Okay people, this is, like, the second to the last chapter, but I really want reviews, I mean, you can just say how stupid this story is, but I kinda want proof that people are reading this, okay? It's not that hard you know. Oh, and you're all gonna have to imagine accents on the appropriate character, because the spell checker is driving me crazy, so I don't want to do them. Sorry.

Chapter Five

Todd stared at his TV, hypnotized by what it was showing. His house, no, his family's house, was burning to the ground. He couldn't believe it. And the worst part was there was nothing he could do about it. They were all the way across the country; there was no way he could get there to save it. He was forced to watch the best home he ever lived in burn to the ground, hundreds of miles away.

Lance turned off his TV, and stared at the ground for a second. Scott watched him, anxiously. Lance stood up, and walked out of the room they shared, and over to the Professor's.

"Open up Baldy," he yelled, pounding on the door. It was opened by a very worried looking Storm.

"Lance, calm down, we don't want to alert anyone about this, no matter how upset we are," she said.

"How upset you are? They aren't burning down your mansion; they're burning down our house! I'll get as upset as I want. I have every right to," he said, pushing her slightly out of the way. He walked up to the Professor. "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you, Baldy?" he asked, grabbing his shirt and lifting him out of his chair.

"Lance, how could I have known this was going to happen?" he asked.

"You're a telepath!"

"I'm a telepath, I don't see the future!"

"You can read people's minds, you can tell when they're about to do something big like this!" Lance was starting to yell, which woke Jamie up, and he came into the room.

"What's going on," he asked, rubbing his eyes, not understanding why Lance was yelling at his leader.

"Stay out of this, kid," Lance said, lightly shoving him out of the room.

"Lance, what's going on?" Jamie asked again, obviously mad that he was being left out of something again. Luckily, Todd walked into the room, and was able to quietly explain what was happening, before Lance lost his temper.

"Hey, you guys can move in with us!" Jamie said; too tired to realize the seriousness of the issue, but awake enough to realize that his new friend could be his new roommate.

"Please, shrimp, I've tried that already, remember? You were one of the people that got me in trouble," Lance said. Logan gave Jamie an odd look, wondering if Jamie had actually been one of the kids behind the joy-rides, but Jamie gave him a "He's just upset, he doesn't know what he's talking about, look at me- I'm innocent and incredibly cute," and Logan decided to just let it go for now.

Pietro stomped into the room. "Lance-we-have-to-go-back-they're-burning- down-the-house-we-have-to-stop-them-all-my-stuff-is-in-there-Lance-make- them-stop-Baldy-take-me-home-now-I-don't-want-to-be-at-Disneyland-anymore-I- need-to-save-my-house-please! All this was said incredibly fast, and Pietro was almost in tears and hyperventilating by the time he was done.

The others tried to decipher what he'd just said, and the Professor said, slowly, ( way too slow for Pietro's liking, who started running around the room, trying to make up for the lack of speed) "We cannot do anything, Pietro, there's no way we can get back in time to stop them."

"You're-lying-what-about-Blue-Boy-he-can-teleport-anywhere!" Pietro said.

"I can't go everywhere; I can barely get three miles. It would take forever to get back home from here," Kurt said, walking into the room with the rest of the X-men.

"Why did we agree to go on this stupid trip again?" Lance asked aloud. He looked around angrily until he spotted Scott. "You!" He yelled, shoving Scott into the wall. "You were the one who said we just had to come, that we would get in trouble if you left us behind. Well, here's a news flash, Goggle-boy, we're not the ones causing the trouble, okay? We're not the ones burning down houses!" he shouted.

"Please, if we left you at home, you'd be in the house, going down with it," Scott said, not really fazed by the fact that Lance looked ready to kill him. "You should be thanking us for saving your sorry butts from those guys," he said.

This was the final straw for Lance, it was bad enough knowing that his house was burning down and there was nothing he could do, but he was not going to sit and be insulted by a guy whose idea of "fun" consisted of Level 5 Danger Room sessions. He looked straight into Scott's eyes, (once again, where he thought they were, dang sunglasses) and socked him in the jaw.

