Short notice

-The prologue has just been reloaded with less spelling errors

-My apologize to those who whished to post a review but couldn't. I didn't realize that FF.net automatically blocked reviews from anonymous readers. I've adjusted the set up and everything should be in working order now.

-Sarah-Crysala: many thanks for pointing this to me, and many thanks also for your very encouraging review! You made my day!

And if you wanna know who HE is, you better stay tuned, 'cause you're not gonna know for sure till the end of this part, even though there will be a few hints along the way.

-Also thanks to Hutchy, my first ever reviewer!

Now on to the story!

For Kitty Pride, life was good. Even if at one point there, she had been worried.

Standing in the park near the baseball ground, not far away from where the young recruits where training under Beast's patient care, she took in her surroundings. The sun was shining, a light wind bringing just enough fresh air for the day to be a comfortable warm. Except for the cries coming from the playing students, it was a peacefull and quiet day. Which she enjoyed all the most after their little fight to save a world that seemed to have all but forgotten them, at least for a while. Was it a good or a bad thing she couldn't decide.

It had been tough, especially for the Professor and Storm, she could tell. The day after they came back, the Professor gathered them all to talk about what happened during the previous days, but the general discomfort was evident.

For the first time she could remember, she saw him not as the protective figure, but as a man, a tired one to boot. He had lines of worry on his forehead he never had before. Lately, he would sometimes sit behind his mahagony desk, his hands folded in his lap, his stare somewhere in the the distance.

It was pretty much the same for Storm, but as she used to be emotionally more distant, it didn't show as much. But as her tenderness for her young charges had always been there to be seen for the one who was looking for it, so were her doubts, and Kitty could tell that battle simulations where she had to face some of them was pretty awkward, bringing back dark memories.

Of all the students, Scott and Jean seemed the most affected by the whole thing. She could only imagine that having to fight against the very person that had saved and raised you with the patience of a father couldn't have been easy on Scott. And Jean, being the Professor's first student, certainly felt the same. Kitty had no doubt this would be overcome someday, but the whole affair was just too fresh in everybody's mind.

But some good showed up as well.

Take Rogue for instance. That was probably the most stunning case. After the Risty/Mystique thing, and after Apocalypse and Mesmero used her as a vessel, she had been withdrawn from the mansion's life. No, scratch that, she had been withdrawn from life, period. School and missions pretty much had summarised her last six months.

Well, Kitty guessed, being used by your own foster mother, by a powerfull ancient mutant and finally kill, or so she thought, the above-mentioned mother really, really, sucked.

But then, in a matter of a few days, it had been as if none of this had ever happened. In fact, she seemed a lot stronger, both physically and mentally a lot more confident. It had probably something to do with discovering that she hadn't actually killed Mystique and with saving the day against Apocalypse. Yet somehow, Kitty mused, it probably had even more to do with the men in her life.

Kurt hadn't seemed a lot better during the weeks following the destruction of  Mystique's statue than his foster sister. At the time, Kitty had thought that it simply was because he really loved his mother that much. That had proven to be only half-true. He certainly loved her, but his (for him) unusually cold behaviour aroud Rogue came most assurededly from the conflict between what he felt he had to feel towards his mother, and the understanding of the reasons that drove Rogue's fatal gesture. In the end, the second won over, and Kitty could only be grateful for the both of them.

But Kurt's rejection would certainly have proven impossible to cope with to Rogue if Logan hadn't been there. Funny, Logan was probably the most withdrawn person from the life at the mansion generally speaking. In fact, she knew very little of him, despite the glimpse of a not-so-bright past she saw when she has stood in too close quarters with adamantium claws a couple of years ago.

But somehow, since Rogue's powers surge, he seemed to have appointed himself her guardian, a discreet but efficient one. He always knew where she was at all times, and had made sure to let her plenty of space while making her aware he was always out there if she needed him. She wondered what Rogue made of all this, and reminded herslef to corner her in a "girltalk" about it later.

But another question was even more urgent: what would she do of Remy. Because it was obvious to anyone with at least one eye in working order that he had it bad for her, even though it was difficult to decipher the implications of that statement, as it was with every professional seducer. Was it just superficial feelings that would fade when a new pretty face would show, or did he really love her? And, not to forget, what did Rogue feel for him?

