A/N: Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men.
Chapter 38: Interlude:
Ororo and Bobby stood on the front doorstep of the Worthington estate; the latter had his mouth hanging wide open.
"The guy must have more money than the Professor and the President combined," Bobby said in awe.
"Well the Worthington's are an old family, older even than the United States, it stands to reason they would have accumulated all that money," Ororo replied logically.
Bobby continued to stare openly when the butler opened the door and led them through the lavish foyer to an even more luxurious sitting room.
"Don't mind the decorating, my father is a bit of a show off," they heard from behind them after a few minutes.
Bobby and Ororo turned around to see a tall, well built, and very handsome blonde man standing in the archway. Bobby tried to look less mesmerized by the place.
"Ororo, I didn't know the Professor was sending his best looking X-men," Warren flirted.
Ororo laughed as she approached him to give him a hug. She pulled back, smiling, and said, "Still two years younger than me?"
Warren shrugged. "What's two years between such old friends?"
"Uh huh Warren, never going to happen."
Ororo stepped back to stand with Bobby. "And this is Bobby Drake, one of our newer members to the team."
Bobby took the older man's hand to shake.
"But you're so young," Warren scoffed.
"Well, maybe you're just too old," Bobby replied.
"Watch it Bobby, I just admitted I'm older," Ororo ordered. "There are two more just as young, too."
Warren shook his head. "Wow things have changed."
"Well it's been awhile since you suited up," Ororo added.
"Speaking of which," Warren started as he pulled off his brown trench coat to reveal a matching black X-men uniform and two beautiful white wings. They had Bobby dropping his jaw, again.
"I see you've still got it," Ororo said approvingly.
"That and more, if you'd care to find out," he said flirtatiously, leaning into Ororo.
Ororo pushed him back, laughing. "Bobby, meet Warren Worthington the third, aka Angel; though, I think the Devil might be a better name for him at times."
Rogue hung up the phone with the Professor and turned to look at Scott. "Well, he says Warren's on his way to the mansion with Storm and Bobby, and the crystal of course. And that Hank's working or researching the thing."
Scott nodded. "Anything else?"
"Just that Lyss has been having some disturbing visions and that they've got something to do with this whole thing."
"But they won't say what?"
"Not yet. We're supposed to video conference with them tomorrow and he'll explain it all," Rogue revealed.
Scott shook his head. "I wonder what could be so horrible that they've been keeping secret all this time."
Rogue grimaced. She didn't know what Lyss was seeing, but from Rogue's own deductions she had an idea.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Scott asked worriedly.
"Huh?" Rogue asked eloquently.
"You're crying," Scott pointed out carefully.
Rogue wiped at her eyes and sure enough her hand came back wet. "Oh… oh, I guess I'm just homesick. And… and I just want this to be all over, you know… for… uh Lyss's sake."
She knew she was babbling and lining up excuse after excuse when the truth was she just wanted to fast forward to the end, through all the pain she knew she was going to feel when what she suspected was revealed.
Scott approached her quickly, taking her face between both hands. "Hey, we'll be home sooner than later and I'm pretty sure Logan's taking good care of Lyss."
"You're right," Rogue nodded.
Scott frowned. "Still, there's something else," he said knowingly.
Rogue shook her head. "It's nothing. I'm just happy we're together, for now."
Rogue knew she should have shut up the minute the words were out of her mouth.
"For now?" Scott asked, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Nothing, nothing, never mind," Rouge tried to backtrack.
Scott took hold of Rogue's shoulders. "Rogue, you know I care about you, a lot, right? That's not going to change. You know that, right?"
"I know. I care about you too," she assured.
'More than you know,' she added to herself.
Scott wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "You scare me when you talk like that, Rogue. It's like you think I can forget my feelings for you. Nothing can do that, nothing."
"I know, I'm sorry," Rogue said into the crook of his neck, holding him just as tight.
