DISCLAIMER: Not mine they are. The X-men, that is. The "other characters" such as Marie are. And the story idea. So don't go stealing it, y'hear?
"…And that's when I knocked momma out. You should have seen the look on Aunt Anna's face." Marie giggled and grabbed a crayon from the basket in the middle of the table.
"You knocked her out? How?" Josh was intrigued. None of the big kids at the mansion could ever take Rogue out in training sessions, and he couldn't begin to imagine that little Marie was able to knock her out.
"With my hands, silly. Just like how momma and Aunt Anna do it. That's why they say I gotta wear gloves now."
"Show me."
"No way."
"Do it. Are you scared?"
"I'm not scared. I just don't want to hurt you."
"You can't hurt me. I'm invincible." He didn't really know what that word meant, but he had seen it in a comic book that he took from his uncle Bobby's room once.
She threw a crayon at him. "You're stupid."
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not not not"
"Are too too too too too too plus a hundred."
"Am not times infinity"
"Are too times infinity plus one."
"Hey. You two alright?" Jean poked her head into the room, where she had left the kids to color.
"Mom, she won't show me." Josh crossed his arms and tried to look as innocent as possible. Maybe if he acted cute, his mother would take his side.
"Won't show you what?"
"He wants to see how I knocked my momma out."
"Oh, Josh. You don't want to see that."
He crossed his arms and pouted. "Everyone has powers but me."
"Oh, baby. You're only six. You'll get powers. Don't worry."
"It's not fair."
Marie laughed and continued coloring. "I think it's fair."
In response, Josh shoved the table, causing her crayon to streak across the paper.
"Hey! Aunt Jean, did you see that?"
"Yes, I saw it. Joshua, you need to calm down."
Josh put on his angriest face and turned around.
"If you're going to throw a temper tantrum, I'm going to send you to your room."
"I'm not."
"Good. I have to go start making dinner before you-know-who gets down there."
"'Kay."
Jean left, and Josh grabbed another crayon, the entire argument forgotten.
"Give me another piece of paper."
Marie tore a page out of a coloring book and handed it to him.
"Wanna know a secret?"
"Okay."
"I didn't tell anyone else, so you have to be quiet about it, ok?"
"Okay."
"Look what else I can do now."
She closed the door to the room and climbed onto the table.
"Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Blastoff!" She jumped off of the table and floated in the air shakily.
"Wow!"
After circling the room a few times, she landed haphazardly on a beanbag chair.
"I'm not too good at it, but I can stay up for ten whole minutes."
"Cool!"
"I know. And look at this." She walked over to a filing cabinet and picked it up.
"That's easy. I can do that too."
"Bet you cant."
"Bet I can."
"Bet you can't can't can't."
"Bet I can can can can can can can can can."
"Kids!" Jean's telepathic message quieted them down, and Josh headed to the cabinet, putting his hands on either side. After about two minutes of struggling, he gave up and went back to his coloring.
"You're older. That's why you can pick it up."
"If you say so."
"I do."
"You're just jealous."
"Nuh-huh."
"Do you even know what that means, Joshy?"
"Well… no. But still, I'm not."
She shot up in the air as a bright pink beam of light nearly took her out.
"You're supposed to be on my team, stupid!" She hissed at him through the telepathic link.
"I'm not stupid!"
"Then why'd you try to hit me?"
"I thought you were someone else."
"Sure you did." She circled the field and spied their target. "About twenty meters due east. They're busy with a sentinel. Should be easy."
"I'm on it."
Watching him as he made his way to where another team was struggling with a large holographic robot, she dive-bombed at the last second, picking up one of the other students in the process. After quietly rendering the student unconscious, she pulled out a bag of jellybeans and started charging them and throwing them at the sentinel.
"Jellybeans, Marie?" Josh had observed numerous attempts on Marie's behalf to find something unique to throw, but this was by far the most ridiculous.
"Yeah. I figure I can always snack on them if I get hungry."
