AN: Hey all. Here it is! Another chapter for my wonderful story. Please read and review. Enjoy!

Special Thanks to:

Marauder Heir: Hey child. Thanks for the review. I'm expecting another review from ya, lol.

Miximonkee: Hi hi! Thanks for a great review Claire! Happiness. I'm really glad that you enjoy the story so far. I hope I can continue to do as well! Can't wait till the next time I can see ya so I can give ya your gift. It's just kinda sittin' there now, especially since I cleaned up my room. Sighs. Luv ya girl. Give me a call sometime.

Mercury Angel: Lol, actually I forgot Scott died too and that's why Jeans chapter was a little late… Sweatdrop, heh. I really can't stand Scott. I just had to kill him off, lol. Anyway, here's another chappie. Enjoy and let me know what ya think. And Claire's got her side story goin'… Where's yours? Huh? Hehe! Luv ya cuz!

Enjoy! And lots of luv!

Chapter 36

I know everyone was getting tired of training lately, but I just couldn't let them go into battle unprepared. I felt it coming. It was approaching fast, but we still had no idea which way it would go, if it was still humans against mutants or humans and mutants against… 'aliens'. I hate that word. I hate being clumped into one category. And what if they decide to attack the other planets after this? There are people on the planets without the ability to protect themselves. What do we do then? And from what I'd gathered last time, the planets were already at war. Am I worrying too much? Should I just let things unfold they way they will? Should I stop wondering and worrying about something I can't do anything about? I just don't know anymore.

xXx

Lily stared down at Emma Frost who only stared out the window blankly. She felt sorry for the woman, but at the same time thought she deserved to suffer just as much. Lily leaned down in front of woman, finally gaining her attention. Shaking her head, Lily stood once again. "It's your fault you know."

"You want to rub it in? Go ahead," Emma spat at her. "I know it was my fault. I didn't train them enough."

"You idiot!" Lily practically shouted. "It's not about how much you trained them. This would have happened anyway."

"Not if they were strong enough to defend themselves."

"But they were!" Lily lectured the woman. "Otherwise it wouldn't have taken us so many tries to destroy your school. The problem was in your beliefs. You can't even see the real problem here. You were so against everyone else it didn't matter that they might come to try and destroy you. You were so determined to hate the human race that you didn't see the mutants who actually tried hard to protect them… the ones who would even go behind your backs because they saw the truth. What if you were one of those people? How would you feel?"

"I'd rather die," Emma told the girl and went back to staring out the window. "There'd be no reason for me to live."

Lily screamed out in frustration and slammed her hand down on a desk. "Suite yourself. If that's what you think then fine. Forget it!" Lily rushed out of the woman's room, slamming the door behind her. She glanced over at Xavier who had stood outside waiting. Anger was clearly shown in her eyes and Xavier sighed sadly.

"Patience Lily."

"I don't have patience for this." She stomped down the hall, Xavier following closely behind her.

"Lily, I assigned you this task because I thought you could handle it," Xavier explained to the girl and stopped when Lily ceased her walking.

"I know Professor," she said without looking at the man. "I know you did, but I just… I hate stereotypes. I hate clumping people into categories, and I think it should never happen. I don't understand what goes on in people's minds, even if I can read their thoughts, it still makes no sense to me." Finally, she turned to face Xavier. "Professor, why did you decide to let us stay here even after the truth?"

"Because I understand how you feel Lily. To be shunned by others isn't a very pleasant thing, and even if you are aliens as they call them, you're still my student." He smiled when Lily was finally found crying. "I would never abandon you just as you would never abandon your friends."

"Thank you, Professor… for everything."

xXx

Logan was wandering around the Institute, trying to find a certain elf. He wasn't sure where she'd disappeared to, but for some reason he just really wanted to see her. He wasn't sure what it was, but ever since that first mission they'd been on, Logan had felt the need to be near the elf, and felt that she was the only actual person he could really talk to. He stopped when he reached some part of their woods where Micki was practicing. But it wasn't like any practice he'd ever seen her do before. She was sparing with Jen, and the elf moved with much more agility and speed than the blue haired girl. As far as Logan knew, Micki only possessed strength. Was this a part of her elven blood?

Logan's eyes widened when a small knife was suddenly thrown right past his head and hit a tree right behind him. Micki blinked at the man and shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was you."

