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CAJUN CINNAMON
Book One of
the Annwn Ryu Cycle
Chapter II:
“The Language of Lions”
Scott met Logan in
the hall outside Cerebro’s vault. Everyone else was hurrying to
assemble in the entrance hall of the mansion.
Their eyes met, and just for a moment, the younger mutant saw not
merely an older man, but an ancient soul, alone not merely by choice,
but by virtue of that age. It was a brief awareness, and Logan had
shielded him from it when Scott had been a child. After seeing the ones
you love die - not even by violence, but by age or nature - then you
grew more and more tentative about loving, caring, dedicating yourself.
It made you vulnerable. It left you open to a type of pain that almost
no man living could grasp.
Once again, he had underestimated the man behind Wolverine.
Instead of turning away from the team and giving in to the pain, he
turned instead to shield another from ever suffering it.
Scott would never again be able to call Logan Wolverine in his
heart. He was far more human than most people could ever aspire to.
More - samurai than samurai.
Neither spoke, until Scott said quietly, “This one’s
gonna be tough.” Give the man some respect, let him decide what he
wants to do. He fell in step beside the other man when Logan started
toward the others.
“Yeah.” He kept walking.
As they moved, the difference was obvious - Scott was tall,
slender, and moved with an easy stride, unconsciously broadcasting the
fact he was the leader of the X-Men.
Logan was shorter, stocky, prone to blend into the background
when he wished. His movements were graceful, but controlled, and he told
nothing by movement nor posture.
Jean glanced over at them both, eyes worried, and was just about
to speak, when the front door banged open.
“Ya'll can relax.” came a familiar voice, as a tall figure
strode in “Gambit has returned!” Grinning his trademark, rougeish
grin, he paused to regard his friends.
“An’ ‘dis time he bring backup.” added another voice.
Cayenne grinned with equal mischief, as her gaze swept the group, eyes
glittering with humor.
"The child is the mutant Cerebro detected." Xavier was
saying, quietly, as the X-Men gathered in his office, puzzled by the
sudden change in events.
"I happen t' have a name, Chromedome!" snapped the girl
standing next to Gambit, eyes blazing. "I suggest you 'member
it!"
Xavier was so startled by the youngster's words his mouth
actually fell open an inch, while Logan's lips twitched slightly.
Gambit looked up at the ceiling as though seeking divine
intervention. "Gambit suggest you do like she say, kid has a
temper, like her old man."
Everyone froze, staring at the tall Cajun in amazement. Rouge's
mouth fell open, eyes widening as she looked from him to his younger
companion.
Cayanne snorted, then turned back to Xavier. "So dis yer
school, Chromedome?"
"My *name* is Professor Charles Xavier...."
"Oooo, nice long name."
"Cayanne, he own this nice place." Gambit's voice was
amused, but trying for a mild reprimand. "Do your papa a
favor an' give him a chance, eh?"
"He not polite, *I* not polite." The girl crossed her
arms, glaring at the X-Men and their mentor.
"He told ya his name."
"Well, you told him mine." she glowered, still
protectively close to her father.
Gambit's lips twitched, even as he looked with mild apology at
Xavier, who still was in a mild state of shock.
"Cayanne..."
"For you, I give him 'nother chance." grumbled Cayanne.
She eyed the Professor with distrust and drew herself up. "I'm
Cayanne LeBeau, daughter of Remy LeBeau." It was oddly precise, and
she announced the last with unhidden pride.
"A pleasure." replied Xavier solemnly, his face showing
his nature of serene compassion once more. "And I am Professor
Charles Xavier, teacher and owner of this school."
"Pleasure." nodded Cayanne. "So, someone wanna
show me 'round the joint?"
"She is unusual." said Jean Grey, while she sipped tea
beside her husband in Xavier's office.
Scott chuckled, his visored gaze resting briefly on his wife.
