Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or its X-men, or any of the X-men characters. I do, however, own Addie. Please don't just use her without asking, thanks!
Well…here I am again. After this long while, I finally read my own fan-fiction, and decided that it was good enough to continue. What do you think?
As always reviews are accepted with undying gratitude.
Paths
"I…I haven't got them."
"Non? Well, y' hands are glowing like y' have, chere. Time to give 'em back, I say."
Addie looked down and screamed. Her hands were glowing bright pink!
Frantically, she waved them around, wrung them together, shook them and danced around the room. "Hank, do something!" she called at the stupefied doctor.
Remy tried to keep a straight face. After all, he did want to appear angry, but his amusement faded after a while when he noticed that the young woman's distress was real as she tried to make his power go away. He knew the feeling when you saw your own flesh light up, and start to glow like a torch…and he also knew what happened when you touched something, and then it exploded.
"Okay, we better take dis outside," he said calmly, grasping Addie by the collar he stopped her in her tracks and led her outside.
They were standing on the lawn beside the pool, and Addie had calmed down somewhat, though she was still moving her hands and hyperventilating as the pink glow increased.
"Hum. I tink it be better if you jus' blow somet'ing up. Maybe a tree." Careful not to touch her directly he began to lead her towards the woods.
"Wait. Wait!" she shouted, struggling to free herself.
"Jus' keep moving. We haven' got time. Y' about to blow sometin up right now. I prefer if you just charge a tree, 'stead of moi."
She tripped on a root. He quickly steadied her, but he had let go of her elbow in doing so, and she pulled out of the way. "I'm not blowing anything up. Are you crazy! Now get your hands off of me!"
She spun on her heels and was about to storm away, when she suddenly fell to the forest floor and clutched her head, crying out in pain. Gambit watched in horror as her eyes suddenly glazed over, her normal, greenish ones replaced by orbs of red on black. She fell forward and her hands dug into the dirt.
Remy leapt forward, grabbed her around the waist and jumped behind a tree, just as the ground exploded.
He wasn't quick enough. They both slipped down into an enormous hole created by the explosion, slipping down into the crater. He hugged Addie tightly as they fell.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
There is a feeling of déjà vu in the air. Like this was destined to happen. If I had had my power, I would have known what was about to happen, and I would have stopped it, but as it is, you have my power, Remy. You didn't use it though, did you? No, we're still falling. Ah! The ground. Yes, it finally meets us. I'm surprised that you take most of the brunt of the fall. You are supposed to be angry at me, are you not?
I've still hurt my arm. It hit a rock and I believe it is broken. Not that that matters so much, when I feel all the earth falling on top of us. The ground has caved in and we are trapped. But you haven't let me go. I can feel myself dying, but having a pair of arms wrapped around me is a comfort in this time.
Time.
It doesn't really mean much now. I stopped breathing quite a while ago. I suppose you have too. Have you not? The earth is too heavy and I cannot move to feel if you are still alive. I hope that you are.
Somehow, in the darkness, I can see my parents crossing a road and getting hit by a car, but as I run up to their lifeless bodies they open their eyes and look at me, and my father shakes his head.
"Too soon," he says. "Much too soon, my dear. You just get back where you belong and go and save that young man, hear me?"
But my mother looks at me pleadingly. "It's been so long. Oh my darling, stay with us."
"No," interrupts my father. "Go. You heard me, I said go!"
"I'm…I'm sorry, mom. But anytime now…okay?" I lean down and drop a kiss on her forehead, then the vision changes to a smoky barroom, with people playing cards and pool, and drinking. And there, in all his charming apparel, is Remy.
"Hello," I say, and smile. He looks cross. He flicks a card at me. I manage to catch it.
"Joker? For a minute there I thought I was your Queen of Hearts."
He just smiles, and the card changes. It has a large number ten on it.
I smile back, and pocket the card. "I guess I'm not your Queen, after all."
"Non. You have to prove your worth first. Dis no way to prove it." He gestures around the bar, and suddenly it turns into a big pit of dirt and rocks, then the ground collapses around him, and Remy falls through.
"No!" I scream, and jump in after him. The ground closes, and I am left standing there. My arm hurts.
