A/N: Sorry it took so long; I suffered severe writer's block. Someone mentioned that Multiple is an orphan. ::shrugs:: I don't know; I have never read the X-Men comics. All I know is that in the Christmas episode, Rogue and Scott were the only students left in the mansion, so obviously Jamie had to go somewhere. For the purposes of this fic, he and everyone else went home.

Part Four - Fight

---- "Sometimes salvation must be force-fed." – Magneto  ----

A large room, free of furnishings except for a dais at one end. Crowds of people stand at attention before the stage, arranged in what must be ranks. There are few, less than fifty, but some look capable of much more than a single man should be able to accomplish. There, a fire dancing in fanciful shapes; there, a hulk of a man seemingly coated in silver; there, a man with shocking red and black eyes and a deck of cards. Some are perfectly ordinary, but their normality only enhances the strangeness of the rest.

A single voice, booming and powerful and deep, rises over the crowd. "Whom do you serve?"

A multitude of voices answers as one. "Magneto, Master of Magnetism!"

"What do you fear?"

"Not life nor death nor any man alive!"

"Why do you fight?"

"We fight for the good of all mutants, the destruction of our oppressors, and the glorification of Magneto and all mutantkind. No man shall oppose us and live. We fight for our natural right to dominate, and we follow Magneto until death. There is no fear. There is no pain. There is no wrong. Mutants will conquer all!"

Lost among the enraptured and fanatical mob, an emaciated boy with dead eyes stands alone. The litany tumbles from his lips, over and over, as he is buried beneath the fervent shouts of the frenzied, seething throng.

* * *

Todd sat alone at a lunch table. Despite the young mutant's rather pronounced unpopularity, this was still a rarity in a cafeteria as crowded as Bayville High's. Not to mention that normally he had at least Fred and Lance to sit with. However, neither of his friends seemed inclined to make an appearance today, so he was forced to sit alone.

Figures, yo, Todd thought to himself. The one day I forget my lunch money the others don't show. He mentally cursed the school board for taking them off the free lunch program. By their standards, no one nominally in the care of Professor Xavier needed a free lunch. They had managed to hold on to a reduced lunch status, but since Todd was currently broke, even that was not an option.

Of course, Todd was not limited to cuisine from mere cafeteria lines.

Todd looked around the cafeteria with a practiced eye. Within moments, he spotted his target and the next second a long, slimy, green tongue shot through the air to snap up a particularly succulent housefly at a nearby table. The inhabitants of said table jumped in surprise and gave Todd disgusted looks when his tongue invaded their space. "Eeeeww, that is so guh-ross!" exclaimed one girl. Todd leered at her and deliberately crunched his fly down.

Todd spent about two more minutes sitting before he decided that he'd had enough. Who said that lunchtime had to be spent here, anyway? He was stopped, however, by a hesitant voice.

"Um, excuse me? Can we sit here?" Todd looked up and saw, to his disgust, Blue-boy and his freaky girlfriend. Kurt looked like he would rather be anywhere besides where he was; unsurprisingly, it was his girlfriend – what was her name? Amanda? –  who had made the request. Todd ignored her and turned to Kurt.

"So, Fuzzball," he began, "How long did it take her to convince you to come over here?"

Kurt's voice was tightly controlled as he answered, "There's nowhere else to sit, Toad."

Todd looked around and noticed that the many extra seats at the various tables had mysteriously been filled with books, jackets, and purses the moment Kurt had entered the room. He smirked as he turned back to the couple, taunting Kurt with his eyes as he pointedly stared at the psuedo-occupied chairs.

"So, Amanda," he began, ignoring Kurt's warning growl, "What's it like dating a beast? Does all the fur add to the experience? Or is it awkward to have to clean hair out from your – "

Todd's insult was cut short as Kurt lunged at him, fury in every line of his body.

* * *

"So, what was that about?"

Jean turned around in confusion and saw Rogue walking towards her. Jean had left their apartment a few minutes earlier to go meet Duncan, but she still had a throbbing headache. It had started after her talk with the Professor and persisted despite the aspirin she had taken. Needless to say, she was not in the mood to deal with Rogue's cryptic comment.

"What are you talking about?" Jean answered finally, managing to keep her voice civil. Just because she was in a bad mood did not mean she had to be rude, she reminded herself.

Rogue, apparently, had no such reservations. She glared openly at Jean. "The Professor? You said you would tell me what was going on."

Jean frowned. "You were there, Rogue. Nothing's going on that you don't know about."

