"Wake up, kid." Logan said roughly, prodding Taryn awkwardly as she lay in bed, still tangled up in my covers.
"Don't wanna," she grumbled, blindly throwing a pillow in the direction of his voice. Logan rolled his eyes. He did not enjoy dealing with these teenagers sometimes. Especially when they were being lazy.
"Storm says we have a visitor requesting all of us to meet in the office." He said pointedly. Taryn opened her eyes and rubbed them, looking at Logan skeptically.
"So we're gonna try to pack the whole school into the office—"
"Not the whole school, Sleeping Beauty," Logan snapped, "Just us."
"Who's us?" Taryn asked, attempting to raise an eyebrow just as John always did, but only managed to raise both, looking quite silly and rather confused. Logan allotted himself a small chuckle at this.
"The X-Men," Logan said matter-of-factly. This woke Taryn up.
"You mean…but I'm not –"
"You're one of us, now, kid." He said, in a tone warmer than that to which Taryn was accustomed him using towards her. "Now get up before we change our minds." And with that, he left the room, while Taryn rolled groggily out of bed and got ready.
In about ten minutes, Taryn deemed herself presentable and walked out into the hallway, where she proceeded to run right into John, who, as it seemed, had obviously been waiting for her.
"So they woke you up for this too," she said with a slight shrug. "C'mon, they'll be on our asses for ages if we take any longer."
They went down to what had once been Professor Xavier's study, where they found the rest of the X-Men waiting, along with a woman in a stark white lab coat, accompanied by a man in a wheelchair who kept his back turned. The woman, however, Taryn had seen before. She was a doctor that Taryn recognized from television, but a name didn't come quickly to mind…
"This is Doctor Moira MacTaggart." Storm said, referring to the woman.
That's it. Taryn thought. With that mystery aside, she turned her attention to the figure in the wheelchair, which did not go unnoticed by the lady doctor.
"I believe that the young lady has caught on to something?" she said, nodding warmly towards Taryn.
"Oh, it's nothing," she said, blushing slightly at being acknowledged. "But…" she paused and made eye contact with Moira, who maintained a slightly creepy, knowing smile. "If you don't mind me asking, who is that you brought with you?"
"You ask too many questions," John said with a yawn and a stretch, earning a poignantly annoyed look from everyone else in the room, except for Taryn, who held eye contact with Moira.
"I was hoping you'd ask," she replied, her smile widening. Then, she pivoted her head slightly towards the turned figure. "If you would turn around, Charles."
There was a collective gasp as the chair turned around, revealing Professor Charles Xavier, looking slightly more pale, if that was possible, tired, but otherwise in apparent good health. After the shock, each individual response varied. Logan let out a slightly undignified noise, which could have been mistaken for either a cough or a snort; Storm silently allowed her jaw to drop, running her hand through her white hair, all the while unable to blink or avert her gaze. Taryn spun around and covered her eyes as if she'd seen a ghost after letting out a disbelieving "Oh my God," running almost headfirst into Rogue, who caught her and got her back on her feet. John, for perhaps the first time anyone in the room was aware of, had absolutely nothing to say, and if he had still been surgically attached to his Zippo lighter, he would have nonetheless dropped it in his astonishment; Warren cleared his throat and attempted to maintain his composure, albeit staring in complete shock. Bobby glanced around uncomfortably and ran his hand over his head, not sure how to react.
"I take it I've been missed," he said with a slight smile. "And I'm very sincerely touched by that. But I am, however, quite glad that you all have learned from me and run the school so well in my absence."
"We're just glad that you're back," Storm said tearily.
"I believe that quite a bit of commendation is in order for one among us," The Professor said. They all glanced around at one another, not completely sure what the Professor was talking about, but most of them had somewhat of an idea. "Taryn, what you did, going to find Magneto, was quite noble of you."
"Noble?" Taryn said with a dark laugh. "It was stupid. I brought back the worst thing that every happened to any of us." At this, John gave a slightly pained looked that went unnoticed by everyone except for Warren, who gave him a brief glare through narrowed eyes.
"It still stands," Charles continued in a comfortingly sincere tone, "that you returned to a man in full measure the one thing he has always lived for."
"I did something stupid." She insisted. Xavier realized that, for the time being, there would be no changing her mind, and found it best to address the rest of the group. After a few more words with all of them, consisting of quite a few tearful "Welcome back"'s, he dismissed them, keeping Taryn behind to have a few more words with her.
"Juno," he said, referring to her by her mutant name for one of the few times ever, "You've grown so much in so little time, and there are barely words to describe the pride I possess in your progress, both mentally and with your mutation."
"Thanks," Taryn muttered quietly.
"However," the Professor continued, "Things have died down for the time being, and perhaps the time has come to remember that, regardless of how much you've grown, you are still young."
Taryn stared at him as though he had just poured a glass of ice cold water down her back.
"Enjoy your life." The Professor said simply. "And that's an order, Miss Lawson."
