A/N: Okay folks, here's the deal. I finished chapter 13 this morning, but FF.Net won't let me update. Now, I usually put off starting new chapters until the previous ones are uploaded, but since I can't upload it, I'm gonna go ahead and write this one. On the upside, this means y'all will get two chapters at the same time. On the downside, it may take awhile.

But enough of that. Let's get on with this chapter, eh? If I manage to get chapter 13 up before I'm done with this one, then I'll put the reviews at the end. Otherwise I will answer reviews of both chapters in my next update. K? K.

…Important update: I FINNALY GOT THAT FRIGGIN CHAPTER UPLOADED!!!!!!!!! GLORY HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay I'm done. (Btw, technically, this should be on, like page four, but I didn't want to interrupt the story. But that gives you an idea of how long it took for me to defeat the system.)

Rogue looked from Kitty to Kurt and back again. They were both staring at her, disbelief showing plainly on their faces. Slowly, the two started laughing.

"You?" Kitty managed between fits of laughter. "In the CIA?"

"Very funny, Rogue. Now, seriously, vhat do you need to tell us?" Kurt asked wiping tears from his eyes.

Rogue expected this kind of reaction. She kept her expression as stony as possible. Not an easy feet around those two.

"Ah'm not joking, Kurt. Ah am a Special Agent fer the Central Intelligence Agency."

"Like, whatever Rogue," Kitty said. "Good joke, now do you really need us for something, or did you just want to try out that joke on somebody?"

They looked at Rogue expectantly.

"It's not a joke. Ah work fer the CIA, an' they want me to recruit you two."

"Vell now ve know you're joking," Kurt said.

The Goth rubbed her temples. This was going to be more difficult then she had thought. Rogue suddenly froze as an idea struck her, cursing herself for not thinking of it sooner. Going over to the bookcase, she selected a thick novel, and opened it up. Inside it was a compartment that Rogue had used to hide any number of things from instructions to new gadgets that she had received for missions. Now it held only two things: the gun, and what looked like a passport. Rogue took out the passport, then returned the book to the shelf. She handed the passport to Kitty.

The girl opened the passport, and stared at it. Her eyes widened. Wordlessly she passed it to Kurt. His reaction was instantaneous.

"Verdammen."

He was holding Rogue's I.D. There, in plain black and white, were the words Special Agent Rogue, CIA. She took it from his hand and put it back in the book, as they both stood there, shell-shocked. Kitty sat down heavily on the bed, followed by Kurt.

"Now do you believe me?"

They nodded dumbly. Kitty spoke very slowly; obviously still coming to terms with what she had just learned.

"Why are you telling us?" she asked, to stunned to remember to put in the word 'like.' "I mean, don't CIA agents usually keep themselves under the radar?"

Rogue nodded. "Right. But like Ah said to Kurt, Ah'm s'posed to recruit you two."

"Verdammen."

"It's a lot t'take in, Ah know. An' Ah wish Ah had more time to explain it all to ya, but yer s'posed to go to CIA headquarters tomorrow after school."

"Warum?" Kurt asked, still to shocked to recall any English. "Warum uns?"

"Because you both have qualities that the CIA needs. Kurt, yer ability to teleport, along with yer acrobatic skills, makes you perfect fer field work. An' Kitty, yer smart enough to run the entire tech center single-handedly. Ah mean--" She was interrupted by the computer's monotone voice saying, "you've got mail!"

She clicked on the 'get new mail' button, hoping that she hadn't been interrupted because of a stack of junk mail. It was an encoded message from O'Connell.

To: Agent Rogue

I trust that you have explained the situation to Pryde and Wagner by now. If not, do so immediately. There has been a change in plans, you to come here as soon as you have told them,

Agent O'Connell

"We have to go," she said, pointing to the message. They nodded. Kitty and Rogue grabbed their coats, while Kurt quickly 'ported over to his room to grab his.

"Ah'll let the professor know we're going out." Rogue closed her eyes, and concentrated on projecting her thoughts.

Professor, Kitty, Kurt, an' Ah are goin' out fer a bit, okay?

All right, just remember that you have school tomorrow. Don't stay out too late.

"He says its fahn. C'mon, let's go."

"Um, Rogue? Vhere exactly are we going?"

