Remy
and Aliana were close friends after the second month. They would eat together and watch movies
together. And
after her little foray, everyone was a lot nicer to Remy. When they first started to interact with him,
she looked at the X-men defiantly, letting them know that she wasn’t going to take any shit from them.
She
also got closer to Jubilee, who in turn got closer to
In this
time, she began to realize that she cared for Remy a lot more than she had
intended. She hated that because he was
involved with another woman. She rolled
her eyes and thought, When has he not been involved with another woman?
She
pleated her hair and suited up, today she was going on
a mission with the others. They were
probably going to fight some Sentinels, which will be the first time she
actually saw the real ones. Something
nagged at the back of her mind, but she ignored it as she headed for the black
bird.
****************
There
had to be at least twenty Sentinels surrounding the X-men. Aliana was scared but used that to fuel her
anger. She brought up every negative
thing to make her powers grow as she shielded her friends.
“Ready!”
She
sent out a plasma bomb and aimed it at the chest of one Sentinel, hopping out
of the way as it crashed. She did the same for the one coming after
her. She went on like this until she
heard someone yell out in pain.
She
turned to find Jubilee down, her anger increased three fold, and she bellowed,
“No one hurts my friends and get away with it!”
A large
plasma bomb surrounded the remaining Sentinels and a shield surrounded them and
the X-men. It was a double dome of
sorts. The Sentinels melted and Aliana was severely damaged after being shot by a laser by one of
them. The Asian woman did not have
enough energy to heal herself or move. She collapsed and passed out.
*****************
It was
beautiful where Aliana was with dark cerulean blue skies and stars so bright
that she did not even need a flashlight to find her way around—it was paradise. She walked along the beach, completely
content with life but something always tugged at the back of her mind.
She
worked out in the sun during the days, tending to the gardens around the
pond. She would take naps under the
birch trees and watch the squirrels fight for nuts. But she was always
alone and it only bothered her on a subconscious level.
One day
a tall man approached her from the distance.
She got up and smoothed her white dress and her long pleated hair. She waited for the bald man to approach her
and was only aware that she should have known the man.
“Hello,”
she said smiling up at the man, shading her eyes from the sun, “How are you
today?”
“I’m
fine, Aliana,” he replied returning the smile.
“Do I
know you? How do you know my name?” she
asked puzzled.
“My
name is Charles Xavier,” he bowed to her and she studied him closely as he
looked around, “What is this place?”
“I
don’t know, but it is nice,” she smiled again taking a seat beneath her birch
tree, “please, have a seat.”
“What
do you do here?” he asked following her example.
“I tend
to the gardens, I walk along the beach, and I watch the squirrels play,” she
replied, “it’s very peaceful here. I
love it here.”
“What
did you do before you got here?”
“What
did I do?” she looked confused for a second and shrugged, “I don’t know, it
doesn’t really matter.”
“You
don’t care?”
“No,
not really,” she played with the blade of grass, “it must not be very
important.”
“Oh,
but it is,” he murmured touching her hand.
“Really?”
she asked him suspiciously, “What could I have done that was important?”
“You
saved lives and redeemed someone,” he answered studying her closely with keen
eyes.
“Oh,”
she looked off into the distance, “It will be night soon. It’s really pretty here at night, are you
staying?”
“No, I
can’t, my dear,” he replied regretfully.
“You
can visit at night, you’ll love it here,” she smiled at him, “I’ve been alone for
a long time.”
“How
long have you been here?” he asked gently taking her hand.
“I
don’t know, but it feels like forever,” she looked at his hand, “How do I know
you again?”
“We
worked together,” he squeezed her hand gently, “You
were a great member.”
“Member? Were there others?” she queried trying hard
to remember him.
“Oh
yes, there were others,” he nodded, “you were a part of a team.”
“Were
we friends?” she asked him innocently.
“Not as
good as I had hoped,” he replied softly.
“Oh,”
she pouted for a second and said, “I’ve never been good with people. It’s okay, I don’t
think I ever really had a friend.”
“But
you do,” he stated confidently, “you have more than one actually.”
“I do?”
she looked at him, “Why can’t I remember them?”
“I
don’t know,” He said truthfully, “but the others want to get to know you
better, Aliana.”
“I
don’t know,” she shook her head, freeing her hand in the process, “I’m happy
here. I don’t really need friends.”
“Aren’t
you lonely?”