With an awkward but still appreciative smile, Taryn nodded. The Professor motioned towards the door, signaling that it was finally fine for her to leave. She gave a deep, heaving breath and stepped out the door. However, she found that she had someone waiting for her.
"John." Taryn said with a slight nod, still reeling from the Professor's advice.
"Hey," he said, awkwardly cracking his neck and toeing the ground. "Do you think we could go for a walk or something?"
"A walk?"
"Yeah, you know," John shrugged, "I think you kinda got the wrong idea from the last time we talked and stuff."
"And stuff." Taryn repeated with a laugh. She nodded towards the downstairs exit door amicably. "Come on."
The two of them walked out silently, glancing at one another on occasion while keeping their hands in their pockets. They went outside and walked around the garden, by the basketball courts, and stopped on the walkway over the pond as John started laughing.
"What's so funny?" Taryn asked with an amused look.
"You don't remember where we are?" he asked, gesturing outwards. "We were standing here when we first met." Taryn grinned, thinking back about maybe three years…
John and Bobby were standing on opposite sides of the walkway on the pond one afternoon, just two days after John had first arrived at the school. He had been eyeing a certain Bobby Drake ever since he had first walked into the classroom – overly competitive, maybe, but still, all in good fun.
"C'mon big shot, I wanna see what you can do!" John called out to the curly-haired boy on the opposite side.
Bobby lifted his hands passively and shook his head. "Listen, new guy—"
"The name's John."
"Okay, John," Bobby said patronizingly. "I don't need to prove myself to anybody—"
"You're scared!" John taunted in a singsong voice.
"No way!" Bobby said, finally giving in and forming orbs of ice in his hands. "Let's—"
"Are you two trying to get in trouble?" said a female voice, which belonged to a small girl with her shiny brown hair tied back into a high, tight ponytail with long bangs tickling her face in the breeze. "Because if you are, it better wait until I get inside."
Bobby rolled his eyes, good-natured but still obviously ruffled. "You don't need to boss everybody around," He muttered as he walked off.
"Aww, cool it, Ice Man!" Taryn laughed at his distancing back. She jumped slightly when the other boy came up behind her and nudged her in the shoulder. As he laughed, he held out his hand.
"John," he nodded as she shook his outstretched palm. With his free left hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a Zippo lighter emblazoned with a shark, flipping it open and causing a tongue of flame to shoot out, dance a circle around Taryn, and sink back into the lighter. "Pyro."
"Killer," Taryn replied with a smile, eyeing the lighter with quite a bit of interest. "New here?"
"Man…" Taryn laughed, looking back up at the present day John, who was laughing at the goofy grin on her face. "If somebody would've told me that we'd be like this right now, way back then…"
"I remember how you got insanely jealous when Rogue first got here." John smirked.
"Insanely jealous?" Taryn repeated incredulously. "You were showing off!"
"We weren't even together yet!" John said through almost side-splitting laughter. "But we were the day after."
"I still remember the look on everyone's face when they first found out." Taryn laughed quietly, then added with a slightly melancholy face, "They gave us two weeks, tops."
"You okay?" John asked, tilting her chin up to look him in the eye.
Taryn moved backwards, away from him, and looked away uncomfortably. "When did everything get so messed up?" she asked quietly. John shuffled his foot on the ground, not quite sure of what to say. "So, Magneto's back." Taryn said, finally gathering up the courage to mention it to him. "Are you gonna pack up and leave again?" John looked up at her and rolled his shoulders. "Well, are you?"
"I thought about it," John said honestly. Taryn let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair, which was still slightly messy from being woken so abruptly. "I don't want to go this time."
"If I wasn't here, what would you have decided to do?" Taryn asked, crossing her arms.
"What does it matter? You are here." John said, cautiously stepping forward and placing his hands on her shoulders. "I don't really know what I'm supposed to do, but I'm gonna figure out how to do it. And I'm gonna be everything you want." He looked Taryn in the eye, then looked away quickly, turning away from her. "Everything that Angel already is."
"John, don't talk like that." She said, moving closer to him so that her face was barely an inch away from his shoulder. He flinched slightly. This was the first time she'd gotten that close to him since he'd come back and hadn't yelled in his face. With a short but insistent nudge, she turned him around and looked at him. "I never asked you for more than you could give."
John was floored. He stared at her, opening and closing his mouth, trying to find words, finding nothing could come out. Taryn smirked slightly at this, and suddenly, it was like old times. She caught him off guard, being all cute and sweet, and he didn't know what to say, except for…
"Taryn, I love you."
Taryn's eyes went round as saucers. "What?" she said, stepping back.
"I love you." John repeated, thinking that he might as well, seeing as he couldn't take it back, even if he wanted to. "You know that." He stepped forward, grabbing her hands, and slowly began inclining his head down to hers. He hadn't kissed her in months. And for a moment, it seemed as if she was going up on her toes to kiss him back –
Suddenly, with a very awkward, jerky movement, she pushed him away, shoving him off of the walkway, and into the pond, gasping through her hands, "I can't do this." She looked at him, sputtering in waist-deep water, and said, "Whatever we had, it's over. I'm—" she paused, right before finishing her apology, and stared at him. "No. I'm not the one who should be sorry."
