Sorry it took so long for this one to come out.  I’m trying to stay true to my 
schedule, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult. Oh well, let me know what you 
think and all that jazz.

Also, in case you need a warning, there are some four letter words used in this 
chapter.  I don’t know if it’s necessary to warn you, but I figure it couldn’t hurt.

Disclaimer:  Marvel owns it.  I’m not profiting from it.  Please don’t sue me.  
Thanks.


Revelations: Part 12
Chris Votulle, July 1997

Remy groaned as he opened his eyes.  He felt like he had the hangover to end all 
hangovers.  The only problem was that he hadn’t had anything to drink in weeks.  
He checked his wristwatch for the time: 11:30 PM --  A mere fifteen minutes after 
he had woken up the last time.  His throbbing head was at the source of his 
insomnia.  It was nowhere near as intense as when he arrived at the mansion earlier 
that day, but it was enough to cause him some serious discomfort.

Remy gently brought himself to a sitting position as his stomach began to rumble.  
It was then that he realized he hadn’t had anything to eat since the day before.  It 
seemed obvious that he wouldn’t be able to get much sleep anyway, so he decided 
to head towards the kitchen for a midnight snack.  He walked out of his door, not 
noticing that it was wide open when he always slept with it closed.

* * * * *

Jean closed her book, after carefully marking the page she had last read, and set it 
down on her nightstand as Scott walked into the bedroom.  It wasn’t like him to 
stay up so late, but she didn’t complain since it gave her time to catch up on her 
reading without having to be afraid of waking him up.

“Jean, honey, have you seen Kali today since her training session this morning?  I 
was hoping that by now she would have warmed up to the idea of living with us, 
but she’s still keeping mostly to herself.  She doesn’t even eat meals with us.  In 
fact I’ve hardly seen her eat at all.  It can’t be healthy.”  Scott looked over at his 
wife, but Jean was staring straight ahead with a thoughtful look on her face.  “Jean? 
 Are you listening to me?”

“What?”  Jean’s attention snapped back to Scott.  “Oh, no I haven’t seen Kali now 
that you mention it.  I wonder... she has some extensive mental shields that are 
similar to Remy’s in many ways.  If something is attacking his shields, then in all 
probability it should be affecting her too.  Unless, of course, it’s an isolated attack 
on just Remy, but I probably would have been able to detect the source of such an 
assault.  I should go talk to her, she might be in pain.  No, she would have 
contacted me -- at least I *hope* she would have.  Well, maybe she can shed some 
light on the situation in any case.”

Jean got up to leave, but Scott stopped her from getting further than the edge of the 
bed.  “Wait.  It’s almost midnight.  I’m sure that this can wait until tomorrow.  
You said yourself that she could contact you if she was in pain.”

“But I don’t know that she trusts us enough to ask for help.  And I also don’t 
know her tolerance for pain.  It may be altered due to the nature of her powers.  I 
need to find out what’s going on here, for Remy’s sake at least.”

“I agree with you one hundred percent, dear.  Just let it wait.  What harm can come 
from it?”

Jean yawned and settled back into bed -- too tired to put up a real fight.  “I 
suppose you’re right.  I’ll handle it first thing tomorrow.”  She nestled against her 
husband and closed her eyes, giving into her fatigue.

* * * * *

Kali felt her way through the halls of the mansion.  She was now familiar enough 
with the area to make her way in the darkness.  She could easily overcome her 
blindness by using her mutant powers to project light, but she tried to use her 
powers as little as possible.  It had started out as a defense mechanism, but by now 
it was mostly habit.

She had spent a great part of the day trying to sleep and although she wasn’t 
exactly successful in her pursuits, she did manage to acquire enough rest to cause 
her to be wide awake at this time of night.  Of course, the reoccurring nightmares 
didn’t exactly make her want to go back to bed.  She’d much rather deal with the 
nagging headache that accompanied her consciousness than the horrifying visions 
that plagued her unconsciousness.  

