Belle Reve, a X-Men: Evolution + X-Men Crossover fanfic

Leave it to X-Men '97 to get the creative juices flowing again. This idea hit and, after starting a rewatch of X-Men: Evolution, I couldn't resist getting it down on proverbial paper.

That being said, I haven't written anything X-Men related since middle school and my clumsy attempts at writing my own version of XME season five (which no longer exists, thank GOD). Let's hope I have IMMENSELY improved since then.

Part 1: Evil in Crop Tops

"Dreams are windows into the lives of our multiversal selves."

- Doctor Stephen Strange, Earth-199999

If it weren't for the goth groaning on the blanket next to her, Kitty Pryde would say the day was absolutely perfect.

And heaven knows they were due for a perfect day. Things had been hectic in the months following Apocalypse's defeat, from growing tensions between humans and mutants, new superheroes popping out of the woodwork, to all the new arrivals at the Xavier Institute (including several former enemies). But here they were, on a warm spring Saturday. No riots, no protests, no attacking enemies, and definitely no Hard Mode Danger Room sessions because Scott was overcompensating given said hecticness.

(Thankfully their fearless leader was busy today. Alex was going on a date with one of the new arrivals, a shy girl named Lorna, and thus had something new to channel his overprotectiveness into. Jean had promised to keep his well-intentioned spying to an un-embarrassing minimum.)

No, there was nothing here that could possibly ruin the day. Just warm sunshine, a basket of the best premade supermarket food money could buy, and a beautiful picnic spot on the Institute grounds.

"Ugggggggggggggggh."

… Nothing except the previously mentioned groaning goth.

"Rogue, can you, like, give it a rest?" Kitty asked, exasperated. "Amanda's gonna be here any minute and we don't need to hear you moaning the whole time. If you're still that tired, go back to bed."

"And what would that actually solve given mah 'problem?'" Rogue said, finally lifting her head from where she lay face down on the picnic blanket, revealing the raccoon-like dark circles around her eyes. She hadn't even bothered putting on makeup that day- they were that bad.

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Well, not sleeping clearly isn't helping. If you would just-"

"Yikes! Bag check on Rogue!"

Both mutant girls turned to see Amanda Sefton, Kurt's human girlfriend who was way too cool for him (a mean thing to say if not for the fact Kurt wholly agreed that, yes, Amanda was indeed way too cool for him), approaching. By virtue of the both of them being close to the fuzzy elf, it'd been natural to absorb Amanda into their friend group and invite her to outings like their picnic. And they were happy to- Amanda was great, even if she sometimes made lame jokes.

"Sorry I'm late, girls," she said as she sat down on the blanket while setting down a portable radio (oooh, how retro!) and a Saran-wrapped plate of snickerdoodles. "Had to come up with an excuse for my parents about where I was going. I think they're starting to wonder why I spend so much time at the 'library.'"

"No problem, Amanda!" Kitty assured her. "Thanks for bringing tunes and dessert!"

"Thanks for bringing everything else!" Amanda said. She looked over the spread. "... Is all of this from the supermarket?"

"Kitty's officially banned from the kitchen since she gave the new teacher food poisonin'," Rogue explained, finally sitting up properly.

"It was an accident and Mr. Cassidy was, like, fine after a couple days! Besides, his daughter already got payback for him in the Danger Room." Kitty cleaned out her ear with her pinky. "Ugh, my ears are still ringing..."

Amanda laughed, but her smile turned into a concerned frown as she turned to Rogue. "Seriously though, you're looking rough, girl. Are you having trouble sleeping? Because my mom has pretty good natural remedies for stuff like that and as long as I don't say who it's for-"

"Gettin' to sleep ain't the problem," Rogue said, tiredly rubbing her tear ducts. "Gettin' woken up by weird dreams is."

"Weird dreams?"

"Really weird, really vivid dreams," Kitty explained. "She's been getting them since we beat Apocalypse. I keep telling her to go to the Professor- "

"And Ah keep tellin' you the Professor don't need to know 'bout these!" Rogue snapped. To her credit, she immediately looked cowed and held her head in her hands. "Sorry. Ah'm just tired."

Kitty patted her on the back consolingly.

"Are you dreaming about memories from people you absorbed?" Amanda asked. "Kurt told me about the time you dreamed about his mom and the waterfall."

"Of course he did," Rogue sighed. She shook her head, looking like she wanted to say more but clearly apprehensive about it.

