The New Mutants
Written by Darkstorm5000
Disclaimer: The X-Men and related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Comics and Marvel Enterprises.
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Story 8- Love Will Bring You Back
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Just as in most major airports around the world, Narita International Airport outside of Tokyo at the moment was chock full of individuals, both arriving to and departing from Japan, as well as those there to welcome and to say their goodbyes to the interchanging travelers. But, having already said a tearful farewell to the man that she had quickly grown to love just a few weeks ago, one woman in particular currently stood looking out onto the section of the runway designated for small jets and other charter planes to land, doing so through one of the numerous huge windows within the immense airport. She is now a woman overjoyed and brimming with anticipation, all at the prospect of feeling the sensation of her love's powerful arms wrapped around her once again.
As the private jet belonging to Mariko Yashida, who sits as Yashida International's powerful CEO, came to a slow halt after being taxied down the runway, Ms. Yashida immediately came outside on this breezy afternoon and waited as the large metal gate in front of her slowly rolled open. Within a few minutes the man who had been known by a plethora of names, but who usually went by his simplest moniker of Logan, descended down the ramp of the small jet dressed in his red and black lumberjack's shirt with the sleeves rolled up and plain denim blue-jeans.
Logan carried with him his sizable green duffle in one hand, which was slung back over his right shoulder. He also had another long, black case in his left hand, which contained the sacred Honor Blade of the Clan Yashida. As he walked towards the gate, Logan looked and immediately saw Mariko standing there next to Toru, her head bodyguard and most trusted aide.
Alluring as ever, Mariko was dressed in an orchid-colored, silk-chiffon blouse with ¾-length sleeves and a matching embroidered skirt, which accentuated her five-foot, three-inch wispy frame quite well, without overstating it. Mariko also had a white scarf that tied back her lengthy black hair, which allowed her face to be fully displayed. Hers was a face that seemed to mysteriously draw you into her, despite her usually reserved, and what would at first glance appear to be a distant countenance, due to the stately composure that she generally maintained about herself. You had no idea how she did it, as though it were an almost innate appeal that she possessed. But once you got to actually know Mariko, you were glad nonetheless.
Once Logan had made it over to the gated area, Mariko immediately came up and kissed him very passionately, all while taking something out from behind her back in her right hand. It was a very familiar light-brown Stetson cowboy hat that belonged to Logan, which he had left with Mariko a few weeks earlier as a small memento. Mariko took it out and reached up to place it on the top of Logan's head, once their amorous display was finished.
"Aren't you worried what others'll say about a woman of your high social-station, standin' here puckered up with a bum like me in front of all o' these people?" Logan now playfully asked Mariko, as he looked down into her beautiful dark-pupils and alluded to the fact that Japanese cultural norms generally shied away from such public and intimate shows of affection.
"I suppose that you can simply add it to the small list of other customary taboos that I have dared to challenge, such as a woman attempting to make her mark in the upper-echelons of the business world, or even choosing a Westerner as my consort." Mariko responded with a small smile, "You are my chosen, and I feel no shame in the rest of the world being made aware of that fact."
"M'iko, not that I ain't damn glad to see you here and now, but what happened to us meetin' up at Agarashima later on tonight?" Logan asked, as he referred to the pre-arranged plans that he and Mariko had made, when they spoke via cell-phone while Logan was still in the air and en route to Japan.
"Luck has smiled on me to have brought you back here so quickly. I thought that greeting you here in person to be more appropriate, and that it the least that I could do since you have more than earned a hero's welcome home, my beloved. Twice over now, as a matter of fact." Mariko smilingly replied, as Toru relieved Logan of his duffle bag and the Honor Blade case, taking the items ahead through the airport to the limousine awaiting the couple nearby in one of the loading areas.
"I don't know what you're talking about, I ain't no hero." Logan told her, as they now left the fenced gate and started towards the terminal entrance behind Toru, while Mariko's plane was taxied off of the runway to make room for another incoming small plane.
"I would think it to be an extremely accurate description of a man, who both helped to defend the name and the honor of my family, and then left here to risk life and limb to help end that hostage crisis in Washington D.C. involving the U.S. President." Mariko reminded him.
