Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High.
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The moment the front door opened, everyone separated to go to their rooms. It was well past two in the morning, and while it was a mini-vacation, Ivy was still not a fan of losing sleep. She had somehow ended up across the hall from Warren and Gambit, while everyone else was on the other side of the house entirely. The three made their way silently, and as soon as Ivy reached her door she disappeared inside, not saying a word to either Warren or Gambit. The two exchanged confused looks before retreating inside their own room.
Ivy fell face first onto her bed, and was hardly able to take her boots off before she fell asleep.
The images of Spencer flashed through her mind. Images of her mother flashed through her mind. Images of that day. Images of her body. Images of the blood.
Christine had been helping Ivy with her Absolute form much as she always did, but more carefully this time, since the last had resorted in Ivy's hair staying white, and her eyes being stuck mid-change. It was overcast and dark, and Christine had begged Ivy to change just once, to make sure everything was OK. It had been over a month since her last change, and Christine was worried that Ivy would never conquer her fear of the change, of what it did and what it could do.
They had a small forest-type area in their backyard down in Louisiana that they used as Ivy's training arena. It was full of brush and tall trees, small woodland animals often popped up, but the panther had become accustomed to them by then. Ivy changed into her panther, and simultaneously, Christine said "Stone" and there was a large crash somewhere inside the woods. The panther took off towards the sound, ignoring all Christine's yells from behind.
After minutes of searching and finding nothing, the panther quietly and cautiously had returned to where Christine had been, to find the space empty. The panther looked all around itself trying to find Christine but saw nothing. A few birds flew anxiously out from behind the panther, flying as quickly away as possible, and the panther slowly turned and attacked the thing that frightened the birds, tearing it to pieces, shredding it's skin and ripping its bone. Only after the body lay unmoving and horrifyingly battered and mutilated, did the panther only slightly recognize it as Christine, by scent.
While the panther didn't know until minutes after it stopped grabbing at the flesh, Ivy knew from the beginning. Inside the panther she screamed and howled for her mother, unwilling to comprehend and accept what the panther had done. She'd had no control, and as she tried to make the panther stop... She couldn't.
From the panthers eyes she looked at her mother, lying bloodied and broken beneath her. She forced the panther to relinquish the body, and she felt her own body return to being, naked, shivering, coated in blood. Her legs collapsed beneath her, and she fell to her mothers' side, crying dry tears, shaking the remains of her mothers shoulders, trying to wake her.
Ivy's phone alarm beeped and woke her from the dreams and images. She sat up and wiped a cold sweat from her forehead before reaching for her phone. She shut off the alarm and went to her suitcase. She changed out of her clothes from the night before and into gray sweats with a long sleeved white shirt. She stood at her ocean-view window, and stared out at the water as the morning sun began to creep up and illuminate the waves beneath her.
She unconsciously wiped her hands on her pants, trying to rid them of her blood that forever stained her skin. The images crept into her mind again, and she shut her eyes, squeezing them as tightly as she could; not to shut them out, but to keep them in. They were things no one needed to ever see, and should they be reflected on her face and in her eyes, everyone would know well enough that they might as well have seen.
When she reopened her eyes, the sun was bright overhead, and she heard laughing and chattering from the kitchen below. Ivy turned her back to the water, and tied her messy hair into a loose braid. She left her room, and walked barefoot down the cold marble steps to the big kitchen where everyone sat enjoying pancakes that Layla and Dara had made.
"Good morning, sleepyhead! Pancakes?" Layla was her normal cheery self, and Ivy couldn't help but smile that not everything changed.
"Yes, please. Blueberries and chocolate chips?" Ivy yawned as she sat at the island that the rest of her friends either leaned against or sat at. Layla passed down a bowl that had blueberries and chocolate chips mixed together. "Delicious." Ivy took a pancake and rolled the mixture into it, drenching it in maple syrup.
Speed looked at the food in disgust. "What in the hell is wrong with you? That's so nasty!" He made a face that echoed his nausea and Ivy smiled a drippy smile at him, which made him move to the other side of the counter, away from her. She tried not to laugh through her mouthful of food.
Warren threw a napkin at her from his seat at the opposite end and she mumbled a "Thank you" as she gulped down milk. He chuckled quietly and shook his head at her and her eating habits.
"How does she eat like that, and still end up a fucking toothpick? I hate her." Taylor growled and shoved a pancake into her mouth.
"I think you're perfect just the way you are." Speed smiled, and Taylor threw a blueberry at him.
"Oh, shut up." Speed laughed at her.
"You're almost as tiny as me!" Ivy finally swallowed and decided to join in the conversation. Taylor shook her head, and Ivy nodded hers. They looked ridiculous. "I bet you ten bucks you could fit into my pants."
"I don't wanna take your money. That's not fair." Taylor smiled and Ivy rolled her eyes, along with all the boys who had lost interest in the conversation before it had even started.
They ate the rest of the meal in peace, save for Gambit trying to touch her and getting burned.
"Ah tought da Cher didn't burn no more!" He ran his finger under cold water as Dara, Lash and Magenta laughed hysterically.