Kitty nudged her shoulder. "Come on, Rogue, it's Amanda. She's cool and, if Kurt's to be believed, gives good advice. If you won't talk to the Prof then talk to her. Talk to anyone besides just me."

Rogue seemed to mentally debate giving in for a long moment before groaning again and doing so. "No, these are different from stuff Ah absorbed. They feel like they're memories, and me and the X-Men are in them, but they're of things that never happened. And they're all over the place! In one of them we just fought a bunch'a weird-looking Sentinels I know we never fought and in another…" The Southern goth suddenly looked like she wanted a hard drink. "Ah was in the hospital with Scott and Jean, and Ah was helpin' Jean give birth. "

Amanda blanched. "Oh my gosh."

"Yup. Saw more of Jean than Ah ever cared to."

Kitty couldn't help but let out a mischievous giggle at her roommate's long-suffering tone. "That's nothing, Amanda. You should, like, hear about the dream she had about Magneto-"

"WE AIN'T TALKIN' 'BOUT THE MAGNETO DREAM."

Amanda flinched back at Rogue's sudden volume, while Kitty just kept giggling to herself. Rogue, meanwhile, just glared at the density-shifter while her usually pale cheeks flushed red.

"... Is that why you don't want to go to Professor Xavier?" Amanda asked slowly.

"NO."

"... And is that also why you avoided Pietro and Wanda at school for a week?"

"NOT. TALKIN'. 'BOUT IT." The goth turned on Kitty, who wisely stopped laughing. "And you! You know perfectly well why none o'this is funny! Don't make me regret tellin' you!"

Kitty grimaced.

"Rogue, wake up! It's okay!"

"No, no! Nathan! No, Scott, come back!"

"Rogue!"

That had been a month ago, and the heartbreak in Rogue's voice still haunted her. Kitty lowered her eyes guiltily. "Right, of course. I'm sorry, Rogue. You're right, it's not funny. I shouldn't have laughed."

Rogue sighed again, flopping backwards on her back and covering her eyes with her arms. "It's... it's fine. Ah was bein' casual 'bout it first and some of the dreams Ah've had were… a little funny. The rest? Not so much."

Amanda looked between the two girls, clearly unsure of what to do. She finally reached down and took Rogue's gloved hand in her own. "Come on, Rogue. Talk to me. Why can't you go to the Professor about your dreams? It sounds like it's right up his alley."

Rogue lowered her arms but didn't meet Amanda's eyes. "Ah thought 'bout it. Best acting job of mah life keeping it from the teachers, and Ah don't know how much longer Ah can keep it up."

(To be honest, Kitty would be very surprised if Professor Xavier and Jean didn't already have some idea something was up- it was hard to keep things like this from telepaths. Knowing them though, they were waiting for Rogue to come to them of her own volition.)

"The reason Ah haven't gone to him is because the weirdest part 'bout these dreams? They're of us but they ain't us."

Amanda raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Ah see mahself in the dreams and Ah know it's me. But that Rogue looks and acts nothing like me. The way she dresses, the things she says… it's so unlike me. But at the same time, Ah know Ah'm her and she's me. And it's the same with the others! Ah see the X-Men, and Ah know they're mah friends and family, but it ain't them! They're all so different! They're older and some are missin' and everyone's dressed horribly…!"

Rogue finally met Amanda's eyes as her own welled up with tears. "It all feels so real, but Ah know it ain't. Ah'm afraid the Profressor will tell me Ah've finally gone crazy."

Kitty knew where her fears stemmed. The incident where all her absorbed psyches ran wild still tormented her, and she had a paralyzing fear of her mind failing her again. She just wished Rogue would go to Professor Xavier already- she knew he could help, just like last time. He could find the source of the dreams or keep her from having them at all. He could help.

But for a girl famous for her prickliness, she was not the greatest at emotional confrontation, be it people or her own fears. She wouldn't go to the Professor unless there wasn't any other choice. And if she wouldn't go to Xavier, Kitty hoped airing those fears to anyone besides Kitty herself would do some good. She looked over at Amanda, wondering how she was taking it.

The human girl looked… thoughtful? She looked thoughtful as she helped Rogue sit up and gave her a warm smile. "You know what, Rogue? I don't think you're crazy at all. In fact, I think I know what's happening to you!"

"You do?!" Kitty and Rogue said in unison.

