Yes, contrary to common belief I am still alive, and I do not intend on giving up on this story! (Glares at Pyrotic, who has been spreading the nasty rumors. Okay, maybe not.) I put the blame on school. I simply don't have enough time to do everything I have to do! Oh well. Y'all didn't click on my story to hear about my business, so...on to the maaaaaain attraction!
When John and Kate reached their hotel, Kate plopped herself down on a couch in the lobby and patted the seat next to her. "Come on, Mister Grumpy Gills," she called to John as he was walking upstairs to his room. "We need to have a talk."
"Later," he said, not slowing his pace.
Kate jumped up and hurried to him before he reached the top of the stairs. "John! I really want to talk to you!" she pleaded.
John stopped walking and leaned against the stairwell wall, arms folded. "So go ahead and talk to me."
Why does he have to be so difficult? Kate wondered. Aloud she said, "I just wanted to know what you thought of Marc."
"I don't trust him," John said, irritated. "I don't know why you like him so much."
"I never asked you to trust him," Kate reminded, leaning against the opposite wall. "I like him because he's friendly, funny, and likes the same stuff I do. What's wrong with that? Can't I have any fun?" Kate didn't bother to keep the annoyance she felt out of her voice.
"We're not here for fun, Kate." John's voice sounded just as irritated.
"You're not, I am!" Kate burst out. "I'm not working for Magneto, John Allerdyce and the sooner you remember that, the better."
"I do remember that," John said, his voice cool. "I remember that every single time I tell you the Brotherhood's plans and every time you come with me to carry them out. You're up to your ears in Magneto's plans and I've got to watch who you hang out with."
Kate looked at John wonderingly. That speech was almost eloquent. "You care about what happens to me?"
"You're too important to the plan to risk you getting captured by the enemy. Plus, who knows what you would tell them...with the proper persuasion?" John's voice was harsh. "I don't care about you. I care about what would happen to me in this city without someone who can speak French." John turned his back on a speechless Kate and walked up to his room without another word.
Kate waited until she heard his door close before running up her own room and slamming the door. Hot tears formed themselves in her eyes as she flung herself violently into an armchair and curled herself a tight ball. Why are you so upset? She asked herself fiercely. You know he never thinks about anyone but himself, he probably didn't even mean to hurt your feelings. It was true, and the reasonable part of Kate knew it, but still the tears insisted on swimming in front of her eyes. I miss Anna, she thought dully.
In Anna and Rogue's room, widespread havoc reigned. The two girls were seated on the floor, filling suitcases with the clothes that had been relocated to piles all around them.
"Do you think this outfit looks good?" Anna asked, critically placing a dark green shirt against a short khaki skirt.
"You'll look sweet in it," Rogue confirmed, looking up from her lap where black and blue long sleeved shirts lay in a heap. "Which one should I bring, black or blue?"
"Bobby likes you in black," Anna said, going over to her dresser and picking out some jean shorts.
"Does he really?" Rogue asked, brightening.
Anna laughed and threw the shorts into her suitcase. "Of course he also likes you in blue, red, green, yellow, or any other color known to the human race."
"He's so sweet," Rogue murmured and put both shirts into her bag.
"Isn't he?" Anna agreed.
The two girls packed in companionable silence for a while, each busy with their own happy thoughts. Rogue was contemplating how wonderful it would be to go to Europe with the boy she loved and Anna was thinking of how surprised Kate would be to see them.
"Do you think she suspects anything?" Anna asked, following her thought strand.
"Who?" Rogue asked.
"Kate," Anna explained. She had forgotten who she was talking to, and for a moment she thought she was with Kate. Her friend always seemed to know what she was thinking without her having to explain.
"No, why should she?" Rogue asked, holding up a black and white striped top for inspection.
Anna didn't have time to reply before Bobby walked into the room, his face heralding a new turn of events.
"I have some more news about our trip," Bobby announced. "The Professor is worried that if we go straight to France it will be suspicious, so we're going to England first."