Scott pulled back slightly so that he could look her in the eye. "Rogue, I l-"
Rogue cut him off with the touch of her lips to his. She could not hear the rest of what he had to say. She was not ready for it. Especially, since she knew their future was so uncertain.
Charles rolled into the lab where Hank was sitting in front of the institute's second super computer.
"Hank, have you got anything yet?" Charles got right to the point.
Hank let out a sigh as he spun around in his chair to face him. "I'm afraid not Charles. There is no information on it in any of the usual histories. I've searched through Egyptian myths, Mayan history, and Native American lore. Nothing so far."
Charles nodded, he was afraid of this. But he also believed that the origins of the Crystal may not be completely terrestrial.
"Well, keep searching if you will Hank. We're all meeting to discuss the situation tomorrow," Charles informed.
"And you will finally tell us what is going on?" Hank asked wryly.
"Yes," Charles said simply.
He was about to leave when a loud beeping sound sounded off. They both looked to the screen.
"What is it Hank?" Charles asked urgently.
Hank typed something into the computer. "It seems… that we may have a hit."
Charles waited patiently for Hank to reveal something about this hit.
"It's from a civilization called… Shi'Ar. I can't say I've ever heard of it, have you Charles?"
"No, I can't say I have either," he mused. "What does it say?"
"Well, I'll have to get a full translation, but here's what it found," Hank offered as he quickly read. "'The M'krann Crystal, the first and the last."
Charles frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Hank looked to Charles. "I don't have a clue. But it sounds ominous, doesn't it?"
Charles nodded; that was putting it mildly.
"Hank I need more, by tomorrow," Charles planned. "It's imperative."
"I won't sleep a wink from now until then," Hank assured.
Charles put a hank on his blue, furry shoulder. "Thank you, my friend."
He turned to leave but was stopped in his tracks.
"Just tell me Lyss will be all right at the end of whatever all this is," Hank stated, letting his nerves finally show.
"Hank, I'm not sure any of us will be all right if we don't get on top of this," he countered, and then left.
Logan stared down concernedly at the small woman he held in his arms. Lyss had changed, he suddenly realized. In the short time he'd come to know her she'd went from the physically and mentally strong woman he'd playfully fought in the basement her first night at the mansion, to this.
Lyss was silently crying in his arms. He knew if they didn't figure out what was going on and soon Lyss would be broken, mentally at least. The premonitions seemed to be too much for her of late. There was only so much a mind could take.
He wished she had never joined the X-men, never got involved in any of this. But the one thing he couldn't bring himself to wish for was Lyss never coming into his life. He knew it was selfish. But he loved her and he would never let her go.
Instead, he wished for her to get better and to get back to her normal, feisty self. And he personally was going to see to this wish. Because he was going to protect her. He wasn't going to let anything else happen to her.
"This isn't your fault," he heard her muffled voice.
She leaned away from him, wiping at her eyes.
"How could you say that?" he said accusingly.
"How could you say it is?" she countered. "Are you the one giving me my premonitions? No, I didn't think so. Now kick that stupid thought out of your head!"
Scratch that, she was still feisty.
"Lyss, what are we going to do?"
She pulled him close to her, this time she taking on the comforting role.
"We're going to help our friends and we're going to get through this," she assured.
"I hope you have a plan, because I sure don't," he said gruffly.
"Nope, not a one," she said abruptly.
He tried to pull back. "Lyss—"
She held him tight. "Do we have to figure this out now? We're together, right now, let's let that be enough. And tomorrow when we have the meeting and more pieces to the puzzle we'll think on it."
Logan feared she was being too casual with their whole situation. But he knew more protesting would do no good. Lyss was too stubborn for her own good.
But he felt better at seeing some of her old fire and that allowed him to agree, for now.
"All right."
Well that's it for now. I know it's short. But I wanted to give you guys something, since it's been a while. Hope you enjoyed my version of Warren.
Thanks to anyone who's been reading, and thanks to my two reviewers: 00 BodySnatcher; and jnetrich (ya, I definitely know).
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!