*sniffles* I need some cheering up this week, people—I took my road test on Tuesday, and the mean lady not only flunked me for no reason (I did everything right, but she made up reasons to make me fail), but she almost made me cry! To make myself better, I spent a good portion of my time working on this chapter. I like this chapter. Hopefully, you like it too.
Livewire: "mmm…tastes like chicken!" lmao. That's a rather…unique comparison. And thanks for the offer; if I get stuck in my French, I'll be sure to send for your help. And don't be afraid to correct me if you spot a goof-up. (Like I said; I have enough grammer trouble in English)
Eileen: Guess what? I love it, too! ^_^
Vagabond: ooh…fresh blood! Don't worry—from what I've seen, you're not the only Romy-addicted person on this side. And I doubt you're the only person to learn about him from websites and fanfics.
Neva: He is a mushroom head! I'd love more than anything to be able to update every other day, but unfortunately I have to settle for whenever I can. I'll try for at least once a week/week and a half.
Dragonfire: I thought I answered this question already. Oh, well, maybe I just forgot to. No, Remy doesn't live at the institute. But he is (or has been) a rather frequent visitor for…obvious reasons.
Pyromaniac: (absolutely LUV the penname, btw!) Me, give up this story? Not a chance! I've gone as far as to start plotting it's sequel, I'm so into it. Glad you like it, too.
todd fan: Good to BE back! Yeah, ff.net's being such a pain, and in the weirdest ways, too; in one review of mine, it completely edited out two words! Apparently, you're not allowed to html italics in review boxes, because it just removes the words all together!
Chaos: Eep! Sorry 'bout the delay…I've been REALLY busy. As in, so busy I start my mornings at seven, and sometimes don't see my house until nine or ten o'clock at night. The necklace bit was also a last-minute add-in to the scene, which was a second-to-last-minute add-in itself.
ishandahalf: Ah, yes; my brother is also an avid Simpson's fan. More mushiness? I'll see what I can do. In the mean time, I hope this chapter can sustain you. Got a bit of Jamie cuteness in there, too.
Lady MR: Just for you, I did my best to stick a smidgit of RoLo in. It's not much, but I don't really have much to work with. I'm glad you like Ryo—she seems to be little more than comic relief right now, but will play a larger role later in the story. Okay, answers: Remy (in my version) doesn't officially work for Magneto, but he is in a somewhat work-alliance with him (meaning the Magster doesn't have control over him). I considered for a while whether or not I wanted to parallel all of "Self-Posessed" and finally came to the conclusion that no, Rogue's powers won't go insane, although she will still be suffering from more and more intense side-effects. There are quite a few episodes I'll at least partially incorporate in here as well. And as for Mystique: you'll find out in this chapter, now won't you? (Personally, I like the sound of Mrs. LeBeau, too, but I think the name would sound even better on Rogue, don't you?)
[Random Quote: "Ooh…they'll be singing soprano into their eighties." "Good. We Russians LOVE opera!"]
Jean agreed to take Bobby and Jubilee to their school, since it was at least ten minutes away from Bayville High and she had first period off, anyways. That left Scott to drive Kurt, Rogue and Kitty, the latter of who seemed fairly distant that morning. With a knowingly look of reassurance from Jean (who was kind enough not to say anything to the others), she phased through the back left car door. Rogue followed suit on the right, lost in a euphoric world of her own as she fiddled with her pendent, while the Fuzzy Dude claimed shotgun.
Heading towards the mansion gates, there was an eerie silence in the air. Kurt had his headphones on, listening to some popular German song no one else had ever heard of before, and the backseat passengers were unusually quiet. Scott glanced at the two girls through the rear-view mirror, taking his eyes away from the driveway for a second.
"Scott, look out!" Kurt cried out suddenly. A squirrel was right in the middle of the car's path and Scott had to swerve quickly, just barely missing the tiny little animal.
When the apparent danger was over, he breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close," he commented to no one in particular, then waited for Kitty's whining about having almost killed a poor, defenseless animal. When it didn't come, he considered himself lucky for the moment; then turned his attention to Kurt, who was staring out the window back towards the mansion. He raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong?"
Kurt turned his sights back to the front of the car, staring straight outward with a weird look in his eyes. "I must be going crazy; I could have svorn I saw zat squirrel shake a fist at us." Resisting the urge not to laugh, Scott glanced in the mirror once more as they pulled up to the end of the driveway.
