::Appears randomly:: Hello all! Yes…I'm not dead! And I decided to post due to a concerned reviewer ::snuggles::. I'm warning you… this chapter isn't my fav, but theres another one in the mix! ::Stares at bowl of nothing:: Ok! So its still in my head… somewhere! Please forgive me and enjoy the chapter which really shouldn't be considered one XD.
ldypebsaby: Muahaha… Tabitha . She and Mary will cause trouble, never fear. But in this chapter it's mostly Tabitha's evil.
Brandy Lebeau: I love the minigoth comment . It made me giggle like a maniac when I randomly thought of it. It got me interesting stares! Yay for attentionEyes of Brown: Updated mon capitain!
AnimeSiren: Danke mon ami
Agent-G: G I'm back!!! Thanks for forgiving me! And heh, sorry for the disappearing act . Rogue will definitely become a sorta big sister stereotype… but not so much o.O. But I'll get to that laters ::innocent grin::
Dark Devotions: Thanks for the compliments . She will freak a little today though!
Mary murmured and her breathing quickened. In her mind, memories were flashing before her eyes. In the blink of an eye, she was in another, evil world and saw red demons lunging at her. She screamed and turned away, terrified to watch the monster rip away at her flesh. When she opened her eyes again, snow-covered trees surrounded her. She looked around cautiously and was about to take a step when she heard a growl; she paused as the rumble was heard again and a feral looking man pounced out of the shrubbery. She dodged him and nearly face-planted in the snow but fortunately she used her tail to catch herself on a low branch. "Wait…tail?" She thought before the world shifted once more. She opened her eyes once again and realized she was in pursuit of someone. The girl in front of her was carrying a football and phasing through trees to avoid her. "Kitty?" She guessed as she disappeared momentarily and reappeared in front of her friend and grabbed the football.
Mary turned and ran as Kitty chased after her; every so often she would glance over she shoulder to wave the football in Kitty's face. Mary snickered and turned to scan the path in front of her and saw the tree. She realized she was running too fast to stop so she did all she could think of: close her eyes and wait for impact.
THUD. Mary had rolled off the bed when she had hit the tree in her dream. "Whoa…" She mumbled as she looked at the clock; it was 5 AM. The two-tone racked her brain in an effort to remember more of her dream, but it was useless. She closed her eyes and sifted through the fragments she recalled. "Kurt?" She guessed when she saw a tail. She sighed, she was already experiencing the consequences from absorbing: the memories. Hoping she wouldn't relive anymore of Kurt's memories, or even worse…Tommy's, she crawled into bed and drifted off to sleep again.
Mary heard a faint tapping and she rolled over, not wanting to wake up yet. It stopped after a moment and Mary drifted back into a deeper sleep, only to hear muffled voices seconds later. With her eyes still closed she reached around and found a discarded pillow near the edge of the bed and threw it over her head. Silence. She sighed in content and burrowed deeper into the soft sheets. Little did she know there was a small battle going on outside her door.
"Come on Tabitha! We wanna see the new girl!" Amara begged.
"No way! She's sleeping. Let her rest for a while, she'll be down eventually." Tabitha replied as she stood firmly between the New Recruits and the door.
"Please Tabby? We won't wake her… we just wanna sneak a look." Sam explained as he reached for the doorknob.
"Farm boy if you touch that knob I'll kick you higher than the corn you used to grow." Tabitha threatened, her icy blue eyes flashing. To prove her point she stepped forward a few feet and pinned Sam against the opposite wall. She was about to threaten him again when she felt a strange sensation on her feet. She looked down to find her bare feet frozen in place. The blonde looked up angrily to see a smirking Bobby reaching for her door.
"Drake, I'm warning you." She said, a murderous tone in her voice. The younger boy didn't heed her warning as he began to turn the knob. Tabitha shook her head and rubbed her hands together, producing a few bombs more than needed.
BOOM!
Mary yelped and rolled off the bed. She looked around frantically in search of the origin of the explosion. She jumped up and scanned the room only to find Tabitha's bed unoccupied; a faint hacking was heard outside in the hallway and she saw smoke billowing into her room from the small crack under the door. Another small explosion was heard and yelling followed.
