The barbecue had been going well so far... Despite the presence of Omega-level mutants that should have wanted to fight the X-Men, everything was peaceful. That peace, funnily enough, was just what I needed to fully unwind. The days on Shiroe's world were never calm, despite the two days I had had there to calm down. The entire city and world just made me weary and battle-ready.
I tossed away the sporadic thoughts that cursed my mind, the sight of the X-Men laughing and enjoying life settling into focus. Rogue had walked over to Jean and Storm, talking about something that she obviously didn't want me to hear. Logan, Wolverine, was just dominating the barbecue section and was downing beer after beer as if they were going out of style and he needed to drink them all before they became obsolete.
Personally, I felt awkward here. At first the fan inside of me was squealing in glee and excited to meet the comic book heroes that I had read about. That awe faded however as I realised no one was really willing to come and talk with me. I was a guest of Rogue and none of them felt comfortable enough to actually make conversation.
Even Magneto was hesitant to shuffle over, instead he was concentrating on his conversation; halting it every now and then to observe me. Xavier was no better than the Magnet-man himself... Erring on the side of caution by staying at a distance.
So here I stood, alone, in a Superhero party, alone. My eye twitched in frustration before I decided to just walk over to Cyclops' group. They were closest and seemed manly enough to discuss cars or something as such.
"Yeah, the Bentley is coming along well, just needs some extra parts..." Laser-boy himself stated to Colossus, the metallic giant humming along in agreement whilst stroking his chin with a tree-trunk thick hand.
"Marvellous. Soon we shall be able to drive it, yah?" The giant's accent was rustically Russian as I moved closer to the exterior of their small 'huddle'.
"Hopefully! Though one of the parts is expensive and has to come from Germany... Shouldn't be more than a month though?" Scott sounded confident if a bit laxidazical with his accuracy.
I smiled and walked in, coughing a little to break the ice... It didn't work; they both tensed up.
"U-uh, I couldn't help but overhear that you need a part for your car?" Scott nodded, hesitant in my presence. I decided to just push forwards, hoping my offer would kill any tension in the air that I may have caused by being invited to a seemingly personal party.
"Well, I can create matter and reform matter... Perhaps I could make the part for you? If you had a schematic or diagram for me?" Colossus was grinning with glee, his pearly whites shining in the sunlight. He had looked over at Scott in hope but suddenly frowned at his expression.
Scott didn't seem pleased with my offer.
"I- No thanks. I like the challenge and would prefer to use original parts." I maintained a friendly smile as he spoke before waving my offer off. My mind was pouring over the last half hour of the party voraciously. I don't know how I'd upset everyone but somehow I had...
"N-never mind then... I'll just go grab a drink..." I walked off calmly as the eyes of everyone else in the party followed me, stopping after a minute when they noticed they were being rude.
I reached a large table with various foods and drinks spread over it, my brain crawling into past memories. In my last life I had attended numerous company functions and all of them felt as awful as this. Smiling to placate shitty bosses... Laughing at an unoriginal joke because everyone else was... Grinning as those shitty people all spilled drinks or messed with me, all in the hope that I would maintain my job so I could afford the mortgage for our house.
Blood flashed inside my mind, the smell of cordite as I released a bullet into my former friend. The same friend's blood spilling over the clean sheets of my own bed as my former fiancé scrambled with the sheets to cover herself and leap at me. Another flash, another life gone and then the flux of panic and pain as my heart was torn to shreds by the realisation that all my effort was for nothing.
The images vanished but in their place was the awkward, disturbed and downright suspicious stares of the X-Men and Magneto's group. Nothing had changed. I was falling into the same routines. Trying to appease people to fit in, trying to be cordial and nice despite being ostracised. I was over it.
I looked over to Rogue, the woman who had invited me and that I had felt a connection with... She was just talking to Jean and Storm as if nothing was happening. I was her guest and she had just left me alone. I mean, she gave me food and settled me into the party, but, this was just torture for me. I kept looking, expecting her to turn and look, but she was grabbed by Jean and turned towards the Frost guy... The two began chatting cordially as Jean glared back at me.
'Nothing has changed...' The thought slid over the surface of my consciousness as I realised how little these people thought of me, despite how much I thought of them.
I dropped my plate onto the table, the food tumbling across other platters, and grabbed my bottle of wine. They didn't deserve my favourite wine. None of them deserved my company. Even Rogue had forgotten me... Like my fiancé. I clenched my teeth and breathed in deeply before turning and walking towards the mansion.
Every gaze was on me, except for the one I may have wanted on me. I ignored them all and quickly made my exit. I could tell when I wasn't wanted and they definitely turned the cold shoulder to me.
Tony Stark- Hey Elsa, you free to join me at Stark Tower yet? Got some ideas to run past you, let me know
I was depressed, angry, spiteful and just a touch wounded that my 'date' had all but ignored me and left me to sit and spin. The fucked up bit about it? I had just gotten a permanent library inside my mind from which I could remember everything... So now, all of their gazes and stares were burned into my consciousness.