"Definitely that!" he grinned, then looked a bit sheepish at
Xavier's raised eyebrow. "A lot like her dad."
The fourth member of the teaching staff, a regal,
dark-skinned woman with striking silver hair, nodded quietly. Ororo
Munroe, known also as Storm, was in charge of the newest students, and
obviously Cayanne would be among the new class.
"Gambit has told me that she has no formal education."
said the weather mutant quietly. "But also that she possesses an
extraordinarily agile mind."
"Our newest member will have every opportunity to proceed at
her own rate." Xavier's expression was slightly sad. "Perhaps
we will yet be able to earn her trust."
"You wan' me to what?" Cayanne's voice was still
low, but deepened with shock.
"You try goin' to school, petit." Gambit had
thought of a thousand ways he could explain this to the girl. He stared
into eyes that were so like his own and stood his ground. He had to love
her enough to push her into his. "They got a fine one
here."
"They kids!" Such disgust in that voice.
"So are you, mon sauvage petit ange." he said,
wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close, despite her squawk
of mock indignation. Gambit held her there, and she hugged him back,
tightly.
"Non. Cayanne not a kid no more." she said,
looking up at him.
"Well, you try one month and fake it for your Papa, okay?"
The girl puffed breath out, blowing her curled hair out of her
eyes. It was a long moment before she answered, and it was in a softer
voice than normal. It was a daughter's voice to a father, not a wild
child of the New Orleans streets.
"You really this so important?"
"Oui."
"Then Cayanne try to pretend to be a kid. This once. For
you."
The first moment Cayanne stepped into the mansion's
"Orientation Room", she was a bit startled. Others her own
age, some a few years older, were gathered nervously, uncertain of how
to react to one another.
She burst out laughing, aware that most turned to look at her.
Grinning ferally, she said, "Here we all are then, wit all de world
out to get us, and we gonna be scared of each other?"
Somehow, it didn't come across insulting to most. It wasn't even
superior, it was - funny.
Cayanne pulled out some cards, grinned. "My Papa's
the master o'cards." Grabbing a boy - she noticed in passing he was
horribly, nauseatingly, stomach-twistingly hideous behind a thin
gauze bandage - she swung him in front of her, sending the cards up in a
swirl over and around him. "Cayanne just know some tricks. You pick
a card, pass it on, yes?"
Tentatively, the boy - his hands were bone-thin and gloved -
reached into the swirling storm and snatched a card. A six of clubs.
He held it awkwardly, then passed it over to a smaller boy who
looked to be a cross between a human and an owl. The boy held it a
moment, it spun over - a four of diamonds - and a new storm of cards
danced around him.
Soon the frightened, lost youngsters were gathered around the
reluctant newcomer, somehow able to tell their stories, to be - kids. To
be themselves, without fear.
Cayanne flopped onto the couch, listening avidly, grinning and
occasionally unable to make an anti-mutant joke, but inside, she was
concerned. How would they grow to see the world later, when everyone who
wasn't like them were all around them? It was a familiar feeling,
and she could feel the slight pinch of her fangs against her closed
mouth.
She was no kid, but now she had a reason to try to be.
"She not real thrilled about this school idea, but she try
it." said Gambit, regarding his teammates and the Professor from
where he leaned against the wall.
"Do you know what areas of aptitude she would prefer to
pursue?" asked Xavier, gently. He sensed the roiling emotions from
within the Cajun, as well as a certain level of hidden worry.
"Cayanne always like computers, but you ask her. She not
take well to bein' told how to act, but she like to learn." The
tall mutant shrugged. "Best thing is to let her figure what to
start with."
When the others had finally wandered off, Cayanne slipped from
the mansion. The old familiar pain was beginning, the whispers and the
spinning, tumbling visions that clogged her awareness. She bounded into
a tree, stood absolutely still, listening, until she was sure that
no-one was nearby. Her nose told her that this tree was isolated, and
the girl climbed a few feet to hide behind a bough.
