Love, or Something Like It
Disclaimer: I disclaim.
AN: Woo, chapter four! I'm seriously loving this fic, and thanks all, you guys are great for reviewing!
Jenny- Hey there crazy one! Thanks, I hope it turns out good. I'll try adding more detail this chapter, OK?
CajunBelle- Yes! Someone agrees with me! Now we both know we're not crazy! And thanks for your review.
Sunruner- Hey Sun! Thanks for the review, I feel appreciated!
Minion- I'll try to make my OC not all...OC-ish, hehe. This chapter will be more of a development on her character. And I might add the Acolytes in this, but it's a slim chance. In the sequel though they play a big part, so don't worry! I'm weird too, hehe. Thanks for the Magneto comment too!
Sparkie- Let's all give Logan hugs, eh? I think he needs one, and if not, let's do it just to bug him! I actually have no clue where the term "Mary- Sue" came from. I've known it for about 3 years, and I started hearing it way back on some old message boards where I first started doing fanfiction. You call your brother a Mary-Sue? How awesome! And degrading. hugs Aw, I feel luffed now.
And now, by popular demand, is chapter four!
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Chapter Four: Sunday, February 6th, Afternoon
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Alexis leaned back into her seat, the cold winter air whipping her cheeks. A smile played on her lips, but wouldn't fully show itself. I may be stuck with a bunch of crazy girls, but this ain't half-bad, she thought to herself as she stuck an arm over the edge of the red Corvette convertible she was riding in. I might even get used to this after a while.
In the front seat, Jean looked into the review mirror. She caught Alexis' moment of happiness, and smiled slightly. The girl had issues, true. But there hadn't been a student at Xavier's that couldn't be helped, if you didn't count Evan.
The car the girls were riding in was fully packed; it was slightly amazing to see how many people you could stuff in one car. Jean was driving of course, and next to her in the passenger seat was Kitty. Behind them, in the seats, were Rogue, Alexis, and Rahne, who was to be Alexis' roommate. Rahne had been trying to start up a conversation with Alexis, but the girl would either ignore her, or offer one-worded answers. All-in-all, she was getting on the lycanthrope's, and Rogue's, nerves.
After a twenty-minute drive, the group arrived at the Bayville Mall, which was heavy with shoppers. Inside, nearly everything was covered in pink, red, and white, the stores all ready for Valentines Day. Jean, Kitty, and Rahne seemed to be in heaven as they rushed to the nearest store, Alexis and Rogue in tow. Rogue wrinkled her nose in disgust at the frills and messages of love adorning the walls of the store. Who's stupid enough to get wrapped up into this dumb holiday anyway, she thought as she walked over to a rack of jeans. Definitely not me.
Alexis raised an eyebrow at the contents of the store, not at all what she normally chose to wear. There was too much pink, too many frills and pastels, and everything seemed to bare more skin than she was comfortable to bare. She looked around, spotting Rogue looking over some jeans, and made a bee-line for the Goth.
"Lousy store, no?" she asked, slightly timid. Rogue looked up from the rack, eyes narrowed. She shrugged, before adverting her eyes from Alexis'. "'Bout all ya'll find bein' with them," she nodded towards Kitty and Jean, who were waiting for Rahne to come out of one of the dressing rooms. Alexis sighed, her own hands reaching for the jeans. "Wish I could get out of here. Frills and pink are not my deal."
"Ain't mine either sugah, but with them 'round..." Rogue trailed off, looking Alexis over. Something in her mind stirred, probably only an affect of Alexis' psyche inside her mind. But still, in a second, it seemed to change Rogue's perspective on the girl. She still didn't like her, but she was now willing to give her a chance at redemption. "Listen. Ah know a couple stores 'round here that might suit yer tastes. Wanna go check 'em out?"
Alexis nodded, smiling a bit. "Love to. But what about, you know? The pep- squad?"
"Aw, forget 'em. Let's do our own kind of shoppin'." Alexis broke out into a grin, before Rogue grabbed her wrist with a gloved hand and nearly ran from the store. As the two walked in silence across the tiled floors, Alexis stuffed her hands in her pockets. She sighed, breaking the silence. "So, um..." she started, casting dark eyes over in Rogue's direction. "What exactly...did you do to me yesterday? When you made me faint, or pass-out, or whatever."
