACKROSEAPOCALYPS, AND I GOT HER SAY SO TO DO THIS.
DemonRogue13: Yeah I know that's why I chose that fic of R-Man's because of the Kurrty relationship in it.
Damn-my-name-was-taken: I'm happy you enjoyed it.
NctrnlBst: Actually it was secret girl stuff they talked about and if I told you they'd kill me. I thought about the Vincent double thing, not sure if I can make a full chapter on it though.
Ruby: Don't worry about it.
Xenomorph666: Well I have to read your story first, but I'm actually getting tied of this, and am running out of ideas.
BlackRoseApocalyps: I just hope I do it justice.
The Uncanny R-Man: I'm glad you liked it, and the references. I thought about doing the Ultimate X-Men, but I'm getting tired of this. Maybe I'll do a sequel (Reality Trip 2) someday and do all the things I wanted to do. But look for a reference to the Ultimate one in this chapter.
REALITY TRIP
CHAPTER 13: JUST A DESTINY
A 21 year old woman falls down onto her chair in her office. She ran a hand through her dark blond hair and closes her uniquely colored eyes which are between green, blue and grey.
Her name is Marianne Jong AKA Fantasy. She and her partner Michael run a safe house for the mutant underground. I had been a long day, Tank and Sarah were at it again, and she had to step in and separate the two.
She actually had the adults sitting in opposite corners of the same room like kids. 'Well if they act like kids, they get treated like kids.' She thought to herself. She was thinking of leaving them there the entire day so it would be quiet but knew that was a little too much.
Plus she just finished her rounds of the two new kids that got sent to her a couple of days ago. A girl and a boy of about eight. She heard they were freed from some kind of lab, and the boy was reclusive and the girl barley talked.
The other kids Connor, Samantha, Jonathan and even Ezra (Who never talked) tried to help them. It was all a little much and it wasn't even NOON yet.
Just then Michael walked in. He was a few years older then her, well built from years of training with short brown hair and gray eyes she loves to look into.
He walked up to behind her and laid his hands gently on her shoulders. He began to rub gently and she leaned back into him. She tilted her head back and as she did he bent down and kissed the top of her head.
"Rough day I take it." He said to her. She let out a sign. "Days not over yet." She replayed to him.
He wrapped her up in his arms. "Things could be worse." She broke out of his hold and punched him in the arm. "Did you REALY have to say that?"
Michael took a step back from the irritated woman. "What? Saying stuff like that doesn't make things happen."
Well folks by now you know what happens.
Marianne was standing up next to Michael ready to unleash some frustration on him when of course you know who shows up. Michael and Marianne stand there dumbfounded.
Marianne quickly starts to poke Michael hard in the chest. "So saying stuff like that doesn't make it happen huh?"
"Uh, not to interrupt you two but could tell us where we are?" Scott said to the two people. Marianne quickly turned her head to Scott. "You're at a safe house for the Mutant Underground Scott."
"Wait how did you know my name?" Scott said surprised at this.
Marianne and Michael shared a confused look. "Because I was once at Xavier's for a time and met you, wait you guys don't look the right age, in fact you guys look just as young when I joined up." She said to them.
"Well it not like time travel or anything, we're actually come from another dimension." Kitty said to the two older mutants.
"Why do I get the feeling we're going to have a vary long and weird talk?" Marianne said to them.
"Lady you don't know the half of it." Logan said.
After the X-Men had told them their side Michael went to tell the others while Marianne filled them in on her world.
"So this is a safe house for mutants that either need to be hidden, or rescued from labs?" Scott asked him.
"Basically yes, we do a little more, are you all right?" Marianne had noticed how Vincent had reacted to the part of the labs, even children being experimented on. He seemed slightly edgy and there was a look that was familiar to her.
"Just...bad memories trying to resurface." He said to her. She also noticed Rogue stoking his arm slightly.
"Well now that the introductions are over, you mind us resting up?" Jean asked.
Marianne smiled. They were exactly like the ones she knew. "Not at all, and I'm sure the others are eager to meet you by now."
They got up and went out of her office. They passed the halls and came to a room used as a Rec. room. There not only Michael was there, but also a few others. The introductions were made. There was Tank, the oldest of the group, and was a very large Latino man with a short hair cut.
Then Ben, also called Nova, who was a little scrawny and had hair that looked kind of like Pyro's. Then there was Sarah. She had green dyed hair, clearly in top physical condition and was tall too.
Then there were four younger people. There was the oldest Connor who was about seventeen, he seemed very protective of a young middle-eastern girl of about 15, who they were told never talked.
The other two were Jonathon, who preferred to be called Flash. Finally there was a girl named Sam the youngest who was eight.
"Wow you guys look younger than the ones we know of." Sarah said looking at them.
"That's because they're from about two years ago." Marianne told the woman.
