Hello, everyone. This posting is a little late, but I've been mega busy lately. My school drama club just put on Beauty and the Beast, and I was the lighting operator for the production, so I've been especially busy the last two weeks with all the dress rehearsals and whatnot. But, today was the final performance, so I get a little time to chill before the next show. Whew! So, I hope you all enjoy the next chapter.

- - - - -

Lexiss took her time going downstairs to see the professor the next morning. She was contemplating asking him to use Cerebro to try and locate John; Kurt wasn't having any luck, and he had been looking for the past two months. He had traced him to the west coast, most likely Nevada or California, but that was as specific as it had gotten. Magneto had gotten quite good at covering his tracks.

She stopped outside of the door to his study, and stared at it for a moment. Then, with a heavy sigh, she raised her arm, and knocked three times. She waited for a moment, and knocked again. No on answered, so, puzzled, she opened the door and stepped halfway into the study.

The professor wasn't inside; instead, there was a very tall, very broad, blue-skinned-and-haired mutant dressed in a dark, fancy-looking suit. He turned to look at her, and Lexiss averted meeting his eyes.

"I'm sorry, sir," she said, starting to back out of the room. The man blinked and took a step forward.

"Are you here to see Professor Xavier, my dear?" he asked. Lexiss nodded slowly.

"Yes… are you?" she asked suspiciously. The man laughed a booming laugh.

"Why, of course! Why else would I be here?"

She walked into the room, and sat on the couch, studying the blue mutant.

"What's your name?" he asked curiously.

"Lexiss," she replied, sitting back and crossing her arms.

"Ah, Calyspso!" the man exclaimed. "Yes, Ororo has told me all about you. I'm-"

"Secretary McCoy. I know who you are," Lexiss replied, nodding. Mr. McCoy smiled a little.

"Usually girls your age are more interested in boys and make-up and clothes, from what I hear, than government and politics," he said with a slight chuckle.

"I think it's fair to say that I'm not like most girls my age, Mr. McCoy," Lexiss said, the faintest signs of a smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth. Mr. McCoy's chuckle turned into a deep, booming laugh that only lessened to a wide smile when the door to the professor's study opened again.

"Hank?" Storm asked, leaving the professor's wheelchair to greet him.

"Ororo, Charles!" Mr. McCoy said, taking steps forward as well. He and Storm exchanged a friendly hug.

"I love what you've done with your hair!" Storm exclaimed. Lexiss looked away from them, her grin gone.

"You too," Mr. McCoy returned.

He turned to look at Xavier, who said, "I see you've met Lexiss." Storm turned and threw an inquiring look her way. She ignored her.

"Ah, yes. Our conversation was most refreshing, I must say," Mr. McCoy said, throwing an approving smile in her direction. "But, Charles, thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

Professor Xavier rolled forward in his chair. Lexiss figured that was her cue to leave, but as she stood, the professor looked at her. "I believe you may be interested in what Hank has to say, Lexiss," he said. She sat back on the couch.

Xavier looked to Mr. McCoy again. "Henry, you are always welcome here. You're a part of this place," he said. Mr. McCoy nodded.

"I have news," he said.

"Is it Eric?" the professor asked immediately. If he was asking, he didn't know why Mr. McCoy was there, just that it was important.

"No," Mr. McCoy said reluctantly, "though we have been making some progress on that front. Mystique was recently apprehended." Lexiss sat up straighter, immense relief and satisfaction rushing through her all at once, but before she could say anything, Logan entered the room and stopped, staring at Mr. McCoy.

"Who's the furball?" he asked, glancing between Lexiss and him. Mr. McCoy straightened.

"Hank McCoy," he said gruffly. "Secretary of Mutant Affairs."

Logan walked further into the room, and sat next to Lexiss on the couch. "Right, right. The secretary." He gave Mr. McCoy the quick up down. "Nice suit."

Xavier began the introduction. "Henry, this is-"

"Wolverine," Mr. McCoy finished. "I hear you're quite an animal." Lexiss hid a slight smile behind her hand. Logan glanced at her, and nudged her.

"Look who's talkin'," he replied.

"You know Magneto's gonna come get Mystique, right?" Storm cut in, silencing their slightly egotistical banter.

