I'M Sorry

A 30-post collection

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 30

Continued from yesterday, concluding today:

  ‘I want… I want respect,’ said Jason at last, 'I want to get what I deserve, to live proper. Like you said…er…. boss, I’m better than those bums, I got powers. Why the hell should I live in the streets?’

  Magneto nodded. 'Well said,’ he rumbled, 'and you’re right, it is a great injustice that people such as us should be treated so by the Flatscans. That we should be abused, abandoned, imprisoned, burned, tortured, even killed when we, in truth, are far more deserving of this earth than they. Listen, let me tell you about this place, about our future…’

  Pietro, forcing his body into a more relaxed position allowed his mind to drift away from his 'father’s’ usual speech.

  Damn, he was still getting used to it.

  “Father”.

  Well, Magneto certainly looked the part of his father, but in other ways…

  'What did you see, Pietro?’

  The question came from Wanda, his twin sister. The woman who, for all the fights they had been in over the last few days, mattered more to him tnan anyone in this world.

  'You,’ Pietro lied, 'naked. Kid’s got some imagination.’

  Wanda’s eyes widened, a look of mixed disgust and horror creased her face.

  Pietro grinned, 'Just kidding.’

  Wanda snarled, not amused.

  Things had changed a lot between the two in the last few years, had started to change as soon as they met Magneto.

  They’d owed the guy a favour, a big favour, and so Magneto forced them to join the Brotherhood. Fine.

  Or fine by Wanda, anyway. She’d always been into the repayment of debts, it was an honour thing for her. For Pietro, though, it was a different matter. He’d never believed in any of this 'honour’ crap, and though he had little love for humans, Magneto’s methods had always seemed somewhat… extreme.

  Hence his big mistake. So yeah, he’d sold Mags out. When things had gotten tough, when it came to the crunch, when the big bomb was all ready to go off, he’d cracked a deal with the X-men.

  I’ll help you, I’ll give you a chance to stop the bomb, to bring down the big guy, and you let me and my sister get off free.

  So that’s what had happend. He’d stopped the countdown, had stopped the bomb 0.5 seconds before detination, and had done it without Magneto knowing. Without his siter knowing.

  Then he had grabbed her and gone, skedaddling outta there with his sister, Cyclops’s blast 'conveniently’ missing them as he sped by.

  They had escaped. Escaped Magneto, escaped the X-men, escaped the Brotherhood.

  But Wanda was’t an idiot, she had some suspicion that Pietro had betrayed the Brotherhood and part of her hated him for that.

  She was one for honour, was one for fullfiling duties, she had bought some of Magneto’s dream and had thought far better of him than the independant Pietro had.

  She’d been almost happy when the Master of Magnetism found them again. She’d been willing to rejoin the Brotherhood, even when Pietro had said he didn’t intend to, citing the he had no wish to put his neck on the line again.

  Well, this time Bossman came with new chains, new revelations.

  He’d told them that they were his children, had supplied proof via genetic testing.

  Pietro didn’t know what to make of that, but he did know that now there was no way to talk Wanda out of joining, to stop himself from joining. Ever since he could remember he’d wanted a family, a real family of blood and bones. Now he had one.

  And what a screwed up one it was.

  A domineering father, a sister who suspected (rightly so) that he has betrayed the Brotherhood, and a dead mother.

  Pietro was trapped.

  His only hope was that Magneto would never find out about the betrayal, because if he did then son or no son, Pietro Maximoff’s life wouldn’t be worth diddly squat.

  He just hoped Wanda loved him enough to keep quiet.

  Looking over at her now, however, her usually thick lips contracted into a narrow line of anger, her body stiff, her head turned away from him, he wondered if he should start making out a will.

~

  Professor Xavier sighed into his coffee and tried to ignore Dann’s enraged rantings in an effort to read the morning paper. He was failing thus far, and had he been able, he would have danced with joy when Remy entered and broke the monotony of the government aide’s voice.

  “Yo, Prof., we got a situation downstairs.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  “I haven’t finished - ”

  “But I have, Mr. Dann. If you have more insults to hurl at my X-Men for not incriminating the Legion of the Unwanted into this mess, then please write me a memo and I will treat it with all due respect and decorum.”

  After the door had shut on the elavator, Remy gave a low whistle. “How you keep your cool wit’ him, Professor? Given half a chance, I’d'a rammed a bo where de sun don’t shine a long time ago, rather 'den listen to him mouth off all de time.”

  “Alas, but I must endure or else face the wrath of his superiors, Remy. Dann is… less than easy to work with, but at least his is a devil we know.”

  “Work with, or work for?”

  The answer evaporated when the doors dinged open onto the lower levels and both feet and wheels emerged. Remy led the way to the observation room of the DR, and pointed below where Jean sat on the floor, clutching her stomach. Scott knelt nearby, while Alex, Piotr and Ororo milled around with worried expressions. They were all in uniform, having been in the middle of a training session with the interruption occured.

  “'Ro hit her wit’ jus’ one tiny punch, an’ she double over like she have her guts ripped out. Remy come to fetch you when she wake up, since she not speakin’ much as of yet.”