She was trembling. Gritting her teeth as the pain -
fire/ice/need/hunger! - nearly made her black out. It was getting
worse, this was the worst it had ever been.
Finally, the girl reached into the inner pocket of her trenchcoat,
removing a small leather case. A practiced flip of her hand opened it,
revealing a sterile syringe and three small, unlabeled vials filled with
a pale, translucent liquid.
Fighting off the tremors of pain and clawing fog of memory, she
braced her left arm against her knee and filled the syringe a tenth of
the way full from one of the vials. She unwound the small strap inside
the case and quickly wrapped in around her arm, inserting the needle
once the vein stood out.
The voices faded. The pain receded a bit. It was manageable.
Shuddering uncontrollably, she held one hand over the small
wound, aching, seeking some small amount of warmth despite the secrecy -
and the shame.
Classes weren't as difficult as she had hoped they would be. She
sat on the far side of one of the schoolrooms, watching the tall,
dark-skinned woman that had introduced herself as Miss Munroe.
Despite her efforts, despite the drug, Cayanne was beginning to
feel sick - more often and more intensely - every moment she was at the
school. The tension was greater than she was accustomed to, and she
found herself avoiding even her father as she attempted to lose herself
in study.
Science. English. History. It didn't matter. Her quick mind and
endless curiosity allowed her to complete the assignments at breakneck
speed, and she often retreated to the library to hide her injections -
no longer once a day, now many times as many as four! - and to read
everything she could get her gloved hands on.
The drug blocked the need for sleep, for which she was grateful.
If she had fallen asleep in a room she shared with others, she would
have likely not been able to hide the need for the drug.
Some secrets were made to be kept. Not even her beloved papa knew
of the drug, and Cayanne would rather face Hell itself than he ever
discover it. So she kept to the library.
And largely to herself.
"Has anyone seen Cayanne today?" Ororo asked, looking
out at the class. She was rather surprised at the girl's absence -
though enthusiastic and always wanting to question, she did seem to
enjoy learning. It was odd that she would not come to class, especially
the open discussions class.
"I saw her earlier." said Brandon, raising his hand.
Short and slight, with a wiry build, he was a spectacular athlete and
forever competing with Cayanne every time they raced. "She looked a
little sick."
Cayanne was curled in the tree, fists clenched, eyes squeezed
shut, hearing nothing but a babble of voices, all knotted into an
incomprehensible garble. Images of experiences not her own, sensations
amplified by her own senses, surges of crackling sensations burning
within her. She pressed her forehead against the bark, dimly aware of
the fact it cut into her face.
The drug wasn't working.
In a moment of clarity, she realized that she couldn't hold it
out anymore. The drug didn't work.
Agony ripping through her mind in black shafts of lightning,
howls of everything surging in her mind, Cayanne snarled in fury.
She tilted back her head, staring into the summer sky, and howled in
rage.
The Surge came. She had feared another one as she feared nothing
else, but this one blasted consciousness away from her, while leaving
her clinging to her own sense of self with ragged claws.
Cerebro went berserk. There was no other way to describe it.
Sirens sounded, the boards fried, and Hank was forced to fling himself
over the stunned Xavier to shield him as flying, white-hot metal and the
shrieking sound of overload filled the air.
Reaching desperately with one foot, he was finally able to hit
the emergency shutdown lever, but the racket lasted well over half an
hour, bringing all the X-Men running.
Logan found Cayanne in the grips of what looked like a massive
seizure. Her smaller frame was actually able to fling him several feet
when he tried to restrain her, so violent were the convulsions, but
worse was when she bounded to her feet, eyes blazing, an expression
somewhere in between rage and pain on her face.
"Get 'way from me!" she snarled, backing up, fists
clenched.
"Easy, kid." he replied, catching a whiff of - something
- as he crouched down, watching her. "Everyone's gettin'
worried."