"ICEMAN! You froze my feet to the floor! Do you know how dead you are?" Tabitha's voice rang throughout the mansion.
"Hehe…well Tabby we tried nicely to-" Another voice tried to reason.
"NICELY? You call that nicely? Well fine! I'm gonna nicely kick your ass!" The blonde cut off. There was an ominous pause in which Mary held her breath. Seconds passed and nothing happened, and Mary was about to open the door to see what exactly was going on, but that became unnecessary. Her door flew open and three teenagers flew in followed by a, literally, steaming Tabitha, who was holding two handfuls of bombs.
"Look… she's already up… no need to try and keep us out now." A boy pointed out as he jutted his thumb in Mary's direction. He paused for a moment and smiled warmly to the new girl. "Hi there… I'm Sam Guthrie. Welcome to the-." He greeted, but paused as he saw Tabitha advance. "Well it was nice meeting you! I guess I'll see you later today!" He finished as he ducked past the blonde and ran down the hallway.
"Sorry Babe, I tried keeping them out. But someone froze my feet to the floor… and now he needs to die." Tabitha explained as she glared at the remaining boy. "Mary, this is Bobby Drake. He's also known as Iceman… at least that's what its gonna say on his tombstone." The blonde stated quietly. The brunette waved and in a flash he was gone, presumably after Sam.
Mary stared at the last girl. She seemed to be somewhat amused by Tabitha's anger and terrified at the same time. "Tab… now I didn't do anything." The dark skinned girl pointed out. Tabitha stared at her for a moment, as if debating to blow her into pieces.
"Yeah… you're Ok 'Mara." She agreed as she tossed hr bombs after the boys and slammed her door. "Mary, this is Amara Aquilla, one of the less annoying New Recruits." Tabitha introduced. Amara waved and stared at Mary with interest.
"So you're Rogue's sister? Like… blood? That's kinda cool… we always assumed she was an only child. I mean… there's Kurt but he's not blood related, and we thought that if Rogue ever had a sibling they would-" She paused as she realized she was rambling. "Umm…yeah… welcome to the Institute." Amara finished as she pulled her hair into a ponytail and glanced at the clock. 9AM. "Man I hope Kurt didn't eat all the breakfast." She sighed, heading for the door. "We're glad to have you here…I'll see you later!" She waved and started back to her room.
Mary scratched her head, somewhat confused about her wake-up call. She looked to Tabitha, who was sitting on her bed rubbing her feet. "So yeah… most days aren't like that I swear." Tabitha assured. "But hey…since you're up do you wanna get some breakfast? After that you can meet up with Rogue and we'll show you around." She asked.
"Sure." Mary yawned as she searched for clothes. She got dressed rather quickly and headed out the door before Tabitha had even gotten out of her Pj's. She passed one door and heard music blaring behind it, it sounded like Incubus… but she never got to find out seeing how the music suddenly stopped and was replaced seconds later by Ashlee Simpson.
"Kit…" An agitated voice called before the music stopped once again and Incubus took its place.
"Rogue!" A perky voice yelled before the music stopped and was replaced with Ashlee Simpson…again. Mary snickered as she realized whose room it was, and knocked softly. The door opened seconds later to see Kitty still in her Pj's. "Hey!" She welcomed as she opened the door fully and invited Mary in. The two-tone looked around and snickered; one half of the room was covered with dark clothing, posters of Incubus, Seether, Cold, other various rock artists, and scary movie posters… while the other side was barely visible under light colored miniskirts and tops, and pictures of 'hot guys'.
Rogue glanced up as Mary entered the room and smiled. "Goodmornin'." She greeted as she zipped up her jeans. "Do yah know what that explosion was earlier?" She asked as she turned her attention to her hair, which was sticking up at odd angles.
"Tabitha." Mary replied simply as she picked at her fingernails.
