SWEETNESS FOLLOWS
If you asked Bobby Drake when it really began, in his opinion it had to have been when the door closed behind Scott Summers. The students sneaked peeks at the inevitable departure of their teacher, attempting to look nonchalant and aloof at the disturbing spectacle. But Rogue stood when the others sat and followed Scott until he had reached the door. He took one last glance at the tearful girl and smiled sadly. One last glance at his noble African goddess Ororo, whose words of condolence and pleading had failed her. One last glance at the blue mutant Kurt Wagner, who could not seem to face the mourning man. One last glance at the Professor, who stared mutely and stonily at his student; and for once Scott felt the familiar psychic presence of the telepath leave him entirely. One last glance at the brooding Logan, who lingered on the staircase. The two men faced each other with a mixture of unreadable emotions, flickering quickly and disappearing just as quickly. He gave no final speech, no wave, no note and most disheartening, no word of when he'd return. If at all.
After the door closed with a soft and resounding click, the air around them seemed to come crumbling down. It was the final chapter in their latest ordeal, but it did nothing to settle the discontent in their hearts. Instead it made it worse. Logan ascended the staircase with stomping boots, and Bobby made a mental note to stay far and clear from the feral man for more than a few days. Ororo folded her arms across her chest and walked away quickly but not fast enough for anyone to miss the tears streaming down her face. Kurt disappeared in a whiff of black smoke; which was always an unsettling sight in Bobby's mind. But the Professor Xavier stayed, staring at the door with an impermeable face.
Bobby touched Rogue's gloved arm lightly. "We should go." He whispered the statement although he knew well enough that if the Professor wanted to, he could have just read the boy's mind anyway.
Rogue shook her head but refused to turn around. "Why did he leave?" She gasped through her tears.
Bobby touched her arm again, this time more forcefully. "Rogue. We should go."
She turned to him slowly and Bobby felt his chest pang in sympathy for the girl. Which struck him as odd, since Scott was the one he should be feeling bad for. She finally nodded at him and let Bobby lead her by the hand into the rec room, ignoring the questioning stares from the students gathered closely to the opening.
Charles Xavier felt as though he was sinking. Perhaps wallowing was a better term for it. He could say nothing to Scott, for he knew that Scott could not hear it right now. Beyond the helplessness to aid his prized student was the overwhelming yet irrational guilt. But not for Scott or Jean or even Jason Stryker. It was for his other students. The ones that had yet to don the garb of an X-Men but had faced one of the most dangerous foes of their lifetime. The guilt he felt was for failing in his own promise to prevent that from ever happening. In the back of his mind he knew that he could not shelter them; it was probably more detrimental to their being to shield them from the hate the outside world would eventually inflict upon them. But what had happened was not protestors or school bullies. It was armed men being led by a psychopath.
But what frightened Charles the most was the knowledge that Stryker would not be the last. He was only the beginning.