Disclaimer: "It's not the end of the world... it just feels like it."

(An: Here is the second chapter, with the piling on of angst and stuff. And some hints as to the weird pairings. Oh, by the way, we're pretending that the Acolytes and Wanda have joined the X-men... Also, as in many of my fics, flashbacks are in italics. Clear? Oh, btw, there's an AWFUL pun somewhere in this chapter. Sorry in advance. I couldn't resist.)

Sam thought he must be dreaming again when the professor talked about the accident.

It had been a very routine thing- Remy, Bobby, Logan, Ororo, and Wanda had gone to the store, since it was their week on the roster to get the food that thirty-odd people need. On the way, they had picked up Amanda, since she was coming to the mansion anyway, to meet up with Kurt.

From what witnesses had said, some guy had come careening out of an alley, smashing directly into the backseat of the jeep. The man was drunk, and he himself had suffered nothing more than a few scratches.

As for the institute's car, only Logan, Ororo, and Amanda survived. Amanda was apparently a fluke, and Logan had sheilded Ororo. Ororo and Amanda were mainly unhurt, and Logan's healing factor had taken care of him.

The doctors couldn't do anything about the mental wounds, though.

The professor had called them all into the room. Amanda, Ororo, and Logan were standing by his desk; Amanda had rushed into Kurt's arms, sobbing. Kurt had wrapped his arms around Amanda and looked over the top of her head to the professor, perplexed.

The professor had his eyes closed. In a quiet, somber voice, he said, "I have some terrible news, students. There was a car accident. Remy, Bobby, and Wanda... didn't survive."

There was silence in the room for a few seconds, except for Amanda's muffled tears.

After a moment, Rogue quietly got up and left the room.

That shattered it. Jubilee buried her face in her hands, sucked in a deep breath, and headed out herself. Tabitha took Amara's hand and walked out. Rob slid over by Dani and put his arms around her. All of them had been close to Bobby. Rahne looked around, looking lost. Her eyes settled on Sam for a moment, then they hardened. She left, apparently to find Jubilee. Kurt wrapped his arms tighter around Amanda and buried his face in her hair, shaking. Piotr was staring at his hands, looking lost. Jamie looked confused; his eyes were wide and he looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn't. Ray looked like he wanted to kill something. John was just staring off into space, his green eyes unreadable. Scott and Jean exchanged glances and then quietly left, holding hands.

As for Sam, he had no idea what to think. It all had some bizarre, unreal quality- as though he were watching through someone else's eyes.

Kitty was the first one to speak. "I'll, um, I'll go call the Brotherhood," she said, in a choked voice.

After that, everyone just sort of shuffled out, all disconnected except for the couples in the room, consoling each other as best they could. The rest were left on their own to deal with their grief.

&&&

Tabitha dragged Amara to their room. They sat down on Tabitha's bed.

Amara looked at the blanket, murmuring, "I can't believe this really happened."

Tabitha took a deep breath. "Neither do I." She reached over and turned Amara's face to her. She leaned in to kiss her but Amara pulled back.

Amara stood up, looking disgusted and hurt. "How can you even think about something like that now? In case you haven't noticed, one of our own is dead!"

"I-" Tabitha started, but Amara cut her off.

"No! I thought you'd be able to tell I was trying to deal with it!" Amara glared at her, turned on her heel, and walked out.

"But..." Tabitha whispered, a few tears hitting the floor, "so was I..."

&&&

Kurt and Amanda headed to Kurt's room, and curled up on the bed. Amanda buried her face in Kurt's chest, her shoulders shaking.

"Shh, liebe," Kurt murmured, stroking her hair. "Please calm down."

Slowly, her sobs petered out, and she looked up. "I just keep thinking..." she whispered, "that if I'd sat where Remy was, or Wanda, I'd be gone too... and I... I feel guilty... I know it's... stupid... but I do."

Kurt rubbed her back. "There was nothing you could do, schatz," said Kurt. "Things like these happen sometimes. That's all."

"I know... but it doesn't change that," she replied, sniffling.

After a while, Amanda fell asleep. Kurt kissed her forehead and went off to find Rogue.

&&&

Kurt discovered her in the Danger Room. He went up into the control room to ask around, and saw her. She was down in the DR, running an old Acolyte sim.

Scott, Jean, and Piotr were already there, watching with grim looks. "She's been at it for a while," said Scott as Kurt joined them. "Ever since she left the professor's study, apparently."

"She's just been running that same sim, over and over again," Jean added.

Piotr said nothing; he was apparently more interested in watching his sim self get its ass kicked.

Kurt, however, wasn't paying any attention to him. His focus was on his sister.

The only Acolyte left was Remy. Rogue squared herself, and then with one colossal kick, knocked off his head and sent it flying. "Computer: repeat sim!" she shouted. Her voice cracked.

"She's going to hurt herself," Kurt cried, and made a move to bamf.

Piotr touched his shoulder. "Don't," he said. "She's trying to deal with her grief, and this is the only way she knows."

"But... but..."

Piotr shook his head, and Kurt sighed.

Rogue saw and heard nothing of them; she hadn't looked up at the control room once since she started the session. Her thoughts were faroff.

