Disclaimer:  By  now, you should have got the point.  I don't own them, and I promise I'm going to put them back where I found them.

Jean woke up slowly, carefully extracting her limbs from around the sleeping Remy.  Something was… wrong.  Pieces fell into place. 

~ "You want more cookie dough ice cream, 'Ro?"~

~ "Mmm."  Blue eyes watching the figure in the distance; in his wheelchair, he is searching the horizon for answers.  "This must be so hard for him"~

~ "What do you know that I don't?"~

~ "I mean, to fight Magneto, when they used to be… so close."

~ "Whoa, girl."  Green eyes lit up with unbelieving amazement.  "You don't mean…"~

~ A shrug, flipping a white tendril of hairl out of the way.  "It was before you came here."~

Which was all bullshit, bullshit, because the Profs had been an 'item' all the time Jean had been at the mansion, although at twelve, when she first arrived, she hadn't really understood what was going on.  And she'd first met Storm when they'd busted up a Sisterhood attack on some military base.  She'd almost been fried alive, which wasn't the kind of thing you forgot.

~White hair, white eyes, rising up out the rubble like an avenging angel… or a demon.  Remy shoving her aside, out of the path of the lightning..  "Who t' fuck is that?"~

~A scattering of cards drive the woman back.  She turns her wrath on Remy, and an age-old enmity is born…~

Or alternatively:

~Storm laughs as she teases Jean about the third, newly acquired member of the team.~

~ "Shut up, 'Ro.  We're just friends."

~ "We are just friends, Jean.  You and Remy were this close" holding thumb and forefinger apart an inch "to ripping each others clothes off in the middle of practice this morning."~

~ "Well you have to admit, he is damn cute."~

~ "I will admit to nothing, Jean.  The important thing is that he is a good fighter, and we will need that with Magneto leading the other side.."~

~ "Yes, your Team-Leadery-ness.~

~Laughter, as Ororo continues on her hunt through the kitchen.  "Ahah!  Brownie mix!"~

Jean shook her head, confused.  The memories through her head swirled and confused her.  Magneto had never been against them, surely?  She'd never even so much as overheard the two having an argument.

There was a crash from downstairs, loud enough to wake Remy up.  Two unmistakable voices raised in anger, rumbling up from below.

At least, not until now.

There was another screech, and the members of the Sisterhood not currently having a hissy-fit – that was, everyone but Storm, exchanged glances and found someplace else to be.  A large hole appeared in the wall, as Kitten went flying through it.  Lightning arced through the room, turning furniture to splintered shards, or just setting it on fire.

"All wrong, all wrong, all wrong."

Ororo clutched at her head, tearing clumps of hair out.  The memories were painful, splinters of another world digging into her brain.  All wrong, memories of being friends with that red-headed telepath bitch… ~Jean…~… and her demon-eyed fuck-toy.  ~Remy.~  The next time she saw them, she would rip them both to shreds.

~ "More cookie-dough ice cream, 'Ro?"~

She let the power flow through her, burning, cleansing.  Another hole appeared, this time in the ceiling.  Ignoring the pieces of falling masonry, Storm rose up into the sky.

~ " 'Ro, y'know Jean?"~

~ "Yes.  What about her?"~

~Knowing what he's about to say, smiling to herself at the confusion of her 'brother'.~

~ "Why she so mad at Remy?"~

~ "Sit down, Gambit.  This may take a while…"~

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Vaguely aware of Kitten leaping out of the building and following her, she headed for Africa, and clarity.

Eric Lensheer was vaguely aware of Jean and Remy coming down the stairs behind him, but by this point he didn't care.  He was too busy fighting a telepathic compulsion placed on him by his ex-lover, which was the only thing preventing him from ripping Charles Xavier's still-beating heart out of his traitorous chest.


He wasn't sure what Xavier had done to him.  Being one of the worlds most powerful telepaths, the options were almost limitless – mindwipe, memory re-arrangement, personality change.  Whatever it was, it was wearing off. 

