I'm quite glad that last chapter was so well received. I thought it was lousy.

Ishandahalf - Thanks for the gold star. It will be much appreciated. Identity of the phantom? I'll never tell. Until I reveal it in a chapter or two.

Roguehobbit – What was John doing? I'll have to get back to you on that. Maybe it will matter, maybe it won't. Probably won't.

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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"Your soul is a beautiful thing child."

- the Phantom

Two weeks had past quickly since the incident with Scott's hair. Surprisingly enough those two weeks had been completely prank free. This may have been due to the punishment leveled on Kurt and Bobby after the Scott incident. Not only had he blasted them through a wall and threw them in the Danger Room for several hours but Professor Xavier had banned them from leaving the mansion for anything outside of school. While this would normally lead to more pranks from the duo, it seemed that after the harsh reprimand from the Professor they were slightly frightened of his wrath that would come if any more pranks were to occur.

So when the large yellow taxi pulled up to the twisted iron gates of the mansion Remy LeBeau noticed that the estate seemed peaceful for once. Stepping out of the back of the cab, Remy quickly paid the driver. Turning his gaze back to the grassy fields and the majestic home, he realized how much he had missed the place.

It was a strange feeling for the young man. In days long since gone he had traveled relentlessly across the world to pull heists at requests of influential members of the Thieves Guild. Remy would move from continent to continent without a care, never once missing his home.

With a grin twisting his lips, he punched in the security code to the keypad at the front gates, which swung open to accommodate his needs. In addition to opening the gates the code deactivated the numerous security systems.

Strolling across the gravel path, he recalled the events that had led to him taking residence at the Xavier Institute.

It had all been due to chance. Remy had been called down to the Guild Headquarters because they were in a jam. Apparently some crazy nut called Dr. Nathaniel Essex had been applying pressure to the leadership. Slowly but surely the mysterious doctor had been taking over the vast network of thieves, forcing them to do his bidding.

His latest desire was a rare ruby, the largest in the world. The gem had been unearthed in the southern regions of India. According to the local tribe the ruby was supposed to possess magical powers, those that grant wishes of the holder. Remy scoffed at the nonsense of a stone possessing magical powers but nevertheless did as he was told.

As one of the foremost talents in the guild, Remy was sent on Essex's errand. After much searching and trips to the museums in New Delhi, Tokyo, and Berlin, Remy had traced the gem to the private collection of one Warren Worthington III. The fabled wealth of the Worthington family had reached Remy's ears long ago. To rob such a bastion of wealth would be an honor for the young thief. After all, many tried to separate the Worthington's with some of their vast fortune and all had failed.

With eager anticipation he traveled to Warren's penthouse in the mist of New York City. The thief spent months staking out the operation, checking the security systems, getting the floor plans and the like. Remy had been so thorough with his investigation that he even knew the rich boy's daily patterns.

He had been quite shocked to learn that someone as rich and powerful as Warren Worthington III was a mutant. A mutant with a rather obvious mutation, wings sprouting from his back. At full length the wings reached sixteen feet, something that Remy found quite hard to hide from the prying eyes of the paparazzi and other aristocrats.

When Remy was just about finished checking Warren's estate out, the socialite up and left New York, taking his ruby with him. Apparently the elder Worthington had fallen ill and Warren had withdrawn to his father's side in Vermont.

Shocked at the departure of his quarry Remy had reported back in to the leadership, letting them know of the developments. He was ordered to follow Warren to Vermont and steal the stone. Following the command, he tracked his quarry up into the mountains. Before he could properly scope out the place word filtered through that Essex wanted the stone stolen within two days and in his hands by the following week.

Even though he objected to the orders, Remy had no choice but to proceed.  Sneaking into the massive Worthington compound, he had the ruby in sight when the floor dropped out from underneath him. He accidentally triggered an alarm which he had not known about. The resulting noise sent in the police, in addition to the armed guards of the Worthington estate.

Fortunately, luck had always smiled down on Remy and it had not abandoned him to rot in a jail cell. Warren had become intrigued with Remy, after catching a glimpse of his demon-like eyes.

Visiting Remy in his cell, Warren had inquired if he was a mutant. Remy told the rich brat to go to hell. Despite the cold shoulder from the thief, Warren continued undeterred. He eventually learned about Remy's mutant abilities.

Before Remy could break out of jail, Warren came to him with an offer. In exchange for dropping the charges and letting him go free, Warren wanted Remy to attend a school.

Remy agreed to the deal and was taken to the Xavier Institute. At first he had every intention of leaving the Institute after the two weeks he promised Warren, but he grew to like the school.