Anna stopped in the act of putting a long black dress into her suitcase. "We're going to England?" she repeated, her voice quiet with suppressed excitement.
"That's what I said," Bobby confirmed, grinning. "And now you may scream and howl because your life-long dream is being fulfilled."
Anna didn't scream or howl, but she did whoop a little. Bobby was right; visiting England had been a dream of hers ever since she had been old enough to think.
"You know what I'm going to do the second we get off the plane?" Anna asked, dancing around the room with glowing eyes.
"Go to see Oxford?" Bobby guessed.
Anna shook her head. "No, but I'm going to do that too."
"Visit the places where Lewis and Tolkien wrote," Rogue offered.
"Wrong again!" Anna sang. "I'm going to seek out a bookstore."
"A bookstore?" Bobby echoed, incredulously. "That's boring."
"No it isn't!" Anna argued. "I've always wanted to shop in a British bookstore."
Rogue shrugged at her friend's bookish tastes and continued packing. "Is this trip really that dangerous?" she asked Bobby.
He looked at her seriously. "Yes, it is. These people that are working against us will stop at nothing to get want they want."
"Even hurting a bunch of nineteen year olds?" Rogue sounded a little scared.
Bobby shrugged. "The Professor thinks not. That's why we're going to England first."
"And I thought this trip was going to be fun," Rogue said with a tight smile.
"It is going to be fun," Bobby urged.
"Of course it will be," Anna cut in. "The danger will make it even more interesting."
"All the more interesting since you don't have to worry about defending anybody," Bobby teased, but Anna wasn't listening to him. Her eyes were closed and the dress she had been folding hung limp in her hands.
"What's wrong?" Rouge asked.
"She's in someone else's emotions," Bobby informed her. "You've seen her do it before."
"Yeah," Rouge agreed cautiously, "But she's never done it so sudden. It's kind of creepy."
Bobby just shrugged and watched his friend closely, ready to help her if need be.
Anna hadn't been trying to reach someone else's consciousness. It had happened without her really realizing what was going on. One minute she was folding clothes and next she was wrapped up in feelings of confusion, anger, and hurt. She didn't try to struggle out of them because she wanted to feel whom they belonged to. Carefully, so as not to hurt the person, she reached out with her mind, probing past the temporary emotions to the deep, constant ones. Her lips curved into a smile as she found them. It was Kate. Swiftly she withdrew from the deeper parts of her friend's mind and went back to the things she was feeling at the moment. Her own eyes filled with tears as Kate curled up in her chair and tried not to cry. Anna didn't know what had upset her friend, but it hurt her to feel so much sadness coming from her. Anna took a deep breath and reached out in Kate's mind again. This time she gathered some of the feelings of sadness and hurt to herself. Mentally, she formed them into one big lump and, clutching it, withdrew out of Kate's consciousness. Once she was out of her friend's mind, she released her grip and the sadness dissipated into the air like a wisp of smoke.
In Paris, Kate stopped crying.
Anna shook herself and opened her eyes. Bobby was staring at her worriedly and Rogue was packing, just as before.
"How long has it been?" Anna asked Bobby, knowing he knew what she meant.
"About ten minutes."
"Hmm," Anna mused. She started to refold the dress in her hands. "You want to know who I was feeling?"
"Who?"
"Kate."
Bobby's eyes widened in surprise. "But she's halfway across the world. I never knew your power could reach so far!"
"Neither did I," Anna admitted. "It never has, until just now. Odd, isn't it?"
"I'll say," Bobby agreed.
"And do you want to know something even odder?" Anna continued. "I took some of her emotions from her."
Bobby looked impressed. "Wow. I think your power is starting to mature a bit."
"I think so too," Anna agreed. "I'm a little worried."
"About what?"
Anna placed the dress in her suitcase and started to look through her bookshelf to decide which books she should bring. "Oh, I don't know. I suppose I'm worried that I won't be able to control it. I mean, what if I start stealing people's emotions every time I looked at them or something?"
"Wear a blindfold," Bobby joked.
