Authoress's notes: I'm sooooo sorry it took me so long. I was sick. And I'm always studying for some exam or another. You know, end-of-year stuff. Blegh.

Reviewers' Response:

the littlest weasley – calm down! Rogue's coming right up!

xImmortalx – I know how it can get. I used to have a story that I hadn't updated in nearly a year. Don't worry, you'll get the inspiration to finish it eventually. Sometime.

live2luv – hehe. Your reviews are fun. I like hyper people. I tend to get like that myself sometimes, too :D

... – ah, Alex! Thank you!

chelseypudge – sorry I've taken so much time to write happily...

Pyro Lady – yeah, but I'm using the movies version. So, since Alex hasn't been introduced yet, I've taken creative license and made up Spike :D

Chapter 20: Who Said Chivalry Was Dead?

Slayer groaned as he regained consciousness, and opened his eyes to the exasperated face of Amanda. He groaned again and slumped back into the pillow.

"Well, it's nice to see you too," she said huffily.

"What're you doing here?" he asked, putting a hand to his aching head.

"Well, somebody's got to look after you, see you don't have another spell like that." She couldn't help but feel concerned. "What was that?"

"It was one of my visions," he said as he heaved himself up into a sitting position. "They're not always violent like that one. But usually it's the more important ones that, well, leave an impression." He winced as he rubbed his head.

"Here, I'll go get you an aspirin or something..."

"Do you have any orange juice?"

Amanda stopped at the doorway, eyebrows raised. "I think so... why?"

"For some reason orange juice has always helped me after a big vision."

"Well... all right. Come on down to the kitchen; I'm sure there's a carton open somewhere in the fridge."

-X-

"Ahhh," he sighed after having drained a full glass of juice, "much better."

"I wonder what it is with the orange juice," mused Amanda, making another glass hover over from the cupboard and filling it for herself. "Perhaps it's the sugar...?"

"Could be," said Slayer, shrugging. "Might be the vitamin C. When I was a kid I used to drink the stuff every day, but once I started having the visions I stopped for some reason."

"When was that? When you started the visions, I mean."

"I was eleven.

"Wow. How've you held up until now?"

"Well, not every vision is as harsh as that one," Slayer shrugged and poured himself another glass.

"What did you mean by that last one? About me and Jean?"

"I meant just what I said: you'll bring Jean back."

"But how can I bring her back? I mean, she's at the Fortress; I don't even know where it is, somewhere out at sea."

"I don't mean physically. She's Phoenix now; she doesn't remember who she was when she was here. You'll bring that person back."

"But how?"

Slayer sighed, putting his head in his hands. "I wouldn't know. My visions aren't that clear; I don't have any sense of time or place. Sometimes I don't even get an image or anything; I just somehow know things that are going to happen, or things that already did happen."

"Great. So now I have restoring Jean's sanity to look forward to, on top of everything else."

"Yes, I've noticed you're twitchy. What's bothering you?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "And how exactly should you know if I'm twitchy? You don't know me."

"Not personally, no. But I've gotten a few visions by now that include you, and this is not how you usually act. You're all carefree and outgoing. But now you're serious and brooding. Almost sulking, I'd say. What's happened?"

"I've created a love triangle."

Well, he thought. That was blunt. "What?"

"I think I've fallen in love with two people at the same time," she clarified, glaring at him.

"Oh. Ohhh. Well."

"Thanks for your help," Amanda said dryly.

"Hey, I'm not a therapist!"

"Are you implying I need one?"

"Sure, why not?" he flashed her a cheeky grin.

"Oh, shut up, before I throw something at you."

He chuckled. "Really, tell me about it. I may not be a psychologist or anything, but you'll feel better once you've talked about it."

Amanda sighed. "When I came here, one of the first people I met was Logan, and just a few minuets after him Kurt. I think I instantly fell for them both. But they're both so different..."

"I don't know either of them. Tell me about them. What made you fall for each one?"

"Well, Kurt's always such a gentleman, and he's sweet and kind and so funny... he's generally such a nice person to be around. Once you get over the fact that he's blue, I mean."

"Ah, so the blue demon is Kurt." Slayer nodded. "He's shown up in my visions sometimes."

"Mm-hm. And Logan... Logan is a bit macho, he's got those rugged good looks and that bad-boy attitude. He's good for a joke and a drink, and he went crazy looking for me when I was at the Brotherhood's HQ. He doesn't want anyone to know, but inside he's just this lost person... it's been almost twenty years since Stryker did those experiments on him, and he still hasn't found out anything about himself."

"And do they both love you?"

"I don't know... Kurt persuaded me to have a peek into his mind, and I saw him fantasizing about kissing me. So I kissed him..."

