Chapter Seventy-Five:


"Can't zis thing go any faster?" Kurt grumbled.

Logan glared at him from the front of the cockpit. "We've already broken the sound barrier, elf. I know yer anxious to get there, so are the rest of us, but sit back and shut yer trap. We'll be there in a few minutes."

Kurt leaned back in his seat, sulking, and Amanda had to hide a laugh. He had no idea how ridiculously adorable he looked when he did that.

From the copilot's chair, Raven glanced back at her son sympathetically, and Amanda smiled to herself. As Kurt's girlfriend, his human girlfriend, she hadn't been received very well the first time she was introduced to Kurt's mother, but over time they had forged a mutual respect for one another. Now, they even got along, much to Kurt's relief, and Raven seemed to have accepted her as part of the family.

Amanda wondered if that had anything to do with Logan threatening to skewer her with his adamantium claws if she interfered in their relationship a few years back.

"Just be patient, Kurt," Raven advised, then turned to shoot Logan a dark look. "And you could fly this thing a little faster, you know. It's not like there are cops up here to pull us over for speeding."

Logan growled under his breath, clenching the controls of the jet tighter, but wisely chose not to reply. As entertaining as his fights with Raven could be, somehow Amanda didn't think that having one fifteen thousand feet above the ground was a good idea.

Amanda reached over to give Kurt's tail an affectionate tug, earning a weak smile in return. She'd been tempted to yank it the entire trip now, watching it twitch back and forth like a live wire. He was like a little boy again, energetic and animated, at the prospect of seeing his sister again after four long years. Until the day before, he had believed her to be dead, and Amanda would never forget the look on his face when Logan informed them that Xavier had just called with good news- Rogue was alive.

Raven had wept openly with relief, taking them all by surprise, for no one, save perhaps Kurt and maybe Logan, had ever seen the shape-shifter cry before. But it was understandable, this was her daughter, safely returned to them at long last.

Kurt's reaction had been the exact opposite- he had bounced around the room in delirious excitement, grabbing Amanda by the hand and yanking her to her feet, dancing circles around the shocked mutants in the room. She had laughed right along with him, watching in wonder as the heavy weight that had been on his shoulders for the past few years vanished as if it had never been there in the first place.

He had yet to stop grinning.

No one knew how Logan had reacted when Xavier told him the news that his long-lost daughter was alive and en route to Westchester, because he had been alone in the office when the call came in, but for some reason Amanda thought he might have cried. His eyes had been suspiciously wet when he came into the recreation room after hanging up with Xavier, and more than once it looked like he was purposefully staying quiet while the others celebrated because he was too overcome with emotion to speak.

Kurt had wanted to leave for Westchester right away, but somehow Logan and Raven had found the restraint to realize they needed to get things in order first. They couldn't just up and leave the training facility without making arrangements, no matter how badly they may have wanted to.

They'd left early the following morning, though, and found that Kurt had already packed the jet with their luggage while everyone else ate breakfast. He had been too excited to sleep much the night before, so he'd decided to put his energy to good use.

Unfortunately, his energy had only seemed to skyrocket once the jet took off from their base in Northern Canada, and Amanda thought it was a miracle that Logan had yet to produce his claws considering how impatient Kurt was being today.

Then again, Logan was probably just as eager to see Rogue with his own eyes, he was just better at not showing it.

"Are we there yet?" a female voice snickered from the back.

Amanda turned around in her seat to grin at Jubilation Lee, who was trying hard not to laugh at the look of irritation her words brought forth on Logan's face. Strapped into the seats beside her were Neal Shaara and Ray Crisp, both of whom were too busy playing with some handheld video game to care about anything going on around them.

The final passenger aboard the stealth jet was a young man known only as Forge. He was a handsome man with tan skin and dark features, clearly of Native American descent, and currently occupied fooling around with yet another one of his inventions.

"What are you working on, Forge?" she asked curiously.

"Molecular reconstructor," he replied without looking up from what he was doing.

Jubilee made a face, and Amanda chuckled as she turned back around in her seat. It seemed like every week Forge was dreaming up some new and radical invention, most of which she was certain she would never understand, no matter how many times he tried to explain them. Still, there was something terribly endearing watching him fiddling with his inventions, so long as he wasn't trying to rope her into being a guinea pig when it came time to test them.

A few years ago, she would have laughed if someone had told her she would be one of the X-men, at least in name. She wasn't a mutant, even if her boyfriend was, and she had never dreamed that she would be part of that aspect of his life.

That had all changed one afternoon, though, when a rather alarming news bulletin had aired on television.