Rogue locked eyes with Alexis, green focusing on blue. She blew a strand of snow-white hair out of her face. "Ah stole yer life-force. When Ah touch someone's bare skin wit mah bare skin, Ah steal a part of 'em for a while. In tha case of mutants, Ah take their powers for a while. But...tha's wha was strange wit you...Ah din' get any power. At least, Ah don' think Ah did."
Alexis rolled these words over in her head, before furrowing her brow in thought. She bit her pale, upper lip, eyes turning to the ground. Her long, shaggy black hair fell beside her face, obscuring it from Rogue's view. Her voice came out from behind her protective shield, soft and, if Rogue was not mistaken, scared. "When you...steal a life force...do you also steal memories? Thoughts? Anything a person may be hiding...do you know it?"
Rogue shrugged, unsure if the other girl could see her do it. "Sometimes. Ah mean, yah Ah steal memories. But it ain't like Ah know tha whole person, all their secrets and all their parts. Why?"
"It's just...nothing. Forget I ever asked." Alexis reappeared from behind her curtain of hair, a forced smile on her face. Rogue gave her a smile of her own, one that was unsure, yet still there. The two walked in silence for a bit longer, before Rogue stopped and pointed ahead of them. "There's tha first store."
A large, neon-pink sign proclaimed the store to be "Warehouse 17". Loud, heavy-metal music blared from the store's stereo-system, and all kinds of teens were walking in and out. A look of awe crossed Alexis' face, before Rogue roughly shook her shoulder. "Are ya gonna go in or jus' stay there gwakin'?" She smirked slightly, and Alexis turned slowly towards her. "Pinch me," she whispered, smiling, slightly-eccentrically. She grabbed Rogue's upper arm and sped into the shop, beaming, Rogue trying her best not to trip as she ran sideways into the store.
To say that Alexis was in heaven would've been the understatement of the year. She was rummaging through the racks of clothing and accessories like crazy, picking out things with care and holding them up against her petite frame. After about ten minutes, once she had calmed down and Rogue had recovered from the dose of excitement-fueled teen, Alexis had what she wanted. Rogue cocked her head to the side as Alexis showed her what she had picked. "Are ya sure ya wan' tha' stuff sugah? Ah mean...it's just so...plain. An' jus..."
"Just what?" Alexis asked. She was holding up two changes of clothing, one being a plum-colored sweater with black cargo pants, the other being a black T-shirt over a white long-sleeved shirt with dark blue jeans. She looked down at the clothes, then back to Rogue. "What's wrong with them?"
Rogue wasn't sure what to say. They weren't bad, but they just didn't seem to fit the girl. But, after all, Rogue barely knew her. So she shook her head, replying with, "Nothin'. They're fine." Alexis smiled brightly, and quickly paid for the clothes with the money Magneto had given her. The pair of girls walked out of the store, shopping done, and without any blood shed on either of their parts.
"There you guys, like, are!" Alexis cringed as a sickly sweet voice rang out, Kitty, Jean, and Rahne running over to them. "Oh, uh, hey guys," she muttered, bending her hand in a slight wave. "What did you, like, get?" Alexis opened her bag, ready to show off her new clothes, when an annoyed, "I'm-better-than-you" voice called out, "Oh-look! Looks-like-the-X-Geeks- have-a-new-member!"
The girls all turned around, coming face-to-face with a pale skinned teen boy, who was leaning on a taller teen girl with flipped-out blonde locks. "You're right Petey!" the girl cried, smacking a mouthful of gum. "Wonder what this 'Little Miss Perfect' can do." She walked forward and pushed Alexis slightly. "Come on. Show us what your special trick is!"
Jean grabbed Alexis firmly on the shoulder. "Tabitha, don't go starting fights. And leave Alexis alone."
"Oh shut up Grey." Tabitha sneered, blowing a bubble in Alexis' face. "Come on girly," she whispered. "Are you going to let Grey fight all your battles?"