"I was only one guy, out of a WHOLE buncha people that fought hard to bring those Sentinels down." Logan modestly replied, as the door going into the mostly-empty auxiliary terminal slid open in front of them.
"I know, I watched the entire thing on television after I received your video-phone message that day. I also remember seeing another one of those brave individuals you are referring to, fighting alongside the famed Captain America. And judging by the fact that he had covered himself in a thick coat of ice, I can only assume that he was another one of the students that you had previously informed me of." Mariko stated, as Logan had gone into great detail with her in discussing his life, which included Xavier's school, the students and the X-Men and how they used their various powers to help and defend the world around them, and what little of his past that he had been able to unravel.
"Having seen the courage exhibited first-hand by Rogue when she was here, and also by this other young man, it is obvious that their teachers have taught them well." Mariko continued.
"I'll have to pass the kudos along to the rest of the gang, next time I get the chance." Logan happily replied, as they continued on into the main terminal and past the baggage claim area.
As they passed by a waiting area inside of the airport, something within managed to catch Logan's attention out of the corner of his eye.
"Well, speak o' the devil…" Logan said, as he looked up to one of the numerous television screens mounted above that encircled the entire waiting area. He stopped with Mariko to listen to the news broadcast, and even though Logan was fluent in Japanese and understood every word that the news anchor was saying, the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words still proved to be true.
"…In world news, this was the scene earlier today after Captain America, Iron Man, The Wasp, and Giant-Man, all now collectively known as the recently-formed super-hero team The Avengers, attempted to capture the monstrous creature that has been referred to simply as The Hulk. But, they were ultimately unsuccessful, as the Hulk's incomprehensible strength during his latest rampage, this time in a moderately-populated Central American city, proved to be an insurmountable obstacle in their efforts…"
"Logan-chan, is everything alright?" Mariko asked him, as she saw that Logan was staring intensely at the TV monitor above, which was now showing video footage of the destruction left behind in the wake of the battle between the Hulk and the Avengers.
"I guess that's the question we're gonna have to wait on an answer for, ain't it?" Logan replied, as he finally turned away from the video-footage of the battle and back to her, "C'mon, M'iko. Let's say we get outta here, so we can go some place nice and kick this welcome home party off right."
"That is an excellent idea." Mariko smiled and agreed, as the two of them then continued on towards the airport's exit, destined for a quick stop back at her penthouse in Tokyo, before for a long night out on the town.
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Story 9- Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Flashback)
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It had only been a few hours and Rahne Sinclair was still reeling from the fact that her life had been completely, and irreversibly, turned upside down. As she lay on the bed in this new and unfamiliar bedroom, wearing new and unfamiliar clothes, Rahne struggled to fathom it all. Just the fact that a lowly orphan such as herself was actually inside of the famous Kinross family estate was mind-boggling enough, but how she got there was even more amazing.
And, that realization was substantially more frightening to Rahne as well.
After Rahne's biological mother had died soon after giving birth to her, the infant was taken in by local Presbyterian minister, Reverend Craig. Reverend Craig went on to raise Rahne to be, in his words 'a good Christian woman', something that the Reverend repeatedly reminded his young ward that her 'harlot' mother hadn't been.
Reverend Craig preached to his congregation extensively about the shortcomings of man, and warned his parishioners to be wary and on guard against all worldly influences. He said that they were sin merely disguised in beautiful garment, meant to draw the true believer off of the path of righteousness and onto the road that led straight to Hell. His words were so moving, and his convictions so eloquently stated, that not one member of his flock would leave church on Sunday without their soul a stirring. Possessing such a fiery ability, Reverend Craig had quickly come to wield a tremendous amount of influence among the local populace in the township of Kinross, seemingly making his word carry the weight of law in everybody's mind.
Well, almost everybody.
Moira Kinross MacTaggert had nothing against the Reverend or his sermons, but she certainly did not see eye-to-eye with how the 'good Reverend' treated the young girl that had been left in his charge. Reverend Craig was very strict with Rahne, often bordering on what some would call cruelty and what many would say went far beyond that. Still, Moira always went out of her way to show warmth and kindness to Rahne when she would see her, which Moira was sure that the young girl so desperately needed. It might have been nothing more than saying a kind word to Rahne, if she happened to pass her by on the road that ran by the edge of Dr.MacTaggert's family's ancestral lands outside of town.