When Remy had come to the mansion, she'd avoided him like the plague. She'd made friends with John, though, just to spite him- the two were best friends.

Somehow, however, he'd cornered her and talked her into doing a training session together. Rogue would've said no, but she'd checked the roster, and her only other option was Kitty, and that would probably be rather boring. She wanted a little bit of a challenge, at least.

So she'd made the worst mistake of her life and accepted.

It was just a sparring contest- knock the other person down and you won.

Remy, of course, was an artful dodger. Rogue threw punch after punch, and each missed, Remy talking all the while. "Look," dodge, "I want us to be friends," dodge, "I mean, I know I put you through a lot of merde in the past," dodge, "and I'm sorry about that, really," jump, "but can't we just put the whole mess behind us?" He dodged again and threw a cursory punch of his own. "Wanda said she would kill me if I made you cry, anyway."

"Ok," said Rogue, stopping.

"Wait, what?" It was clear that he hadn't expected this response.

"I'll be friends with you... if you'll stand still for a second."

Remy obliged, and then was left blinking as her fist connected with his nose. "Ow!"

"Ok, now we're friends," said Rogue. She grinned at him, affecting one of Kitty's more annoying mannerisms, and walked out.

Remy blinked, and the expression on his face made it obvious that he didn't know whether to be relieved or annoyed.

The illusion of a rainy Bayville faded away as, again, she destroyed the last Acolyte. Rogue slumped down on her knees and started to cry. "You bastard," she whispered.

&&&

Kitty only went near the common room that day because she heard the banging.

She'd only heard it when she'd finished talking with the Brotherhood. She'd talked to Lance for about a half-hour. They had broken up months ago, and now they were strictly "just friends." The reason she'd dated him, Kitty thought, was because he understood her. Not well enough to base a relationship on, as she'd discovered, but well enough that he was the one she went to when she needed to talk something out.

She was using the phone in the common room, because it was near the professor's study, and she hadn't thought she'd be able to make it to her room without crying. Once she hung up, it took her a moment to compose herself. I can have a good cry once I get up to my room. Just not here. Be strong for once in your life, for everyone else's sake. She'd started for her room, and then she heard the noises.

She peered inside the kitchen. John was sitting inside. The flame-proof sunglasses he always had stuck in his carrot-red hair were on the table, and he was banging his head against the wall. Kitty blinked. What's he doing?

The banging paused as John glanced at her. "Oh, hello, Kitty," said John. His eyes were dull and he appeared to have a bruise on his forehead. He went back to banging.

"Are... are you all right?"

John just paused and looked at her.

This made Kitty realize what she'd just said. Oh, yeah, smart question, Pryde. The guy just lost his best friend and his fiance in one fell swoop and you're asking if he's 'all right.' Real smooth. She swallowed.

"You weren't that close to them, right?" said John, as though reading her mind.

Kitty shook her head, unable to speak.

"It's fine," said John. He tilted back his head and stared at the ceiling.

Yeah, that went well, Kitty thought, as she walked off.

&&&

Outside the mansion, most people were unaware that anything that was catastrophic and life-shattering to someone else had occured.

Forge was in the "most people" category.

So that was why he rang the doorbell with a normal expression on his face, as opposed to Ororo, who opened the door. She had the look of someone who is desperately trying to pretend normalcy.

Forge, however, didn't notice this. He held up a small machine. "I fixed the... thing... what's the matter with you?"

Ororo sucked in a deep breath. "There was a car accident," she explained, in her best "serene" voice. "Three of our students are dead."

"Oh..." said Forge, choosing to look at the machine part instead of Ororo.

Ororo swept some stray hairs back from her face. "Come on, I'll take you to the professor's study."

"So... um... who died?" Forge asked, keeping pace with her.

"Remy, Wanda, and Bobby," Ororo replied. She looked as though she desperately wanted to cry, but wasn't going to let herself.

"Wow..." said Forge.

"Yeah," said Ororo. She pushed open the door to the study. It was empty. "He's probably arranging the funerals."

Forge nodded, and set the part on the desk. "Do... do you want to talk about it, or something?"

Ororo sat down, letting out her breath in a rush. "Yes."

"Ok," said Forge, sitting down next to her.

&&&

A few hours later, Ororo and Forge emerged. "Thanks... for that," said Ororo.

Forge's response was a one-armed shrug and "Not everyone can be an emotionless robot, you know."

Ororo laughed a little.

Forge leaned over and brushed the remains of her eyeshadow from her face.

"It's a little harder to think like this about a teenager," Ororo whispered.

"I'm older than I look."

Something more might've happened, but that was when Logan came by. He paused, not picking up on the pheremones. "'Ro. Where's the firecracker?"

"I-I don't know..." Ororo stammered. "I haven't seen her since this afternoon."

Logan cursed under his breath. "Neither has anyone else. I'm gonna go look for her."

"You... you do that."

As soon as Forge was positive Logan was out of earshot, he muttered, "He really knows how to ruin a moment."

(Storgeyness is fun to write. Does leaving Jubilee in an undetermined state count as a cliffhanger?)