Rogue stepped slowly into Jean's room. Callie wasn't with her, so she felt hesitant. Jean smiled at her as she entered, but this just made her feel more uncomfortable.
"What's your decision?" Jean asked, still giving Rogue that unnerving smile. Rogue ignored her discomfort and sighed.
"I realised I have to do this."
"I knew you would, I just didn't want to pressure you to do something you were uncomfortable with."
"So what now?" Rogue asked, dreading the answer. Jean's eyes flashed to red for a moment and Rogue stepped backwards towards the door. Jean looked concerned.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Where's Jean?" Rogue whispered. "And who are you?"
"Oh, so you noticed, did you?" Jean stood up and moved towards Rogue menacingly. "You're obviously a sharp one, aren't you? Why don't we just save all the violence that could happen here and you just tell me what's so special about my little Rogue."
"I'm not telling you anything!" Rogue exclaimed as she backed up to the door.
"You should probably be told that all this training you're doing with Ms Gray is useless." Jean said as she advanced. "Not even your mentor can stop me from taking over."
"Then why don't you just do it now?" Rogue asked her sarcastically. "Because all you're showing me you can do is threaten me. This is the second time, and I don't know what you're trying to prove." Rogue was fumbling around behind her to find the door handle.
"I just came to tell you that there's only one more thing I need to take over the world, and to make you see that there's nothing you can do, so stop trying."
"That 'taking over the world' thing is a little clichéd. You've been watching too many movies."
"Just tell Jean that I've been here without her even noticing." The irritation was now showing in the fake Jean's voice. "And for the record, the last time wasn't me. I suggest you stay away from a boy who doesn't know what he's doing." Rogue's hand closed around the handle, but she just stared into the face of the mystery enemy for a few seconds, not able to move until she started moving slowly forward again. Rogue finally opened the door and ran out into the hallway, with no idea of where she was going.
Rogue was running in any random direction, quickly getting herself lost, when she barrelled into a person and fell on the floor.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Came a familiar laughing voice. Rogue looked up to see Rob standing above her. He held out a hand to help her up and Rogue took it. "Oh, it's you." He laughed as he pulled her up. "Nice hit. I was surprised you had that much strength in you. Do you by any chance want a rematch?"
"No." Rogue said shakily, trying to match his happy tone. "Like you said, I caught you off guard; I wouldn't be able to do it again."
"But you have so much promise." Rob now had a pleading tone in his voice. "I could train you."
"Jean's already training me." Rogue stated quickly. Rob laughed again.
"But Jean can't give you strength training. All you managed to do was knock me off balance with raw power. You don't really know how to use the power properly."
"How bout I get back to you on that offer?" Rogue asked, now anxious to find the real Jean.
"Fine. You know where to find me." Rob called after her as she continued her sprint down the hallway.
Rogue couldn't remember how she found Jean. It was a blur of running through endless hallways and frantically asking anyone she met if they had seen Jean. Now she sat with Jean silently, once more working up the courage to say anything about what happened. Jean seemed patient, but Rogue knew it must be frustrating for her. After about 20 minutes of strange silence Jean sighed.
"Do you want me to go get Callie?" She asked.
"No. Callie might…" Rogue took a deep breath as Jean leant forward to hear what she had been sitting there so long to hear. Rogue took a deep breath to calm herself. "Callie would be scared."
"You don't give Callie enough credit. She-"
"She would be scared because I'm scared." Rogue interrupted. "I… I ran into… someone who… looked like you, Jean."
"Someone who looked like me? Where?"
"That's the thing that's scary. This mutant… she didn't seem like Mistique. Everything was… wrong about her. Not only that, but she was in your room, Jean. She knew about James. She told me to tell you that she's been here for this long without you knowing it." Jean looked a little disturbed by this information, but she never stopped being calm.
"Do you think that she is after you, Rogue?" She asked softly.
"No, she has obviously had more than one chance to get at me if she wanted to."
"And it doesn't look like she wants anything from me except to stay out of whatever business she has." Jean was thoughtful. "So we're not in any immediate danger and we shouldn't cause anyone to panic."
"She said that we should stop trying to stop her because she only needs one more thing to finish her plan."
"She obviously doesn't know what it is yet." Jean commented.
"How do you know that?" Rogue asked her. Jean flinched and looked up at Rogue.
"Oh, I was just… thinking out loud. Ignore me."
"Please don't do that to me. I've been through enough today Jean, and you're acting like… like her."
"I'm sorry, Rogue." Jean stood up to comfort her. "You know I'm a little freaked out, too. If she's been here for a while then I can only hope she hasn't figured out what it is she needs yet. You go… have a little bit of fun, okay? I'm guessing that since you came looking for me, you've made up your mind to continue training?"
"I guess I have to now." Rogue sighed. "The bad guy doesn't come to threaten someone who can't stop her, does she?"
Look, I tried to write more in this chapter. I don't know what's wrong, but if I wrote any more, it would be worse than that conversation at the end was starting to look. Please forgive me.
eyliena