Scott felt tired, worn out from his training with the rest of the team. He had even begun training with Mystique.

That had been over an hour ago... but they were no longer training. They were back to what they had been doing for the past few days, again. No doubt this annoyed Magneto, but Scott and Mystique didn't care. They did what they wanted to do... most of the time.

They simply sat there now, Mystique in between Scott's legs, her head rested back on his chest, her eyes closed in comfortable relaxation. Scott stared up at the tall ceiling, his thoughts racing.

He thought about how his old team were to be outnumbered drastically by his new one. Mystique, Sabretooth, Toad, Serena, Warp, Magneto and himself... all against Logan, Storm... and Jean. Every time he even thought her name, let alone spoke it... he felt something deep inside himself fighting to break out. He felt ill every time, dizzy even.

Now he avoided thinking it. It was too dangerous to become distracted in such desperate times.

"Scott?" Mystique purred from below him.

He glanced down at her to see her eyes looking up at him, a smile wide on her face.

"How long do you think it will take?"

"What?" he asked, his eyes narrowing in thought and confusion.

She laughed a small laugh. "For Wolverine and the others to be defeated."

Scott smiled too now. "Oh, not long. There's too many of us for them to win. It's three against seven. No chance of them winning."

Mystique seemed pleased. "Good. Then Magneto can change everything. It will all be better."

"Yeah," he agreed, nodding slightly, lost in thought. Then he smiled, and added, "We'll rule the world."

* * *

Professor Xavier listened intently to Logan's account of their danger room training. He was impressed, but not surprised, as Logan seemed to be. He paced back and forth in front of Xavier's desk, and when he looked at the Professor, he wore a smile, and his eyes were wider than usual. Clearly, he had been shocked by what had happened in their session.

Charles, however, could feel all of what Logan was feeling. Everything.

"I didn't know he could do that," Logan said, laughing a little.

Charles nodded. "I doubt he did either. From what you say, his reaction wasn't as though he had planned to do what he did."

Logan nodded, lost in his thought seemingly. Charles could hear what he was thinking; Chuck has a point. The way Gambit was knocked back was as though it had never happened before. Maybe he hadn't known that was going to happen. Maybe he'll do it again... without knowing it. He could hurt someone!

"You don't need to be afraid of him, Logan," Charles told him, opening a physics book on his desk, and skimming through the pages quickly.

"How-" Realisation swept across Logan's face. "You read my mind. Keep forgetting you can do that." He looked even more shocked than he had been before. "It's just that the way he reacted, it was like he didn't know what just happened. If you had seen it, Professor, you would probably feel the same way about it all. If he does do it without realising, he could really do some damage."

"I don't think he'll do it again, Logan. Gambit is a very restrained person... he seems in control of his power. Clearly, he intended to do just as he did, but did not expect the outcome. Perhaps he just put too much power into the blow." Charles explained, hopefully calming Logan. He sensed he had a little.

Logan shrugged, and stopped his pacing, resting his hands on the Professor's desk. "Maybe. I'm just a little worried is all."

"Perfectly understandable, Logan," Charles told him. Then he warned, "Just don't start alienating him because you are worried. We need all the help we can get at the moment."

Logan nodded. Clearly, he understood the Professor's words, and intended to obey them. Perhaps he didn't feel the same way as Xavier did, but he wasn't going to go against him on this particular issue.

Logan turned, saying goodbye, and left.

Charles just stared after him, and shook his head. He needed his team together... calm, and working as a team should.

Without group cooperation, their chances seemed grim.

* * *

Gambit towel-dried his damp hair, feeling refreshed after his shower. The danger room incident had him a little shaken, and he still felt a little drawn after it. He had had no idea that that was going to have happened. He hadn't planned it either. He knew now that he had just put too much power into it, and it had gone a little out of control. But he felt relieved... a little. He now knew he had the power needed if necessary. He didn't really want to use that on a real mutant, but if the situation were to get desperate, then maybe it would be necessary, unavoidable.

Placing the white towel over his shoulder, he put on his gloves, and picked up the black sweatband off the table from next to the pack of playing cards.

Seating himself on the end of his bed, he rubbed the towel on his still damp hair, attempting to dry it off enough to replace the sweatband. Within a few minutes, his hair was dry enough, and he put on the sweatband, ensuring none of his brown hair was caught in it. He had no idea why he wore it... he supposed it was just a habit now. But it also kept his hair out of his face, so it came in handy, especially during battle.