"Let 'em!" The girl's eyes were burning, feral. Pressed
back against the mansion wall, one palm against the stone, she looked
ready to bolt in any direction.
Logan watched her movements, almost unconsciously taking into
account the scent and muscle tremors. There was fear in her posture, but
more - there was a savage hunger, a need of something she was as yet
unable to define. Staying absolutely still, he waited for her to make
the next move.
"Go 'way." she growled, balancing forward on her toes,
ready for a spring.
Logan's posture answered her, as he shifted into saika tanden, letting
the nothingness of utter readiness envelop his mind. The berserker
within him snarled and lashed at his consciousness, but the calmness
held.
Cayanne squeezed her eyes shut, struggling with the maddening
whispers inside her head, the Surge that still flashed and thundered in
her blood. Her free hand became a claw as her head tilted back, an
agonized, garbled yowl emerging from her strained throat.
Logan moved forward with blinding speed, catching the girl just
as another seizure hit, pitching her into his arms as he moved.
As Hank examined the unconscious young Cajun, he removed her
trenchcoat - and a leather case tumbled from a hidden pocket. Lifting it
carefully, he sniffed it, turning to Gambit. "Is Cayanne taking any
medication...?" he began.
"Non." Gambit's expression was one of dawning
awareness - followed by a look of deep sadness and concern before he
managed to force his expressive features into a mask of expressionless
unreadability. He rested a hand on his daughter's unmoving form and
whispered, "Oh Cayanne, why you no tell me?"
The blue-furred mutant looked down at the girl, now pale and
still, and took one vial out with extreme care, turning to give Gambit a
reassuring look. "I shall test this immediately." Hank said,
quietly. "Stay with her, Remy. If she seizes again, call me."
Gambit held her gloved hand, eyes on her face. "Why you not
tell me?" he whispered again, tears in his eyes.
"It's phenapheraberathen." said Hank, aware of
Professor Xavier's startled look. "It's a powerful sleep-deprivant
and often used to suppress mutant abilities."
Gambit's expression was one of complete disbelief. "Cayanne
been drugging herself so she no sleep?" he sputtered,
horrified.
"It would seem so." Hank's expression was concerned.
"Normally, 1cc would cause a mutant's abilities to remain either
non-manifested, or operate at extremely low power. It was developed by
the military, in the hopes of...ummm...."
"Keepin' the mutants from ever bein' able to use their
powers." No-one had heard Logan come in.
"Well, yes." Hank looked uncomfortable. "But it
had rather severe side effects...."
"Side effects?" Gambit stared at him. "What side
effect' it have?"
"Sleeplessness, intense pain, migraines..." Hank took a
deep breath. "It only holds the mutant gene from
"activating" for a brief period of time, perhaps a year or so,
sometimes past puberty. It is highly addictive, extremely dangerous, and
takes time to be flushed from the tissues. I've started her on emphenol
and a high-sugar drip, since she is badly dehydrated."
"Emphenol?" demanded Gambit, eyes narrowed.
"It's a stabilizing medication I created to ease the
activation of the mutant gene." He looked concerned. "She has
already begun the manifestation process, the drug had only managed to
slow it down."
"Gambit stay here with her." It was a statement. He
gathered his daughter to him. "I un'erstand, ma petit. You
rest now." his voice was soft. "Papa here."
Cayanne woke only when different body parts began to report in
insistently. She had braced herself for the pain and confusion that had
been her unrelenting companions these last days - but instead, there was
only a distant sense of mental "static" and an almost-numb
sensation throughout her body.
It took several seconds for her to realize she was leaning
against her father's shoulder, listening to the reassuring sound of his
heartbeat. Opening her eyes discreetly, she glanced around her.
Gambit was asleep, face looking down at her. Noticing his
ever-present trenchcoat, the girl realized with horror that her own was
on a coathanger against the wall, not around her.
The drug, they found the drug. she thought, numbly.
Part of her wanted to cry, and she snarled furiously at it. This is
no time to fall apart, dammit!