Abandoning his previous life Remy remained at the school for several more years as a student before becoming a teacher. It was his place in the world; his little nook. It was home.

Thinking about his colorful past, Remy strode in the front doors expecting to have the noise of the students overwhelm him. He anticipated the students jubilantly crying out that he was back and surge toward him, asking about details of his trip.

Surprisingly none of what Remy expected occurred. There was no noise from the students, no shouts of delight or anger. The mansion was quiet. That meant that either everyone was out (which never happened) or that Logan was running a training session. Shrugging, Remy proceeded towards the stairwell when was mousy voice called out to him.

"Mr. Remy!" Turning around, he saw Jamie rushing toward him, his hair whipping around his head. Lost in his joy that Remy was home, Jamie failed to notice that there was a football directly in his path. Tripping over the football, Jamie crashed to the floor. As he did three duplicates appeared.

Getting to his feet Jamie, and his duplicates, hugged Remy. Or rather put their arms around his waist and squeezed. In return Remy ruffled the real Jamie's hair (which was protested by the duplicates but they were ignored).

"Jamie. How you been?" Remy asked of the young boy.

"Okay. You missed the funniest thing," the little boy replied.

"Oh? What Remy miss?" Jamie began laughing as he related the tale.

"Kurt and Bobby dyed Scott's hair bright purple!" Remy couldn't help but crack a smile at that. The image of Scott with purple hair was almost too much.

"De prank kings strike again. Dey up to anyting lately?"

"Nope. Been pretty quiet around here since Scott spent the day trying to kill them."

"Were everyone at?" Jamie frowned.

"Danger Room session. They still won't let me go in there. I asked to try it out but Mr. Logan said 'No way bub. You're too small and I'm a big stupid head that has a problem with combs',"  Jamie finished in his best imitation of the gruff X-Man. Remy smirked at Jamie's desire to prove himself.

"You'll get your chance soon. Remy knows it." Jamie grinned, hoping that the Cajun was right. Deciding that he had spent enough time with Remy, Jamie waddled off.

Remy marched straight to the elevator. Heading down to the Danger Room he pondered what had occurred in the weeks he had been away. Certainly Bobby and Kurt had been up to more than just dying Scott's hair purple, which he had to concede was brilliant. Remembering days when he was the prankster of the mansion, Remy sighed. Those boys were a thousand times better at causing trouble than he had ever been, more inventive too. Still he expected more than one massive prank from the two in three weeks. Either they were running short of ideas, something Remy scratched immediately, or they were planning something massive. Deciding that the latter was more likely, he stepped out of the elevator and into the control center of the Danger Room.

His arrival went unnoticed by the present assembled staff. Professor Xavier sat at the controls, pushing buttons and moving levers. Standing beside him with his usual scowl was Logan. The Canadian was frowning as he watched the session, displeased with something. Standing on the other side of Xavier was Ororo. Her white hair spilled down her back, contrasting with her dark skin. She too looked down at the sight before her displeased. Beside Ororo, Raven stood with a small grin on her face. She seemed to be the only one present who was pleased with what was going on.

"Welcome back Remy," Xavier said without turning his gaze from the scene in front of him.

"Hello Professor," Remy replied as he made his way towards the windowed panels of the Danger Room.

"Gumbo," Logan growled in greeting as he reached forward to tap the intercom.

"For the last time Stripes, we aren't going to have everyone fight you." Remy's eyebrows arched in curiosity at Logan's shout. Raven slid over to the Cajun's side.

"One of the students is insisting that she fight everyone else at once," Raven whispered as a muffled shout reverberated off the thick walls.

"Who?"

"Rogue."

"Cherie is here?" Raven made no reply, simply shooting Remy a nasty glance at his nickname for the girl.

"Fine! Have your way Stripes but don't come crying to me when you end up in the infirmary for a week!" Logan snapped. Ororo said nothing, crinkling her nose in disappointment. Raven grinned victoriously while Professor Xavier looked concerned.

Remy took a few steps forward so that he could see out the windows to the floor below. All of the senior students, known affectionately as the X-Men, were squaring off with Rogue. The southern girl had a smug look on her face as she watched the rest circle around her.

Remy was quite concerned with what was going to happen. Normally the only two people who had ever fought with the team and won were Logan and Jean. The latter had been barely conscious after that session.

With his red eyes burning as he stared at Rogue, Remy watched the fight begin.

Rogue leapt into the air as a scarlet blast slammed into the floor. Pulling her legs in, she did a somersault as she landed. Hopping to her feet, she threw a swift kick at Kurt, who flipped away.

