A/N: Hello, my lovely readers. So sorry that this has taken me so long to write and post. I've been a tad busy with school and such, and I actually came to a bit of a writers block. My last new characters of this story are the other set of twins, Spectre and Shock. Don't get frustrated about the ending; I'll explain the whole mutant power struggle later on. Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing- it's so wonderful and encouraging! Please keep it coming!!
Chapter 5: The Dark Side
The game room of the Massachusetts Academy was abuzz with the energy of about 25 teenage mutants. Some were playing pool, others were shouting over a videogame that enabled the players to race cars, steal cars and shoot people up, while some students sat in darkened corners making out with each other. Smoke filled the room, some of it from cigarettes and some from marijuana, and beer bottles were everywhere. With one such beverage in hand, sitting on a fancy sofa near one of the previously mentioned corners, were a few students, two of them new arrivals to the academy.
"So, Spectre, what brings you to our academy?" Toad sat leaned back on the arm of the couch, looking lazily at the boy across from him. He took another drag from his joint before passing it along.
"Well, I didn't really have a choice. Our parents died in an accident when we were two, so this couple adopted us," he answered, and after letting loose some smoke from his mouth, he took a swig from his bottle. Spectre's twin sister, Shock, continued the story.
"The couple was great. We even called them Mom and Dad...but then Mom passed from Cancer, and dad buried himself in work."
"Yeah. That's when me and Shock discovered our powers and that's when our siblings started torturing us. So we ran away," Spectre finished and handed his sister the rest of his beer. Shock sat cross-legged in a big chair with her head resting on her hand. Her skin was a brown color and her violet eyes were hazed over. She had wavy, dark brown hair that fell down her back and she wore plain jeans and a t-shirt. Her brother had exactly the same coloring and was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, also. The only physical characteristics that were different from Shock were his hair, which was cut in a short spiky style and his body build, which was buff and tall while Shock was short and petite.
After a bit of silence, the three of them decided to view the pool game. It was almost over, so things were getting very heated between the players.
"Look, you can forget about winning, Scarlett, because I'm not about to lose to a girl!" The boy hit a striped ball into a hole and his friends cheered. Scarlett smirked and raked her fingers through her red hair. There were only two balls left, the black eight ball and the blank white. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath-a lot was at stake. If she won then her opponent would have to sneak into the headmistress's room and attempt to steal her closet full of clothes! If Scarlett lost, she'd lose her reputation, status, and respect as the only girl in the pool house who could kick anybody's ass in anything.
"Who is that chick?" Spectre whispered to Toad.
"That's Scarlett Witch. She's Magneto's daughter and you don't wanna mess with her," he said with his eyes glued on her. Half of the room was wide-eyed with worry for Scarlett-that guy was definitely good. The other half was smirking right along with her, full of confidence for her, laughing about the entertainment that was sure to come. She took a few strides around the table, slowly, twirling her pool stick and eyeing the two balls on opposite ends of the table. She bent over the table, squinted her eyes in concentration, and ran her hands over the green felt. The boy gave an exaggerated yawn.
"Come on already and quit stallin'," he said. Her eyes flashed and a smile almost flickered on her lips. Almost. She snapped her fingers and a girl handed her a beer bottle, from which she took a long and deliberately slow drink. Then in a swift motion, she placed her left hand on her hip to swing her foot up on the table edge and one handedly shoot the white ball from under her leg, hitting the eight ball into the pocket. A chorus of "Ohhh!!!" followed and Scarlett grinned wickedly at the boy's angry face.
"You bitch!" he yelled, and with a wave of his hand, he sent the pool balls out of their pockets and toward her head. She screamed and ducked which meant that the people behind her got hit instead. Soon, a regular bar fight had broken out with chairs flying, punches being thrown, glass shattering...
"BREAK IT UP!!" Gambit had appeared in the doorway as a statue was being hurled towards an unsuspecting red head. The girl moved out of the way just in time to live through the silence that soon followed.
"Daddy?" she said, dropping the beer bottle that she was about to conk someone over the head with. Everyone had gone silent to look at Gambit and one of the most powerful mutants alive, Magneto.
"You heard Gambit," he said. "Break it up. Party's over." He glared at everyone as they sulked out of the room, his glare lingering over Scarlett the longest.
"Yeah, and you'll all be spending a good hour tomorrow cleaning this mess up, hangover or not!" Gambit called after them. When the last person had hurried out, Magneto quickly melted into a blue woman with yellowed yes.
"Bad ass kids," Mystique grumbled and Gambit grinned.
"Yeah, but did you see the look on Scarlett's face?" He said, and they laughed in wicked amusement as they closed the door behind them.