He placed the towel on the end of the bed, and moved over to the table where the cards lay. He donned his brown overcoat, which hung right down to his boots, and placed the cards carefully into his pocket. Then he moved over to the side of the room where he had left his staff beforehand, and took it in his grip.

He moved to the door, opened it, switching off the light inside his room, and exited, closing the door shut behind him. He began walking down the corridor towards the stairs.

Gambit moved quickly down the stairs, and came face-to-face with the boy called Bobby. The boy smiled at him.

"Hi," Bobby greeted.

"Hi," Gambit said in reply, spinning the staff once, and resting it carefully on the cleaned floor.

"Have you seen Jubilee?" Bobby asked, shifting on his feet as he spoke, as if uneasy.

Gambit thought for a moment, then he realised he hadn't seen her since she had gone off with the girl called Kitty. "Actually, I haven't."

"Oh," Bobby mumbled to himself. He moved to walk away, but Gambit stopped him.

"Why are you looking for her?" Gambit asked, once again feeling that sibling concern for the younger mutant.

Bobby smiled a little smile, and said, "She said she was going to meet me and Rogue for lunch... but she didn't."

Gambit now felt worried. "All right. I'll look for her for you. I saw her with Kitty about two hours ago, but I haven't seen her since. I'll find her... don't worry."

Bobby nodded and smiled a grateful smile. "Thanks. Tell her we're still ready to go for lunch if she wants to. We waited for her."

"Okay, I will." With that, Gambit moved away from Bobby, leaving the young boy looking on after him.

Gambit moved quickly down the corridor, his overcoat's tail trailing out behind him. He walked out of the open doors, and into the summer day. It had cooled down a little now and it wasn't hot like it had been that morning.

His eyes scanned the area, searching for Jubilee. He couldn't see her anywhere. His worry had just doubled in a matter of seconds.

Damn it, Jubilee, he thought frantically as teenagers milled around him, where are you?

He walked through the crowds of children, who moved quickly out of his way, and turned on the spot, looking in all directions for her.

He stood completely still for a second, taking in a deep breath.

Calm down, she's gotta be fine. She's on the school grounds, so nothing bad could happen. Then he remembered what had happened to the boy Bobby, and to Rogue. Then he almost did panic, and he fought back the urge to cry out her name.

He began moving over to the edge of the massive building, thinking maybe she had gone round there to talk with Kitty or something like that. But as he looked round to the side of the building, he only saw two boys sitting down eating their lunch in the shade. He apologised for scaring them, and moved away.

He was getting a little frightened, and his imagination was playing up.

Catching site of the usual group of boys playing basketball, he moved over to them. One boy he recognised as Billy saw him standing at the side of the court, and moved over, basketball bouncing up and down on the ground in front of him.

"Hi. Wanna play?" Billy asked, an innocent smile on his young face.

Gambit shook his head, curtains of hair shaking also, falling in front of his eyes slightly. He shook them back, and asked, "Have you or any of the others seen Jubilee, or Kitty?"

Billy thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "I haven't. Hang on, I'll ask the other guys."

Then, before Gambit's eyes, the boy disappeared from where he stood, leaving the basketball to bounce to a standstill near Gambit's feet. Gambit was a little stunned.

Then the boy reappeared next to the group of boys, and Gambit could see them conversing. The boy vanished from the group with a shimmer, then rematerialized in front of Gambit. Gambit laughed a quiet laugh, and smiled.

"Sorry, none of us have seen 'em." Billy smiled, picking the basketball off the floor, and throwing it to the other boys, who then continued to play without hesitation.

Gambit sighed restlessly, and twirled the staff, much to the boy's interest. "Okay. If you see Jubilee, tell her I was looking for her, okay?"

Billy nodded. "You're Gambit right?"

"Yeah, that's me. You'll make sure you tell her... if you see her?"

"Will do," Billy agreed, then disappeared, appearing again suddenly amidst the boys on the court.

Gambit smiled again, then turned and moved away.

* * *

Jean sat with Storm, and took a sip from her coffee, which had started to cool down a little now. Opposite them was Dmitri, who had a sketchbook open in front of him, and a pencil in his hand. Jean couldn't quite see what he was drawing, so she inquired.

He looked up at her suddenly, perhaps having forgot his company. "Oh, here." He handed them the book, and he seemed a little embarrassed.

