Family Ties:
Chapter 3
*****
By the end of the week, Rose had gotten very settled in the Institute, and Kurt had gotten settled to the fact that he now had a big sister. Kurt was seemed to be much more at peace with himself and, although nobody had known her before, everyone could tell that Rose was happier now than she had probably ever been.
Also, many students decided to take her Arts class, even Evan. Kurt was also taking it, grabbing hold of another chance to learn more about Rose, even if he wasn't exactly Picasso.
The classroom they were all seated in was very spacious and lavish with its stained glass and polished wood desks and chairs. They had all expected to see molding clay, paints, colored pencils, and other artsy stuff, but the students had found nothing of the sort. So they had respectively taken their seats and, being the teens that they were, gossiped.
Rose walked in just as a paper airplane flew past. She gave it a questioning look, then continued into the room. From her pupils' point of view, she certainly didn't look like a teacher! In fact, she looked more like them than anything in her khaki shorts and blue halter-top. She had also recently cut her hair to a more normal length. The indigo locks seemed to be the world's smallest waterfall as it cascaded down her back and shone like purple gold in the sunlight.
"She's been hangin' out vith Kitty, again, ja?" he whispered to Evan, who grinned boyishly back.
"Good morning, class," said Rose cheerfully. The kids all repeated the greeting back to her, sounding a little bored, despite the fact that they had signed up for this class. If Rose noticed this at all, she pointedly ignored it. Instead, she turned her back on them, facing the large window facing the gardens. Kurt had a distinct feeling what was going to happen.
"It is very beautiful outside today, no?" Rose asked the students. A few of them nodded and others murmured their agreement. Smiling, Rose looked back to the window for a few seconds. "Vhat a shame it vould be to be locked up in this classroom..." Again, she turned to look at her new pupils. "Vhat do you say ve take our lesson outside today?"
Roaring cheers answered her questions as the students raced out the gardens. Rose followed, picking up the large box in the corner and taking it with her.
The students stood outside as she came out and carefully set the box down. "For today's project, ve are going to photograph anything on the property of the Institute." She pulled out ancient, black-and-white cameras and handed one out to each student. As the teens looked their new toys over and frightened one another by flashing them with the cameras, Rose said, "I vant you to take loots and loots of pictures, but only hand in one, the one that you think best represents your personalities and aspect of life." Smiling her ferocious smile, she spread her arms and wings wide open, looking like a cross between an angel and a demon. "Go on!"
The students instantly scattered, into the nearby woods, throughout the gardens, and into the school. Only Rogue stayed where she was, gazing into the distance. It was late in the day, and the sun was already setting upon Bayville.
"Is something the matter, Rogue?" Rose asked, concerned.
Rogue turned to Rose. If Mystique had indeed adopted her, and Kurt was her adopted-brother, then that had to make Rose her sister, even if it wasn't by blood. What a funny-looking family I've got, she thought smugly to herself. Aloud, she said, "Just trying to find a good photograph, like you said, instead of running off like all those other nuts..."
Both of them glanced over at the fountain, where Jamie had nearly a baker's dozen copies of himself scattered, all of them armed and dangerous with a camera. Amara shrieked when the original Jamie flashed the camera at her and slapped at him, causing him to fall. Even more Jamies appeared and scattered.
"Maybe he is making a collage?" Rose said laughingly. Rogue snorted in amusement. "Vhat are you looking for, in particular?"
"Well...I don't really know."
"Don't vorry," Rose assured her, putting her odd hands on Rogue's shoulder's. "It will come to you, lieb die Schwester." She walked off before Rogue could answer her, disappearing in that strange way of hers.
Rogue later looked up "lieb die Schwester" in a German-to-English dictionary. Apparently, it meant "beloved sister." Rogue was a bit startled; she'd always been a single child, so had never been called a sister before, much less a beloved sister. And she barely knew Rose, though, knowing the odd German, Rose probably knew much about her.
Rogue couldn't help but smile. "Sister..." she murmured to herself. It was very nice to say.
*****
"Ooh, very nice," Rose cooed over Jamie's picture the next day. It was off all his mutiples, standing in front of him and taking his picture too. "I like! Very creative." She looked down at Jamie, since she was nearly as tall as Storm, and smiled without baring her teeth. "You should be very proud of this, Jamie."