"Professor Lensheer?"

"Prof, y' alright?"

Inwardly, Magneto sighed.  Jean had always been Xavier's favorite, a telepath to follow in his footsteps.  Remy had been Eric's; the boy had a charming way about him and a strength that would make him a good leader, once his feckless nature was finally channeled, focused.  It would hurt to leave them behind, these children of his.

But somewhere in the back of his mind were the memories of Raven and her adopted daughter, the southern girl with the hunger in her eyes.  The two woman with the strength, the power, and the dedication to the cause to match his own.  Rogue, the woman only he could touch and yet live…  And another.  He laughed at a recent memory.  Wanda, his dear, dear, daughter.  No doubt she'd be a bit angry about the whole prison episode.  Betrayal was a mild word for what he'd done to her.  But bringing her back into his fold, although tricky, would be worthwhile.

He did so love a challenge.

Flinging Charles's wheelchair aside, he set off to find his family.  Vaguely he was aware of Jean's telekinesis countering his blow, landing Xavier safely.  ~Good work, Jean.~.  Memories of practices, sweat on the red-headed girls brow as she worked to counter his moves, her telekinesis straining against his own magnetic power.  She always lost, of course.

Yes, he decided, he would miss them.  Jean and Remy and the other children.

But Xavier?  ~Charles, my love.~  Xavier could rot in hell for all he cared.

Logan arrived back a few seconds later, watching Magneto storm off with a frown.  Something was wrong here.  Inside, Jean shot a nasty look at Xavier.  The two appeared to be having some kind of telepathic argument; Jean stormed off upstairs – the Cajun shrugged in Logan's direction and then followed her.

Xavier looked lost, like a puppet with its strings cut.  Slumped, age suddenly creeping up on his face.

"You destroyed him, didn't you."  It wasn't a question.

Wolverine paused to examine him.  "Where's Kurt?"

"Upstairs."  Sorrowful eyes turned his way.  "I never meant any of this to happen.  I just wanted things to be the way they were before.  I just wanted him to love me again.  I just wished…"

His voice broke off, but Logan was already moving.  Xavier's personal life was none of his concern.  He needed to find his kin.

Kurt was sitting at his desk, in that odd half-perch that was the most comfortable he ever got on a chair.  "So."

"So."
"There was nothing there, Logan."

"There was nothing where, kid?"

"Afterwards…"  Kurt paused.  "She could have stopped it, you know.  She saw me move in front of Mariko, but she fired anyway."

"Gwi's…"

"Nein!  Don't call me that.  I know what it means."

"Kurt…"

"There was nothing.  Mama shot me, and I died, and I remember nothing but blackness, afterwards."

A pause.  What do you say to that?  "Perhaps ya aren't meant to remember it, Kurt.  It doesn't mean there wasn't anything there."

"You believe that?"

"I have ta, kid."

A smile.  "You can call me gwi's, if you want."

Logan sighed.  Teenage logic.  "Ya know what day it is, gwi's?"
Kurt nodded.  "Ja.  I remember the right prayers, I think.  She… she taught me them."

Together they went through the ritual.  Logan had done this every year since Mariko's death – never before had Kurt joined in, but now, at first hesitant, then his voice growing stronger, the German-accented Japanese flowing through the prayers.  A lament to the ghost of Mariko; a healing, a cleansing, the two of them wreathed in incense smoke and the scent of plum blossoms.

And watching them, a pair of eyes lit up with something beyond mere madness.  Laughter at the images only she could see.

"Things fall apart, oh yes.  Things fall apart."

A/N:  In forthcoming chapters:   The Plot Thickens.  Who are the Twain, and why is Sinister after them?  What is Cassandra plotting?  What mischief can Magneto get up to?  And who is lying in wait for Storm?  Review!  Is there any character you'd like me to put into this?  Also more Scott/Kitty will be forthcoming.  g  I'm going to have fun with that one.