Author's Note:
Thank you to everyone has reviewed! Mykella, musagirl15, and marajade963, we're very glad you like it so much.
If you haven't already guessed, this fanfic is being written by two people.
Insert Disclaimer here
By the way, we don't own X-men. Or Ever After for that matter. We do however own ourselves, and will not be taken over by any corporate companies. Thank you.
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The next morning, the cast assembled, ready for shooting, with everyone being shown their costumes. Rogue, of course, was not happy with all the pretty dresses she gets to wear, but is at least thankful they cover most of her skin. Jean, by a huge contrast, is very happy with the costumes, purely because they are all beautiful dresses.
Kaya walks in, dressed in something that pretty much looks like it was stolen from the films wardrobe. And, lets admit it, it probably was. Tea slouches in again, dressed in, what else, but black.
"Ya'll actually wear that stuff of your own free will?" Rogue asked Kaya, who nodded happily.
"An' mah God, she looks beau," Remy said, causing Rogue to give him a good slap across the face.
Tea glared at Kaya again. "You know, every time he hits on you, Rogue is gonna hit him," Tea pointed out helpfully, causing Kaya to have a dilemma.
"That's not fair," Kaya said, while Tea shrugged.
"Oh, Forge?" Kaya asked as she saw him walking by. "I need you to fix me up some image inducers so that the cast can play their younger selves."
"Yes! New toys!" Forge said in that oh-so-seventies way he has.
"But we need them in five minutes," Tea stated flatly.
"No problemo," Forge said, giving the two directors a small salute.
"What happened to people in the seventies?" Kaya asked Tea quietly.
"Bad hair and strange language," Tea replied.
"You should have seen the eighties dear," Kaya said. "Now that was scary."
"Yeah, you were born," Tea said with a smile as she got a rather severe glare from Kaya.
Five minutes later, all the cast were assembled in their costumes, and Forge walked in, bearing the new image inducers, which he handed to the cast members who would be needing them.
"Thanks Forge," Kaya said brightly.
"No problemo," he said again.
"Case in point," Tea muttered.
"Okay!" Kaya spoke out, in her best announcement voice. "Let's begin the filming!"
"Lights! Camera! Action!" Tea shouted happily in that director's way.
"The Brothers Grimm, Your Majesty," a random page announced, and Kaya and Tea have no idea where he came from, even though he has the first line in their play.
"Good day, gentlemen," Rahne said, trying her best to conceal her Scots accent. "Thank you so much for coming. I suppose you're wondering why anyone my age would request an audience... with the authors of children's stories."
"Your letter was most intriguing, madam," Ray admitted, trying not to laugh at how old Rahne had suddenly become.
"I find your collection of folk tales quite brilliant actually," Rahne confessed.
"Thank you," Sam said, nodding.
"But I must say I was terribly disturbed, when I read your version of The Little Cinder Girl," Rahne added, a note of harshness to her voice.
"There are those who swear Perrault's telling with its fairy godmother and magic pumpkins would be closer to the truth," Ray stuttered, trying to explain to the Grand Dame. "Hey, who's Perrault?"
"Charles Perrault is credited with first coming up with the story," Kaya said off handedly.
"Do you really know everything?" Sam asked, slightly annoyed.
"She knows nothing about stuff that really matters, but other than that, yeah," Tea muttered, earning her yet another glance from her sister. You'd never have guessed that they were actually really good friends, would you?
"It's not that," Kaya said. "It helps to be a telepath sometimes. Now, back to the script!"
"Some claim the shoe was made of fur," Sam said hurriedly. No point in making the directors angry again.
"Others insist it was glass," Ray added.
"Well, I guess we'll never know," Sam said, a little sadly.
"Forgive me, Your Majesty, might I enquire about the painting?" Ray asked, indicating a beautiful renaissance painting of Rogue that was hung up nearby.
"She's really quite er... extraordinary," Sam said, nodding.
"Got that right, eh chere?" Remy said offstage, earning him a glare.
"Her name was Anna...de Barbarac," the Great Rahne said in the most stately voice she could muster. "And this was her glass slipper," she said in that same hushed tone as she presented the brothers with an ornate box, within which was the legendary slipper. "Perhaps you will allow me to set the record straight?"
"Then it's true... the story?" Ray stammered.
"Yes. Quite," Rahne answered with a sagely nod. "Now, then. What is that phrase you use? Oh, yes.
"Once upon a time, there lived a young girl, who loved her father very much."