She felt a need to get away from her room, since that was where she experienced 
the dreams, so she started wandering.  Originally she had no destination, but her 
parched throat quickly pointed her towards the kitchen.  She felt the need for 
something cold and refreshing. Ice water?  No, too bland.  She always preferred 
drinking something that had a taste.  Her was mind was thus occupied with trivial 
thoughts when she came upon the entrance to the kitchen, so it took her a few 
moments to realize that it was occupied.

Remy noticed her right away though.  He had sensed someone walking towards the 
kitchen for a while now.  He was hoping that whoever it was would pass right by 
thinking that the kitchen was empty -- because of his night vision, he had no need 
of turning the lights on.  He didn’t expect to be so lucky and he was right in his 
assumption.  He was relieved to see that it wasn’t someone who would give him 
grief about being out of bed.  However, he had absolutely no idea of who this 
person was.  He studied her intently.  Short.  Thin frame.  Young.  Nothing struck 
him as especially unique or threatening.  He was in no mood to play the dashing 
charmer to some impressionable teenager.  In fact, he was in no mood to do 
anything except brood in solitude.  

Kali was about to turn the lights on when she noticed two red lights directly in 
front of her.  They were close together in mid air and they seemed to be moving in 
synchronization.  Suddenly, she had a horrendous vision of her brother being 
strangled by a man with glowing red eyes.   The same man who 
killed her parents.  She didn’t take any time to think -- she was acting on pure, hate 
driven instinct when she released a large bolt of electricity directed at those eyes.  
It was something she had never done before.  It was something that she had swore 
she would never do: use her powers with the express intent of harming another 
human being.  And she didn’t care.

Thanks to his heightened senses and agility, Remy was able to leap out of the way 
of the energy blast.    He landed 
neatly on his feet and released a fistful of kinetically charged playing cards as he 
spun around to face his assailant.  He didn’t know why she was attacking her, but 
he wasn’t about to give her a chance to try it again.

Kali dove to the ground and thus avoided the assault of cards, but she was not 
prepared for the explosion that followed them.  A good deal of the kitchen wall 
was torn away and much of the debris was blown in her direction.  She was thrown 
against the opposite wall and had the wind knocked out of her.  She sat there 
gasping for air as one very cross Cajun made his way towards her.

“What de hell was dat about, petite?”

Kali looked up at him, but she still couldn’t see anything except for his eyes.  She 
tried her best to stop her voice from shaking as she responded.  “W-what are you 
doing here?”

“What am I doing here?  I *live* here!  I t’ink dat maybe I should be de one asking 
you dat, non?”

Before she had a chance to respond the lights were turned on.

“Goddess!  What is going on here?”

Standing in the doorway of the kitchen were Ororo and Logan, both looking as if 
they were expecting a battle.  Logan, it might be added, seemed rather disappointed 
in not finding one.

Remy raised a hand to shield his eyes from the light.  “I was jus’ trying to eat my 
sandwich in peace when de human spark here tried to kill me.”

Logan’s eyes narrowed.  Something wasn’t right here -- other than the smoldering 
remains of the kitchen -- but he couldn’t put his finger on it.  “Kali?  Do ya have 
any explanations?”

Kali looked up at Remy for the first time and blanched.  This wasn’t the man who 
had killed her parents.  What had she done?  She was trying desperately to think of 
a response when Scott ran into the room, followed shortly by both Jean and 
Bobby.

Scott quickly scanned the room, saw Kali lying one the floor amidst a  heap of 
rubble, saw Remy standing across from her clutching a deck of playing cards, and 
made his assessment.  “Remy, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Remy’s jaw dropped at precisely the same instant as Kali’s, only for a completely 
different reason.  If it was at all possible, Kali’s skin became an even paler shade of 
white as she brought herself to her feet and bolted out of the room.

“I’ll follow her,” Jean said.

“No, I’ll go.”  Bobby pushed himself ahead of Jean and ran after the fleeing girl.

Scott continued to stare at Remy with a determined look on his face.  “Well, I’m 
waiting.”

Remy’s mouth was still agape.  He slowly closed it and tried his best to get his 
temper under control.  He wasn’t very successful.  “I t’ink dat maybe you should 
ask dat question to de girl who just *attacked* me.  I was jus’ defending myself.”

