Summary: Monet and Emplate have used her perfection to destroy Gen. X. Now, the twins, who were put into the Penance form by their sister when they spoke out against their cause, contemplate everything that has happened, while Marius wonders if everything is going wrong.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Emplate, M, or the twins. The people at Marvel do. I almost wish I kinda did though, I'm getting tired of all these disclaimers. Got this idea from the orphan ideas board again.
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Nicolette looked over the battleground. Her brother and sister were the last ones standing. The teachers and students had fallen quickly. She slowly walked over to one of the bodies, careful not to let her siblings see her. She touched the cheek of a purple girl with red hair. Blink. The name came into her mind. She knew the names of all of them. Partially from overhearing the detailed conversations between Monet and Marius, Partially because the Nicole half of her had absorbed the boy named Everett.
She crept over to another body. Ever since her siblings had trapped her in this form, she had lost her feelings of remorse and pity. Now that she had absorbed the one called Synch, they returned. She pondered what her combined age was now. When her and Claudette were forced into this form, they had truely become one. Claudette had lost her autism, and they had just, well, combined into one. Now this new person inside her, it was tampering with everything she had come to accept.
"Come Nicolette, we are returning home."
Nicolette assumed that Marius was the one speaking to her. Before Marius had offered Monet this great power, she had been the only one who accepted them. But once she tasted the power he had gained, she had changed. When Nicole confronted her, then Monet cast Nicole and Claudette into this form. As penance for questioning her. The girl scampered into the portal Gateway had made for the three of them. When she opened her eyes again, she was in the dank tower in another dimension that she called home.
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Monet looked at the Marius and Nicolette. She wondered why she put up with them. It must have been the family bond, because she alone was powerful enough to destroy those bumbling Generation X children and her siblings combined.
"Marius. Send Penance to bed. Then lock up for the evening. I am going to see how I can further our quest to gain control of the mutant population." She turned and started to walk out. Then she started mumbling to herself. "Maybe if we forge a false alliance with En Sabah Nur."
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Marius touched his little sister's shoulder. He knew that this power was good, but Monet slew the Generation X students and their mentors for no reason. They could have provided him with sustenance for the duration of his life. He had begun to question his sister's morals as of late. First confining the twins to this eternal prison. Now the quick slaughter of Generation X. He had the sinking feeling that if they allied with Apocolypse, she would turn on him, and them. He looked at Nicolette, as he called her. Monet only called her Penance, to remind her of her eternal punishment. Maybe he could find a way to save his youngest sister's life and his own. But could he kill Monet? Did he have any other choice? He knew that one day soon it would be either her life, or the lives of his own, and many others. He had no choice. He led Nicolette into her room.
"Good night sister. And farewell, in case I fail."
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Nicolette crawled off her iron bed after Marius had left the room. She wordlessly crept to the wall. She silently inscribed names onto the age old stone.
R.I.P.
Sean Cassidy; Banshee
Emma Frost; The White Queen
Everett Thomas; Synch
Paige Guthrie; Husk
Vincente Lark; Mist
Angelo Espinosa; Skin
Clarice Fergison; Blink
Mondo
Sandra Jones; Dream Weaver
Nina; Mannite Alpha
She stopped as she heard a scream on the roof. She stood and walked to the window, and saw her brother fall into the neverending depths that surrounded the tower. She shook her head and walked back to her makeshift monument. She slowly carved the next name.
Marius St. Croix; Emplate
Nicolette ran her razor fingers over her etching, creating a claw design to frame it. She knew in her heart that Marius would not be the last one. She crept back to her bed, and waited, wondering if anything could be done to stop Monet.