Jamie smiled and trotted off to his desk, clutching his picture like a golden treasure.
"Scott, please."
Kurt noticed that Scott was looking a tad bit embarrassed as he walked up to present his picture to Rose.
Rose held it delicately like she had ever other student's picture as she looked over it. It was a picture of Jean, sitting in a tree and taking a picture of her own of the setting sun. "This is lovely, Scott," commented Rose honestly. "You 'ave talent as a photographer."
"Thank you, Ms. Blanch-"
"Rose."
"Rose," Scott corrected himself. "Er...do you mind if I have a copy?"
"Of course you are going to get a copy, Scott. I am making a copy of all the students' photos, and also keeping one for myself."
"Oh!" Scotts smiled energetically. "Okay then, here." He walked back to his desk, still grinning.
"Rogue, please."
Rogue proudly showed Rose photo, no fear of being embarrassed. Rose smiled widely. It was a picture of one dying rose and one blooming rose surrounded by fallen petals. She understood it completely. The dying rose was one factor of Rogue's life; the period when she had shunned away everyone upon learning that she was a mutant. The blossoming rose was now; her life was good and only getting better. The fallen petals were the tribulations she had faced, but the blooming rose proved that she had carried on, and flourished. "You put loots of thought into this picture, Rogue. It is vonderful." She put it on the pile with the others and called up Sam, also known by the alias of Cannonball, and took his photo in her gentle hands.
Several things happened at once; Rose's eyes widened, she began to tremble violently, she dropped the photo, and briskly walked out the door. As she walked past, Kurt could hear her muttering in German: "Sie are kommen, sie are kommen..."
They are coming, they are coming...
As soon as the door slammed behind her, all of the students leaped from their seats and to Cannonball. "Whatcha do?" Evan asked.
Sam shook his head and held up the photo. "I like circuses, so I took a photo of a poster that someone put on the gates."
Like he said, the photograph only had a poster on it declaring, COME ONE! COME ALL! COME TO THE ADOLPH & FAMILY CIRCUS AND BE AMAZED!
None of them noticed one very teeny tiny figure at the very bottom, almost too small to see, in the right-hand corner.
The Demoness.
*****
"Alright. Spread out. Bobby, Jamie, Sam, Rogue, Jubilation, take the gardens and woods. Logan, Rahne, Jean, Kitty, Evan, inspect Bayville. Hank, Ray, Roberto, Amara, you look in the lower levels of the Institute, and Storm, Scott, Kurt, and I will search the upper levels."
Everyone did as Xavier said, fanning out in their directed designations. Kurt was scared, REALLY scared. He had no idea what had frightened Rose so badly. She had been here over a week, and he'd never seen her that terrified. Rose was always calm, always gentle, always stable. It was comforting to know a person like that, a person who could be kicked down and only rise again.
But when Rose had fled...it was a tad bit unnerving.
"What could have frightened her to the point of running?" Storm wondered as the three of them traveled up the stairs. Xavier had his own personal elevator to go up and down the levels of the Institute.
"I dunno," answered Scott. "She was looking at Cannonball's photo for her class, and then she freaked and left."
"Ja," Kurt added, nodding to emphasize his point.
"Where is the picture?" Storm demanded.
"Here." Scott fished the photo out of her jean pocket as he ran and handed it to Storm.
"The Adolph & Family circus is coming? How could that frighten her?"
"I do not know," said Xavier as his elevator hit the second floor and met up with his group. "But I could feel her terror at the other side of the mansion. If we are to find any answers, we will have to find her first, and that in itself is quite a challenge."
"How?" Scott asked curiously.
"I suppose I didn't tell you about Rose's power; she can become invisible, so that is why none of the security cameras will pick her up."
"That's going to make it hard!" Kurt exclaimed. He knocked on the first door he came to. "Rose? It is me, Kurt!"
No answer.
In the period of half an hour, the entire Institute and the surrounding land was searched. Every group came back in defeat while Xavier and his posse still searched the huge school.
The last room was Rose's. When they knocked, they heard a faint answer from inside: "Fahren hinweg!"
"Say what?"
"She said, 'Go away!', Scott," Xavier translated. He tapped his knuckles on the door gently. "Rose? It's the professor. Would you like to talk?"
This time, he got a very loud mental answer.
(NO.)
