This is two months after the last chapter. And remember how I said Scott was looking for his brother? Uh, yeah no. Forget that. J He's off teaching a summer field school in New Zealand for the X-kiddies. I made Jean a mini environmentalist. She's using a reusable coffee mug and refuses to take a plastic bag after she buys something and is against animal testing. Things that I hope rub off on more people. J Happy reading.
"Be back in two hours alright?" The Professor said.
There was a murmur of understanding amongst the fifteen students before they scattered out throughout the mall. Charles and Jean walked about on their own, occasionally keeping mental tabs on the students, but more or less left them to have some fun. It was the summer semester at the Xavier Institute and most of the students had either returned home or gone with Scott or Storm on a field school. The two and a half dozen or so that remained in the Institute were usually students that had run away, or were kicked out by close minded families.
"It's been an exciting year hasn't it?" Charles said as the two adults wandered rather aimlessly in the mall.
Jean made an agreeing sound as she sipped her tea.
"Magneto and the Registration Act certainly made it that. Although, I think it's been a bad exciting year, not good exiting year."
"Indeed it has. Have you been in touch with Scott?"
Jean made the sound again as she finished her tea and tucked her travel mug into her small backpack.
"He's doing fine and so are the students. He emailed me two days ago, but I haven't had the time to email him back."
Jean stopped and peered into a display case of a clothing store. There was a dark blue tank top with a white tiger print on the front that caught her eye. Jean gazed at it for a few seconds more before excusing herself for a moment to purchase it.
Charles waited at the entrance, amused, as Jean was probably ten years older than the other customers there. Jean strolled out and rolled the tee shirt up before stuffing it into her backpack. It was nearing its carrying capacity.
"For Marie?"
Jean nodded before continuing their stroll in the mall.
Charles smiled to himself. He couldn't help himself.
"I'm incredibly impressed with Marie's progress thus far. But, I'm more impressed by you."
Jean blushed a little and gave wiry smile to the Professor.
"It's what you taught us to do. This is what you wanted each of us to do eventually."
"I'm speaking of your powers. I always though you were capable of so much more, but none of us, me nor Scott or Ororo could figure out how to bring it out with you. I'm happy that someone finally has."
(A couple days later.)
Jean lay on her belly on Marie's bed, with her long legs tangling off the other end. She peered over the shoulder of Marie, who sat on the floor with her back to the bed. She wore the blue tank top Jean got her, and was finishing one of her assignments for her summer biology class with Dr. McCoy. In her left hand, she held a flower. Rogue had reached the point where she could do everyday tasks and still hold her power in check.
"Damn. Lost my page. Where's that chart on bacterial infections?" Marie muttered to herself.
"Page 372." Jean said as she used her TK to open the textbook to the page Rogue needed.
Marie turned her head to look at Jean with a smirk.
"You know, TK is making you very lazy."
Jean scoffed.
"Me? Lazy? Never!" She then proceeded to telekinetically cuff Marie lightly on the back of her head.
Marie grumbled and stuck her tongue out at the telepath, turned back to her homework and finished it off. Marie sighed and checked the time. It was six in the evening and she had nothing else to do for the rest of the night.
"Why don't you hit the pool? Maybe Bobby's there."
Marie cleaned up her books and looked strangely at Jean.
"I'm not interested in him you know. Besides, he went home at the end of last semester and goes out with Lorna now."
Jean raised an eyebrow. She didn't know Bobby had moved on. Along with Jean's increased ability to read minds, she could block out the minds of others as well.
"Eh, he got tired of waiting for me to develop a way to block my powers." Rogue shrugged, turned around and sat back against Jean's bed. Now that it was summer, most of the occupants who still lived in the Mansion moved in together to make it less lonely to stay in the huge home.
"But you have." Jean tilted her chin towards the flower that Rogue still held clasp in her hand.
Marie hesitated.