"So what do you guys do?" Jamie asked the youngsters. "I'm an empathy, and Ezra can control plants." Connor said to Jamie, Ezra nodded her head. "I also kind of talk for her too." He added a little sheepishly.
"You mean she like can't talk?" Kitty asked looking at the sweet little girl. "Can't or won't basically." Connor said to Kitty.
Suddenly, everyone was blinded by a giant flash of light. "And I'm Flash." Spoke up a boy. "Jonathan I told you not to do that to guest." Marianne scolded the boy like a mother would. He dropped his head. "Sorry." He said.
"And I'm Sam, and I can freeze things." She said proudly. "You mean like this?" Bobby asked and froze a potted plant. "Bobby." Several people yelled at him.
"Uh, not that kind of freezing, more like stopping things in time for a little while."
"Oh you mean like on Charmed?" Kitty asked. She was a fan of the show of course. Samantha wasn't however. "Uh, yeah I guess." She said displeased at the reference.
They broke into polite conversation. Bobby was asking Tank about every major sporting event for the past two years. "Why do you want to know all of this?" Tank asked him.
Bobby smiled back at the big man. "Because then I can make a killing off of the others back home on bets."
"That won't work Bobby." Kitty told him. He looked at the girl confused. "You see, since this is totally another reality, the teams might not be the same as like back home, and even if they were, they might not play the same. So anything you learn here would most likely not happen in our time."
Bobby took a moment to think about it. "Aw man, this sucks."
Sarah was talking with Jean and Scott and she noticed something weird. "Okay what's up? You two seem to be giving Logan space and him doing the same." She demanded.
They looked at each other. "Well in the last reality things were very different." Scott began. "Their Jean was a bit different then ours."
"A BIT?" Jean said sharply to him. "First off, she had vary short hair, spent way too much time shopping with a teenage version of Storm, and above it all she slept with their Wolverine."
Sarah's jaw dropped. "She SLEPT with him?"
Meanwhile Kurt, and Amanda were talking to Marianne and Michael, when Sarah's comment was heard. "What was that all about?" Michael asked.
"Vell in ze last reality she met her counter part that slept with heir Logan." Kurt told them. Both of them were shocked at that news.
"Yeah it was kind of weird." Amanda told them. "First of all Colossus was on the team, their Logan tried to kill their Scott, and there were teenage versions of Mr. McCoy and Ororo, who were dating each other."
"You're kidding me." Marianne said, her mouth gaping.
"Hey you should have seen ze reaction to zeir Rogue and Kurt, vent ve told zem Rogue and I vere related." Kurt said with a smile at the memory.
"I take it they speakless?" Michael said to him. "Vell not really, let's just say zat zey didn't see zat coming."
Vincent found his way into the medical ward by accident. His first impulse was to get the hell out of it, but ht saw two kids lying in beads. He walked over to them. They seemed about eight and the boy was gray skinned, and the girl gray haired.
He guessed they were twins, since they also looked alike. He saw them notice him and seemed frightened of him. Vincent hated it when people were shared of him, especially kids.
"Hey, don't worry I'm just a little lost." He said in a calm and compassionate voice. He sat down on a chair in the middle of them. Mostly used by Marianne when she tried to get the two to open up.
"So what are your names?" He didn't get any answer so he tried another tactic. "Well I'm Vincent, Vincent Freeman. Are you two brother and sister?"
The girl nodded her head. "You two are lucky, I don't. I'm an only child, in fact I'm an orphan."
"No family?" The girl asked him. "Not in the genetic sense. But in a way I do. At first it was the at the orphanage, then at my new home." He told the girl.
The kids were quiet again. Vincent sighed. "Look I know what you two must have gone through."
"NO YOU DON'T!" The boy shout was so unpredictable it startled Vincent. "You don't know, Marianne doesn't know, no one does!"
Vincent looked into the boy's eyes. They were filled with anger and hatred. He knew, because Vincent's own eyes once held that. "You're wrong." He said to the boy never looking away.
Then he pulled off his shirt. "I know more then you know." Vincent got up and took a few steps forward and they both saw the scars. "I was experimented on for three years before I got out." He turned and walked back to them.
"So don't tell me I don't know." He said his voice slightly choked at the memories. The boy looked at Vincent for a few beats. "Sorry." He said looking away from his gaze.
Vincent nodded his head and sat back down. "What's that?" The girl asked pointing at his tattoo on his chest. He smiled at her. "It's a mark of my clan. I was trained in the art of the samurai, and this is the symbol of the Mototsugu Clan."
"What's a sam-o-ra?" The girl asked. Vincent pulled back on his shirt. "Well the samurai were once the great warriors of Japan, maybe even the world at a time. They follow a code called bushido, which basically means, 'the way of the warrior'.
"Bushido has seven main points. Gi, Honesty & Justice. Rei, Polite Courtesy. Yu, Courage. Meiyo, Honor. Jin, Compassion. Makoto, Complete sincerity. Finally Chu, Duty & Loyalty."