"Mornin', mon têtu petit ange." Gambit's
eyes were open, watching her.
"Papa, I..." Cayanne swallowed despite herself.
"Cayanne not tell you....not tell you because...I was si honteux!"
she whispered. Her eyes closed, turned away slightly. "Could not
tell anyone, de drug, after a few times, needed it. Tried to stop, just
made me horrible sick." She clenched her gloved hand, laughed
humorously. "Cajun pathetic suis moi, eh, Papa?"
Gambit took her face gently in his hands. "You do best
you can, mon peu d'amour." The tall mutant's voice was
uncharacteristically soft. "I not hold any of this against you. You
trust your Papa next time, okay? Never be afraid o' Gambit."
"T'ank you, Papa." Cayanne rested her
cheek against his trenchcoat, hugging him tightly as she felt him
embrace her. Her voice dropped to an emotion-laden whisper.
"I love you."
Of Cayanne's class, most were seventeen or eighteen, and were
largely unaware of a younger girl. Only Liam, who was just now learning
to control his entropic ability that left him looking almost like a
corpse; and Zane, who was able to control the elements; maintained
relationships with the younger girl.
However, they were tentative things. She recognized them. They
did not know her - but that was as it should be. After all, she had been
very careful to make sure that the group they belonged to rarely
saw her. But then, they ate lunch together, were in study group
together, but while Cayanne was always encouraging and friendly, she was
also slow to show her inner emotions, hesitant to talk about her past.
Thus her week's illness did not seem overly notable, though Liam
and Zane visited twice, sitting and chatting after delivering her
homework and assignments.
Cayanne sat Indian-style, pencil busy, as she wrote out notes
from a borrowed physics book. It was a fascinating idea, that so much
could be explained by mathematics - but she wasn't fooled. Nothing
so devoid of feeling ruled the world's nature. It was a fun subject -
not as fun as English or Philosophy - but a lot of fun.
What frustrated her was the fact that she felt like the book
ended so far short. Three books from the library had filled in some of
the blanks, but she felt like there was so much more she wanted to know.
So she read. Constantly. On everything.
"I couldn't stand reading half that stuff." observed
Zane, when he and Liam came to visit. He ran a hand through his
white-blonde hair, then shook his head. "But I'm not much of a
reader."
Liam blinked, then smiled tentatively. He had several books
tucked under his arm, and carefully placed them on the foot of the bed.
"If they finish de damn things I' feel better about dem."
grumbled Cayanne, tossing another book into the "read" pile.
Zane grinned. "You think to much." he observed.
"Cayanne may t' ink too much 'bout this, but when need to,
let my instincts guide me."
"Incredible." said Hank, softly, staring at the latest
blood-test from Cayanne. "The genetic sequence is changing - I've
never seen anything like this."
Xavier regarded the DNA strands with an expert eye. "This
should be impossible." He shook his head. "The mutation rate
is actually speeding up. RNA carriers are beginning to be produced at
five times the normal rate, and accelerating."
Hank nodded, resting a clawed finger absently against his chin.
"Her system is stabilizing, Charles." he said, quietly.
"Incredibly efficient. No fatigue toxins, no sign of aging - or the
capacity for it. Charles, we may be looking at true immortality. Her
system is immune to disease, toxins - I think that's why the
phenapheraberathen worked for such a brief time on her. It simply
couldn't keep up with her capacity to regenerate." He regarded
Xavier a moment, then continued, "I have a feeling that there
is much more to her mutation. In fact, it seems as though she is an -
evolutionary step beyond mutants, Charles. Something totally new. A -
metamutant, if you will."
Translations from the Cajun (French):
mon sauvage petit ange - my wild
little angel
mon têtu petit ange
- my obstinate little angel
si honteux
- so ashamed
Cajun pathetic suis moi - a
pathetic Cajun am I
mon peu d'amour
- my little love
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