When Remy returned to his room he climbed into bed, but couldn't fall asleep. His thoughts were of his stakeout at Xavier's. He thought about how different an Xavier party was from an Academy party in an effort to keep his mind off of Rogue. It didn't work. Rogue...Remy fell asleep replaying his encounter with her at Xavier's.
It had been awhile after their last bell had rung and Remy was strolling the grounds checking out the school. One moment he was alone, the next, he was watching from afar as Rogue kissed some "short-haired punk", as he liked to call Bobby. He had gone up to her when Bobby turned away, and when she suddenly turned around she ran straight into him. Gambit remembered her look of pure shock; he remembered standing there not knowing what to say. She had spoken first, only able to breath out a single "Remy..." and his heart melted at the sound of her voice. He had raised his hand to stroke her cheek. "I haven't seen you in so long, Marie," he had whispered before she removed his hand, said she had to leave, and ran past him. With the image of Rogue's back becoming further and further away, Gambit fell into his fitful sleep.
The next morning, the headmistress awoke earlier than usual. She hadn't meant to, but the sun was shining so brightly through her curtains that getting up could not be helped. She smiled and stretched herself in the warmth of her huge four-poster bed before lazily climbing out.
"I'm so glad today is Sunday," she yawned aloud to herself After all, being a headmistress of her own school and one of the most powerful female mutants at such a young age was no piece of cake. But she would have this whole day to relax and do whatever she pleased. She grabbed a few things and headed for a nice hot shower. By the time she got out, she had decided to go and visit a few old friends in town. Happy with her decision, she began humming an upbeat tune and walked out of the bathroom with her towel wrapped around her. She went over to her dresser and was getting out a pair of underwear when a voice startled her.
"I haven't heard you humming in a long time, Emma." She spun around as her body immediately took on its diamond-hard indestructibility. Her mouth set into a firm scowl; her bitchy disposition was seemingly attached to her diamond ability.
"Alex. What are you doing here?" she demanded in a cold voice.
"No need to go all hard on me," he joked, but she remained stony. Alex Summers was tall and well-built, the spitting image of his older brother, except for a lack of protective eyewear.
"What are you doing here," she repeated wrapping her towel even tighter around herself.
"I'm here to talk to you," he said softly, knowing that he didn't want to upset her in her current state. She squinted her eyes in suspicion, but spat out a "fine" nonetheless and they sat down on the edge of her bed.
"What is it, Alex? I didn't even invite you over here, you know," she said. His eyes seemed to be glued to every part of her besides her face and Emma shifted- more from agitation than discomfort.
"First of all," he said, still looking thoughtfully everywhere below her neck, "you know you don't need that around me." Emma jumped up, her face twisted in sudden anger and Alex's hands shot to his head as he shouted out in pain.
"Just because we had fun together one time doesn't mean I'm about to undress for you again!" she hissed and increased the amount of pain hitting his nerves.
"EMMA! I MEAN...YOUR ABILITY!!...NOT THE DAMN TOWEL!!" his voice managed to stagger out between cries of pain. Her face went blank and peaceful, her head tilted to the side.
"Oh," she said and calmly "switched off" both of her abilities. He collapsed on the bed with beads of sweat on his skin, breathing very hard. She sighed.
"I'll let you get yourself together while I go put my clothes on," she said in an exasperated tone before strutting out and going into the bathroom.
I see the attitude hasn't quite worn off yet... he thought and wiped the sweat from his face with a tissue.
A few minutes later, Emma almost timidly emerged from her bathroom. Alex was looking out of one of her huge floor to ceiling windows and she came up behind him quietly.
"Are you alright?" she asked. She turned his face towards hers to look into his eyes, but he took advantage of her closeness and pulled her into a long, deep kiss. She was the one who finally pulled away and took a step back. It was Alex's turn to sigh in exasperation.
"Emma. I'm the only one you can trust. No one cares for you like I do. You know I want to be with you. You know you want to be with me. Why do you keep fighting it?" On the word 'fighting' he unintentionally slammed a fist against the window, but she didn't jump. Instead, her face formed a look of cool superiority, one of her trademark expressions.
"Maybe it's because I don't have feelings for you. I never have and I never will, Mr. Summers," she said with a smirk as she glided over to open her room door. His blue eyes darkened, but he simply followed her. Before walking out, he stopped and turned to face her.
"I don't believe you. I never have and I never will, Ms. Frost. You can't fight it forever." He smiled a tiny bit, pleased with the reaction he received. Her mouth had dropped slightly and her brow furrowed a bit. She was obviously surprised at his change of attitude. Emma said nothing, though, and he walked away, leaving her to close her door again. She took a shaky breath and shook her head clear of any lovey-dovey emotions. Inside her mind she began to chastise herself. You may like him...but you have your own plans; you have to keep your mind on track. You must keep that bitchy Mystique away from your position as White Queen...and you have to seduce Magneto in order to do it.