Jen glared at the man, her blue eyes filled with furry. She picked up a water bottle, practically chugging down the whole thing. She then picked up her bag and glanced over at her friend. "I'm going back to the Institute. We can train another day I guess."

"Yeah, see ya." Micki watched as Jen walked away, disappearing into the trees, and then focused her attention on Logan once again. "So what do you want? I didn't think anyone would actually find us out here."

"Do you two always spar like that?"

"It's something our group does to keep ourselves in shape," Micki explained, taking a seat under a tree. "We don't only rely on our powers to save us. That would be pure idiocy."

"That's true," Logan said and took a seat next to Micki.

"So, you didn't answer my question. What do you want?"

"I just… I don't know… wanted to see you." He blinked when Micki suddenly smiled at him. It was a very pretty smile he wasn't sure if he'd ever seen her with before.

"That's sweet, but I'm not worth it," the girl explained as she suddenly rose from her seat. "First of all, I'm much younger than you and second of all we're completely different from one another."

"Micki…" He reached out, taking her hand.

"Me and you are no different from one another."

"Sure we are. Don't you listen to all those other people out there?" Micki told the man. "You're a mutant and I'm an alien… and not just any alien… an elven alien."

"And you think I care?"

"Well you should."

"That's for me to decide."

Micki blinked and smiled. "Thank you, but I just don't think I'm ready."

xXx

Jen threw down her bag on her bed and sat down at the desk, opening up her laptop. She started typing away when Lily stormed into the room. Blinking, Jen turned to face her cousin, giving her a very questioning look, but Lily only shook her head and climbed onto her bed.

Jen shut her laptop and rose from her seat, making her way over to her cousin. "Lily, what's wrong?" she asked the black haired girl.

"I can feel it," Lily told her cousin. "Their anger… their hate… burning into me every single day. And it's not just that. They know of my ability so they purposely direct it towards me, causing it to hurt more."

"Lily…" Jen was halfway on the ladder, staring at her cousin's tortured face. She took the girl's hand and gasped when a wave of anger and hate suddenly hit her hard, causing her to let go of her cousin's hand and fall hard to the ground.

"Jen!" Lily was suddenly leaning over the bed staring down at her cousin, eyes full of worry. She didn't mean for the girl to feel what she'd felt. It wasn't meant for Jen and so she just tried to keep it to herself. Lily figured it was the bond between the two of them and now she knew she was a danger to her cousin.

Jen stared up at her cousin, fear filling her blue eyes. How was Lily able to withstand that pain every single day? Jen had felt the full force even though she also felt Lily try to block her from it. Their bond lately had grown stronger and so they were able to feel more between one another. That must have been why it hit her with full force, but just how? How did Lily do it? Jen stood from her spot on the ground and quickly moved back to her laptop. She opened it and quickly threw on some headphones.

"I have to study," she quickly told her cousin before she turned on her music loudly, trying to block out the pain that leaked out towards her from Lily.

Lily stared at her cousin, pain filling her even more than before. She didn't want to be a danger to her cousin. She didn't want to hurt anyone. How could she be around her cousin without causing her such great pain? Lily rolled onto her back staring up at the ceiling. Things were getting harder here on Earth. She just wanted it all to end.

Lily climbed off her bed and made her way past Jen and out the door. It was better for her to be away from the girl.

Jen stared at the door sadly, wishing she hadn't shut herself off from her cousin like that, but the pain had been unlike any other she'd witnessed before. People were purposely hurting her cousin and she didn't like it. No one deserved to go through that, especially when it was all of them that was hated and not just Lily. She pulled off her headphones and leaned back in her chair.

"Lily… What do we do now?"

xXx

Bobby was in the kitchen getting a soda when Lily suddenly wandered in, walking right past him. She hadn't even noticed his presence until he called for her and she jumped, turning to face him, hand at her heart. He blinked, wondering if she was alright, until she quickly threw up a smile for him.

"Hey Honey, what's up?" she asked him and Bobby shrugged off his worries.

"Just getting a soda. And you?"

"I was just lookin' for some cookies."

"Oh, there's some fresh ones over there I think." Bobby pointed to a corner. "Sakura just baked them I think."