Well, they all may find out the answer soon, since Remy has been granted a place at the mansion. Speaking of which….

At that point, Kitty's train of thoughts started to drift to the most pleasant of her actual preoccupations in the midst of that fine springbreak's afternoon.

Of all, she considered herself the luckiest. No matter how bad the latest weeks had been, she had earned two new friends. First was Dani, Danielle Moonstar. She couldn't explain why, she just loved that girl, had felt a great bond with her from the start. She was quiet, a little bit shy, but really a good soul once you learned to know her. She seemed to go along very well with Doctor McCoy, and to share his passion for deep, philosophical converstions, and more surprisedly with Logan as well, as she seemed to feel best outside the mansion, somewhere in the woods. Sometimes she went alone, but she had included Kitty more and more, and that really rejoyced her.

And then there was Piotr. She realized she must be blushing, judging on the heat of her cheeks. Which was ridiculous. Piotr had been, along with Remy, the latest addition to the Xmen. She had barely seen him since he joined them. She knew he had left several times with Logan, but had no idea where and why. More than anything, he was a mystery, an enigma. But a nice enigma, the kind you really, really, wanted to understand. She had really enjoyed working with him, and she had to admit having him around in times of crisis was a very good thing. Since it was during those moments that she had time to study him a little, she had found his capacity at staying calm under whatever circonstancies really amazing.

And he had been so cute when he had helped her that last time…..

Stop thinking like this, you don't even know how much older he really is….

And then there was Lance.

The color left her face, and she started to frown.

At times he acted as if he profoundly despised her, yet sometimes, what his eyes told her was something else entirelly. If that wasn't just the reflection of her own wishes. Another enigma in her life, she thought, with a humorless laugh. But the she started to wonder: what if….

The quiet sound of two footsteps approaching her put a halt on her train of thoughts. Glancing on her right, she saw Logan and Rogue walking silently side by side. She didn't know he had come back.

Giving their attire, they had probably trained together. That was another novelty: Rogue newfound strength. Nobody could explain it, but both Doctor McCoy and the Professor supposed that she had retained a little bit of everybody she had absorbed, and that additioned had led to an improved Rogue. The Professor and Logan had agreed on a special training for her, both battle training and meditation, to help her adjust.

They stopped and sat by a nearby tree, away from the commotion created by the softball game still playing. They didn't seem to have seen her. She would have to make only a few steps to be within earreach, and the thought seemed suddenly very tempting. Maybe after that, she would have one less question to ask her teammate. But on the other hand, she didn't want to spy on a friend.

She was still debating with herself what to do, when a new perspective came to cast an entire different light on things at hand.

If Logan came back, then Piotr must me here as well.

She got up, and walked towards the mansion.

____________________________________________________

Rogue was distractedly watching the softball game that seemed to have turned into an "all-against-Bobby" game. She knew Logan hadn't proposed to have a walk and then to sit down there under the chestnut tree for polite small talk.

Simply because the Wolverine didn't make polite small talk.

But she could tell he wanted them to talk about something, and she had a pretty good idea what this was all about. Thinking about it, one corner of her mouth started to lift up. For several reasons.

"Somebody help meeeeeeeeeee"

She lifted her head and looked in front of her. Yep, it had definitely turned into an "all-against-Bobby", the infamous favorite ballgame of all the students. Well, maybe with one exception though. It was now a full grin that graced her lips

"Did you not forget to tell me something?"

"Hmmmm?"Give it to Logan to always catch her off guard. And to always chose the most direct approach possible.

"Yeah, if I remember well, you were supposed to give me a few explanations after your little trip south?"

She turned her gaze on him. Her grin was still there full force, but the expression on her face hold something gentle, almost tender, that it hadn't a moment before. He had asked it casually, but she could tell he was more than itching to know why she hadn't let him gut Remy but good. Although the thought of what could have happened hadn't she been there to stop him was more than a little bit dicomforting, she couldn't hold it against him too much either. He had been worried for her, maybe even a little scared.

And that was another thing the Wolverine didn't do. He didn't become afraid of or for anything or anyone. Yet most students knew better that believe that last one, at least among the oldest of them.