"They're too small. Just use cards."
"Cards have already been done."
"Yeah, and they work."
"Fine, but just for this session."
She tucked the jellybeans back into her coat pocket and pulled out a pack of cards, charging them one at a time and flinging them expertly at the sentinel's battery pack.
"Concentrate on the upper half, I'll get the lower." Josh had evidently finished putting their other opponent out of commission.
"Roger that." She aimed for the crease in the pack and the explosion from her cards were met by an equally concussive force from the ground. Within minutes, they had taken out the large robot and completed the goals for the training session. As the room dissolved around them, they helped the other students collect themselves. They hadn't used their powers enough to really hurt them, only to knock them out of the game. As they made their way up to the control room to get their scores for the exercise, Marie threw uncharged jellybeans at her friend. Every time he turned around, she feigned innocence and munched quietly. But as soon as his back was to her, she'd toss another handful at the back of his head.
"I know that's you."
"Prove it."
"You're throwing jellybeans"
"Am not."
"Are too!"
"Hey, kids?" They had reached the control room and Jean was standing there with their printouts for the session. They both looked up at her questioningly.
"Yeah, mom?"
"Grow up." She handed them their scores and headed back into the room, and they walked on to the locker rooms. Inside the control booth, Anna was trying not to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Jean raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing."
"I know something's funny. Don't make me find out for myself what it is."
"It's just that for a telepath, you're so oblivious."
"Meaning?"
"Oblivious. adjective. Lacking conscious awareness…"
"I know what it means, but how does it relate to this situation?"
"My lips are sealed."
"Tell me."
"Who am I to mess with the course that this universe must take?" She took a sip of her water and leaned back in her chair. "Besides, that would spoil the surprise, now wouldn't it?"
"What surprise?"
"Not telling you."
"You're no fun." She crossed her arms and pouted.
"Jean?"
"Yes?"
"Grow up." Anna grinned. She had waited so long to use that right back on Jean.
"Oh, puh-leeze! You told me when Josh was going to get his powers! Why can't you tell me this?"
"Because I didn't want you to get your face burned off when you tried to wake him from that dream. This is different. I'm not going to go spilling all of the secrets that are adolescents."
"Why not?"
"I just won't." She stood up and headed out, much to Jean's chagrin.
"I'll figure out what you're talking about!" She shouted at Anna's back.
Anna looked over her shoulder and responded, "I already know what's going to happen, Jean. I have an uncannily precise vision of the future."
"How?" A voice came from the direction of the locker rooms and Anna turned in surprise. There was Marie, dressed in her civilian clothing, towel-drying her hair.
"Uhh… no particular reason…"
"Come on Aunt Anna. You can tell me. I won't blab."
Anna did not know how to answer. Of course, she knew that Marie could keep a secret, but she didn't know how she would react to this particular secret. And more so, she knew for a fact that there was going to be a way to get around actually telling Marie about the time jump. After all, she hadn't known about it when she first arrived. Her memories had changed since the incident, but none of the changes were major.
"I know you won't blab… but I can't. You'll know when you're older."
"Yeah, yeah. That's what everyone says."
"I know. It's pretty annoying, huh?"
She started to walk towards the elevator, when one of her memories changed again. Her Aunt Anna didn't always wear sunglasses. She'd had an operation of some sort that made her eyes less sensitive. And her eyes were the same clear green as her mother's. Anna stopped walking. That couldn't be right.
"Anna! Anna, there's something I have to show you."
She felt a tug on her arm, as Beast leapt out of the med lab and pulled her in after him.
"Henry? What's going on?"
"Observe." He held out a small container and pulled something from it. Before she could stop him, he had put a pair of contacts into her eyes and led her to a mirror. She stared back at her reflection, amazed. Sure enough, her eyes were green. And white.
"Wow…cool."
"Glad you approve."
A/N: That was sort of short. I might add another chapter to this update... but that doesnt mean that you shouldn't review.