Gifts and Curses
By Todd Fan
Disclaimer: "Breakfast? I thought it was lunchtime. I'm going back to bed"
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Oh yeah, baby, the Sidney Chronicles are back, and a week earlier than planned! Welcome to the 9th Chronicle, glad you could make it. If you haven't read the other Chronicles, it may be a plan to read them before you get to this...unless you like getting confused. Now, L1701E wrote a fantastic fic 'Black Ice', which tells the story of what happened to Bobby in-between the last Chronicle and this one. It's not deadly important that you read it, but I will be mentioning things that happened in it, besides, you SHOULD read it, it's good.
Right, this fic is set 5 years after the events of 'To Err Is Human'. You think THAT'S a time gap? Wait until you see the time gap for the next Chronicle. But then we'd be getting ahead of ourselves...Okay, the elder teens are in their twenties, the younger in their late teens, and so on, so on. Do the math yourself ;)
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Chapter 1 - Times they are a' changing
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Professor Xavier sighed when where he sat in the common room of his home. His surprisingly EMPTY home. Okay, it wasn't completely empty, but it was a lot less full than times before. Actually, it was a little on the unsettling side. The mansion, over the span of five years, had seen joy and sorrow, thankfully more of the former than the latter. Jean and Scott had, as Kurt gleefully said, 'finally got round to getting hitched' and were currently honeymooning on the island of San Sebastian. Apparently, Jean wanted another chance to 'spit in the volcano' (1).
Of course, the pair had made their way through college, and Jean was still studying her doctorate, using the honeymoon as a well deserved break. Kurt had headed off home to Germany for a while, surprising everyone by going into chaplain studies. Of course, he returned to America when he could to visit them...and Amanda. His sister had headed off to Siberia with Piotr. The Russian titan had received news of the disappearance of his sister. Being so close to Illyana, Piotr had found it impossible to relax in America while his little sister was lost. Rogue eventually decided to take matters into her own hands, dragging her boyfriend to his Russian home to help with the search.
Xavier frowned at the thought, he wished he could have helped someway, but from what Piotr had said, it seemed Illyana showed no signs of being a mutant, and so he couldn't used Cerebro to help find her. Kitty was still living in the mansion, now happily engaged to Lance. The Brotherhood and X-Men could no longer really be called 'enemies', rivals, maybe, but no longer enemies. Thanks to the Apocalypse incident, their differences didn't seem so vast. (2) Xavier couldn't have been happier with that. The Not-So-New Mutants, as they had become to be called, had all packed off to New York to college, with the exception of Danielle, who said college 'wasn't for her'. And Bobby….but Charles didn't expect to see much of him after the last instance the X-Men met their old teammate .(3)
"You wanted to see me, Professor?"
Ahh, yes, and Jamie. Xavier turned to give a smile to the desolate 18 year old leaning on the doorway. Jamie certainly had sprouted up, and could no longer be called a 'squirt'. Jamie hadn't really been the same since Gina had run off on her own. The fact that a few years later, when he was fifteen, a tornado had swept though his Kansas home, killing his parents, did not help matters. He'd become a lot quieter and had, in Logan's words, 'been forced to grown up too fast'. There was no doubt about it, eighteen-year-old Jamie was a morose shadow of his former self.
"Ah yes, Jamie", Xavier gave him a smile, "I was hoping you could help settle in the newcomers arriving today. I'm sure they would appreciate the student's perspective"
"I guess", said Jamie with a shrug.
"Hank is upstairs getting everything ready", said Xavier, "and Jamie…it really isn't as bad as you think, you know?"
"Whatever", sighed Jamie as he trudged to the main floor.
Xavier frowned, watching him go, he hoped something would pick up Jamie's mood and soon, he was getting worse rather than better.
As Jamie reached the main entrance room of the mansion, things were already underway in getting the place sorted. Toby, now five years old, was sitting on the floor, happily 'making posters'. Okay, he was putting his hands into paint pots and just smearing them over big sheets of card, but to him, it was art. Despite his blindness, Toby was a happy kid, having inherited his father's cheerful if sometimes immature disposition, and had never let his disability be a burden.