"Hopefully. Let me tell you a story." She handed Rogue a napkin for her eyes before she continued. "Not long after I started dating Kurt, I went to sleep one night and had a strange dream. I was at the circus, flying on the trapeze. Kurt was there too, but he wasn't exactly the Kurt I knew. He still had blue fur and a tail, and looking at him I knew he was Kurt, but at the same time he was also different. It was the same with me- I saw myself in the dream and I knew she was me, despite the fact she looked nothing like me."

"How so?" Kitty asked curiously.

"For starters? Blonde."

"Whoa."

"I know, right? Anyway, I'm on the trapeze, and then suddenly, one of the ropes snap! I'm screaming and falling, and the next thing I know, I'm in Kurt's arms and we're on the ground. He teleported up to catch me before I got hurt. We hug, we kiss, and I wake up."

"Please never talk to me 'bout kissin' mah brother in your dreams again," Rogue said, tone sour. (Though it was probably more about the dream ending well rather than any actual disgust towards the couple's admittedly adorable relationship.)

Amanda batted the goth's shoulder. "Hush. So the next morning I told my mom about the dream- you know, since this was before Kurt was persona non grata at my house. I left out the bits about Kurt teleporting, but I told her about the strange Not-Me and Not-Kurt, and how it felt so real even though I knew it wasn't. I thought I sounded nuts."

She leaned in, as if imparting a secret. "Want to know what she told me?"

Kitty and Rogue both nodded.

"She said, 'Dreams are sometimes visions into lives not lived.' Those exact words. Naturally I was confused, so she explained that when we dream, our minds can move past the barriers of time and space. It allows us to view our lives as they could have been, but may never be. That for every life that's lived, there is a world where we lived it differently."

Rogue and Kitty blinked. After several seconds Rogue asked, "... Your mom said all that?"

Amanda rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Yeah, I think she either used to be a hippy or in a cult? All I know is that she gets real philosophical when she has her morning coffee and she has a closet full of herbs and old animal skulls I'm not supposed to know about. Either way, not important."

"Some o'that sounds kinda important."

"At any rate, by that point she finished her coffee and I gathered what she meant was that when we dream, we sometimes see an alternate universe."

If Rogue was surprised by this revelation, she instead chose to look skeptical. "An alternate universe."

Kitty raised her hand like Amanda were one of her teachers. "Like that episode of Star Trek where Kirk and the crew, like, went to another universe where they were all evil and wore crop tops?"

Amanda shrugged. "I've never seen Star Trek, so I'll take your word for it."

"You watch Star Trek?" Rogue asked her roommate.

Kitty really hated it when people sounded surprised by that. "What? My dad loves it and he watched it with me when I was a kid. It's actually pretty cool. You should give it a shot- it might give you some brownie points with Remy. Piotr says under the suave façade he's, like, 'how you say, the biggest of the nerds, Katya.'"

"Don't you start!" Rogue pointed her finger at Kitty as though it would make her stop talking- in both a bad Russian accent and in general. "Ah told you a hundred times, it ain't like that! We're just friends!"

Kitty raised her hands in surrender and went no further in her teasing.

(It was so like that. Everyone knew the only reason Gambit became an X-Man was because Rogue was, and the sexual tension any time she and the former Acolyte entered a room together could be cut with a knife. Not that Kitty blamed her- Remy was charming, cool, and mysterious. Not to mention hot as hell, especially since he started growing his hair out of that dorky bowl cut. The only reason Kitty wasn't teasing her more about it was because A) Rogue's nerves were fried from her dreams and could only take so much teasing and B) Remy undoubtedly featured in a few of those dreams. Kitty knew this because when she asked the goth about it she was immediately told to shut up.)

"Girls, I'm more than happy to talk guys with you later. I'll take any excuse to gush about Kurt," the human girl spoke up, getting her friends' attention back. "But let's get back to the matter at hand. Rogue's dreams, remember?"

"Right." Rogue massaged her tear ducts again. "Ah don't know, Amanda. Alternate universes? Don't that seem a little… out there?"

"Any more out there than going to school with people who can teleport or walk through walls?"

Kitty fist-pumped. "Represent!"

"But that's mutants," Rogue stressed. "That makes sense! Or at least it does after Mr. McCoy gets through explainin' it."

"And he remembers not to use the big words," Kitty added. "I don't know, Rogue. If being X-Men has taught us anything, it's that the world is a bizarre place. Is it really hard to believe it's not the only world?"