"And Cut!" Kaya shouted happily, simply glad that the scene had gone off without any big troubles. "Right, change of scene! I need Jean, Kitty and Rogue to put on the image inducers Forge gave you, so that you will look like your younger selves."
A large amount of grumbling is heard off stage, and Jean walks on, slightly smaller than she was before.
"I look ridiculous," she grumbles, then covers her mouth in horror at the tiny squeaky voice that came out.
"You sound it, too," someone said unhelpfully from offstage.
"Where are Kitty and Rogue?" Kaya asked, not seeing the other two.
"Kitty's standing at the door, trying to get Rogue to come out of her dressing room, and she's flatly refusing," Jean explained, still hating the way her voice sounded.
"Right," Kaya sighed, hopping out of her director's chair, and making her way over to the dressing rooms. "Rogue?" she called through the door.
"If ya think Ah'm comin' out lookin' an' soundin' like this, ya'll have another thought comin'!" came an angry reply through the door.
"Are you sure it wouldn't just be easier to, like, skip this scene?" Kitty asked.
"We need this scene," Kaya sighed.
"Yeah! It's the only one where someone dies!" Tea shouted from the set.
"I don't think that'll get her out here though," Kaya said quietly, before she had an idea. "Rogue? Remy's hitting on me again out here, an' if you don't show up and slap some sense out of him soon, I think he'll be asking me out next."
Kaya and Kitty glanced at each other as they heard mumbling coming from the dressing room, and then a rather small Rogue slammed the door open, stalking over to Remy with a very unhappy look on her face. Her turned to greet her with one of his best smiles, but all he got in return was a good slap in the face.
"Hey! What was that there for, chere?" he asked, rubbing his face.
"Ya know what it was for!" Rogue shot back as she made her way to the set.
Sorry, Kaya said to Remy telepathically. My fault, she added, giving one of her best smiles.
"Anythin' for a smile like that," Remy said happily.
"Ah heard that, swamp rat!" an angry voice came from the set.
"Lights! Camera! Action!" Tea called out.
Rogue sighed, wishing that for once she could get given a decent part that actually suited her. Well, this one kind of did, especially with Remy playing the Prince, but it wasn't as if she was ever going to admit that to anyone. Ever. Then she threw caution to the wind, and began her lines, knowing that the sooner she got it stared, the sooner it would finish.
"Oh, Amara, it feels just like Christmas!" Rogue exclaimed to a much older-looking Amara. "Ah get a mother and sisters all in one day!"
"Yes, it's going to be very exciting here, what with the Baroness and all..." Amara agreed. "Oh, hold still!" she sighed as Rogue ran across to the other side of the room.
"The master deserves some happiness after all this time, bringing up the child on his own," Tabitha said as she walked into the room. "Hey, are we sure it's a good idea to call our resident megalomaniac 'master'?"
"It's just in the script!" Kaya reminded, waving one in the air. Across the set though, Magneto began to look slightly disappointed.
"She must be lovely," Amara said.
"Ah hope she likes me," Rogue said quietly. "At least more than she does in reality," she muttered under her breath.
"She'll love you," Amara said assuringly. "Just be the little angel I know is in there somewhere!"
"And don't chew on the bones at dinner and give yourself away!" Tabitha reminded.
Right on cue, there came a faint banging from the window, as small pebbles hit the panes of glass, making Rogue run over to see who it is.
"Child, your father arrives any moment!" Tabitha called, exasperated, but Rogue pays her no heed.
"Kurt, Ah told you!" Rogue shouted down to him, trying not to laugh at how adorably cute her shrunken brother looked. "Not today!"
"You look like a girl!" Kurt shouted up at Rogue, trying just as hard not to laugh at Rogue.
"That's what Ah am, halfwit!" came the retort from above
"Ja, but today you look it!"
"Boy or girl, Ah can still whip you!"
"Hah!" Kurt called back, before 'porting away, starting the game. Before either Amara or Tabitha could stop her, Rogue had already run out of the room, chasing after her brother.
"Look lively, it's the master!" a much-aged Bobby called out to all of the extra servants milling around as they lined up outside the stately house, awaiting the arrival of their master. Finally, a set of carriages rolled up the drive, with Magneto leading them on his horse.
"Welcome home, Monsieur le seigneur," Bobby greeted Magneto, taking the reigns of the horse. "I see you have brought us a baroness."
"I have brought you an entire household, Maurice, I mean, Bobby," Magneto said as he climbed down off the horse.
"Maurice!" Tea shouted out, in a perfect imitation of Gaston, making the entire cast give her very strange looks.
