Thanks go out to the lovely spiffythefaery for volunteering her valuable time to beta read this and many other stories that I have in my warped mind.
Disclaimer: X-Men: Evolution is owned by Marvel and the WB. Phantom of the Opera is owned by whoever is in charge of the estate of Gaston Leroux.
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"I gave you my soul tonight and I am dead!"
- Christine
As it turned out Kurt and Bobby had not been bluffing about their prank, but due to the identity of the subject, it had not been noticed at first. It wasn't until Scott marched into the kitchen for breakfast did anyone see that something was wrong. Scott's hair, instead of its normal rustic brown, was now a bright purple.
Scott waved cheerily to everyone, not noticing the looks of shock, or in the case of Bobby and Kurt, snickering into their hands. Being unable to determine colors due to his protective glasses, Scott had not observed anything usual. Making his way over to the cupboard to grab a box of cereal he set about making breakfast as usual.
As Scott busied himself with food, Jamie walked into the kitchen rubbing sleep from his eyes. Mumbling a greeting to the rest of the students, he took a seat at the table. Noticing the shocked glares on the faces of his friends, Jamie followed the gazes. When the young boy's eyes fell upon Scott's bright purple hair, he reacted in the most natural way. He screamed.
Unleashing a blood curdling scream Jamie ran from the kitchen. Scott whirled around, dropping the milk and watched as Jamie scrambled from the room. It was then that he noticed the looks that he was receiving from his friends. Shooting them a sloppy grin, Scott turned back to fixing his food.
Still no one made any movement or sound (besides the snickering Kurt and Bobby), their gazes transfixed on Scott's hair. The door to the room was thrown open as Creed marched in, or began to march in. He delivered his usual leer to the students, only to find that his deadly gaze was ignored. Furious that not only was he being ignored, but his patented deadly gaze was having no effect, he began to growl. This too had no effect.
Creed was dumbfounded. He had never in all his time at the Institute, been completely ignored. Not only did this make him quite uneasy, it aroused his curiosity. Unable to quell this unusual feeling, Creed looked in the direction that the students were. Upon seeing Scott's new hair color the massive mutant couldn't help his reaction. His lips began to twitch, pulling at a grin.
Normally a grinning Creed meant that there would be trouble for one of the students. This time it meant Creed was amused with the color of Scott's hair and the amusement couldn't be satisfied with just a grin. Creed felt a tickle begin to rise in his throat, building in force until he could no longer hold it in. Victor Creed, a man known for his perpetual scowl, began to laugh.
As Creed began to laugh, Scott finished fixing his breakfast. Hearing the sound of Creed laughing, a sound that was never heard in the halls of the mansion, Scott looked over at the feral mutant. Holding his massive hands over his belly as he laughed, Creed was enjoying himself as he gazed upon Scott. Continuing to crack up, he turned and walked out of the kitchen.
Scott was feeling quite confused. First everyone was looking at him oddly, then Jamie ran screaming from the room. To top it all off Creed had laughed at him. Things were definitely not normal in the Xavier Institute this morning. Sitting down at the table Scott began to eat, attempting to ignore the looks he was receiving.
There would be no peace for Scott however. The door to the kitchen flew open as Jamie dragged Ororo in, followed by Logan.
"See Miss Ororo? Just like I said," Jamie said, pointing at Scott.
"Of course Jamie," Ororo replied as she looked at Scott with the same face as everyone else. Behind Ororo, Logan snickered upon seeing Scott's hair.
"Alright, what is it?" Scott sighed, seeing that he wouldn't be able to finish his breakfast in peace. No one answered him, still gazing at his hair in shock.
"Come on! I've think I've been a good sport and put up with this enough. What is wrong?" Seeing that everyone else was not going to answer, Logan chose to break the bad news to Scott.
"Scooter, we got to get you to recognize different colors."
"What for?"
"'Cause that way you'll know when some one has played a prank on you," Logan replied as he shot a glance at the snickering troublemakers responsible for Scott's coloring.
"A prank?" Scott said with a raised eyebrow. He turned his head so he could deliver a harsh glare to Bobby and Kurt. The fact that the glare was hidden behind his glasses and therefore unable to be seen by the two boys was forgotten.