  Charles flipped on the intercom. “Jean? Are you all right?”

~

  'It… it’s nothing sir,’ replied Jean, 'please, I… I slipped before and… um… I hurt my stomach. It wasn’t much but I didn’t want to mention it, I thought we had enough problems without worrying about a silly bruise.’

  Xavier looked at her, his dark brown eyes piercing her to the bone and she knew her lie had not worked.

  You’re lying Jean, and I don’t have to be a telepath to know it. You don’t want to talk about this in front of the others? Fine. Come to my office directly. Understood?

  Understood.

  'Get yourself to the med-bay,’ ordered Xavier, 'and give yourself a checkup.’

  Jean nodded and followed the professor out, she was still clutching her stomach and her steps were wobbly.

  'What the hell was that about?’ asked Havok, and Scott frowned. He wasn’t sure, but he had his susspicions. In the darkness, Gambit’s eyes glowed, his hand tightened on his Boe Staff.

*

  'Why didn’t you talk to me about this?’

  Xavier was currently turned away from her, gazing out into the guardens surrounding the mansion. She could not see the expression on his face, nore sense his emotions. He was blocking her expertly.

  'I… I didn’t… I don’t know,’ she said at last, 'I suppose I didn’t want anyone else involved with this. It was my problem, I was going to solve it.’

  'You were embarressed,’ translated Xavier, his voice cold, 'you thought that this… situation was shameful, you were ashamed of what you and Nightcrawler did and tried to hide it from us.’

  'Yes sir,’ said Jean softly, 'yes I suppose… I suppose you’re right.’

  A breeze ruffled the grass outside, it was still sunny but in the distance, beyond the guardens and the distance grey clouds were gathering.

  'Are you angry with me, sir?’ asked Jean at last.

  'Angry?’ repeated the Professor, 'no. Dissapointed, yes, upset? Certainly, but not angry. You didn’t trust us, Jean. You didn’t trust me. I’ve been your teacher, your… dare I say it, your mentor, for over ten years now and you didn’t trust me. You could have come to talk to me about this at any point, at any time. But you did not. To be frank, I am hurt, Jean.’

  Jean cleanched her fists, biting back the the tears that were threatening to develope, 'I just didn’t want to hear a lecture,’ she said, her voice unusually high and broken, 'I knew what I was going to do would be… I knew that some would think it was wrong. But I didn’t want the child, sir. I didn’t need someone else second guessing me. I thought… I thought if I went to talk to you then you would talk me out of it or stop me and I… I… I…’

  She broke down at this point, crying silently as she forced back the wails that were building up in her chest.

  Xavier turned away from the window and towards her, there was sorrow in his eyes, but also love.

  He put a hand on her shoulder, 'I would never force you to do something you did not want to do, Jean,’ he said, 'I do not agree with your decision, but I do respect it. I just wish you’d talked to me first.’

  ’S-s-s-so, you… you understand?’

  'Yes, Jean, I understand. But I fear that your decision may not entirly be without consequences. I only hope that you are strong enough to face them wisely, and that you learn from this.' 

~

  Ororo was half-dressed when Jean entered the changing room. She cast her teammate a wary eye, and didn’t press when Jean chose not to initiate conversation.

  A few tense minutes passed in silence.

  “Ororo, I…” jean bit her lip. “You’re going to hear some things about me soon that you won’t agree with. But I want you to know that I’m still going to pull my weight with the team. No matter what anyone thinks of me, I won’t let you guys down.”

  She finished dressing quickly and left in a flurry of hasty footsteps.

  Ororo stared blankly at the spot on the bench her friend had vacated, blinking long lashes and wishing for the first time in her life that their powers were reversed.

~

========

This is, alas, as far as we wrote. I think the whole thing broke down into plans and funny versus serious arguments, etc. What we were going to do with Kurt&Jean’s baby was one thing.

This, and my other interactive fics will be going up on Google Drive, shortly after this post goes up. Stay tuned.

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 29

Continued from yesterday:

  When the X-Men finally left the sewers, it was with heavy hearts and a sense of importunable dread at something indefinable, yet close. None of them could forget the rainbow of expressions flitting fitfully across Nightcrawler’s face, and Scott might have given his eye teeth to have Jean there as telepathic translator, had he not been so certain to keep her away from all things blue and fuzzy.

  Nightcrawler was even more het up about this whole

Read more »

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 28

Continued from yesterday:

  ‘It’s just the time of year,’ sighed the winged woman, 'makes me think sad things, sometimes.’

  'Like what?’

  'Like my family.’

  Niota’s face crinkled with confusion, 'why’s it sad to have a family. I like having a family, even if we’re not properly related or nuthin’.’

  Kaze smiled warmly at the little figure, 'I’m not sad becaue I have a family, I&

Read more »

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 27

Continued from yesterday:

  After the fiasco with the paints, lights and the spaghetti, the Warren decided that some sort of ‘proper’ decoration was needed.