"And?"

"And after that Logan invited me for a drink, and I kissed him, too."

Slayer shook his head. "You are a piece of work, woman."

Amanda raised an eyebrow at him. "Should I be flattered, or insulted?"

"Not sure." He shrugged. "Now, as for your love-triangle, you're going to have to decide on one of them sometime sooner or later. I suggest you make it sooner, or things will get ugly."

"Manda!" Kitty raced into the kitchen suddenly, gasping for breath. "Finally, there you are! You'd better come to the Danger Room, quick!"

"Kitty, what's wrong?" Amanda got off her stool and held Kitty by the shoulders, waiting for her to catch her breath again.

"Kurt – Logan – just come on! They're fighting or something –"

"Like this," Slayer said.

Amanda's eyes widened. "Shit."

-X-

There was a crowd already gathered by the door of the Danger Room. Kitty pulled Amanda through it, elbowing people without mercy, until she stood inside, eyes wide at the sight before her.

Kurt and Logan stood in the middle of the large training room. No simulation had been set, and they were not training for a battle or a fight. They were fighting each other. Logan had his claws out and his teeth bared, and Kurt held in his hands a slender, Japanese-style sword, tail lashing from side to side like an angry cat's.

"What is going on here?" she yelled.

"They're fighting," clarified Bobby, struggling to hide his grin. "Over you, it seems."

"Over me?"

"They both keep shouting that you're theirs, that they kissed you."

"Um..."

"Manda!" Kitty stared at her with wide eyes. "Don't tell me you've gone and kissed them both!"

"Well..."

"Oh, Manda..." Kitty slapped her palm to her forehead, shaking her head in despair. "I thought you'd be smart enough to avoid something like this... but noooo, you had to come here and fall in love with two guys at once... You're just lucky you didn't fall in love with Scott, too, or Mel would have killed you!"

"I heard that!" cried Melavina, who stood just a few feet away. "And I resent that. I'm over Scott..." she grinned at Spike, who actually grinned back.

Kitty shook her head, closing her eyes. "I'm surrounded by idiots!"

"Hey!" cried both Amanda and Mel.

"All right, all right – I'm surrounded by love-struck girls!"

Mel giggled at that. Next to her, Spike leaned down slightly and whispered in her ear, "What's she talking about? Did you have a thing with my brother?"

"No, no," she said hastily. "It's nothing. You're all I see, Spikie."

Spike grimaced. "You're probably the only one I'd ever allow to call me that..."

Resisting the urge to go, Aawwww, Amanda shook her head and said, "Can we get back to the main issue here -- which happens to be Logan and Kurt trying to rip each other apart?"

And really, the pair had remained quite oblivious to the growing crowd of students and staff that was gathering in the Danger Room, restricted areas be damned. They were still swinging and blocking, growling and yelling at each other.

Kurt had slipped back into German, as he usually did when he was angry (which wasn't very often), and was currently cursing Logan for all he was worth. Amanda winced: Logan was hitting back, shouting such obscenities that she was tempted to clap her hands over the younger students' ears.

They matched blow for blow -- Logan slicing with his claws, swinging and kicking, Kurt with smooth sword strokes and sure-footed acrobatic moves. Amanda gasped, horrified, as she saw Kurt's sword bite into Logan's upper arm, and a trickle of blood started to ooze down. But then the wound healed, reminding her of Logan's healing factor.

Kurt, however, fared worse, with no such healing powers. He was bleeding rather badly, and his clothes bore multiple sets of cuts: three parallel tears from Logan's claws. He was starting to weaken, his arms shaking.

Too much blood loss, Amanda thought. That's where she drew the line. The others could also see he was bleeding, quite clearly, but no-one dared come forward, lest they be caught in the deadly battle. It was rather awe-inspiring, Amanda agreed: Logan was capable of destructive force even without his claws, using hand-to-hand combat alone. On the other hand, Kurt was skilled in martial arts and weaponry -- but he did not use his powers of teleportation, Amanda noticed. That went to his credit for not using trickery, only physical strength and agility.

But that was also his downfall. Had he teleported, perhaps he could have avoided Logan's kick to the stomach, which caused him to fall onto his back and lose his grip on the sword's hilt. Logan roared forward, one hand on Kurt's shoulder, the other holding three razor-sharp adamantium claws under his chin.

"All right, that – is – ENOUGH!" Amanda stepped forward, using Logan's split-second's pause to push him back by using telekinesis. Logan was hurled onto his back, and Kurt, who had managed to get up and regain his sword, lost it again.

"Stop it right now, both of you!" she shouted, scowling heavily. "Rogue, get yourself over here; Kurt's bleeding badly." As Rogue hurried forward, stripping her gloves off as she went, Logan stood up and slowly walked heavily forward.

