TITLE: Thicker than Water
AUTHOR: Beaubier
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: xbeaubier@hotmail.com
FANDOM: X-Men: Evolution
PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Why not, eh? Just drop a line.
CATEGORY: Drama/Action/Adventure
RATINGS/WARNINGS: Rated pg-13 for language, violence and adult themes.
SUMMARY: Aurora and Northstar, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, the Brotherhood, the X-Men, the Acolytes. Alliances are tested, ties are cut, and siblings might find out if blood really is thicker than water. Third fic in a series, but can stand alone, if necessary.
DISCLAIMER: I didn't invent the X-Men, and I have nothing to do with Evolution. I'm sure that's been made abundantly clear by this time.
NOTES: In Relativity, the Beaubiers came to Xavier's. In Here Comes Trouble, they made friends, made enemies, played jokes, had a laugh, felt love, felt pain, and got to know each other and their new surroundings. And here, everything they've learned, about each other, about love, about life, is put to the test. This fic revolves around the Beaubier twins, as well as the Maximoff twins, equally. Other major players will include Warren, Scott, Jean, Rogue, Remy, Kurt, and Bobby. And possibly more.


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Introduction:

Here's the recap, on the events from the two fics before this one, Relativity and Here Comes Trouble. If you've read them, don't bother reading this. If you haven't but feel you need background after starting this story, this should help.

After Ascension, most mutants settled back into their usual groups. Magneto left his children with a check, and said he'd be back for them soon, and Xavier returned to his Institute. Before long, he detected a mutant in a Catholic orphanage-school in LaVelle, Quebec, one Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, a mutant with the ability to speed the molecules in her body to the point where she can generate extended pulses of super-speed (almost indefinite ones), a faint aura of light around her body, and flight capability. Soon after she was brought to the Institute, her long lost twin brother, Jean-Paul, was also found, and agreed to come to the Institute to be with her– the only family he had left. His powers are similar to hers, without the light, but when the two come into contact, they both augment one another's abilities, and generate blinding flashes of light.

Magneto, in the meantime, had found that one villain known to him only as Sinister had ties to Apocalypse, and sent Gambit on a reconnaissance mission, to find out about the man's goals and capabilities. Gambit was taken, and his mind probed. Sinister, who has a great interest in mutant genetic research, extracted from Gambit's mind the information that Magneto had twin children, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Taking an interest in what that kind of genetic situation, that of having a twin, could possibly mean for mutants with such strong powers, he sent his henchmen, the Marauders, to secure the twins for him.

In the meantime, the Beaubier twins were just settling in to life at the Institute. Jeanne-Marie took the name Aurora, and Jean-Paul Northstar, and they were both put on the X-Men team. Rogue and Jean-Paul quickly developed a friendship, and Jean-Paul quickly developed a crush on the Brotherhood speedster, Quicksilver. Aurora, in the meantime, spent most of her time going between two extremes– one a wild party-girl who liked to flirt and have fun, the other an emotionally scarred girl who barely spoke passable English. One particularly fiery disagreement with her opinionated (to a fault) brother led her to become a crying puddle of joual-babbling X-girl for almost an entire day, when she'd been dancing and partying the night before.

Before long, Gambit escaped Sinister and called the Xavier Institute, warning Rogue about the Maximoff twins, and the X-Men were dispatched to make certain that Wanda and Pietro were kept safe. Storm, Iceman, and Wolverine went to find Gambit in London, and the others rushed to save the Maximoffs– but were just a little too late. Jeanne-Marie Beaubier was wounded and taken in the fight, along with Pietro. Jean-Paul saved Wanda at the last moment.

The Marauders, as it turns out, had seen the Beaubier twins, and thought to win themselves extra points with the boss by bringing in both pairs of mutant twins. Obviously, Sinister was none too happy when he discovered that he had not one set of twins, but one twin each from two different sets. Still, he decided to go ahead with his experiments, and probed Jeanne-Marie and Pietro as he had Gambit. Eventually, however, the X-Men found them, and rescued them. Gambit admitted to Pietro that it had been his fault that Sinister had even known about the twins, and that Magneto had sent him to find out about the new villain in town. Pietro was less than surprised, or impressed, for that matter.

The strain of the experience on Jeanne-Marie made it clear to the Professor that she has dissociative disorder, and that her two extremes were in fact two very different personalities. One, the weaker of the two, the one that she retreats into under too much pressure, fear, or stress, she associates with the Jeanne-Marie of the orphanage. The other, brought out in her by a good time, or when she feels most free or capable, she associates with the Aurora of the X-Men. Her brother vowed to do all he could for her, and the twins' bond only grew stronger as they found that they had a constant, low-level, controllable psi-link.

After their first adventure, the twins had time to relax for awhile. Jean-Paul began spending more and more time with Pietro Maximoff, who he had never stopped crushing on. Eventually, Pietro began to reciprocate, and the two became best friends, if not quite lovers, at first. Jeanne-Marie started dating Roberto DaCosta, and became close friends with Bobby Drake and Kitty Pryde. There were many fluffy adventures in their first months at the Institute and Bayville High, but the long and short of it is that:

1– Jeanne-Marie became enamored with art and writing, and eventually had to break up with 'Berto due to his jealousy, although they remain close friends.

2– Jean-Paul and Pietro's friendship turned into much more, after much fighting and pretending on both of their parts, and they now have an odd sort of "best friends with sex" relationship that both are reluctant to admit will ever be anything more.

3– Scott and Jean's relationship has grown colder, and Scott has expressed confusion, if not yet disappointment, with the way things are happening since she has moved to her school dorm in the city. Scott serves in an RA capacity at the Institute now, and attends a local community college.

4– Warren Worthington has recently asked for help regarding Worthington Industries' holdings. He fears nefarious interests are being funded by his family, and the Professor and Jean have been working with him to try and eke them out.

5– Sam Guthrie and Wanda Maximoff, after a random drunken hook up one night, have recently started dating, much to everyone's shock and amazement. It isn't serious, at this point, but they are both taken with each other, evidently.

6– Jean-Paul did not approve of his sister's relationship with Roberto, who he did not trust, and when he expressed happiness at their break-up, Jeanne-Marie called him a prick, and stopped talking to him entirely (JP has been doing that to her a lot, it's entirely justified!)

7– Rogue insists that her association with Gambit is nothing, but carries the card he gave her, the queen of hearts, in her back pocket, and Remy somehow had the number to the Xavier Institute memorized when he was taken captive by Sinister.

8– Alex Summers recently informed his big brother that he is gay, and is nursing a silent crush on his roommate, Ray Crisp. Ray does not reciprocate his feelings, but does think of Alex as a great friend, and has no problem with living with a gay man. Only Jean-Paul knows about Alex's crush, although Ray and Scott also know that Alex is, in fact, gay.

I think that about covers the damage I've done to the Evo-verse, thus far. If you're still feeling brave, by all means, read on.