Scott looked blankly at him for a second, rubbing his jaw, and then, before the Professor could stop him, he punched Lance back. They kept at the fight for about a minute, spitting out a few choice words that don't belong on a PG story, until Logan came in between the two, claws out, daring either one of them to start fighting again.

"Listen, Shades, Rocky," he said, "this ain't gonna help. We can't do anything about your house; killing people won't make this go away. Now, you have two choices, you can quit this now, before I get angry, and just stay with us for awhile, or, you can keep fighting and I'll throw your butts out onto Main Street." He thought for a moment, then said, "Actually, you don't have a choice, you both are going to bed, and if I hear another word out of either of you, you won't need to worry about the housing arrangements," he flashed his claws, making sure that both teens knew what he was talking about.

"I-don't-want-to-live-with-you-guys-you-guys-are-scary-and-I-don't-want-to- go-you-can't-make-me," Pietro said, and Lance and Fred made similar objections to living with their former enemies. They turned to stare at Todd, surprised at how quiet he was. They didn't expect Wanda to care, but this was Todd's house, and they figured he would be the most upset. He was staring at the TV, as the fire was put out; staring at the rubble that once was their house.

"Let's go to bed you guys," he said, turning off the TV, and starting to walk out of the room. Pietro stopped him before he could get out, standing in front of the door.

"You-don't-like-the-X-geeks-at-all-you're-scared-of-them-even-more-than-I- am-why-do-you-want-to-go?" There was a slight pause in his almost unintelligible speech to glare at Professor Xavier. "You-brainwashed-him- didn't-you-you-bald-mutant-freak-how-could-you-brainwash-poor-innocent- little-Todd-how-could-you-even-find-a-brain-to-wash-this-is-horrible-my- favorite-teddy-bear-was-in-there!" Pietro stopped his babbling with a knock in the head from Todd.

"Pietro, shut up," Todd said, and went quietly back to his bedroom. The members of the Brotherhood stared at the departing Toad in shock. He never stood up to any of them. He was always too scared, always the one they had the urge to protect, no matter how bad he smelled. They couldn't figure out if Xavier actually had brainwashed him, or if losing his house had just sent the boy into shock. Either way, it was a little unnerving for Todd to be the one with the good idea, and the rest of the Brotherhood didn't want anyone to think that Todd was better than them. Lance, Wanda and Fred started towards the door when Pietro ran into their path.

"You-guys-are-all-traitors-our-house-is-gone-because-you-wouldn't-let-me-go- back-how-could-you! All-my-stuff-everything-all-our-money-is-gone-what-are- we-going-to-do? We-can't-live-with-the-X-geeks-this-is-a-really-bad-idea- what-about-my-teddy?!?" Pietro stopped talking when he received another bump on his head, this time from his sister.

"Pietro, for once in your life, shut up. We'll deal with this in the morning. And if you really feel that bad about your teddy bear, I'll buy you a new one tomorrow," Wanda said, and left for bed. Pietro stared after her, wondering why she was so calm about this horrible problem...and how she knew what he was talking about, he thought he was too fast for anybody to actually understand his ranting. As he and Lance left the room, (Pietro giving dirty glares to everyone) he slightly noticed Scott mouth the words, "Teddy Bear?" but shrugged it off, he could kick his butt in the morning if old goggle boy had a problem with his Teddy.

The Next Morning

The Brotherhood members were heading down to the complimentary hotel breakfast, far quieter than they had ever been before. Lance and Fred were quiet because they knew that by tomorrow night, they would be living with their former enemies, Todd was quiet because his house, his one true home, had been burnt down, Pietro was quiet because he thought his friends had betrayed him, and Wanda was quiet because, well, it was never quiet, and she kind of liked it. She didn't have any real attachment to the house, and couldn't care less about living with the X-men, so she was happy just to enjoy the misery of the boys.

"You could at least pretend you're a little upset about this, you know," Pietro told his sister angrily.

"Why? That house was a dump, we're going to be living in a building with air-conditioning and a heater, where the hot water works, where there will always be food..." Wanda was interrupted by Lance.