"Don't treat me like I'm stupid, Jean! Something the Professor said upset you. I saw it, so don't even bother denying it."

Jean thought back to that afternoon. She and Rogue had eavesdropped on the Professor after Wanda's surprising reappearance. Jean still cringed inside at the reprimand she had received; she hated disappointing the Professor. Rogue cleared her throat pointedly, and Jean quickly brought her mind back to the present. "Oh, that," she said, laughing uneasily. "It was just a mistake on my part. Nothing big. I talked to the Professor about it and he showed me my mistake." Rogue looked at her skeptically. "It's the truth, okay?" she said defensively.

"Right. The truth." Rogue was still staring at Jean strangely. "Tell me, Jean, is it your truth or is it his truth?"

That comment flew straight over Jean's head. "What in the world do you mean by that?"

"You know what I mean. You never question the Professor. You just believe whatever he says all the time. Why did you think he was wrong?"

"Rogue, I already told you. I made a mistake; I shouldn't have been upset. Professor Xavier explained his reasoning to me. And I don't agree with the Professor all of the time." A look made her reconsider her last statement. "Or if I do, it's just because he's right. He's lived a lot longer than we have and knows what's best for us. Why shouldn't I listen to him?"

Rogue shook her head slowly. "Look, Jean," she said, apparently deciding to drop the subject. "Could you just tell me why you were upset?" When Jean hesitated, she said, "If you already know that you were wrong, and I know it, then what difference should it make if you tell me?"

"Why do you want to know so badly? I was wrong, all right? You don't have to gloat over it," Jean snapped. She didn't know why, but part of her brain did not want to tell Rogue the truth at all.

"I am not – " Rogue stopped and took a deep breath. "Humor me, Jean. Please."

"It's silly," Jean said at last. She glanced at Rogue, but the girl's expression gave her no way out. "When the Professor scanned for Pietro, he said that he couldn't sense him." Rogue gave her a look. "Well – I could," Jean finished lamely.

Rogue frowned. "Wait – you could sense Pietro? That means the Professor could too." Jean nodded in confirmation. "So basically, the Professor lied to Wanda and sent her off without helping her?"

"It wasn't like that," Jean protested. "The Professor would never do something like that. He did it for her own good. Really," she insisted, seeing the skeptical look on Rogue's face. "What if she hurts someone while searching for her family? What if she finds them and Magneto hurts her? Her anger could get her killed someday, and it will if she keeps searching like this. The Professor couldn't help her do something that would hurt her like that. It wouldn't be right."

"What if she hurts someone?" Rogue repeated. "Do you think that Wanda is just going to give up because the Professor didn't tell her where Pietro was? You're right; her anger could get her into a lot of trouble, but the longer she has to search for them the more likely it is that she will hurt someone. If she found them now, at least we would know when she would confront Magneto. Maybe we could be there to pull her out if things got bad. But we can't do that now, and she'll probably find them somewhere far away and blow something up in the process. Which would be very bad for us."

"I – " Jean was horribly confused, and her head pounded worse than ever. "No. That won't happen. The Professor knows what's best. I'm sure that if there was any danger of that happening, he would have realized it."

"Jean, listen to yourself. 'The Professor says…' 'The Professor says…' " she mocked. "He's just one man. He can make mistakes. And if you can't accept that, then maybe there's something really wrong."

"Like what?" Jean nearly screeched. "Dam- I mean –" she stopped, flustered. She never cursed. She ignored Rogue's shocked look and said quickly, "Just tell me what you mean!" She was getting very frustrated, not to mention annoyed. Why had she even bothered to talk to Rogue anyway? They never got along!

Rogue's face suddenly took on a guarded expression. "It's what I said before. Is what you say your truth or his truth?" Jean thought about that for a second before the meaning of Rogue's words hit her.

"Rogue!" she gasped. "How could you say - the Professor would never –"

"Hey, baby!" Jean looked behind her just as Duncan slung an arm around her shoulders. He grinned at her. "I was just coming to meet you, and here you are!" He laughed loudly.

Jean smiled vaguely at him, still stunned from Rogue's earlier comment. "Hi, Duncan," she said a bit inanely. She turned to look at Rogue. "I'll talk to you later, okay?" she said, fixing Rogue with a meaningful look. Rogue rolled her eyes but nodded. Jean turned back to Duncan, neatly slipping away from his arm in the same movement. "So, where are we going?"

As Duncan led her away, chattering about his plans for the day, her mind slipped back to her conversation with Rogue. It can't be, she thought. It just can't be.

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