It was just such a chance meeting between them on this very evening that had resulted in Dr. MacTaggert saving the young girl's life.
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When Rahne's mutant ability to metamorph into a werewolf first emerged, it frightened her as much as it did those around her. But, when those abilities that she had been struggling to keep secret were finally revealed to Reverend Craig earlier this day, to him it was merely an outward display of the sinfulness that he believed to reside within the girl, and it was a condition that he felt would only continue to worsen. He convinced the other citizens of the area that they could not allow such an evil to exist in their proximity, else it might spread to the rest of the children in the town. An impromptu lynch mob was formed, and the young Wolf-girl was forced to flee a small crowd that chased her wielding axes, rifles, and other weapons.
Late this night, as Dr. MacTaggert was returning from Muir Island for a visit to her home on the mainland, she happened to see the crowd with torches and other lights off in the distance near the perimeter of her family's estate. Dr. MacTaggert drove her black SUV off of the road and as far as she could on the sloping highlands of An Morag, then got out and went on to continue her investigation by foot.
Suddenly, she was startled by the sound of a loud gunshot.
Dr. MacTaggert immediately hurried over from the vehicle in the crowd's direction, thinking that they were hunting roe deer or some other wild game illegally on her property. Once she had made it the distance from her vehicle to where the mob was, she was shocked at what she found.
Dr. MacTaggert saw what appeared to be a wolf of some sort, lying on the ground with a bullet wound to its shoulder. But slowly, the wolf seemed to change shape right before her eyes, shifting from one of an animal into a human being. Dr. MacTaggert instantly recognized the face of the little girl now before her as belonging to young Rahne Sinclair.
"Have all of ye completely lost yuir minds!" Dr. MacTaggert shouted at the small group drawing close to her, vehemently denouncing their behavior.
"Stand back Lady Moira, lest ye be injured. We've come for the girl's life, she be possessed by the Devil himself!" Reverend Craig ordered her, as one of the men behind him lifted his rifle and aimed it at the unconscious girl on the ground.
"I willna do any such thing! Even if that were true about her, she still deserves better than bein' hunted down in the middle of the night by a bunch of grown men, wishing t'perform their own shotgun exorcism." Dr. MacTaggert responded, as she stood in between them and Rahne, taking off the green overcoat that she had been wearing and placing it on the ground to cover up Rahne. Rahne's transformation into a wolf had torn her clothing off and the ensuing chase had left the pieces scattered back across the surrounding countryside.
"Ye MUST hand her over! She's a danger to the entire village and must be destroyed, before she's allowed t'spread her bewitchment t'other innocents." Reverend Craig continued, as the bearded, middle-aged clergyman held his Bible firmly in his grasp out in front of him.
"The only place the girl will be goin' is with me. And, the whole lot of ye are trespassin' on lands belongin' solely to the Kinross clan now, so I suggest that ye be headin' home. That is, unless ye want to find out first hand if the daughter of Lord Kinross also inherited his love of a good fight." Dr. MacTaggert loudly warned them all, as she picked the still unconscious Rahne up in her arms.
While the crowd dispersed just as Lady Moira of Kinross had instructed them, along with an extremely perturbed Reverend Craig, she started back towards the main house on her estate, so that she could properly tend to the young girl's wound.
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As Rahne now sat up on the edge of the bed in one of the many guest-rooms in Kinross manor, she did so very gingerly. She was careful not to unnecessarily irritate the bullet-wound to her shoulder, which Dr. MacTaggert had treated and then bandaged up after their return. Rahne sat there and looked around at the room with its sturdy and well constructed centuries-old brick and mortar walls, which were covered with various paintings, drapery, and other ornate decorations. Then, the bedroom door slowly opened up.
"Good, I'm glad t'see ye're awake now. I came t'check on how ye were doin'." Dr. MacTaggert said, as she entered the room dressed in a sweater-blouse that had alternating dark teal and white horizontal stripes and pants of a similar teal shade, also wearing her silver-rimmed eyeglasses and letting her reddish-brown hair rest just above her shoulders.
"I brought this, just in case ye might be a bit famished." Dr. MacTaggert continued, as she had brought in a covered tray in with her that had a small meal on it, and sat it down on the night table next to the head of the bed.
