Blix: Lol ok. I just didn't understand it. Glad you liked the conversation, and thanks for voting!

Sych: I think it's the only reason I like Scott too! Lol, I guess it opens up a new side to him we've not really seen before. And I love that Lion King song, hehe. Yes, Logan's smooth, but it was rather sly of him too. Great you liked it, thanks for reviewing!

Chapter 25

The fire had reached it's best, processing a warm glow around the small clearing, sending eerily stretching shadows crawl over the diagonal canvases of the tents. Scott was sat outside his own tent, reading through a book he had brought and generally remaining quiet. Storm had since gone into her tent, the flap zipped up and life from within was silent. Aurora was crouched in front of the fire, her eyes staring down at it as a thoughtful glaze masked her over the grey irises. Gambit too had a pensive expression, though he was watching Aurora whilst he sat leaning on the pile of large backpacks, a card was being tossed in one gloved hand.

Siren reached the clearing first; her skin since dried from the short walk for the warmth of the air zapped it away. She paused for a moment to glance over the scene as it currently stood before walking over to where Scott sat. As she passed by the fire, Aurora became distracted in her brooding and blinked her eyes upwards to watch the woman pass by. Soon after, Aurora swivelled her eyes to the other figure that had returned with Siren. Logan shoved his hands into his pockets idly, returning her gaze before he turned away, saying nothing to the others. He pushed back the flap of his tent and disappeared inside without a word to anyone.

An audible sigh breathed from Aurora's lips as she lowered her eyes back to the fire, clearly disheartened by the impassive response from the Wolverine. As the woman returned to her silent thoughts, quiet voices drifted from behind her. But her senses were absorbed into the fire in front of her..

"Do you feel better?" asked Scott quietly to Siren. He gently lowered his book, closing it and dropping it into his backpack beside him.

Siren had crouched down slowly beside Scott, her knees bent and limbs sealed together down her thighs and calves. Her hair was still a little wet, droplets dripping from the ends and softly hitting her skin or the warm floor. "A lot," she replied with a smile spreading.

"Good," murmured Scott, a smile lifting his lips slowly. A hand had gently moved to the woman's shoulder, idly rubbing at her damp flesh. Slowly, his hand rose up off her shoulder and to her face. His gentle hand held her jaw whilst a thumb softly brushed at the fading remains on her cheek from the laser burn.

Siren smiled softly at him, her own hand move up off her lap and gently took hold of the hand that caressed her wounded face, "I think I might go and get some sleep now. Are you?"

However, Scott shook his head, "I don't really want to leave Aurora outside on her own. I'll go in when she does."

"Aw," said Siren softly as she leant closer to him, "Aurora can look after herself, I'm sure."

Aurora appeared to have drifted out of her trance when she heard her name being mentioned, "No.. I'm going inside now anyway.. Goodnight.." and as briefly as that she turned, not looking at anyone, and disappearing inside her tent.

"That's our cue," said Siren softly and she smirked to Scott.

"Goodnight," suddenly came another voice, and both Scott and Siren span their heads in an alarmed manner to see red eyes glowing at them from the opposite corner of the camp. Neither of them had noticed Gambit, and when they did, their holding hands immediately parted from each other. Also, Gambit's eyes didn't at all observe their actions friendlily.

"Er.. Goodnight," said Scott quickly, bowing his head gently in farewell to Siren before shuffling backwards into his tent and zipping up the flap.

Siren blinked at Scott's sudden abruptness to leave. She turned her head slowly to glare across to her brother, but was surprised to see that he too had disappeared. She quickly turned her head to look at his tent; it was in the process of being zipped up. She scowled softly at the exits of both men before turning and slapping open the flap of her own tent and entering it.

Logan lay down in the darkness of his tent. His hands idly supported the back of his head as he stared up at the roof of the tent, watching the firelight play shadows over its canvas. He had heard the small conversation drifting outside, since Scott's tent was beside his. The voices were only a background to his deep thoughts however, that spun endlessly around his tired mind. He knew Aurora wasn't happy. He was no fool, he could see it, as well as sense it.

Then, all of a sudden, he heard a beep sound through his ear. He frowned, looking around before realising he was still wearing the X-Transceiver. A hand moved cautiously towards it before pressing the small button on its silver surface. After it was pressed, sounds came into his ear from the device's speaker.

"Hello?" came the voice from the X-Transceiver.

Logan smiled gently to himself, lying back on his pillow. It was Madeline, "Hey darlin', what you up to?" he murmured into the curved microphone piece.

"I'm sat in Cerebro, on the X-Transceiver thing, Charles let me in," came her voice with an excited tone to it at being able to talk to Logan, "Where are you now?"

"We've stopped now. I'm in a tent," replied Logan with a faint smile.

"A tent? They're not that comfy.."

"I've slept in worse!" Logan laughed.

He heard Madeline laugh in return, "I'm sure you'll be thinking of me, relaxing in my nice soft bed!"

Logan moaned pitifully in jest, "Not fair, I want my bed!"

"Sorry.." she replied, voice losing it's joking quality and sounding sympathetic.

"Don't worry about it," whispered Logan as he stretched gently on the canvas floor. He yawned throatily before spreading out over the tent.

Madeline laughed again, "Well, I'll let you get to sleep now. Goodnight."

"Night darlin'.." murmured Logan softly. He then added as an afterthought, "Love ya."

"Love you too," then the X-Transceiver beeped again to signal Logan of the ending link. He made a sleepy sort of smile to himself in the darkness before sprawling over his pillow and falling into a uncertain sleep. For as usual, dreams were mixed with pleasantries.. and also.. nightmares.

Sleep had come upon her so quickly that Aurora didn't have time to change into anything more appropriate. She just sprawled out on top of her sleeping bag clad in her white vest and cream trousers, the large black boots still tightly fastened up her ankles. Her face was sunk into her pillow with ebony hair splashed over the white cotton. Her breathing was quietly done; a lost strand of hair weaved past her cheeks and hovered over her lips. The strand swayed slowly with each steady breath as she slept. The light of the fire outside had dimmed vastly since her departure, and so the tiny licks of fire and soft glow of embers was all the provided the orange hue over her tent door.

A soft sound broke into the sleepy silence as a figure bent in front of the doorway. The zip creaked scratchily as it was slid up, and the dark green flaps parted to reveal the crouched silhouette in the glowing backdrop. Aurora remained completely peaceful, just moving her cheek slightly on the pillow in order to get more comfortable. The visitor now crawled inside the tent, the telltale flash of blood red eyes glinting in reflection to the outdoor light. No other sound was made as he came beside her, those eyes staring down to watch her face steadily.

The relaxed expression on Aurora's face tightened gently with a puzzled expression before her eyes hardened and lids snapped open to stare up at the shadowed arrival. The thorough surprise at the entry made her give an alarmed gasp, but before any form of sound could escape her lips, a hand was pressed over them to nullify her words into nothing but incoherent protests.

Cliffy! Yay! Not seen one of those for a while. Now, will you do me a real big favour and review! They help majorly! And if you haven't seen the website/voted, do so now!
www(dot)freewebs(dot)com/thell