I have to save him. My hands begin to burn, and I hold them up. They're bright pink, an interesting shade of fuchsia.
Suddenly, everything around me is the same color as my hands. I crouch into a ball, waiting for it all to explode.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
""Don' play funny. My powers. Y' got twenty seconds."
"What?" she blinked, confused.
Remy took a step back, panic on his face as he whirled around as though to run, and banged into the nearest wall.
"What in heavens is wrong with you two?" Hank managed to ask.
Remy cradled his bruised nose as he looked at Addie.
"S' dat's what it feels like?" he asked her.
She nodded.
"Yes, that's a pretty normal vision, now tell me why we both saw it?"
"Please explain," broke in Hank.
Addie turned towards him. Her green eyes focused on the Beast, and she opened her mouth to tell him…
Then she noticed something rather peculiar about herself.
Her hands were glowing pink.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
The explanations had been slurred and hurried, the Beast immediately leading her to his lab at a gallop, forcing her to sit on a table as he put a helmet on her head, took a blood sample and turned on some machines.
The general uproar immediately doubled when the table that she was sitting on turned pink as well. Hank stuck a needle in her, and typed some commands into the computer.
Next it was the walls.
Like a great pink wave, the kinetic energy crept up to the ceiling. It seemed to have enveloped Addie. Even her hair was alive with it…strands became separate from the rest, and danced around her head, curling into knots, sparkling.
Never before had Remy seen anything like it, and he felt helpless as he stood, mouth agape, watching the amazing display.
It was when he "saw" what would be left of the mansion in a matter of seconds more, that he took action.
Her head had begun to ache, but now it rang, as though someone had stuck a portable siren in it, and broken the switch. She couldn't turn the pain off, or the power that leaked from her hands.
Her eyes ached unbearably, and she closed them, falling back as she felt the strength leave her body…it was all on the walls, the furniture, the ceiling.
Her mother reached out to her…and her father did, too, this time.
"It's okay, Addie, we forgive you," he said. "Don't be scared. Come home with us, it's okay now."
They reached out their hands, and touched her face, like they used to when she was a girl, lying in bed waiting to be tucked in. She remembered how she had played a game, were when her mother came in she would say goodnight and get a kiss, but then she would leave the covers ruffled and disorderly, so that when her father walked by he would stop and tuck her in as well.
She was startled when her parents' hands were ice cold when they touched her. Without wanting to, she shrank back…and opened her eyes…
She was looking into her own eyes, but framed in a different face.
In Remy's face.
He was holding her hand.
This wasn't right.
"Let me go," she said softly.
"Non, not dis time p'tite," was all he said.
Then a brilliant shade of white flashed in her eyes, and then it was alright.
OoOoOoOoOoO
"I still don't understand," said Storm's voice. "What happened…?"
"It's quite simple," said Hank. "Addie couldn't control the full extent of Remy's powers, and therefore allowed them to spread onto every available solid surface—she had successfully charged a quarter of the mansion, when Remy stepped in and absorbed the charge. How he did that, I am not sure. The only thing that is evident as of late is that they have crisscrossed their powers, which has added greatly to their potential."
"But how is Remy?" broke in Jean.
"He is fine, in recovery," answered the Beast.
"It is Addie who suffered the most. She will have to be bed-ridden for a few days due to rather severe mental stress. I still cannot ensure that she will have any powers at all."
Logan, leaning against a wall chewing a cigar, looked up then.
"I still can't see how they switched powers, Hank."
"I'm afraid that neither can I," answered the doctor, scratching his furry blue head.
"The only thing that is obvious at this moment is that they will have to tutor each other in the use of their powers. Else we could be facing some serious consequences."
Jean nodded, for a moment looking up at the medical bay, imagining it for a moment encased in fuchsia-bright light, ready to explode.
They had been very close to losing a great deal.
"Damn!" said an angry voice, and the group turned to see a bewildered Cajun struggling up from a medical bed.
"Yah, I kno' what y' gonna ask me…and I wanna ask de same. What in hell happened to me eyes?"
A.N.: Sorry for the huge delay in updating, and the terrible quality of this chapter. This particular chapter is dedicated to Kiersten, or &&your my world, for being a good friend when I needed one. Thanks.