Four
The moment he words left her mouth Mickey had wanted to take them back, "I'm a mutant." Somehow saying it out loud was easier than she had thought-it wasn't something she had done before. Normally, Mickey chose to hide something her mutation made even easier, "I can change the way my face looks, or my hair…"
Dimly, she could hear Remy trying to shove the Genie back into the bottle-telling Kurt and the girl that she was just crazy. The overprotective streak that ran five miles wide in Remy Lebeau was one of the reasons Mickey liked having him as a friend. It showed that it didn't matter that he was a Thief and she an Assassin-they were above the rivalry that affected so many others in the city-the X gene had assured that. Mickey had had few friends in her life and Remy proved the old adage "Quality over Quantity".
At the edge of her fog Mickey heard the girl laugh with just the barest hint of amusement, "Join the club."
Remy's confusion was something palpable in the air, "Quoi?"
Mickey felt her head rise up as if she were little more than a puppet on a string and found her eyes-the only thing she left real most times-meet Kurt's. A wave of emotion flooded from the boy's gentle face; understanding, interest, fear, sympathy. "We're mutants too…"
Time stood still as Mickey swallowed the words down, in her life time she had only come across three other mutants. Her mother; who could create illusions in people's minds, a distant cousin of Ma's who had a sonic type scream and Remy with the kinetic ability she had helped him master. Now she was faced with two more-how many like them were there in the world? A shake of her head brought all of Mickey's rationality back to the fore of her mind, "What can you do?"
Kurt's slight smile faded and he began to play with his watch again-it was a dead tell and Mickey didn't miss it. With an eye roll to be envied the girl grabbed Kurt's wrist and pressed a button on the watch briefly-the lanky dark haired boy was replaced in a flash by a hunched form covered in indigo fur, pointy ears, glowing yellow eyes and most amazingly of all a tail that was twitching nervously. Just as quickly the first image returned and Kurt was busy glaring at the girl while not looking at Mickey or Remy. "Rogue…some one might have…"
"Don worry mon ami," Remy's drawl cut the boy off and Mickey smiled knowing what was coming-the Cajun removed his sunglasses revealing his magnificent red on black eyes while the bickering duo watched, "Remy understand. Dey used to call him Le Diable Blanc when dey thought he couldn hear dem."
This admission seemed to settle the younger man but Mickey could still feel fear rolling off of Kurt as he waited for her to speak. She could feel a small smile turning the corners of her mouth northwards, "You have a tail."
All of the tension slid out of Kurt's eyes as he returned the smile it sent an unfamiliar tremor through Mickey to see him happy, "Ja,"
A not so dainty cough interrupted the moment and Mickey brought her attention back to the girl who had been with Kurt; who had her hands on her hips tapping one combat booted foot impatiently, "You gonna introduce your friend Elf or where you born in a barn?"
"It was a Bavarian Castle and you know it Rogue," Kurt stuck his tongue out at the teasing comment before pointing to the girl, "This is Meine Schwester Rogue...Rogue this is mein friend Michaela..."
"Mickey. No one but that horse's ass Dumas calls me 'Michaela' around here." Mickey nodded to Rogue but didn't reach out to shake the other girl's hand-some how Mickey got the impression that neither was the touchy feely type.
"You forgettin' somethin 'tite?" Remy's voice purred with just an edge of sulkiness-it was the tone he used with pretty girls when he knew Bella wasn't around, "Je m'appel Remy Lebeau…but une belle fille comme toi can call me Remy chère."
The look on Rogue's face was less than impressed and Mickey had to smile-it was the first time she hadn't seen a girl turn into a cooing puddle of estrogen at Remy's feet-she'd have to mark the date in her calendar for prosperity. "And what's your power Swamp Rat, since we're playing show and tell." Rogue narrowed her eyes and stared intently at Remy.
"Remy don usually show de filles de first time he meets dem," he offered the Goth a seductive smile which was promptly ignored-Mickey snorted and tried to hide the laughter she felt bubbling within her while Kurt just seemed confused.
