65 reviews! Thank you all for reviewing, and I do not own any X-Men characters.

Gunner: Thanks for reminding me about that Colossus in the movie. I forgot about him . . . I had just finished watching X-Men Evolution when I started writing this chapter, and in that one he was sort of a bad guy . . . sorry, I got confused.

Here's the chapter . . .

* * *

"WHERE have you BEEN?!"

Bobby and Rogue looked at each other sheepishly as a very angry Marie approached them once they entered the secret entrance using the same way Jubilee had shown them.

"We were saving them," Bobby explained, pointing to the two Pyros, "and they were torturing them, Rog-Marie! If we didn't go when we did they probably would have been dead!"

Marie just stared at him opened mouthed but soon closed it and let out a deep sigh. "All four of you are to go into the Healing Wing, Blaze, instruct them where to go."

Blaze nodded and told John where to go. Bobby and Rogue began to follow, but not without a good-bye glare from Marie. They both winced under her angry stare.

"Wow, Rogue, I didn't know you could ever be that mad," John commented.

"I can be, just hope I never direct it towards you," Rogue retorted coolly.

"Amen to that." John muttered. "Think we should give Marie the disks?"

Blaze shook her head and coughed. "Not yet. Wait till she's calmed down before showing her."

"Man, I never thought Rogue as the over-protective worrying no-risk type." Bobby said.

"She's been like that," Blaze explained, "ever since you died, Bobby."

"Oh." Then they all elapsed in an uncomfortable silence.

* * *

"I don't think it was a good idea to yell at them, Marie," Jubilee pointed out, shaking her long silky black hair.

"They disobeyed me, and without a thought of what could happen in the past if they had died!" Rogue argued.

"Yes, but you heard them," Jean added, "remember, they said that Pyro and Blaze would have died if they hadn't gone, and I believe them!"

"Jean is right, Marie," Nightcrawler said in his thick accent, "they did the right thing, as God intended."

"Did God intend Bobby to have to die by the hand of his best friend?!" Marie demanded.

"It was his time, nothing can stop Death." Kurt said, making the sign of the cross.

"And the nature of his death?" Marie pressed.

"God has his intentions; everything is connected in some way. We mortals are just too simple minded and close minded to figure it out right away."

"Whatever." Marie got up and was about to leave.

"Marie . . ." Scott said, getting up.

"What, Scott?"

"I know what you're going to do. You're going to interrogate them, aren't you?" Scott guessed.

"No." But Marie had been thinking of doing that very thing.

"Don't. You know as well as I do that despite their strength and bravery, they're still teenage kids, just as you were. Blaze and John were just tortured. Imagine what it'd be like to go through that as a teen! Give them time."

"Fine." And with that Marie was out the door.

"I just don't know what to do with her," Jean sighed as soon as the door closed. "She's been letting Bobby's death cloud her decisions."

"She just never really had enough time to get over it, I guess," Jubilee offered, "And Pyro being the one to kill him . . . I'd be like that too if I were her. Never actually met the guy, but the way Bobby had talked about him . . . they must have been close."

"They were." Jean replied.

* * *

The Next Day . . .

Marie woke up, and decided to check on her younger self and the rest. When she passed by, she noticed Scott trying to fix a broken light bulb on the ceiling.

"Hey, Marie, can you hand me that light bulb right there? Thanks." Scott asked.

Marie nodded and picked it up. She tried to reach and give it to Scott, but he was too high up the ladder. Marie willed herself to reach higher, and surprisingly, she was now face to face with Scott.

"Wow. I can reach high." Marie blinked.

Scott blinked and stared from the ground to Marie. "When could you do that?"

"Do what?" Then Marie looked below her. "Ahh!" Marie was floating in the air! Her surprise caused her to go unbalanced and fall to the ground. Then she willed herself to NOT fall, and found herself just an inch above ground.

"Um, here's your light bulb, Scott. I have to go check with Jean on something!" With that, Marie went running in the direction towards the infirmary, tossing Scott the light bulb, almost causing him to fall.

"Jean!" Marie shouted as she crossed into the infirmary. Jean shushed her with a finger to her lips and pointed to three of the four kids sleeping.

"Not so loud, Marie!" Jean scolded her.

"Sorry. How are they doing?" Marie asked apologetically.

"Well, I was in the process of giving Blaze a cast," she motioned to the pyromaniac sitting on the edge of the table with a red cast on, "Bobby and John are both fine. Well, John has some . . . ISSUES . . ." Jean promptly went over to the sink and turned on the faucet.

"What! What's happening?" John suddenly leaped up and panicked, his eyes flashing back and forth nervously.

"I . . . I see what you mean," Marie said, looking at John strangely, who, after Jean turned off the water, had fallen back asleep again. Blaze looked at her fellow firestarter and shook her head.