"So you can fight?" The boy asked him. Vincent nodded. "Yes but I try not to start fights unless I have to, either because my friends are in trouble, others are in trouble or to stop something that should be stopped."
"So now that you know about me, how about you two, can I finally get some names?" He asked with that smile of his. "I'm Jake." The boy said to him. "I'm Jill." The girl said.
Vincent looked back and forth. "You're kidding? Man I guess your parents loved that story."
He spent the next hour talking to them, he avoided the labs and anything related to it. They were unaware they had been watched. Marianne was looking at them through the window of the door.
"What are ya lookin' at?" Marianne looked to see Rogue walking up to her. She looked through the window and saw the kids had jumped on Vincent and were tickling him mercilessly.
"He's good with children." Marianne said looking at them. Rogue smiled at the scene. "Well he did grow up in an orphanage with kids all around the place. They called him 'big brotha'.
Marianne couldn't help to let out a little laugh. "What?" Rogue asked her. Marianne composed herself. "It's just that everyone here has labeled me as 'mom' and Michael as 'dad'.
Rouge let out a small smile at the mental image she just got. Then looked back inside the room. By now Vincent had turned the tables on the kids and was tickling them.
"I wonder how he got those kids to open up like that, I've been trying for a couple of days." Marianne said looking at the kids. It was the first time they were happy since she saw them.
Rogue's face faltered a little, and a sad look was on it now. "Ya said that these kids were experimented on? Well so was Vincent when he was three. He's nevah gotten completely over it, and ah guess the kids feel like he can relate to them. Which ah guess he can."
Marianne looked back to Vincent. It made sense to her now. That look about him that was so familiar. She had seen it on the faces of so many kids, she wasn't used to seeing it in someone so much older.
Later in the day Vincent was outside the house looking up at the night sky. He felt someone coming closer but he knew the sounds of those footsteps. Rogue sat down next to him looking up at the heavens. "So what are ya looking at?"
"The sky."
She rolled her eyes. "Ah can see that, ya know ah meant. What exactly are ya looking at?"
He let a small smile on his face. "Well I've never really seen the night sky this clearly. I guess the fact that this safe house in away from any city or town, cuts down on the light pollution in the sky. I'm just enjoying the view while I can."
Rogue shivered a little in the night air. Vincent drew her closer to him, and she didn't resist. A moment of silence passed. "Ah guess ya also wanted ta clear your head of all the things that were brought back too." It wasn't a question.
He nodded his head. "It's not fair. Why must children have to go through all of that?" He took a deep breath. "I wish the world was different. I wish stuff like that didn't happen."
She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. She had no words to ease the pain, she knew he had in this, but she tried to anyway. After a moment, he shifted and placed on of his hands on her cheek.
She looked up into his eyes. "Rogue, you've been the single greatest thing in my life. You've helped through one of the most painful moments in my life, and you been there for me."
Rogue blushed slightly at this. "Well ya made me feel better about myself. Ya didn't shy away from meh, and you looked out for meh, and you've been there for meh too when I couldn't control mah powers, and you're here now for meh also."
"I know we haven't exactly said it yet...but it's the only word that I can think of to describe my feelings to you. Rogue...I love you." After the words said, she could feel her heart racing. 'He actually said it. I can't believe it.' She thought to herself.
She reached up with her left hand and placed it on his cheek. "Ah love ya too." She said, meaning every syllable. They were slowly moving forward their heads inches away.
"There you guys are." Bobby said to them. They both pulled back from the shock of being interrupted like that. "Yeah, dinner is ready." Ben said to them. Then they noticed the death glares Rogue and Vincent were giving them.
"Uh...this a bad time?" Bobby said who was slowly inching back. Ben saw what he was doing and the looks and realized this was not going to be pretty. "I'll take the walking mine field, you take ice-boy." Vincent said getting up.
"Fahne with me." Rogue said angrily.
The two of them ran for their life and Vincent and Rogue chased after them.
Later that night things had quieted down a little. Marianne was finally getting somewhere with the two new kids and was feeling better about everything. She knew she should have know better.
She walked in to the living room and could hear a commotion from the kitchen. "What's going on?"
"Our two favorite people are having another 'discussion'. Michael told her. Marianne pinched the bridge of her nose. Things couldn't possibly get any worse.
"Nice place you got here, Marianne." Came a familiar voice. 'It just got worse.' She thought. She turned around and hoped it was just one of her illusions that got loose or something from all the stress. No it was real.
In front of her was the biggest pain in her neck of her entire life. He was tall, slightly older then her, tanned, long black hair, and dark eyes to match.
"Shadow what the hell are you doing here? No strike that, HOW did you find this place?" She angrily asked him.
"A little bribery in the right places to a few select members of the Underground here and there." He said with a cocky smile.
