DISCLAIMER: I do not own the X-men.
The halls of the school were quieter than usual, due to the fact that classes had begun. In her usual room, Ororo Munroe taught history. Elsewhere, however, recent graduates and new additions to the team had begun teaching as well. Kurt Wagner had begun to teach a German language course at the school. Down the hall, Recent graduates Bobby Drake and Piotr Rasputin had taken over the math and Art classes, respectively. One level up, Jubilation Lee and Katherine Pryde were trying to control a room full of students whose teachers were out on a mission.
"Sit down, Brian! This is not the time to practice jumping! Get down from there!" Jubilee was beyond frustrated. She pulled her hands out of her pockets and pointed up towards the student, who had leapt up on top of the tall television unit, just out of reach. Her concentration was broken, as Kitty slapped her hands down to her sides.
"Are you nuts?! It's just a kid."
"Yeah, but it's a kid that's pissing me off!"
"You're crazy. Brian! If you don't come down now, you'll be skipping dessert tonight."
The young boy groaned and leapt to the floor, taking his place at the table once again.
"See? It's just a matter of using persuasion."
"I still think that it could have been just as easily a matter of using pyrotechnics."
"You would."
They both laughed, and one of the students behind Kitty threw a pillow at her. Jubilee saw it coming and warned her.
"Incoming."
Kitty phased and the pillow passed right through her, hitting Jubilee instead.
"Kitty!"
"Haha... oops."
All of a sudden, almost all of the students jumped up and ran over to the window, pointing and shouting.
"It's the blackbird!"
"Woah!"
"I told you so."
"That's awesome!"
Kitty and Jubilee looked at each other.
"Well, look at it this way, Kitty. We don't have to do this again hopefully for awhile."
"Thank God... BRIAN!"
The boy had grabbed onto the curtain rod with his feet and was dangling upside-down looking out of the window. Startled by being noticed, he accidentally let go and fell face first into the crowd of students underneath him.
"AAAAGH!"
Kitty was one step ahead of him, though. She phased through the crowd and caught the boy, who looked up at her with a sheepish grin on his face.
"Thanks?"
"Never. Again."
"Yes Ma'am."
She put him down and turned around, the crowd parting to let her through.
"Lunchtime."
The students bolted for the door and soon Jubilee and Kitty were alone in the room. Jubilee picked up a pile of papers that had fallen onto the floor.
"That was fun."
"You said it."
The door opened and Piotr walked in, smiling as he saw the mess that the students had made.
"Katya?"
"Oh, hi Pete."
"Hey there, big guy."
"You two coming to lunch?"
"If you're going to be there, sexy, so will we."
Jubilee got a swift slap to the back of her head.
"Yeah, Pete. We're coming."
Scott powered down the Blackbird, leaning back in his seat.
"Welcome to Westchester, Mr. LeBeau."
Gambit didn't hear him, though. He was too busy being lost in his own world, staring at Rogue. Logan had watched him the entire trip, and was really starting to get mad. Rogue pushed the button in the cockpit, and the stairs slid open. She stood up and turned to Gambit.
"If you want, Ah'll show you to your room."
"Remy would like dat."
Wolverine interrupted.
"I'll do it."
"Logan, it's no big deal..."
"Not to you maybe." He grabbed Gambit's bag and headed towards the door.
"Remy'll see you later, non?"
Rogue blushed.
"Guess so."
The chamber slid closed with a whoosh. As she pulled on her gloves, she smiled. No matter how many times she saw her uniform there, displayed with the rest of the team's, she always felt proud. She kicked the drawer under her costume chamber closed. Turning, she found herself face to face with the largest, bluest, hariest man she had ever seen.
"Ah!"
"My apologies, Rogue." He pushed a button on his watch and a holographic image covered his body, making him look like a "normal" person.
"Dr. McCoy! No, Ah'm sorry. I- you startled me, that's all."
"I understand that it must be odd encountering me down here instead of Dr. Grey."
"It's just... I didn't hear you coming up behind me."
"I see. Will you be joining the rest of the faculty for lunch? I'm headed up there myself."
"Yeah." She followed him out of the room and to the elevator. As they boarded, she turned to the large man and pointed to his watch.
"You can take off th' image inducer, Doc. Ah don't care if you're blue, and neither do the students."
He smiled as he pushed the button, and became the fuzzy teddy bear that most of the mansion's residents knew him as.
"So, Mr. LeBeau, you would most likely be working with the language students, teaching the French classes. You have already seen your room, and met a number of the faculty."