It had been quite a shock to be watching Friends and have the broadcast interrupted with a live news feed that displayed your boyfriend's blue, furry face across the screen.

The next week had been a stressful one, worrying for Kurt and his friends, watching helplessly as the world turned against mutants out of fear and ignorance. By the time Kurt found time to call her from Muir Island and let her know he was okay, she had been at wit's end.

Maybe that was why she'd decided to go join him there, and why her parents and Professor Xavier had begrudgingly agreed. Of course, now she knew that her mother had supported the idea because of her sorceress heritage, she'd been afraid that Amanda would be labeled a mutant should her powers manifest in Bayville.

And as for the Professor, Amanda had a feeling he'd sent the X-jet for her because he thought her presence might help Kurt, who was reeling from the revelation that Rogue was his half-sister. Having to deal with that, as well as the fact that Rogue was one of the four X-men in Trask's captivity, had been a terrible ordeal for him. The first few weeks after she arrived on Muir Island, they had talked about Rogue all the time, but as the months stretched on and the situation looked more and more bleak, Kurt had simply stopped talking about her because it became too painful.

The day that Professor Xavier had officially stopped looking for her, two years to the date after the last time the X-men had laid eyes on her, they'd held a small funeral of sorts. It was supposed to help them deal with their grief, Xavier had explained, to help them move on with their lives.

Kurt had not attended.

Raven and Logan had stood beside one another, silent and somber, listening as those who knew their daughter best gave fitting eulogies complete with amusing anecdotes and personal memories. Amanda hadn't dared to look at them during the service, but Kitty claimed to have seen Raven crying, and Jean had once mentioned that she'd had to close off her perceptions to the grieving parents to block out their overwhelming anguish.

It had been a painful day for everyone, but in some ways it had been healing, just as Xavier had said it would be. Scott had talked about the day Rogue joined the X-men and the kinship he'd felt with her from the start, and Kitty had gotten herself so worked up while talking about the N'Sync posters that Rogue had refused to let her put up in their room that she made nearly everyone present tear-up. Jean had smiled through her tears as she told the story of her power surge and how Rogue had risked her own life to save her. Bobby had cracked a few jokes and earned some laughter from the crowd be recalling aloud Rogue's temper and a few of his extreme pranks that had earned him her wrath over the years. Ororo had given a lovely and touching speech about the gentle side that not many people got to see with Rogue. Sam had talked about how Rogue made him feel at home when he first moved in at the Institute, having another Southerner to commiserate with while living in New York had been a blessing.

But it had been Evan whose words had given them all a small measure of comfort, when he told them all how happy Rogue had been the last time he saw her, head-over-heels in love with a handsome Acolyte who went by the codename Gambit and finally able to touch after being denied that simple pleasure for so long.

Xavier had concluded the ceremony with a short, sad speech of his own, reflecting on how Rogue had come to them as a troubled, scared child who didn't trust anyone, and how she had left them a strong, bold young woman who was both loyal and brave. There had been a tremble to his hands as he extinguished the

Neither Logan nor Raven had chosen to speak, which didn't really come as much of a surprise. They were both loners by nature, much as their daughter had been, but Kurt had told her that they talked about Rogue together, the three of them, from time to time. Mostly to reminisce and share fond memories, occasionally to wonder whether or not there was still a chance they might get a miracle.

Amanda had always wondered if Kurt regretted not attending, but she had never asked. At that point he had still been in denial, refusing to accept that his sister was gone. Over time he had slowly come to terms with it, though, and somewhere along the line he had let her go.

Now, learning that she was alive, that he had been right all those years ago when he'd insisted over and over that she couldn't possibly be dead, because a world without Rogue in it somewhere was somehow unequivocally wrong, Kurt was on Cloud Nine.

"I can't vait to see her," Kurt said, for at least the hundredth time that morning.

Amanda smiled over at him. "I'm sure she can't wait to see you, either, Kurt."

"Vhat do you think she looks like now?" Kurt wondered aloud. "It's been vier years."

"She's probably taller," Ray offered distractedly from the back-seat.

"Ja," Kurt agreed with an enthusiastic nod. "Maybe she let her hair grow out. She always talked about doing zat."

"I just hope she ditched the makeup," Jubilee called out. "She was always so pale, it freaked me out."

"She vas afraid to lay out in her swimsuit," Kurt reminded her. "She vas always vorried zat she would hurt someone."

"We should have invested in a tanning bed then," Jubilee muttered. "Rogue could have used it, and some of us would have liked the be able to keep our tans through the winter, you know."

