This is it, baby! The last chapter...ish. It's an epilogue, meant to tie up some loose ends, and maybe create some more questions. We'll see.

A/N: This is dedicated to all my wonderful readers and reviewers. This chapter that is. The entire story is dedicated to my hero, Eileen Blazer, who I know some of y'all have read. She writes ROMY too, so I know you'll like her, though I do recommend hitting her complete stories since she NEVER updates...

Epilogue: For All We Know

The videotape was grainy as it played the scenes in black and white, evoking old-movie classiness. The tableau within was just as emotionally fraught and overplayed as those old movies.

The girl smiled, her white bangs falling into her eyes as she listened to the man, his eyes so plain looking in the monochrome, yet still odd. Shaw didn't have to read lips to know what the two mutants were talking about.

While lip-reading was not one of his talents, Sebastian Shaw, Black King of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club was not merit-less. He was a beta-class mutant, though was not lacking in power. Nay, despite that less than stellar classification, Shaw was one of the most formidable mutants simply because of the nature of his ability. Any force against him, kinetic or physical, was displaced by his body and converted into energy for himself. All violence committed against him was turned against the wielder. Unless you're a telepath of some sort, he's damn impossible to beat; this was one of the reasons he'd climbed so high on the Hellfire (and damnation) Ladder. Other talents he'd utilized on that climbed included greed, cunning, and a legendary bed-manner. Not that his aid Sage would know that. They had a strictly platonic relationship, her decision. Still, lip-reading was not one of those talents, thus, she transcribed the conversation happening on camera.

Her hand on her ear as she listened into the conversation (not that she needed it, talented little telepath that she was), Sage began to speak aloud as the mutants on camera came into focus, their mouths moving but no sound coming out. The spy camera wasn't equipped with a microphone.

Xavier rolled forward on the screen, facing the X-Men who sat or stood in a tight group near the window overlooking Earth. They all looked unsettled and out of sorts, and oddly matching in green sports wear. "We know this is a lot to take in, and want you to take your time in handling it. There's no rush to do anything, you can stay here on Avalon for as long as is needed." Sage paused as Xavier himself paused, perfectly in sync with the telepath, whom she shared more commonalities than she'd ever admitted.

It was Rogue who spoke first. "There was a me? And she could touch? And do all that?" She avoided looking at Gambit as she said that, knowing fully what went on during the few days "she" had been with him.

Xavier nodded slowly, waiting for the real question that lurked behind the stumbling conversation. Sage could hear it how deep and rough Rogue's voice, nay, all the X-Men's voices were after no usage in three years. It would take a while for their bodies to reacclimate to being up and about. Unlike being "frozen", the cells that the mutants had been imprisoned in didn't keep the body in complete stasis. True, the X-Men didn't age or move or any of that, but the bodies still had to be viable for cell removal for various cloning. Rogue herself had been cloned a total of three times. The first one, created during that first month after she'd been taken and put to sleep, had died in the Petri dish, a victim of it's own DNA. The second one had died during the artificial aging process, once again a victim of it's own DNA. It was only the third one, the one they all briefly knew and loved, that had survived the cloning process. Though Rogue had been the trickiest to clone (second only to her adopted brother Nightcrawler, who'd taken six attempts, due to his own unusual DNA), all the X-Men had been cloned several times. Though possible, human cloning was still tempestuous business, or so the case reports told Sage. As Shaw's right hand "man", she'd been required to read and commit all paperwork on the project to memory, since it had to be destroyed as soon as it was even printed.

Rogue hesitated, the guilt of asking such a question weighing briefly on her mind. Still, she asked it. "Does that mean Ah could...touch too?"

Xavier let his head fall forward a bit, his thoughts racing before he finally answered. "It is possible. You must remember that the Rogue we met who could touch had undergone numerous gene treatments and was herself just an augment of yourself. For all we know, they could have completely twisted her DNA to make it work like that. Still," Xavier reached for Rogue's gloved hands, waiting patiently for her to stop her grimace and allow him to do it, "I do believe that with enough training and practice, and yes, trust, anything it possible."

Rogue smiled, but removed her hand. The entire group of X-Men seemed oddly apart from X-Force, even on this 2-D mimicry of the actual meeting. The two groups eyed each other, Rogue and Gambit eyeing only each other, but didn't have the reunion of hearts that X-Force expected. It was truly no one's fault. In the blink of an eye, it seemed to the X-Men, the people they loved had changed and aged. They'd missed the gradual changes, the small things, and suddenly were confronted by these big things. It would take a period of adjustment.

The camera shifted focus to Cyclops as he wobbled forward (that pesky musculature deterioration making his movements jerky as if he could hold his weight up). "What about Jean? Why isn't she here?"

Xavier started to move back from the group, returning to stare out the window, seeking a way to explain Jean's presence, or rather lack thereof, but Shaw had seen enough. With a flick of his fingers, he stopped the tape and turned to Sage.

"I'd say this was a success."

Sage let her hand fall and turned to study her boss. "How so?"

"Well...we got the jewel."

"And lost thousands of lives, millions of dollars, and many opportunities."

Shaw shrugged, leaned back in his seat, and grinned. He was dressed like a nineteenth century gentleman, but was anything but. His grin was feral as he thought of all the havoc he'd wreaked on the world and mutants in particular. "I had fun."

Sage inclined her head slightly and withdrew her compact computer. Though she didn't need to, her computer like mind faster than any computer could ever hope to be, she brought up the rest of his schedule for the day. "I'm glad, sir. Your schedule for the rest of the day?"

Her sarcasm was lost on him. "Yes."

"Outside, the project leaders of the Genoshan Mutate Program are waiting to speak with you. After that, Ms. Pryor requests a few moments of your time."