The ground beneath Rogue's feet began to shake as Lance joined the battle. Another scarlet blast slammed into the ground in front of her. Again she leapt aside, this time rolling to her feet beside Kitty. Without warning Rogue brought her bare hand up to Kitty's face, knocking the girl out while absorbing her powers.

The trembling began to get more violent as Lance watched his girlfriend slump to the floor. The shaking had no effect as Rogue dove into the ground, vanishing from sight. Scott shouted at the group to look for her. As the eyes of all the X-Men scoured the Danger Room, Rogue melted out from the wall. Moving without making a sound, she leapt into the air and delivered a punishing blow to the back of Kurt's head.

The blue mutant fell to the ground unconscious. Scott caught a brief glimpse of Rogue and attempted to blast her, the scarlet beam sailing through Rogue's transparent body.

Dropping to the ground Rogue avoided a surprise attack from John. Flipping herself back to her feet, she did a series of back flips that ended with her foot implanting into John's face. The red headed pyromaniac crashed into the wall.

The ground began to shake again as Rogue was lifted from her feet by an invisible hand. Frowning at the actions of her teammates she tapped into the powers she had 'acquired' from Kitty and sank into the floor.

Rogue came up from the floor behind Lance and with a swift punch she knocked the boy out. That left Scott, Jean, and Bobby in the fight. Bobby shot a beam of ice at her. Rogue moved to her left, his beam following her. She continued moving left, picking up speed as she did so. Scott attempted to blast her, but she simply phased herself through the blasts.

Rogue continued to run, Bobby's beam still trailing her. Turning on a dime she ran in front of Scott. The boy had no way to avoid Bobby's beam, he was frozen solid from his waist down.

Scott screamed at Bobby for his incompetence but his cries were cut short by Rogue lightly tapping his exposed forehead. Whipping her head around Rogue shot a series of optic blasts at the remaining two X-Men.

The blasts were blocked by Jean and Bobby but they had served their purpose. Rogue shot towards Bobby and delivered an optic blast at point blank range. With the distance so minimal the boy had no way to defend himself from the attack.

Bobby shot across the floor, his uniform torn away at his chest, smoke rising from the blow. That left Jean and Rogue. The telekinetic lifted herself into the air as Rogue blasted at Jean's defenses. Jean easily blocked the blasts. From his position inside the control room, Remy saw that Jean made a comment to Rogue, who immediately melted into the floor.

Jean's head whipped around as she began to search for her foe. Rogue reappeared in the ceiling; her head barely emerged from the wall. While she was still attempting to search for her, Rogue unleashed an optic blast at the defenseless girl. The scarlet beam slammed into her, knocking her to the ground.

As the redhead plummeted to the floor, Rogue completely emerged from the ceiling. Without anything to hold her up, Rogue fell to the earth. As Jean slowly stood, Rogue came crashing into her. Using Jean as a cushion, she walked away from the impact, Jean did not.

Rogue had easily defeated all the X-Men and the instructors simply looked down at the girl with their jaws slightly ajar. She marched out of the Danger Room without casting a second glance to the motionless bodies of her friends.

Professor Xavier leaned forward to tap one of the buttons on the control panel.

"Hank please come to the Danger Room. Several students require your attention."

"How did she get that good?" Ororo asked the question on everyone's minds.

"Two weeks ago she could barely get through a basic training session. Now she takes out the entire team. Something's wrong," Logan sniffed.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe she's just that good?" Raven asked, her lips still twisted in a smile.

"It had. But to change so drastically in two weeks? That ain't possible," Logan returned, his eyes still on the motionless bodies littering the floor. Xavier merely nodded, not saying a word about the matter.

As for Remy, he turned and left the control room without saying anything. This was certainly not the Rogue he remembered meeting. Something had changed her during her time at the Institute and he was curious to know what. Stepping into the elevator, Remy shot towards the first floor of the mansion.

The metal doors slid open and he stepped out of the elevator as Rogue made her way towards the staircase.

"Cherie!" Remy called out, grabbing Rogue's attention. Rogue stopped in her tracks. Turning around to see Remy, Rogue's lips split into a wide grin.

"Remy!" she joyfully called as he flung herself onto him, embracing him in a hug.

"Good to see you again." Rogue broke free of her embrace and looked up at Remy, tucking a lose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah. Where you been?"

"Remy went down to New Orleans to take care of some family business, Cherie. Den Remy went down into New Mexico to find a mutant who wasn't dere."

"What took you so long? Ah've been waiting for you."

"If Remy known dat den Remy be back in a flash." Rogue blushed at his reply. Remy smiled down at her. She averted her eyes, looking down at her feet and Remy extended his gloved hand and gently tilted her chin to look at him.