"Magneto's not the problem. At least, not our most pressing one." Lexiss frowned. Mystique on the loose again was the very last thing in the world she wanted. If Magneto were going to free her, the government could lay a trap, and return him to his plastic prison. What could be more important than that? "A major pharmaceutical company has developed a mutant antibody. A way to… suppress the mutant 'X' gene."

Lexiss' jaw dropped. "Suppress?" Logan asked. Mr. McCoy turned to look at him.

"Permanently. They're calling it a cure-"

"WHAT?!" Lexiss said loudly, standing. Her thoughts immediately flew to Rogue, and then to John. "That's… that's…" Her outrage and her disgust kept her from finishing her statement.

Storm took care of it for her. "That's ridiculous," she said. "You can't cure being a mutant."

Hank tilted his head. "Well, scientifically speaking-"

"Since when did we become a disease? How can anybody in their right-"

"Storm," Professor Xavier said, drawing everyone's attention. "They're announcing it now."

Logan stood, and rested a hand on Lexiss' shoulder. She shook it off.

"This is the exact reason," she said, a familiar burning sensation in her eyes causing her to blink rapidly. "This is the exact reason John left!" she cried, shaking with fury. "People who think they know us, and make decisions like this for us are the exact reason he left!"

She started for the door, wiping at her eyes with the heel of her hand. Storm tried to reach out to her. "Lexiss…"

She turned around and stared at her. "Just stop it, Storm! Stop! You don't get it!!" She turned back around, wrenched the door open, and slammed it closed behind her. Storm sank down on the couch, head in her hands.

- - - - -

Lexiss stormed up to her room, and slammed her door with even more force than she had the door to Professor Xavier's study. She paced her room, not wanting to sit or lie down, trying to calm herself and holding her short, dark hair back from her face. She tried to take deep calming breaths, but only succeeded in nearly suffocating herself because she couldn't breathe.

Her cell phone started ringing and vibrating on her dresser. and her immediate reaction was to dive for it. Without even glancing at the caller ID, she flipped it open and held it up to her ear. Anything for a distraction. "Hello?"

The voice on the other end was immediately recognizable. "I found him."

She exhaled, gripping the tiny silver phone. "Where?" she asked breathily.

"San Francisco," Kurt replied.

"Where are we going to meet?"

- - - - -

By 6:30 that night, Lexiss had showered, dressed in dark clothes, and had her car keys. She left her room, closing the door behind her, and made her way to the first floor, and then to the elevator down to the garage.

She unlocked a familiar, dark blue Mazda parked very close to the automatic garage doors. One day, after Jean's death, she had gone to ask Scott to borrow it, and he had just given it to her, and wouldn't allow her to give it back. She sat in the driver's seat, closed the door, started the car, and opened the garage door.

It took her three hours to drive to Jersey City from upstate New York. Around 9:30, she drove her car into the parking lot of a dark storage facility she and Kurt had chosen as their meeting place.

Locking the doors with a beep and pocketing the keys, she stuffed her hands in her pockets and started up one of the aisles. The old yellow lights on the walls weren't much to see by, so she concentrated on her eyesight, and felt a small film slide down over her eyes. Now everything was clearer, and more defined, almost like it was daylight outside. Ahead, a small black puff of smoke appeared, and rhinestones glittered in the yellow light. Lexiss smiled, but it became more of a wry twist of the lips.

"Kurt," she said warmly, quickening her step and embracing him. His tail swished around as he hugged her in return.

"Guten tag," he said in his thick accent. As she stepped back, he looked down at her with those curious yellow eyes of his. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.

She arched an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I?" she asked. Kurt merely shrugged.

"Alright," he said. "I can't do it all in one jump," he said.

Lexiss nodded. "I figured. How many trips will it take?" Kurt's tail twitched.

"Cross-country… nine or ten, I think." Her throat involuntarily tightened, but she forced herself to breathe, and looked at her watch.

"We have twenty minutes until that meeting starts. Will that be enough time?"

Kurt nodded. "We'll be cutting it close, but yes, I think." She consciously kept herself from clenching her fingers. Twenty minutes of teleporting. The only thing that would be worse was flying or drowning, neither of which she preferred over the other. "Are you ready?" Kurt asked. She nodded. "Are you sure? You look a little pale-"

"I'm fine, Kurt. I just don't like teleporting, you know that," she said. Kurt bowed his head respectfully, guessing the reason of her sudden, unusual harshness. He took her hand.