Alexis dropped her shopping bags and curled her hands into fists. "Why should I? I could easily kick your ass, powers or no powers. Bring it on." She shuffled her feet a bit, positioning herself for an attack. Tabitha dropped her sneer and adopted a rather ugly look on her overly-made up face. "Fine. Why not? I could use a bit of exercise."
"I-heard-that!" called the pale, white-haired boy, his voice running at super speed. Tabitha turned quickly and yelled, "Shut up Pietro!". That gave Alexis the perfect opportunity to strike, which she did. There was a sickening "smack" as her foot connected with the back of Tabitha's knees, bringing the blonde falling to the tiled floor. She quickly stood up though and made for Alexis' face, sharp nails clawing at her cheeks.
Alexis stumbled back, blood starting to flow from the cuts on her cheeks, but she ignored it as she lunged at Tabitha, knocking her to the ground again. She was fighting dirty now as she took a clump of frazzled blonde hair and yanked it forward before kneeing Tabitha in the stomach. Her eyes blazed with fury as she climbed off the spluttering blonde, and she huffed deeply, her shoulders jerking back, reminding Rogue of Logan.
Pietro ran over to Tabitha and helped her sit up, thumping her on the back as she regained control of her breathing. She fixed Alexis with teal eyes, before smirking slightly. "You're good..." she muttered, standing up and holding out a hand. Alexis took it gingerly, before finding herself pulled into a headlock. "But not as good as me."
Rogue watched as Alexis struggled to get out of Tabitha's grip, her brow furrowing with worry. She felt the need to get in there and help the new girl out, yet held back. A voice inside her head, one that suspiciously sounded like Alexis herself, told her to back down. 'Let them fight, it's not your place to get involved...' it whispered, before fading from Rogue's mind Beside her, she could see Jean getting panicky, before screaming, "Stop it!" She used her telekinesis to force the two girls apart and had Kitty and Rahne hold Alexis back. The younger girl was breathing hard, the scratches on her cheeks now not her only wounds. But she was still struggling to get back in the fight, as was Tabitha, who Pietro was having a rough time controlling. "Yo, Blob!" he called out to someone in the food court. "C'mere-and-restrain-Boom-Boom, will-ya?"
A very large boy lumbered over and grabbed the blonde around the waist, holding her off the ground. Two more boys joined the group, one who looked too much like a frog for comfort, the other looking like a cross between the grunge of the 80's and a biker. "What's got her so riled up?" the taller, grungy boy asked, brushing brown, shaggy hair out of his eyes. Pietro pointed over at Alexis and the other X-Girls, and the boy's eyes brightened.
"Hey there, Pretty Kitty," he said, addressing the annoyed-looking Kitty. "Uh, hey Lance," she called back, digging her heels into the ground so as to stop Alexis from breaking free. The froggish boy hopped over and stood next to Alexis, puzzled. "Yo, what's her malfunction?" he asked Rogue, who appeared to be the only sane person in the bunch. "Oh, Tabitha got on her nerves. Lil' firecracker this one is." She nodded to Alexis, who was now growling obscenities under her breath, some sounding physically impossible. "It's prob'ly best ta jus' let 'er get it outta her system, but you know how Jean is 'bout these kinda things. Plus, Ah don' think it'd be nice ta see blood shed this early in tha day."
The boy nodded, before going back to the group of boys that were now trying to silence a screaming Tabitha. "Uh, I think we all should leave," Jean said, eyes wide with some fright as Tabitha started cursing at the frog-boy in Italian, no doubt having learnt it from one of the boys. Kitty and Rahne nodded, and Rogue picked up Alexis' shopping bag. "C'mon Lex," she said, patting the girl on the shoulder, trying to calm her down. "Ya'll be able ta kill her later." The girl, stopped her mutters and looked at Rogue, anger still flashing in her eyes. "Fine," she growled, before spitting at Tabitha's feet. "I'll make sure to take care of the job next time."
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"So, who was this chick that I'm going to murder again?" Alexis asked from the back seat of the car, now calmer as the cold air whipped her face, her cuts stinging with satisfaction. "Her name's Tabitha Smith, and she used to be part of the X-Men," Jean replied from the driver's seat, still slightly freaked from the mall incident. "She can create these little bomb things, so we're lucky that you two weren't using any powers while you were fighting."