But Anna wasn't in a joking mood. "No really, I'm serious. Emotions are one of the things that make us human, that and a soul. What would happen if I drained someone's emotions entirely?" Her voice faltered a little and Rogue looked up from where she was packing on the other side of the room.
Bobby went over and placed an arm around Anna's shoulders. "You're borrowing trouble," he told her. "That won't ever happen, so stop thinking about it."
"How do you know?" Anna questioned, but she seemed comforted by her friend's assurance.
"Come on," Bobby said in a light tone. "If it does, and the Professor has to shut you up in a little room by yourself, I'll come and poke books under the doorjamb for you."
That speech won the laugh he had been hoping for, and the rest of the evening was spent selecting outfits and reading material for the upcoming trip.
The next morning Anna, Bobby, and Rogue were up at five o'clock to catch their flight to the UK. The young adults had said all their good byes the night before, so they slipped through the mansion without waking a single soul. Professor Xavier was waiting for them in the meal room and as they ate breakfast he lectured them.
"I want you three to be careful. I don't know who we're up against, or how far they would go to get at this information." He tapped a CD that contained a recording of the entire phone communication Xavier had intercepted.
"Don't worry, sir," Bobby assured his teacher, "we'll be careful."
"I know you will be." The Professor smiled fondly at them. "I will keep in touch with all of you and once you are in France, tell you where to find Kate and John."
Anna looked up from her bowl of bran flakes. "Won't our phone lines be tapped, though?" she questioned.
"Probably," the Professor agreed.
Anna frowned. "Then how will you..." she broke off as she heard Xavier's voice in her mind.
"There are other ways to keep in contact than telephones."
Anna looked sheepish. "Oh yeah, I forgot."
Rogue stared at the envelope on the table. "What exactly are we carrying, Professor?"
Xavier shook his head. "The less you know, the better. All you need to understand is that this disk contains information that could destroy the underground mutant kidnapping in Paris if used properly."
Bobby whistled. "Gee, no wonder you didn't want to send this by mail."
The professor nodded. "Now hurry up, all of you, you're going to miss your plane."
The three gulped down the rest of their breakfast and grabbed their suitcases. The professor picked the disk up off the table. "I don't think it would be wise to put this in your luggage, one of you had better carry it."
All three friends looked at each other hesitantly, none wanting to take or refuse the responsibility.
"I'll hold it," Rogue said after a moment.
Bobby started to protest, but she held up a gloved hand for silence. "I'll fold it up and put it inside my shirt or something. That way anyone trying to grab it will get a rather painful surprise."
Bobby nodded in silent consent and the professor praised the choice. "I think it is a good idea, Rogue. Go and find a good place to put it while the others put the bags in the car."
Accordingly, Rogue vanished into the bathroom and Anna and Bobby lugged the bags to Scott's blue sports car. Scott didn't know the students had chosen to use his vehicle, but Bobby figured that by the time he found out, they would be in the air. As soon as the bags were safely tucked in the trunk, Rogue was running out the mansion door and stopped in front of her friends. She turned around slowly, holding up her arms.
"Well? Can you see it?" she asked.
"Nope," Anna confirmed. "Where'd you put it?"
"I tucked it into my pants and covered it with my shirt," Rogue replied. "It's a good thing I wore a loose one today."
The professor wheeled to the front door and raised his hand in token of farewell. In their minds Anna, Bobby, and Rogue heard his voice. Good luck and Godspeed.
After waving back, the three friends piled into the car. The last thing Xavier heard was Anna complaining good naturedly, "Why does Bobby get to drive?" and then the motor started and the silver car zoomed down the driveway. As it disappeared down the road, Xavier felt a shiver run down his spine. I wonder what will have happened to them when I see them next? he wondered. If he had known, if he could only have seen what was going to befall those three happy students of his, he wouldn't have been able to simply wave his hand one last time and turn back into the school. But, with the peace that comes only from ignorance, he did so and trusted luck and friendship to keep them safe.
A time was soon to come when both would be tested.