"Ready?"

She squeezed his hand. "Ready." He counted off for her.

"One… two…" She took a deep breath.

"Three."

- - - - -

A few seconds later, Lexiss' Converse hit wet pavement, and she gasped for air, hand to her throat. She didn't recognize the street, or any of the surrounding buildings. Already she was out of her comfort zone. Trip One.

"One, two, three." Blackness. No air. Blackness. And then, sudden light. Lexiss and Kurt appeared under a streetlight on a dry, white sidewalk. Trip Two. She exhaled shakily.

"Are you alright?" Kurt asked. She nodded, brushing back her hair.

"Just keep going, please," she asked. Kurt nodded, and took a firmer grip on her hand.

Blackness. Grass. Three.

Blackness. Sand. Four.

Blackness. Parking lot. Five.

Blackness. Puddles. Six.

Blackness. Gravel. Seven.

Then Kurt took a break. Seven trips spanning states at a time took a lot of effort. His breathing was slightly labored. Lexiss squeezed Kurt's hand reassuringly.

"Just take your time," she said. He looked at her, and then there was blackness as she landed on a dingy, dirty street. Trash and old newspapers were blowing and stuck to the wet, cracked pavement.

"We're here," Kurt said, his breathing slowly returning to normal. She looked around.

"Are you sure he's going to be here?" Lexiss asked, taking a few steps forward. This time, Kurt arched an eyebrow at her. "Right. Sorry. In here?" she asked, pointing to the old church ahead. He nodded. As she started forward, though, he stopped her, and pulled her hood up over her head, almost down to her eyes. Then he pulled up his own.

"You are a very powerful mutant, Lexiss. And we wouldn't want anyone recognizing us, would we?" She shook her head, and followed him inside the building.

Probably close to 90 mutants were inside, listening to a man up on what an old stage. The low buzz of talking filled the air. Lexiss and Kurt positioned themselves at the very back, against the wall, keeping to themselves.

"This is about getting organized," the oddly-shaped mutant on the stage said, "bringing our complaints to the right people." Lexiss snorted to herself, and Kurt flashed her a white-toothed grin.

She took the opportunity to observe all the mutants in the room. They were all the same sort of mutant clique; dyed hair, tattoos, piercings. Rebels. Anarchists. Misfits of society. That sort of thing. She tuned back into the strange-faced mutant with his whimsical ideas of an understanding government.

"They don't understand what it means to be a mutant. We need to show them, educate them, let them know that we're here to stay." She sighed to herself.

"Sounds nice, doesn't it?" she asked. Kurt nodded slightly.

"If only," he replied. She smirked.

"They won't take us seriously-"

"They wanna exterminate us," someone from the crowd shouted.

"This cure is voluntary," the man on stage countered. "No one's talking about extermination!"

"No one ever talks about it," another strong voice from the crowd said. "They just do it." Lexiss shuddered, eyes frenziedly searching for the silvery head she knew the voice belonged to. It appeared from behind a half wall just ahead of where she and Kurt were standing. She involuntarily turned her face away and pulled the edge of her hood along with it.

"And you go on with your lives," Magneto continued, "ignoring the signs all around you!" A blonde head followed him, and although the last time she saw John he had brown hair, she could recognize that gait anywhere, even from behind.

Magneto led John up to the stage. He pushed the mutant who had previously been speaking back and left the stage open for Magneto. "And then one night, when the air was still and the night has fallen… they come for you." The mutant John had taken care of tried to speak up, but Magneto cut him off. "It's only then you realize, while you were talking about organizing and committees, the extermination has already begun. Make no mistake, my brothers. They will draw first blood." It frightened Lexiss how calm and still John was.

"They will force their cure upon us," Magneto went on. "The only question is, will you join my brotherhood and fight… or wait for the inevitable genocide?" Kurt leaned close to her.

"He speaks as if it shall be a holocaust," he said. Lexiss lifted her chin just slightly.

"I think he believes it will be," she replied.

"Who will you stand with – the humans… or us?" With that, he stepped off the stage. John obediently followed, and they strode through the murmuring pews until they were stopped by a few mutants. Lexiss started to take a step forward, but Kurt laid a very firm hand on her shoulder and stopped her. She put up just a smidge of struggle, and then relented when she saw John clench his hand and then light a flame. She saw a large black strap across his hand, and her heart sank in dismay. Apparently, as well as growing out of Xavier's school, he had grown out of the Zippo she had given him as well. She didn't even want to think of Trisha's ring.

