Once outside, some of the anger boiling in her calmed as Arica slowly headed for her car. Years of habit of controlling herself took over, forcing her to try to be calm now and think. Hysterics wouldn't change anything, but maybe clear thinking could, she told herself.

"Are you all right, Ms. Jenner?" a gentle voice was asking to her left, bringing her startled gaze to meet the lawyer's from inside the courtroom. He'd tried to help Todd, tried to save him. It was enough to create an instant liking in the young mutant as she regarded him thoughtfully.

"No, I'm not. They just decided to kill someone I love," she answered him frankly, swaying slightly as the horror of what was happening tried to overwhelm her again. She was suddenly grateful for the steadying hand on her arm.

"I'm so sorry, Ms. Jenner. I realize this is a terrible time, but I do need to speak with you, when you're able. Mr. Tolensky...he wants you to have everything, and I need to arrange it. He asked me to set it all up for you, and to tell you not be stubborn, and humor him," the man was telling her sympathetically. Then his eyes misted a little, she could feel his honest regret. "I did my best."

"You really did," she agreed with him, still admiring the man who'd fought so hard for Todd. There weren't many who would, a tiny little voice said bitterly in her heart. She certainly hadn't seen Professor X try. Even Wolverine had tried to use his governmental contacts to help her friend for her sake, Xavier had done nothing. Nothing. She wondered if it was really his beliefs that the law should be respected, or if it was just because it was Todd. "There aren't many who would, Mr. Parma. I thank you. It's not our fault we failed. I.. I'll come to speak with you tomorrow, I don't think I can deal with it today. And...I was wondering, if I might ask a favor...can you...can you get me in to see him? I need to see him before..."

The damn tears were falling again, and the man pulled her to the side away from the prying eyes of those around her, hugging her consolingly. "It's all right, child," he told her softly. "Let it out. This is a terrible thing, and no one can fault you for feeling. I'll get you in no matter what I have to do, I'll go work on that now and have the time for you hopefully by tomorrow. Here's my card, I'll be in my office all day tomorrow, come any time you feel up to it."
"I will, I promise. I don't want to even think about what you want to talk about, but if Todd wants me to see you, I'll see you. But I don't want things, I just want him," she whispered brokenly, turning to go, tucking the little card into her pocket.

She left him then, a little amused to find people giving her a wide berth the rest of the way to her car, no one knowing quite what to say to her just then. It was probably the first time since she'd started on Xavier's stupid public spotlight program that no one bothered her for autographs or quotes or something. She was grateful for it, and took off towards home. Once alone in the car, she felt slightly petty. The program wasn't stupid, and it had nearly worked to integrate mutants into society by making them media idols. Until the mutant murders a few years ago had created mass hysteria. She laughed darkly, well aware of the truth behind that.

Without even realizing what she was doing, she took the long way that would take her past the old Brotherhood Boarding House. Without meaning to she was pulling into the neglected dirt driveway that was slowly being choked to death by weeds. She parked by the house, staring up at it for a long time just trying to breath. Memories assaulted her nearly physically for a long time as she worked up the courage to get out of the car.

The driveway brought it's own sadness to her heart as she walked the few feet between her and the porch, staring at it dully. The weeds reminded her of those damned men who'd caused all of this, choking the life out of mutants for fear of losing their strangleholds on power, money, and prestige. They feared the mutants like herself that could expose their corruption and greed, and had acted against them. Assuming that the mutants cared about them, which they hadn't at the time. They'd only cared about being allowed to live normally, for the most part.

The empty house, still standing despite it's years housing the wild Brotherhood and the following years of neglect from abandonment brought the tears back again, much to her frustration. She wanted to stop crying long enough to think, to figure out where to go next. She climbed the steps to the porch, settling into the corner where she had spent so many hours chatting with Todd, closing her eyes and pretending that he was there.

A plan was beginning to form in her mind, slowly. Piece by piece, as she realized what she was actually going to do. 'No Ari! Don't throw your life away for me!' His voice still echoed in her mind, he'd been right. They would have killed her if she'd given in to her instinct to flatten everyone between him and her.

