21 January

Horizon. -n. 1. the line or a circle that forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky 2. a. the small circle of the celestial sphere whose plane is tangent to the earth at the position of a given observer, or the plane of such a circle b. also called the rational horizon. the great circle of the celestial sphere whose plane passes through the center of the earth and is parallel to the sensible horizon of a give position, or the plane of such a circle 3. the limit or range of perception, knowledge, or the like 4. usually, horizons. the scope of a person's interest, education, understand, etc. 5. a thin, distinctive stratum used for stratigraphic correlation 6. any of the series of distinctive layers found in a vertical cross section of a well-developed soil

"It's freezin' out here," Rogue hissed under her breath. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, trying to create friction.

"Shh!" Banshee hushed quickly. "Your uniform should take care o' the cold."

"Well, it doesn't," Rogue argued. "An' Ah wasn't loud t' begin with."

"We shunnae be talkin' at all," Banshee explained. He held out a hand to grab Rogue by the shoulder, stopping their progress. "Jus' up ahead is where the kill switch should be. If they hear us, we're done for."

Rogue squinted to look ahead at what Banshee was talking about, but couldn't see anything new. "Here Ah thought, you were the loud one."

Banshee started forward again, masking his footsteps' crunches in the snow. "Don't mean I can't be quiet, lass. C'mon, follow."

Advancing forward as cautiously as she could, try as she might, she wasn't able to achieve the same quiet step her teammate was. While she knew it shouldn't bother her, she found herself a little frustrated she could be the reason their mission failed.

Banshee stopped again, holding out an arm despite the distance between him and Rogue. "Closer, lass."

Slowly, Rogue did as he told her. "What now?" she whispered.

"Sc - I mean, Cyclops's gotta know that we're gettin' close to accomplishin' the mission. He's gonna have his guard up."

"So?"

"Do you hear Storm or Dazzler?"

Rogue paused and listened. "No. Ah hear the branches, but nothin' else."

"Exactly. Either they're waiting t' attack Cyclops at the last moment, or he's already gotten t' them. We gotta be careful."

Rogue huffed. "So what we jus' standin' 'round talkin' for, Sugah?"

"The kill switch should be jus' on the other side o' that trail. I'm gonna double back and try drawin' his attention. You hear me sonic scream, you run forward an' win this match for all'a us."

Instead of saying anything, Rogue gave Banshee a firm nod. While she heard his footsteps, they were faint, and quickly disappeared until all she heard again was her breath and the slight wind through the skeleton trees. She waited patiently a few minutes, but when she heard nothing more, she began to get antsy again. The cold was seeping through her bones even through her supposedly "isolated" costume, and she had nothing to do. Even so, she waited for his scream.

"Ah don't like this," Rogue eventually muttered. She shifted in the snow, looking all around her. She didn't see any movement, she hadn't heard anyone, and she was fairly certain that something had happened to Banshee's plan. She decided it was up to her, and only her, to finish the simulation.

Stretching out her limbs, in case she'd need to move more quickly and athletically than she was accustomed to, Rogue measured out the distance she'd need to sprint in order to pull the kill switch Banshee had been talking about. With a deep breath, Rogue burst into motion.

And was immediately rejected.

Instead of darting forward across the trail, a beam of light battered her to the ground. The sudden change of momentum was enough to give her whiplash, but not enough for her to lose her spunk.

"What the hell was that?" Rogue shouted angrily. She gingerly picked herself off the ground and brushed snow off of her costume. As she did so, the scenery around the team gradually disappeared into the familiar landscape of the Danger Room.

"A lesson," Scott replied.

No longer feeling the need to brush herself off, Rogue stormed up in front of him. He was taller than her, but she was furious. "A lesson!? You realize this is a trainin' exercise for the team? Why -?"

"Rogue, stop." Something in Scott's steely voice caused Rogue to listen to him and clamp her jaws shut. "You can't win everything. You should rely on your teammates, but that won't always prevent you from getting hurt." He turned around to include the rest of her team. "You need to learn strategy and to utilize it." His gaze stopped on Storm, though no one could really see his eyes through his visor. "Go clean up and get ready for dinner."

When Scott turned his back, Sean walked up to Rogue's side. "For the record, lass, this lesson was rigged t' begin with."

"What happened to you, Storm, and Dazzler?" Rogue asked as if he hadn't said a thing.

"Took us out, same as you."

"No sound?"

"Lad's a master o' strategy."