Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or the plot of the movie, I do however own Maria. Thought I'd keep this one simple, and without jargon.

Sorry I haven't updated for a while, my laptop isn't feeling all that good (and I've been unwell too). Sometimes he'll work, and others he won't, his battery is a bit dodgy. A reviewer wandered why Maria couldn't turn off her powers since she wasn't fully exposed to the cloud like Ben was, well I kind of based her a little on Doom, as he wasn't exposed directly to the cloud either, and he can't exactly turn off his power…

Chapter 7

The city was lit with unnatural light that blocked out the stars. The cemetery was quiet as Maria entered. She had a bouquet full of forget me nots, and lay them down on the grave of her parents. 'Mark and Sarah Grimm, Beloved parents,' was etched on the grave stone. Maria crouched and sat down by the side of the grave.

"Hey you two," she spoke quietly. "Sorry I haven't been to see you lately, you'll never believe me if I told you. Lucky you're always looking down on me, huh?" She moved a little into a more comfortable position. "I guess you saw the cosmic cloud, and the changes we all went though." She paused again, her voice was beginning to crack a little, "And I guess you've seen how our make shift family is falling apart. Johnny has gone and given us all daft 'super hero' names. Sue is the Invisible Woman, Reed's Mr. Fantastic, Dad is The Thing, Johnny is The Human Torch. He wanted to call me Water Woman, but I made him change it to Aquatica. Lucky I followed him the games, or I would have been stuck with it", she laughed a little. "I really didn't want to let someone who named their puppy 'Puppy' as a kid to give me my super hero name." She paused and looked around to make sure there was no one around.

She continued when she made sure she was alone, "Johnny and dad had this huge fight, and now he's left the Fantastic Five. Dad's fallen out with Reed because he wants to spend time with Sue and not work on a cure," she paused again. "But do we really need a cure anyway? I can understand why Dad's so upset, but it can't be that too bad a thing. We can help a lot of people, right?" she asked hopefully. "Maybe this is like our calling, this is our life meaning…" She looked down at her tinted blue hands, "Good job blue's my favourite colour, or I'd clash with all my clothing, wouldn't I?" she joked looking at her now grass stained blue trousers.

"Johnny's being cold towards me," she said. "I kinda thought he liked me a little, you know when he took my hand in his when I burnt it. He was so gentle and sweet, to bad he hurt me even more…" she laughed at how tragic the idea was, she was in love with only person in the world she physically couldn't be with. "I guess it would be kinda cool if Reed found a cure, then maybe we'd have a chance," she said then paused. "No, that's not true. I can pretend at the moment that maybe he does like me, but doesn't want to act on it because he knows we can't be together, if I was cured what excuse could I make for him for not wanting to be with me? At least now I can hope…"

She looked around again making sure there was no one around, "Dad would be so mad if he found out, but then again, he was with Debbie despite my many protests… but I was right about her though, she was no good." She smiled, "I heard him on the phone a few nights ago talking to a girl, her name's Alicia. I'm glad he's found someone else, someone who actually likes him for him," she smiled again.

"I still can't work out Doom though, he's gone really possessive over Sue, and power mad. He also hates the idea that we are commercialising on what happened, the wrong way. For once in his life, he's lost, and what he's lost Reed has gained. Fame, lively hood, glory… and Sue." She paused, "I guess you can say what goes around comes around," she grinned. "He's so angry, I think it's a bad idea that Reed's put him in charge of the cosmic cloud machine that's supposed to cure us. He's just too glad, you know?" As she spoke a power surge rippled through the city, it didn't take a scientist to work out what caused the surge.

Maria was on her feet in seconds, "I have to go, I'll be back soon," she promised kissing the headstone twice before running in the direction of the Baxter building.

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End of chapter – I really dislike this chapter, more than the last one, but I really need to move the story onwards… so sorry