Chapter 8: the invisible man. the mummy. the wolf girl. the end.
Have you thought about it?
I've though about it.
And…
And I've decided to reopen the school for new admissions.
Charles, that's wonderful news.
You were right. We can't claim to be a school with only six students and you know what that means come tax season.
I'll give Rahne the news right away.
I'm very excited to finally meet her. She's fourteen now right?
Yes. Starting high school. I'm sure she'll be excited to meet you too, once I tell her who you are.
Moira, you mean in the past three years, you haven't mentioned me once? Why I've practically watched her grow up.
You know me Charles. I don't mix my personal life with my business life. Except for when they mix of course.
I can't believe after all we've been through you still don't consider me as part of your personal life.
Charles, even when you were my personal life, you were still only a part of my business life. Just think of yourself as the man behind the curtain. The man that's important enough to keep around even though he doesn't get seen.
Uh huh, you just wait for Rahne to start here and we'll see what she really thinks of you.
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Rahne looks out the window of the plane. This is her first time on a plane and she insists long before that she will have the window seat in order to experience every second of her journey. But nobody told her it'd be so boring. Sky looks like sky from any angle.
She sighs. At least if they were sitting by the wings she could be on the lookout for that Twilight Zone monster that attacks plane engines. In the movie, John Lithgow scares the monster away with a gun, but they did a thorough check of all passengers for any 'weapons' before letting anyone on this plane. Terrorist threat and all. But when an imaginative girl watches too much fantasy and sci-fi the real threat is the monsters. She's at least glad they don't screen for mutants, you know, so she can protect herself just in case the monster decides to come inside before the plane falls to it's horrific fiery death.
Moira looks over at the seat next to her. Rahne slumps with her arms crossed on the armrest and her chin sits listlessly on it. She stares out the window but Moira can still see the boredom in her face.
"You know," she attempts to break the silence. "When some people reach a certain comfort level with their gifts, like a kind of acceptance, they sometimes rename themselves."
Rahne turns around. "I like Rahne. My mother gave me that name."
"I know. I like it too." Moira smiles while fiddling with the end of her headset wire. "It would still be your name. This is more like a nickname. You know when someone has a bubbly personality, people start calling them, I don't know. Bubbles?" she says sarcastically. "Your name comes from who you are and shapes who you will be."
"Do you not have a name because you don't have 'gifts'?"
"You don't think I have gifts?" she asks in mock hurt.
"No," she stifles a chuckle. "That's not what I meant."
"I feel like I have my own name. Doctor. I wasn't born with it you know. And I don't know, I think it fits."
"It does, doesn't it?" Rahne stops tracing the shapes on the fabric of the seat in front of her with her finger and looks up at Moira. "So something like the Wolf Girl?" she asks still unsure of the idea.
"That sounds more like one of those old monster movies. You know, The Mummy. The Invisible Man. The Wolf Girl."
"What if I spell it with U's?" Moira stares at her. "What? I like U's." She starts tapping her foot against the side of the plane unconsciously.
"I don't know. I've never been a big fan of just putting random letters places."
"Um… wolf, er wolverine?" She cocks an eyebrow.
"No." Moira laughs. "Definitely not Wolverine."
"I don't know." Rahne sighs exasperated as she sinks back into her seat. "Maybe I'm not ready yet."
"How about this? What if I give you a name?" She turns her head towards Rahne as she asks permission. "Would that be okay?"
"I guess," she responds then smiles enthusiastically. "Yeah."
Moira waits a moment. "What about Wolf's-bane?"
"Wolfsbane?"
"Yeah. I know you kind of grew up on the Chronicles of Narnia. Isn't Wolf's-bane the name they give Peter in the first book?"
"Yeah," she scoffs. Then she adds slowly and deliberately as if talking to a very slow child. "The bane of wolves. Because he kills a wolf."
"It wasn't because he killed a wolf. He saves Susan. Classic good over evil."
Rahne raises her eyebrows. "I didn't know you were interested in C.S. Lewis." She gets up slightly to sit on one of her legs.
"I wasn't… not until about three years ago." She adds nonchalantly. She smiles at the flight attendant for bringing her drink. "Oh, also, wolfsbane is a plant that people used to turn themselves into werewolves."
Rahne pulls down her tray and puts it back up as she fidgets restlessly. "It's hard to imagine people wanted to be this way."
"Stop pretending that you don't."
She smiles. It's funny how well Moira has come to know her. "You already put a lot of thought into this, didn't you?"
Moira takes another sip from her clear plastic glass. "Maybe."
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Charles wheels into the main lobby with Moira walking beside him and Rahne beside her. A taller student with brown hair and red sunglasses stands up when he sees them approach. Another student with blonde hair simply watches them over the top of her magazine.
"I'd like you to meet some of the other students. You're a little early for the school year so there are only four here at the time." The taller boy walks up to them. "This is Scott."
He offers Moira and Rahne a hand, which they both accept. "Hi. Rahne right?" She nods in the affirmative.
The Professor points to the blonde. "And Tabitha." Rahne raises a hand towards her direction.
She closes her magazine but keeps her finger in it to mark her spot as she looks the other girl over with her eyes. "Nice hair," she adds with a smile but Rahne can't tell if she's being sincere or not.
There's a rush of sound coming from the entranceway and three identical boys enter. They see the crowd and immediately merge into a blushing one. "Sorry."
"I believe you've already met Jamie."
"Charmed… again." He says with a smirk. Rahne smiles.
"You don't talk a whole lot do you?" This comes from the couch. The one called Tabitha. (1)
"I do when I have to." Rahne counters.
"Well that'll be a nice change," Scott says giving a head nod in Tabitha's direction.
"Zip it, four-eyes." The blonde gives him a death glare before returning to her magazine. "Or is it one-eye?" Although no one can tell behind that red glass, Scott rolls his eyes. "At least I don't talk to myself, out loud."
"Hey!" the little one whines. He looks to Rahne. "It's not like I always have a choice." Then back to Tabitha. "I can't read minds. Oh, no offense, Professor."
"Of course not," he smiles kindly.
"Rahne," Moira puts a hand on Rahne's back. "Why don't you take a look around the mansion. I have some business to discuss with the Professor."
She looks up at Moira. "Okay, mum."
"Come on," Scott offers. "Let's meet Rogue.
"Oh, Scott," Jaime adds, "then can we go to the garage so she can see the cars?" He turns to Rahne. "They're really cool."
"Sure. Maybe we'll even see Wolverine there."
Rahne chuckles as they walk off and Scott and Jamie share a look as neither of them can figure out why.
Moira and Charles walk and wheel respectively away as well, leaving the blonde alone to enjoy page 86 of her magazine.
"I didn't realize she was calling you that now."
Moira puts a hand on the Professor's shoulder. "Well, Charles, I am her mother. What should she be calling me?"
(1) As long as it saves Marvel some money from hiring a fulltime voice actor right?
Special thanks to nikeon and wolfbane chris for reviewing. It made my day. And thanks to everyone that even read this. I hope I did Rahne justice and I hope you enjoyed it.
Sorry. I didn't realize the last line ended up sounding cryptic. It's just that she's been raising Rahne for three years and has become her mother. Rahne's biological mother is still dead.