The Professor was explaining to Remy exactly what his duties at the mansion would be. There was a knock on the door, and Xavier paused.
"Come in?"
Bobby entered the office, still eating a pizza crust.
"Ah, Mr. LeBeau, this is Robert Drake. He graduated from the school this past spring, and is now teaching the math courses. I must excuse myself, as there is another individual coming in today for an interview. Mr. Drake will be showing you around the facility and answering any questions you have."
Bobby offered his hand, and Remy accepted.
"Hello. Please, follow me."
They headed out of the office, and started the tour. Remy was only half paying attention, keeping his eye out instead for Rogue.
"And this is the dining area. We use this for the students at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The teachers can either eat in here or eat in one of the kitchens, or the faculty dining area. Actually, we can really eat wherever we want. It's kind of nice, really. Across the hall there is the south rec. room. It's bigger than the others, but it's usually the hardest to get time in. Up those stairs are the girl's dorms. The female students all live there, as well as three of the staff members, Jubilation Lee, Kitty Pryde, and Rogue. They're in charge of the girl's dorms."
He turned away from the stairs and faced Remy.
"That's about it for this floor. Any questions?"
"You said dat Rogue's room is right up dere?"
"Uh...yeah, that's right."
Unbeknownst to both of them, Rogue herself was headed down the stairs right then. She paused and ducked back into the shadows as she heard them talking.
"Good. Den it'll be easier for Remy to go visit her, non?"
Bobby was suspicious.
"Why would you need to visit her?"
"Haven't you ever seen de woman?! Remy just met her, and already, he t'inks he needs to know her better."
"Try it and I hurt you."
"Excuse me?"
"If you so much as look at my girlfriend the wrong way, you will regret it."
"Ah, de femme is your girlfriend? Remy had no idea."
"Well, now that you do, make sure that you stay away from her. Touch her, and you're dead."
In the stairwell, Rogue inhaled sharply. She hated the fact that Bobby was so jealous and overprotective. She hated even more that he chose those words, "Touch her..." Down below, Remy was grinning. He had heard her breathe; his senses were sharp. They had to be, given his profession. He knew that she hadn't appreciated Bobby's comments, that was one of the benefits of being a low-level empath.
"Maybe she don' need you telling people what to do. She's a big girl, she can make her own choices, non?"
For some reason, Remy didn't sense Rogue's mood lightening. Usually, he was able to get on the good sides of women by saying things like that.
"Maybe she doesn't know what she wants."
She couldn't take it anymore. She turned and ran back up the stairs, not caring about making noise. Both Bobby and Remy looked up as she ran to her room. As the door slammed shut, Bobby winced.
"Oui. Looks like you know just what to do, mon ami."
Bobby couldn't even think of anything to say. Instead, he accidentally iced up the railing. Remy snickered and hopped up the stairs, heading down the hall to the adult wing. He had figured out the general layout of the mansion very quickly, and was ready to start moving himself in. He paused at Rogue's door, listening to see if she was alright. He didn't hear any noise coming from within, so he walked back down the hall.
The water at Alkali lake was beyond boiling. Something was rising slowly, flames leaping above the water, casting a fiery glow across the surface.
Remy had extended his bow staff and was dancing down the hallway, as Ororo and Kurt turned the corner and followed him. Looking up from the lesson plans that she was preparing, Ororo recognized him.
"Remy Etienne LeBeau, is that you?"
He froze mid-jig.
"Stormy!?"
He spun around, retracting his bo staff, a huge smile on his face.
"Don't call me that."
"STORMY!"
He ran up to the woman, throwing his arms around her and forcing her to drop the folder she was carrying.
"Remy? You're choking me, child."
"So sorry, Stormy."
Kurt, meanwhile, was standing there, utterly confused. Remy looked at him, not seeming to even notice that he was blue.
"Bonjour." He held out his hand. "De name's Remy. Stormy and me, we go way back. Used t' steal from de rich and give to de poor toget'er. Regular Robin Hood, Stormy was."
Kurt was shocked. Storm, a thief? Even stealing with good intentions, stealing was wrong.
"Oh, Kurt. Lighten up. This is Remy. Remy, this is Kurt Wagner."
Kurt tried to smile. She was right, he did need to lighten up. He had always been a joker back when he was in the circus, but after his encounter with Stryker, all that he had been able to retain of his former life were his religious convictions. He nodded at Remy and stooped to pick up the dropped papers. When he straightened himself up, Remy was gone.
"Was…?"
"He walks very lightly."
A/N: It took me a little bit longer to get this up than i thought I would... but it's done. I like reviews... so someone review. Preferably everyone.