Xavier flinched slightly at the harshness and volume of the mental voice. That was the complete opposite of the usual Rose. (Why not?) Off in the distance of her terrified mind, he heard her repeating one sentence over and over again: (Sie are kommen! Sie are kommen!)
She didn't answer. Xavier sighed. "Rose is refusing to come out or talk to any of us. She's so terrified that she is only speaking in her native tongue and seems to have temporarily forgotten English."
"She's been around Rogue too long," Storm commented dryly, but they knew she was scared by Rose's evanescence. Everyone was worried; everyone had become fond of Rose, even Logan would admit he didn't hate her and that was a plus, and the thought of such a gentle creature being hurt, physically or emotionally, was devastating.
"Maybe you should go in, Kurt," Scott commented. "She likes you the most out of all of us."
Kurt couldn't deny that. Nodding, he opened the door to Rose's bedroom. He realized he'd never been in here; she'd always found him. The furnishings were incredibly well-polished, not a speck of dust to be seen on their maple wood. A bed made for a single person with a large back (or wings, in Rose's case), two bookshelves, a dresser. The books were mainly filled with floral books, but there was also an ancient-looking Bible that Rose had probably brought from Germany and many fiction stories, such as Treasure Island, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Black Beauty, and a very well-thumbed Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring. On the dresser was a few clothes that hadn't been folded and put back in yet, along with a German-&-English dictionary on top of them. What really caught a person's eyes were the half dozen posters on the wall; some were in written in English, one in French, and one or two in German. But no matter the dialect, all sported a very fetching picture or painting of Rose, except in the posters called her THE DEMONESS! COME AND OBSERVE THE WORLD'S MOST FABULOUS ACROBAT YOU HAVE EVER AND WILL EVER HAVE THE PLEASURE OF SEEING! The Rose in the pictures looked much younger and happier than she usually did, dressed in such a fashion that made Scott and Kurt blush like nuts. It seemed that she barely even tried to hang onto the thin wire she usually was perched on.
Kurt, Storm, and Scott couldn't help jumping when Rose's quiet voice said, "Rather amusing, ja?"
"Where are you, Rose?" asked Xavier. To keep the other students and teachers from eavesdropping, he closed the door with a click of the lock. "We cannot possibly aid you if you continue to hide from us."
There was an uneasy silence, and then a heavy sigh from Rose. In the corner, Kurt saw her large feet begin to appear, and everything above appeared one at a time, like colored water filling up a cup. She was sitting on the floor with her knees brought up to her chest, hands clasped around her shins, and large wings concealing everything else. Her lengthy tail was lashing back and forth like the pendulum of a grandfather clock; left to right, right to left, left to right. Kurt was astonished. He hadn't even seen a speck of her!
"Now," Xavier said calmly, folding his hands together. "Why did you bolt out of your class, Rose?"
At first, Rose only stared from her position on the floor. She slowly let her wings unfold and stood up to her full height, looking somber and upset. "The Adolph Circus is coming."
"And?" Storm asked.
Another long, uncomfortable pause, and then another low sigh. Rose sat down on the bed and stared hard at the professor. Storm had a frantic thought that she was going to attack Xavier, from the wild look in Rose's eyes, but that was beneath the Demoness. "I once vorked for them, vhen I vas a child, about ten."
Xavier nodded. Rose knew she had no secret from him, so she let her memories rush at him. It was winter when the circus had found her, shuddering and slowly freezing from the frostbite that was slowly claiming her toes and fingers.
"A voman from their troupe saw me as they vere leaving Blanch. She had once been a mother, and vas a grandmother, so she was naturally drawn to me, vhatever my appearance."
An old, wispy woman cautiously walked into the bridge, holding out one wrinkled hand and whispering gentle sentences. After a few seconds, one tiny, misshapen hand reached out for hers, and a tiny and half-frozen Rose walked out, clothed only by her solitary blanket. "Hello," said the old woman cheerfully. "I am Morgana. Who are you, youngling?"
"Rose of the Blanch Bridge," the bone-thin Rose responded.
"That's a big name, child!" Old Morgana swept Rose up in her wizened arms and hugged her like any loving grandmother would. "I shall give you a shorter name...Rose Blanch."