"Spill it, what did you two do?"
"Us?" Kurt started only to have Bobby add the next word.
"Nothing."
"But we object to you automatically blaming us," they concluded together.
"I've got a good reason to," Scott replied.
"Innocent until proven guilty, mein fruend."
"And you have no proof that we dyed your hair lilac anyway," Bobby replied with a grin.
"Looks like purple to me Ice Cube. Light purple, but purple."
"So?"
"That the only people who could tell whether or not Scott's hair was purple or lilac would be a person who has experience with art. Last time Ah checked neither of you met that criteria," Rogue remarked with a smirk from the table. Bobby and Kurt threw sour looks at the southern girl.
"Stripes has a point. Care to explain yourselves?" Logan remarked as he crossed his arms with a smirk. Kurt and Bobby exchanged a quick glance before looking back at the amused Logan and a very angry Scott.
"Lilac? You dyed my hair lilac I'm going to kill you!"
"Got to catch us first!" With that Kurt and Bobby vanished in a puff of smoke.
***
It took Scott all day to finally catch the two pranksters. With Kurt's ability to teleport and Bobby's ability to create obstacles from ice they were always one step ahead. Despite their combined talents they had only narrowly escaped capture after Scott had tracked the duo to the library. He had them cornered between the classics section and the philosophy section, a look of triumphant anticipation on his face. Scott was quite pleased with his tracking skills.
Having to endure laughing fits of everyone at the Institute when he walked by, Scott was itching to get back at the two. He knew they were cornered and from the frantic calls coming between the books they knew it too. Apparently the effort of evading Scott's grasp for the morning had exhausted the two. However, Bobby and Kurt were saved by the most unlikely of people.
"He's coming. Vat can ve do?" Kurt frantically shrieked as Scott inched closer.
"I don't know. Maybe we can knock over the bookshelves," Bobby replied as he searched for ideas for escape.
"Over my dead body runts," came a rather ominous growl. Looking behind them with eyes wide open, Bobby and Kurt saw an amused looking Creed standing over them. Normally the smirk on his face would be because he knew that his archrivals were about to be subjected to pain, but not today.
"Um. Hello Creed," Bobby said, uncomfortable with the feral mutant's sudden appearance. Creed's grin grew with their awkward disposition.
"You are two responsible for Scooter's hair dye, aren't you?" Creed growled. It was obvious that his comment was not a question. He knew that they were responsible from the very beginning.
"Umm. No?" Kurt tried as Scott called out to them.
"When I get my hands on you two, I'll skin you alive!"
"For some reason that sounds appealing to me," Creed remarked as he leered down at the two.
"Any chance in hell that you'll help us get out of here?" Creed grinned in response to the question; it was obvious that the answer wouldn't be what Bobby and Kurt wanted to hear.
"Where are you two vile demons?" Scott's voice echoed through the library. "Seeing Scooter with that color hair made my day. So I'm probably going to do something that I'll regret later," Creed snarled as he threw his thumb over his shoulder.
"Get moving and I'll block Scooter for you."
"You serious?" Kurt asked as he and Bobby stared up at Creed like someone had told them that Christmas was coming early this year.
"Unfortunately. This doesn't change anything though. I still want to see you both hanging from the ceiling suspended by your thumbs."
"And we still want to drive you insane," Bobby replied. Creed nodded in understanding.
"Get moving runts." With that command Bobby and Kurt took off, vanishing into the bowels of the library.
"Where are they?" Scott cried as he rounded the corner. Creed shot him a grin, a grin that Scott misinterpreted.
"They're down in the Danger Room."
"Thanks a lot Mr. Creed," Scott replied as he turned on his heels and shot off towards the lower levels. He watched Scott rush out of the library, his lilac hair glistening in the light. Creed heard a faint snort of amusement as Scott ran away and he let out a little chuckle of his own.
"Got that right," Creed replied as he set about his duties.
Thus Scott (still with the lilac hair) searched to exact his revenge on the duo for the rest of the day due to Creed's intervention.