"Oh, good." She grinned and went over, snatching up a few cookies. Taking a bite out of one, she let out a satisfactory moan and took another bite. "Cookies are my friend."

Bobby laughed and took a seat, Lily sitting down right next to him, cookies set neatly on a napkin in front of her. "Lily, has something been bothering you lately?"

Lily blinked at her boyfriend and shook her head. "No. Why?"

"It's just… You seem so distant lately. And just now when I called you, you were so deep in thought that you didn't even notice me."

"Huh… I guess I've just been a little worn out lately." She smiled, taking another bite from her cookies. "Nothing to worry about. It's all this training."

"Well, if you say everything's okay."

"I do." Smiling, she leaned over, placing a soft kiss on Bobby's cheek. "Don't worry 'bout me Honey. Besides, you're the one with a bunch of enemies now. You've sided with the wrong people it seems." She shrugged and finished off her cookies. "Not that it matters to me. They can think I'm the enemy if they want. I don't care anymore." She smiled. "As long as I know there are still people who care, it's fine."

"Lily…" Bobby smiled and pulled his girlfriend into his embrace. "That's good."

xXx

Kat was wandering the halls looking for dare she say it, Pietro. Lately he'd been hanging around her so much, she found him annoying, but today she hadn't seen or heard from him once and somehow she found it kind of lonely without him around. She didn't know when she'd started to actually want him around, but she didn't like it. She growled and just about gave up her search when she felt a brush of wind travel past her and a door open and slam shut quickly.

Blinking, Kat walked towards that door and slowly opened it, peeking inside. Was this Pietro's room? She'd never been to his room before and so she never really knew where it was.

It was dark in the room, but luckily she was used to the dark. In the corner she found someone huddled under some blankets. There was a cough and some shuffling and Kat figured the boy was sick. She made her way over to him and sighed, pulling the blanket off him.

Pietro blinked up at the girl and grinned. "Hey, you're the last person I expected to see today."

"Did you tell anyone you were sick?" Kat asked, throwing his blanket back at him.

"Nah. It's nothing really, just a small cold." He felt Kat's warm hand against his forehead.

"You're burning up. It's not just a small cold. Lay down. I'm gonna go get some cloths and some cold water." She then left the room, leaving a very happy Pietro. What more could he ask for than to be taken care of by the very girl he fell for?

xXx

"Bobby, has Lily been acting weird around you?" Jen asked the boy. She'd sought him out after Lily had returned to the room. Jen figured it was her chance to go talk to Bobby and fill him in on things.

"Yeah, but she said it's just cause she's been worn out lately," Bobby told the girl as they were walking outside. "Why?"

"It's not true," Jen told him and stopped when she notice Bobby stop. She turned to face him and sighed. "The people here, they're hurting her."

"What do you mean?" Bobby asked.

"You know how me and Lily have a really strong bond between us, right?" Jen asked and Bobby nodded. "Well, I went to touch her today and this wave of pain hit me so hard. Thoughts were filling Lily's head with hate and anger. They know of her ability and so they throw it at her painfully. It was so intense I could barely last just a few seconds. But what worries me is that Lily endures it every single day." Jen sighed.

"Wait… What? They're throwing their hate and anger at her purposely?" Bobby asked. "But can't she just block it?"

Jen shook her head. "You see, Lily has been worn out lately and building a block requires a lot of energy from her. And it's different when thoughts are actually sent directly at her. She's receives anything that is sent to her."

"That's harsh," Bobby said sighing. "Why didn't she tell anyone?"

"You think she wanted to worry all of us?"

"You said it was really intense?" Bobby asked the blue haired girl and Jen nodded. "If it's so painful, why can she endure it for so long?"

"She doesn't have a choice." The pair turned, their gazes landing on Xavier. "Lily doesn't have a choice but to receive their thoughts and her only choice is to force herself to stand tall everyday. She can't let them have the satisfaction of winning. Lily's strong. She'll get through this. Just believe in her."

"But how do you know about it Professor?" Jen asked.

"I may not be able to read her thoughts, but I can read the thoughts of all my other students. I know what they're doing. We can't help Lily. Only she can pull herself through this," Xavier explained smiling at the pair. "Have some faith in your friend. It'll work out. You'll see."

AN: Hey, hope you all enjoyed that chapter. I'll try to get another one up soon. Reviews please!