"Now dat Remy's here what you want Cherie?"

"Ah just wanted to say thanks."

"For what?"

"Telling me about the mansion. Ah love it here."

"The pleasure was Remy's." He bent over to brush his lips against the back of her gloves. Rogue pulled her hand from his grip though. "Sorry but Ah've got something to do. Ah'll see ya tomorrow okay?"

"Something more important than Remy," he replied, slightly hurt at Rogue's withdrawal.

"Homework. You know what Logan would do if Ah didn't get it all done. Meet me at eight at the fountain tomorrow," Rogue said as she rushed up the stairs. Remy watched the girl until she vanished from sight. A soft growling coming from the shadows pulled Remy's attention away from her vanishing form.

"Bonjour Creed," Remy acknowledged the mammoth mutant. Creed took a few steps towards Remy, towering over the Cajun.

"You'd better be careful Cajun. She's caught more eyes than yours."

***

      Rogue ran down the corridor on the second floor, rushing past the boy's dormitories. She was already late for her meeting with 'Angel' and she didn't want to be later than necessary.

      She slowed as she reached the room where she met with her mysterious instructor. Giving herself a moment to catch her breath, Rogue knocked on the door three times.

      As it had for the past two weeks, the door squeaked open allowing Rogue admittance. Sliding through the narrow opening, Rogue gave no greeting to her invisible instructor and began to set about beating up the punching bag.

      The routine had slowly begun to change over the last week, the results of which she had demonstrated in the Danger Room.

      "You are late," Angel hissed. Rogue rolled her eyes. Punctuality wasn't her greatest asset.

      "Ah never complain when you're late," Rogue returned. The room remained silent. Obviously the voice had no intention of answering her.

      "How did the session go?" it asked, its tone pleasant with the changing of topics.

      "Took them all out. Just like you said Ah would," Rogue answered with a grin.

      "Defeating a collection of fools is nothing to take pride in."

      "They aren't a collection of fools! Besides who are you to judge them?"

      "I've watched them since they joined. I've witnessed this mansion grow from nothing to what it is. The students have potential, but they are still a collection of fools!" the room coldly returned. The statement aroused Rogue's curiosity.

      "Just how long have you been here?" There was silence as Angel seemed to think about the answer.

      "Long enough. I keep no track of time the way you do. Time holds no interest for me."

      "Why not?"

      "I am eternal. Therefore the constraints of time hold no power over me." Rogue snorted in doubt.

      "You think you're eternal? What did you eat?"

      "Don't mock me child. It is a mistake few live to regret," Angel ominously replied. Rogue paused at the comment. Was she being threatened by a voice? Did it have the power to carry out the threat?

      "Fine. Ah'm sorry. Feel better?" There was no response.

      "What side of the grave did you get up on today anyway? You're never this grumpy."

      "My grave is none of your concern." Rogue rolled her eyes. Now her Angel was taking her sarcastic remarks seriously. Rogue began to punch away at the bag, imagining that her mysterious instructor's face printed on it.

      Letting her mind wander over the day's events, Rogue found her mind dwelling on Remy. She couldn't help the blood rushing to her cheeks as she thought about Remy attempting to kiss her.

      "Ah can't believe he did that," Rogue said to herself. However her muttering did not escape her tutor's attention.

      "Who?"

      "Huh? Oh Remy. He came back today. Ah had a little talk with him."

      "So the Swamp Rat was the reason that you were late today!" the room fumed at this piece of information. Before Rogue got the chance to deny the statement, Angel plunged forward.

      "You obviously don't take your training seriously enough. Do you think that you would have been able to defeat those buffoons today without my help?" the voice sneered.

      "No, but Ah…" Rogue was cutoff as the voice began to rant again.

      "Perhaps you overestimate your skills and underestimate the importance of my teaching. So be it! Spend your time flirting with the anecdotal Cajun! Never learn to control your powers! See if I care about your plight! We are done for today!"

      As Angel ranted, the door burst open with a force Rogue had never seen used before. When she made no move to leave, determined to explain herself to her tutor, Angel screamed at her – something he had never done before.

      "OUT!" The ferocity in the voice was so great that Rogue scrambled from the room as quickly as she could. As she stepped back into the hallway she heard her tutor call out to her one last time.

      "I don't want to see you here until you realize the error you have made!" The door slammed shut. She could only stare at the door dumbfounded. She had thrown insults at her tutor for weeks but never had he reacted like this before. Rogue was quite concerned, she wanted to be able to control her powers and Angel was the only person who could help her do just that.

      She began to walk dejectedly down the hallway, hoping that her tutor would reconsider his rash actions.

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