***
As night set upon the vast grounds of the Xavier Institute, Rogue made her way through the second floor corridor to the room where she was going to meet the mysterious voice for her first lesson in learning to control her powers.
Double checking to make sure that no one had followed her, Rogue was satisfied that no one knew of her whereabouts. To make certain that she wasn't missed she left when Scott finally caught up with Kurt and Bobby. The scene had drawn quite a crowd; everyone was interesting in seeing how Scott would pummel the two for the hair dye. It had proven to be an interesting sight with Scott yelling at the boys, who were constantly interrupting him. The interruptions only served to irritate Scott further. Rogue had left when Kurt pointed out that if Scott hadn't bothered to chase them all day then he could have re-dyed his hair. This point had, to the amusement of everyone watching, sent Scott to new levels of rage. No one had ever seen him this angry before, although no one had ever seen him with lilac hair before either. Slipping out the back while everyone else was fascinated by the argument Rogue had made her way past the boy's dormitories where disaster almost struck.
As she tried to slip past the rooms without a sound, a door cracked open and John stuck his head out.
"Roguey? Whatcha doing?" John asked in his thick Australian accent. She froze. "Nothing." John stepped out of his room and made his way over towards Rogue. "Really? Why ya missing the festivities downstairs?" John asked, simply curious as to Rogue's reason for skipping the yelling match.
"Ah saw part of it and it ain't that interesting, besides what are you doing up here?" Rogue asked John. John pulled at his collar, uncomfortable with Rogue's attempt to pry. "Same reason," he quickly replied. Rogue nodded but the expression on her face told John that she didn't believe a word of it.
"I'm…uh…tired mate. Yeah tired! Cleaning the Danger Room is tough work, especially since Logan had a session today."
"Okay John."
"Oh and Roguey, thought you ought to know. Kurt and Bobby intend to get revenge on you for today."
"Oh really. Did they say why?" Rogue asked as her eyes narrowed. John nodded delightfully. Anytime Bobby and Kurt wanted to get revenge on someone there was always a fairly good chance that he'd get a chance to "help."
"Yep. They said that they need to get you back for being an insufferable know-it-all. Something about using logic to best them," John merrily replied. Rogue gave a slight grin at John's statement. From her time at the mansion she had learned that Kurt and Bobby saw logic as one of their greatest enemies, second only to Creed.
"Alright John. Thanks a lot. You go back to whatever you were doing," Rogue said as she strode past John, heading for her destination.
Rogue swiftly made her way to the door, checking a final time to make sure that no one had followed her. Deciding to test the voice she grabbed the door handle, trying to open it. The door didn't budge. As the voice had said, the door was locked. Raising her fist, Rogue knocked three times. As the final knock rang out the door squeaked open. Pulling it open wide enough for her to enter the room, she slipped inside. Like the room from the previous night, this one was large and spacious. This time though, light was spread throughout the room by a few flickering halogen bulbs. Set up in the room were a series of machines and mats. A few punching bags hung from the ceiling. The overall decor resembled a gym. Frowning, Rogue couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. If she wanted to work out she could have done so in the gym provided by Professor Xavier.
"Good evening," the mysterious voice called out unexpectedly, sending involuntary shivers down Rogue's spine.
"Hi," Rogue replied, a bit of her frustration creeping into her voice.
"You sound disappointed."
"And if Ah am?" The voice didn't respond to Rogue's irritable response, giving her the invitation to continue.
"If Ah wanted to work out then Ah could have done it on my own."
"Don't question my methods. Or else you can forget being able to control your powers and spend the rest of your life being unable to touch," the voice returned. "Sorry."
"Better."
"This is your show. So let's get started."
"Of course. You're eager to learn. Very good. Begin," the voice ordered. Rogue blinked in confusion, obviously she missed an instruction.
"Excuse me?"
"Are you deaf girl? I said begin."
"Begin what?"
"Your training. Begin." This statement confused Rogue even more.
"Aren't you supposed tell me what to do?"