"Thank ye, Lady Moira." Rahne timidly replied, as she at first was hesitant to even look up from the bed to make eye contact with Dr. MacTaggert.
"Och, enough with that 'Lady Moira' talk. Just plain Moira will do poppet." Moira said, as she now sat down on the bed next to Rahne.
"I could'nae call ye that. Would Miss Moira be okay?" Rahne respectfully inquired, as her bright green eyes at last looked up to meet Moira's blue ones.
"That would be fine." Moira replied, as she then went on to another subject that had brought her in to see Rahne, "If those pajamas I put on ye are a little too big, there're some other ones in that dresser-drawer over there that ye can try on, and see if they're more suitable t'yuir liking."
"These are okay. Better than okay, I've never had on anythin' so nice." Rahne responded, commenting on the pink, satin pajamas that she was wearing. Rahne was used to wearing clothes given to her second-hand that, while far more practical for the colder climate of Scotland, was attire that was usually far less showy.
"Well, tomorrow I'll send someone into town to get ye some more new clothes, since ye'll be stayin' with me from now on and ye obviously did'nae get a chance t'pack an overnight bag." Moira smiled, as she had intended her whimsical comment to draw one on Rahne's face as well, but no such luck.
"Ye've been so kind to me already, ye don't have t'go t'such troubles on mah account." Rahne said, as she looked back down at the cold, brownish-gray bricked floor.
"Tis no trouble at all." Moira supportively replied as she looked over at Rahne, who had now sat further back up on the bed away from its edge with her legs drawn in close to her, and had her arms wrapped around them in front of her.
"But, I am trouble. Look at the commotion that I caused earlier, all because of this wickedness that's inside of me." Rahne told her, still looking downward to the floor out in front of her.
"And why would ye say such a thing?" Moira asked Rahne, as she ran her hand through the young girl's very short red-hair.
"Because it's true, even Reverend Craig said so. He said I be an evil creature, that I'm a spawn of Satan with all of this sinfulness born with me." Rahne replied, referring to her ability to transform into a werewolf.
"You're not evil, child. Ye're one of God's beautiful creations, come into the world just the same as the rest of us. And I should know, considerin' I was there when ye were born." Moira revealed to Rahne. On that fateful night when Rahne's birth mother went into labor, Dr. MacTaggert had happened to be the closest doctor in the rural area to assist with the delivery.
"Really!" Rahne looked up at Moira and exclaimed, surprised by this revelation, "Ye knew my mother?"
"Not that well." Moira told her, "But, I remember that she was a beautiful woman, pretty just like you are. So, no more of this talk about ye bein' some kind of 'devil-child', do ye hear me?"
"Yes, m'lady." Rahne now agreed, as Moira's still slightly-smiling expression while talking to her had finally caused the younger Scots girl to smile a little as well.
"Rahne, tell me, have ye ever heard of beings called mutants?" Moira now questioned her.
"Once, I think. I heard some other kids at school talkin' about them, and about how dangerous they are." Rahne remembered, as she sat up in the bed.
"Well, that can be true. But, mutants are people born with an extra gene in their body, which gives them all kinds of special abilities. There's nothing evil about having that gene or these powers, it's just a part of nature. Do ye understand?" Moira sympathetically asked, hoping that she had shed some light on the source of Rahne's metamorphing ability for her.
"I think so, but I still have mah own doubts about these powers bein' a good thing." Rahne honestly told her.
"Well, once ye've healed up, I'm going t'take ye with me t'Muir Island, so ye can see first-hand what I'm talking about." Moira now revealed to the girl, "For now, I think a good night's sleep'll do more for ye than anything."
Moira stood up and prepared to leave the room, so that Rahne could get some rest following her very eventful day. But, Rahne spoke out to Moira again, as she once again pulled back the covers on the bed and prepared to climb back underneath the bed sheets.
"Miss Moira?" Rahne said, as she settled back in for the night.
"Yes, what's the matter?" Moira asked with concern in her voice, as she immediately rushed back over to Rahne's bedside.