"You're buyin' this?" Rogue rolled her eyes. "Oh right, Ah'm talkin' to the gal who thought a pyramid hat made her smarter."

"Don't knock it 'til you try it, bad hair days and all." Kitty leaned back on her arms. "I mean, haven't you ever thought about it? Like, what if you were born a human? Or what if you joined Magneto instead of the X-Men? Or what if Colossus and Gambit were X-Men from the very start?"

"Ah mean, Ah guess? Lives like ours, hard to avoid the 'what if' game."

And it wasn't always the funnest game to play. Lord knows Kitty had played it enough times over the last couple years. What if she hadn't listened to Jean and had gone with Lance that day? What if she hadn't jumped the gun and tackled Rogue that night? What if, what if, what if…

"Look, even if you think they're just weird dreams or you're going crazy, try to look at them this way." Kitty sat up and gestured to the area around them, smiling brightly. "You might be weirded out by the differences, but it sounds like some things are constant between worlds, like Kurt and Amanda. It's kind of comforting to think that no matter the life, we end up loving the same people or having them for family. In that dream world, you still found your way to the X-Men. Like it was meant to be, you know? That's pretty awesome."

Rogue stared at her.

"What?" Kitty chuckled. "Just because I, like, put 'like' in every other sentence doesn't mean I don't have depth."

"Ah never said that." Rogue chewed her lip. "It's just that… well, if things are so similar between this world and my dream, then don't that count for the bad stuff that happens there too?

Kitty's smile fell. Crap, she hadn't considered that.

Amanda nodded solemnly. "I suppose so, yeah."

"Thought so. If you're right and Ah'm seein' another world, then that means the things Ah saw happened. They happened to real people and they could happen here too." She shook her head. "In one of mah dreams, Storm… got hurt real bad in a way. Hugged the life out of her when Ah woke up the next morning. And Scott and Jean's baby…" The tears returned, and this time nothing could stop them from dripping down her cheeks. "Oh lord, that poor baby!"

Kitty put her arm around Rogue's shoulders, and it spoke to the goth girl's mental state that she let her. Many of the dreams shook her up, but that nightmare had been the closest they'd gotten to anyone else finding out about her condition. It was a miracle no one had heard her crying- and that had been the worst part. Rogue shouting in her sleep? Kitty knew how to deal with it. Rogue crying in her sleep? The density-shifter was at a loss.

Add that to the fact Rogue had been extra wary around Jean and extra cold around Scott- Scott, the guy she used to carry a torch for and still cared about deeply- for the next few days following the nightmare and it had been awful all around.

"Songs may have the same beats, but they don't always rhyme."

Kitty looked up to see Amanda had once again taken Rogue's hand, and was giving her friend a gentle, sympathetic look.

Rogue sniffled and looked up as well. "... What?"

Amanda smiled sadly. "That's what my mom told me after I started having… scarier dreams." Her eyes had a faraway mien to them before she seemed to snap back to reality. "I had the same concerns you're having. So she told me that song analogy and reminded me that while the dreams may be similar to our world, they are lives not lived. We see them because they aren't our own. They are merely a glimpse of what could be, and we can't allow ourselves to forget they aren't our reality. Otherwise, we might forget that this life is the one we're living."

"So… what you're saying is that just because something happens in one world it's, like, not a guarantee it'll happen here?" Kitty summarized. "And we shouldn't drive ourselves crazy worrying about it?"

"Just because you're evil and wear crop tops in one universe doesn't mean you'll snap and go shopping in this one," Amanda confirmed. "So don't sweat the details."

"I don't know what coffee your mom is drinking but I kind of want some."

"You and me both." Amanda turned back to Rogue and handed her another fistful of napkins. "Did any of that make you feel any better?"

Rogue took a moment to blow her nose and wipe her eyes, already looking much better than she had before. "It did, actually. Thank your mom for me… though maybe don't mention me, specifically."

"She's really not that bad, and I think her problem with Kurt is more about the fact he wrecked her house rather than him being a mutant. She even told me he reminds her of an old acquaintance of hers!" Amanda said brightly before wincing. "Though I don't know if that's a good or bad thing."

"Knowing Kurt? Probably both. Ah just have one more question for you."

"Shoot."

"Did your dreams ever stop?"

To Kitty's relief, Amanda nodded resolutely. "They tapered off after a few months. You said you've been having your dreams for a while already, so the worst is probably over."