"Old Morgana took me in, caring for me as loving as my first mother had, and more! She taught me how to read and vrite in many languages, along vith how to perform the high-vire act. She had actually done it once, vhen she vas young, and vas fascinated vith my natural talent."
"Come on Rose!" cried Morgana as she watched Rose dangle dozens of feet up in the air. "You can do it! Just don't look down, acushla!"
"I had, at first, started out as part of the freak show, but vhen the ringmaster realized my potential for the high-vire act, I became a main part of the show, practically a star!"
The crowd oohed and ahhed at the sight of the eleven year-old mutant high up, seeming to have her head in heaven. The routine was that Rose did a few flips to warm herself and the crowd up, and then would supposedly "fall" and terrify every person there. She was never scared; after all, she had a built-in parachute. She would then twist her body or grab ahold of the line with her tail and pull herself back up, much to the amazement of the crowd, and continue with her valorous act.
The audience loved it, every time.
"But then...the kind ringleader died of old age. His son, Volfgang Adolph, took control of the circus, and it vas complete hell after that."
A tall, red-headed man, Wolfgang, yelling at Rose, Old Morgana, and the other performers because he had seen one audience member who had yawned. YAWNED! He carried a long, electrical prod made for moving the larger animals like the elephants and draft horses, but not for humans, mutant or non-mutant. It left some nasty burns, which in turn left large, shiny scars.
Rose shook her head and a few tears stained the blue bedspread. "Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore. Vhen I vas fifteen, I fled. That vas ten years ago. I've never been back."
"I see," Xavier murmured. He still felt that Rose was trying to hide something from him, but to simply invade onto her private memories would be a breach of his manners. "Are you alright?" he asked after a long minute of silence.
"Yes," Rose said, seemingly back to normal. She put on a strong face and strode to the door. "I am fine. I really must go copy and frame my new photos." Xavier's telepathy warned him of the dangers beyond the door. "Rose, I wouldn't open that-"
Too late.
"AAAH!" was the simultaneous scream when Rose yanked open her door. Nearly every single student and teacher in the Institute fell onto Rose's feet.
Except Logan, who stood in the back with a toothpick rolling around in his mouth and a smug look on his whiskery face as he said, "I told you that you shouldn't lean on the door."
*****
By the end of the week, Rose had gotten very settled in the Institute, and Kurt had gotten settled to the fact that he now had a big sister. Kurt was seemed to be much more at peace with himself and, although nobody had known her before, everyone could tell that Rose was happier now than she had probably ever been.
Also, many students decided to take her Arts class, even Evan. Kurt was also taking it, grabbing hold of another chance to learn more about Rose, even if he wasn't exactly Picasso.
The classroom they were all seated in was very spacious and lavish with its stained glass and polished wood desks and chairs. They had all expected to see molding clay, paints, colored pencils, and other artsy stuff, but the students had found nothing of the sort. So they had respectively taken their seats and, being the teens that they were, gossiped.
Rose walked in just as a paper airplane flew past. She gave it a questioning look, then continued into the room. From her pupils' point of view, she certainly didn't look like a teacher! In fact, she looked more like them than anything in her khaki shorts and blue halter-top. She had also recently cut her hair to a more normal length. The indigo locks seemed to be the world's smallest waterfall as it cascaded down her back and shone like purple gold in the sunlight.
"She's been hangin' out vith Kitty, again, ja?" he whispered to Evan, who grinned boyishly back.
"Good morning, class," said Rose cheerfully. The kids all repeated the greeting back to her, sounding a little bored, despite the fact that they had signed up for this class. If Rose noticed this at all, she pointedly ignored it. Instead, she turned her back on them, facing the large window facing the gardens. Kurt had a distinct feeling what was going to happen.
"It is very beautiful outside today, no?" Rose asked the students. A few of them nodded and others murmured their agreement. Smiling, Rose looked back to the window for a few seconds. "Vhat a shame it vould be to be locked up in this classroom..." Again, she turned to look at her new pupils. "Vhat do you say ve take our lesson outside today?"
Roaring cheers answered her questions as the students raced out the gardens. Rose followed, picking up the large box in the corner and taking it with her.
