***
Disclaimer – I *still* don't own X-Men: Evolution
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Kitty stood outside on the balcony, leaning over the edge. She watched the sun rise and sighed heavily. Her un-brushed hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail and she was wearing her pink pajamas. Bags formed under her eyes, from the lack of sleep.
"What's wrong?" Kurt suddenly bamf'd onto the balcony, right on the railing. He balanced himself by wrapping his tail around the railing. "You look like—"
"Rogue never came home." Kitty mumbled, cutting him off. "I think she, like, ran away or something."
"What?" He asked in disbelief. "You have to tell the Professor! What if something bad happened?"
Kitty hung her head down low. "I should've stopped her from leaving. This is, like, totally my fault isn't it?" She slowly looked up at him with glossy eyes.
"No!" He explained nervously. "You know you can't stop Rogue." He reached over and grabbed her hand. "C'mon let's go tell the Professor!
"But—"
Bamf.
***
"Maybe we could spend a little time alone tonight." Jean said shyly to Scott. "I mean, well, if you want to."
He nodded down at her, beaming slightly. "Sure, I don't see why not." He scratched the back of his head. "I mean, friends do deserve to spend alone time together, right?"
She nodded, not comprehending his small hint. "Yeah, friends do…"
He opened his mouth to say something thoughtful but was cut off by the sound of the doorbell. "Who is it?"
Jean closed her eyes, and then opened them. "It's Colossus... and—"
"Jean, Scott, why don't you let our guests in." The Professor asked wheeling past them. "Now, please."
"Sure thing, Professor." Scott said through clenched teeth as he walked over to the door, and after slight hesitation (and sighing heavily) he opened the door.
"Hello." Piotr greeted staring down at him. Scott's eye twitched as he looked down to see Pyro holding on to Colossus's leg.
"What the…" He heard the Professor clear his throat. "Welcome to the institute."
"Come in Piotr. Ororo is setting the jet up as we speak." He glanced down at the pyromaniac who was attached to the Russian's leg. "Is young St. John coming with?"
"No. I will shake him off later."
'Shake him off'? Scott mouthed over to Jean.
"Professor!" A loud bamf was heard and in the middle of the room stood a frantic Kitty and a worried Nightcrawler. "Rogue is gone!"
***
She felt as if she were floating on a cloud in an ocean of darkness. For once she felt well rested, and her mind was clear. Suddenly, it was as if someone were slowly opening the blinds on the window, causing light to peer through. She never realized she was opening her eyes.
"Ugh." She mumbled, blinking repeatedly so that her eyes would adjust to the sudden light. "What the hell?"
"Mornin' Ro'." Gambit leaned against the wall, staring at her with glowing red eyes.
"Remy?" She sat up immediately to find her arms tied loosely behind her back. "What the— Where am—What's goin' on?" She looked around to see wooden crates surrounded her.
"We're headin' to Louisiana."
"Mystique?" She asked, suddenly feeling doubtful. Why would Remy want to go back there?
"Non. Why would you think that?" He didn't think he and Mystique had any resemblance.
"She was posing as you once." She snapped as she tried to free her hands. "Will you untie me already?"
He just grunted. "Like you can't get out of 'em yourself." He paused. "Wait, what do you mean Mystique was posin' as me once?
Rogue tried to phase her hands through the rope, but like always, when she wanted to, the stolen powers wouldn't work. That's when it hit her. Reality suddenly came plummeting down and smacked her across the face. "You kidnapped me!" The rope that was tied around her wrists fell to the floor. She got to her feet, where the rope that had been tied around her ankles, feel limply to the side. "If you don't tell me what's goin' on right now, I'm gonna—I'm gonna—" He just smirked. "Do somethin' I'm gonna regret!"
"Well, before you do somethin' you're goin' to regret, hear me out—"
She picked up the thick rope that had been laying down by her feet and charged it up. "You have one minute."
***
"That ain't fair!" Pyro yelled when Jean telekinetically removed him from Piotr's leg.
"Settle down before I blast you out of here." Scott warned, tapping on his ruby red sunglasses.
"That a threat?" Pyro's eyes flashed behind the orange visor as he took out an orange Zippo lighter.
