Chapter 11: Letting Go

By: Galadeidre

Knock, knock, knock.

A pair of cool blue eyes opened at the sound and she looked towards the door. Instinctively, she grabbed a large black sweatshirt and pulled it over her head and onto her rather thin figure. "What is it?"

"May we come in?" Storm's voice floated through the closed wooden doors.

The young girl listened to the small scuffling noises that were heard after the question had been asked. She looked at the bottom of the door to see several shadows pass through the light that leaked underneath. She had been dreading this very moment.

She liked her privacy.

"Yeah."

The door opened and Storm's head peaked in. "Hi, Chloe! You have a new roommate." She opened the door wider to show the new occupant.

Chloe's cool, ice-blue eyes locked with Len's bright, emerald green eyes. Len was a bit hesitant to enter through to her new room. She looked at her new roommate. Chloe wore all black, from the oversized sweatshirt to the denim jeans and black socks. Her hair was a dark honey blonde that had been cropped short just above her shoulders. Her skin was a light, creamy-white color, almost pale white. At that moment, she was sitting on her bed, several paperback books lying strewn around on her blanket. Her side of the room was filled with her belongings – which didn't seem to be much. Her desk had a few papers, notebooks, and pencils, all neatly stacked and clean. There wasn't any adornment on the walls and the curtains had been drawn back to let in the sunlight of the day. The other side of the room which the spare bed and desk were located had not been touched.

"Chloe," Storm started. She turned from Chloe to Len. "This is your new roommate, Lenette. I want you to make her feel welcome here, alright?"

"Sure," Chloe responded. She closed her eyes and crossed her arms at the back of her head, leaning back.

Storm sighed and smiled, turning to Len. "Do you have anything else that needs to be carried up here? Any belongings? I can have someone go down and bring it up here."

"Uh, no." Len shook her head. "Thanks. I don't have anything else."

"All right." Storm smiled and placed her hand gently on Len's arm. "If you need anything, just call me. I have to do a few things, and I'll come back to check up on you later, all right? Professor Xavier may want to talk to you about training sessions later on in the day, but he'll find you when the time comes. Let me know if you need anything." With that, Storm disappeared down the hallway.

Len sighed and walked into her room. Chloe hadn't moved from her laid back position.

Conner entered the room after Len. He took a long look at Chloe before watching Len gaze around at her surroundings.

Len sighed once more and sat on her bed, her back facing Chloe. Conner looked down at her as he leaned onto the wall. "So? What do you think?"

Len nodded her head a few times. "I…I think I'll be able to handle it…yeah…" She looked up at him briefly and then looked away.

Conner knew she was scared, and he didn't blame her. He knelt down in front of her and spoke quietly. "Len…look. I…I don't want to force you to do something you don't want to do. If you don't want to stay, that's fine. Really, Len…I…"

Len shushed him by shaking her head. "Conner, you've done so much for me. I can do this. I'll be fine. Really, Conner." She gave Conner a stare to confirm it.

Conner knew better, but also knew that this was the best place for her to be at that time. He sighed and nodded. "Well, then. I guess you're staying here." He stood up. "Oh, I almost forgot." He placed the duffel bag that he had been carrying on top of the bed beside Len. "This is for you."

Len looked at him quizzically.

Conner gave a small chuckle, running his fingers through his messy brown hair. "I made a pit stop as we passed by a city while you were sleeping. Luckily, I had just received my paycheck. Being stage director has its perks."

Len's eyes widened. "Conner, you didn't."

"It's fine. Really. You needed a few belongings, so I thought it best. It's no big deal. Really." He sighed. He knew this time would soon come, and he had been dreading it. "Now, I should really be going."

"What? Why?"

Conner looked gently down at Len. "Len, it's Sunday. Luckily, we don't have school on Monday, but you know I have to be there on Tuesday, or people will start to wonder. I called Von several hours ago. He's already trying to form a cover story for you and several others, so that no one will question your disappearance."

"You can't stay any longer?" It hadn't quite registered to Len that he was leaving her. They had been together for such a long time that it didn't seem possible that Conner would be truly leaving her.

Conner glanced at her and slowly nodded, looking down. He slowly walked out of the room and down the hallway, Len following.

It finally and suddenly hit Len. She was filled with this ominous foreboding that he was leaving her…

…that she would never truly see him again…

Len stopped in the middle of the hallway.

Conner noticed this a few steps afterwards and turned around. He noticed that her face had a dazed yet dreading look on it. "Len…"

Len looked up at him, her eyes filled with fright. "You can't leave. You can't…"

"Len, I have to…"

"No!" Len was frozen where she stood, but her head shook side to side violently. "No! You can't leave. I…I won't see you again…" Her voice broke and she closed her eyes as she continued to shake her head.

Conner quickly walked back to her, holding out his arms to embrace her. "Len, that's not true. I promise I'll come back to visit. I'll write to you whenever I can, okay? Len?"

Tears slowly traveled down her cheeks. She opened her eyes and shook her head. "You don't understand…we won't…you won't…Conner…I…I don't have anyone else to turn to…I…"

Conner himself was close to breaking down. He had never left Len alone for a long period of time. Sometimes, he thought he was weak for doing this…that he could never leave her side. He knew, though, that he had to leave her…this time he had to walk away.

So he decided to do something that Lenette had never let him do before, praying that she would allow him this one pleasure.

He pulled her close to him and planted his lips firmly on hers.

And Len didn't stop him. Her eyes widened for a moment, but she then closed them to enjoy the moment. Tears began to stream down her face as the foreboding feeling continued to grow within her. This was the first time he'd ever kissed her – and it would be the last. She didn't want to let go. Her arms slowly went around his neck as his arms gently stroked her back and drew her ever closer to him.

Conner knew he couldn't hold onto her much longer. He had to leave. If he didn't go soon, he knew that there was a very good chance that he would change his mind and decide to stay against his better judgment. He'd never forget her and he wouldn't break his promise; he would come and visit her when he had settled everything with Len's parents and made sure that they were doing better than what they were feeling as of now.

He had to let her go.

And he did.

With one last push of his lips, he broke off the kiss and briskly walked down the hallway, into the elevator, and out of the mansion, never looking back to see if Len was following her, though he knew that she wasn't. He blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill.

Len just stood where he had left her. The minute he had broken off the kiss, the cold, forbidding feeling had overwhelmed her, and she shivered. With her eyes closed, she could see him walk out of the building…open the car door…start the engine…slowly drive out through the gates…leaving her...

She could feel his sorrow, which mirrored hers. She slowly fell to the ground, sobbing quietly. Either Xavier knew that she was there and had told everyone not to enter that hall or it was a beautiful day and everyone was outside. Whatever the reason, the hallway remained empty, save for Len who stayed sitting on the ground, the tears flowing down her cheeks and onto her lap.

A/N: Now I hoped you all liked this chapter! I wanted to cry when I wrote this. Really. I hated the thought of making Conner leave, but I had to. (sigh) It was the only way that this story could unfold. Well, let us move on…as you can all see, there is a new OC in this chapter! Yay! Actually, I must give all the credit of this OC to a writer that has been wonderfully reading and reviewing my story. Chloe is her original character – not mine – which she asked me to add into my fanfic. EA-01…I hope I do your OC justice in this story! Thank you all for your reviews! I do really enjoy them! I hope to be able to update soon! Thanks again!

Galadeidre