The students stood outside as she came out and carefully set the box down. "For today's project, ve are going to photograph anything on the property of the Institute." She pulled out ancient, black-and-white cameras and handed one out to each student. As the teens looked their new toys over and frightened one another by flashing them with the cameras, Rose said, "I vant you to take loots and loots of pictures, but only hand in one, the one that you think best represents your personalities and aspect of life." Smiling her ferocious smile, she spread her arms and wings wide open, looking like a cross between an angel and a demon. "Go on!"
The students instantly scattered, into the nearby woods, throughout the gardens, and into the school. Only Rogue stayed where she was, gazing into the distance. It was late in the day, and the sun was already setting upon Bayville.
"Is something the matter, Rogue?" Rose asked, concerned.
Rogue turned to Rose. If Mystique had indeed adopted her, and Kurt was her adopted-brother, then that had to make Rose her sister, even if it wasn't by blood. What a funny-looking family I've got, she thought smugly to herself. Aloud, she said, "Just trying to find a good photograph, like you said, instead of running off like all those other nuts..."
Both of them glanced over at the fountain, where Jamie had nearly a baker's dozen copies of himself scattered, all of them armed and dangerous with a camera. Amara shrieked when the original Jamie flashed the camera at her and slapped at him, causing him to fall. Even more Jamies appeared and scattered.
"Maybe he is making a collage?" Rose said laughingly. Rogue snorted in amusement. "Vhat are you looking for, in particular?"
"Well...I don't really know."
"Don't vorry," Rose assured her, putting her odd hands on Rogue's shoulder's. "It will come to you, lieb die Schwester." She walked off before Rogue could answer her, disappearing in that strange way of hers.
Rogue later looked up "lieb die Schwester" in a German-to-English dictionary. Apparently, it meant "beloved sister." Rogue was a bit startled; she'd always been a single child, so had never been called a sister before, much less a beloved sister. And she barely knew Rose, though, knowing the odd German, Rose probably knew much about her.
Rogue couldn't help but smile. "Sister..." she murmured to herself. It was very nice to say.
*****
"Ooh, very nice," Rose cooed over Jamie's picture the next day. It was off all his mutiples, standing in front of him and taking his picture too. "I like! Very creative." She looked down at Jamie, since she was nearly as tall as Storm, and smiled without baring her teeth. "You should be very proud of this, Jamie."
Jamie smiled and trotted off to his desk, clutching his picture like a golden treasure.
"Scott, please."
Kurt noticed that Scott was looking a tad bit embarrassed as he walked up to present his picture to Rose.
Rose held it delicately like she had ever other student's picture as she looked over it. It was a picture of Jean, sitting in a tree and taking a picture of her own of the setting sun. "This is lovely, Scott," commented Rose honestly. "You 'ave talent as a photographer."
"Thank you, Ms. Blanch-"
"Rose."
"Rose," Scott corrected himself. "Er...do you mind if I have a copy?"
"Of course you are going to get a copy, Scott. I am making a copy of all the students' photos, and also keeping one for myself."
"Oh!" Scotts smiled energetically. "Okay then, here." He walked back to his desk, still grinning.
"Rogue, please."
Rogue proudly showed Rose photo, no fear of being embarrassed. Rose smiled widely. It was a picture of one dying rose and one blooming rose surrounded by fallen petals. She understood it completely. The dying rose was one factor of Rogue's life; the period when she had shunned away everyone upon learning that she was a mutant. The blossoming rose was now; her life was good and only getting better. The fallen petals were the tribulations she had faced, but the blooming rose proved that she had carried on, and flourished. "You put loots of thought into this picture, Rogue. It is vonderful." She put it on the pile with the others and called up Sam, also known by the alias of Cannonball, and took his photo in her gentle hands.
Several things happened at once; Rose's eyes widened, she began to tremble violently, she dropped the photo, and briskly walked out the door. As she walked past, Kurt could hear her muttering in German: "Sie are kommen, sie are kommen..."
They are coming, they are coming...
As soon as the door slammed behind her, all of the students leaped from their seats and to Cannonball. "Whatcha do?" Evan asked.
Sam shook his head and held up the photo. "I like circuses, so I took a photo of a poster that someone put on the gates."
Like he said, the photograph only had a poster on it declaring, COME ONE! COME ALL! COME TO THE ADOLPH & FAMILY CIRCUS AND BE AMAZED!
None of them noticed one very teeny tiny figure at the very bottom, almost too small to see, in the right-hand corner.
The Demoness.
