Author's Note:

I'm a woman of my word, and the moment I saw that one review from Elsa, I got to work on this chapter.

So, you guys know what to do! Read on, and review!

Picture link is up on my profile!

6:45 AM

Xavier Institute

"Danger Room" should have been the first indication of what was to come.

Mr. Logan had taken full advantage of the fact that I enjoyed running and set up a cat-and-mouse obstacle course, Kurt being the cat and me the mouse. They had given me the gist of the session seconds before starting, and it was fairly simple: don't get caught or hit. What exactly that meant, I wasn't all that sure, but as I made my way down a ramp, I started to get an idea.

A red energy beam shot down two feet ahead, disappeared, and reappeared right next to me, grazing my shoulder. I ran faster and listened this time for the tell-tale sound that came a second before the beam made contact, and was able to dodge the next one. I didn't get so lucky when I rounded a corner and another caught me full in the chest. I fell back onto the ground with a winding thud, my head hitting the floor painfully. I waited a moment and got to my feet. Yes, the ground felt uneasy at first, but I wasn't going to give in.

I was tired of being a cowardly wimp.

"Danielle, are you--?"

"Fine!" I yelled, cutting Scott off. "Stop going easy on me! Is that the best you've got?" He laughed outright, and surely enough, pushed things up a notch.

A javelin swung out of the wall and I instinctively dove to the floor. It passed an inch over me, and I made a mental note to jump next time. I sprung to my feet and dodged several more of the energy beams Scott was sending in my direction, the pounding in the back of my head begging for attention which I refused to grant it.

"Pick up the pace, Rookie," Mr. Logan warned just as a short steel wall rose out of the ground. A beam blasted just where I would have been had I jumped a second earlier. "The elf is catching up." I vaulted over the wall and had a sudden idea. I grinned as I ran for the next wall, taking my time. "Pick up the pace!" I listened for Kurt and, when he sounded close enough, I scrambled over the wall and ducked.

Scott had set up a rhythm I could catch on to, so when Kurt leaped over the wall, Scott hit him instead. I grasped the opportunity and took off full-speed, getting myself a good head-start.

"Sorry, Kurt!" Scott called. Kurt groaned in response.

Kurt…

Even as we pulled through the gate, I could see in the distance that somebody was waiting for us in the entrance. As we got closer, I began to recognize the shaggy hair and the slight slouch, but there was something off about him. Rogue got out of the car first, and a shocked look crossed over Kurt's face when he saw her.

"Rogue?" he exclaimed disbelievingly. She smiled and shrugged a shoulder.

"I'm home," she said awkwardly. He stared at her and then, without any warning save for a spike in his aura that only I could sense, threw his arms around her. She went stiff for a moment, but soon relaxed and carefully placed her arms around him. "It's good to see ya too, Kurt."

"Where've you been all this time?" he asked, barely masking the immense emotion that seeing her caused him. "You haven't called, written--"

"I needed t' get away for a li'l bit," she explained, pulling away. "Did y'all get the letter I left?"

"Ja, but…"

"I'm sorry."

He smiled a relieved smile and shook his head. "Don't apologize, all that matters is that you're back for good this time." There was a silent, cautious question in his words, but she nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I'm here to stay this time."

He smiled, and for the first time since we'd arrived, looked past her. I got out of the car, a sheepish look on my face.

"Danny?" he said, obviously surprised. "How do you know--?"

"We just met. It was a coincidence, but we started talkin' and she convinced me to come back," Rogue interjected. Rather than question how truthful she was being, I decided to stay quiet. "And here we are. Did y'all give my room away yet?"

"Uh, vell…" He nodded in my direction, and I immediately flushed.

"Everything's still in boxes," I said quickly. "I can move in five min--"

"Don't be ridiculous, the room has two beds," she said, waving a hand. "Come on, chances are we both have some lectures waitin' for us."

And boy, had she been right.

After explaining to the Professor, Mr. Logan and Ororo what had happened and then listening to several discussions about how dangerous it had been to go off on my own, how glad everyone was to see Rogue, and how everything would be further discussed in the morning, I had been sent to bed. Rogue had been held up, so Kurt had been the one to escort me back to my room.