  So it was that, after fishing up some funding the, Humane Foundation started to be decked in large amounts of gold and silver tinsel.

  Everyone joined in, Kaze and Warren flew round the rooms, hanging decorations on hard to reach nooks and crannies in the walls. Sandra organized teams of volunteers, putting them to tasks ranging

Read more »

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 26

Continued from yesterday:

  Nightcrawler surveyed the winged man for a moment, looking for any sign of deceit in his angelic features, but finding none.

  “Thank you.” He said finally.

  “No problem.” Warren smiled.

  “Now…if you could find that coat?”

  “You’re just gonna leave?” Warren was flabbergasted. “What about the others? Logan? Niota? JEAN?”

  Nightcrawler arched a brow at the way he emphasised her name.

  “What about them?

Read more »

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 25

Continued from yesterday:

  The inspectors gathered around General Allistar as Warren knelt by the pinned man.

  “I believe the kid asked a valid question, General,” he said. “Where *is* his sister?”

  “I don’t have to say *anything*,” the general spat.

  One of the other inspectors dialled 911 on her cellular. “Kid accused him of kidnapping. He’s gotta see justice.”

*

  “Boss-lady?”

  Spiral stared on into infinity. She was cradling

Read more »

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 24

Continued from yesterday:

  Forge’s “mosquito” had returned with Rogue’s biosample. It was the work of an instant to cross-reference it with all known mutants in his database. Well, now, wasn’t that interesting. It seems Mystique had a daughter as well as a son. Forge considered for a moment, then went online. He did have a few online friends, though he knew that with the hoops he went through creating different screen names and profiles

Read more »

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 23

Continued from yesterday:

  Sweet, melodious music played to the horrific images on the screen. Images of the concentration camps. A woman’s voice spoke.

  “Once upon a time, one race put another race in cages…”

  Skeletal figures. shambling near-ghosts in black and white. Haunted eyes stared at the camera.

  “Just because they were different, this race became the subjects in tests and experiments… and thrown away.”

  Dead bodies in mass graves. Dead bodies in ovens.

Read more »

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 22

Continued from yesterday:

  Sunset in New York, the buildings painted golden in the light, reaching fingers of shadows streatched across the city.

  Spyke watched the light slide across the landscape from his bed. His soft, warm, bed, so unlike his bunk back at the lab.

  He heard the door to the ward open, heard the footsteps, nearly put his exoskeliton on, just out of habit.

  ‘Evan…’ the soft voice, one so like his aunty.

  He turned, looked at her,

Read more »

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 21

Continued from yesterday:

  Storm was in shock.

  She felt… she felt… she wasn’t entirly sure what she felt.

  Her nephew, her darling, baby, nephew…

  Oh Evan, what did they *do* to you!

  It was her fault, of course. If only she had looked harder… seen the signs… tried harder… if only…

  ‘Uh… hi Miss Storm! You OK?’

  Storm lifted her head up, blinking rapidly to clear away the tears.

  'Jamie?

Read more »

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 20

Continued from yesterday:

  “You like?”

  Scott nodded, trying to hook a piece of stray stringy cheese with his tongue. The little lizard girl giggled, and helped him along his way. Her hands were green and scaly, with webbing stretched between each digit. Claws the colour of blood brushed his chin, and she gasped as a thin trickle of blood followed in her wake.

  “Sorry, sorry mister,” she said, hurriedly trying to wipe it off and smearing it along

Read more »

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 19

Continued from yesterday:

  For once Rogue wasn’t listening in on the Professor’s conversation. She’d managed to become incredibly adept at avoiding his mental abilities when he wasn’t looking for her, but right now she knew she was being watched after the Legion fiasco. Thus it was Sam with his ear to the door, and Sam who told the new mutants about what was going on.

  They decided as one that they had to go

Read more »

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 18

Continued from yesterday:

  Cyclops and Gambit continued in with Jason. Jason seemed to be coming out of his shock, or at leased he’d stopped muttering, “no names,” and was looking around.

  Cyclops asked him, “Won’t the kids be scared of you?”

  Jason thought for a moment, then shucked off the hospital wear that he wore over his street clothes. “Now they won’t be. The guards drug them before we ever get

Read more »

Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 17

Continued from yesterday:

  Kurt watched Warren’s broadcast. He wondered if Warren was that naive or if he honestly thought that the Friends of Humanity would not attack a shelter for mutants that was run by a mutant. Xavier was only safe from their attacks due to his government backing, working as a puppet for humanity, and incredibly intense security program. The Humane Foundation would probably die within a week unless Warren had something up his sleeve. And Warren would probably

Read more »

Fanfic Time: X-Wars part 16

Continued from yesterday:

  MacAllister flew to the floor in a crumpled heap, barely conscious thanks to a sharp rap on the head from Spiral. Scott bent down to feel for a broken skull, and glowered up at the six-armed woman. However decent that Nightcrawler fellah was, his associate left more than a little to be desired.

  “My teammate?”

  Kurt gestured with the hand not containing his sword, and Alex appeared on cue, bundled in through a side door by a

Read more »