*****
"Alright. Spread out. Bobby, Jamie, Sam, Rogue, Jubilation, take the gardens and woods. Logan, Rahne, Jean, Kitty, Evan, inspect Bayville. Hank, Ray, Roberto, Amara, you look in the lower levels of the Institute, and Storm, Scott, Kurt, and I will search the upper levels."
Everyone did as Xavier said, fanning out in their directed designations. Kurt was scared, REALLY scared. He had no idea what had frightened Rose so badly. She had been here over a week, and he'd never seen her that terrified. Rose was always calm, always gentle, always stable. It was comforting to know a person like that, a person who could be kicked down and only rise again.
But when Rose had fled...it was a tad bit unnerving.
"What could have frightened her to the point of running?" Storm wondered as the three of them traveled up the stairs. Xavier had his own personal elevator to go up and down the levels of the Institute.
"I dunno," answered Scott. "She was looking at Cannonball's photo for her class, and then she freaked and left."
"Ja," Kurt added, nodding to emphasize his point.
"Where is the picture?" Storm demanded.
"Here." Scott fished the photo out of her jean pocket as he ran and handed it to Storm.
"The Adolph & Family circus is coming? How could that frighten her?"
"I do not know," said Xavier as his elevator hit the second floor and met up with his group. "But I could feel her terror at the other side of the mansion. If we are to find any answers, we will have to find her first, and that in itself is quite a challenge."
"How?" Scott asked curiously.
"I suppose I didn't tell you about Rose's power; she can become invisible, so that is why none of the security cameras will pick her up."
"That's going to make it hard!" Kurt exclaimed. He knocked on the first door he came to. "Rose? It is me, Kurt!"
No answer.
In the period of half an hour, the entire Institute and the surrounding land was searched. Every group came back in defeat while Xavier and his posse still searched the huge school.
The last room was Rose's. When they knocked, they heard a faint answer from inside: "Fahren hinweg!"
"Say what?"
"She said, 'Go away!', Scott," Xavier translated. He tapped his knuckles on the door gently. "Rose? It's the professor. Would you like to talk?"
This time, he got a very loud mental answer.
(NO.)
Xavier flinched slightly at the harshness and volume of the mental voice. That was the complete opposite of the usual Rose. (Why not?) Off in the distance of her terrified mind, he heard her repeating one sentence over and over again: (Sie are kommen! Sie are kommen!)
She didn't answer. Xavier sighed. "Rose is refusing to come out or talk to any of us. She's so terrified that she is only speaking in her native tongue and seems to have temporarily forgotten English."
"She's been around Rogue too long," Storm commented dryly, but they knew she was scared by Rose's evanescence. Everyone was worried; everyone had become fond of Rose, even Logan would admit he didn't hate her and that was a plus, and the thought of such a gentle creature being hurt, physically or emotionally, was devastating.
"Maybe you should go in, Kurt," Scott commented. "She likes you the most out of all of us."
Kurt couldn't deny that. Nodding, he opened the door to Rose's bedroom. He realized he'd never been in here; she'd always found him. The furnishings were incredibly well-polished, not a speck of dust to be seen on their maple wood. A bed made for a single person with a large back (or wings, in Rose's case), two bookshelves, a dresser. The books were mainly filled with floral books, but there was also an ancient-looking Bible that Rose had probably brought from Germany and many fiction stories, such as Treasure Island, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Black Beauty, and a very well-thumbed Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring. On the dresser was a few clothes that hadn't been folded and put back in yet, along with a German-&-English dictionary on top of them. What really caught a person's eyes were the half dozen posters on the wall; some were in written in English, one in French, and one or two in German. But no matter the dialect, all sported a very fetching picture or painting of Rose, except in the posters called her THE DEMONESS! COME AND OBSERVE THE WORLD'S MOST FABULOUS ACROBAT YOU HAVE EVER AND WILL EVER HAVE THE PLEASURE OF SEEING! The Rose in the pictures looked much younger and happier than she usually did, dressed in such a fashion that made Scott and Kurt blush like nuts. It seemed that she barely even tried to hang onto the thin wire she usually was perched on.
Kurt, Storm, and Scott couldn't help jumping when Rose's quiet voice said, "Rather amusing, ja?"