"Can we go, please?" she asked Kurt, turning away slightly. He nodded, and Lexiss turned and started following him toward the door, all the while keeping the group of mutants congregated around Magneto – and, more importantly, John – in the corner of her eye.

One of the women, one with darker skin and long, glossy black hair, ran to the stage and back to Magneto in less that a second. They spoke for a few moments, and then, just as Lexiss and Kurt had reached the door, everyone turned to look at the two of them.

Lexiss quickly averted her eyes and pushed Kurt forward with such force he stumbled through the door he had just pulled open.

"What?!" he asked, wheeling around.

"We need to go now, Kurt! Now!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck. He didn't question her, and just as she felt the cells of her body disintegrating for teleportation, the church door banged open again, and she saw a shock of blonde hair.

- - - - -

John followed Magneto as he started walking back through the pews.

"You talk pretty tough for a guy in a cape," a male voice said behind them. John turned, and lit a flame in his hand.

"Back off," he said, stopping the Asian-looking man in his tracks. He let the flame die, and turned to look at Magneto while a… voluptuous women began to speak. He looked her up and down, and approval clicked in his brain.

"If you're so proud of being a mutant, where's your mark?" she asked. Hers was arched across her cleavage and tattooed down her cheek. Her female companion, not so full but not as hot, had one on her neck, while the man who had spoken first had tattooed fangs beneath his lower lip.

Magneto took in some air. "I have been marked once, my dear, and let me assure you, no needle shall ever touch my skin again," he said, revealing the tattooed brand he had 'attained' at a concentration camp during the German Holocaust in the '40s.

"You know who you're talkin' to?" John asked. The fanged man looked at him, and hundreds of thin, sharp spikes popped out of his face and head.

"Do you?" he asked. John looked at him, and smirked.

"And what can you do?" Magneto asked the woman who had spoken. She turned, ran to the front stage, and returned in the blink of an eye. "Mmm. So, you have talents," Magneto said vaguely. She tilted her head in a challenging way.

"That and more. I know you control metal, and I know there's 87 mutants in here and none of them above a Class 3… other than you two," she said. She knew what she was talking about; John gave her that.

"And that girl leaving is stronger than both of you combined," she finished.

John and Magneto turned, and he just barely caught sight of the pale face peeking out from under a dark hood before she pushed her companion forward. He thought he saw the tip of a blue tail beneath the coat of the man she had pushed.

Barely glancing at Magneto, he took quick steps to follow her. He pushed open the door just in time to see the dark-haired girl, hood fallen, throwing her arms around the neck of her apparent escort and disappearing in a puff of black smoke. John stood in the doorway, staring in disbelief.

- - - - -

An hour later, John was settling himself behind the wheel of a sleek black sedan as Magneto sat in the passenger's seat. However, he didn't start the car.

"It was her."

Magneto exhaled. "We have a prison transport to catch up to, Pyro-"

"It was her!" he interrupted, slamming his fist against the top of the steering wheel.

"John!!" Magneto said firmly and in as loud a voice as he ever used. Clenching his teeth, John gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. "I'll not tolerate you undermining my authority like that again!" John sat in the seat, barely listening… but listening. "If it was her – IF –" Magneto reiterated when John tried to speak, "she obviously didn't want to see you considering she ran away from you."

"She was with that teleporter! Him and the rest of the X-Men probably turned her against me or made her afraid of me or something!" he shouted. He put as much disdain into that single word – X-Men – as he could.

"Then there is no reason for chasing after her. Do you understand me?" Magneto said in a fierce, hushed tone of voice.

"She's a Class 5 mutant, she could-"

"She's no good if she's too afraid or too angry to use her power. Now, do you understand me?"

John waited as long as he thought safe or wise before sullenly replying, "Yes."

Magneto nodded. "Good. Now," he started, facing out the windshield and readjusting his cloak, "we have a third member of our party to reunite with."

- - - - -

Lexiss and Kurt teleported backwards to the gravel, and then to the puddles, and then to the parking lot, and then to the sand. There, she pushed away from Kurt and stumbled backwards, sitting down hard in the sand. It was a beach, she then noticed, bordering some lake somewhere west of New York and east of San Francisco. She bent her knees and rested her elbows on them, taking deep, slow breaths.