"In order for you to control your powers you must be in peak physical condition. I trust I need not tell you how to exercise," the cold voice replied sharply. Grumbling to herself about bossy disembodied voices Rogue set about exercising. While she was busy beating the punching bag, she thought about the events of the day. As she recalled Scott walking into the kitchen with his hair bright purple, she began to laugh.
"You find something amusing?" the voice spoke out for the first time since Rogue had begun her workout.
"Just something that happened today," Rogue answered as she threw a vicious kick at the bag.
"It was amusing, wasn't it?" the voice replied. Rogue grabbed the swinging bag in slight shock.
"What was?"
"I was referring to the incident with Scott's hair."
"How'd you know about that?"
"I know everything that happens in this mansion."
"How?" Rogue pressed.
"I have my ways. Ways that don't concern you," the voice replied. "Get back to your training."
Rogue began to resume her punching as several thoughts ran across her mind. She paused again, grabbing the swinging bag.
"Ah have a few questions," Rogue stated. The mysterious voice didn't reply. Rogue took that as a sign to continue.
"Who are you?"
"Does it matter?"
"It does to me." There was a pause before the voice answered.
"Who do you think I am?"
"Ah've got no clue. That's why Ah asked."
"You have a suspicion," the voice commented.
"Yes."
"And that suspicion is what?" the voice asked, its tone slightly softening.
"That you're Kitty's mysterious ghost that haunts the mansion," Rogue said, realizing how dumb it sounded. The voice began to chuckle at her response.
"And I thought you were intelligent. Unlike the rest of the fools inhabiting this mansion."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rogue snapped at the bodiless voice. She may be hoping for help to control her powers but she would not let the mysterious voice insult her.
"I saw your performance this morning. You used your mind, a part of the body not usually exercised by the rest of the residents. Yet you believe me to be a ghost." "What's your point?"
"My point is girl," the voice snapped, obviously fed up with this line of questioning. "That you are quite foolish. You should know that ghosts do not exist."
"Then who are you?"
"It is of no consequence. Don't concern yourself with matter beyond your comprehension."
"Then what am Ah supposed to call you?"
"There are many things which would suffice. Master, teacher, any variety of that would be sufficient." Rogue winced at the voice's preference for names.
"Ah don't think so. Perhaps something that doesn't inflate your ego." The intent of Rogue's statement was to bait the voice into revealing some information about itself, an attempt which failed.
"I will not swallow your bait. You had best do better next time." Rogue scowled at the voice's response. That was the last words exchanged between the two. Rogue continued to batter the punching bag for a better part of an hour, going until the strange voice called out to her again.
"Enough. That will be all for today." Rogue nodded, too tired to fight with the bodiless voice.
"We will meet again tomorrow at the same time."
"Sure. As if I don't get enough exercise during the day," Rogue muttered under her breath.
"Patience. I assure you in time everything will go according to plan. You will be able to control your powers. In time."
"Sure. But Ah still don't know what to call you."
"Since you seemed so obsessed with giving me a name go ahead. Names don't concern me."
"Good. About time you came around." The only retort from the mysterious voice was a snort. Rogue smirked as she tried to think of a title for her unknown instructor.
"Well? Get on with it already."
"Patience. Besides Ah thought that names meant nothing to you. And Ah'm thinking."
"I wouldn't want to upset that rare occurrence now would I?" the voice sneered in return.
Rogue overlooked the snide remark as she thought of a name. Tapping her finger to her chin, Rogue thought out loud.
"Let's see. Ah always wished that Ah could control my powers. Ah even prayed that Ah could and Ah never pray. So being able to do so is like a having my prayers answered. Since you are the person answering my prayers that would make you…" Rogue trailed off as the voice began to chortle at Rogue's reasoning. Frowning at the mocking coming from her strange tutor, Rogue continued.
"Ah call you Angel. Any problem with that?"
"Angel? How very interesting. After all I am one in a way. Angel is suitable." "Good."
"If that's all then I will take my leave. Until tomorrow," Rogue's instructor replied as the door creaked open.
"Okay." Rogue turned on her heels and walked out of the room, left to think about the first session with her 'Angel.' She would have to trust that in time she would learn to control her powers. She had to hope so.
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Next chapter: the return of Gambit!