Chapter 8

Marie came to on a damp stone floor and winced as she tried to sit up. Her head was pounding horribly and her mouth tasted like she'd swallowed cotton. She groaned softly as she sat up, taking in her surroundings. She was in a cell, for that was the only word that suited the small enclosure she currently sat in the middle of. She frantically tried to think back to what had happened to result in her being here, but it only hurt her head more.

All she could remember were Michele and Jane.

Where are they? Marie thought frantically, suddenly much more awake than she'd been. Those girls had been her charges for the afternoon. If she'd gone and lost them because she'd fallen asleep then Logan and Jean would kill her…

Marie was jolted from her thoughts by a gut-wrenching sob.

"Hello?" she called softly.

"Aunt Marie?"

"Michele? Jane?"

"Michele," the small voice called back. "Where's Mommy and Daddy?"

"I don't know, sweetheart," Marie answered, crawling to the side of the cell she figured Michele's small voice was coming from.

That only resulted in a harder sob from the little girl. "I want Mommy!"

"Michele, honey, I know," Marie said frantically, wishing she was beside the girl to hold her and calm her down.

"I'm scared," Michele whimpered.

"I'm sure you are. I am too, but we have to be strong until your mom and dad come to get us, okay?"

"They're coming?"

"I'm sure they're on their way here right now," another voice spoke, stronger than Marie's that made her blood run cold. She still had nightmares about that voice.

"Who are you?" Michele asked fearfully and Marie really wished she could hide the small girl from the man who Marie assumed was standing in front of Michele's cell.

"A friend," Magneto assured the girl.

"If you were my friend, you wouldn't lock me up like this," Michele shot back immediately. Marie heard Magneto chuckle.

"So much like your mother," he said.

"Leave her alone," Marie called into the dim. She could make out Magneto's shape just down the hall from her and the shape of another person.

"And young Rogue," Magneto spoke condescendingly, slowly making his way down the hall. "Given enough responsibility that she cannot handle it."

"Taking care of Michele is not too much responsibility," Marie told him sharply, not liking the insinuation the older man was making.

"Maybe not one, but both of the little girls…" Magneto tsked and Marie had to resist the urge to flinch.

"This will probably be the last time they are left in your charge," he continued.

"You don't know anything about her!" Michele defended adamantly. "She's one of the best aunts I've got!"

"An aunt?" Magneto asked. "So you've been completely adopted, have you? Tell me, do they treat you the same as their own children?"

"Everyone is an aunt or uncle at the mansion," Marie shot back, trying to steer the conversation away from where it was going. She knew Jean and Logan respected her and though Logan looked at her like a daughter, he knew she was an adult.

"I will leave you to believe that," Magneto said, and Marie knew he thought she was uncertain of her place at Xavier's Institute.

"Aunt Marie?" Michele whispered, loud enough to carry the slight distance down the hall.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"What was he trying to do? And who was he?"

"That was Magneto, Michele," Marie said, knowing the little girl had some experience with the Institute's knowledge.

"The Brotherhood guy? Like Grandpa Charles is to you?"

"Exactly."

"What was he doing, saying those mean things?" Michele asked innocently. "Daddy and Mommy treat you like any other member of the team."

"I know that, sweetheart, and I know your parents see me as an adult. He was trying to hurt me."

"That's not very nice of him," the little girl said, and Marie smiled at the anger she heard in the five-year-old. Sometimes those girls could seem so much older than they were.

"Aunt Marie?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you," Michele said in a small voice, but it made Marie's heart swell. Sometimes it was the little things that mattered. She sat back against the wall content for the time being.

And knowing it was going to take more than words to shake the Grey family's trust in one another.

" Alkali Lake," Xavier pronounced to Jean and Logan just outside the round room. Their shoulders slumped with the official declaration, both hoping they wouldn't have to go back there again.

"When do we leave?" Logan asked after a moment.

"We'll need to assemble the team and make sure the schematics of the buildings are still the same as they were ten years ago…"

"Damnit Chuck! They may not have that much time," Logan exploded.

"They'll have that much time, Logan," Jean said calmly, though Logan could smell the faint salty scent of tears. "If Magneto wants us, they'll keep them alive."

"Bait is no good to him dead," the professor agreed.

"Then only one of us should go," Logan turned to Jean. "We don't want to give him what he wants."

"I'm going to get my daughter, Logan," Jean said sharply, her mood swings brought on by the stress kicking in. "I don't care how dangerous it is. I can't sit back and just watch."

"There will be no negotiating, Jean," Xavier warned. "Magneto will take your whole family if that's what he believes will make you cooperate."

"There will be no cooperating," Jean snapped back. "This means war."

"Dem's fightin' words, Red. You sure you're ready?" Logan asked unnecessarily, squeezing her hand to let her know he had complete faith in her.

"If this is going to be the final battle then so be it," she responded easily, resolve flashing through her green eyes. Both men knew better than to mess with a determined Jean Grey.

"I will ask Ororo to start preparing the jet," Xavier concluded.

Jean hid her fear well as she stalked through the halls of the mansion to the great wide outdoors. She was completely and utterly terrified for her daughter and for what they were all walking into. Magneto had proven time and time again that he was not lacking in intelligence. The mission they were about to embark on could well be a suicide mission for most of them.

I should go on my own, Jean thought to herself, staring out at the wide expanse of mansion grounds.

And leave me out of all the fun? Jean had forgotten that the link between her and Logan was always open, partly out of a promise and partly because Jean wasn't exactly sure how to close it.

I could have saved all of you the danger, she responded simply.

Now's not the time to start feelin' guilty 'bout somethin' you couldn't really control, Red, Logan told her honestly. You know Michele and Jane are family to everyone in that mansion. You would have had to fight tooth and nail to get them to stay behind while you went by yourself.

He had a good point, but Jean wasn't going to acknowledge that just yet. How many of us aren't going to make it out of this?

Pessimism isn't going to help, Logan said wisely. Look for your opportunities and go for it.

We're signing their death warrants, Jean protested sharply.

They made the choice, just like we did. You forget, Red, that these are the same people you've grown up with, some that consider you their own mother. Fightin' with Chuck was their choice and that means they fight against Magneto. This is a fight against Magneto as much as it's a rescue mission for Marie and the girls.

I hate it when you get all logical and rational, she quipped with a mock mental sigh. Makes me look stupid.

You're not stupid, Logan returned easily, You're stressed, what with Michele gone and leavin' Jane here by herself, plus the know-how that Magneto is after you… that's a lot on your plate.

How can you be so rational?

You were the one that taught me about hope and faith, he pointed out. I'm just takin' a page from your book.

I'm not sure if I should be flattered or insulted, Jean teased. Flattered because you listened, or insulted because you have the gall to throw it back in my face.

Logan's mental chuckle reverberated through her mind. Stay there, I'm going to come to you

Sorry about the shortness of this chapter, I didnt realize there wasn't much to it. I'm pretty sure the next one's longer and I'm working my way slowly through chapter 10 and 11. Hopeuflly at least 9 will be up by Sunday next week, but I don't want to make any promises. Look for it, cuz I certainly am going to try.