Chapter 17

Rogue sighed as she collapsed next to Kurt on the sofa. All of the students of the Institute were gathered in the sitting room, having received a mental message from Xavier about a meeting immediately after school.

"Don't suppose any of ya'll know what this is about?" she asked the room in general.

Everyone replied in the negative.

"Maybe we have a new student?" Kurt suggested.

Jean was about to reply, when The Professor, Logan, Ms. Monroe, and Mr. McCoy and Mystique walked into the room.

Rogue immediately shot to her feet. "What tha hell is she doin' here!?" she demanded angrily.

"Sit down Rogue," Xavier instructed firmly, though not unkindly.

The mutant teen reluctantly sat down, crossing her arms and glaring at the blue-skinned woman.

The Professor sighed. "While I am not pleased with Rogue's wording, I am sure the rest of you are wondering why Mystique is here." At the confirming nods of the others, he continued, "Mystique has decided to join us, and will now be helping to train you…"

Rogue stood and left the room, not wanting to hear anymore.

Kurt sighed and stood up. "Sorry Professor," he apologized for his sister. "If it is alright, I will go talk to her."

Xavier was about to respond, when Mystique spoke instead. "Sit down Kurt. I more than deserve Rogue's, and even your, distrust," she admitted. She reached up to rub her eyes tiredly, before turning to the Professor. "I'm going to go talk to her."

Without another word, she left the room, following her foster daughter.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000

Irene Adler smiled sadly.

The future seeing mutant saw her lover, step-son, and foster daughter's happiness.

Walking back into her home, she set the letter from the hospital on the counter without opening it. It was both a curse and a blessing that her power enabled her to see the future.

She didn't need to read the letter to know the tumor in her lung would kill her. No matter what the doctors said, she knew she would die in a matter of weeks.

And she was prepared to meet her fate with dignity.

Besides, Raven would recover from her loss…

With a little help.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000

Mystique found Rogue out by the institute's pool. The younger woman had pulled of her boots and socks, using the lack of people to participate in a rare pleasure for her.

Dangling her bare feet in the water.

Not wanting to startle her, Mystique stayed several feet away. "Anna," she called softly.

"Ya don't get ta call me that!" Rogue said angrily, not bothering to look over her shoulder at the other woman. She stood up to turn and face one of the two women that had raised her. "Ah needed help! An' instead, ya attack me, tricking me inta thinkin' tha X-Men were doin' it. Then, when ah find out tha truth, ya attack me an' Scott! Not ta mention how ya treated Kurt!"

"What happened with Kurt was not intentional," Mystique explained. "And it is between him and I." She sighed. "I know you won't believe me, but all I can say is that I am sorry."

"Yer not sorry fer anything!" Rogue yelled, glaring at her.

The shape-shifter took a deep breath, to suppress her urge to yell back, knowing it wouldn't help the situation. "I am," she reaffirmed, "if for no other reason than my actions have driven you away. It may be hard to understand, but at the time I believed I was doing the right thing."

"How was attackin' me tha right thing?"

"Put yourself in my shoes. I didn't, and still don't to be honest, believe that once our existence becomes known to the general public, mutants would be accepted," Mystique explained. "Xavier doesn't believe in deadly force, and has already begun fighting for his dream of peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. He'd already recruited my son, when to the last of my knowledge he was living safely in Germany. I was aware of how far Magneto was, and is, willing to go, and that Xavier and his students would oppose him. Irene didn't know when you'd develop your power, otherwise I would have been there to help you. And when I do arrive home, to help you, I find the X-Men already searching for you. I also know that, if they get to you first, you're likely to go with them, out of desperation if nothing else, I also know that if they see me, they'll assume I'm there for a fight. And thus, I did my best to drive you away from them. I'll admit, I'd hopped after expressing your fear of them, the X-Men would back off, but they didn't, and that evening spiraled out of control."

"That still don't explain why ya attacked Scott and Ah?" Rogue countered.

Mystique raised an eyebrow. "When did I ever attack you?" she asked. "Scott, I'll admit to, though in my defense, he was my enemy at the time. But as I recall, it was you that attacked me, and when I tried scaring you away from Scott, you that blasted me with optic beams."

Rogue was silent for several moments, though she was still glaring at Mystique, before she asked, "If ya still don't believe in peace, why're ya even here?"

The redhead sighed. "Magneto betrayed me. For that alone, I would work against him, but I don't need to be here for that. However, you and Kurt are here. I know you may never forgive me for what I've done," she admitted. "But I'll never forgive myself if I don't try and earn that forgiveness, from both of you."

Rogue leaned down and picked up her boots and socks. "It'll take more than words ta earn anything from me," she said harshly, before walking away, back into the institute.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000

Rose sat at the counter, a regular sheet of paper in front of her, and a pen in hand.

So far, all she'd gotten down was:

Dear Hermione,

It was kind of frustrating, as while she had a lot to tell the witch, she had no idea what to write. So much had happened since she left England, she didn't know where to start.

"What're you doing?" Wanda asked, coming into the main store with a box of candles to stock.

Rose smiled slightly. "Writing to an old friend," she explained. "It's harder than I thought."

"Well maybe…," Wanda was cut off as the shop's phone rang.

Holding up her finger to tell Wanda to wait, Rose picked up the phone, "Thank you for calling White Owl, this is Rose speaking."

"Yer not busy are ya?" the tired voice of Rogue responded.

Rose's smile frowned at the sound of Rogue's voice. While she would normally be ecstatic that her girlfriend was calling her, something had to be wrong the way Rogue sounded. "No, I'm just sitting at the counter. Is everything alright?"

Rogue sighed. "No. Is Wanda there?"

"Yes," Rose answered, looking over at the woman.

"Can ya come pick me up? Tha three of us need ta talk."

"I'll be there momentarily, where do you want me to appear?"

"Tha front steps, Ah'm hopin' no one realizes Ah'm gone. Ah'll see ya in a few."

Rose hung-up the phone, and with no explanation vanished from the store in a flash of flame.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000

Wanda watched as he friend and boss disappeared, a worried look on her face.

Not knowing what else to do, the young woman went back to her stocking duties, hoping everything was alright. As she was restocking, the flame reappeared, and rose, along with Rogue, appeared in the store as it vanished.

Even Wanda could see Rogue was stressed.

"Will you tell me what the hell is wrong now?" Rose asked.

Rogue sighed, and looked over at Wanda. "Mystique is now living in tha Institute," she informed her.

Wanda felt her mouth go dry. As if her situation with Kurt wasn't bad enough, his mother was now in close proximity to him. Not only that, she knew Kurt was a forgiving person, and that he still had hope of having a relationship with his mother.

But she supposed Mystique wouldn't remain there long.

"For how long?" Wanda asked.

"She's stayin'," the southern Goth informed her. "Say's she want's ta repair her relationships with Kurt an' Ah."

Wanda gulped. This was not good.

"Wait a minute," Rose interrupted. "Are you saying yours and Kurt's mother is at the Institute?"

Rogue nodded.

"Well shit," Rose responded, pulling Rogue into a hug.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000

Please Review and Checkout the Challenges in My Forums and the stories I have up for adoption, posted under the title Please Adopt Me! And please, if you enjoy this story, look at my stories More Important Things and Bloodhound. I'd really like to see someone accept my Bloodhound Challenge.