"Are you alright?" Kurt asked warily, taking a few steps closer to her.

"I'm fine… I'm fine…" she panted. "Just give me a minute. I'll be OK…" Her teleporting claustrophobia was combining with the realization John really had turned away from the X-Men, and had completely joined Magneto and this so-called Brotherhood of Mutants.

She sat on that beach for probably twenty minutes, hyperventilating into her lap while Kurt sat as a comforting presence next to her. Finally, sniffing, she raised her head and stood, helping Kurt up as well.

"Come on," she said, touching his arm so she could go back home. "I'm exhausted, I just want to go home and go to bed," she said with an attempt at a smile.

Kurt nodded. "Alright."

They finished the return trip, from the beach to the grass to the sidewalk to the street, and then finally back to the storage facility where they had begun. Lexiss yawned widely. "Do you want to come back to the mansion with me?" she asked Kurt as the two of them started walking toward the car. "Storm'll be there…" she added in a singsong voice.

He looked sideways at her. "Storm? Are you sure you're OK?" She nodded.

"I'm just…really tired, all of a sudden…" She leaned up against the hood of the car. He put his hand out.

"Give me the keys, please," he asked. Sighing, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the requested object with a jingle, and he walked her to the passenger's side of the car. Kurt opened the door for her, and she dropped down inside, barely remembering to buckle her seatbelt. He got behind the wheel and started the car.

The green digital clock came on in the dash, and it said 10:07. Lexiss started laughing dryly.

"What is so funny?" Kurt inquired. She pointed at the clock.

"All of that took only half an hour…" she replied with an almost delirious grin. Laughter fading into a sigh, she leaned back in her seat, head against the window. The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was Kurt merging onto the highway.

- - - - -

Storm paced the front hall of the mansion, arms crossed, unsure of whether to be angry or worried. As of now, she was a compilation of the two. She turned and glared at Logan, who was sitting comfortably on the entrance hall stairs.

"How can you so calm? It's almost 2:30 in the morning!!" she burst. Rogue and Bobby were sitting on a small couch in the foyer a few steps to the right of the stairs.

"Lex is a smart kid, she's not going to get into trouble," Logan replied.

"Oh, she's gonna be in trouble when she gets back," she said. Angry it is, then. The professor was in his chair beside the stairs. He couldn't be of much help, however, because Lexiss had apparently wrapped a wall around her mind, as the professor described it, which would not let him through.

The five of them looked up when the front door clicked and started to swing inward. It revealed Kurt, with a sleeping Lexiss in his arms. He seemed a little startled to see the welcoming committee standing there.

"O-Oh… Guten tag," he said, bowing his head slightly. "I did not wish to startle anyone, so I used the front door," he said in explanation, his accent thick.

"Oh my God…" Storm breathed in relief. "Um, Bobby, can you take her-"

"Yea," Bobby said quickly, getting up and taking Lexiss from Kurt's arms. He and Rogue took her upstairs to her bedroom. Kurt bowed his head seemingly in embarrassment.

"I am sorry it took so long… I am not used to driving," he replied.

"Where were you?" Logan asked calmly, crossing his arms.

"I met her in Jersey City, and took her to San Francisco. She was looking for somebody, a boy named John. I am afraid I do not know him well from my last meeting with all of you. I am sorry I acted without your permission," Kurt said, abashed.

Storm hugged Kurt. "No, it's alright; thank you for bringing her back," she said warmly.

"Kurt," Professor Xavier said, rolling up to him. "Did she find John?" Kurt nodded. The professor's eyes grew more intense.

"Was he with anyone?" he asked gravely. Kurt nodded again.

"Yes, he was with Magneto, the man from last time. Him, I remember." The professor sighed, and a silence ensued that was broken many seconds later when Storm extended an invitation for Kurt to stay the night. Kurt respectfully declined.

"I have other matters to deal with; a cure to consider." Storm stared at him. "I wish you only the best," he said. Kurt put his hand on Storm's shoulder. "Please be kind to her; she is going through a terrible time." He looked around at everyone in the foyer. "I do not know about the rest of you, but I myself do not know how to help her."

- - - - -

I love it when people talk about other people while they're sleeping. It's quite amusing for me to write. Anyway, please review, because I also love hearing what my readers think!