As they watched Rogue changed tactics allowing an evil smile curl her lips, "Sugah, I ain't interested in 'Little Remy' as much as he likes to do your thinking for you…or were a pair of nifty eyes all you got to show for your X gene? Let me guess you're Slime Boy of the wild bayou?"
Remy's mouth dropped open in shock as Mickey began to laugh heartily all her earlier tension forgotten as some one finally got the better of Remy, "Kurt I think I like your sister…Emil's going to be pissed he missed seeing Remy speechless."
The grin on Kurt's face widened as Remy began glaring their way, "She has that effect on people."
"An dat makes you 'Caustic River Rat' hahn?" Remy regained his trademark smirk and began to play along with Rogue, "Don think Remy didn notice dat accent o' yours chère. Or you blue a fuzzy like ton frère?"
"Chère means dear right?" Kurt lifted an eyebrow as he watched his sister get paler-a sure sign that Remy was making her very angry-Kurt knew from experience that Remy would not like an angry Rogue.
Always observant Mickey nodded her usual evil child smile plastering her face; Rogue and Remy were moving closer to each other playing a physiological game of chicken, "Yes, I hope she finds it as patronizing as I do when he calls me 'tite."
"Hey Mickey!" at the sound of Emil's voice Mickey turned and waved the rest of her friends over to watch the show.
As they approached Bella, Theo and Emil watched in interest as the pair continued to argue to the exclusion of all else, Bella lifted one perfectly groomed brow in question; "What is dat boy doin'?"
"Arguing with de nouvelle fille," Emil smirked as he tried to get close enough to hear everything but stay close enough to the others to look uninterested, "Look he's making a bahbin…"
"De fille look ready to put de cunja on Remy," Theo chuckled lightly then smiled at Kurt, "Since you already met Mickey and Remy, it'd be rude not to introduce ourselves. Je suis Theo Labeau, dat's Bella Boudreaux and de peeshwank be Emil de Lapin…don tell no one he's my cousin."
Kurt smiled after spending quality time with Celeste he had wondered what kind of welcome they would get from the regular students. Sometimes Kurt found it difficult to talk to strangers because he worried they would see through his illusion but thankfully, Mickey's friends seemed quite natural and friendly. In fact the girl's complete non-reaction to his real self was positively encouraging, "Kurt Darkholme…that is my sister Rogue…"
"Homme you might not want ta hear dis mais your sœur is hot," Emil watched Rogue intently until Bella cuffed him on the side of the head.
The smile the blonde girl offered Kurt was warm and apologetic, "You have to forgive Lapin…dey dropped him on his head when he was a bébé-deux fois."
"You a sophomore, homme?" Emil rubbed the back of his head gingerly while he questioned Kurt.
Kurt nodded slowly still trying to catch what was being said between his sister and Remy-the phrase 'Coonassed Swamp Trash' drifted by with her distinct twang, "I have computers after lunch…"
"Bien," Emil smiled widely and clapped a light hand on the smaller boy's shoulder, "Den you be in my class…merde…we better get den-Monsieur Holmes don like it when you come in late."
For a second Kurt felt torn; it was nice to
have some one he knew in class but he didn't feel right leaving Rogue to her
own devices. As if reading his mind
Mickey nodded in the Gothic belle's direction, "What class does she have?"
It took a second of fumbling for Kurt to find Rogue's schedule, "Junior Phys Ed…"
"I'm in that class." Mickey took the piece of paper from Kurt's tri fingered hand, "I'll make sure she gets there."
A tugging on his arm propelled Kurt forward as Emil began to rattle off some of the more impressive stunts the Lebeaus had pulled at L'Ecole. The one with the chicken feet filling Dumas' desk drawers sounded most interesting. Turning back he waved to Mickey-glad that God had provided himself and Rogue with friends so quickly. Smiling slightly Mickey waved back as Kurt entered the school and the bell signalling the end of lunch rang.