"I haven't told anyone really. Only you, the Professor, Logan, Mr. Summers and Storm know. I didn't think that holding out against flowers was the biggest achievement in the world."
Jean frowned. She had noticed that Rogue didn't interact with the other students that much, and spent much time doing focus training either by herself or with Jean and doing homework. Jean watched Marie listlessly pluck the petals from the flower, and lightly scanned Rogue's mind. She saw memories of the other students celebrating their control. Memories of Betsy, who now called herself Psylocke, were strong in Marie's mind. Jean saw how Betsy taunted Marie with her psychic blade. Jean's lip curled up in anger.
"That little spoiled brat."
Rogue looked up, an eyebrow raised in interest over Jean's sudden comment.
Jean turned a little red.
"Oh, nothing. Just thinking."
Marie smiled slyly at Jean. She knew what Jean had done.
"You don't have to be worried about me getting annoyed at you for reading my mind." Rogue looked back down at her petal-less flower. "My mind is open to you. You know that." She paused and held the flower up before her and continued talking. "I don't even have to think about keeping my power in check. It's the opposite now. I can turn my ability on," the flower wilted partially and stopped, "and off."
Jean leaned forward over the bed and took the flower. She twirled it between her fingers and then looked back at Marie.
"Do you want to try something bigger?"
"I have." Rogue reached up and ran her hand through the large plant on the table that sat between the two mutants' beds. The plant didn't wilt and Rogue suddenly laughed.
"It's been two weeks since I last absorbed a flower. The urge to try to... pollinate... has left and my need to photosynthesize has lessened too."
Jean snickered and nodded. She ran TK shielded fingers lightly down Marie's tanned, bare shin.
"Your tan is fading." Jean pulled her hand back and continued speaking. "When I mean bigger Marie, I mean bigger." She waited for the teen to comprehend what she was implying.
Rogue's eyes bugged out for a second.
"Jean, I'm not ready. You saw two weeks ago that I can't control my power against you."
Jean nodded as she remembered.
"I know. But I think it's because every time you focus now, you focus your power to be restricted against the flower. Maybe if you focused on me, you can stop your power against me."
Marie furrowed her brow.
"But that will take another two months or more. Look at how long it took for me to hold out against a flower."
Jean sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
"No. It took you that long because you needed to develop the mental focus. You have that focus. Now, all you need is to apply it to a new target. Apply it to me."
Rogue looked deeply into Jean's eyes. Is Jean right? She asked herself. Can I do this? No. It's too good to be true. This process needs to take more time. This is too big of a jump! From vegetation to humans? Shouldn't I be trying it out on animals first or something?
Jean looked sharply at Rogue. She caught the last suggestion and automatically reacted negatively to the idea of animal testing.
"Sorry. I didn't mean..." Marie quickly said, but Jean waved it away.
"No, it's just instinct for me. Marie, I know you can do this."
"But I..." Marie stopped mid-sentence as she and Jean started to float up in the air. They were suddenly no longer in their room, but floating in a forest that came complete with singing birds and chattering squirrels.
Who would have thought I could develop my TK from lifting a book or closing a door to this? And my telepathy, which half a year ago, I could barely sustain a mental link, much less easily communicate or implant images in the mind. And I am, Marie, far past the age where most mutant ability development takes place.
The image vanished and Jean and Rogue floated to the ground. Jean continued speaking, but not with the mind.
"Marie, you can do this. I believe you can. I know you can."
Jean sensed the turmoil of emotions swirling in the girl. Anxiety, longing, disbelief, insecurity, fear, hope, excitement; Marie was feeling everything possible within a matter of seconds. But, hope and excitement won the emotional battle.
"We'd better go pee now. I don't know how long this will take. I'm so nervous." Marie stood up shaking and almost fell over. She swallowed hard and looked over at the meditation kit the Professor had given her months before. She hadn't used it for quite some time but decided now was a good time to use it again.
"Time to break out the big guns." And with a determination never before seen, she looked Jean in the eye. "Let's do this this."