"Kitty, wake up…" Lance had laid Kitty on the bed and slamming the door, he didn't care two cents worth about Mystique, Pietro or anybody else, nor the noise they made out there either.

Kitty peeled open her eyes slowly. Her head was throbbing and she felt weird, like every bit of her energy was drained from her.

"Lance…," Kitty coughed, "Lance, I…"

"Shh…" Lance covered her up in a blanket, as if he was tucking in some six year-old kid in bed. He placed a finger on her lips, "Rogue just absorbed your powers and energy for awhile. After a while, you'll be all right, I promise you. Just go and sleep. Everything will be okay tomorrow."

Kitty closed her eyes again and this time, she kept her promise. She slept.

Lance brushed her fringes back with a finger, looking down at her fall asleep. Kitty was so…so different from the other girls he met. The other girls played their time away, all trying to look nothing but pretty and attractive.

However Lance may be stupid in his work, he was never dumb enough to fall for that type. Kitty was smart and she was cute too. What's not to like?

Lance bent down and kissed her forehead tenderly and then he stood up, leaving the room.

Unknown to him, Kitty let out a tiny curl under her lips.

She knew what was going on…

Rogue seemed to be back to normal. She attended class as usual, hung out with the usual friends and did the usual things. The only thing that was not going all that well was that she kept avoiding all the Brotherhood people and most of all, Mystique, which was also Principal Darkholme. How she even got and kept her job was a huge mystery.

Rogue clutched her head, "All these memories…"

When Rogue zapped three people all in one shot, she couldn't think straight. Mystique's mind was so far, considered the worse of all. To Rogue, it was a tortured place.

She didn't even know what made her go there.

Glancing down the hallway of buzzing people, she spotted Kitty. With Lance.

Rogue grabbed a lock of her hair. From absorbing Kitty's powers from the last night, she could tell whether Kitty was good or bad. And seriously, she was the good type.

Why is she so stupid as to hang out with somebody like Lance and the brainless freaks?

Rogue needed to get Kitty away and alone…

Kitty glanced at her mobile from time to time. Lance was awfully late today. Well, if he wasn't late, then something must be not quite right already.

Rogue looked at her from behind a tree. She didn't look like she would wanna hurt anybody, let alone her. Rogue got out from her hiding place and almost shocked Kitty from behind.

"Rogue!" Kitty took two steps back quickly, biting her lower lip. "Go away, please. I hate fights." Kitty loved to stand up for her team, the Brotherhood, but she knew she hated all these killing and beating inside.

"No, ah just wanna tell you something." Rogue knew she looked scary enough to Kitty but she always thought all Brotherhood members were tough.

"What?" Kitty snapped. If anyone like Toad or Pietro saw her talking to a X-Man, they'll flip out immediately.

Rogue tried to say, "Ah zapped Mystique and Pietro yesterday and-."

"I know! You did the same to me too! Why can't you, like, leave me alone, please?" Kitty raised her voice.

"Ah just want to warn you. Since ah zapped you before, I know you now. Ah know ya' ain't bad so ah'm tryin' to warn ya'. Mystique's just usin' ya'. She only wanted ya' to destroy all of us X-Men and that's it. She just wanted to-."

Kitty covered her ears, "Stop it! I don't believe what you said."

"No, ya' do. It's only up to you to see which path ya' wanna follow and-."

Kitty took heel and ran off, her hair wet from all the sweat. Kitty bent down with her hands still cupped on her ears. "It…it can't be."

Kitty slumped on the tree. Was Rogue telling the truth? Was she lying about the Brotherhood?

After all, what made her stay?

The place was always filthy and no matter how much house work she did, the house was always a huge mess. Toad was disgusting and he ate flies. Mystique was…domineering and she was "blue" too. Pietro and his mean jokes didn't help plus, Fred was always sleeping and he ate the fridge out all the time.

What did they treat her as anyway, their personal maid which worked for nothing, not even a single cent?

Damn it.

Kitty needed someone now. Her so-called "friends" weren't really what she was thinking of and sometimes, she really envied the X-Men. They all had friends and good buddies to lean on and to encourage them. Her parents weren't with her and she felt so helpless.

So helpless.

Kitty wiped her red eyes free from tears.

Sometimes, when she had nobody, she just had to deal with everything herself.

And now, she was alone.

With no one.

Lance sped into the house, dropping his keys on the carpeted ground. "Anyone of you guys seen Kitty?" Lance asked. He had prickles or sweat on his forehead, which meant he must have sped home faster than lightning.

Lance raised his voice, "I was only a little later and she's gone! Anyone of you seen her anywhere?"

Toad stuck a long, green tongue to catch a fly but he missed by a little, "Rats! Uh, yeah, she just phased through them door and blasted upstairs. Man, yo, even these flies think they're better than us now."