"Okay, okay, so are house sucks, but aren't you going to miss all the good times we..." Lance paused for a second, trying to remember if they did have any good times. "Yeah, okay, so we're probably better off with Baldy. Besides, with all his cool gadgets, I bet we can find the jerks that wrecked our house."

"You didn't seem to think that last night; you were ready to find those guys by yourself. That fight with Summer's was great, by the way, you should borrow some of Kitty's make-up, your eye looks really bad," Pietro said, bringing up the black eye Lance had received from his and Scott's little argument.

"I thought about it, and I decided it wouldn't be that bad living with them," Lance repeated, "so let's forget about it for now and just enjoy the vacation." He walked off, seeing Kitty waving him over.

"What a traitor, some stupid little girl bats her eyelashes, and he goes all out after her!" Pietro said, rolling his eyes in disgust at his friend.

"Hey, look, Pietro, its Rogue," Fred said, knowing that if he wasn't stopped now, Pietro could babble on for hours about Lance's stupid love problem. Pietro scanned the room, until he saw Rogue eating by herself at one of the tables.

"Oh. Hi Rogue," he said happily, and rushed off to see her, leaving the remaining three Brotherhood members to shake their heads.

"Oh well, there goes another one to an X-girl," Todd said.

Later that day, at Disneyland

Kurt and Amanda were walking down Main Street, talking about anything and everything they wanted, and randomly jumping from one topic to another. That's the good thing about true love- you can say anything, and they won't think you're crazy, because they're thinking the same thing. At least that's how their love life went. I don't really know or care how yours works; I'm just talking about them.

One of the many topics they jumped to was the Brotherhood, and if they really were going to be living together.

"I don't see what's wrong with it," Amanda said, "you guys haven't fought in ages, why does it matter now?"

"Well, it's not that really, I just don't want to be stuck with Todd," Kurt replied. "When we first met, we didn't really get along."

"But that doesn't matter anymore, does it?"

"He called me a fuzzy blue gecko," Kurt said, ignoring the strange looks he was getting from the other tourists. Amanda laughed.

"Fuzzy blue gecko? I like that, why didn't you tell me that one?" She asked.

"Oh, come on, Amanda, like I was going to talk about that slimy toad in front of you, I have better manners than that," he said, pulling her into the closest line.

In another area of the Park

"Come on Rogue, Indiana Jones can't be that scary!" Pietro yelled, pulling on her sleeve, trying to drag her on the ride.

"Pietro, look at that, there's no way I'm going on that!" Rogue said, ripping her sleeve away from him.

"I thought you were the 'Fearless Rogue'?" Wanda asked. "You're afraid to go on a little ride?" "That doesn't look like a 'little ride' to me!" Rogue said. "And besides, you know that this is like, the only kind of scary ride in the whole park."

"Did you just say 'like' yo?" Todd asked. "You're starting to sound like Kitty."

"I just don't want to go on it," Rogue said, and proceeded to sit on one of the rock/bench things.

"Fine we'll go without you," Pietro said, and turned around, not noticing the pole that had a snake head, which held the rope for the lines. The snake head was made at the perfect level so that when Pietro turned around... well; you can kind of guess what "perfect level" I'm talking about. "Owwww...." Pietro said, tears welling in his eyes, as everyone started laughing at him. Rogue decided that was punishment enough for trying to make her go on, and decided that if he had to suffer, she might as well go on it with him. She ended up closing her eyes through the whole thing, but, she still went on it. And Pietro figured that was enough of a sign that she liked him. And that was enough to make the pain in his...ah hem...you know...go away.

Yet Another Area of the Park

"So, Lance," Kitty started. "How..."

"I don't want to talk about it Kitty," Lance said, interrupting her. "I've got a free vacation to Disneyland, I'll probably never get to do it again, and I don't want it ruined by talking about the house. I'm over it for now, so let's just let it go."