"Leave, now." She said flatly. "Oh come on, I'll be good, besides you wouldn't turn away an old friend would you?" He said in a mockingly pleading voice.
"First off, we haven't been exactly friends for years, secondly I KNOW you won't behave, and thirdly I really don't need you right now with everything going on." She told him, glaring at him the entire time. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and break up Sarah and Tank again before they wreck the kitchen."
"You really did pick the wrong time to get here." Michael said sternly to him, frowning. "Oh and why is that?" He asked.
Just then Scott and Jean went by. Shadow saw then and was surprised to see slightly younger versions of them. "Uh...what's going on?"
Michael filled him in. "If I hadn't seen it myself I would never have believe you." Shadow finally said.
They walked on and Shadow met the others, he also noticed strange looks he got when they found out his name was Shadow. "Okay what's going on?" He demanded. "Everyone keeps giving me strange looks when I say my, name and I want to know RIGHT NOW."
"Well it's just that we know a guy named Shadow in our world, only he's Japanese, and a ninja." Jamie said to him.
Shadow let out a snort. "Please like ninjas exist. They're just over blown fighters, like samurai."
Every one of the X-Men froze at his words and looked to Vincent. His right eye twitched a little. Shadow saw how everyone had gotten quiet. "What?" He asked innocently.
Vincent calmly walked up to him and stared him in the face. "What did you say about the samurai?"
Shadow cocked an eyebrow. "Well I hate to spoil your fantasies, but they were just guys with cool swords, and stupid body armor. I mean no one can be as good as the hype, and if they were so good, where are they now huh? Besides I could take them easily."
"Care to put your money were your mouth is?" Vincent coldly asked him. Scott was about to stop it, but Logan place a hand on his shoulder. "Forget it Summers. There's no stopping this, and I wouldn't want to get between this."
"You got a problem?" Shadow said to the younger man. Vincent nodded his head. Shadow turned to Michael. "Hey is your training room free?" Michael nodded his head.
"Well then let me show you what you just got yourself into." Shadow said.
15 MINUTES LATER
Marianne was patching Shadow up. "Ouch!" She slapped him n the arm. "Don't be a baby, besides you started this whole thing."
"Why did he go so hard on me anyways, what did I say. And how the hell didn't somebody tell me he was that powerful, and could fight like that. Not to mention WHERE he learned to fight like that." Shadow said to her.
Michael who had dragged him to the med room for Marianne was snickering in the corner. "Well remember what you said about samurai, well the kid IS one."
Shadow looked at him like he grew a second head. "You're kidding me right?" Michael shook his head. "Great." Shadow mumbled to himself.
The next day everyone was well rested and ready to leave. They had stayed the night, and got a good meal and a shower. Everyone was starting to gather around. "Hey where's Vincent?" Scott asked.
"He said he had ta do somethin' before we leave."
Vincent was in with the kids in the medical wing. "Do you really have to go?" Jill asked him. "Yeah I do, me and my friends have to go home." Vincent told her.
"Will we ever see you again?" Jack asked him. Vincent didn't now what to say to him. "Well the future is uncertain, so you never know." She saw they didn't buy it.
He came up with something. He pulled out a couple of quarters. He used his finger so smooth out the images with his strength it was easy. He made both side smooth and flat. He took on in his hand and pointing his finger made a small laser like beam etch something into it. He made a second one on the other side and repeated it with the other coin.
He then used the energy beam to made a small hole in each coin near the outer edge. He walked over to the sink and ran them through cold water to cool them off. He quickly searched around and found two threads and looped one through each coin.
He gave them each a coin. They looked at it, each side had a different Japanese character on it. "What do these mean?" Jill asked him, running her finger in the groves.
"This side means courage, and the other strength." Vincent said to them. He put the modified pentanes on each of them. "If you ever need either one, you will find it always close to you as you wear these."
Jack was felling the markings on it then placed it under his shirt. "Thanks."
Vincent smiled at the boy. "Just remember that there are others there for you if you need them, like this Marianne girl. She's really nice and if you give her a chance she'll help you two out."
"Okay." Jill said slightly sad that he was leaving. Jack nodded his head to him. Vincent ruffled to boy's hair and then placed a finger on the girl's nose like it was a button, she laughed a little as he did.
Vincent got back to the other who were waiting for him. "What took ya?" Logan asked.
"Sorry just had to say goodbye to a couple of people." He said to them not elaborating. "Well wish us luck." Kitty said and started the device, and they disappeared again.
"Well I hope we don't have to deal with any dimensional problems like that." Michael said then noticed the look Marianne gave him. "Oh come on Anne, like that could ever happen to us."
Marianne sighed. "You're right, the odds are pretty large huh?"
NEXT UP CHAPTER 14: THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
No it's not the Wizard of Oz, they finally get back home.
PS Don't forget not only to read the required reading of the fics this is based off of, but to leave a review also, please it's the least that I could do to mention this, for letting them let me use their fics.