It was like an episode of The Twilight Zone: the normally perky valley-girl was so quiet and solemn, while the residential Goth was…well, Scott wasn't quite sure what Rogue was this morning. She had a somewhat glazed look in her eyes and refused to let go of some necklace pendent he had never seen before, smiling down on it as if it were a precious treasure.
"That's a very lovely necklace, Rogue" He spoke up, "Is it new?"
"Mm-hmm," she answered without bothering to look up.
Scott expected her to say something more, but when she didn't, he queried further. "Did…a friend give it to you?"
"Y'all could say that," came the mysterious response.
Realizing he wouldn't get anything more out of her, Scott carefully pulled out of the lot. Kitty turned her head towards the girl briefly, having been drawn by the tone in her voice. She took a good, hard look from where she sat at the lovely design, then looked up to meet Rogue's eyes. "Remy?" she mouthed, and received a nod in response. With a faint smile of happiness towards her best friend and roommate, Kitty Pryde turned once more to the window and continued to dread the day ahead.
Meanwhile, back at the Institute, Ryo was bored out of her mind. Classes didn't start until ten o'clock—more than two hours from then. She had already spent the past half hour lounging in the Rec room watching reruns of some old cartoon about canine superheroes (which, surprisingly, had been hilariously entertaining). Deciding she was hungry, the young blonde resolved to go forge some food from the refrigerator.
An oddly amazing sight greeted her. About half a dozen or so Jamies had taken over the kitchen, hustling in about in what looked like an attempt to make breakfast. One was buttering a stack of toast, another was working the juice machine, another poured two bowls of cereal, while yet another was slicing up some bananas. The main Jamie (who was flipping pancakes over the stove) gave a wave to the girl as she entered.
"Hey, Miss Ryo!"
"Hey, Miss Ryo!" the Jamie clones echoed simultaneously, then returned to their task.
Ryo watched, impressed, as the twelve year old craftily fixed two setting at the counter by means of yet anther clone. "Wow…" she blinked, "…that's handy!" She moved to sit at the counter, and all the other Jamies collected together, becoming one little boy again. He walked over to the table with two plates and took the seat opposite her with a grin.
"Hope you like chocolate chip."
The two ate in silence for a few moments—Jamie, from a somewhat awkwardness at having company…and Ryo, from just wishing to savor each bite (he may be considered the "baby" of the group, but the boy could cook!)—before Jamie found the courage to ask something that had been plaguing his mind. "Miss Ryo?"
She looked up. "Yeah?"
He swallowed another bite before continuing. "I was just wondering…are you mad at Spyke for some reason?"
"Am I mad at him?" The question caught her by surprise, "Why would you ask something like that?"
"Well…" he began hesitantly, but then saw the she wasn't angry. That reassured him a little. "See, he's been acting really weird since you got out the infirmary. Everytime he sees you coming, he bolts, and he checks to make sure you're not around. I thought that maybe…for whatever reason…he might be scared of you."
"Scared of me?" Ryo started laughing, but almost instantly stopped. "Actually…I could see that happening. But don't worry," she continued on with a smile, "I'm not mad at Evan. 'Got no reason to be."
"Oh." Silence took over once more, and Ryo stared curiously at her plate for a moment. Now why would he be avoiding me? She wondered. I haven't even seen him since… and that's when it dawned on her. The Accident! Of course; he must still feel bad about what happened. She frowned. There's gotta be something I can do to fix that....
While she was silently figuring out a way to get her fellow X-man to start talking to her again, Logan walked in the room. Well…stormed in, was more like it.
"Come on, Short Stuff" he said to Ryo, "Xavier wants you do to a little bit of control practice before classes."
"Now?" She whined.
He gave her a stern-hard glare that pretty much meant he hadn't had his morning coffee yet. "Yes, now. Suit up and meet me in the Danger Room in five minutes." With a groan he had heard come from all New Recruits before, she stood up…then grabbed her plate.
"Fine. But if I go, so do the pancakes."
He rolled his eyes and muttered something incomprehensible. "Whatever."
The halls were filled to the maximum with students on either side, but nobody spoke. It remained completely silent as all eyes were on the four students—one senior, two juniors, and one sophomore—as they walked together up the front stairs. But these eyes, they weren't filled will fear, oh no. They were filled with…a fascination of some sort. Whispers and girlish giggles erupted as the quartet made it through the doorway and parted ways.
