John noticed that, after leaving Xavier's, Raven seemed to have slipped into some kind of depression. She'd tied Rogue's snowy hair together, not allowing a single strand to escape, and had placed it near Eric's helmet on a shelf at the far end of the apartment. There were times when she would just sit and stare at it. John understood- he missed Eric too.

Obviously he and Eric had never connected in the way that Raven had, but he felt free to miss Eric all the same. The man had saved his life at Alkali Lake, and several more times as they traveled the world, in search of mutants. He had been a leader, an idol in Pyro's eyes. As far as John knew, Eric was either dead or had somehow managed to escape and was now in hiding- a powerless human. In the end, John decided that it didn't matter; he and Raven had attempted to contact his other aliases, but so far had received no response.

He doubted if they would ever see him again. The thought often made him melancholy.

John looked away from the helmet on the shelf and nudged Raven- she was asleep again, he noticed that she seemed to do little else these days other than sleep or sit on the roof and stare out to the horizon. It had only been a few weeks since they had fled from Xavier's and so far John found this human life fairly mundane. After he'd gone with Magneto and Mystique, life had seemed an adventure- returning to normalcy was painfully boring.

"Raven, wake up," he said as she shook her shoulder.

Her hand was clamped around his throat before he could take his next breath. Raven's face was contorted into a cold scowl, but as quickly as she had awoken, her expression softened and she released him.

"I'm sorry John! I didn't mean to-"

John rubbed his neck. "You're fine, don't worry about it. Look, you have someone at the door for you."

"Who?" Raven certainly hadn't made any friends within the posh neighborhood that had had been given to them.

"It's that Angel from the school,"

"Oh…"

Raven smoothed her hair and stepped to the door. Warren stood on the front step, clad in dark jeans and a long trench coat. Raven knew what he was hiding underneath.

"Why are you here?"

Warren smiled. "You get right to the point, don't you Raven?"

"Naturally. I asked you a question."

Warren shrugged. "Oh, ok. Can I come in?"

Raven narrowed her eyes. "Yes, but if you try anything, don't think I won't be able to hurt you. And if, by some miracle, you're able to get the better of me- Pyro's still inside and those wings of yours won't take you anywhere if he burns off the feathers."

Warren smirked. "I'm not here to start a fight, leave that to Logan. I just came to talk."

Raven rolled her eyes and stepped aside. "Come inside."

Warren stepped inside and smiled at her- Raven ignored the urge to smile back at him. "Are all reptilian mutants so bossy?"

Raven mock-glared. "You really are a bird-brain. I'm human now. What did you come here for and how did you find us?"

Warren sighed as he took a seat on the small leather sofa in the living room. "Well, the wings aren't the only side-effect of my mutation- wings of an angel, eyes of an eagle. It's not like I was trying to find you, I was just flying past one day and I happened to see you. That was a couple weeks ago, before I went home to see my family. I wasn't actually sure you lived here until John opened the door."

Raven didn't know quite how to react to Warren's open nature though inwardly she was interested to find that he did seem to gain a bit of confidence once he worked past his initial shyness. She gave a light smile and sat down beside him. "Well, now that you found our hideout, who do you plan to tell?"

"No one. I'm not going to tell the X-men if that's what you're worried about. If I wanted to, I would have told them the day I saw you. You're right to be nervous about them- Logan said he'd attack the first chance he got after what you did to Rogue, and Bobby's not too thrilled either."

Raven bristled. "That little brat had it coming."

"Maybe. I think you might have overreacted, but it's not for me to judge. Anyway, you're a human now, yeah, but you were born a mutant. There's no proof of the cure's permanency- my father has had his entire staff go into deeper research…there could be a way to reverse it, but that's not why I came here." Warren said as he leaned in a little closer to her.

Raven gave no outward sign of interest at the mention of a way to reverse the cure- she had learned not to raise her hopes too high over the years. "Then why are you here?" she asked him again.

"I came to invite you and John to San Francisco."

John poked his head out of the kitchen, "I'd really rather not- last time wasn't such a great memory for me."

"I think it would be worth your wile, John," Warren said as he turned and grinned at him. "There's plenty to do- you're both welcome to stay at my place,"

"Why?"

Warren shrugged. "Look, I just got back from the airport. I can fly very fast, but not fast enough. I could have called, but I know that you wouldn't have believed me if I didn't come in person."

"Believe you about what?" John asked, stepping fully into the room.

Two pairs of curious eyes were set upon Angel. He smiled. "I've found Magneto."

Two plane tickets rested on the coffee table between Raven and John. She stared at them, he stared at her. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Raven looked up and they locked eyes. "No, I'm not sure. I don't know if I can face him…I had thought he was dead, that Phoenix had killed him- and you. When I saw the helmet in Ororo's office, I'd felt it, a sharp twisting in my stomach- Eric's gone…but then Rogue came to me that day, right before I ran to you and had us leave early. He was cured, and no one's seen him since. It had been enough of a shock to know what he'd gone through, being cured of his mutation, and now Angel's found him…"

John nodded. It was the most that Raven had said in a long time, and he understood how she felt. "If we saw him again, what would you do?"

Raven looked away. Did John know that she and Eric had…?

"I don't know. I wouldn't hurt him, if that's what you meant. I don't know what I would say."

John ran a hand through his hair. "He won't be happy to see us. He'll know that we knew he's been cured. It would hurt his pride."

"His pride has hurt me, I think we would be even." Raven hissed, her voice cold.

John shrugged at her. "You can do what you want. I'm going to see him. I'm not leaving you or anything, but I'd just like to see him again and say thank you. I'll come back."

"You think I'm worried about that? I don't need you! I want to see him again, but who knows how that will turn out?" Raven sighed, her body felt weak, her insides queasy.

John shrugged and took his ticket. "Only one way to find out, Raven."

She hated it when he was right.