"What's with that?" Bobby asked, more than slightly bemused.
"She says that every time someone says Maurice," Kaya said, then paused.
"Maurice!"
"Just a little extra reason for you all to get your lines right," Kaya said, hoping they did. It was all getting a little too weird, even for her.
Magneto nodded, then resumed the play. "But I seem to be missing a daughter."
Before anyone could speak again, the carriage door opened, and out stepped Jean, then Kitty, followed finally by a very stately looking Mystique.
"Oh... Eric," Mystique said, having gotten the voice and accent down perfectly. "It's absolutely charming, really."
"Papa!" Rogue shouted as she ran over to Eric, covered in mud from her fight with Kurt.
Eric laughed as he went to hug her, but the glare Rogue gave him was more than enough to stop anyone in their tracks, so he simply spoke to her. "Oh, look at you, just as I left. I'll wager your friend Kurt is around here," he said, glancing around.
"No, sir! I slaughtered him!" Rogue announced happily. "He's..."
Just then, Kurt walked in, covered in even more mud that Rogue was, muttering about how hard it would be to get it all out of his fur.
"Well, so you did," Eric said in his best not-scary voice. "I had hoped to present a little lady. I suppose you'll have to do.
"Anna, may I present the Baroness Raven de Ghent, and her daughters, Jean and Katherine," Eric announced as he introduced the others.
"Hello, Anna. At last we meet," Raven said in a voice that made it sound like a criticism more than a greeting. "Your father speaks of nothing else. Ladies, say hello to your new stepsister."
Kitty and Jean curtseyed neatly, before replying together. "Mademoiselle."
"And cut!" Tea shouted.
"Well done every body!" Kaya called out as the random technicians they had hired from…somewhere began to change around the scenery.
"I think it's going rather well," Kaya said to Tea.
"Please tell me you are joking," Tea stated flatly.
"Well, it could be a lot worse."
"Like Pyro setting fire to the set?"
"Yes, that would be a good example," Kaya said, nodding.
"Good. Because there he goes!"
"What?" Kaya spun around only to be faced with a set that had been set on fire by a not-so-innocent looking Aussie. "John!" she roared, levitating off the ground again without entirely realising it. "What have you done!"
John flashed her a smile, but was met only with a glare. Then, without moving from her position two metres from the ground, Kaya telekinetically moved all the fire extinguishers she could over to the fire and set them off, covering the damaged set in foam. Once the fire was out, just for good measure, she turned the extinguishers towards John, and fired them off.
"Oi, I was only 'aving a bit of fun!" Pyro yelled.
"Yes, well next time you feel like destroying the set, don't!" Kaya yelled back. Then she looked down and saw her feet were a way above the ground. "Umm, Tea?" Kaya said, looking to her sister for help.
Tea shook her head, grinned, and then 'ported out, reappearing nowhere near Kaya.
"Ya haven't got the hang of that power, have ya chere?" Remy asked as he stood below Kaya, casually shuffling a deck of cards.
"Thanks for noticing, and, no, I haven't," Kaya growled. "We don't have any mutant schools in England, so we have to make do."
"Ya could always come over to America," Remy pointed out.
"Look, I know we're here now, but we have other obligations back home," Kaya sighed. "Are you going to help me down, or just stand there?"
"If ya wanted my help, all ya had to do was ask," Remy said, slipping the cards into his pocket. Then, he held out his arms. "Come on then."
"What, just drop down onto you?" Kaya asked in disbelief.
"Ah'll catch you," Remy said.
"I have trust issues," Kaya replied.
"Well, we'll just 'ave to work on that, too," Remy said, giving her that grin that always made her crazy.
"Fine," Kaya sighed, getting ready to let go of her powers. "Do you swear you'll catch me?"
"Chere, Ah swear every day."
"I didn't mean it like that."
"Ah know," he said simply, flashing another one of those grins. "Ah promise Ah'll catch ya."
Kaya closed her eyes, letting go of every hold her powers had, and fell, right into Remy's arms.
"See, Ah told you Ah could catch ya," Remy said as he set her down.
"Thank you," Kaya said, smiling.
"More than welcome, chere," he said, before striding off.
"Ya'll really like him, don't ya?" Rogue asked as she came out.
"Hey, he's sweet. It's a long time crush. I'll get over it," Kaya said, shrugging.
"What ever. Ah don't care," Rogue said.
"Yes, you do," Kaya said.
"What – how do you know that? It's not even true," Rogue blurted.
"Whatever," Kaya said with another careless shrug, and then she walked off too.