Kurt headed straight for his locker, when someone caught the corner of his eye. Forgetting his surroundings for a moment, he headed towards the one person he had missed more than anything during the past few months.
Amanda had been in the middle of opening her locker, oblivious to her current surroundings, when she suddenly found a pair of strong, warm arms wrap around her waist. Fuzzy arms. She gasped in surprised, which quickly turned to a blissful grin. "I missed you, Fraulein," a familiar German accent whispered into her ear. She quickly turned to greet the person it belonged to."
"Kurt…" she whispered, embracing him tightly before pulling away, "How have you been?"
He gave her a loving smile.. "I've been okay, considering it's been months since I've seen you last." He brushed a few strands of hair covering her face. In the process, a rather nasty looking bruise on her cheek was revealed. His expression immediately took on one of concern. "Oh, 'Manda…what happened?"
She pulled away suddenly, seeming very intent on covering the black-and-blue mark and looking away. "I-it's nothing." She tried to laugh it off. He didn't waver. "Really; just some minor catfight I got caught up in, that's all."
Kurt's expression grew more solemn. "Zis wouldn't have anyzing to do with you being ze girlfriend of a mutant, would it?" She didn't reply, and he had his answer. "Tell me what happened."
"I don't think—"
"Amanda." He cut her off, his voice soft but full of power.
Slowly, Amanda put her hand down and leaned against the lockers for support. She allowed Kurt's fuzzy fingers to gently caress the bruise, but refused to look him in the eye. "I don't remember much, but about a week ago, a bunch of girls walked up to me…cheerleaders, I think. You know, that group Jean hung around with." She paused, and Kurt nodded for her to continue. "One of them asked if I knew I had been dating a 'freak.' I told her no, that I wasn't dating a freak, I was—am dating Kurt Wagner and couldn't be happier about it. That made her mad for some reason, and the next thing I knew…"
She leaned her forehead against his upper chest, closing her eyes. "It's not as bad as you think. Principal Kelly broke up the fight almost immediately; he saw everything, so I didn't get in trouble. It's just…"
"I know," he wrapped his arms around her, resting his head atop hers, "I'm so sorry. I should have been zere for you."
She managed a smile. "It's not your fault, Kurt. You've had worse problems of your own to deal with; don't blame yourself. I chose to be with you, knowing what I was bound to get myself into, and haven't regretted it for a single moment. Not even then." Words like that only made him love her even more. He leaned his head down and pressed his forehead to hers with a smile.
"I'll tell you what; zis weekend, you und me spend ze entire day together. Make up for lost time. Forget about all zis nonsense und have some fun, ja?"
A small giggle erupted from her throat as she found herself just glad to have her Kurt back. She kissed him. "It's a date." Giving her a moment to retrieve her books, the two of them headed off to class together. A few people stared; one or two girls even smiled at the sight of them.
On their way, they caught up with a very confused Rogue. "Hey, Rogue." Amanda greeted her, "That's a really pretty necklace."
"Thank ya," she replied, though she seemed rather preoccupied. "Have y'all seen Risty today? Ah can't seem ta find her."
Neither of them had.
She had already checked most of the school, including Risty's homeroom (twice). Normally, Rogue wouldn't have been so conscious of her friend's absence, but she had heard earlier that morning that Risty had disappeared shortly after the Sentinal incident.
Was Risty a mutant, too?
Now that I think about it, it could be possible, Rogue had pondered as she headed out back to check the picnic grounds. After all, she had managed to keep her own powers a secret for quite some time.
Her thoughts were interrupted as her vision suddenly went pure white. She nearly screamed out in surprise as a sudden flow of memories ran through her mind all at once. She could feel absolutely nothing, not even pain, and could barely see her hand in front of her face. Neither could she hear the surprised cries of her friends. Falling to her knees, Rogue had little choice but to allow the flashes to play out…
She saw past memories of Kitty celebrating Hanukkah with her parents, including lighting a menorah…
She saw, through the eyes of Toad, the first time Wanda had been introduced to the Brotherhood…
She saw images of a much younger Mystique holding a tiny child, no more than four, whose face was obscured by a thick hood…
She saw Risty and her hanging out at a party...no…the Sadie Hawkins dance…
"Rogue? …Rogue?" Kurt's voice brought her out of her trance, "Rogue? Are you all right?"
She shook her head and looked up. Kurt was on one side of her and Amanda was on the other. Together, the two of them helped the young girl to her feet. "Ah think so." She managed to reply, holding one hand to her head, "Just a few extra memories Ah needed to get rid of, Ah guess." Although I don't remember ever havin' touched Risty…
Amanda paused. "What did you see?"