DemonRogue13: Yeah I know that's why I chose that fic of R-Man's because of the Kurrty relationship in it.
Damn-my-name-was-taken: I'm happy you enjoyed it.
NctrnlBst: Actually it was secret girl stuff they talked about and if I told you they'd kill me. I thought about the Vincent double thing, not sure if I can make a full chapter on it though.
Ruby: Don't worry about it.
Xenomorph666: Well I have to read your story first, but I'm actually getting tied of this, and am running out of ideas.
BlackRoseApocalyps: I just hope I do it justice.
The Uncanny R-Man: I'm glad you liked it, and the references. I thought about doing the Ultimate X-Men, but I'm getting tired of this. Maybe I'll do a sequel (Reality Trip 2) someday and do all the things I wanted to do. But look for a reference to the Ultimate one in this chapter.
REALITY TRIP
CHAPTER 13: JUST A DESTINY
A 21 year old woman falls down onto her chair in her office. She ran a hand through her dark blond hair and closes her uniquely colored eyes which are between green, blue and grey.
Her name is Marianne Jong AKA Fantasy. She and her partner Michael run a safe house for the mutant underground. I had been a long day, Tank and Sarah were at it again, and she had to step in and separate the two.
She actually had the adults sitting in opposite corners of the same room like kids. 'Well if they act like kids, they get treated like kids.' She thought to herself. She was thinking of leaving them there the entire day so it would be quiet but knew that was a little too much.
Plus she just finished her rounds of the two new kids that got sent to her a couple of days ago. A girl and a boy of about eight. She heard they were freed from some kind of lab, and the boy was reclusive and the girl barley talked.
The other kids Connor, Samantha, Jonathan and even Ezra (Who never talked) tried to help them. It was all a little much and it wasn't even NOON yet.
Just then Michael walked in. He was a few years older then her, well built from years of training with short brown hair and gray eyes she loves to look into.
He walked up to behind her and laid his hands gently on her shoulders. He began to rub gently and she leaned back into him. She tilted her head back and as she did he bent down and kissed the top of her head.
"Rough day I take it." He said to her. She let out a sign. "Days not over yet." She replayed to him.
He wrapped her up in his arms. "Things could be worse." She broke out of his hold and punched him in the arm. "Did you REALY have to say that?"
Michael took a step back from the irritated woman. "What? Saying stuff like that doesn't make things happen."
Well folks by now you know what happens.
Marianne was standing up next to Michael ready to unleash some frustration on him when of course you know who shows up. Michael and Marianne stand there dumbfounded.
Marianne quickly starts to poke Michael hard in the chest. "So saying stuff like that doesn't make it happen huh?"
"Uh, not to interrupt you two but could tell us where we are?" Scott said to the two people. Marianne quickly turned her head to Scott. "You're at a safe house for the Mutant Underground Scott."
"Wait how did you know my name?" Scott said surprised at this.
Marianne and Michael shared a confused look. "Because I was once at Xavier's for a time and met you, wait you guys don't look the right age, in fact you guys look just as young when I joined up." She said to them.
"Well it not like time travel or anything, we're actually come from another dimension." Kitty said to the two older mutants.
"Why do I get the feeling we're going to have a vary long and weird talk?" Marianne said to them.
"Lady you don't know the half of it." Logan said.
After the X-Men had told them their side Michael went to tell the others while Marianne filled them in on her world.
"So this is a safe house for mutants that either need to be hidden, or rescued from labs?" Scott asked him.
"Basically yes, we do a little more, are you all right?" Marianne had noticed how Vincent had reacted to the part of the labs, even children being experimented on. He seemed slightly edgy and there was a look that was familiar to her.
"Just...bad memories trying to resurface." He said to her. She also noticed Rogue stoking his arm slightly.
"Well now that the introductions are over, you mind us resting up?" Jean asked.
Marianne smiled. They were exactly like the ones she knew. "Not at all, and I'm sure the others are eager to meet you by now."
They got up and went out of her office. They passed the halls and came to a room used as a Rec. room. There not only Michael was there, but also a few others. The introductions were made. There was Tank, the oldest of the group, and was a very large Latino man with a short hair cut.
Then Ben, also called Nova, who was a little scrawny and had hair that looked kind of like Pyro's. Then there was Sarah. She had green dyed hair, clearly in top physical condition and was tall too.
Then there were four younger people. There was the oldest Connor who was about seventeen, he seemed very protective of a young middle-eastern girl of about 15, who they were told never talked.
The other two were Jonathon, who preferred to be called Flash. Finally there was a girl named Sam the youngest who was eight.
"Wow you guys look younger than the ones we know of." Sarah said looking at them.
"That's because they're from about two years ago." Marianne told the woman.
