Chapter Twelve:

Chapter Twelve: Busted!

"What was that!?!" Jean exclaimed as she rocketed up from the bed. She leapt towards the window and saw a sight that shocked and dismayed her.

Scott looked at her with confusion on his face. "What is it, Jean?" he asked.

Jean turned and looked at her husband with an expression of disappointment on her face. "Come on, Scott," she replied. "The children are up to no good!"

Scott stood to his feet and followed his determined fiance out of their bedroom and into the hall. He wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but when Jean had an expression such as that on her face, he learned not to ask questions.

"Whoa!" Jubilee exclaimed! She was completely dumbfounded by what had just happened and so was her fellow student, Dani. They didn't know what to say.

Out of the blue, it seemed, Kitty was falling to her death, too distracted to phase out and float downward. Then, all of a sudden, a flash of dark smoke and the smell of brimstone had engulfed her. The next thing they knew, she, along with the enigmatic Kurt, was settled to the ground, Kitty still hacking.

"Are you alright, Katzchein?" Kurt asked Kitty. Kitty was still humped over. She raised her head a little and saw Jubilee and Dani, their eyes wide in anxiety.

"Where?" Kitty murmured. "What just---YEAOW!" Kitty screamed as she leaped from Kurt's arms to the ground opposite him! She had an expression of stark fear on her face.

Kurt looked down in dismay. Although he had saved her life, she, like many others, only saw him as a demon.

"Kitty!" Jubilee exclaimed, grabbing hold of Kitty's arms. "Kitty, it's okay. You're alright now."

"She is right, Katherine," Dani added. "Everything is fine. Kurt saw you fall and saved you by" Dani stopped and turned to look at Kurt. "What exactly did you do?"

Kurt looked at the ground still. "I teleported," his lowly reply response. "I saw the fraulein fall from the roof, and I tried to save her. I did save her."

Kitty looked at Kurt. She was less restless now and able to stare at him with little fear. "I" she faltered. "Thank you," she finally said.

Kurt looked up at her and, for a moment, smiled. "You're welcome, Katzchein." He then turned away and looked back to his room, two stories up and across the courtyard.

"I must be going, now," he then said.

"Wait!" Kitty shouted as she rose to her feet.

"Wait, indeed!" A voice demanded behind them.

"Dr. Grey!" Jubilee exclaimed, giving herself away that they had done something wrong. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm asking the questions here, Ms. Lee," Jean responded. "Now," she began, "does anyone mind telling me exactly what is going on here?"

"Ja." Kurt began. "I was in my room, praying to God for strength and—"

"And, Kurt saw us all out here goofing off," Kitty interjected. "And then he decided he wanted to come out and get to know us a little better, so he teleported out here and it—"

"It scared the living bejeebus out of us!" Jubilee added. "It was like a big 'POOF' and there he was!"

Jean looked at the children with a mother's doubting look.

"What they mean, Dr. Grey," Dani entered the conversation, "Is that we were out here, Kurt joined us, and his sudden appearance startled us all."

"Well," Jean started, "if that is all that happened, Why was Kitty coughing so violently? And why do I smell smoke?"

The silence from the crowd made Jean more suspicious. "Dr. Grey," Kurt began again, attempting to tell the truth, "Whenever I saw them, Kitty was—"

Enter Kitty again "I was coughing because of the smoke. You see, when Kurt teleports, he makes this smoke and stuff."

"Yeah!" Jubilee jumped in once more. "That's why we all smell like smoke and Kitty was coughing. That's it!"

Jean stood quiet for a moment. "Anything else you would like to tell me? I promise, Scott and I will understand."

The gathering of children stood quietly. Not a single peep from any of them, other than Kurt, who was fidgeting extremely nervously.

"Very well then," Jean stated. "Until further notice, you are all grounded. You are not permitted to leave the school grounds and are to be attendant in detention every day for the next week."

"WHAT!?!" Jubilee exclaimed! "That is sooo not right!"

"No?" Jean replied. "What is not right is lying to your teacher, especially when she is a psychic. I know exactly what happened out here."

"Alright!" Kitty shouted! "We confess."

"It's an honorable thing," Scott said, "but you still lied to us and it will not change your punishment."

The students all looked down at the ground in shame. "Are you going to tell the professor?" Dani asked.

