Chapter One: The Field Trip

Welcome to the sequel of my X-Men trilogy! Like before, I'm only focusing on scenes involving Rogue and/or Scott, and sometimes Jean and Logan, and any other scene I deem worth writing. So that means I'm not doing the opening scene with Nightcrawler. Sorry! Besides, I don't think I could do it justice.

At first, I wasn't sure if the sequel actually took place three years after the first movie; the Wiki says it did, but both Xavier and Stryker have said Logan had left his base fifteen years prior to meeting the X-Men, so I decided to have the sequel take place a few months after the first movie. That means (to me, at least) that Rogue is now eighteen years old.

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day, whether you're in a relationship or proudly single like me!

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men.

Enjoy!

"Mutants. Since the discovery of their existence they have been regarded with fear, suspicion, often hatred. Across the planet, debate rages. Are mutants the next link in the evolutionary chain, or simply a new species of humanity fighting for their share of the world? Either way, it is an historical fact: sharing the world has never been humanity's defining attribute."

- Professor Charles Xavier

"Neanderthals. We once believed that they were wiped out, by years of conflict with a much more advanced branch of humanity called Cro-Magnon man."

Ororo Munroe, also called Storm, was teaching a group of young mutants in the natural history museum for their field trip. During her lesson, one boy looked behind him to see a girl staring at him while licking her ice cream cone. He smiled at her, but she stuck her tongue out at him. He retaliated by sticking his own tongue out, which was dark blue and forked. The girl immediately turned away.

"Artie!" Ororo called to him. "Not here."

Elsewhere in the museum, Scott Summers, also called Cyclops, and Dr. Jean Grey were looking at history TVs with some more students, one boy looking at the skeleton of a saber-tooth cat. Jean noticed this and walked over to him.

"Come on, pay attention," she said, gently pulling on his wrist. Scott saw this and smiled at her. She smiled back.

Though they had broken up earlier that year, they were still close friends. Jean was awaiting the return of Logan from his trip, while Scott was in a secret relationship with one of their older students, Marie D'Ancanto, who preferred to be called Rogue (though he was allowed to call her Marie, but in private). It had to be secret, at least for now, because Rogue was afraid of the other students ridiculing or judging them. Even though she had turned eighteen before they started dating, most of her peers wouldn't understand; they would just see it as an inappropriate relationship between a teacher and a student. Right now, only Jean, Ororo, and the professor knew about it. Jean wasn't bothered by it at all, because being with Rogue made Scott happy. And for that, she was happy.

The two women even developed a friendship of their own. Rogue had once gone to Jean to ask if her relationship with her ex was okay, and the doctor had assured her that she was perfectly fine with it. Since then, the southern mutant had looked for opportunities to really get to know her, such as running errands with her like she would with Scott, chatting while helping her in the med lab, and even going to her for fashion advice for when she and Scott would sneak out of the mansion for a date. A recurring topic for both of them, besides Scott, was a certain Wolverine, and Rogue was happy that Jean returned his feelings; after all, she personally knew just how deeply Logan felt for the telepath. Soon, she trusted her enough to let her call her Marie as well.

And of course, Scott couldn't be happier that his best friend and new girlfriend got along so well.

Back in the present, Jean tried to focus on the TVs, but she suddenly heard hushed voices speaking. She turned around to look at the other visitors in the museum. None of their mouths were moving, but she was hearing their thoughts loud and clear.

And several of them were looking at her.

Makes me insane when she does this, thought a worried-looking man.

What are you looking at, you sick...? thought a woman glaring at Jean before she shut out her thoughts.

She heard more and more voices, all overlapping each other. Two voices, however, stood out to her.

NO! That sounded like Logan's voice...

They might take him away! That sounded like Rogue...

Jean shut her eyes, overwhelmed by all the voices. She was unaware that her powers were causing the TV and computer screens to go haywire, confusing the students and Scott. He saw Jean shaking her head, her hand raised near her recently cut hair.

"Jean?" he asked. "You okay?"

Her eyes snapped open, and the voices stopped. The screens also went back to normal. "Yeah." She chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just, uh...just a headache."

Scott just stared at her. "It's not just a headache, is it?" When she looked away, he said, "Listen, I – I wasn't really sure how to say this... but, you know, ever since Liberty Island, you've been –"

"Scott..." She shook her head, knowing what he was going to say, but he said it anyway.

"You've been different. It's not because we broke up, is it?"

"No, of course not," she assured him, which was the truth. "My telepathy's been off lately. I can't seem to focus, I can hear everything."

"Jean, it's not just your telepathy," said Scott, looking genuinely worried. "A month ago, you had to concentrate just to levitate a book or a chair across the room. Now, when you have a nightmare, your entire bedroom shakes."