“I’ve
always been lonely, Charles, I’m used to it,” she shrugged and played with her
braid, “I’ll probably die alone.”
“You
can change that,” he stated, “Don’t you want to change that? You could make friends?”
“Why
didn’t the others like me?” she asked her eyes big and innocent.
“I
don’t know,” he shrugged, “they are special, as you are special, but I don’t
know why you weren’t received well.
Perhaps, it was because I told them to be your friends. I should have never done that.”
“Why
would you tell them to do that?”
“Because
I know you’ve been alone for too long,” he whispered.
“Oh,”
she paused, “Do you like me? Are we
friends at least?”
“We are
not as close as I’d like us to be,” he said ruefully, “But I would like to get
to know you better.”
“I
see,” she nodded, “what are you doing here?”
“I
wanted to find you, Aliana,” he murmured looking at pleadingly.
“But why? We are not close friends or friends at all it
seems,” she was confused.
“I want
to be your friend,” he said softly, “the team misses
you.”
“What
if I don’t want to go back?” she asked curiously.
“You’ll
be here by yourself,” he shrugged, “I can’t make the decision for you. I promise that things will get better if you
come with me tonight.”
“Can we
stay for a little longer? I want to look
at the sky,” she looked up as the rapidly darkening sky, “It’s so pretty here,
I want to remember it.”
“Ok,”
he nodded and they sat there quietly.
***********
Aliana
gasped as she bolted upright. She yanked
at the breathing apparatus and then the glucose/iv drip in her left arm. She hung her head low as she calmed
herself.
“Ali?”
someone said.
She
looked up to find Remy looking at her with relief and Professor Charles Xavier,
“What happened?”
“You’ve
been in a coma for a month, Aliana,” Charles replied as he came over to her
side of the bed.
“I was?”
she ran her fingers through her hair, grimacing when she found it greasy.
“Yes, I
managed to bring you out of it,” the Professor said taking her hand.
“Oh,”
she looked at his hand, “Why?”
“We
missed you,” he murmured, “Remy missed you.”
“Oh,”
was all she could say, she looked over at the Cajun to find his face wet with
tears, “Why was I in a coma?”
“You
saved the team,” Professor stated.
“I
did? From what?” she was really confused, she could barely remember anything.
“From an ambush.”
“Ok,”
she paused, “Was I hurt bad?”
“You
were shot with a laser,” the Professor replied, “and you used a lot of your
powers to save the team and the innocent people.”
“Wow,”
she murmured looking amazed, “I did that?
I must have been pissed off.”
“I
believe you were, the Sentinels were trying to kill your friend,” Charles
studied her.
“Friend?”
she shook her head and removed her hand from the Professor’s to clutch her left
arm, “Oh, you mean Jubilee?”
“Yes,
Jubilee,” he nodded and noticed blood pooling out from between her fingers,
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah,
I’m fine,” she smiled and took her hand away to find only blood there that was
beginning to dry, “Wow, a month, that’s a long time. I’m starting to remember things.”
“Petite,
I’m sorry for not being dere for you,” Remy said
suddenly.
“Don’t
be,” she admonished with a smile, “nothing you could’ve done anyway.”
“Remy
has been paying constant vigil,” Charles replied, “as well as the others. We’ve been waiting for you to wake up for so
long.”
“Why
was I out?” she asked curiously.
“It
would seem that you were content with where you were…although it was quite
beautiful,” Charles admitted.
“Where
was I?”
“In your world, with dark cerulean nights and clear bright
days.
You told me you tended to the gardens and walked along the beach,” the
bald man replied.
“I like
the beach,” she said suddenly with a dreamy look on her face, “no wonder I
would stay. Sounds
like it was beautiful, professor.”
“It was
but I am very glad that you decided to come back with me.”
“Yes,”
she said but didn’t seem too enthused about it and
asked, “When can I leave here?”
“Tomorrow,”
Beast replied walking in with a bright smile and a stethoscope, “I’m so elated
to see you awake, my dear, I’ve missed you.”
She
smiled at him, not knowing what to say to that and Remy replied, “We all have, chere.”
“It was
you, Remy,” she murmured suddenly looking at the devil eyed Cajun, “you were
the reason why I never relaxed. I knew I
was forgetting something but I could never figure it out.”
“It
hasn’t been de same witout you, petite, Remy’s so
glad dat you came back,” he took her hand and
squeezed it and she smiled at him, “Tings are going to be very different around
here, chere, I promise you.”
***********