They had been walking for almost ten minutes. Rogue pointed to the Library in front of them.

"The library? Like, who would have guessed?" Kitty said. They trudged into the silent building, looking to Rogue for instruction. She led them into the elevator, where she proceeded to push both buttons simultaneously.

"Voice identification?" asked the computerized voice.

"Rogue."

Voice identification confirmed. Proceeding to CIA headquarters."

Kitty whistled. "I do not believe this," she said. Kurt nodded.

"Just wait," Rogue said, "It gets better."

Her words proved true when the doors slid open to reveal the main working floor. Kurt and Kitty both gasped at the sight.

"C'mon, you can gawk later. Ah've got a job to do here."

Rogue led them across the floor to the Briefing Room. As usual, everyone else was already there. She pulled her companions into the room, and began the introductions.

"Ah'd like y'all to meet Kurt Wagner and Katherine Pryde," she said, opting to use Kitty's full name. "These are Special Agents Derrick O'Connell, Sharita Corprew, and Geoffrey Smith."

O'Connell nodded, and Rogue took a seat, motioning Kitty and Kurt to do the same. When all three were settled, O'Connell stood up.

"First of all, I'd like to welcome you two. Although you aren't technically agents yet, I am confident that you will be joining our ranks soon enough. You will be starting your training tomorrow, at exactly four o'clock. Don't be late. For right now, though, you will be given a tour by Agent Roberts, who should be arriving momentarily.

As if on cue, the door opened, and a middle-aged man stepped inside. O'Connell indicated that they were to go with him. A few seconds later they were gone.

"Now, then," O'Connell said. "On to more pressing matters. We have managed to decode the message within the Eye. It appears to be some kind of poem."

"A poem?" Corprew asked. "Why would somebody go through all that trouble to hide a poem?"

O'Connell shook his head.

"I don't know. And none of the translators do, either."

"Well, what does it say?" Rogue asked. Having been instrumental in the recovery of both the Eye and the Keystone, she was eager to know what it held. O'Connell cleared his throat, and began reading from a piece of paper.

"A traveler's path through the land of wrath

Can lead to a heart that's numb,

Where children's tears are met with jeers

Lies a land that's known to some.

Where war is life and a soldier's knife

Draws blood without a care,

From a land apart with a heroes heart

Comes the one with the cloud-framed hair.

The heart was torn and the mind forlorn

When they came to take the Star,

Hurled to her fate through a swirling gate

To this, a land afar.

For you she came though you have no name

This war shall be fought for all,

One day you will feast in the den of a beast

The dark one called L'Kal."

A heavy silence followed. Rogue turned the words over in her mind, trying to understand what they meant. She knew that it had to be more than just a poem. Like Corprew had said, no one would go through all the trouble of encoding a poem into a ruby unless there was something important about it. Unfortunately, Rogue had no idea what that was.

O'Connell was obviously thinking the same thing. "So, does anyone have any idea what this might mean?"

"Why don't we just take it one line at a time?" Corprew suggested. Everyone agreed that that would be the best way to go.

"Alright," said O'Connell. "The first line says 'a traveler's path through the land of wrath.'"

Rogue shook her head. "That's not very helpful. Next line."

" 'Can lead to a heart that's numb.' "

"I think that means the place, the 'land of wrath,' is very sad," Corprew supplied.

"Sounds reasonable. That would explain the next line, 'where children's tears are met with jeers.' Sounds pretty sad to me. Next is, 'Lies a land that's known to some.' "

"Again, no help," Rogue said. "That's just telling us that they're describin' a place."

" 'Where war is life and a soldier's knife.' "

Smith shook his head. "Not even a complete thought. I think you have to read it two lines at a time."

O'Connell studied the paper. "I think you're right. So it's, 'Where war is life and a soldier's knife draws blood without a care.' "

"Now we know why it's called 'the land of wrath,' " Rogue said. "It's a country at war. That explains the part 'bout kids crying, to. When your fightin' a war, you don't pay much attention t'sad little kids."

Corprew nodded. "You're probably right…but, how do you know that?"

Rogue shrugged. "Ah have the psyche of a Holocaust survivor permanently stuck in mah head." She glanced down at her watch. "Ah have t'go."