"Settle down, boys." She reached out her hand and took the lighter away from Pyro.
"'Ey! That's mine!" He reached for it but she pointed her finger at him and said 'ah, ah, ah' which just made him stop in his tracks, raise a brow and question her sanity. That was something he used to wonder with himself...
"Where is Gambit?"
"How in the bloody hell should I know?"
"You work with him."
"And I for work Mags yet I ain't gotta clue where that brute is!"
"I can easily scan your mind, Pyro."
"Don't be surprised if ye don't find much." He crossed his arms over his chest. "I'd love to stand here and prattle on with you, but I have to go say good bye to my darling."
"Your darling?" The red head arched a brow.
"Colossus, silly!"
***
"Don't worry Kitty. I'm sure Cerebro will come across our missing rogue." Charles Xavier said, trying to calm down the worried X-woman. Whether he intended the pun or not, it didn't seem to help her at all.
"Shouldn't you be trying it now?" She glanced up at the large man standing next to the Professor. "No offense."
"None taken." Colossus spoke solemnly. He was the only one who didn't look to see who suddenly barged into the room.
"That blasted red head took Zippy!" The Australian declared, not happy at all.
"Zippy?" Kurt dared to question.
"His lighter." Colossus answered for him, knowing the pyromaniac had a weird emotional attachment over his lighters and flamethrowers. He also knew Pyro hated matches because he had a hard time lighting the little suckers.
"Actually, Piotr. I would like to run a quick scan for Rogue on Cerebro. Would you mind waiting?"
"Of course not, Charles."
"Wow." Pyro suddenly said. "Do you guys always let your enemies into your home?"
***
"Jean-Luc was what? By who?" The rope was uncharged and fell to the floor.
"'Napped. By the Rippers." His face was now serious; he didn't feel like smirking.
Rogue didn't know what to say; she was speechless. She knew about the rivalry between the two families ever since Remy's refusal to marry Belladonna. It had been going on long before, but there was supposedly a peace offering. The peace broke when the wedding was cancelled. The peace wasn't as rock solid as it seemed, the cancellation of the wedding was just an excuse for the two families to break out in war again. It was the un-rated version of Family Feud.
"So you 'napped me?"
"Only to prove a point."
"An' what point is that?"
"I'll tell you when I figure out what it is."
She almost cracked a smile. "I can see some people never change." She stared down at the floor. "But some things really do, huh?"
He scratched his chin. "It was fun tyin' you up. Like old times, no?"
"Mista Lebeau!" She growled glancing up at him while scrunching up her forehead. "You're lucky I don't push you outta this box cart!"
He smirked, noticing a faint brush appear on her white cheeks. "Again, just like old times."
***
There was an awkward silence between Colossus, Kitty, Kurt and Pyro who all stood around in the area outside Cerebro. Scott and Jean soon joined them. Soon, everyone was impatiently waiting for the Professor to wheel out and tell them the news.
"I think he died in there." Pyro stated after a while.
"Not funny." Scott mumbled, feeling offended by the statement. "No one said you have to stay here. So just leave."
"Leave him alone." Colossus ordered. It seemed like a threat, and he didn't even have to raise his voice.
Pyro just mumbled something about fire and then the rest was incoherent.
"What's taking him so long?" Kitty asked, her eyes full of concern and worry. "What if he can't contact her? What if she's dead? What if she ran off with Gambit and he killed her?"
"Gambit ain't no killer." Pyro growled, sticking up for his teammate, who was MIA.
"Then where is he?" Scott asked.
"How should I know? He didn't leave a note on the fridge." The pyromaniac answered coldly.
Just as Scott was about to say something else, the doors opened and the Professor wheeled out.
"Professor?" Jean asked softly, as she took a step forward. Everyone just turned and stared at him, waiting for an answer.
"Did you find Rogue?" Kitty asked, sounding hopeful.
"I found one signature, and one identifiable signature." He asked, almost sounding uncertain at his own words.
"Possibly Rogue and Gambit?" Scott asked, glancing sideways at Pyro.
"Actually no." Charles answer. "Certainly Magnus."
Piotr and St. John switched glances.