"Where are you, Rose?" asked Xavier. To keep the other students and teachers from eavesdropping, he closed the door with a click of the lock. "We cannot possibly aid you if you continue to hide from us."
There was an uneasy silence, and then a heavy sigh from Rose. In the corner, Kurt saw her large feet begin to appear, and everything above appeared one at a time, like colored water filling up a cup. She was sitting on the floor with her knees brought up to her chest, hands clasped around her shins, and large wings concealing everything else. Her lengthy tail was lashing back and forth like the pendulum of a grandfather clock; left to right, right to left, left to right. Kurt was astonished. He hadn't even seen a speck of her!
"Now," Xavier said calmly, folding his hands together. "Why did you bolt out of your class, Rose?"
At first, Rose only stared from her position on the floor. She slowly let her wings unfold and stood up to her full height, looking somber and upset. "The Adolph Circus is coming."
"And?" Storm asked.
Another long, uncomfortable pause, and then another low sigh. Rose sat down on the bed and stared hard at the professor. Storm had a frantic thought that she was going to attack Xavier, from the wild look in Rose's eyes, but that was beneath the Demoness. "I once vorked for them, vhen I vas a child, about ten."
Xavier nodded. Rose knew she had no secret from him, so she let her memories rush at him. It was winter when the circus had found her, shuddering and slowly freezing from the frostbite that was slowly claiming her toes and fingers.
"A voman from their troupe saw me as they vere leaving Blanch. She had once been a mother, and vas a grandmother, so she was naturally drawn to me, vhatever my appearance."
An old, wispy woman cautiously walked into the bridge, holding out one wrinkled hand and whispering gentle sentences. After a few seconds, one tiny, misshapen hand reached out for hers, and a tiny and half-frozen Rose walked out, clothed only by her solitary blanket. "Hello," said the old woman cheerfully. "I am Morgana. Who are you, youngling?"
"Rose of the Blanch Bridge," the bone-thin Rose responded.
"That's a big name, child!" Old Morgana swept Rose up in her wizened arms and hugged her like any loving grandmother would. "I shall give you a shorter name...Rose Blanch."
"Old Morgana took me in, caring for me as loving as my first mother had, and more! She taught me how to read and vrite in many languages, along vith how to perform the high-vire act. She had actually done it once, vhen she vas young, and vas fascinated vith my natural talent."
"Come on Rose!" cried Morgana as she watched Rose dangle dozens of feet up in the air. "You can do it! Just don't look down, acushla!"
"I had, at first, started out as part of the freak show, but vhen the ringmaster realized my potential for the high-vire act, I became a main part of the show, practically a star!"
The crowd oohed and ahhed at the sight of the eleven year-old mutant high up, seeming to have her head in heaven. The routine was that Rose did a few flips to warm herself and the crowd up, and then would supposedly "fall" and terrify every person there. She was never scared; after all, she had a built-in parachute. She would then twist her body or grab ahold of the line with her tail and pull herself back up, much to the amazement of the crowd, and continue with her valorous act.
The audience loved it, every time.
"But then...the kind ringleader died of old age. His son, Volfgang Adolph, took control of the circus, and it vas complete hell after that."
A tall, red-headed man, Wolfgang, yelling at Rose, Old Morgana, and the other performers because he had seen one audience member who had yawned. YAWNED! He carried a long, electrical prod made for moving the larger animals like the elephants and draft horses, but not for humans, mutant or non-mutant. It left some nasty burns, which in turn left large, shiny scars.
Rose shook her head and a few tears stained the blue bedspread. "Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore. Vhen I vas fifteen, I fled. That vas ten years ago. I've never been back."
"I see," Xavier murmured. He still felt that Rose was trying to hide something from him, but to simply invade onto her private memories would be a breach of his manners. "Are you alright?" he asked after a long minute of silence.
"Yes," Rose said, seemingly back to normal. She put on a strong face and strode to the door. "I am fine. I really must go copy and frame my new photos." Xavier's telepathy warned him of the dangers beyond the door. "Rose, I wouldn't open that-"
Too late.
"AAAH!" was the simultaneous scream when Rose yanked open her door. Nearly every single student and teacher in the Institute fell onto Rose's feet.
Except Logan, who stood in the back with a toothpick rolling around in his mouth and a smug look on his whiskery face as he said, "I told you that you shouldn't lean on the door."