Kitty could see the tension literally drain from Rogue's body, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't feel lighter either with the knowledge that the months-worth of long nights and tears were definitively going to end.

"Okay," Rogue said in a way that was more breath than word. "Okay. Thank you, Amanda. For everythin'. Ah'm glad Kurt has you."

"I'm glad I have Kurt," Amanda replied. She grinned slyly. "And glad that in some universes, our relationship goes to very interesting places."

"Oooooh," Kitty cooed. "Sounds like some of those dreams were of the spicy variety."

"A lady never kisses and tells. Or in this case-"

"How about instead of talkin' 'bout kissin' mah brother in your dreams- which Ah asked you not to do- we dig in to this food and turn on some music?" Rogue interrupted, trying to sound annoyed and failing thanks to her own grin.

Amanda laughed. "Sounds like a plan. Fair warning though, the radio's kind of old and when it does work it's permanently tuned to the Golden Oldies station."

"At this point, Ah'll take what Ah can get."

With that, Kitty and Rogue got to work getting the food properly served while Amanda fiddled with the radio. It didn't take long for a peaceful atmosphere (finally free of groaning, thank GOD) to form, and after that loaded conversation, it was much appreciated.

Well. Within reason.

"You know, Jean told me Scott, like, has weird dreams too sometimes."

"No kiddin'? What kind?"

"Ones where his dad is alive and a space pirate."

"... Now that's just unrealistic."

"Any more unrealistic than you and Magneto-"

"KITTY."

Kitty laughed as Rogue started pelting her with chunks of sandwich bread and Amanda finally got the radio working.

Yes, it was a perfect, warm spring Saturday. There was no enemy to fight, no bigot to tell off, no Scott to reassure, and at long last, no need to fear sleep when evening fell. Kitty could finally enjoy some good food and quality time with two of her favorite gal-pals (in this, or any universe) without worrying about cryptic dreams and what they meant. They could just chill and let the golden oldies carry them away knowing the worst was finally over…

Well I saw the thing comin' out of the sky,

It had a one long horn, one big eye.

I commenced to shakin' and I said "ooh-eee!"

It looks like a purple-people eater to me!

…

… Right?

Next Time: Happy Nation

It'll be mostly Rogue's POV in the next part, and we'll get some ROMY goodness there before things get rough. Until then, enjoy some story notes:

This refers to Sean Cassidy, AKA Banshee, and his daughter Theresa, AKA Siryn. Siryn is twelve in this universe and yes, XME Jamie Madrox has a huge crush on her. Let's hope things go better for them than it did in the last comic I read about their relationship.

"WE AIN'T TALKIN' 'BOUT THE MAGNETO DREAM."

Don't worry, Rogue only dreamed about them doing hand-touchies. The universe spared her anything more… graphic, but it was still intimate enough to get her flustered and thoroughly creeped out. And yes, this dream WAS one reason for her not going to Charles.

"They're older and some are missin' and everyone's dressed horribly…!"

I love crop-top Gambit but some 90s fashion is just horrendous.

"Not long after I started dating Kurt, I went to sleep one night and had a strange dream. I was at the circus, flying on the trapeze…"

I saw this happen in a comics excerpt I read. It was too cute to leave out.

"Yeah, I think she either used to be a hippy or in a cult? All I know is that she gets real philosophical when she has her morning coffee and she has a closet full of herbs and old animal skulls I'm not supposed to know about. Either way, not important."

I firmly believe Margali is still a sorceress in XME. She just keeps a lower profile.

"Not to mention hot as hell, especially since he started growing his hair out of that dorky bowl cut."

I love XME Remy, but that bowl cut was a crime against nature and beautiful men.

"That's what my mom told me after I started having… scarier dreams." Her eyes had a faraway mien to them before she seemed to snap back to reality.

I don't know if Jimaine was present for it, but I can see Amanda having dreams about Bastion killing Nightcrawler in the comics. The night she had that dream, she called Kurt in the middle of the night and learned he had the same dream that same night. Amanda is keeping it to herself here out of respect for Kurt.

"She even told me he reminds her of an old acquaintance of hers!" Amanda said brightly before wincing. "Though I don't know if that's a good or bad thing."

Amanda doesn't know it, but she's referring to Azazel, who is acquainted with Margali in comics if I remember correctly. And he IS Nightcrawler's dad, stupid and convoluted retcons be darned. This is XME, things are different here in this universe.