Shadowed Hearts

Chapter Five: New Beginnings

I have artwork for the story! w00t! More is coming eventually, and once I get more space on my site, I will post them ASAP.

Rogue sighed and pulled out her laptop. She signed on to the internet and quickly scanned her inbox, searching through spam and chain letters to find the e-mail she wanted. Towards the top words illuminated her screen like a beacon of light. Despite the author's name, she knew it was her mother, donning yet another disguise. Cloaking true identities were just as important online as in the real world.

Subject: Preparations

Date: 2-18-03 8:23 PM Pacific Daylight Time

To: Hello darling. How is our plan coming along? I assume it was rather difficult to persuade Erik to accept you into his pack of fools, but I have complete faith that you have succeeded. That is why I am including further instructions for your mission. I have an excellent plan working in my head, and I know it will all come together.

I don't want you to harm Dr. Moreau. In fact, he'll be of great use to us. I want you to charm him, and anyone else you need to in order to get close to him and his work. The Genosha collars, if altered affectively, can be used on humans. Let's just say we're reverting the social stratification ladder to where it should be. We could put those inferior creatures in their place quite easily. I fear that Magneto already has this all planned. That is why you must eliminate him. Slowly but surely build up a layer of trust between the two of you. After this happens, use the plastic pistol I gave to you. Surprise him with a bullet hole in his head, and I will begin to rule under the guise of Magneto for as long as it takes for me to hold the reins and sweep his pathetic minions under the rug. We will rule Genosha together, and use Dr. Moreau and Magneto's high-tech equipment to further expand our territory, until mutants will rule above humans.

It may take a lot of work, but the fruits of our efforts are worth it, don't you think? Whatever you do, do not let Magneto or the Acolytes know that you still are in contact with me. That would rouse their suspicions even more. Reply in detail of your first day.

Love,
M

P S How many times do I have to tell you? You need a more secure e-mail server! is not designed for such secret information.

Rogue smirked and clicked the reply button.

Subject: Re: Preparations

To: do babble, "M". The plan sounds simple and effective enough. And as for my first day, it wasn't very exciting. I tried to guilt-trip Mags into letting me stay, and in the end had to agree to become an Acolyte. I feel brainless already.

I managed to catch some of Dr. Moreau's plans when I met him in the lab. He doesn't seem to be suspicious of me, so I can assume he won't be too much of a problem. You are right to guess that Magneto wants to alter the collars to use on humans. Moreau's almost half way there. The collar you had is different from the many variations on his desk this evening.

I have one problem. Do I have to act buddy-buddy with everyone? There's this annoying Cajun lout who keeps hitting on me! If you tell me I can't tell him off, so help me God I'll drop the act and you can come deal with his advances yourself. I've told him about my powers, but he doesn't even care. He says sheets and gloves would solve the problem! The nerve! He's so cocky and perverted I want to strangle him! Can I poison him? I'm sure no one would miss him.

Anyway, a briefing is being held tonight about Genosha, and I'll update you on the details after I

Three knocks sounded on the door. Rogue rolled her eyes and continued typing. "Go away, Gambit, Ah'm busy."

"I'm sorry t' disturb ya, but may I come in?" an unfamiliar Irish-inflected voice asked from behind her door.

She quickly sent the e-mail and shut off the laptop. "Uh, yeah, sorry. Come on in. Ah was just gettin' mah stuff unpacked."

The door opened slowly, and a frail, dark-skinned woman stepped into the room. Her ebony hair framed her face like a dark halo, and her olive eyes sparkled with uncorrupt purity as she spoke softly. "I just wanted t' be the first Acolyte t' welcome ya int' the team. Magneto told me about yuir situation, and I want ya t' know that yuir welcome here." She held out a slender hand. "My name in Anna."

"Rogue," she replied, excepting the hand. "An thank you."

A warm smile spread across Anna's freckle-dusted lips. "Tis no problem, lass. I've noticed that you an Wanda dinna get along very well, so I thought that maybe ya'd like a woman's company, since the team is primarily males. I know it can sometimes get lonely. Besides, yuir a long way from home, an I know that sometimes it's hard. So if need be, ya can always talk t' me. I'm kinda the mother figure here, anyway."

Nostalgia pierced Rogue's heart. Anna's kind words reminded her of home, and although she had just left the boarding house, she still could feel the pain of homesickness. She missed Irene's quiet love. She missed the prided gleam in Mystique's eyes whenever she did something right. She even missed the Brotherhood, even if they sometimes didn't get along. She especially missed the things her family used to do before Mystique and Rogue moved to the boarding house. The simple, normal things that the family enjoyed. Irene and Mystique were the only family she had ever known, and now the thought of being away from them and under the care of Magneto and Anna made her sick. She didn't want Anna to play her mother; she wanted her own mother.