For the life of me I couldn't figure out what was so different about Kurt.

Same cheerful attitude, same mop of hair, same walk-- what was it?! If anything, he was considerably tenser than he'd been earlier, but even that wasn't too different from this morning when he'd been worried I wouldn't like him. I took a good look at him, and eventually it clicked.

He'd been the black (I could now see that he was actually blue) thing jumping out at me the night I'd arrived! Because of my heightened focus on auras, I'd paid hardly any attention to appearances and hadn't even tried figure out why he felt so furry. The matter was almost laughable, but when he caught my eye, I realized it was something that worried him greatly.

"I know I look--"

"Blue's my favorite color, y'know."

At his shocked expression, I smiled softly and shrugged. "Psychic, remember? Your appearance could matter less to me, but that blue does wonders for your eyes." We'd stopped walking in the middle of the hall, but once he'd registered my words, he smiled and began walking again.

"So, you mean I don't... scare you?"

I actually laughed out loud at this. "Kurt, all my life, I've been considered a witch. That includes rats, voodoo, demons and very creepy people," I said, and even if I said it with as much casualness as I could muster, I was actually telling him something considerably private. "It takes a lot more than an elf-y appearance to scare me."

"Rookie, watch where you're running!"

I yelped and tripped over a thin metal wire that sent me rolling straight into the wall. Before I could get up, a pair of fuzzy arms lifted me into the air, and something wrenched at my stomach. I cried out and gripped onto Kurt's suit as everything went dark, and in the blink of an eye, I was back at the starting line in a cloud that smelled like brimstone.

"I win, you lose!" he crowed, and set me onto my feet. "Nightcrawler one, Danny zero!"

"Oh come on, it was my first time!" I whined. "That can hardly count as a point!" He shook a finger in front of my face.

"Uh-uh, no going easy on the Rookie, remember?" he reminded me teasingly. "Now, you up for round two?"

"Last round for today, alright? Then we've gotta get to school!" Scott called. I contemplated this for a moment, then grinned.

"You're on, Kurt!"

Several Hours Before

Xavier Institute, Library

"Rogue, let me say again how glad we are that you've decided to come back home," the Professor said warmly once Ororo and Logan exited, rolling his chair closer to where Rogue sat. "You found some of the answers you were looking for, I hope?"

She crossed her arms and leaned back into the love-seat. "Kinda. I found out my real name and where I was born. I also met the doctor who delivered me, but she couldn't tell me much about my birth mother," she answered, disappointment dripping from her every word. "She described her, but it was nothin' clear: brown eyes, black hair, pale skin, pretty, but normal. She left in the middle of the night without signin' any documents, so the doctor never even knew her name."

"I'm... truly sorry," the Professor said, and to Rogue, he sounded sincere enough. "But please be careful, if there were any documents linking you to your birth parents, chances are that Mystique got to them years--"

"I know, Professor," she cut him off, not wanting to hear her adoptive mother's name. "But apparently she had a daughter with her and a man. Maybe if I investigated the high schools in Florida, I could--"

"One step at a time, Rogue," he said, reaching over and placing a hand on her gloved hand. "You've been traveling for a long time, and must be tired. Rest tonight, and we'll figure things out in the morning." At the touch, her eyes darkened.

"There's somethin' else, Professor. Where'd ya find that girl, Danny?"

He furrowed his brows at this. "She's been sending signals to Cerebro ever since we set up the new system months ago, but I couldn't get a clear reading until the other day. She was living on an inactive military base in Puerto Rico. Why?"

"Because she could touch me, and I haven't a clue why."

Present

Bayville High School

Funny how the languages, courses, and students change, but the fact that high school's a social hell never does.

"Okay Danny, here's the thing: everyone knows we're mutants, so it won't be long before they figure out that you are, too," Jean said, pulling up to the school. It looked just like a typical high school, but judging by the glares and hostility radiating off of the students in the general direction of the car, I got the impression that we weren't welcome (more than normal, at least). "Some will try to pick fights or get you to use your powers, but you can't let them provoke you, okay?"

