Rogue's head jerked up and she glanced down the road away from the school, "We need to get back to the school, there are people coming up the drive." Rogue's voice was abused, but her own.
"How can you tell?"
"I was just taken control of by the Phoenix. That counts as touching." Rogue stood drunkenly, "I am a bit woozy though."
Wolverine went over and swung her up into his arms, "Well, can you hold onto me for the ride back?" Rogue nodded and he noted that she was crying. They settled themselves on the bike and were off.
When they arrived at the school Storm and several others were waiting for them, Aura who had sensed Wolverine coming was shaking and crying from fear.
Storm looked up from comforting him and rested worried eyes on Rogue and Wolverine, "What just happened?"
"Jean, the Phoenix. There's, so much here... my head." Rogue held a hand to her forehead. "It's too much to process, but they need help. We have to find a way to help them! Jean is scared and I think Phoenix tried to kill me. I ~ really need to lie down." Wolverine scooped Rogue up off the bike as she fainted away.
"She still have the same room as before?"
"Ah? No, she has Jean and Scotts' old room." Storm answered him.
"Great, she's just down the hall then."
"Should I go and unlock your doors?" Colossus asked. Wolverine nodded and Pete jogged off as Wolverine and Storm followed at a walk, "So, what's new here?"
Storm smiled, "Well, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Shadow Cat, Iceman, Havok and Angel have been teaching classes here. Rogue helps with those in combat training on occasion. I've been doing my best to keep the press out of the school, along with Beast's help." Wolverine quirked a brow, "Well most people realize now that this is a school for mutants, that's why we have someone with psychic abilities watching the road in at all times. Luckily for us we have several. But it's tiring for them and most are very young. Our most powerful is only six years old; she's gotten so bored with being here that she's started watching the road in her sleep. She saved us from a rude paparazzi awakening the other day."
"I guess Rogue's comment that we could just take off and have the psychic's tell you makes sense now." Wolverine chuckled.
Storm rolled her eyes, "Yes, but she likes being responsible for herself, I think it makes her angry when they tell us what she's doing before she's decided to let us know herself."
"Yeah, well that one time it could have been really dangerous! I just didn't realize soon enough that she wasn't actually planning on doing it, she was just thinking about it." The boy frowned.
Storm put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "It's alright." Storm smiled softly, "Rogue has been trying to control her power, it's not what I'd had in mind originally, but it's progress of a sense." Storm smiled fondly down at Rogue, cradled peacefully in Wolverine's arms.
"Yeah, she was telling me about that."
They'd made it to Rogue's room and Nightcrawler was there with a worried expression, "Is she alright?"
Wolverine nodded his head, "I think she'll be just fine. Having Phoenix in your mind is taxing, I'm pretty tired myself."
Nightcrawler looked relieved and disappeared in a puff of smoke, "He's gone to tell Kitty and Bobby. They're out picking up newbies in Texas." Aura's soft voice filled in the answer for Storm's unasked question.
"He can jump that far?" Wolverine was surprised, leaning down he placed Rogue on her bed and Colossus covered her with a quilt from a nearby chair.
"Here." He tossed Wolverine the key to his room and walked out.
"Rogue's not the only one who's been working on controlling their abilities. Nightcrawler and Shadow Cat have progressed the most, but everyone is improving." Storm sighed in preparation of starting in on her long-winded version of Twenty Questions.
"Storm, the delegation is about to arrive."
Aura's voice jerked her around, "I'd almost forgotten about that. I'll talk to you later Logan." Storm waved as she went out to meet the newest potential threat at the front doors.
"Who exactly are you?" Wolverine asked of the tear-streaked waif who was most obviously psychic.
"I'm Aura."
"Ahh, the one who saw me coming. Is it your day to watch the road then?"
"Pretty much. Uh oh. I gotta go, DON'T tell Angel Salvador that I was crying!" And the boy scampered off. A minute later a teenage girl walked up to the door, her upper arms showed tattoos that seemed to be the tips of wings.
"I heard Aura was over here?" The girl questioned.
"He just left, I'm not sure to where. You Angel Salvador?" Wolverine turned in his seat beside Rogue's bed to look at her.
"Yep, that's me. Why?"
"Nothing really. Your name came up as a newbie is all."
The girl scowled, "I'm not a newbie!" Angel Salvador was indignant.
Wolverine bowed his head, looking to his clenched fists for more patience and the correct phrasing he needed. He sighed, "I didn't mean that you were new to being a mutant or even that you were new to the school, simply that you are a new face to me since the last time I was here. Storm and Rogue have both filled me in on some of what's new here since I've been gone."
"Oh," Angel Salvador's expression was one of surprised consternation. "How long were you gone?"
Wolverine gave a half smile, "About six years this time. And hopefully once Rogue is feeling up to it, I'll be outta here again, taking her with me. But it might be more complicated than I'd originally planned." Wolverine trailed off remembering Jean and the Phoenix.
"Oh, well, I'm going to go find Aura." And she was gone.
