It was a sunny day at Bayville High. The sky was clear, the students were calm, all except for one curious troublemaker with an unanswered, unasked question.
"Yo man, ever wonder why she ditched us for them x-geeks?" Toad asked, taking the rest of the team by surprise. It had been well over a month since they lost her, and no one had had the guts to question it. Mystique left with Rogue for a mission one day, and came back without her, ordering the team to remain quiet about her decisions.

Freddie held his sandwich in the same position it was before the question was asked, while Pietro and Lance shared a quick glance. Pyro was out so he didn't hear this, but his reaction would've been bad. He was close to Rogue and when she left and joined the X-men, it hurt him, and he did not have a good grip on his emotions with his powers.

"Nope, her loss," Pietro said quickly, eager to get away from the subject. Freddie shrugged and bit his sandwich, while Lance remained silent.

"Maybe she was like, brainwashed, yo. By the professor"

That was a definite negative. Rogue's mental shields were stronger, bigger, and thicker than even the red-headed x-man, Jean. They were sitting at a table outside at the school when the X-men showed up, sitting at a table far away from the Brotherhood. Rogue was silent, not talking to the X-men, but never even glancing at the Brotherhood. Todd, Freddie, Lance, and Pietro all looked her way, but she never looked up. She didn't sit with the X-men though. With only an apple and a book, she walked away from the teen X-men who called out to stop her. She said something quietly to them, waved, and walked off. She was very close to being out of sight, but the four noticed she entered the woodsy area surrounding the back of the school, and it struck an idea in the youngest Brotherhood member.

"Yo, why don't we go ask and find out?" Toad said excitedly, jumping up and down on the bench.

"Why don't we not," Pietro mocked sarcastically, "Mystique said no, unless you'd like to ask her,"

"She said not to question it man, never said nothing bout talking to Rogue. 'sides, it's not like she's here or nothin'"

"Mystique will find out," Lance said firmly, "she always finds out."

His voice was hard, but the struggle not to agree was evident in his eyes. It pained him to say no, to stay away.

"C'mon Lance! Just to see if she's okay," Toad whined, grating on everyone's nerves.

"One question, how bad could it be?" Freddie said, finally speaking up. Lance sighed, it was an uphill battle now. He looked towards Pietro for any help, but the speedster just shrugged in response. As he rose from his seat, Toad let out a loud cheer of victory.

"Shut up!" Pietro hissed at him, "Mystique may not be here, but the whole goddamn world doesn't need to hear this!"

Toad deflated at the scolding, but agreed. The four slipped off the school grounds in silence, and entered the shaded forest with varying emotions from excitement to pure fear. They spotted her easily though, as the sun's rays had practically given her a spotlight. She sat under a large oak tree, book in one hand and the apple in the other. It was a peaceful scene, until she spotted them.

"The hell are you doing here," she whispered, even if they were alone, "suicidal all the sudden? Do y'all want Mystique to skin you alive?"

The silence between them was deafening, as the forgotten question died on Toad's lips. Green orbs shot straight into the souls of each of her own ex-teammates, and one eyebrow shot up in a questioning manner.

"We wanted to see if you were okay, that's all"

Freddie was, of course, oblivious to the tension. Her heart thudded painfully against her chest at the concern-laced question, but her walls stayed in place.

"I'm fine," she replied, her accent thick over the icy words, "but y'all won't be if you stay and chat,"

"Because of Mystique, or because of you," Lance asked coolly, not showing a shred of emotion. His team shuffled behind him awkwardly, only Pietro remaining at his side. Rogue sighed, no answer would end this well, she couldn't tell them what they wanted to hear. Her eyes met the speedster's, silently begging him to make them leave, but he shook his head defiantly.

"Both." she answered with a tone of finality. She stood up, brushed dirt off her jeans, and began to walk away when a small voice stopped her.

"Please don't go," Toad whispered. She shouldn't have been able to hear him, but his words carried with the wind, and with tears in her eyes, she walked on.
She was out of sight for only a moment when the ground started shaking beneath their feet, but Lance's face stayed blank. Pietro went to put a hand on his shoulder, then sighed when he realized it would only further to anger the team leader.

"Let's get out of here man, we don't need this anyways," Whether he was referring to the school or Rogue remained a mystery, but Lance nodded anyways. He looked back to Toad and Freddie.

"You coming?" he asked them, but both shook their heads. No one wanted to be around Lance when he was angry, so they retreated to the school while Pietro followed Lance back to his Jeep.

"It makes no sense," Lance ragged, slamming his door shut and jamming the keys in. Pietro nodded silently, he knew when to shut up and this was one of those times.

"She's here one day, gone the next, and we all know how she hates being abandoned, so why would she do that to us? We didn't do anything, everything was fine, so why would she just go without a fight?" he got madder and madder as he spoke, his speed increasing with his rage, "What the hell could Mystique have done to make her leave! She's too strong to be intimidated, and she knows we would never want her gone, nothing makes sense man…something's not right"


Revamping the whole story, sorry for any/all confusion. Hope to get new chapter 2&3 up by the middle of this week