"So what do you guys do?" Jamie asked the youngsters. "I'm an empathy, and Ezra can control plants." Connor said to Jamie, Ezra nodded her head. "I also kind of talk for her too." He added a little sheepishly.
"You mean she like can't talk?" Kitty asked looking at the sweet little girl. "Can't or won't basically." Connor said to Kitty.
Suddenly, everyone was blinded by a giant flash of light. "And I'm Flash." Spoke up a boy. "Jonathan I told you not to do that to guest." Marianne scolded the boy like a mother would. He dropped his head. "Sorry." He said.
"And I'm Sam, and I can freeze things." She said proudly. "You mean like this?" Bobby asked and froze a potted plant. "Bobby." Several people yelled at him.
"Uh, not that kind of freezing, more like stopping things in time for a little while."
"Oh you mean like on Charmed?" Kitty asked. She was a fan of the show of course. Samantha wasn't however. "Uh, yeah I guess." She said displeased at the reference.
They broke into polite conversation. Bobby was asking Tank about every major sporting event for the past two years. "Why do you want to know all of this?" Tank asked him.
Bobby smiled back at the big man. "Because then I can make a killing off of the others back home on bets."
"That won't work Bobby." Kitty told him. He looked at the girl confused. "You see, since this is totally another reality, the teams might not be the same as like back home, and even if they were, they might not play the same. So anything you learn here would most likely not happen in our time."
Bobby took a moment to think about it. "Aw man, this sucks."
Sarah was talking with Jean and Scott and she noticed something weird. "Okay what's up? You two seem to be giving Logan space and him doing the same." She demanded.
They looked at each other. "Well in the last reality things were very different." Scott began. "Their Jean was a bit different then ours."
"A BIT?" Jean said sharply to him. "First off, she had vary short hair, spent way too much time shopping with a teenage version of Storm, and above it all she slept with their Wolverine."
Sarah's jaw dropped. "She SLEPT with him?"
Meanwhile Kurt, and Amanda were talking to Marianne and Michael, when Sarah's comment was heard. "What was that all about?" Michael asked.
"Vell in ze last reality she met her counter part that slept with heir Logan." Kurt told them. Both of them were shocked at that news.
"Yeah it was kind of weird." Amanda told them. "First of all Colossus was on the team, their Logan tried to kill their Scott, and there were teenage versions of Mr. McCoy and Ororo, who were dating each other."
"You're kidding me." Marianne said, her mouth gaping.
"Hey you should have seen ze reaction to zeir Rogue and Kurt, vent ve told zem Rogue and I vere related." Kurt said with a smile at the memory.
"I take it they speakless?" Michael said to him. "Vell not really, let's just say zat zey didn't see zat coming."
Vincent found his way into the medical ward by accident. His first impulse was to get the hell out of it, but ht saw two kids lying in beads. He walked over to them. They seemed about eight and the boy was gray skinned, and the girl gray haired.
He guessed they were twins, since they also looked alike. He saw them notice him and seemed frightened of him. Vincent hated it when people were shared of him, especially kids.
"Hey, don't worry I'm just a little lost." He said in a calm and compassionate voice. He sat down on a chair in the middle of them. Mostly used by Marianne when she tried to get the two to open up.
"So what are your names?" He didn't get any answer so he tried another tactic. "Well I'm Vincent, Vincent Freeman. Are you two brother and sister?"
The girl nodded her head. "You two are lucky, I don't. I'm an only child, in fact I'm an orphan."
"No family?" The girl asked him. "Not in the genetic sense. But in a way I do. At first it was the at the orphanage, then at my new home." He told the girl.
The kids were quiet again. Vincent sighed. "Look I know what you two must have gone through."
"NO YOU DON'T!" The boy shout was so unpredictable it startled Vincent. "You don't know, Marianne doesn't know, no one does!"
Vincent looked into the boy's eyes. They were filled with anger and hatred. He knew, because Vincent's own eyes once held that. "You're wrong." He said to the boy never looking away.
Then he pulled off his shirt. "I know more then you know." Vincent got up and took a few steps forward and they both saw the scars. "I was experimented on for three years before I got out." He turned and walked back to them.
"So don't tell me I don't know." He said his voice slightly choked at the memories. The boy looked at Vincent for a few beats. "Sorry." He said looking away from his gaze.
Vincent nodded his head and sat back down. "What's that?" The girl asked pointing at his tattoo on his chest. He smiled at her. "It's a mark of my clan. I was trained in the art of the samurai, and this is the symbol of the Mototsugu Clan."
"What's a sam-o-ra?" The girl asked. Vincent pulled back on his shirt. "Well the samurai were once the great warriors of Japan, maybe even the world at a time. They follow a code called bushido, which basically means, 'the way of the warrior'.
"Bushido has seven main points. Gi, Honesty & Justice. Rei, Polite Courtesy. Yu, Courage. Meiyo, Honor. Jin, Compassion. Makoto, Complete sincerity. Finally Chu, Duty & Loyalty."
