Author's Note - I have to say, I have never gotten this many reviews this quickly. (hugs everyone) If there are any words scrunched together, it's because the Notepad program I'm using doesn't seem to like me. I'm trying to figure it out, though. heh. Poor Rika...she doesn'trealize who John is...

Chapter Three - Nightly Returns

Sometime around two hours later, Rika opening the door to her room. Noticing that a clock had been plugged into the wall, she saw that it was eleven forty-seven p.m. Her clothes were still in a pile where she had left them, but there was also a note on top of them. Crossing the room and opening the window again, Rika picked it up and read;

I'm sorry I did not come to find you like I had said, but it looks like Kitty and the others kept you company anyways. As tomorrow is Saturday, classes will not be held, so feel free to get someone to give you a full tour of the school. Come to my office at noon on Sunday and we will discuss possible classes for you.

- Ororo

Folding the note in half, Rika put it on the table next to the clock. Storm was right; Kitty, Rogue, Bobby, Warren, and Peter had been good company.

After being led to the kitchen, she had realized that there really were a lot of kids at the school. The lobby that she had first seen earlier that day had been packed, and the halls had also been moderately filled with students of different ages.

The group had decided on sandwiches. Even though they had all apparently already eaten, everyone had had at least one. Peter and Warren had two each. They had talked about several things, but Rika had mainly listened as they each described their powers. Rogue had seemed unsure about the topic, and Rika was surprised at the nature of her powers. Or rather, what the nature of them had been. By the sound if it, Rika understood how difficult her choice had been. She didn't even think of pressing the matter. Bobby, or Iceman, had startled her by freezing the glass of water she had been drinking. Peter just mentioned being able to cover his entire body in metal.

As Rika had guessed on first meeting him, Warren was shy. He had barely said a word the entire time. She assumed that he was still adjusting to the place himself. Now Rika smiled to herself; he had seemed like a very nice person. She felt comfortable around him. Maybe it was because he was also somewhat new, or maybe it was just this feeling she had that he was actually friendly and trustworthy. Trust was something Rika held close to her heart.

After putting her clothes in a neat pile on the floor at the end of her bed, she turned off the lights and collapsed on the cool sheets, not even thinking to change. She had taken a shower that morning before leaving the hotel she had stayed at.

Laying on her side, she took to watching the dark sky out the window, enjoying the breeze. It was quiet, only the occasional sound of footsteps going by. Thinking of what time she should wake up to eat breakfast, she drifted off to sleep.

The sound of a rather loud car woke her up. She was a light sleeper anyways, and would have drifted back off to sleep had the noise not persisted.

"Come on." She complained into her pillow, opening one eye to read the clock: four in the morning.

Getting up, she flipped the lights on, then peered out the window in time to see a rather expensive looking car turning the corner.

"Someone's really got the time zones messed up, if they're arriving this early." The girl muttered, re-doing her ponytail, which had come loose. She sat still for a moment, listening to see if anyone was coming down the hallway. Then she left her room.

Remembering the basic layout from when Kitty had first led her to her new room, she managed to get to the main staircase, which looked down into the front room.

She leaned against the railing, alert for any noise of approaching persons from above her. After another few minutes, she figured that she was overreacting to some loser driving around late, probably after getting drunk. Turning, she started back up the stairs, and then caught the sound of the front door opening.

"...you won't be in your old room, at least for the first few days. And you better behave. We can change our mind on your first stupid outburst."

Rika froze on the stairs, then crept down them one by one. She didn't know the voice, but she guessed it was a teacher's. It had sounded too old to be that of a student's. Peeking her head around the corner, she could make out two figures standing right outside the open door. One was tall, the other shorter.

"Whatever." The shorter one, also male, muttered.

Rika wondered why his voice sounded so bitter.

"Listen, kid. I didn't support Storm's choice on bringing you back. It's either here, or jail. And with jail comes the cure, and everyone in this building knows that you'd do everything in your power to avoid that path."

The younger man stiffened at the words, and Rika wondered how this mutant was involved with recent events. Had he done something terribly wrong while everyone else was fighting at Alcatraz, or had he perhaps been there?

"Rika? What are you doing up?" Came Storm's voice from behind her.

"Shit." Rika muttered, straightening and turning to look at Ororo. "I..."

"She was listening to us, 'Ro." Came the older man's voice from below them. Rika could see that the two figures were watching them both now.

"And you just let her listen to your conversation, I suppose, Logan?" Storm replied, actually sounding amused. She walked passed Rika, pausing to look at the other mutant.

"Hello again, John."

Rika ran a finger down the handrailing, moving so that she was one step behind Storm. Now she could see this John almost clearly. To put it simply, he looked miserable, and angry, and...just all around unhappy.

John didn't answer Storm, so she turned to Rika instead. "Rika, this is Logan. He's...a teacher here."

Logan seemed amused by the title, and swept his gaze over Rika. Judging by the way he was holding himself, Rika guessed that he was totally unafraid confident in himself.

"I could smell her as soon as we opened the door. It's easy to pick up a new one." Logan added, a rather sarcastic smile forming on his lips.

Storm let out a sigh, rolling her shoulders back as if she was ridding herself of a cramp. "Be nice, Wolverine."

Rika's eyes widened in surprise. She knew that codename, everyone in New York did.

"Can I please go to whatever room you've given me so that I can not meet anyone else?" John finally said. Even though the question was simple enough, he made it sound insulting. Rika tried hard not to glare at him as he watched her with what appeared to be brown eyes.

"Good idea." Logan answered, nudging the younger boy in the back with a finger.

Rika quickly moved out of the way as John walked past. He gave her a side glance, and she offered a flash of a smile. He turned his head away.

"Rika." Storm prompted.

"I just heard a car coming around the corner, I was curious." Rika replied, figuring that the truth was the best idea here. It looked to her as if John's arrival was originally meant to be a secret.

"I'm sure Kitty or one of the others will explain this particular event tomorrow. Logan and myself are talking with them tomorrow morning. Please don't speak to any of them tonight. They're all probably sleeping, like you should be."

Rika nodded, a million questions running through her mind. She decided to only ask one.

"What did he do?" She didn't want to be left out totally when everyone else found out tomorrow.

Ororo seemed to debate whether or not to reply. When she did, Rika was stunned, and wondered why he was being allowed to come back.

"He was one of Magneto's top mutants in The Brotherhood."

Rika nodded silently, but her mind was going through all of the names and news videos that she had seen. She hadn't been in New York when the Golden Gate Bridge had literally been lifted and moved my Magneto, but it had been all over the news, on every TV.

Looking up, it didn't look like Storm was going to give anymore information.

"Well, goodnight, then." Rika said, turning to walk back to her room. Part of her almost wanted to find out where Logan had taken John.

But she didn't want to get in trouble.

Everyone - I'm trying hard not to rush into the AngelOC and PyroKitty couples! You'll all just have to get over it. Especially the PyroKitty one! (mwahahaha) Don't worry, it will appear...soon.

HopelessAzn - Yes, it's after X3, so everything that happened in the movie...happened, so Rogue doesn't have her powers.

multiturtle - Peter is Colossus, or Piotr, for the non-American spelling. And yes, I saw the extra ending.