"Ya don't have much t' unpack do ya?" Anna asked, surveying a small duffel bag that was half empty.

"Ah didn't pack t' take a vacation," Rogue responded tightly. "Ah packed t' runaway."

"An what exactly was it that ya were runnin' away from?"

"Home..."

"What in the house were ya runnin' away from?" she tried again.

Rogue mentally groaned. Great, she must be a counselor, or worse- a shrink! "Ah guess ah'm tryin' t' run away from mah problems," she lied, trying to sound pathetic. "Tryin' t' get help elsewhere, cause Mystique isn't helpin'. Ah guess Ah'm kinda angry with her. Ah blame her f'r what happened with Carol, an Ah'm even more frustrated that she can't seem t' help. She caused it, an she can't even fix it. O' course, the moment Ah tell her Ah'm leavin' the house f'r help, she flipped. She got even more upset when Ah told her Ah was goin' here." A sliver of truth did escape in her speech. She did slightly blame Mystique, and she had reason to. She was the one who molded her into a murderer, and screamed for her to hold on. Then again, Mystique couldn't control Rogue. She could've let go anytime she wanted to. It was her own fault.

"This Mystique, she's yuir mother? An she made ya hurt this lass?"

"Adoptive," she supplied. "It wasn't supposed to happen like it did... Ah guess Ah blame her because she's the one who told me t' attack, but Ah was the one who attacked her. So, Ah guess there's no one else t' blame but me."

Anna pursed her lips. "Why do you blame anyone? What happened was a great tragedy. Ya took someone's life, but it was an accident, wasn't it? If you truly are sorry- if ya repent f'r yuir sins, then I am sure the girl will one day f'rgive ya, an in turn, so will God. Everyone deserves another chance, right?"

Oh God, it's Mother fucking Theresa, Carol snapped. Tell her to shut up, because I will never forgive you for what you did to me. She's wrong, you should blame someone. You should blame yourself. You should rot in hell for what you did to me!

"Don't ya think badly o' me?" Rogue questioned, ignoring Carol's outburst. "Don't ya judge me?"

"I'm a woman of God. I try not t' judge others, as I hope others do not judge me."

"What's a woman o' Gawd doin' with a guy like Magneto?"

Anna's expression darkened slightly. "I usually dinna tell people of that unfortunate circumstances that brought me here, but since it may give ya some perspective, I shall tell you my story, as you have told me yuirs. However, it will have t' wait until we go shopping tomorrow."

"Shoppin'?"

"O' course. We have to make sure yuir properly equipped to stay at Genosha."

Genosha... Rogue thought. Ah wonder if it's really worth all o' this trouble...

The lower level of the Xavier Institute was hardly the home that Scott remembered. Though most of the first floor was complete, no one could sleep there with all the constant drilling and hammering. Because of that fact, the adults found impromptu accommodations for the X-Men in places like the Danger Room and the War Room. Though hardly roomy or comfortable, they were quickly furnished to hold the twenty-some students and teachers. Scott knew he shouldn't complain. After all, at least everyone was alive and safe. However, he couldn't possibly think of the cold, metallic sub-chamber as home. It wasn't just the location that made it different. Without Professor X, Evan, and Carol, the whole team seemed incomplete.

He sighed. We've tried to put everything back together, but there's still missing pieces, and you can't find them when you don't know where to look- or even start. No matter what anyone said, he blamed himself for what happened. If only he had been there to fight with his team or realized Mystique's plan sooner... Scott shook those thoughts away. What ifs couldn't save them; he had to look to the future.

Scott?

Jean's soft voice interrupted his thoughts. Yeah?

I don't know if you've heard or not, but Storm called a meeting. It's just starting, so you better hurry to the War Room.

Sorry, I'll be right there.

The telepathic link was cut. Scott rose from his bed and started slowly for the meeting. I wonder what Storm wants...

The War Room was cold and somber when he found a spot next to Jean. "Did I miss anything?" he whispered.

"No, she's been waiting for everyone to get here."

Dark brown eyebrows furrowed together. "Am I the last one?"

"No," Jean said, pointing to Shadowcat, who phased into the room. "Kitty just got back from the hospital."

"Oh," he replied. "How's Carol?"

She shrugged. "That's something you should ask Kitty. I haven't had time to stop by this week."