*****************************
"Is your friend Remy always such an ass?" Rogue asked as she and Mickey changed into their gym clothes the bell had brought her war of words with the smirking Cajun to a close but not quite to an end.
With a shrug Mickey tied her long bangs down under a black bandana-they were beginning the fun that was the gymnastics unit and hair in her eyes never agreed with her tumbling, "Only when he tries to be charming."
Rogue twisted her bicoloured hair back into a ponytail following Mickey's advice, "And how often is that?"
"When ever he's awake." Came the straight faced answer as the purple haired girl tied up her black sneakers, "Remy's not so bad once you get to know him…but until then you'll want to strangle him at least five times a day."
"However did he survive you?" Rogue laughed enjoying the dark sense of humour that ran through the other girl-so far as Rogue had seen they had quite a lot in common.
This time a small grin brightened Mickey's face-reminding Rogue that Kurt always had good taste in women. "He almost didn't. But I took pity on Remy and allowed him to live."
Rogue laughed as Mickey pulled off the thickly studded black leather cuffs she wore on her wrists revealing a black 'A' tattooed in a winding gothic pattern on the inside of her right arm, "Nice tat."
For a second Mickey went utterly still-in the way Rogue had only seen Mystique react when pushed about her past or why she followed some of Magneto's crazier instructions. It was what people did when they were hiding something. The moment passed and Mickey became as animated she ever was, "Thanks."
"I saw one like that on Remy's wrist." Rogue prodded, "But his was a 'T'. Do they mean something?"
"Our middle initials," the words were even and measured so that Rogue couldn't tell if they were truth or not, "Mine is Aisling and Remy's is Thierry-but if you tell anyone that I'll kill you."
Rogue nodded and mimed locking her lips-it wasn't like she'd like people finding out that she was Marie Eugenia Sunflower Darkholme. In her opinion middle names were a bane set upon children by mothers who wanted some retribution for hours of labour pains.
*****************************
In a little as fifteen minutes Kurt decided that it probably wasn't a wise idea on Mr. Holmes the computer teacher's part to allow him and Emil to sit next to each other. In theory it was so Emil could 'help' Kurt catch up on the lessons he'd missed on the first day of school. Reality however proved that Emil wanted to show off his hacking skills to a new audience, but Kurt had to admit it was entertaining and informative to watch the other teen set the sprinklers to go off a half hour before lunch the next day. Kurt learned that while Emil maintained a studious front he viewed things like school protocol as suggestions to be ignored instead of hard and fast rules. Whatever else he was Emil Lebeau made computers fun.
"You wanna know de best thing bout dis?" Lapin grinned maniacally as he typed in lines of code.
The tone of the boy's voice made Kurt sit up
straighter despite the pain it caused his hidden tail, "What?"
"Dumas will blame Remy and Mickey for dis," Emil rubbed his hands together eagerly, "He won prove it mais dat never stopped him from doin' it before."
Kurt smiled and reminded himself to tell Rogue about the prank-she'd enjoy Remy getting in trouble for something he didn't do. Leaning in closer to his new friend Kurt asked something he'd been curious about, "How long have you all been friends?"
"Dere wasn much choice bout Theo an Remy hahn," Emil made a face knowing full well what his older cousin would do to him if it was discovered he had set the sprinklers, "Dey're family. Bella grew up wit us an Mickey came from Ireland when she was twelve…"
"She doesn't have an accent," Kurt puzzled-even after five years in the USA he hadn't lost his German burr.
Emil shrugged in the most Gallic way, "Je sais, I think she took classes to get rid 'o it."
Before Kurt's eyes a mischievous smirk spread across Emil's lightly freckled face, "Why you so interested in…" Kurt blushed and the smile widened, "You got a thing for de scary filles hahn?"
"You don't think she's pretty?" Kurt gulped and cursed the fact that Magneto had made his image inducer mimic his own reactions to a tee.