"So you can fight?" The boy asked him. Vincent nodded. "Yes but I try not to start fights unless I have to, either because my friends are in trouble, others are in trouble or to stop something that should be stopped."
"So now that you know about me, how about you two, can I finally get some names?" He asked with that smile of his. "I'm Jake." The boy said to him. "I'm Jill." The girl said.
Vincent looked back and forth. "You're kidding? Man I guess your parents loved that story."
He spent the next hour talking to them, he avoided the labs and anything related to it. They were unaware they had been watched. Marianne was looking at them through the window of the door.
"What are ya lookin' at?" Marianne looked to see Rogue walking up to her. She looked through the window and saw the kids had jumped on Vincent and were tickling him mercilessly.
"He's good with children." Marianne said looking at them. Rogue smiled at the scene. "Well he did grow up in an orphanage with kids all around the place. They called him 'big brotha'.
Marianne couldn't help to let out a little laugh. "What?" Rogue asked her. Marianne composed herself. "It's just that everyone here has labeled me as 'mom' and Michael as 'dad'.
Rouge let out a small smile at the mental image she just got. Then looked back inside the room. By now Vincent had turned the tables on the kids and was tickling them.
"I wonder how he got those kids to open up like that, I've been trying for a couple of days." Marianne said looking at the kids. It was the first time they were happy since she saw them.
Rogue's face faltered a little, and a sad look was on it now. "Ya said that these kids were experimented on? Well so was Vincent when he was three. He's nevah gotten completely over it, and ah guess the kids feel like he can relate to them. Which ah guess he can."
Marianne looked back to Vincent. It made sense to her now. That look about him that was so familiar. She had seen it on the faces of so many kids, she wasn't used to seeing it in someone so much older.
Later in the day Vincent was outside the house looking up at the night sky. He felt someone coming closer but he knew the sounds of those footsteps. Rogue sat down next to him looking up at the heavens. "So what are ya looking at?"
"The sky."
She rolled her eyes. "Ah can see that, ya know ah meant. What exactly are ya looking at?"
He let a small smile on his face. "Well I've never really seen the night sky this clearly. I guess the fact that this safe house in away from any city or town, cuts down on the light pollution in the sky. I'm just enjoying the view while I can."
Rogue shivered a little in the night air. Vincent drew her closer to him, and she didn't resist. A moment of silence passed. "Ah guess ya also wanted ta clear your head of all the things that were brought back too." It wasn't a question.
He nodded his head. "It's not fair. Why must children have to go through all of that?" He took a deep breath. "I wish the world was different. I wish stuff like that didn't happen."
She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. She had no words to ease the pain, she knew he had in this, but she tried to anyway. After a moment, he shifted and placed on of his hands on her cheek.
She looked up into his eyes. "Rogue, you've been the single greatest thing in my life. You've helped through one of the most painful moments in my life, and you been there for me."
Rogue blushed slightly at this. "Well ya made me feel better about myself. Ya didn't shy away from meh, and you looked out for meh, and you've been there for meh too when I couldn't control mah powers, and you're here now for meh also."
"I know we haven't exactly said it yet...but it's the only word that I can think of to describe my feelings to you. Rogue...I love you." After the words said, she could feel her heart racing. 'He actually said it. I can't believe it.' She thought to herself.
She reached up with her left hand and placed it on his cheek. "Ah love ya too." She said, meaning every syllable. They were slowly moving forward their heads inches away.
"There you guys are." Bobby said to them. They both pulled back from the shock of being interrupted like that. "Yeah, dinner is ready." Ben said to them. Then they noticed the death glares Rogue and Vincent were giving them.
"Uh...this a bad time?" Bobby said who was slowly inching back. Ben saw what he was doing and the looks and realized this was not going to be pretty. "I'll take the walking mine field, you take ice-boy." Vincent said getting up.
"Fahne with me." Rogue said angrily.
The two of them ran for their life and Vincent and Rogue chased after them.
Later that night things had quieted down a little. Marianne was finally getting somewhere with the two new kids and was feeling better about everything. She knew she should have know better.
She walked in to the living room and could hear a commotion from the kitchen. "What's going on?"
"Our two favorite people are having another 'discussion'. Michael told her. Marianne pinched the bridge of her nose. Things couldn't possibly get any worse.
"Nice place you got here, Marianne." Came a familiar voice. 'It just got worse.' She thought. She turned around and hoped it was just one of her illusions that got loose or something from all the stress. No it was real.
In front of her was the biggest pain in her neck of her entire life. He was tall, slightly older then her, tanned, long black hair, and dark eyes to match.
"Shadow what the hell are you doing here? No strike that, HOW did you find this place?" She angrily asked him.
"A little bribery in the right places to a few select members of the Underground here and there." He said with a cocky smile.
"Leave, now." She said flatly. "Oh come on, I'll be good, besides you wouldn't turn away an old friend would you?" He said in a mockingly pleading voice.