"What about . . . her?" Marie asked, meaning Rogue.

Jean hesitated. "Well . . . physically she's fine, but mentally . . ."

"Mentally?" Marie said fearfully.

"Mentally she's unstable. When she entered the infirmary, she had clutched her head and it seemed like she was in great pain. When I entered her mind, I felt . . . another presence there, someone else's mind altogether."

"Someone . . . else's mind?"

"Yes, I believe it was the mind of Miss Marvel, the mutant who was under the influence of Stryker's potion, do you remember her?"

"The mutant girl with super strength and . . . is able to fly?" Marie stopped, the reason for her being able to fly suddenly dawning on her.

"Yeah, that's her all right. I think Rogue must have fought with her, and must have held on for way too long, her powers sucking up Miss Marvel's powers . . . and her mind . . . permanently." Jean explained.

"Permanently?" Marie said breathlessly. "Jean, today, I reached up to give Scott a light bulb and I flew up to him."

Jean didn't look surprised. "Rogue is your past self, so whatever she changes of the past, it affects you too."

"Oh my god." Blaze said. She had been listening for the entire time. "That's why Rogue was fainted when we found her."

"Exactly."

* * *

The NEXT day after that . . .

All of them had recovered and woken up, with the exception of Rogue and Blaze, who's physical and mental problems gave them trouble. Blaze felt vulnerable with only being able to shoot fire with one arm, and Rogue hated the constant pain of Miss Marvel in her head.

~Lalalalalalalalala ~ Miss Marvel sang.

~Shut up! ~ Rogue shouted at the annoying mutant.

~Try and make me! ~ The girl taunted Rogue.

~Watch me! ~

"Jean, isn't there any way for you to get her out of my head?" Rogue asked aloud.

"Well, if the Professor was here, he could put a mental block between you two, so you wouldn't have to feel her inside your head anymore," Jean suddenly looked sad, "Even with my powers grown as they have, I doubt I'm anywhere near as powerful as Xavier."

"C'mon, Jean," Jubilee said cheerfully, "I've seen you in action, and you're really powerful. What would it hurt just to try?"

"I guess you're right," Jean admitted. "I'll try."

Jean placed her hands around Rogue's head, but not quite touching her. Then, she let the power flow through her veins, and she entered Rogue's mind.

She was an astral form, just a ghost in Rogue's mind. She saw two figures. A green-eyed girl was floating in this groundless plain, and . . . singing?

Jean could see why Rogue wanted this girl out of her head. She was annoying. And speaking of Rogue . . .

Rogue was sitting on what might have been ground in reality, and she had her arms crossed. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was trying to block out Miss Marvel's singing.

Jean remembered everything Professor Xavier had taught her, and all the other helpful hints she'd picked up over the years through experience. Suddenly, she felt that surge of power she'd felt at Canada, her eyes burnt with a powerful fire, and she felt . . . invincible.

Both Miss Marvel and Rogue looked up, sensing the powerful presence in "their" mind. Each girl had a different reaction. Rogue smiled with relief and was distantly remembering another occasion like this when they watched Jean get swallowed by a wave of water. She remembered the way Scott cried out to his love, the way Logan punched the chair in a mixture of grief and anger.

Miss Marvel, on the other hand, cringed in fear at this powerful force. Her soul, drugged and confused by the updated Stryker's Serum, was afraid of this force of good and the power of this mutant. She knew this wasn't a good thing for her, since she was an invader in Rogue's mind.

Suddenly, Miss Marvel was thrown backwards and chains appeared out of nowhere. They flew to her ankles and arms, pinning her in a corner of Rogue's mind. Then, a brick wall began forming up around her, covering her up completely. She realized what was happening to her and began to scream and awful scream, cursing at both Rogue and Jean, cursing at the world. Miss Marvel's final screams could be heard until the last brick piled itself up.

Rogue uncrossed her arms and listened in silence for a while.

"Silence. I never thought I'd actually like it. Thanks, Jean." Rogue said thankfully. Then she looked at the brick wall-mind block containing Miss Marvel. "Although I do feel sorry for her . . . this isn't really completely her fault."

"It is too bad. We could have used her as an X-Man . . . too bad the government got to her first." Jean said sadly, feeling the surge of power leave her, and her eyes returned to its original color. She released herself from Rogue's mind.

Jean gasped as she came back into reality. She relaxed her hand from the position it was in before.

Rogue opened her eyes and she sighed. "That's so much better, thanks."

"No problem."

"Now what?" Marie asked.

"Now I give you this," John said, taking the disks out of his pocket and handing them to Marie, who in turn handed them to Jean, who inserted them into the computer. She turned it on, and they waited for the computer screen to turn on.

After Jean logged on, she opened the disk files, and everyone tensed as they waited to see the secrets of the disk.

On the disk read four words:

Ice Rose. Ice + Rogue.