Emil shook his head still grinning, "Au contraire homme, Mickey is très jolie when she wants to be…but I would never say dat to her face."
"Why not?"
Theatrically lowering his voice Emil made a strange face, "I tried it once three years ago an she broke my arm."
Frowning Kurt tried to reconcile the Mickey known to her friends to the thoughtful Michaela he had met at the Eglise. No matter how hard he tried the two just did not add up. With forced indifference Kurt returned to his school work Mickey Fitzgerald was a mystery he had plenty of time to solve, while he had to finish his coding exercise in fifteen minutes.
*****************************
Rogue crossed her arms over her chest and glared out the window of Mystique's SUV as they wound their way through the labyrinth paths of New Orleans towards the headquarters' of the city's Thieves Guild. Why the Patriarch wanted to meet his mercenary's children she had no idea but Rogue was not impressed at being summoned forth. Even the mighty Magneto had stopped trying to get her to do anything the Goth didn't want to do and having dinner at some swanky mansion surrounded by the arrogant children of the Guild was not high on Rogue's list of priorities. Actually, it fell somewhere near spending more time with Celeste Montmercy becoming a cheerleader and cooing over Remy Lebeau like the other airheads in her gym class had. If it hadn't been for Mickey's blunt sarcasm they would have driven rogue insane.
Now all Rogue could hope for was to get dinner out of the way quickly so she could go home and work on the pile of trig her teacher had so kindly given her. A bubble bath to pamper the muscles still screaming from the medieval torture that was the uneven bars then a solid eight hours sleep wouldn't go amiss either. She could hear Kurt suck in a breath as they began to edge the city's famous Garden District with its towering homes. Stately symbols of repression and exploitation Rogue shook her head but admired the view all the same-she could be realistic and still appreciate fine architecture. At the end of one elaborate wrought iron fence Mystique stopped the vehicle and pushed the buzzer, the gates clinked open to allow them access. Rogue wondered if it was her imagination that saw a letter 'T' similar to Remy's tattoo worked into the coat of arms on the gate.
Parking the car in front of the ivy covered Tudor style mansion Mystique motioned her children n out of the car, "I want you to behave tonight."
"Why do I have the feeling you were looking at me when you said that Momma?" Rogue asked tartly.
"Because you're the one with a short temper." Her mother responded airily.
Grumbling Rogue followed Kurt and Mystique up the stone steps to the front door of the home. With a insincere smile plastered on her face Rogue pressed the doorbell. The door swung wide allowing golden light and the smell of rich Cajun cooking to float into the cool autumn night. It was almost perfect until Rogue caught sight of the young man who had answered the door-she immediately set her face into it's normal impassive scowl.
"Chère, you didn have to follow Remy home to spend time wit him," The ruby and ebony eyes of Remy Lebeau shone with laughter and like Mickey had warned her, Rogue wanted to strangle the Cajun.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Translations
mon ami – my friend
Le Diable Blanc – The White Devil
Meine Schwester – My sister
Je m'appel – My name is
une belle fille comme toi – a beautiful girl like you
ton frère – your brother
nouvelle fille – new girl
making a bahbin – pouting (Cajun expression)
cunja – (More Cajun) A spell, hex
Je suis – I am
Peeshwank – (Gotta love de Cajuns) Runt
Sœur - Sister
deux fois - Twice
Bien - Good
Merde – Shit (Like none of you knew that one)
Je sais- I know
Au contraire homme- On the contrary man
*LoL* How was that for an evil cliffhanger? Muahahahahahaha!
Star of Chaos – I agree…Emil needs to set his standards higher…Don't worry he will. I deal with it very slowly…my talent is painful sometimes.
Petra Delling- I completely understand having no life…this is why I posted on like a Friday night. Teehee…so I'm going to make you wait until Rogue shows off her mutation. Afterall Remy wouldn't share his either. I hope I've answered a few questions (but not too many otherwise you wouldn't need to read this.) And yeah I don't think Mickey noticed anything when she shook Kurt's hand in Chapter two. But she's quite interested in the tail.