Jean looked them over and then looked at Scott. "I'll tell you what," Jean began. "If you promise me that you will not get into anymore trouble, I promise you this will be our secret."

The students faces lit up with joy! "Oh! Thank you, Dr. Grey, Mr. Summers!" Kitty exclaimed.

Jean smiled and she and Scott turned to enter the School.

"Dr. Grey?" Jubliee asked.

"Yes?" Jean replied.

"Are we still gonna' be able to go to the concert Friday night?"

Jean looked at them all, hopeful expressions on their faces. "Afraid not, kids. Rules are rules."

"I'm gonna get you if it's the last thing I do, you dirty Cajun!" Rogue exclaimed as she leapt through the courtyard after Remy. She was bound and determined to catch hold of him and get her revenge.

"You have to try harder den dat to catch Gambit!" Remy shouted back as he strategically maneuvered through the trees on the outer edge of the school. He of course showed his bravado to Rogue and the other students, but he was running scared. He heard stories about what that girl could actually do and he would rather not become an example of her power.

Rogue, still angered beyond belief, decided to use her newer talents. "So you wanna' play catch?" she mocked. "Well, I'll give you the run o' your life!" In an instant, Rogue begins to get charged from the magnetic field in the air and rose to the skies. She took off with the speed of a rocket towards Gambit and disappeared behind some trees.

Gambit, slowly starting to get weared down, almost 5 miles from where he had began, stopped to catch his breath. No one knew what Gambit did before he came to Xavier's really, but apparently, it was something that took amazing endurance and agility. He turns around and sees that Rogue has disappeared. He starts to laugh hysterically. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a silver chain with a locket on it, engraved with the name "Marie."

"Dis be my souvenir," he stated to himself.

"No, 'Dis be your souvenir' you swamp rat!" Rogue shouted as she came out of the sky towards him!

-POW-

Gambit flies up and back into the grounds, wincing at the hot feeling on his eye. "What did you do, chere?" He demanded as he realized she had just knocked him back with her fist.

"I showed you that Ah'm the last person to steal from!" Rogue reassured. "Now," she said with a start, walking over to where he lay, "you gon' give me my locket back?"

"Why you need it so bad?" Remy asked her.

"Cause it's mine, stupid!" Rogue answered. "Now give it back!"

"Non," Remy replied. "I need it to remember you by."

Rogue pulled back and looked at him confused. "What the hell you talking 'bout?" she asked him.

"I'm goin' home, Rogue," he said solemnly. "I wanted to stay, really I did. But I can't do dis. I'm not a hero, I'm a t'ief. And I wanna' go home."

Rogue stopped completely in her tracks and just looked at him. "You mean..."

Remy's subtle charm had taken grasp of Rogue and she couldn't hit him again. His eyes were different now. Not that same black and red spark to them. They were more...human like then before. He showed a genuine amount of caring in them. For his family...for Rogue.

That innocent and remarkable moment doesn't last long.

"I do not know exactly what you think you are doing here, students," a charming voice rained from the sky, "but I highly doubt Charles would be happy to know that not only have two students wondered off ground but also engaged in a fight."

"Stormy!" Remy called. "T'aint like dat, really."

"Yeah, Ms. Munroe," Rogue added in, "honestly, we didn't mean for this to happen. We were just goofing off and ended up out here and started to wrastle, I promise. Gambit here didn't think a gal like me could fight."

"An' den she punched me by accident and dat's how I got dis swollen eye," Remy finished.

Storm gives the children a look of compassion. "That may be true, but folly such as this must be handled as such. I shall not tell Charles what has happened."

Remy and Rogue both let out a sigh of relief.

"But do not get to hasty," Storm added. "You will be punished by my account. You still disobeyed the rules of this establishment, and as such, you will be restricted to the school for a week. And also, you shall be in Detention for the next week."

"But Stormy!" Remy shouted in defiance. "What we did wasn't dat bad!"

"You may not think so, but there are many dangers outside the security of the school," Storm affirmed. "You may have been seriously injured. Not to mention the 'wrestling' incident."

After a moment of silence, Storm continues, " Come now, children." Storm gracefully returns to the ground. "I shall escort you personally to the detention hall."

"I'm gonna have to shake her so I can get outta dis place," Remy thinks to himself.

Rogue then has her own short thought. "I guess this means no Dazzler for me."