Drecarios Frost- Yeah... I'll be there
Tony Stark- Everything okay?
Drecarios Frost- Peachy.
I slammed the door to my limo, my driver quickly stepping on his cigarette and jumping into the drivers' seat. The sound of my blood pumping through my body reached my ears like a constant drumbeat as the questions of my driver just slipped over me... In the end I just commanded him to drive to Stark Tower.
~~~
Meanwhile, back at the party...
"I think... We may have just made a mistake..." The voice of Magneto softly intoned to the group of people around him. His voice was like silk and his eyes as sharp as a hawks' all the whilst he observed the singular outsider in the party leave.
Scott chuckled awkwardly whilst walking up, his hand rubbing the back of his head. "I didn't really want to isolate the guy but you know as well as I do that he could get killed for just associating with us..." Hank grimaced in recollection of past memories, his bestial side growling at the insidious images that must have passed through his mind.
"We could have just discussed normal stuff though! Like, our favourite foods, or our skills at teaching or something...!" Kitty Pryde spoke up, her voice sounding strained a mildly wounded at what had just happened. She hadn't taken part but still she could feel the pain that Drecarios had just been through... Having been there herself a few times in the past.
"No we couldn't have. This is a party to celebrate the union between the sides of the Mutant debate... That has too much back story and history for an outsider to just waltz in and participate." Alex Summers spoke up, his voice a touch harsh as he glared at the intangible woman.
"HE WAS A MUTANT!" She shouted out in anger and quite a bit of hatred towards the callas young man who had recently graduated as an X-Man.
He backed off with his hands held up, his eyes widening a small amount at that information. Magneto spoke up into this awkward exchange however... "Hmmm, either way, what is done, is done. At this moment, I imagine, he is quite, perturbed."
Xavier wheeled into the conversation as Eric finished his statement, the bald man furrowing his brows. "That man is dangerous, either way. He blocked my mental probe and was connected to the Hellfire Club. I hear he made quite the splash in the last meeting of theirs, not that I know the specifics."
Everyone in the conversation grimaced, except for Kitty who knew it was most likely something to do with his sister. She was about to bring that fact up when the conversation was broken into once more by a flustered, angered and slightly distraught Rogue.
"What happened to Drecarios? I thought I could talk to him and get to know him now that all the catching up had finished..." Everyone was silent, nervously so. Magneto took a quiet sip of his wine whilst Xavier just passively watched the woman glance between them all.
"Anyone!?" She shouted out towards all of them once more.
"Ahum, it seems that he was uncomfortable around all of us and with your, busyness, he decided to go home..." Alex Summers received a few covert scowls at that explanation from Kitty Pryde and Colossus; who had walked up behind Rogue.
"O-oh... I- I see. U-um, well, I guess i'll just go... Grab something to eat, I guess...?" She looked on the verge of tears as she turned and scurried off to the barbecue area, Logan having had no part in any of the drama and only now learning of it as his 'adopted' daughter all but dashed away crying, her mumbles about stupid X-Men reaching his enhanced ears.
As she disappeared he turned to the assembled group of douches and assholes and growled in only a way he could. "WHICH ONE OF YOU ASSHOLES CAUSED THIS?" His tone made everyone shiver in discomfort, Magneto rubbing the side of his stomach in remembrance of the man's claws puncturing his spleen in the past.
~~~
Jean, in the meanwhile, was watching from one of the mansion windows as the Limousine drove away. Her eyes were intense and fire-filled, her emotions simmering just below her skin. She never liked anyone encroaching upon her family, let alone the woman that she was interested in.
It had started when she had heard the faintest of words leak from the shield that smothered his consciousness... About killing a man, flashes of a wooden floor stained in blood and the ominous green glow of radioactive material. Her instincts had screamed at her that he was dangerous and debilitating to be around. She couldn't let him stick around the X-Men.
Thus, she had manipulated as many people as she could, subtly, to view him with apathy... And the best part was that she didn't need to do much since they all saw him with distrust and a heavy bias already. Keeping Rogue away was just the final nail in the coffin since she was one of the only people that could resist her mental dalliances. Inside herself she knew what she had done was wrong, but, family came first, morals second.
"Goodbye Drecarios, I hope to never see you again, for your sake." She hummed her words out as the limo slammed through the metal gates at the front, the hinges tearing off as the car sped into the distance.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a Patreon where you can get exclusive Discord roles, vote on Fan fiction decisions, and even suggest Extra Chapters for me to write. Join here: patreon.com/user?u=111976696.
If you'd like to further support my work, here's my PayPal: paypal.me/RBSMFF.
Feel free to join my Discord community here: https://discord.gg/wVZXpPpUQn.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------