"Oh, everythin' is fine. I…just wanted t'thank ye, for everything ye've done for me." Rahne looked up and sincerely told her, referring both to Moira's rescue of her earlier, and for the kindness that Moira had since shown to this orphan by taking her in.
"And, ye're quite welcome." Moira replied, as she came over and kissed the young girl on the forehead, before turning back to head towards the door, turning the lights off in the bedroom as she exited.
As she left Rahne to hopefully drift off into a peaceful night's slumber, Moira thought to herself that it was unimaginable anyone could think of harming a sweet-heart like Rahne, mutant or not. But, having seen and being fully aware of the growing anti-mutant sentiments world-wide, Moira just hoped that the relationship between mutants and humans would somehow find a way to get better, before more brutal incidents like the one that she had luckily prevented from occurring this night managed to come to fruition.
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Story 10- Cats and Dragons
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With the spring semester over, along with all final examinations being graded and essay papers turned in, summer had now officially begun. At Xavier's School for the Gifted, while its rigorous academic load had lightened considerably as a result, the students still worked very hard everyday at continuing to learn to control and further hone their mutant powers.
In addition, Professor Xavier still conducted classes, although on a more informal basis with them. He gave his students assignments that had a slightly greater emphasis on their entertainment value, such as reading and discussing books that weren't included in the school's curriculum during the regular school year. There were also other summer activities put together for the students there, such as various museum and educational outings, and occasional trips to local theme parks.
The reason for all of this being done was that a good number of the students, for various reasons, simply didn't have anywhere else to go and the school was their only home now. But, with it being summer it did leave the students with a lot more spare time, time to enjoy such pastimes as lounging out by the school's outdoor Olympic-sized pool that had a retractable cover, going to hang out at the local Salem Center mall, or simply vegging out in front of the TV.
Which, one student in particular was doing in the mansion's student recreation room at the moment.
"Okay boy, this is a reeaaall good part here." Kitty Pryde said, as she laid on her back on the sofa in the rec-room, watching one of her favorite movies. She was enjoying this DVD flick with a very special friend, who was also watching very closely as well, and happened to be doing so as he lay on Kitty's mint-colored t-shirt, nestled across her stomach.
"…I find your lack of faith…disturbing."
"See, I toldja so." Kitty smiled, as she looked towards her abdomen area and spoke to Lockheed, the purple lizard-like creature with wings that she had met and befriended during the X-Men's battle to stop Mastermold and his Sentinels' attempted takeover of the world.
As Kitty and Lockheed continued watching the DVD movie together, they were soon joined by a third party, who had been searching the entire mansion for Kitty.
"So, here you are." The towering Peter Rasputin now said, as he entered the rec-room and came over to the sofa.
"Yeah, I decided to teach Lockheed all about Star Wars." Kitty replied, as she shot straight up on the sofa at the sight of Peter, unintentionally knocking Lockheed down to the carpet below.
"Starting with Episode IV, I see." Peter remarked, as he had also become quite familiar with the series thanks to Kitty.
"Well, I'm not sure what kinda attention span that dragons have, so I figured I'd save the prequels for later on." Kitty replied.
Before they had started officially dating, Peter would have definitely struggled with just identifying the significant difference between Ewoks and Wookies. But, thanks to his new girlfriend's part-time obsession; which included watching all of the movies, collecting both old and new comics and books from the series, and buying other forms of merchandising and memorabilia that she kept in her room, Peter now knew without a doubt that Kitty and Lockheed were at the part of this particular movie where Darth Vader had given a very dramatic demonstration of what exactly the Force could do.
While Peter went and sat down next to Kitty on the sofa, with the couple starting to snuggle and get very comfortable together, Lockheed clamorously voiced his feelings of now being 'kicked to the curb' from the floor below.
"Grrrrrrr…" Lockheed growled, as the winged creature stood on all four paws on the floor, with his tail swaying back and forth very quickly behind him, and looked up at Kitty and Peter. As the couple stared at one another with longing expressions and started kissing, the teens' affectionate actions seemed to rouse an apparent protective instinct in Lockheed.
"Quiet dragon!" Peter sternly said, as he briefly turned away from the petite girl that he was holding in his arms, looking down at Lockheed.
"Oh, don't start actin' jealous, you know I love you." Kitty said.