“Well, what did you do to make her attack you?”

“Not’ing!”

Scott crossed his arms in front of his chest.  “Really, I find that hard to believe.”

“WHAT?  Who is dis girl anyway?  An’ why do you trust her more dan Gambit?”

Scott was about to answer when Jean interjected, not liking the direction this 
conversation was headed.  “Look, maybe this is a conversation that we should have 
tomorrow when we’re all more fully awake.  I suggest that you all go back to bed 
for now.”

#But Jean, this is an extremely serious situation!#

#But nothing, Scott.  It’s your own advice and although it didn’t prove to be sound 
advice, I think it applies in this case.  That’s final.  I don’t want you and Remy 
jumping down each others throats before you get all of the facts straight.#

“Fine, but I expect to get this all cleared up in the morning.”  Scott eyed Remy 
before walking out of the room after his wife.

Ororo and Remy left soon afterwards leaving Logan alone in the kitchen.

“I hope they don't expect me to clean up this mess,” he muttered before setting out 
on his own.

* * * * *

Bobby ran out of the mansion after Kali.  “Kali, wait!”  She kept on running, 
forcing Bobby to switch into his ice form in order to keep up with her.  He 
constructed an ice slide which carried him towards Kali.  Once he was within arms 
reach of her, he grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up onto the slide with 
him.

“PUT ME DOWN!”  Kali struggled wildly to release herself from Bobby’s firm 
hold.

“Not unless you promise not to run away.”

“Put me down or I’ll turn you into Puddleman,” she seethed through clenched 
teeth.

Bobby let go of her waist and turned her to face him.  “Would you really do that?”

Kali felt her anger dissipate as she looked down at her feet and whispered, “No, I 
suppose not.”

Bobby sighed in relief as he brought the slide down to the ground and switched 
back to human form.  “Are you okay?  Did Gambit hurt you?”

“Not really, no.”  She looked away from Bobby.

Bobby was hoping for a little more than that.  This wasn’t going to be easy.  He 
didn’t want to pry, but it seemed like that was going to be necessary.  “So, what 
happened in there exactly?”

“Why can’t you people leave me alone?” she snapped at him.

“Well for starters, when our kitchen is disintegrated in the middle of the night it 
tends to become our business.  That and the fact that, as hard as you might find it 
to believe, we actually care about what happens to you.  I don’t know what kind 
of life you’ve had to make so reluctant to trust people, but I assure you that we’re 
trustworthy.”

“You’re right.  You don’t know anything about me, but I know plenty about you 
Bobby Drake.  How can you ask me to trust you when you’re not even being 
honest with yourself.  You’re whole life is a lie, isn’t it?  Day in and day out 
you’re struggling with your feelings of inadequacy, trying to live up to a standard 
that others have set for you, all the while putting up this facade of the 
happy-go-lucky prankster.  You’ve dedicated your whole life to fighting for 
somebody else’s dream and sacrificed everything to do it.  Including yourself.  
Excuse me if I don’t take you seriously.”

Bobby pursed his lips together trying desperately to conceal his anger.  He 
reminded himself that this wasn’t about him.  She was only trying to change the 
subject.  He could get mad at her for playing mind games with him later.

Kali gasped at the rage that was emanating from Bobby.  She was still struggling 
with keeping up her mental shields and she couldn’t block out such strong 
emotions.  “Oh God, I’m sorry Bobby.  I had no right.  I’m just fucking up royally 
with everyone tonight, aren’t I?”

“It’s okay,” he said quietly.  “I didn’t realize that I was so easy to read.  But just 
so you know, I fight for the dream because I really believe in it.  And I push myself 
because I want to be worthy of it.”

“You’re not that easy to read.”  She started to play with her hands.  It was a 
nervous habit she had never been able to rid herself of.  “It’s just that when I first 
met you... in the med-lab.  My shields.  They were wide open... I-I couldn’t help 
it.  Please believe me.”

Bobby pulled his hands through his hair.  He tried not to think of Emma Frost.  He 
tried not to think about how much he hated telepaths.  He tried not to think about 
how violated they made him feel.  “Fine.  Okay.  Let’s just drop it.”