The two girls glanced at each other, but shrugged as if it was nothing unusual. Rogue saw Mary's reflection in the mirror and noticed that the girl had yet to cover her hands. Thinking quickly, she grabbed hers off her dresser and tossed them to her little sister. "Ah can't believe we forgot tah get yah a pair of gloves." She scowled as she pulled her hair into a ponytail, the white tresses hanging out. She dug around in her drawer and pulled out an identical pair to those she had just thrown Mary and slipped them on.
Mary pulled on the gloves and squeezed them to get a feel of the leather; they had been worn in and fit perfectly. "Ok… yah ready? Tha Professah asked me tah bring yah down for breakfast so yah can meet everyone else." Rogue explained as she surveyed her sister's attire to be sure there was no chance of her absorbing anyone. Mary was dressed in a black Hurley long-sleeved top and blue jeans with rips in the knees. She had on socks as well… so Rogue figured that Mary would be pretty well protected. "Kitty, yah coming?" Rogue asked. There was a muffled response that came from her closet that signified the girl would be a little while longer. "Ok… we'll meet yah down there." Rogue rolled her eyes as they sisters started for the door.
Rogue paused for a moment and walked over to their CD player. She snatched out the Ashlee Simpson disc, tossed it under Kitty's bed and blared her own new Deftones CD. "ROOOOGUE!" Kitty screamed. Rogue snorted and grabbed Mary's wrist and tore out of the room.
The two arrived down in the kitchen moments later, both chuckling. "Guten Morgen." Kurt waved from the table as he piled bacon and eggs onto his plate. He teleported behind them to the fridge to retrieve the syrup, and teleported back and began to smother his breakfast in the sugary topping.
"Ewww…Kurt." Amara made a face.
"Vhat? Its good! You should try it sometime." He nodded as he grabbed his fork.
"Ah, Mary…Good morning. I assume you slept well?" Xavier greeted as he rolled into the kitchen. Mary nodded. "Wonderful, and aside from the unexpected wake-up call this morning I'm assuming all is going well?" He chuckled.
"Yes sir." Mary replied with a small smile.
Xavier was about to make another comment when there was a disruption. Bobby stood up in a chair and tapped his knife against his glass. "In honor of our new arrival, I propose a day of celebration!" He declared, causing a cheer from everyone in the room, and even bringing a smile to Scott and Jean's face. "My and my dear friend Raymond," He began sarcastically. "Have already planned out our day. First, breakfast… and I see that is going according to our schedule." He said, making an imaginary check on a nonexistent piece of paper. "Second, our usual tradition for the newbies… which will take place immediately after breakfast. Thirdly… no training for anyone the rest of the day!" He finished, his last point causing a cheer to erupt from the room.
"Nice try Icecube… you still have training though." Logan spoke up from his coffee. Bobby looked defeated as he jumped off his chair. They finished breakfast a few minutes later, during that time Kitty and Tabitha finally showed up. Shortly after, they all headed out into the backyard near the pool and began their tradition.
"So… welcome to Mutant Manor, home to your teenage superheroes. I am Bobby Drake, also known as Iceman… as you found out this morning…" He began, taking a short glance at Tabitha, who was now tossing a bomb up and down. "Anyways… our tradition is this: Whenever a new mutant joins our ranks, we show him or her our powers… and help decide a codename if said mutant doesn't have one. After that… its usually a big party!" He explained. "So I'll go first. Watch this." Bobby smirked as his body coated with ice and he rose up on a tall pillar of frozen water. He stood proudly atop his tower and pelted a few students with snowballs.
"I'm Amara Aquilla… also known as Magma." Amara spoke up, obviously annoyed, as she wiped snow off her head and flamed up. She glared up at Bobby and pointed at his ice tower. Her hand glowed bright for a moment before a stream of lava shot out. It hit Iceman's tower and melted it instantly, sending Bobby into the pool.
"I'm Sam Guthrie… nice tah meet yah… you can call me Cannonball if you wanna." The blonde headed boy greeted as he jumped into the air and shot off like a rocket into a nearby tree. He stood up a little wobbly but waved to the rest of them to show he was Ok.