"Madelyne? Whatever for?"

"She had some questions about tomorrow's Black Ball. It will be her first appearance as the Black Queen and I believe she's having some doubts about what you both shall wear."

Shaw shook his head, sending his long black hair cascading about his face. "Such trivial domesticity. I'll see her in half an hour."

Sage noted the time of it and telepathically sent out a signal to Madelyne, also a telepath, noting the time of the appointment. A vaguely dissident answer was returned. "She says she's more than half an hour away, by car."

Shaw shrugged and grinned. "Tell her to hurry."

Sage inclined her head again and began to leave the room. When she opened the door, Lucas and Phoenix stood on the other side. Sage didn't introduce them, rather let them in and left. She had other matters to attend to, matters best done without Big Brother watching.

Phoenix took a seat in front of Shaw, her shapely legs perfectly showcased in the short pleat skirt, matching the white blouse she wore. She looked like a redheaded Veronica Lake, dressed as a schoolgirl. Beside her, Lucas, still clad in the hospital clothes he'd found himself in, looked out of place and dishabille. It was Lucas and his pacing that drew Shaw's gaze.

"Why are ruining my Persian rug?"

Lucas stopped pacing and fought not to glare. Anger around a Hellfire Club member was never a good idea. They'd been known to lash out. "The plan failed."

"And?"

"And that's bad!"

Phoenix watched calmly as Shaw gestured for the teen to sit across from him. Lucas begrudgingly allowed himself to take that seat. She spoke as he did so. "I did not retrieve the gem as you wished."

Shaw waved his hand in the air as if to say "No matter". "It's been recovered already."

Jean cocked her eyebrow. "How? I was under the impression that X-Force was in possession of it after the number three's demise?"

Shaw stood and took from his jacket pocket a large red jewel. "I know a girl who can walk through walls."

Lucas frowned. "You mean the clone of a girl who could walk through walls."

Shaw shrugged. "Same difference."

Lucas scowled and stood again. "Let's talk about Genosha."

"What about it?" Shaw stood too, moving to the front of the desk to sit there and smile at Jean, who smiled back.

"You tried to have me killed. If I hadn't transferred my mind to another of my held bodies, I'd have died."

Shaw and Jean, conspirators and would-be assassins, shrugged. "All part of the plan, my friend."

"Yeah?" Lucas asked. "Well, I'm still alive. Was that part of your plan?"

Shaw frowned exaggeratedly. "No, it wasn't." With a small gesture from him, Phoenix stood and stepped behind Lucas, who was staring out the window at the desolate cliff shores of a neighboring island. With the silence and deadliness of a skilled killer, she snapped Lucas's neck, ending his life in one brutal move.

As his body fell to the expensively detailed flooring, she couldn't help a small quip. "I always liked more blood."

Shaw, who stood behind her, agreed. Then she shot her in the back of the head. She too slumped to the floor. The window she'd been staring out of moments before remained unbroken. He silently marveled at the clarity of the bulletproof glass, which had the habit of fogging up given time. This one shined like new, if you excused the large splatter of blood on it. His sense of humor decided to roar its ugly little head at that moment, and he noted that the blood stains looked just a bit like an ink blot he'd been subjected to as a child. In truth, it'd looked like a freakish butterfly. What had he told the lady psychiatrist? He'd said it looked like her, only with her head blown off. Had he ever mentioned he'd spent time in institutionalized?

Shaw stepped away from the fresh meat and went to call Sage. She answered promptly. "We're going to need those cleaners earlier than I anticipated."

With that task taken care of, Shaw sat down to watch. Quick as a bug in the light, the cleaners, four short men, all in black with their faces masked (today as the various American Presidents) (Shaw fought the urge to shoot the Abe Lincoln one), they scurried in and removed the bodies. A mop and fresh cold water later, the wooden floor where the "incident" had happened was clean. The window was wiped clean with Windex. As silently as they'd come, the cleaners were gone, leaving Shaw to his solitude. He removed the gem of Cyttorak and studied it's glinting surface.

This was the very stone that had transformed Charles Xavier's stepbrother, Cain Marko, into Juggernaut. The legends warned of it, but Shaw had spent good time and money to figure out just what the damned thing could do. It was simple. It evolved the person using it to their utmost potential. Combined with other elements, it could do anything from mind-control to genetic manipulation to devolution, from man to monkey to amoeba. It'd also taken a good deal of money to find out its origins. It wasn't from Earth, as the many possessors of it had thought. It'd been brought to this planet by a race of people called the Shi'ar, though they were long gone. However, Shaw also knew that Xavier was familiar with those people as well. Xavier was a popular, popular boy.

There was a knock at the door and Shaw started. A half an hour had passed within the blink of an eye. It was another problem with the gem; obsession. Stowing the gem away in his pocket, Shaw reached for the button that allowed the door to open without an alarm. Just inside the frame, silhouetted by the hallway light, Madelyne Pryor stood. She was his wife, and his Black Queen. She was perfect in everyway. He'd had her created to be that way. No memory of what came before, only what he wanted put there. She was a talented telepath, with telekinesis and pyrokinesis thrown in as well.

She was also a clone of Jean Grey, and an mutant by the name of Dark Phoenix.

"Darling, we simply must talk about this. Just black? No other colors? Seriously?"

Shaw smiled and stood to greet his love. "It is called the Black Ball."

"Yes, but why must we dress in black?"

"We are the Black King and Queen."

The next part was unsaid but understood. They are the Black King and Queen. Until death do they part. Side by side, they rule the Underworld of Earth. They are powerful and virtually unstoppable. They move beneath the radar of society, unseen in their glory. And they have plans.