"The other two should be at the elevator," O'Connell said as she stood up.

He proved true to his word. Kitty and Kurt were standing next to the elevator talking animatedly, while Agent Roberts watched, looking desperate to get away. Rogue couldn't say she blamed him. Kitty and Kurt were both talking a mile a minute, their sentences overlapping one another's.

"The tech lab was like, so cool! Did you see what kind of computers they had?"

"And a food court ze size of three football fields!"

"Every kind. Dells, I-macs, Gateways--"

"Zey have a McDonald's! And a Taco-Bell! And Dairy Queen! I love Dairy Queen!"

"--Thin screens, flat screens, laptops…they even have computers that aren't, like, in stores yet!"

"And it's all free! Ze government pays for it all!"

Agent Roberts saw Rogue, and breathed an audible sound of relief.

"Agent Rogue! Well, I guess I'll be going back to work."

He wasted no time in disappearing down a side hallway.

"C'mon guys," Rogue said as she pushed the button for the elevator. "We have t'leave."

"Rogue, zis place is awesome! Ve saw ze food court--"

"And the tech lab--"

"And ze hangar--"

"And the firing range--"

"And ze armory--"

"And the--"

"OKAY! OKAY! Ah get the picture. Man. Just get in the elevator already!"

Kurt and Kitty did as commanded, enormous grins painted on their faces.

Jennsen was starting to realize more and more just how far away from home she really was. In this place there were no horses, just metallic things called 'cars.' From what she had gathered from the twins, magic did not exist. Nothing she had ever learned was relevant here. Even her clothes were outrageously different. It was depressing.

Thoughts like these dominated Jennsen's mind as she stood out on the balcony of Dan and Kevin's apartment, looking down at a park. She leaned on the railing, watching an elderly couple walking hand-in-hand under the moonlight.

Her parents used to love moonlit strolls.

And she would never see them again.

A tear rolled down her cheek at the thought of her parents. It was so hard to think that just yesterday she had been sitting in the Abbey with her family and friends. They had been a beacon of hope for the poor wretches of their war-stricken land; a place where wounded soldiers could receive medicine and weary travelers could rest and get something to eat.

But that was no more. The Abbey had been tainted by the Emperor's killers, and now every person she ever knew was dead. Her parents, the Brothers and Sisters, everyone who had been in their care…all slaughtered to fulfill the dream of a lunatic.

Another tear fell, dripping off her chin and then falling to the ground below. It was followed by another, and another. Jennsen realized that she was sobbing now, but could not stop it. Not with the image of her mother, covered in blood from the cut on her throat, burned into her memory.

"Jennsen?"

She glanced over her shoulder at Dan. He was standing in the frame of the sliding door, watching her.

"Yeah?" she asked, hoping he wouldn't notice that she was crying.

He stepped outside, closing the door behind him. "What're you doing out here? It's freezing!"

She didn't answer, turning her attention back to the couple below. They were sitting on a bench now, talking.

"Is their something interesting going on down there?" he asked. He stepped up next to her, looking over the rail.

"Dan, I just want to be alone, if it's alright with you."

"Sure, thing. I totally under--are you crying?"

Jennsen quickly looked away from him.

"No," she lied.

"Why are you crying?" He put a tender hand on her shoulder, urging her to look at him.

"I'm not c-crying," she said, her voice breaking. "Just leave me alone!"

Dan nodded. "Okay, if that's what you want. But I'm right inside if you need anything." She didn't answer him, and a few seconds later she heard the door slide open, then closed.

Her eyes drifted back down to the couple that had first made her think of her parents.

They were gone.

A/N: two chapters in one day! Go me!

Some sad stuff at the end, but plenty of humor in the middle to balance it out (I think). And we FINALLY know what the stone says. Yippee!

Some German translations:

Verdammen = damn

Warum = why

Warum uns = why us (more or less)

Ja = yes

Now as you've probably guessed, I do not have any reviews to answer at this time. And even if I did, I wouldn't bother with 'em anyway, because it's 12:41 at night. (Surprisingly, though, I'm not very tired. I seem to have some sort of "writer's high." So maybe I would bother with reviews...) That said, all reviews for this and the previous chapter will be answered next chapter.

Okay, I have to go outsmart FF.Net. Wish me luck!