"She wouldn't have used it," Ray informed her, jerking his video game as his thumbs danced across the controls. "Ever since she absorbed Storm she was always kinda claustrophobic, remember?"

"Tanning beds give you cancer," Logan muttered, overhearing.

"So did cigars," Jubilee retorted.

"She has a point," Raven said, favoring him with a smirk from the copilot's seat.

"I can't get cancer, remember?" Logan grunted.

"Minor detail," Jubilee protested.

"Besides, what kind of example are you setting for the students?" Raven demanded.

"Oh, you're one to talk, lady," Logan growled, shooting her a dark look. "I don't-"

"Yes!" Forge's exhilarated cry cut off their argument before it could really start. "It's finished! Now all I have to do is test this baby out."

"Vhere are ze parachutes?" Kurt asked, looking around frantically.

"I'm not going to test it out in the jet," Forge informed him, clearly exasperated. "That would be crazy."

"What exactly does that thing do, anyway?" Neal asked, his eyes still glued to the screen of his video game. "You said it was a molecular reconstructor, but that doesn't mean squat to me."

"It rearranges the molecular structure of objects," Forge announced proudly.

"Objects?" Jubilee echoed.

Forge nodded. "Just about anything, really. Mustard, cement, oxygen, living organisms, chemical compounds..."

"Did you say living organisms?" Neal asked, paling slightly, no doubt remembering the last time he'd been targeted with one of Forge's inventions, it hadn't been a pretty sight.

"Kurt, find me one of those parachutes," Jubilee called. "We need to lose Forge before he turns us all into silly putty or something."

"No one is turning anyone into anything," Raven said sharply from the cockpit. "Forge, put away your toys."

"Fine," Forge sighed, and began packing away his tools.

"And would you boys turn off those stupid games?" Raven demanded, looking from Ray to Neal with disgust. "You spend more time staring at those screens than you do sleeping!"

"And that's saying something when it comes to these two losers," Jubilee snickered.

"Love you, too, Jubes," Neal said sarcastically, but he switched off the power to his video game without further complaint.

"Oh, come on, Mystique," Ray whined. "I'm on Level Seventy-Three! Do you know how long it takes to get to Level Seventy-Three?"

"Do you know how little I care?" Raven retorted. "Turn it off, or I'm coming back there and breaking your fingers so it will months before you can even pick up one of those games again."

"I liked you better when you were evil," Ray grumbled, shoving his game into the compartment on the side of his seat.

"Really?" Jubilee scrunched up her nose. "'Cause I didn't enjoy the explosions and the ambushes and Brotherhood hazings at three o'clock in the freaking morning."

"It kept you on yer toes," Logan said gruffly. "Now shut yer traps, will ya? We're comin' up on the estate, and I need to hail Charles to let him know we're landin'."

The jet fell silent as he notified the mansion that they were coming in for a landing, and by some miracle the silence lasted until the jet had safely powered down in the Westchester Academy's hidden hangar.

A holographic image of a smiling Jean Grey met them when they made their way down the landing ramp. "The hangar entrance to the mansion isn't serviceable right now," she informed them apologetically. "Some of our students were goofing off and damaged the control panels. So I'm afraid you'll have to come around to the front door."

"Great," Jubilee groaned. "Out into the cold, and I don't even have my gloves on."

"It's just for a short distance," Logan grunted, gathering up most of the suitcases and gesturing for Neal and Ray to grab the rest. "Let's get going."

When they reached the front door, Kurt was the first one inside, bounding past Jean to look around wildly, as if expecting to find Rogue waiting, and was clearly disappointed when she wasn't. "Vhere iz she?" he asked with a frown.

"Ah, Kurt," Professor Xavier smiled, coming forward in his hoverchair. "I'm glad to see that you all arrived safely."

"Alright, Charles," Logan grunted, dropping the bags with a thud. "The elf asked you a question. Where is she?"

"She just stepped outside for a bit of fresh air," Xavier replied calmly. "Please, let's take this into the living area. There are some things I want to discuss with you all before she returns."

"What kind of things?" Logan asked suspiciously.

"Just humor him and move out of the way," Raven growled from the porch. "Some of us are freezing out here, you idiot."

Logan rolled his eyes to the ceiling and followed Xavier into the other room. Raven stepped inside, huffing, and held the door for Neal, Jubilee, Ray and Forge as they trudged into the mansion behind her.

"Just leave your things there for now," Jean told them, waving for them to follow Logan and Xavier. "We'll worry about getting them up to your rooms later."

"It's good to see you, Jean," Jubilee told her, giving her a quick hug as she passed.