"Well, I w-"

"Shhhhh..." Jean put a finger to her lips.

Storm cleared her throat. "Well, now that everyone is here, we shall begin." Her deep, soothing voice commanded the attention of her young charges. They turned their eyes to the weather witch without question as she continued.

"I wish to first thank all of you for being so brave in these difficult times," she said. "You all have been a great help to the rebuilding of the institute. Your physical sacrifices and positive attitude have helped to raise these walls. We could not have continued without all your support."

The X-Men clapped gleefully. The sound was deafening, and a smile spread across Ororo's lips. She was glad they still had spirit. It would make her next announcement easier.

"Because of all your contributions, it has been decided that we shall take a vacation-"

Cheers and commotion erupted; Wolverine touched her shoulder. "Storm, are ya sure we should do this? The kids-"

"Need a rest," she assured him.

"And the institute?" he asked.

"I've agreed to watch over it while the workers go about their work," Hank answered.

"Don't ya think you'd freak 'em out a little?"

"And you wouldn't?" he countered with a smile. "Besides, Storm found a spare image-inducer. I intend to use the apparatus as a costume, so to speak. That way, no one will be 'freaked out'. This shall be a retreat for me as well. I shall finally be able to conduct my experiments without any distractions or interruptions."

"Just don't wreck anything."

Storm frowned disapprovingly. "Wolverine..."

"I vonder vhere ve're going," Kurt mused as the adults conversed.

Boom Boom grinned. "I hope it's somewhere sunny and with a beach, like the Bahamas or Cancun. I'm totally sick of this cold weather!"

"Bah," Bobby retorted. "Alaska sounds better."

"I really want to visit San Francisco," Rhaine admitted softly.

"What about you, Scott?" Jean inquired.

"I don't care." Some vacation... he thought. How can everyone be so excited when nothing will change... they're still gone.

"So where are we going?" Jubilee asked.

"A small island called Genosha," Storm replied.

Author's Notes:
Okay, I need to say this now: Updates may be quite sporadic. However, for the moment, it is out of my control. I have too much to deal with (school, especially newspaper, and work takes up my time- not to mention drama and speech- which I am going to state for squeal!), so I can't say when I'll return to my "regular" updates. I will honestly try to not let these stories collect dust, but I can't promise anything. I am too obsessed with Richard O'Brien's godlyness, in case you couldn't tell by my recent fics.

Also, for those of you who are wondering: Anna is not an original character. She's part OC and part Marvel. She is based on the character Saint Anna from X-Factor (you know the team with U-Go Girl, etc.- which I despise, btw), but I don't know much about her. I came across her while I was looking for a character who could heal. Her appearance and lineage was just so cool, I decided to pick her- a character I didn't know at all. So, I developed a personality that would fit the story (which you'll see in a few chapters- the personality, that is.) I'm sure it's quite out of character from X-Factor's Saint Anna. I don't think she was really religious or a fanatic, and I'm positive she wasn't in love with Magneto.

I've made a lot of mistakes in my previous chapters (P-2) without the guidance of my beta-er The Dark Vixen. I'm attempting to fix these up:
In the Prologue, I made the mistake of calling Dr. Eaton the almost identical Dr. Eden. I realized my mistake after accidentally pressing closed captioning during a repeat of Blind Alley.
In Chapter One, Rogue made a comment about Lance and Pietro fighting a lot. This was a mistake. Pietro, in this universe, was never part of Mystique's team. He was always with his father. I also added Marrow in the mix without much thought; introducing a new character like that may lead readers to think that she has a large role, when in fact, it's a very back-seat role. Compared to Mystique, who will the major supporting character from the BoM, she is an ant. So, don't expect too much of Marrow.

Oh, and if you were wondering, Mystique used her alias Risty Wilde in the e-mail because in the story, Risty is not the purple-haired teenager. If Mystique's main goal was to use Risty to keep tabs of the X-Men through Rogue, what would be the point of having her in this universe? So I decided to use the name instead of another identity (Mallory Brickman comic allusion, for instance). She may use it from time to time in future chapters, and not just the name, but the body.

Special Thanks to: Again, The Dark Vixen, for being my unofficial editor and fixing all my silly mistakes. Also for helping me expand the plot into something I'm truly excited about writing. I couldn't have come up with such an awesome story line without her help and her interest in this story! Thanks to my reviewers too, because they always motivate me to keep writing, and sometimes they even give me ideas, like again, The Dark Vixen.

Okay, phew, I'm finally done!