"Sorry to disappoint." Ivy turned her attention back to her friends. "So, what are we doing today? I kinda wanna go shopping or something."
"We could, there's a really nice outdoor mall. But I don't think the guys really feel like watching us buy shoes." Taylor rinsed off her plate and shoved it in the washer.
"You guys can go shopping and we'll go to the grocery store. Will and I were planning on barbecuing on the beach, so we'll need to pick some stuff up." Warren shrugged.
"You cook?" Dara completely forgot about Gambit, and her attention was all for Warren once again. Ivy's head shot up at Dara's interest. Warren nodded, but didn't say anything, and Ivy looked frantically back and forth between the two until Zach gently pushed her shoulder and she caught herself. "That is so cool. I'm totally gonna give you a list of my favorite dishes and have you make me dinner one day." Ivy felt her face grow red hot, and then turn embarrassed pink when Warren looked at her in amusement.
"Yeah. Sure. Whatever." He shrugged again and stood to put his plate in the sink. He took the long route around the island so he could pass behind Ivy on his way out.
She, too, stood and put her plate in the sink. "I'm gonna hop in the shower. I feel gross."
"Save me some hot water!" Magenta called after Ivy, who laughed extremely loudly in a "Yeah, right" response.
Ivy went upstairs and literally ran into Warren as he was coming around the corner of the hallway heading to the bathroom, wearing his sweatpants. Only his sweatpants.
"Oh, God. Um--" Ivy paused embarrassed, and looked away, turning pink again.
Warren smirked at her. "Not like you haven't seen it before." He felt his own face turn pink as she looked at him with wide eyes.
"Yeah. Um. We should--" She stopped and rethought her sentence. "Can we talk or something later? I feel like we never really--" She gestured awkwardly with her hands to get her point across without having to say it.
"Yeah. Sure. Whatever." He gave her the same nonchalant answer he gave Dara before stepping around her to continue on his way to the bathroom. She turned to watch him go, right as Gambit came up the stairs behind her.
"Mm. Great." She rolled her eyes and turned back around to continue the walk to her room.
"Cher, why you so mean to Gambit?" He made sure to grab her clothed wrist after he caught up with her right outside her door. He held onto her wrist and maneuvered so she had to turn to look at him.
"What do you want, Remy?" She groaned in annoyance as he smiled.
"Only you can call me dat, Cher."
"Let go of me. I need to take a shower." She tried to pull her wrist back from him, getting uncomfortable being so close to someone without her serum, especially when that someone didn't tend to care about being burned, as she discovered a few years before. She knew the cold water in the kitchen was just a show, so no one would think it was strange or suspicious, but she still didn't like it.
While she was temporarily lost in her thoughts, her body relaxed, and he managed to move her against the wall a foot behind her. He slid his other hand around her other wrist, and brought them up to level with her shoulders against the wall, pinning her there so she couldn't move her arms, somehow managing to not touch her skin. Her attention had snapped back by then, and she was fully aware that he was slowly inching his body closer to hers, until he was flat against her, flat against the wall.
"Remy, stop." She knew her voice wasn't strong enough to let him know she was serious, but she hoped he'd listen anyway. Unfortunately, he didn't. He moved his face closer to hers, and she grew more and more scared of burning him. "Gambit, please let go of me."
Gambit opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted. "Oh, my G-- OK Wow." Gambit jumped back from where he held Ivy, who scurried as far away from him as possible.
"Will. Um-- I--" Ivy panicked and turned red.
"I was just gonna borrow a pair of socks from Warren..." Will's gaze flickered between Ivy's red and embarrassed face, and Gambit's smooth, suave one.
"Oh. Yeah, OK I should um, get--" She pointed to her room, before smiling very awkwardly and disappearing behind the big door.
"Da cher needed some help with a sore muscle." Gambit smiled, knowing he was full of shit, and knowing Will wouldn't believe any of it.
"Really. What muscle?" Will crossed his arms, and raised an eyebrow.
"Gambit not sure. But he find out and let you know." He smiled wickedly at the Stronghold and moved out of the way so Will could go into the room to get some socks.
"No, thanks. I'll get some from Zach." He eyed the X-Man one more time before leaving.
As soon as Ivy had shut her door, she injected her serum, even though she hadn't been planning on it. Maybe he didn't mind being burned, but she knew others would mind should she accidentally touch them. She heard Will and Gambit exchange some dialogue, and tried not to gag at Gambit's "next time" response. As soon as she knew Will was gone, she flung her door open, and yanked Gambit inside.
"Don't you ever do that again. Ever. Do you understand me?" Now she had him pinned against the wall, her right forearm across his throat, her left hand holding his right shoulder back.
Gambit merely smiled at her.
"You're disgusting."
"You da one dat likes it." She immediately let go and crossed the room to get away from him. He smiled at her again and left the room quietly.
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An explanation to Christine's death, a little bit of "let's talk" for Miser, and I just realized that I might as well have taken the last bit between Will, Gambit and Ivy out of Buffy Season 6. I'm slightly ashamed of myself, but then Buffy is so awesome that it doesn't matter.
Anyway, I hope Gambit made a few people smile. I love that dude.
Let me know what you think. =)