"And who are you talking to, me or him?" Peter asked as he turned back to face Kitty, with a noticeable smirk on his face.
"You AND him." Kitty loudly giggled, as she now softly kissed Peter up on the small area between his chin and his neck, "Now come on Lockheed, come on up here with us."
With a simple gesture of her hand Lockheed did as Kitty asked, spreading his wings out to quickly swoop up to the space on the sofa next to Kitty, but this time landing on the side opposite from Peter.
"You remember where we left off, or do I need to do a quick rewind for you?" Kitty looked down and asked Lockheed, since the movie had continued running while they were talking. But, the dragon turned around in a circle for a bit in an attempt to make himself comfortable on the sofa's cushion, then looked up at Kitty and simply let out a small snort, as he sat down in a resting position to face the large-screen TV.
"I do not know which is stranger, the fact that you were able to convince the Professor to let you keep such an unusual creature as a pet, or that you have lengthy and fairly drawn out conversations with it." Peter told Kitty with a small laugh, "I am just waiting to see the day when Lockheed finally does talk back to you."
"C'mon, it's not that weird, people talk to their pets all the time. Besides, Lockheed's more than just a pet, he's my partner." Kitty responded to Peter's remark, "I've even been takin' him down to the Danger Room with me, just the two of us. I've been teachin' him different battle maneuvers and other stuff, and he picks it all up with no problem, like he understands exactly what I'm saying to him."
"So, I assume that means that he will have his own uniform in no time as well?" Peter teasingly inquired, even though it was meant in good fun.
Peter had managed to slip into the Danger Room's control booth a few times to watch Kitty and Lockheed running their simulations together, although it was a fact that his girlfriend was totally unaware of.
"I doubt it. Every time I try to dress him up, Lockheed either eats or burns the outfit off in under a minute." Kitty laughingly replied, having decided long ago to concede in the fashion department, and she had stopped trying to dress Lockheed in outfits that were originally meant to be worn by small household pets.
As Kitty and Peter now became pre-occupied with the movie, and even more so with each other, Lockheed sat for a time watching the tale on the television about beings and creatures from a galaxy far, far away. But, one would have to assume that Lockheed had seen this movie before, as he was soon fast asleep on the sofa, while Kitty and Peter sat tightly embraced right next to him.
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Story 11– Promises, Promises
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This early summer evening found Bobby Drake in his room, as he had been doing some rearranging in there with his free time. Since he had finally packed up and removed John Allerdyce's belongings a few weeks prior, and since it also didn't look as though he would be assigned a new roommate anytime soon, Bobby decided to move things around in a layout that was more to his liking. As he moved his night-stand, desk, and dressers to new parts of the bedroom, something that had been on the floor behind one of the pieces of furniture suddenly caught his eye.
"Wow." Bobby thought to himself, as he went over and picked up the small, shiny object from the floor. He then went and sat down on his bed for a while, examining the object in his hand so carefully that it seemed as though he were appraising it for auction. Finally, Bobby got up and quickly left his room, heading down towards the end of the hallway in the boys' wing of the upstairs dormitories.
Bobby made it over to the open central area that was in front of the staircase, which separated the boys' and girls' dormitory wings, in no time. As he did, he ran into Amara Aquilla, who happened to be coming out of the girls' wing at that exact same time.
"Amara, have you seen Rogue?" Bobby stopped and asked her.
"I believe that she is in her and Jubilee's room at the moment." Amara stood and answered.
"Thanks, really appreciate it." Bobby hurriedly replied, as he rushed past Amara into the girls' wing.
"You are quite welcome." Amara smiled and shook her head, after she had been spun around when Bobby whipped right past her. Then, Amara continued on down the staircase in front of her, heading for her first-floor destination to join Terry and Dani.
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Rogue was in her bedroom lying sprawled across her bed, with a notebook underneath her and a number of bindered manuals scattered around her on the bed and on the floor. She lay dressed in a plain red t-shirt, had on a pair of arm-length sheer gloves, a pair of black, lightweight cotton sweats, and had her hair tied back into a long, single ponytail.
Rogue had been busily reading through the mountain of manuals surrounding her, which contained information on military tactics gathered from various leaders and strategists throughout history. Rogue had been studying and taking notes on this, all at the advice of Mr. Summers. It was after she had asked him what were some of the things that he and Ms. Munroe had done to improve their leadership abilities, to the point where they each seemed to function so coolly in their role as the X-Men's field commanders.