"Manda –"

Amanda turned around and slapped him around the face. "How dare you? Both of you -- you're like two small children fighting over a toy. Is that what I am to you? Huh?" She turned to glare at Kurt as well, who stood crouched over with his shirt off, Rogue moving her hands deftly along his back, healing cuts and bruises. When she was finished he stood up, muttering his thanks to her.

Amanda slapped him as well as soon as he was within arm's reach, which made Logan smirk slightly. She rounded on him. "What the hell are you smiling about, you big idiot? Right, both of you -- you are coming with me and we are settling this like adults. It might be my fault that I got you both in love, but that doesn't mean you have to go and kill each other!" She seized an arm of each one and began to drag them along with her. "Ugh, I feel like some kind of trophy. Out of the way – sorry – I'll explain everything later, Professor, I promise – excuse me –"

Logan and Kurt wisely kept their silence as Amanda dragged them to her room and practically threw them into chairs, standing in front of them with her arms crossed and thunder flashing across her face.

"Now. First of all, you –" she looked at Logan, "you're going to keep your claws to yourself. "And you –" she told Kurt, "you are going to get control of that tail of yours; it's driving me nuts."

The two of them complied obediently; Logan sheathed his claws and unclenched his fists, and Kurt curled his tail around one of the chair's legs.

"Good. Now. What, for heaven's sake, is going on here?"

"I should ask you that!" said Kurt. "Herr Logan claims to have kissed you – and you yourself now say you made us both fall in love with you."

"Shut it, bub!" said Logan. "I kissed her all right, and you can keep your greedy little elf-fingers off her!"

"Oh, why's that, because I'm yours?" spat Amanda, directing the question at both of them. "Egotistical, possessive, macho little --"

"I –" Logan stuttered, while Kurt set off muttering in German.

"All right, shut up. Let me do the talking." Amanda sat on her bed, head in her hands. "Okay. It goes like this: I've created a love-triangle, with you two. I think I fell for you both the instant I met you – on my first day here at the Institute. Somehow I ended up getting kidnapped, so there wasn't exactly time to act on my emotions for you..."

"And what emotions were those?" asked Kurt. "Or rather, for whom were they?"

"I don't know... Kurt, when we kissed –"

"So you did kiss him!" thundered Logan.

"Yes, I did," she snapped, irked. "I just said that."

"Then what the hell did you kiss me for?"

"I don't know," she answered, suddenly uncomfortable. "I suppose maybe I was a bit drunk after all ... and it was after I'd met Slayer; he'd completely freaked me out. I needed comfort. I was all mixed up inside my head..."

"Sure sounds like you," muttered Logan, and Kurt chuckled.

"Oh, so now you're teaming up against me, is it?"

"No –" "Nein –" both raised their hands and shook their heads quickly.

"Good."

Logan sighed. "So what're we gonna do now?"

"Oh, I don't know..." Amanda scraped her hair back and flopped back onto the bed, sighing.

"It is up to you," said Kurt. "You have to decide. Which one of us do you love?"

"I – you're making me choose? Can't I have you both?" Amanda pouted.

"Manda, this isn't funny," said Logan. "You can't toy with us like this."

"Oh, you shut up, you still have to sort out your feelings towards Jean!"

Logan sat there in stunned silence. Finally he managed a hoarse, "What?"

"Jean. You know – tall, redheaded, telepath/telekinetic? You're still in love with her, Logan!"

"How would you know?"

Amanda sighed. "Because I've seen it in your head. You're practically broadcasting it all around you. I'm sure you really did see her when she was here; you're just in denial."

"Denial! Manda, she's dead! She's fucking dead, I can't have any feelings for her!"

"Doktor Grey is alive, Logan," Kurt said quietly. "If you still have feelings for her..."

"No I don't!" shouted Logan.

"Yes, you do!" countered Amanda. "At least subconsciously. You still have feelings for Jean, and that alone should tell you that she's alive!"

"She's also here," said a new voice from the doorway.

Amanda groaned. "Slayer, what're you doing here?"

"It seems Xavier has made me the new message-delivery boy," he replied dryly. "He sent me to get you all to the lab."

"Why?" asked Kurt.

"Have any of you seen Scott today?" Slayer asked pointedly. The three of them shook their heads. "That would be because first thing in the morning, he took the jet to the Brotherhood's headquarters to bring Jean back. And how she's here."

An astounded "What?" was echoed by three voices.

Slayer shrugged. "Come and see for yourselves."

Authoress's note: muahahahaha, evil cliffie! (hint: review, and next chapter will come soon!)