Ishandahalf – Yes, I felt the tomatoes being thrown at me left right and center. I gave you more rebellious, bitchy Rogue. And yeah, Celeste sucks…maybe we'll hunt her down and kill her together. She's kind of a non-mutant Jean Grey. I promise to heal your precious Emil. I swear on Remy's leather pants. Oh yes, no running away for Mickey…that would be too easy. You know I don't make things easy on my characters. And they sued to play in each other's kiddie pools naked…with the puppy. Sorry about a lack of bonding…but well…Rogue's gonna hate him for a while. Just until she sees the softer side of Remy I swear!!! Put down that Pitchfork!
Turquoise – Glad to hear you like Mickey…maybe I won't kill her off then.
Pixie Flyer – How about verbal sparring? Does that work for you?
Kazzeh Sodapop – Wow, I'm impressed…you read everything. I usually skim myself unless something is really good. Thanks.
Peace215 – Never loose your favourite hat…or bad things will happen. Yes, Romy hints…but I like working up to the real show slowly. Love at first sight is too easy. Real love takes work. Yeah Mickey's pissed but she's a practical soul that knows there isn't much she can do about it-yet. I haven't decided if Kurt will get a g/f…but Rogue and Mickey are well on the way to being friends.
Aro – Yep, ff.net can be evil sometimes. I'm a pretty regular updater…look once a week and you'll be okay. Maybe everyone is a mutant…dundundun.
Yumiko – I saw no cookies in my pantry…maybe my roommate ate them on me. I have friend who believes Gerbils are the highest life form on earth and that we should see them as the next step in evolution. I bet that scares you more.
Sickmindedsucker – You will learn that I am the queen of evil cliff hangers…I can't resist them. I understand the cheerleader thing…they kind of creeped me out when I was still in high school.
Pixie Cat – Bad ff.net Bad!!! Yeah…it's pretty much the same at any school… I attended three high schools…and at each one some one did the same thing. Again I love the fact that people love my OC's I worry that they are Mary Sues all the time so I try to make them real but flawed. You get a cookie for guessing the Romy will take a bit, but the Belle jealousy can start at any time.
Michelle - *Eyes the swords warily* Yes, I updated. You'd have to find me to kill me Mortal! Teheehee. While some of my BTVS stuff is good there's huge formatting issues with them here at ff.net just tell me what you want and I'll send it to you…or you can wait til I repost it all. But if you want to laugh try the 'When all Else fails' series I wrote with noted BTVSer Aslan…it makes me giggle.
Caliente – 'Awesome Blossom'….*g* that's something I don't hear every day. Yep lust at firstsight…but then Remy has a weakness for pretty girls. Yay! You caught the Kitty comment! You win a prize! What other little references did you find? There's a tasty one in this chapter. Guess it and you can have a cameo.
Anime Addicted – Yeah, I suppose I should take it easy on poor Remy…after all lust at first sight is a difficult experience. Especially when the girl shoots you down.
Frozen Fire – Yay…you like Mickey…Again…I love cliff hangers. And now after this you'll have to wait til I finish the next chapter of "Shame and Redemption' before I update again. Just one thing…as Caliente noticed I add little references… 'Timbit' was an in joke for other Canadians about the dounut chain Tim Horton's that call dounut holes 'Timbits'… Thanks for noticing though…no one else did. :)
Evanescence Kicks Ass – Yep it's a groovy name. I'm not telling if any other Evo characters are gonna show…maybe but I haven't made up my mind. Wanda and Pietro would be the obvious ones. I'd love to bring Pyro in…just for fun. I'll leave Piotr alone-he's tortured enough in my other fic.
UndyingImmortal – My story rocks hardcore! Yay! Hardcore like Johnny Rotten or hard core like Good Charlotte…