Jean couldn't see why. It was an excellent drawing. She smiled as soon as she saw it, realising instantly that it was a drawing of Storm and herself.

"This is really good," Jean complimented, and Dmitri smiled.

Storm took the book from Jean, and smiled instantly. "Wow. Did you draw this just now?"

"Yeah," Dmitri said, nodding. "I've been drawing for years. It keeps my mind off what's going on around me. Keeps me calm most of the time."

"Do you mind if I look through the book?" Jean asked, accepting it back off Storm, who pushed some of her salad lunch around her plate with her fork.

Dmitri shrugged. "Sure. Go ahead. I like people's opinion of my work."

So Jean closed the book, and began looking through from the beginning. Every drawing and painting she looked at impressed her. She had never seen such talent. There were several landscape drawings, probably from his travels, and a lot of animal sketches; birds, wolves, insects and even a bear in a river. There were drawings of plants as well.

As she scanned through, admiring each piece, she noticed there were a lot of drawings of Jubilee.

"Does she pose for you?" she asked Dmitri, who took a quick look at what she meant, and nodded.

"She likes posing for me. It gives her something to do."

Jean smiled, and nodded, turning the page. It was a coloured drawing of Gambit sitting alone at a table playing cards. She could tell from the way Dmitri had drawn it, that Gambit had been incredibly bored or annoyed at that time. Looking at it, it seemed so real. Jean smiled, and turned the page to see a drawing of Jubilee asleep across Gambit's lap.

"Where did this happen?" Jean asked, showing Dmitri the page in question.

"That was on a train in Virginia. That was about three months ago. We'd had to leave town quite quickly."

"Why?" Storm inquired.

"Some men had started hassling Jubilee, and Gambit had stepped in. And, well, you know... they fought. Gambit did some pretty serious damage. So we ran," Dmitri explained.

"They're really close, aren't they?" Jean asked, staring admiringly at the drawing before her on the table.

Dmitri nodded and smiled. "Yeah. They're like brother and sister. Gambit looks after her, and she always stays close to him. Gambit always has looked after her... ever since we met. Like a big brother to Jubilee. It's hard to separate them sometimes. She watches him do card tricks all the time, and he barely ever gets annoyed with her."

"And what is your place in the group?" Storm asked, taking a sip of orange juice.

"Well, I'm like the parent. I look after both of them. When Gambit can't handle a situation alone, I step in. I don't like doing it, but sometimes it's necessary. You know?"

The two women nodded, and Jean closed the sketchbook, handing it back to Dmitri.

"I've never seen drawings like that before. You have a lot of talent, Dmitri," Jean told him with a friendly smile.

"Thank you. I do it for a hobby though. I'm not after money for it," Dmitri replied, and placed his pencil down on top of the closed sketchbook.

Jean realised how much people misunderstood Dmitri. They all thought of him as some huge monster that would crush you in a second without a thought about it... but in truth, he was a very placid person. It seemed as though he wouldn't hurt a fly. But he was powerful; Jean knew that much, and he would help greatly in their fight with Magneto, when the time came.

Suddenly, the door to the room burst open, making both Jean and Storm start. Gambit came walking in swiftly, and stood before them at the table, great expressions of worry plastered across his handsome face.

"What's wrong?" Jean asked, sensing something troubling from the Cajun.

He looked between the three of them. "I can't find Jubilee. I've looked everywhere, and I can't find her. I can't even find Kitty."

"Kitty?" Dmitri inquired, looking up to Gambit.

Gambit sat at the table opposite Storm. "Yeah, the girl who Jubilee went off with. But now I can't even find her."

"Calm down, Gambit. I'm sure they're around somewhere," Jean reassured.

Gambit shook his head, resting his staff up against a nearby wall. "No. I looked everywhere. Asked around. No one's seen 'em in a couple of hours at least."

Jean herself now felt a little worried. "Well, where did you see them last?"

Gambit thought for a moment or two, then looked back at Jean. "It was about two hours ago, before I met up with Logan. They were heading towards the end of the building."

Jean now fully believed what Dmitri had told them about Gambit's relationship with Jubilee. He truly did care deeply for her. "I think we should go see the Professor."

"What? Why?" Gambit asked, and Jean smiled.

"You'll see," Jean said, and she, Storm and Dmitri rose from the table, Gambit trailing behind, staff in hand.

"Why do people keep sayin' that to me today?" he complained.

Jean smiled.