Stumbling Along the Path
"Does it ever wake you in the middle of the night?" Erik asked, "The feeling that one day, they'll come for you? And your children?"
Xavier wheeled around, "I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to my school looking for trouble."
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or universe. They belong to Marvel and FOX Studio.
Jean and Ororo had been wondering around Genosha, late into the evening. The sun was starting to go down and it was starting to get cold. They had never bothered to change into their uniforms, and were starting to get goose bumps.
"Maybe we should head back? It's getting a bit late and we already missed lunch and dinner. I'm sure Scott is going to start worrying. And we haven't seen Kurt in a while too, I think he went back for lunch." Jean rubbed her arms trying to hide the bumps.
"Yes, you are right. I can barely navigate these streets in the day light. It is a pity that could not be one of my mutant gifts." Ororo chuckled, and pulled her scarf tighter around her face.
"Ororo, Scott told me he loved me." Jean blurted out as they turned around to head back.
"Well I am not an expert on the subject but I could tell that the moment we all went to the movies together. He could not take his eyes off you. You once told me you were there with him the day his brother died. Perhaps it is because you were there for him when nobody else was." She shrugged as they turned down a new alley.
"Yeah. I suppose you're right. I said it back, but I don't know if I said it because I meant it or because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. I mean we've only been on one date. We don't really know each other. Plus, being on the X-Men together if it doesn't work out then it could be really really awkward." Jean rambled, following behind Ororo.
"I guess you have to marry him now!" Ororo laughed loudly, startling some stray cats.
"I'm serious, Ororo. What if I didn't mean it and he gets hurt?" She asked, a sincere look on her face.
"Jean, in my lifetime I have found that chances are if you said it from the heart, then it was meant from the heart. Sometimes you think too much. Trust me, I think that deep down, beyond all the thought you put into things, you feel the same about him. Plus, even if you do not, too late now." She winked at Jean but then came over to her and wrapped her arm around Jean's shoulder.
"Yeah yeah, think less, feel more…" Jean mocked, deep down she knew exactly why that wouldn't work. She had to keep her emotions in check, especially considering how her powers had grown out of control more and more since Egypt.
"He cares about you, that is not a bad thing." Ororo said, in all honesty.
"I know. But if I have to marry him, you have to marry Kurt. It's only fair." Jean nudged Ororo jokingly.
They continued the banter back and forth until the made it back to the dock. Once they got back on the boat their conversation changed back to the man Jean had discovered on the island.
"So he was some test subject I think. He was attached to all these wires and tubes, and they kept him in a metal box for who knows how long…" Jean said before they entered the dining room.
"Nice to see you girls finally decided to join us." Magneto said, not looking up from his meal.
"Work to be done, mission stuff." Jean murmured as she sat down next to Scott across from Wanda.
"Ah yes, the man you brought back. He was able to point us in the direction of two other mutants from the United States, who Cyclops and Nightcrawler were able to locate." Magneto gestured to two mutants who looked their age at the end of the table.
One of them wearing a long brown jacket, he looked very scruffy, and carried a stick. It took only seconds for Jean to realize the man was blind. The other was a woman, her hair long and matted with a streak of white down one side, she had a green army jacket on and some clothes that looked no different than a high school student minus some roughing up that had been done to them.
"Rogue." The girl said with a very thick southern accent. Jean guessed that wasn't her real name but didn't say anything, just offered a friendly smile and slight wave.
The man didn't speak though, he was too busy eating, looking as though he had not eaten in weeks. Jean wondered if he had gone hungry that long. Many of the people on the island had been starving when they arrived.
"Charles wants us to return tomorrow, it seems that something has come up. The student of his, Jubilee, she was taken by the MRD. I can only assume that things have only gotten worse as we establish our new state in Genosha." Magneto sat down his utensils and motioned for people to leave.
Everyone began to disperse as Magneto motioned, only Jean stayed put.
"I have a question I would like to ask, if it's alright with you." She said standing up and moving behind her chair.
"Yes, what is it?" He seemed impatient.
"The man, Logan, he knew the Professor, and I got the sense he knew you too. When Kurt, Scott, and I found him he was in an isolated box, and hooked up to all sorts of things, like a test subject or experiment." Jean rambled a bit.
"What is your question?" Magneto asked, more harshly this time around.
"How does he know you and Xavier? Why was he being held? Why can't he remember more than just bits and pieces?" She asked one right after another.
"I only know the answer to one of those, Jean. 10 years or so ago Mystique was trying to kill a man named Trask, who worked to find new ways to deal with mutants. At the time he was working on these robots designed to identify mutants and handle them in any way they felt fit. Logan, the Wolverine, had come to Charles, spouting nonsense about coming from the future to stop Mystique to prevent a horrible outcome. He helped Charles and then we never saw him again."
Jean began to wonder what more could be found if she could only see deeper into his mind.
"Does that answer suffice you?" He sighed, his mind now wondering around the past, he picked up his drink and begun to get up, putting his helmet on as he left.
Jean tried to read his mind, but he simply tapped the helmet and shook his head.
"Thank you, Mr. Lehnsherr." She gave a slight nod of the head and began to turn around and leave.
"You can call me Magneto." His voice flattened as he left the room, his eyes to the ground.
With what she knew, Jean wondered as to where Logan was, she wondered if she could just read his mind, maybe she could find out more, there was something he knew, she felt it.
She closed her eyes and tried to pick his thoughts out of the hundreds on the ship, but to no avail. An instant headache as she opened her eyes and began to feel dizzy. She grabbed the wall and slid down it with a sigh.
She could no longer tune out all the voices. She pressed her hands against the temples of her head pushing her hair out of her way, she inhaled deeply through her nose and out through her mouth. She tried to remember the techniques Xavier had taught her but it felt like her temples were pulsating and she couldn't gain focus.
Jean stood up and made it to the hallway despite the feeling of being crushed under all the voices. It was in that moment she heard a voice deep and guttural, sounding in pain. She followed it to a door across from what was originally her and Ororo's room.
She closed her eyes and tuned into that one voice, but all she found was darkness, and the sound of knives on a chalkboard, as she was immediately thrown off balance as if someone had pushed her. She stumbled into her door, and grabbed the door knob. Once she regained her balance she opened the door and went back inside.
"Oh hey Jean, you missed lunch… and well sort of dinner. Where did you and Ororo go anyway?" Scott asked his tooth brush protruding from his mouth.
"Well once we handed out all the food, we just started exploring, I guess we got distracted. There was so much out there. And this was really the first time since Egypt that we got to go sightseeing, and this time could enjoy the sights without worrying about getting killed, ya know?" She said, taking off her shoes.
"Fair enough, haha. I think you were just trying to avoid our guest. I know I wish I could." Scott joked, going into the bathroom to change clothes.
Jean made a generic agreement, but couldn't help but think of what Magneto had told her and wondered what more they knew.
Scott continued to ramble about Jubilee and his concern but Jean couldn't focus on the words, it all sounded like noise mixed in with the voices.
Meanwhile, Ororo was pacing the halls, her mind racing after what Magneto had said about Jubilee. Kurt and Peter were sitting in her room, the door open as they watched her pace nervously.
"Seriously can't believe they kidnapped one of us. Do they not realize the professor will seriously just wreck their day?" Peter said, turning his head to the left to crack it with a subtle pop.
"We are not exactly the best team though. I mean we are just a bunch of teenagers, and not the kind of teenagers who people find to be intimidating. We are like the math geeks going up against an army." Kurt said, shaking his blue hair.
"Math geeks with super powers, man." Peter replied with a nod of the head.
