Chapter 01

Spring

The icy chill of the wind coming from the Eastern Seaboard blew gently across the grounds of the Xavier Institute for the Gifted, situated on the highest hilltop overlooking Bayville. The deep expanse of blue and gold overlook the front lawn of the mansion with the smell of freshly cut grass surrounding the statue and rotunda in the middle, emanating the promise of spring after the gardeners worked for two hours since six in the morning. It was the longest winter that New York has ever experienced that lasted nearly over three months.

The mansion was nearly deserted, yet not completely empty. Only a handful of people, save some of those who work in maintenance, had spent Christmas and New Year's along with the headmaster and one of three from the teaching staff. Inside a large room on the second floor located at the back of the mansion, a bald-headed man in a wheelchair gazed through the window to admire the view of the city below. If the weather stays clear and the temperature continues to rise, he might be able to make out the Statue of Liberty for more than twenty miles away. The fog hovering over the Hudson River and Staten Island from last evening covered the view of the statue from where he was sitting even though it may appear as a tiny dot from that far-off distance. Smiling to himself, the man in the wheelchair nursed his mug of steaming hot coffee and held it up close to his nose, savoring the aroma of hazelnut before taking a sip. Just before his lips touched the edge of the gray mug, his eyelids widen slightly when a familiar surge courses through in the back of his mind as brought the mug down on top of the wood-stained oak desk. He turned the joystick that controlled the wheelchair to the left, facing the double doors before calling out to it.

"Come in."

The inner workings of the old-fashioned brass handle of the door lets out a creak and a snap as he watches the handle turn downwards from the axis and the two-inch thick wooden door on the left side flew open. A young woman revealed behind it. She sports a length of chestnut hair that drops down just a little above the shoulder line in a layered hairdo and complimented with two white streaks that split evenly apart at the center of her forehead and hanging at both sides of her cheeks. The rather dark makeup seemed to fail to conceal the glossy dark lips that add shine to her pale complexion and wore a light-green, hand-knit sweater that wraps snugly around her. The sleeves were almost uneven in length as a signature of the amateurish knitting skill given by her roommate as a present and delivered to her a day before Christmas.

"Good morning, Rogue." The man flashed a warm and kind smile at her. "I'm glad to see you bright and early this beautiful morning."

Rogue stood silently in front of the doors and nodded, followed with a small smile on one side of her lips. It never occurred to her to even act surprised that Professor Charles Xavier might have sensed her coming even ten feet away from the doors of his office and nearly jumped at the sound of his voice calling to her before she could knock on the door.

"Please, why don't you sit down and tell me what's on your mind." The professor said as he motioned his hand towards one of the empty leather chairs in front of the desk.

"It's nothin' really," Rogue began in her Southern accent, but she remained standing near the doors. "I just came to tell you that breakfast is ready down the kitchen."

"Oh really?" Professor Xavier raised his eyebrows and gave off a kind of surprised look. He chuckled slightly and sighed, "I guess anyone could forget about breakfast if they get to see a view like this outside." The professor turned his wheelchair back at the window and gazed through it. "Why don't you join me out on the balcony and view it together for a moment before heading down."

Rogue's eyes squinted and turned her head slightly away from the windows as the rays of the sun pierced through the thick clouds like towering columns of light over the city. She turned her head to one side and reached for the door handle.

"I guess it's kind of cool." Rogue's voice was laced with false enthusiasm. "Well, I should get going. Mr. McCoy is already waiting downstairs in the kitchen.

Charles studied her for a moment before nodding to her with a smile. "Thank you for telling me, Rogue. I'll join you and Mr. McCoy downstairs in a minute."