"First off, we haven't been exactly friends for years, secondly I KNOW you won't behave, and thirdly I really don't need you right now with everything going on." She told him, glaring at him the entire time. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and break up Sarah and Tank again before they wreck the kitchen."
"You really did pick the wrong time to get here." Michael said sternly to him, frowning. "Oh and why is that?" He asked.
Just then Scott and Jean went by. Shadow saw then and was surprised to see slightly younger versions of them. "Uh...what's going on?"
Michael filled him in. "If I hadn't seen it myself I would never have believe you." Shadow finally said.
They walked on and Shadow met the others, he also noticed strange looks he got when they found out his name was Shadow. "Okay what's going on?" He demanded. "Everyone keeps giving me strange looks when I say my, name and I want to know RIGHT NOW."
"Well it's just that we know a guy named Shadow in our world, only he's Japanese, and a ninja." Jamie said to him.
Shadow let out a snort. "Please like ninjas exist. They're just over blown fighters, like samurai."
Every one of the X-Men froze at his words and looked to Vincent. His right eye twitched a little. Shadow saw how everyone had gotten quiet. "What?" He asked innocently.
Vincent calmly walked up to him and stared him in the face. "What did you say about the samurai?"
Shadow cocked an eyebrow. "Well I hate to spoil your fantasies, but they were just guys with cool swords, and stupid body armor. I mean no one can be as good as the hype, and if they were so good, where are they now huh? Besides I could take them easily."
"Care to put your money were your mouth is?" Vincent coldly asked him. Scott was about to stop it, but Logan place a hand on his shoulder. "Forget it Summers. There's no stopping this, and I wouldn't want to get between this."
"You got a problem?" Shadow said to the younger man. Vincent nodded his head. Shadow turned to Michael. "Hey is your training room free?" Michael nodded his head.
"Well then let me show you what you just got yourself into." Shadow said.
15 MINUTES LATER
Marianne was patching Shadow up. "Ouch!" She slapped him n the arm. "Don't be a baby, besides you started this whole thing."
"Why did he go so hard on me anyways, what did I say. And how the hell didn't somebody tell me he was that powerful, and could fight like that. Not to mention WHERE he learned to fight like that." Shadow said to her.
Michael who had dragged him to the med room for Marianne was snickering in the corner. "Well remember what you said about samurai, well the kid IS one."
Shadow looked at him like he grew a second head. "You're kidding me right?" Michael shook his head. "Great." Shadow mumbled to himself.
The next day everyone was well rested and ready to leave. They had stayed the night, and got a good meal and a shower. Everyone was starting to gather around. "Hey where's Vincent?" Scott asked.
"He said he had ta do somethin' before we leave."
Vincent was in with the kids in the medical wing. "Do you really have to go?" Jill asked him. "Yeah I do, me and my friends have to go home." Vincent told her.
"Will we ever see you again?" Jack asked him. Vincent didn't now what to say to him. "Well the future is uncertain, so you never know." She saw they didn't buy it.
He came up with something. He pulled out a couple of quarters. He used his finger so smooth out the images with his strength it was easy. He made both side smooth and flat. He took on in his hand and pointing his finger made a small laser like beam etch something into it. He made a second one on the other side and repeated it with the other coin.
He then used the energy beam to made a small hole in each coin near the outer edge. He walked over to the sink and ran them through cold water to cool them off. He quickly searched around and found two threads and looped one through each coin.
He gave them each a coin. They looked at it, each side had a different Japanese character on it. "What do these mean?" Jill asked him, running her finger in the groves.
"This side means courage, and the other strength." Vincent said to them. He put the modified pentanes on each of them. "If you ever need either one, you will find it always close to you as you wear these."
Jack was felling the markings on it then placed it under his shirt. "Thanks."
Vincent smiled at the boy. "Just remember that there are others there for you if you need them, like this Marianne girl. She's really nice and if you give her a chance she'll help you two out."
"Okay." Jill said slightly sad that he was leaving. Jack nodded his head to him. Vincent ruffled to boy's hair and then placed a finger on the girl's nose like it was a button, she laughed a little as he did.
Vincent got back to the other who were waiting for him. "What took ya?" Logan asked.
"Sorry just had to say goodbye to a couple of people." He said to them not elaborating. "Well wish us luck." Kitty said and started the device, and they disappeared again.
"Well I hope we don't have to deal with any dimensional problems like that." Michael said then noticed the look Marianne gave him. "Oh come on Anne, like that could ever happen to us."
Marianne sighed. "You're right, the odds are pretty large huh?"
NEXT UP CHAPTER 14: THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
No it's not the Wizard of Oz, they finally get back home.
PS Don't forget not only to read the required reading of the fics this is based off of, but to leave a review also, please it's the least that I could do to mention this, for letting them let me use their fics.