"And what about those guys?" Alexis pressed, leaning forward slightly. "Those were Freddy Dukes, Lance Alvers, Todd Tolensky, and Pietro Maximoff, also known as Blob, Avalanche, Toad, and Quicksilver." Kitty turned around and faced Alexis with a mix of a smile and an eye-roll. "They're the 'Brotherhood of Mutants', a group-"
"Those are the guys Magneto wanted me to join!" Alexis cried, surprise written all over her face. "Whoa, good thing I didn't, huh?" Her comment was met by stares and nods, before the subject was dropped, no one wishing to continue. It was likely that Scott or Logan or someone would give her a lecture about the Brotherhood; a lecture that would, no doubt, go in one ear and out the other.
As the winter air slapped her cheeks, Rogue closed her eyes and relived some of the moments that had just happened. Although she'd been half-way watching the fight between Alexis and Tabitha, the other half of her attention was directed to someone else. A rather handsome, well-built, light-haired and complected someone.
Rogue quickly shook her head. Was she actually thinking of Pietro Maximoff that way? She the boy was good-looking, but handsome? The guy was more snotty and arrogant than anything else, a womanizer who loved a challenge. And he was the enemy for crying out loud! But still, Rogue found her thoughts drifting towards the speed demon, no matter how hard she tried to shove the thoughts down and away. Must be all this Valentine's crap getting to me, she thought, mentally slapping herself. Don't be fooled Rogue. You don't like the speedster, you just don't.
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The front door to the mansion slammed open, announcing the arrival of the five, post-shopping girls. Logan looked up from his newspaper as the girls crossed through the kitchen, laughing and grabbing a bit of something to eat each. He noticed the dried blood on Alexis' face and growled. "Hey, new kid. What happened to you?"
Alexis touched the marks on her face lightly. "Oh, nothing really. Just getting to know some of the kids from school." She smiled brightly, before heading off with Rahne to their room to change for the training session. Jean and Kitty left soon after them, leaving Rogue alone with the Wolverine. "So, Stripes," Logan started as Rogue leaned against a counter and bit into an apple. "What did she really do?"
Rogue lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug. "Tabitha was there an' tried ta start somethin'. But Ah guess Lex isn't as weak as she looks. Tha girl has got some skills...almost reminds me a ya Logan." She pushed herself off the counter and made for the doorway, before swallowing a bite of apple and looking back at the stunned Wolverine. "Almost."
Logan watched Rogue retreat from the kitchen, before snapping his paper back in front of his face. It wasn't a minute before another voice started calling out to him. "Hey, dude." Logan bent down the paper so that only his eyes could be seen, and light brown met dark blue. "Know where a girl could get some anti-septic around here?" Alexis raised an eyebrow, and Logan muttered, "Go ask Mr. McCoy for some, down in the med-lab. Ask Wolfsbane if you can't find it."
"Aye-aye Captain," she said, giving him a small salute before moving towards the door. She turned back for a second, and Logan looked at her again. "What's it now?"
"Oh, nothin'," Alexis replied, smirking. The action caused on of the scratches to break open and start to bleed again, and Alexis cursed silently. Logan tried not to chuckle as he folded his paper. "Better go get those checked runt, before you get an infection."
Alexis pouted, before replying, "Aw, I never knew you cared." Logan snorted, standing up and waving a hand at her, as if he was shooing a small dog. "Go on now, get!" he barked, pushing her out the door. Alexis smiled, before running off, calling out over her shoulder, "I love you too Beaver!"
Logan groaned. "Not another smart-ass..."
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A/N: And it's done! Sorry this chapter took so long guys, but I got stuck and was having trouble with it. But here it is!
I hope you all are getting to know Alexis' character better, and that she's NOT turning into a Mary-Sue. Please, PLEASE tell me if she is!
Next chapter will be Alexis' first training session, with another appearance by the Brotherhood. So keep watching this!
-Rose
By the way, I better get some good reviews for this! I was up until 1 in the morning finishing, because once I got the groove, I couldn't stop! Hope you all love it and appreciate my sacrifice of sleep!