"Nothin' import'nt, just a few flashes. Ah really couldn't tell one from the other."
Kurt, on the other hand, wasn't so quick to dismiss it. "Maybe we should walk you to class, Rogue…and zen later, you'll see ze Professor about zis?"
But something told her she shouldn't see the Professor about this. Something that Remy had said the night before, right before he had left…
"Whatever y' do, Chere, don' trust anyt'ing. Not even y' t'oughts…"
He told her it would be quite some time before he could come back to the Institute again—something to do with his strong mental shields being a danger for him. The necklace was somewhat of a Christmas Present, seeing as it was unlikely he would see her again before the New Year (that had upset her somewhat; it meant going more than two months without seeing Remy again). It made very little sense to her at the time—still did, actually. However…
"No, Ah'm fine. Ah wouldn't want ta bother him with somethin' so trivial as a few flashbacks."
"Are you sure?" Amanda asked her.
"Positive." She cut off Kurt's attempts to protest. "Now come on, y'all, or we're gonna be late!" The three of them together headed to homeroom. On the way, they passed by Duncan and Taryn. Together. He held a possessive arm around her waist, while she proudly sported his jacket over her usual wardrobe. A smug look of triumph dominated their facial features.
Kurt and Rogue's eyes went wide. It took a moment before Rogue finally spoke up for the two of them.
"That's…new."
"I know," Amanda said, doing her best not to laugh. "They've been together for over two months now. I can't wait to see how Jean and Scott take it."
Ryo sat Indian-style with her hands over her knees on the floor of the Danger Room in deep meditation. An empty plate smeared with chocolate and butter sat off to the side. She had her training uniform on, and her hair was let loose so that the weight of her ponytail couldn't interfere. Her breathing came in smooth and flowing, almost silent as she stared out directly in front of her, hardly blinking. She could easily sense Logan circling her every few seconds.
"That's very good," he commented, quietly so as not to break her concentration, "Keep yourself relaxed; don't tense up."
She took that as her cue to continue. Closing her eyes, she lifted her hands until they were right in front of her, palms facing each other. Her fingers flexed once or twice to loosen them up. She held that position for close to a minute before it began.
Right in the middle of her palms, a sudden wave—just barely visible to the naked eye—began to take shape. It looked like a giant ball of heat, but the two occupants in the room could clearly hear the soft high-frequency pitch it gave off.
"Now try to spread it out."
Beads of sweat were beginning to collect on her forehead as she slowly pushed her hands together, then pulled them apart with remnants of the sound waves circling each hand. Her arms moved straight outward until they were parallel with one another. She concentrated hard, and the waves began to spread out.
"That's it. Imagining them forming a barrier. A protective wall of sound."
Couldn't you just say "sound barrier" like everyone else? She thought. Unfortunately, taking her mind way from the task at hand, even for a second, caused her to loose focus. Before Ryo could figure what was happening, the energy in front of her took off like a rocket, throwing her on her back and nearly blowing Logan's head off. It did succeed in creating two very nicely-shaped dents over in the upper left corner of the far wall.
"Aw, damn it!" she cursed while getting up. In frustration, she banged her fists against the ground, creating two more craters. "This is stupid; I'm never gonna get it right!"
Logan growled, bending down to look her straight in the eye. "That is NOT the attitude I want to hear, understand me? You keep thinkin' like that, and you WILL fail."
"Logan," a voice came from the control room, "Perhaps if you tried not to take it so seriously…"
He looked up at the room with his trademark scowl, folding his arms. "And what would you suggest, 'Ro?" His question was answered with a gust of wind as the weather goddess floated herself down to greet them.
She first turned to Ryo with a smile. "Good morning, child."
"Mornin', Ororo." She replied, still on the ground.
Ororo moved to help the younger girl up off the ground, "You mustn't expect to gain perfect control in such a short time. Even a majority of the others here still have trouble once in a while." She tried not to laugh, but a small chuckle managed to escape her lips. "And don't let Logan intimidate you…he likes pulling the old tough-guy army routine, but underneath he's a big softie."
Logan raised an eyebrow at that last comment.
"But I can't even do something as simple as create a sound barrier!" Ryo sighed, "Not to mention the dozens of things I blast and shatter each day."