But now...now she wasn't exactly throwing her life away. No, this was something else entirely. This was getting the life she'd always wanted. Exhaustion finally claimed her, she hadn't been to sleep since yesterday morning.. Arica drifted off, dreaming sweetly of older days and happier times she hoped were yet to come.


"ARICA!"

Arica nearly leaped out of her skin, staring wildly around her, torn from her dream of Todd by the sound of her name. Confused by the sun resting low in the western sky, her gaze rose to meet her friend Rogue's, who was standing over her.

"About time!" she said, sitting down next to her, brushing her white bangs to the side. "Ah was beginnin' to think that you were in real trouble. Everyone's worried about ya, but no one thought to look here but me."

A small ghost of a smile crossed the telepath's face as she leaned her head tiredly on her friend's shoulder. "God, Rogue, what do I do?"

Rogue put her arm around her best friend, having no idea really what to say. So she just held her, fairly alarmed that the other girl wasn't crying, just staring tiredly at the setting sun. "You okay, sugah?"

"No. I'm not. I don't know if I ever will get over this," she replied honestly, shoving stray strands of hair out of her dark eyes. "It hurts, Rogue. Why did they do this to him?"

"I don't know, I really don't."

"Rogue, I need to talk to Hank," Arica said suddenly, rising to her feet. She ran her fingers over the banister lightly, opening her mind to the faint echoes of the past. She caught a brief flash of herself, several of Pietro, an idle musing from Lance, random thoughts from Fred, and the soft familiar warmth of Todd's emotions. All faint, all long forgotten small mental snapshots of life preserved in the wood that only she could see, but comforting all the same.

"Okay, you gonna be okay to drive or you want to ride with me? I can bring Jean out to get your car later."

"I can drive, don't worry. Let's go."


"You want to know what?" Hank McCoy asked the young woman standing in his lab, studying her as if she'd suddenly grown a second head and started doing the mambo with it.

"I want to know where Magneto gets his money," she answered calmly. "I did some looking into it earlier as part of a project, and I realized he's getting a large amount from somewhere in the US. I need to know who his contact is."

"Magneto. And I suppose this has something to do with young Todd Tolensky's unjust fate?"

"Hank, you don't want me to answer that," she told him seriously, her eyes pleading.

Hank took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. It wasn't hard to realize what the young woman was thinking, the difficult part was what to do about it. Morality clashed within him, and the super genius suddenly honestly did know what to do. On the one hand, he had an extensive loyalty towards Charles Xavier and all that this Institute stood for. On the other, what was happening to the boy he had once known, even adversarily, had nothing to do with justice. And if Arica was willing to risk everything she had to put the wrong right, did he really have the right to stand in the way? More importantly, if he hid behind the law blindly to sway his decision, could he live with the stain of the boy's blood on his soul?

No. It was as simple as that. If Todd had casually murdered the man, just because he could, Hank could happily leave him to his fate and never think on it again. But he had seen the evidence when Arica asked him to look it over to try to help, and he'd known none of it was true. Todd had defended himself, and an accident had killed the man. Todd had even tried to save the life of his attacker. Hank couldn't refuse to help her.

"I will find out what you need to know, and I will pretend that we never had this talk, Arica. But be certain what you mean to do, if you are going where I believe, once you step onto that path, there is no turning back."

"I know," she replied, softly. She threw her arms around him and hugged her former teacher tightly. "Thank you Hank, thank you. I know I won't be able to turn back, but I have to do this. I have to help him, I just can't...I love him...and I have to..."

"Shh, I understand," he soothed her, rubbing her back softly. "I will get you what you need, you can take it from there."

"Okay. I need to go lay down now, it's been a hell of a day. And I need to figure out how to move next."

"I imagine you do."

Hank watched her go, wondering if he'd ever see her again after he found her the information. He hated what was happening around him, yet was powerless to stop it. He wondered if maybe, just maybe, Magneto knew what he was doing. Maybe Genosha wasn't a bad thing. He just didn't know anymore, once upon a time life had been black and white. It had been a long time since he'd seen anything other than shades of gray.

"God go with you, both, children. God go with you."