“Done.”  She began to walk away.

“Hey!  You’re not getting off that easy.”

Kali slowly turned around.  She suddenly looked much older than her twenty years 
as her frame seemed to slump in defeat.  “What do you want from me?”

“I want some answers.  I think I’m entitled.”

Kali arched her eyebrows.  “Oh?  And why is that?”

“Umm..”  Bobby searched in vain for an answer.  “Well, it seemed like a good thing 
to say.”

Kali smiled.  “Don’t ever change Bobby.  You’re perfect.”

Bobby blinked.  That was definitely not a response that he would have ever 
anticipated and he didn’t quite know how to react.  “If you say so.”

“What do you want to know?”

Bobby’s expression brightened.  Finally he was getting somewhere.  “What 
happened in the kitchen?”

Kali sighed.  “I thought that your friend was someone else and I tried to kill him.”

Bobby’s expression was unreadable.  “Why?”

“Because I thought he was someone that I would much rather see dead than alive.  I 
thought that was obvious.”

“Hey, I may not know you that well, but I’m pretty sure that you’re not the 
murdering type.  Care to elaborate?”

“Not really.  Look, I’m not happy about what I’ve done.  I was a complete idiot 
who let my emotions take control over my rational side.  I tried to kill someone.  
No amount of apologizing or explanations will undo that.  Can you accept that?”

“Okay.  No harm done.  So now what?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not a telepath, but I can see that there’s something else going on here.  This is 
more than you trying to kill someone.”

Kali sat down on a nearby bench.  “Ever since I came here, images from my past 
have been coming back to haunt me.  It started out as dreams, then progressed to 
flashbacks, and now they’re taking the form of people.”  She visibly paled.  “I 
don’t know what it all means, but I have to get away from it.  I put all the pain 
behind me a long time ago.  I’m not ready for it to resurface.  I-I can’t stay here.”

Bobby sat down next to her.  “What do you mean?”

“I’m leaving, Bobby.”

Bobby stood up.  “Like hell you are!  Where do you think you’re going to go?  
Have you forgotten about the price on your head?  Have you forgotten what 
happened to you on the streets?”

“Are you going to stop me?  I’m not going to stick around here so I can hurt more 
people.  That’s what happens when I let myself get close to others.  I destroy 
them.  I don’t want to cause any more pain.  Please, let me go.”

“Are you kidding?  You claim to know me so well, right?  Well then you have to 
know that there is no possible way that I’m going to let you walk out of here 
alone.”

Kali looked him in the eye.  “You’re not coming with me.”  Her voice was steady 
and firm.

“Yes, I am.”

“No, you’re not!”  She rose to her feet and took a defensive stance.  She didn’t 
know what she was going to do, but she’d be damned if she was going to drag 
Bobby into her own personal hell.

“What do you mean, you’re own personal hell?  Where are you going?”

“Huh?”  Kali stared at Bobby in disbelief.

“*What?*”  Bobby stared right back at Kali without realizing why she was 
suddenly so confused.

“How’d you do that?”

“Do what?”  Bobby was really flustered now.

“Read my mind.”

“I didn’t read your mind.”

“Oh great!  Now I’m leaking my thoughts.  What’s next God?  I would much 
prefer it if you just killed me now and got it over with.”  She raised her hands up to 
the heavens expectantly.

Bobby placed a hand on her shoulder.  “Calm down.  This isn’t solving anything.”

Kali jerked away.  “No shit, Sherlock.”

“I’m just trying to help you here.  Why won’t you let me?”

Kali closed her eyes and inhaled sharply.  “Fine.  You want to help me?  You can 
give me a ride to the nearest bus station.”

“Great!”

“And you’ll drop me off and come right back here.”

Bobby didn’t say anything.  He had the entire trip to either convince her to come 
back, convince her to let him go along, or think up another option.  He opened the 
garage door and grabbed the keys to Hank’s convertible.  “Let’s go.”

    Source: geocities.com/soho/studios/1400

               ( geocities.com/soho/studios)                   ( geocities.com/soho)