As Rogue turned to face the doors, Charles begins to slip back into his memories where most of it came from the encounters that included Rogue in the picture. It was five months ago when Rogue became an instrument that involved the reawakening of an ancient and powerful mutant buried deep within the pyramids of Egypt hundreds of years ago. Rogue was not only one that played the role. Another female mutant known as Mystique who has the power to morph into any person or living being also became a hapless pawn of the circumstance. Everything came to being because of one mysterious mutant with the power similar to Professor Xavier's. This powerful psychic first succeeded in manipulating Jean and other of the professor's students in retrieving artifacts that would unlock the first door of Apocalypse's prison. Magneto, the Master of Magnetism was also fooled to believe that destroying the second artifact would stop Apocalypse's imminent return, Rogue meanwhile attacked and absorbed the powers of those in the Institute as well as the side of Magneto, thus signified the reawakening of Apocalypse. The series of events was too much to bear within the already delicate emotions that Rogue has; never getting to know her real parents; her adoptive mother happens to be one of the enemy; the curse that is her powers and never again to touch another living being without sapping them of their powers.

Just as the doors were about to close shut, Professor Xavier raised his head and stared blankly through the doors when he felt the presence of two other people. This time they were coming through the main gates of the institute. Smiling, the professor called on Rogue again and thinking that it would be the best remedy for a young woman with such hardships.

"It seems that they have arrived. Why don't you greet them at the front door." The professor nods once and smiled at Rogue. She could only return the courtesy with a blank stair when the foyer from the main floor was filled with two voices calling out to Rogue. She recognized the voice of another young woman as she strides away, completely forgetting to close the doors of Professor Xavier's office.

Outside through the long hallway that splits between the east and west wing of the mansion, Rogue arrived at the marble balustrade overlooking the foyer. Two people stood in the middle of the patterned black and white marble floor with their suitcases sitting beside them. One of them is a young woman with dark brown hair tied in a ponytail and about a few weeks Rogue's younger. The man standing next to the young woman almost made Rogue's heart skip, as he raised his sights towards Rogue behind his rose-colored shades with a smile in his face. It was not the vanity part that the now-tanned young man was wearing shades indoors, but a necessity, knowing the kind of power that could be unleashed once he removes the ruby quartz glasses off his eyes.

"Rogue! Happy New Year!" The young woman called first after she looked up towards the balustrade.

Rogue smiled for the first time since the beginning of December last, as she descends down the west stairs. The two women met halfway on the stairs and the young woman wrapped her arms around Rogue's waist in an embrace. Rogue flinched slightly even though she wanted so much to embrace her friend as she rubbed her bare hands from her back and was afraid to touch any of her exposed skin. After a couple of seconds, the two friends descended to the foyer.

"Thanks for the sweater, Kitty." Rogue said and her lips creased a slight smile.

"I wouldn't forget about my best friend in the whole world." Kitty smiled.

It was now the man with the red shades' turn to greet Rogue as he approached the two women at the bottom of the stairs.

"Glad to see you, Rogue. Happy New Year." The young man placed both hands over Rogue's shoulders covered under the sweater.

"Me too, Scott. Happy New Year." Rogue answered shyly and her cheeks flushed slightly. The weight of Scott's hands made her shoulders soften with a sense of ease swelling from the inside.

The three were exchanging stories about how they spent their holidays when a familiar pneumatic whir coming from the service elevator caught their attention. Inside the car, Professor Xavier descended slowly from the second floor and landed after a few seconds. The steel shutters automatically slid open to the left as the three approached him.

"I'm glad to see you two back, Kitty, Scott." The professor beamed at his two students. Kitty and Scott greeted Professor Xavier Happy New Year in return. "Well now that you're both here, let's go down to the kitchen and tell me what you've been doing during the holidays over breakfast."

"Sounds great, professor." Scott rubbed his midsection, trying to suppress the soft growling that was almost audible under his blue sweater. The two women and the professor took notice and stared at him. Kitty fought to suppress her giggling as she cupped both her hands over her mouth.

"Don't blame me! The airplane food was terrible!" Scott explained as color rose furiously on his cheeks.

Kitty continued with her chat with Rogue as the professor followed from behind, his wheelchair being trundled of by Scott. At the kitchen door stood Hank McCoy, the blue-furred Beast, and greeted them inside with a well-sized breakfast on the table.