***
"Never been on a train before." Rogue mumbled to herself. She was sitting against a crate and Remy was sitting on one, besides her. "Why did you want me to come?"
"Go back to the Big Easy without you?" He reached into his pocket and took out a deck of cards.
"If we run into the Rippers, you'll most likely run into Bella."
"If we? They 'napped Jean-Luc. They have to know that would get me to come back."
"Maybe they didn't. Things between you and him got pretty tense. I reckon they'll expectin' Henri to get 'im."
"Then I guess we'll surprise 'em." She noticed he started to look a little uncomfortable, possibly with the situation, but she didn't care.
"This ain't goin' to change things between us."
"Us, Ro'? Is that all you can think about?" He asked, smirking slightly as he began to shuffle the cards, knowing it would greatly annoy her.
Which it did. "What's it with you an' cards?" She asked, slightly making a face as she looked up at him.
"Well." He momentarily stopped shuffling. "It's like havin' fifty-two explosives close to your heart." Her face fell, and her brows arched up. "Plus, it takes my mind off things."
Rogue just sighed. "How much longer until we get to Lousisina?
"Chérie, we're not even out of Pennsylvania yet."
"Leave me alone."
***
"Look at me, I'm in the infamous X-Jet." Pyro declared proudly, with a hint of sarcasm as he buckled himself into the seat.
"That can be rearranged." Cyclops said from his seat, in the front. "I take it after we find Magneto, we'll be fighting again in no time."
"I hope so." The pyromaniac mumbled to the homesick Russian. "I'll make his codename become literal."
"What are you going to do? Poke his eye out with your lighter?" Shadowcat asked, shifting in her seat so she could look over at Pyro.
"No! That blasted non-codename girl still has it!"
"I could give you a flame." A soft voice spoke up. Pyro's head jerked over and peered over at the isle opposite from them. A dark haired, tanned girl in a recruit's uniform leaned forward. She pointed out her index finger towards him, and out came a small flame.
Pyro was drooling by now. "By golly, I think I'm in love." He mumbled, deeply mesmerized by the flame.
"Pyro, meet Magma." Shadowcat introduced with a wide grin on her face. "She can produce waves of heat, err fire. So, anything she can do, you can't. And anything she can't do, you can."
He reached his hand over, slowly taking over the small flame that danced at her fingertip but after a few seconds she pulled away, and flipped her long dark hair behind her should. "Mine."
"'Ey! Share the wealth!"
***
"Opps."
Remy gaped at Rogue in horror. "You threw mon card out..!"
"It was an accident?"
"Dieu! You grabbed the cards off me and chucked him out the door! That was no accident!"
"Like you don't have another pack in your trench coat."
"That's besides the point!"
Rogue sighed heavily knowing that one of them wouldn't make it to the Big Easy alive. One of them, being Remy, she noted with a smirk.
***
"We're here." Storm announced, landing the jet. "According to the Professor, Magneto's signal came from here, an abandoned area outside Bayville."
They all got off the jet. Cyclops kept an eye on Pyro, clearly not trusting him.
"Is he just going to pop out at us or something?" Magma asked, looking around nervously.
"Nah, Mags ain't like an annoying jack in the box." Pyro said, trying to comfort her. "Much."
"Shouldn't we split up?" Shadowcat asked, uncertain of what to do now.
Pyro just laughed and walked away from the huddled group. "Here Mags-y, Mags-y, Mags-y." He walked around the abandoned parking lost, and wandered around the old building. It was only minutes later when they heard him yell.
"What's wrong?" Storm asked, being the first one to get to him. "Did you—Oh my." She stopped dead in her tracks at the dark prone body of Magneto laying on the ground. His helmet laid several feet away from his head. "Is he—?"
Pyro walked over to the body and kneeled down at it just as the others arrived, gasping at the sight. Jean walked up behind him, attempting to scan Magneto's mind but she just sighed.
"He's dead."
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Part two completed – December 31, 2003
Eep! I feel so loved.. and dazed.. and not to mention tired. I'll answer reviews in the next chapter.. ;)
Thank y'all for reviewing! Gosh, I LOVE ALL OF YOU!
-- Aro 3