And she ran off to find Warren, leaving a very confused, and very wet John Allerdyce in the pond, dragging himself out
Meanwhile, Angel was sitting in living room with the other X-Men, all of them doing various things, including eating, playing pool, foosball, watching TV. He noticed Taryn come running in, looking very out of breath, and rush straight up to him.
"Taryn, are you okay?" He said, placing his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down. "Did something—"
"I choose you!" she blurted suddenly, which caused everyone to drop what they were doing and stare, all with different expressions on their faces, ranging from shock, to amusement, to elation. Warren gaped at her slightly, his puzzled expression raising a very amused smile onto Taryn's face. "Yeah," she panted, "Warren, I want to be with you."
"What about Pyro?" he asked, trying to mask the smile on his face.
"I got the closure I needed," Taryn said, shaking her head. For a second, both of them beamed at each other, savoring the moment before the rest of the people in the room began buzzing around them. Taryn and Warren found that the crowd had pulled them off separately to talk to them about this new arrangement.
"Bobby!" Taryn said, seeing him in the crowd. "I haven't gotten a chance to talk to you in a while…How's everything with Rogue?"
"Shaky," he shrugged. "But we're working it out. She said she wanted to talk to me today. Maybe things are gonna get better faster than we think."
Meanwhile, Rogue had finally gotten Warren aside.
"So, Angel," she said with a slight laugh. "Looks like you've finally landed the quite coveted Taryn Lawson." Warren reddened slightly and chuckled at how Rogue had put it. "You couldn't have made a better choice," Rogue continued, "But she can be a wild one – it's what everybody loves about her."
"And I'd never try to change her," Warren said, spotting that Taryn was finally free and walking over to her.
"Do we get to see a big kiss?" Jubilee taunted loudly. Taryn looked at the younger girl and rolled her eyes.
"I don't mind," Warren said with a grin. Taryn looked at him, and without hesitation, kissed him quite soundly, much to the appreciation of the other teenagers in the room. She pulled away after a good ten seconds, just barely glimpsing a very wet figure walking through the main door, up the stairs, and out of sight. A pang of guilt hit her –
"Are you all right?" Warren asked quietly so no one could hear.
"Yeah, just tired." Taryn said, shaking her head dismissively. She yelped loudly in surprise when Warren swept her off of her feet.
"Then get some rest, missy," he laughed, unfurling his wings and swooping her up the stairs and to her dorm room door. "A midday nap won't hurt you." He grinned, kissing her on the cheek and walking off as she opened her door and slumped onto the bed inside.
In a few minute, Rogue walked in and sat with a 'harumph' onto her own bed. She looked over at Taryn and managed a tired smile. "So, congratulations,"
"Yeah, thanks." Taryn sighed. She noticed how down Rogue looked. "Something the matter?"
"Bobby and I are split." Rogue said simply, picking at a tendril of her long hair. She noticed Taryn's pitying expression and forced another smile. "Oh, no, I broke it off with him." Rogue explained. "Bobby'd never say anything, but I know that neither of us were happy anymore."
"I really thought you two were going to work it out," Taryn said.
"Oh, quit being such a downer!" Rogue said, sitting up. "You're supposed to be happy!"
"Oh yeah," Taryn said quietly, unable to rid her mind of the image of John walking in, just as everyone was cheering on Taryn and Warren's first real, official kiss. "What if I'm not doing the right thing? John needs me—"
"You can be there for him without being with him." Rogue pointed out.
"He won't let me—"
"He'll take you any way he can have you," Rogue said knowingly. "He loves you, and everybody knows that. But you can't help it if he's not the one who makes you happy."
"I feel like a selfish bitch," Taryn said with an ironic smile. "Maybe I should've waited longer, until he got himself straight."
"You would've been lying," Rogue said. "And that would've made it harder on both of you."
"All of this could've been avoided if he could just hate me and forgot that I even existed," Taryn said. "But I know he won't."
"It'll turn out fine." Rogue assured. Taryn glanced at her skeptically.
"Yeah, sure."
A/N
Yikes, been a while since I've updated. Almost a month, huh? Guh. Been dealing with stuff lately, but I'm better now!
You know, I just noticed how funny 'Taryn and Warren' sound together. They rhyme!
Green Bird, I swear, sometimes I think you've read my story before I even put it up. I won't divulge much, because it would ruin the good stuff, but I'm going to say that I hope you like how I work Gambit into the story. Suffice it to say that when he does come thundering in, it won't be exactly as in the comic, but it's not going to be a smooth transition for anybody.
Also, since my reviewers have been SO awesome, I've decided to give a few hints over the course and let you guys play around with them in your heads and try to predict what's gonna happen.
Hint Numero Uno: There will be a brief appearance by the Four Horsemen in a later chapter. And by later, I mean a while from now. Because, if you know about the Horsemen, arrangements have to be made in order to acquire Death…
Review, please? And I won't be so slow with the updates this time!