"Okay," Kitty replied, rather nervous about how calm he sounded. She thought he should be a little more upset, even if they were at the happiest place on earth. It was almost as if he didn't care. But she let it slide, thinking that he was just in a forgiving mood or something. She was proved wrong a few moments later.

"Freak, get out of here," a man, probably in his late 30's, said to a terrified teenage girl. He and a few of his friend's and their wives were all circling the girl, who was obviously a mutant. Two of the girls friends were watching from a little bit away, too terrified to come closer, but too curious to run away.

Lance watched as the man threw the girl to the ground, cussing at her all the while, and stepped forward. This was the chance he was waiting for, he doubted they would catch the people who burnt down his house, but he was going to get these thugs, and make them pay for his house. As he was about to grab one of the guys, Kitty grabbed his arm. "Lance, I don't want you hurting them; it's just going to make things worse."

He looked at Kitty for a second, and stepped forward again. "Stop it," he said, grabbing the man's shirt and throwing him into the nearest wall. "You don't pick on someone because they're different then you," he shoved the man into the wall again. "It's a nice day at the park, you get on your way, we'll get on ours, but if I see you do anything like this again, I won't be nice just because I'm here with my girlfriend." With one last shove, Lance threw the man on the ground, threw a threatening glance at his friends, took Kitty by the arm, and walked off. The mutant girl said a brief thanks, and went to join her friends, who seemed to be a little scared of her, but more scared of Lance to say anything about it.

At the exit of Splash Mountain

Rogue, Pietro, Fred, Todd, Wanda, and Jamie had just gotten off Splash Mountain, Jamie and Todd were soaking wet from being in the front seat, and everyone else was just wet enough to escape the heat.

"Hey, let's go into that store," Jamie said, pointing at a store that was across the way.

"Aw, shrimp, that's a Winnie the Pooh store, let's go on another ride," Pietro said. Jamie looked at Rogue with his big, "I want to go in, and I'm to cute to resist" eyes, until she gave in, and dragged the rest of them inside. They may not listen to Jamie, but the Rogue was someone you listened to, even if she was a little bit afraid of Indiana Jones. Anybody who could knock you out with a simple handshake was someone you listen to.

"Oh, my gosh," Pietro said slowly- well, at least, as slowly as he could possibly get. He was looking down the rows of clothes and Winnie the Pooh and friends' stuffed animals, into the candy shop hidden in the back. Pietro started drooling, imaging all the sugar in there. Rogue had barely been able to get him past the candy shop on Main Street, but she didn't know there was candy hidden in the back here.

"Oh, shoot," Wanda said, knowing that she couldn't use her powers in the store, and that Pietro was free to get sugar high. And he did. There was candy everywhere. But the thing that really got his attention was the "tree stump" (its Winnie the Pooh, everything is in the woods somehow) in the middle. It was a circular stump, and in clear cylinders was sugar, in every color and flavor you can imagine. It was like having 50 Pixie Sticks shoved into one tube. It was beautiful...it was amazing...it was...gone. In the blink of an eye, Pietro had managed to take half the sugar.

"Pietro," Rogue said, tripping what most people would think was the wind and having Pietro land at her feet. "You can't steal anything, you're with us, and you have money now."

Pietro looked down at the candy in his arms, probably wondering if it would taste the same if it was actually bought, something that the Brotherhood hadn't done in a while. With a final glance at Rogue, he zipped past her, towards the cash register. As he started paying, Rogue vaguely wondered where he got the money to pay for it; she didn't think the Professor had given them any money yet. And where did he get that wallet...the one that looked...exactly like...hers!

"Pietro, give me my wallet back!" She yelled, going after him. Pietro quickly finished paying, and ran out the door, yelling something along the lines of, "but you said I had to pay! I didn't have any money!" as they ran down the street, knocking people down as they went.

Jamie looked on for a few minutes, and glanced over at Todd. "You know," he said, "things are going to get pretty interesting with you guys around." Todd nodded in agreement, wondering just how strange it would get, as Rogue "accidentally" knocked Pietro out, and smiling sweetly (or as sweetly as the Rogue can smile) at the elderly couple that were looking at her strangely.