Mr. Summers had told Rogue that reviewing these differing philosophies, and then determining which ones would work given certain mission parameters would help her later on, when she would be the one having to make the split-second decisions that might hold life-or-death consequences for her teammates.
"Rogue, mind if I bother you for a minute?" A voice now inquired from the doorway of her bedroom, doing so over the blaring music that was coming out of Jubilee's boom box sitting on a study desk in the room.
"Uh-huh." Rogue mumbled in a low voice, as she was so absorbed by the text of the manual in front of her that she didn't even look up at first to see who was speaking to her.
"I was cleaning out some stuff in my room and I found this. I'm pretty sure it belongs to you." Bobby told her, as he took the object out of the pocket of the blue gym shorts that he was wearing, and tossed it over from the doorway onto Rogue's bed.
"What, where'd you get this?" Rogue replied, as she finally broke away from her textbook when the object landed on the bed in front of her, "This…is the promise-ring that you gave me."
"Yeah, I know. As hard as you threw it at me when we broke up, we're just lucky it only ended up behind my dresser, and not out in orbit. I guess it's good you don't have super-strength or anything." Bobby warmly said to her.
"Ah guess so. Well, at least now you can take it and see how much you can get for it." Rogue smiled and light-heartedly replied, as she looked at the ring in her hand and was about to toss it back to Bobby.
"Actually, I came over so I could give it back to you." Bobby said to Rogue, which completely caught her off guard.
"Um, Ah don't know about that." Rogue apprehensively told Bobby, "Ah mean, considerin'…"
"That things're over between us now, yeah I got that. It's just that I did get this for you, and I wanted you to keep it as a reminder of the good times that we had together. Sort of like a friendship ring, I guess." Bobby explained.
"Friendship ring, huh?" Rogue semi-sarcastically remarked.
"And according to you, we are still friends, right?" Bobby equally questioned her, referring to the statement that she had made to him a few weeks ago.
"Yeah, we are." Rogue responded, with a slight smile.
"Good. Well, I'm going to quit bothering you, and let you get back to whatever it was you were working on." Bobby cheerfully said, as he disappeared in an instant from the doorway and left Rogue alone in her room.
Rogue laid back, placing the ring on the nightstand next to her by her bed. As she lay there, the satellite-radio channel on Jubilee's boom box now played Scars by Papa Roach. As she listened, Rogue couldn't help but think a little about her and Bobby. But, ironically enough, whether it had to do with the close proximity of the ring or not, Rogue couldn't help but smile a little when she actually thought about the good times that the two of them did have together, which in the end seemed to overshadow all of the hurt and pain that had transpired between them.
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Next chapter: And on the subject of hurt and pain, you just knew it was going to happen sooner or later…Gambit vs. Iceman! (And this one ain't gonna be a flashback either…)
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A/N: Special thanks to those that reviewed the last chapter-
El Varon- Glad you liked the last chapters. The Logan/Kitty scene is one of my favorites too, it's one that I had in mind going all the way back to when I was writing Land of The Silver Sun and first mentioned it then.
ishandahalf- Glad you liked things so much with Kitty and Logan, and that I managed to get a few laughs out of you last chapter on top of it. I also hope you enjoyed the Kitty/Peter story in this chapter just as much.
Independent Fire- I'm thrilled you liked the story about Amara's background so much, along with the revelation about the origins of 'Short-stuff'. And, there'll definitely be some more alternative school drama with John, Lance, and the rest of the gang in the upcoming chapters, so I hope you stay tuned for that as well.
TheDreamerLady- Well, I guess I completely missed the mark with the whole Nova Roma experience in the movie-verse.
But, then again, who's to say that some things aren't a lot closer to canon than they might appear at first glance? Maybe Selene is a goddess and an external here after all? She just might be carefully concealing that fact, guarding it a lot more closely from the rest of the world than her comic-counterpart did. And in true Star Wars fashion (Which Kitty would get a kick out of, if it weren't such a bad omen for them), Selene may eventually reveal her 'true-self' to them all?
Of course, when the time is right…