"Do you want the long version or the short one?"

Her tone was that of someone who had had time to think things over and come to a sense of closure with the events, which starteled him a little, and it showed in his expression before he could slip back behind his casual emotionless mask.

He believed she'd rather shove it in a corner of her mind and forget about the whole thing, given that the day had seen her getting kidnapped, her trust abused by someone she's always felt something for –that had not been lost on Logan at the time, and he still didn't get how it could seemingly have been lost on almost everybody else for so long- and him almost getting murderous on the Cajun.

"What does the short one says?"

"I didn't want you to hurt him, because I owned him so much."

Rogue couldn't stop the teasing gleam in her eyes when she looked at Logan after waiting for his reaction -and receiving none. She would have laughed if she wasn't so damn serious: the puzzled look on Logan, with his trademark arched eyebrow was priceless. She biefly wondered if she sould tell him that he had let his precious control slip twice in less than a minute

"Maybe after all, the long one wouldn't hurt."

"Hmmmm, you know, when he kidnapped me, I didn't know where my place was anymore. I didn't know what to do with myself, if there was anything I could be worth."

He nodded. She knew he knew she was aware it had been pretty easy for him to read her during that time. He could because at one point he had felt exactly the same. Her whole expression went softer again.

"Between his explanations and what I pulled from him, it made me realized that even though what he did was wrong, he did it for a good cause, and that he wouldn't have done it, had he been given another choice. You see, he's part of the Acolytes, and, yeah, they're a team, but only as long as they were coaxed by Magneto to work together. At the end of the day, they were on their own, and there was no way for Remy to ask any of his "brothers in arms" for help. Whereas me….."

Her voice trailed off, and she lowered her eyes, almost out of shame. But when she spoke again, it hold even more confidence and had a force it hadn't before."I was part of a team, that also happened to be my family and my circle of friends. I had this incredible chance to belong with people who give a shit even after office time. Something Remy had been looking for his entire life and never came across until now. And I almost lost it by my own fault, by sheer stupidity"

She was holding his gaze now. Her voice was lower. The fire had left her, and was replaced by a warm and gentle smile that reached her eyes   "Hadn't it been for him and his kidnapping, I wouldn't have understood  that. I wouldn't have understood that you all would be there for me." Her expression became even softer when she added: "that you would be there for me…."

Whampf

"….along with my charming little brother here who's never been teached the meaning of the word timing" she added with a half-mad, half-amused expression, turning toward the intruder

"Did you call me charming little brother, Schwester?" asked Kurt with an impish grin.

"Yeah, I just did, but you better enjoy it why it last, 'cause I can already tell you, it won't last long."replied Rogue, her hands now on her hips

"What are you doing here anyway, the Elf?"

"I came looking for Rogue." he turned to the now standing girl. "It's Kitty and Jean who sent me for you. The new students are here. Come on! Let's go and meet them."

Kurt's enthusiasm was contagious. Rogue couldn't help herself and smirked. She took his hand, and, after a last look over her shoulder and a nod at Logan, they disappeared from the park.

_________________________________________________

Somewhere else

"Mesmero failed, and now Apocalypse is locked again!"

"Everything's ruined. There's nothing left we can do!"

"Fools, be silent! We will carry on as planned."

"How? Without Apocalypse, all is lost."

"Don't be stupid. They did not defeat him. I can feel him. He's very well alive. And he will great us with opened arms when we take him out of his prison"

"But, Lord, it would take a power behond anything known to man to accomplish this task."

"Do not worry about this. There are many forces in this world that have been lost on man long ago."

"What about those mutants?"

"Nothing but a nuisance."

"My Lord, they defeated Mesmero!?"

"Hmm, maybe you're right. Make sure you always keep an eye on them."

"Yes, my Lord"

"Especially on the girl with the white strikes. No matter what, she shouldn't be harmed too much, not beyond repair. At least not before we understand her power and her interaction with Apocalypse better."

"Yes, my Lord"

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Ok, this was a rough version of my new chapter, as I will be likely to change a few things before I load chapter 2. In the meanwhile, feedback would be very, very appreciated. You can also contact me at jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk.

And, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!