"Ja," Kurt agreed ruefully. "Sorry about zat, Jean."

Jean just laughed. "Don't worry about it, I know you're anxious to see Rogue. We were just as bad yesterday waiting for her to arrive."

"How did she look?" Kurt asked eagerly as they made their way into the other room. "Vas her hair longer? Does she have a tan? How tall iz she? Did she look happy to you? Vhat did-"

"See for yourself in a few minutes, man," Evan Daniels said, walking in from the kitchen with a glass of milk in hand. "She and Remy should be back soon, they just went for a walk out in the snow."

"Remy?" Kurt echoed. "Gambit is here?"

Evan nodded, taking a swig of his drink. "Yeah, they came together. Rogue's been living with him down in New Orleans for the past four years."

"Vhat?!"

"Evan," Xavier said sternly. "Perhaps you would like to go and let Scott and the others know that our guests have arrived? I'd like to speak with them for a few moments."

"Sure thing, Prof," Evan shrugged and headed for the stairs.

"What's this about Rogue shackin' up with Gambit?" Logan asked stiffly, clearly not pleased by this piece of information.

"As I told you when we spoke on the vidphone, Logan," Xavier replied calmly. "Rogue is no longer a child, but very much an adult. She's established her own life, separate from the X-men, and it's done her a world of good. She smiles constantly, she laughs more than I'd ever dreamed she could, she practically glows when you look at her."

"So she's been happy, then," Mystique said softly, smiling faintly. "She's been safe and happy in Gambit's care."

"Yes, she has," Xavier confirmed with a nod. "And his name is Remy LeBeau, as I'm sure you remember. It would make things easier on Rogue if you could all try to call him by that name instead of his codename."

"Sure thing," Jubilee nodded.

"Rogue has changed drastically from the girl you remember," Xavier warned gently. "For one thing, she has apparently started going by her real name again, but she has assured me that she doesn't mind being called Rogue."

"She's goin' by Marie now?" Logan asked in surprise, glancing over at Raven, who looked just as stunned by that news.

"Yes, she is," Xavier confirmed. "From what I've gathered, she made that decision after some time, believing that she was the only X-man to survive. Her way of moving on with her life, I would suppose."

"She hated that name when she was a child," Raven murmured, a faraway tone to her voice, and a wistful expression in her eyes.

"Like I said, she's grown up," Xavier responded. "Her powers have evolved, and I don't mean the abilities she's gained from Carol Danvers. She can access any power she has ever absorbed now at will, giving her the potential to be one of the strongest mutants on the planet."

"Vow..." Kurt blinked in shock, and Amanda nodded in agreement.

"At the moment, using those reserve powers exhausts her, it takes a good deal of energy to sustain their use, but I believe with time and practice, she might very well be able to master them," Xavier explained. "And she knows this, she's confident in her abilities, no longer the insecure girl she once was."

"Rogue was insecure?" Ray asked incredulously, earning an elbow to the stomach from Jubilee.

"We knew she'd be different, Charles," Logan said gruffly. "It's been over four years, and being able to touch had to change her quite a bit."

"Yes, speaking of which," Xavier cleared his throat, folding his hands in front of him. "There was one more thing I wished to discuss with you before you see Rogue. It's about her relationship with Remy."

"Relationship?" Logan echoed, narrowing his eyes.

"Vhat is zat supposed to mean?" Kurt added.

Just then the front door swung open and in stepped a handsome man with windblown hair, carrying a woman with a very distinctive set of white streaks in her hair in his arms. Amanda felt her heart leap into her throat, and she couldn't resist breaking out into a smile.

The couple was laughing, too caught up in each other to notice anything or anyone else, and so clearly in love. The man, who she guessed had to be Remy LeBeau, leaned in to kiss the woman in his arms.

"Mon pere's gon' be t'rilled t' hear de news," Remy said with a grin, looking down at Rogue with the kind of gaze you only saw in movies. "Can' wait t' tell de famille dat yo' pregnant, Marie."

Amanda's eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth. Beside her, Kurt stiffened, his tail suddenly going alarmingly straight.

Sknit!

The unmistakable sound of Logan's adamantium claws unsheathing sliced through the room and for the first time Remy and Rogue looked up to find they weren't alone.

"Care to repeat that, bub," Logan growled, taking a menacing step forward, his teeth barred.


Translations:
Ja- Yes (German)
vier- four (German)
famille- family


A/N: I know this is kind of a short chapter, I intended for it to be longer, but something came up and I am going out of town for the weekend, so if I wanted to post before next week, I had to settle for short and sweet. Hope you guys enjoy!