"What's the worst that can happen, I understand them too much?" Kurt and Kitty snickered, but I gave Jean a serious look. "Don't worry Jean, I'll be careful."

"Good. I'll be here to pick you guys up at the same time as always," she said, and we all got out of the car. I looked up at the building apprehensively, and Kurt placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Don't vorry, just a couple of hours, and it'll all be over."

I gulped. "We're the only mutants here, right?"

"Yup, Lance and the guys all got expelled ages ago," Kitty answered, waving a hand as if it didn't matter. I wondered if Kurt sensed her disappointment as strongly as I did. "C'mon, I'll show you where the office is."

Lunchtime

Bayville High School

The bell rang announcing the end of third period European Literature, and to the students, it was like a gun firing at the start of a horse race. I waited for the majority of the crowd to file out before I braved the crowds in the hallways. It took about five minutes to find my locker, and after checking my schedule to see which books I'd need next, I dumped all of my morning books inside and grabbed my Calculus, Physics and Latin rental textbooks. Kitty had hung a mirror on the inside as a "Welcome to Bayville High" gift, and for a moment, I observed myself.

My eyes hadn't returned to their brown color since yesterday, and as students had passed me by and given me weird looks, I knew the color could never pass as normal. I looked down at my dark jeans, white long-sleeve and the padded black vest that Rogue had lent me: I could dress as normal-looking as I wanted, but the evidence was practically written across my face that I could never even pretend to be such a blissful thing.

I slammed the door shut (I'd found out the hard way that it was tough to close) and turned around, only to find a very familiar, unwelcome face inches from mine.

"Aren't you supposed to be expelled, Pietro?" I snapped, shoving past him.

"Oh come on, is that any way to treat a fellow mutant?" he asked, moving in front of me.

I groaned. "Why don't you go with the rest of your gang and try bullying someone your own size for once? Or, in your case, speed?"

I tried to move around him, but he was too fast, of course. "That's exactly why I'm here! I mean, come on, my powers are pretty cool, so I need to find somebody who can keep up; everything just blurs and gets boring after a while--then again, you'd know all about that firsthand, wouldn't you?" I stopped trying to get past him and glared.

"Your point?"

"I'm just saying, you and me, we have an understanding!"

"Yeah, running really fast without breaking a sweat kicks ass. Can I go to lunch now?"

He sighed. "Come on, I practically give you my powers, and this is how you treat me?" I stepped back.

"What do you mean, gave me your powers?" I asked, suddenly too curious to push him away anymore. "You did that on purpose?" He got that same sneaky grin on his face that had led to disaster yesterday and nodded. "How? Why?"

"Let's take a walk, and I'll explain every--"

"Yo, Danny!"

I whorled around and saw Ray and Sam coming in my direction. Even if they were technically interrupting, I was happy to see them and smiled. When I turned back to Pietro, he was gone, and there was something in my pocket. The two were coming with friendly looks on their faces, so I assumed they hadn't seen him. I reached into my back pocket and found a sleek silver lighter with a piece of torn paper wrapped around it. Before they caught up to me, I took a quick look at the note and then crumbled it up. Before I could question why I was being so sneaky, they were next to me and Sam was talking.

"Did you get lost, Danny?" Sam asked, smiling knowingly. His initial shyness had thankfully worn off some, enough that I could roll my eyes at his comment without offending him. I smiled as if they'd caught me in the act.

"I swear, Kurt and Kitty explained it to me almost twenty times, and I still can't understand this building...!"

I casually slipped the lighter back into my pocket, but as Sam started talking about ways to remember my way around, Ray caught my eye. There was a wary look behind those unbelievably blue irises, and judging by the determined set of his jaw and the way he looked at the lighter, he had seen more than I'd thought. But why didn't he point it out in front of Sam?

I moved between the two and gripped his hand. Not really knowing how, I sent him three words through the contact, the same words Pietro had left written on the note:

We'll talk later.

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