Temperance sobbed quietly on the floor. She began to pull herself back up onto the couch slowly. Her movements seemed so unstable, as if she would slip and fall back to the ground any second. John stood still near the door, watching it all. Temperance curled into the couch, facing away from him. He listened to her cry, pleading into the fabric. John was torn between being sympathetic and annoyed. He went for a tentative annoyed.
"Do you mind? You're getting snot all over my sofa." He snorted at his own comment and managed an arrogant smile.
Temperance sniffed loudly. She was frustrated. Patronizing little…
So, she did the oddest thing she could think of with her mind all jumbled. She dragged her dribbling nose the length of her right arm and then wiped off the slime on the back of Pyro's couch.
He flinched, looking disgusted. Tears still poured down from Temperance's eyes, but as she turned around, it was a look of smug satisfaction that occupied her face.
"That was uncalled for." He muttered, still with the same look of disbelieving disgust.
"You dialed the number, Pyro." Came her wet reply. She had resigned to folding her knees up under her chin and wrapping her arms around them, looking petulant.
Pyro walked over and sat down on the magazine strewn table. He slouched over, arms dangling over his knees, eyes set with Temperance's. She stared back.
"Can I go home now?"
"No."
Firefly turned and lay back on the couch. "Stop looking at me." She growled. They had caught her before she had gotten her shower, and now, so many hours later, maybe even a day, she felt greasy and sickly.
"We're supposed to bond." His voice was a bit croaky, she noticed.
"So? Stop 'bonding' with my legs. You have to be, like, five or so years older than me."
"I'm not that old! You're what, sixteen, seventeen?"
"Try fourteen, idiot." Her voice reverberated in his head.
"Wh-what? Fourteen? You're serious?" He blinks quickly and jumps up from his seat, knocking a few catalogs from the table.
"Totally serious. Don't go on about how old I look, it only makes me depressed."
He calms down a bit, but doesn't sit down.
"Well, I'm only four years older than you, then."
Firefly looks annoyed, "Well, by all means, keep checking me out!"
They both huff, glare at each other, and huff again.
Firefly looks at the second door, which she now thinks of as "The Mystery Door."
"What's that?" She asks, pointing at the unopened door, voice still dangerous.
"Bathroom." Grunts Pyro.
"Mine!" Firefly practically yells. She uncurls from the couch and moves towards the door, stopping only to point at the bundle of clothing on top of the dresser and inquire, "Are those mine as well?"
Pyro nods and she slides the clothes off the dresser.
As the door closes, Pyro wonders exactly how long Magneto will have him hauled up in his room with Firefly.
"How did this happen? How could I let this happen?" Logan paced back and forth through Professor X's office, and snarling intensely at anyone who tried to calm him down.
Rogue, Iceman, Shadowcat, Colossus, Storm, Cyclops, Logan, and the Professor met in the Professor's office that morning to discuss what had happened.
"I shoulda' smelled 'em! I shoulda' heard 'em! And you!" he turns to Professor Xavier, who is calmly looking back at him. "You shoulda' heard 'em coming, too!"
"Logan, we realize you are extremely upset by the kidnapping of Miss Bellview, as we all are; the taking of a student from these very walls is something I would never expect of Magneto. This is why we must plan a way to get her back before any real harm befalls her."
"Any real harm?" Logan yells at the crippled man, "She was kidnapped, Chuck! In my book, that's real harm!"
Rogue's gloved hand rests on Logan's arm, and it seems only her frightened expression convinces Logan to calm his voice.
"What is our plan of action?" asks Storm quietly. Firefly hadn't been one of her favorite students, but her kidnapping had come as a shock to all.
"If Magneto has taken her, he'll have had some protection from Cerebro. She will not be found that way." Professor Xavier steeples his finger tips and seems lost in his own thoughts.
"So, what are we going to do? Professor?" Scott looks to his elderly mentor.
The Professor looks disturbed and when he speaks it's with a tone of remorse, "I'm afraid the only thing we can do, besides run in the streets shouting her name, is wait for Magneto to act with her."
"Act with her? I don't quite get it." Kitty is the next to speak. She looks shaken and guilty; her roommate being taken obviously affecting her somewhat.
"Magneto never acts without a higher reason; if he wants Temperance, an exceptionally powerful and uncontrolled mutant, he must have a larger plan in the works." The Professor finishes, and the room holds a suddenly silent resolve.
"So what're we s'posed to do in the meantime?" Logan growls, "Wait for him to use her like that?"
"We must call her parents and inform them of their daughter's condition."
Logan looks outraged yet again at this, but Rogue quiets him. Even though Firefly and Logan had been close with their kitchen ritual, everyone knew that she could not compare to Rogue.
The X-Men leave the Professor's office.
A/N: I hope you like it!