"Hi!" A small brunette greeted as he waved to Mary. He looked so happy to show off his powers, and Mary couldn't help but laugh. "I'm Multiple… but call me Jamie." He explained as he hit himself in the chest and four copies popped out and waved. "Welcome!" They all said in unison before they disappeared into the original body.
"I'm Sunspot, but please call me Roberto." A dark skinned boy addressed as he took Mary's gloved hand and gave it a quick kiss. Mary blushed and Roberto winked as his body transformed into something beastly. His new orange eyes glowed brightly as he walked over to the tree Sam had previously crashed into and lifted it from the ground as if it weighed nothing.
"Roberto's the flirt…think nothing of his Romeo ways." A voice echoed in Mary's head. The young girl flinched and looked around to see Jean smiling warmly. "In case you were still wondering…I'm a telepath…as well as a telekinetic." The redhead explained as she raised her hands. Mary suddenly felt herself lifted off the ground. She panicked as she continued to rise, but realized Jean had control over the situation and tried to relax. The two-tone paused for a moment, and tried to contact Jean.
"What? You don't have a…umm…codename?"
"No…" A somewhat annoyed voice replied as Mary was lowered back down and set gently on her feet. She turned to look back at the group and when she did she nearly jumped out of her skin; before her stood a giant blue monster. He raised his hand and Mary closed her eyes in terror.
"Hello there small one. I'm sorry if my appearance startled you…there's not much I can do about it." A deep voice explained as Mary opened her eyes. She saw the giant beast smiling congenially as he took her hand and kissed it Roberto did. "I'm Hank McCoy, the residential science teacher and battle instructor. It's a pleasure to meet you my dear." He greeted as an older woman stepped up to him.
"I'm an instructor as well…my name's Ororo Munroe. The younger recruits call me Storm though." The white haired woman explained as her eyes turned pale and the wind began to pick up. Soon there were gale force winds and lighting striking nearby… and suddenly it stopped. Mary stared in awe and Ororo patted her on the shoulder and gestured for her to take a look at the remaining students.
It took a little over a half hour for the X-Men to display their powers, and when they were done Mary was truly amazed. "I'm never gonna be able to make it here… my power's not even useful, at least theirs can be used for something…mine's only good for destruction." She began to doubt as she squeezed her hands.
"Hey Mary." Rogue whispered in her sister's ear as she rapped an arm around her. "What do yah think?" She questioned with a lopsided smile. Mary was about to reply when Bobby once again spoke up.
"Now…for a codename. Mary, did you have one in mind?"
Mary paused and looked around at the crowd of teenagers and instructors. They waited patiently for an answer and Mary looked deep into their eyes. In every single pair there was a welcome. Even distant Logan's stare had a tint of sincere care. Lastly, Mary turned to her sister. Marie's eyes were filled with hope and happiness, although she was trying to mask it. Mary assumed that Marie was never really a happy person… and the new cheerful emotion was new to her and she didn't know quite sure how to handle it. "Well?" Marie asked hopefully.
Mary thought for a moment; she wanted something similar to Rogue, seeing how the two were so similar. She chuckled mentally when she thought about it: Rogue and hers first person to absorb was a jock, in both situations they were in a place they would normally have never been, they had both run when they discovered their powers… "And we both absorbed Kurt." She finished with a small grin. Racking her brains with words that were similar to Rogue, Mary closed her eyes for better concentration.
All was quiet for a few more moments before Mary spoke up. "Scamp."
"Scamp?" Scott inquired.
"It means mischievous…" Mary began to explain.
"I do believe it's a synonym of rogue." Hank chuckled.
"Well… I believe that fits perfectly." Charles complimented, causing Mary's already pink cheeks to turn a shade brighter. "Mary Dawson…Scamp, welcome to our family…welcome to the X-Men."
BAH. I dun like this chapter. It goes NOWHERE! But yeah, another chapter is in the progress, but I'm not sure where to take it after a few paragraphs in ::Cries::. I'm so incredibly sorry it took so long to get this ::Glares:: posted… but hopefully some time will open up in the future.
Peace! God Bless all!