When they broke up, Jean had decided to move into Logan's bedroom, since she was still waiting for him to return, but there were nights where she would go to Scott, the one she trusted the most, for help when she had a nightmare. Rogue, being the angel that she was, completely understood and wasn't the least bit upset, willing to help if needed. And one late night when Scott went to Jean's room to check on her, he found her thrashing around in her bed, everything in the room violently shaking.

Reeling herself back to the present again, she shared his look of worry. "My dreams are getting worse. Scott, I keep feeling something terrible is about to happen."

Seeing her frightened look, he pulled her into a hug. "I would never let anything happen to you," he promised his best friend.

"Hey." They pulled away when Ororo walked up to them. "Have you guys seen Bobby and Rogue?"

While Scott shook his head, looking a bit worried again, Jean telepathically searched the museum. "Something's happening in the food court."

"My brother asked you a simple question," a teenager was saying.

"Why are you being such a dick?" his brother asked.

"Yeah, why are you being such a dick?"

John Allerdyce, who called himself Pyro, kept clicking his lighter, smirking. "Because I can."

Bobby Drake, also called Iceman, snickered, while Rogue was rolling her eyes.

"Can I have a light?" the second boy asked, practically forcing his question politely. John ignited his lighter, looking like he was pondering his question. Then he snapped it shut.

"Sorry. I can't help you out, pal."

"John, knock it off," said Rogue as he started laughing. She loved that she made friends with the other students, including her old roommates, Kitty Pryde and Jubilation "Jubilee" Lee, but they sometimes acted a bit too immature for her taste, especially John. Perhaps that was why she often preferred the company of the adults.

"Why don't you stop showing off?" Bobby suggested.

John raised an eyebrow. "Oh, for her?" He pointed at Rogue, which caused the other boys to look at her suggestively. "I can't help it if your girlfriend's getting excited."

"I'm not his girlfriend," she reminded him, ignoring the boys' inappropriate looks and not noticing Bobby's face fall a bit.

John rolled his eyes. "Whatever, we're just trying to have a good time."

"I think you're the only one having a good time," Bobby snorted.

The second boy then took John's lighter from him.

"Hey!" he yelled, standing up. He was stopped by the boy's brother, while he lit his cigarette. "That's real cute, man."

"What are you gonna do?" the brother sneered. The other boy exhaled smoke and smirked.

"Suddenly, you're not so tough," he mocked.

When he stuck his cigarette back in his mouth, John winked, and his cigarette suddenly burst into flame, his sleeve catching on fire as he flailed.

As people began crowding around, Bobby stood up and shot a blast of frosty air toward the boy's burning sleeve. Of course, this caused him and the other bystanders to stare at Bobby in fear.

Just then, everyone froze. While the three young mutants looked around, everyone else in the museum had frozen in place, as if time had stopped except for them.

"Bobby, what did you do?" Rogue asked quietly.

He shrugged. "I didn't do this," he said.

"No, I did."

They jumped, seeing Professor Charles Xavier wheeling towards them, looking very stern.

"And the next time you feel like showing off," he said, "don't."

They saw Ororo, Scott, and Jean standing behind him, with the rest of the students looking at the frozen people curiously. Scott looked directly at Rogue, who quickly darted her eyes towards John, then back to him, telling him that he caused a commotion, not her. Scott nodded slightly in understanding.

"Breaking news," said a man on a nearby TV, drawing all the mutants' attention. "We're coming to you live from Washington, where there's been an attack in the Oval Office of the White House. Details are still coming in, but we have been informed that the president and vice president were not harmed. Sources say the attack involved one or more mutants."

"I think it's time to leave, Professor," said Scott.

Professor Xavier nodded. "I think you're right."

They left the museum, the other people looking confused as they unfroze.

And there's the first chapter! What do you think of my build up for Scott and Rogue's relationship? I know I said this before, but I just want to make sure I'm perfectly clear: just because Scott and Jean broke up, that doesn't mean they can't still be close friends. And I believe Jean and Rogue were friends in the original cartoon, so why shouldn't they be friends here? Of course, I think they could've at least been friends in Evolution as well, but, you know... Check out my profile on the subject if you'd like, when I discussed shipping. ;)

I added that angel bit as an homage of sorts to Scott and Rogue's chemistry in Evolution. I don't know if my memory is faulty or I'm biased, but I don't remember Scott giving Jean a sweet endearment like he accidentally did for Rogue. She can deny it all she wants, but she is an angel. And I'm gonna keep referencing it throughout the saga.

Also, fun fact: the voice of the man on the news was David Kaye, who voiced Charles Xavier and Apocalypse in X-Men: Evolution! At least, I think it was in this scene; Kaye wasn't credited in the movie, and online he's listed as "TV Host".