Ororo gave the young girl a motherly smile, placing one hand on her shoulder. "That's why you are here with us now. It will all come to you in time. Sometimes…" she was speaking to Ryo, but glancing upwards at Logan with a smile. "Sometimes, you may find yourself strongest when trying to protect someone you love." Wolverine managed to crack a grin of his own.
A lot of good that does me. She thought to herself, but didn't say so out loud.
"Now then," Ororo backed up a bit, standing next to Logan. "Let's try it again, with the two of us supervising." Heaving a sigh, Ryo sat back down on the floor. She closed her eyes and began the process all over again.
By fourth period, Kitty's spirits were beginning to lift. A majority of her classmates, while she had been expecting complete isolation, were suddenly opening up to her more warmly than ever. Twice, she had even been asked to demonstrate her phasing ability…it would have been more, if she had been allowed to agree. Still, it was a completely new feeling to the young girl—so much, that it overshadowed her earlier fear.
Of course, there was the little matter of cheerleaders and football players ignoring her completely, either acting as if she didn't exist or sneering down on her…but that was nothing new.
It was on her way to Chemistry when it happened.
Kitty had been preoccupied with checking her books to make sure she had grabbed the right ones; the events that morning had yet to register and were still floating around in her mind. She wasn't watching where she was going and before she realized it, she had accidentally bumped into someone. Her papers spilled everywhere and she was thrown backwards but didn't fall. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, "I didn't see you co—" but then looked up.
It was Lance.
Their eyes locked, more in shock than anything else. Time seemed to freeze over, and there was no one else but the two of them. A number of emotions flowed through Kitty's mind in those few seconds, each one clearly evident in her eyes. embarrassment…surprise…recognition…awkwardness…and for a split second, Lance could have sworn he saw a faint glimmer of happiness in seeing him. He decided to try his luck.
"H-hey, Kit-Kat." He said, using his special nickname for her. He tried giving her a welcoming smile, but it seemed she had broken out of the trance at the mere sound of his voice.
Her eyes grew cold as she suddenly remembered everything. "You have no right to call me that anymore." She whispered harshly, bending down to retrieve her things. He moved to help her, but she sharply pulled away and stood up. "Why can't you just leave me alone!" She cried out, and ran off in the opposite direction.
Jean was at the end of the hall right on the corner, and had seen everything. She took the younger girl, wrapping a sisterly arm around her, and gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze in reassurance. Lance couldn't hear what was said, but it wasn't hard to miss the venomous glare Miss Grey threw in his direction before guiding Kitty off to her class down a different hallway.
His fists clenched so tightly the earth shook for a second or two, drawing the attention of a few roaming students. But he ignored them all. "Screw this," he muttered, and headed towards the school exit. He saw no point in staying the rest of the day—unlike the X-geeks, he and the other brotherhood members (those who had bothered to show up) were regarded as less than scum, even more so than ever before.
It just wasn't fair.
That afternoon, as Evan skateboarded home, his mind drifted back over the course of the day. He still couldn't get over it—no one could. Aside from the "popular" crowd (who were obviously more than a little jealous at all the attention being driven away from them), the entire student body treated them all as superheroes of some kind. They had become their own social clique in school. One freshman even walked up to him during lunch, asking for an autograph! Sure, the teachers acted a bit more frightened around them now when they walked into a room, but he could deal with that. Maybe even have a little fun… He chuckled evilly.
About three blocks away from the mansion, Evan saw Scott's convertible driving down the road. He waved to the passengers inside, then hitched a ride by grabbing hold of the trunk as it passed by. Riding the rest of the way home, he didn't let go until they reached the garage.
Scott immediately got out and walked over to Evan. "What did I tell you about doing that, Spyke?" he asked, though it came out sounding less angry than he had intended.
"Hey, come on; chill, Scott," Evan casually replied as the others exited the car. "It was just three blocks. No harm, right?" Scott sighed and shook his head.
"I guess not. Just don't go it again."
"You got it man." Even replied as he checked his watch. Kicking up his skateboard, he held it under one arm and looked around nervously. "I think I'll—uh—go in through the back, guys. See ya later!" He turned to leave, making it a few short steps before Kurt's voice rang out.
"You know, you are going to have to face her sometime." Evan winced at the accusations but kept going. About a minute or so later, he reached the door. Somewhat paranoid, he carefully opened it with a creak, then slipped inside. As soon as the door was shut, he turned around…and found him face-to-face with the one person he had been trying to avoid.
Ryo.
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TO BE CONTINUED…