"Don't take money, Don't take fame, Don't need to credit card to ride this traiiin"(4)
Jamie winced as another student of the Institute bounced past, carrying a stack of banners, her walkman playing full blast in her ears.
"You'll make yourself go deaf, you know, Paige", Jamie shouted in her direction.
Paige Guthrie, now 18, had finally joined the institute around three years after the events of the Hellfire Club. Paige was more than happy to become an X-Man, after all, she'd wanted to join since her brother had.
"Lighten up, Mr Misery", Paige said, looking over at Jamie, taking her earphones out, "it's not a crime to smile, you know?"
"And to think, we're gonna get MORE of these brats", grumbled Logan, "that's all we need, MORE kids"
"Come on, Mr. Logan", grinned Paige, "it'll be nice to have some other kids around here who aren't moody an' depressed like SOME people. Who may or may not be in this room"
"I'm ignoring you", said Jamie pleasantly, "can't you tell?"
"Play nice kiddies", growled Logan, "or you'll be on Lockheed cleanup duty for the rest of the day"
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"Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad"
Forge groaned, burying his head further into his pillow, trying to ignore the incessant noise that had plagued him for the last hour. Unfortunately for him, that was not enough to crib a five year old's impatience.
"Daddaddaddaddaddaddaddaddaddaddaddaddaddad", said Imara a little louder, before opting to sing, loudly, "daaaaad, dad, dad, dad, I can keep this up all daaaayyyyy, dad, dad, dad, dad, daddy, daddy, dad, dad, dad! DAD!"
Imara frowned when this gave no result. She climbed onto her parent's bed, sitting down on her fathers pillow, and proceeded to poke him repeatedly on the head.
"Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad", she said, "dad, I know you're not sleeping"
She paused, waiting, before sighing.
"Well, I'll just have to make breakfast all by myself"
...THAT worked.
"Okay, okay, I'm up, I'm up", said Forge sitting up.
Storm was still sleeping soundly, years of living in the Institute had made her well honed to sleeping through sounds that could get marks on the Richter scale. Forge, however, was less adjusted, and boy, did his daughter know it.
"Yey, you're awake!", said Imara, as if she had just happened on her father getting up and had not been screaming down his ear for the better part of the morning, "Can we have pancakes, huh, huh, can we, can we?"
"Ugh", replied Forge sleepily as his daughter danced around him as he plodded from his and Storm's bedroom.
"Ooooh and can you make them into that funky cactus shape and put lots and lots of syrup?", said Imara, bouncing from foot to foot.
"Yeah, syrup".
"And some lemon?"
"Huh, huh, lemon"
"And an off-road dirt bike?"
Forge stopped, waking up instantly.
"No"
Darn, she thought she could get him half asleep.
"Awwwww", she said, "but daaaaaadyyyyy!"
"No", repeated Forge, "your mother would kill me"
Imara gave him the best 'angel face' she could.
"It could be our little secret", she tried, "like the time you turned the washing machine into a sub-detonic-blasto-thingie… unless you want me to tell Mamma about that"
Forge sighed, shaking his head.
"Five years old, and you already understand the concept of blackmail" he said, starting on breakfast, "and so do I. If you don't pipe down about that bike, no mansion for you today"
"Awwww!", pouted Imara, but nevertheless, fell silent...she liked going to the mansion.
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Meanwhile, in New York City, Sidney Cagney was playing to another full house. Though she and Dazzler stayed on good terms, Sidney finally decided to branch out on her own. The girl's stayed good friends, however, and Sidney even kept on Mr. Sakano as her manager. She said his 'little panic attacks' kept her focused.
"Mr Sakano, take it easy", chuckled Todd from where he and the manager stood backstage.
"That's easy for you to say", replied Mr Sakano, "you don't have to manage two mutant divas! TWO!"
With that, he resumed his odd jumping motions, making a few little squeaking sounds at the same time.