Lance raised an eyebrow and charged upstairs towards Kitty's room. "Kitty?" Lance knocked on the door softly.

Kitty, who was inside, opened her eyes. Why was life so tough for her anyway? The X-Men seemed to have a huge, huge impact on her and she wasn't sure about Rogue's words.

After what Rogue had said that afternoon after school, she didn't know what she ought to do.

Mystique's just usin' ya'. She only wanted ya' to destroy all of us X-Men and that's it.

Stop it! I don't believe what you said.

Kitty breathed in deeply as she heard Lance say her name softly once more. "Kitty, let me in, okay?"

Kitty crawled up from her little corner. In this house, she could only trust Lance.

Kitty pulled the door open slowly and said, "Lance, I…"

Lance got in and locked the door tight behind him. "What's going on, Kitty? Did anyone do anything to you? Summers or red?"

Kitty shook her head, leaving Lance puzzled and confused.

"Lance, it's just, um, some…something Rogue told me this afternoon."

"Goth queen? You can't trust any of the X-Men, Kitty, no matter how convincing they may sound."

Kitty seemed to flare up, "Does that mean that I can trust this Brotherhood place? Mystique…she left me so confused over everything. I don't know what to do. The X-Men didn't have to suffer in this crazy house and they had an institute to live in. What the heck have we got?"

Lance bent down until he was like the height of kitty, his hands on his knees. "Kitty, you still got me. We're…uh, good friends aren't we?"

Kitty found that it was pretty true. "But…but I just-."

Lance pushed some of her hair back, "Kitty, no matter how lousy we may be, we are all still one. We gotta' be loyal to the Brotherhood, ok?"

"Loyal? What Rogue said was all true, Lance. I think we can trust her. She didn't look like she would tell me any lies. She said that Mystique-."

Lance pushed Kitty onto the bed and said, "Kitty, you're just worn out after a long day. Believe me, I am too. Just get some sleep and you'll be all right. I'll do dinner tonight. Salad."

Kitty nodded, watching Lance leave the room. Then she sat up, thinking hard.

Was Mystique really just using all of them to destroy the X-Men?

Lance frowned. Everyone had just finished dinner, Mystique wasn't back yet and hell knows where she went. Kitty was extremely quiet when they did the dishes together. Whenever Lance said something, all he got as a answer was something like, "Yeah. No. I think so. What did you say?"

It was all these few pathetic answers, yes. And this was what got lance dead worried. Usually Kitty was pretty perky, she laughed and she talked quite a lot, especially to him.

Even music had no effect on her. Lance wasn't sure how many songs he played already. Kelly Clarkson, Mariah Carey, Sugababes, Lifehouse, Audioslave… But she was still so quiet and occasionally, she even had doubt in her eyes, which didn't take a genius to know that too.

After they were done with cleaning up most of the things in the kitchen, Lance found Kitty sitting on the stairs, her head on the side of the wall.

"Kit-kat?" Lance sat down next to her.

Kitty jerked up a little, "Huh? What did you say?"

"Nothing much. A penny for your thoughts?"

Kitty still felt so weird inside. "Lance, are you sure I made the right choice on coming here?"

"Sure! I came too, didn't I?"

"But I'm not sure if this place fits me or not. I really felt Rogue's words were true, no matter what you say." Kitty said.

"So you're not trusting me anymore now?"

Kitty said, "No, cos' not! Like, I'm just having a few doubts of my own. I just felt this is so crazy. Ever since I came here, I still haven't had a relaxing break."

Kitty sighed as she leaned on his shoulder. Lance felt so warm and so nice. "Thanks, Lance."

Lance looked at Kitty as she shifted her eyes onto him. Who cares if anyone even saw them?

"What…did you just say?"

"Thanks for being my reason to stay on. If not, I would have, maybe, joined the X-Men already. Funny, huh?" Kitty giggled at her silly joke.

Lance kinda liked to hear that. "Hey, don't make it sound like some tough job to stay here."

They went pretty silent for a moment. Then Lance leaned down a bit and kissed Kitty gently.

Kitty fixed her blue eyes onto Lance's hazel ones. "Lance…"

"Shh…" Lance kissed Kitty some more.

Kitty finally broke the kiss and leaned against him. "Lance, you're mad, I swear."

"Back at you, pretty-Kitty." Lance kissed her on her forehead.

And who cares if anyone saw them?

After all, life is like a puzzle, depending on how you fix them, right or wrong.

And Kitty hoped she's doing it right.

Nope, it's not the end, thank you very much.

Oh, it's the Chinese Happy New Year today. It always lasts for a good 4 days. Well, happy New Year then and give me a little time for the next chap. Sorry if this one was late.