Disclaimer: The X-Men are the property of Marvel. Golan and Cirrus belong exclusively to Star and are used with permission. Corrinth retains all rights to Ilehana Xavier and Ori. Lamby retains all rights to Blaze.

A/N: This story is a joint work between Lamby and Corrinth, based on Corrinth's X-Men the Movie fanfiction of the same name. Reviews always welcome.

05

"Let Jean do what she can, Ilehana." Logan counselled her once the other X-Men had left. "It's the best way she can help right now, and you're needed elsewhere. Or have you forgotten all the other kids who'll be lookin' for Charles and noticing he's not here?"

"Of course not." Ilehana snapped, so tempted at that moment to morph into a wolf, to run with Ori, but even she had the sense to know that she could not run from her problems. Her companion, however, had no qualms about such matters. Knowing full well that this meeting might well end in a fight, Ori slunk away silently.

"You've just claimed to be alpha in Charles' stead," Wolverine was relentless. "That means you're the leader, you're responsible for those kids..."

"Then go tell Jean to get on with it!" Ilehana screamed at him, making him visibly recoil from her. She fought the irritation that crept through her, fighting its way under everything she and Ori had not long managed to establish. As soon as she had it under control, she glanced up at him. Logan shrugged and turned away. He couldn't be doing with Ilehana when she was in this type of mood. It was a shame, because most of the time, though he would never admit it, not even to her, he loved her without reservation. But when she got on her high horse like this, just because he'd sided against her... Well, Logan wasn't sure what to do with her. He walked away, all the time listening and hoping that she might yet call him back... but no such call came.

Ilehana closed her eyes, and reached out gently, probing so softly to see what damage her reckless act had caused. Jean, on her way now to Cerebro after Logan had caught up with her, seemed permanently traumatised. Ilehana frowned to herself. Her anger at Jean had cracked the walls, already weakened through stress, that encased her power, and that power had seeped out to smother Jean's telepathy and telekinesis. Even now, Jean was only just re-mastering control of her powers. Vixen withdrew into herself once more, slipping easily into meditation the way Blaze had shown her.

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They re-convened later, the senior team of Beast, Logan, Storm, Scott, Jean, Kitty, Rogue, Blaze and Kurt. Golan and Bobby had refused to be excluded, and since they still knew more than the rest of the kids, they were not denied. The whole team including Ori turned as one to see their new team-leader walk into the planning room, last and very late. Scanning the room briefly, she nodded to them. Despite her earlier anger at Jean, Ilehana was relieved to see the telekinetic mutant present. The look on Jean's face was thunderous, but then again, that was an expression Jean used frequently in the Vixen's presence. Even so, Ilehana found herself close to baulking at the tension in the air; Wolverine could have sliced it easily with a claw. But he would not meet her eye, instead frowning like the rest of them at the laptop tucked under her arm. She didn't blame him, she'd acted like an idiot earlier, but now she found herself in need of a friendly face. She found it in Bobby, who grinned at her, his eyes smiling along with his mouth, and Ilehana managed a weak grin in return.

"Jean?" Vixen swallowed her pride and turned to ask her rival to speak. Jean's eyes were slightly glazed from using the powerful Cerebro machine to amplify her telepathic powers. She nodded to Vixen, cleared her throat to address the team.

"I've been using Cerebro to try and find out who exactly is involved in the Professor's abduction." Jean began, and Blaze was forced to bite her tongue to stop her from complaining that that much was obvious to all of them. Ilehana picked up on the thought though, letting it cheer her slightly. Vixen wouldn't feel guilty over it either, for as Blaze herself often said, in dark moments humour can be the greatest strength.

"And what exactly did you find?" Scott tried to claim back from Vixen a semblance of authority by asking the obvious question.

"I know that Quicksilver, Avalanche and the Scarlet Witch know something, but not the Blob or Toad. It seems Mystique has been recruiting certain mutants, and ignoring others. Colossus we know is involved, but when I tracked down Sabretooth, he was oblivious."

"Wouldn't be nothin' new." Wolverine griped about his old foe, before scowling at Bobby and Golan as they giggled. Golan coughed to disguise his giggle, turning his wide-set eyes to Jean.

"Golan is wondering, did Jean Grey listen by her mind-power to what de bad mutants of de Brotherhood, to what dey were saying to each other about de plan of Mystique?"

"What?" Jean still had difficulties translating Golan's unusual babbling speech. Bobby, on the other hand, had a knack for it.

"He said what were Pietro and the others talking about. What did they know about what Mystique was up to?"

"They kept talking about guarding something. Said the word over and over; guardians." Jean replied.

Ilehana's face dropped and she stared balefully at Jean. "The Guardians of Destiny." Suddenly she remembered Japan, berating herself for not realising then that the child had been a shape shifter, Mystique herself. How long had the evil mutant been following in Ilehana's footsteps, how long had she been planning this move to abduct her father? And Ilehana had had the perfect chance to get rid of the woman for good.

#No good berating yourself after the incident, pack-sister. # Ori offered. #Wake from your dreams, Vixen, the others are waiting. #

Ilehana saw them all staring at her, the moment very surreal as she surveyed them all with a kind of lordly indifference. Was this truly it? Were these people to become those whom she had idolised for years now? What did she owe them, that she should grant them such powers? She stepped forward to pick up the laptop with all her research stored upon it, and hugged it to her chest protectively. She managed to catch the snarl before it escaped her, before they should realise the secrets she held. Retreating a few steps, she glared at them all as if they might do her harm. Her power burst from its barriers and swept about her in a protective cloak. Her power; she could never give it up, not to them, not to anyone, her power! She turned and took a step towards the door.

Jean reached out telepathically, concerned by Ilehana's strange behaviour, for a moment she touched her consciousness; the terrified woman trapped within a torrent of powers which she could neither control nor understand, but then an aura of colour and tremendous energy whipped around the meta-morph, forcing Jean out and away. As though shoved in the chest with great force, Jean's chair toppled backwards and she crashed to the floor with it, Scott and Nightcrawler dashing to her side.

#Let not the powers overwhelm you, Chosen One. # The voice cut through the protective aura of her powers, reached straight inside to Ilehana herself. Whoever it was, they were fighting with her, trying to cram a portion of the powers back into it's rightful place, to allow Ilehana freedom within her own mind once more.

#Who......... # As she turned to identify the speaker, Ilehana realised that the voice was in her head; a telepathic communication, but it was neither Ori nor Jean, and no one else in the room was capable of initiating such a link.

#Let not the powers overwhelm you. # The voice, so familiar and yet so strange, repeated determinedly. #The time has come, Chosen One, to reveal to these their possible destiny. #