"At least I handle Sid's publicity", Todd pointed out unhelpfully.
It was true, Todd had taken the job because: A, It kept him closer to Sidney, and B, He turned out to be really, really good at his job. He glanced up as Sidney finished her final encore number, and headed backstage, giving him a kiss.
"Lemmie have a shower so I don't smell of groupie sweat and I'll be ready for that fancy dinner you promised me", she said.
Todd chuckled.
"Yeah, you wanna get that groupie smell off ya, it'll stick for days if ya don't", he teased, then smirked, "as long as we don't miss our reservations, we don't wanna miss this dinner"
Sidney arched a brow at him.
"What's that face for?"
Todd smiled innocently.
"What face?"
"That face", said Sidney, pointing at him, "the face you have when you're keeping something good from me!"
"I don't know what ya talkin' about, Sid", said Todd.
"Yes you do", she said, giving him a playful poke, "you've had that sneaky face on for days"
"Have I?", he looked at Mr. Sakano, "have I?"
Mr. Sakano shifted uneasy.
"I don't like confrontations", he muttered, slinking off.
Todd shrugged and Sidney rolled her eyes.
"Okay, I'm going to get ready", she said, then pointed a finger at him, "but don't you be plotting anything, Todd Tolensky, or I'll have to kill you"
"Aww, you break my heart, Honey", chuckled Todd as she walked off.
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Meanwhile, back at the Institute, the residents were ready for the new arrivals. Of course, Storm had arrived, she may not have lived at the Institute anymore, but she was still a teacher here. Besides, Imara had dragged her there.
"BANZAIIIII!"
Toby squeaked as something collided into his side.
"Crushing…air…not..breathing", he said as Imara gave him a hug.
Beast had jokingly nicknamed the pair 'Jo and Laurie', for their respective temperaments and inseparable nature made them almost a spitting image of the literary friends(5).
"Have the new peoples come yet?", asked Imara releasing him.
"Nope", said Toby, "but Celese's here, she's trying to fly outside"
"Again?", winced Imara, "that's not good"
Celeste was Warren Worthington's daughter, her mother had sadly died in childbirth. Needless to say learning how to be a single parent was a frightening experience for the millionaire. Luckily, Celeste's grandfather had offered a hand. Jason Wyngarde turning over a new leaf had surprised everyone, including Warren. The only one who seemed not to be surprised was Xavier, but he was a telepath, and so hard to surprise anyway. Celeste had been born with her fathers angelic wings, but considering her mother Gabrielle also had wings of her own, this wasn't a big shock. Celeste's won wings were white with black dapples, much like her mothers. Unfortunately, she hadn't grown into her wings, and so flew like a brick. (6)
"Okay, people, let's let the masses in", grumbled Logan, opening the doors.
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(1) - The island in 'Cruise Control'.
(2) - No, you didn't miss anything, I meant to let the events surrounding 'Poccy happen between chronicles, mainly because I had my own stories to tell, and I would only be repeating what happened in Evo (take out the Agatha parts and assume all the new character intros happened before Apocalypse and you have a general idea how it fits into the Chronicle history).
(3) - See Black Ice, actually, this hasn't happened in Black Ice just yet, but it's some great foreshadowing.
(4) – Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News..
(5) - Jo and Laurie are a boy and girl who are close friends in the novel 'Little Women', which I would recommend to anyone, actually, I recommend all 4 of the Little Women books.
(6) – Some of you may remember Celeste from 'Meaning of Christmas'. She's actually an RPG character I play, who died a horrible death (smiles sheepishly at StupidX). Her mother, Gabrielle, was played in another RPG that was kinda connected the the one Celeste was in but not (It's complicated and weird, okay?). Anyway, Gabrielle belongs to Shel, not me. And yes, she IS Jason's daughter. Ahh RPG's are fun!
And there's the first chapter done. I have to admit, I have grown quite fond of Imara while writing this. She's a sneaky little thing. WHO will be the New-New Mutants? Well, I'm not telling, you'll have to read the next chapter, neeeh!. Do review. Until next time…