Chapter 9

"You do? You…love Jean?" John demanded, using the word 'love' as if he was referring to something disgusting. His tone was furious.

Scott glared at John. "I do. I'm not going to kill her. You'll have to go through me first."

John snarled at him and turned around, abruptly walking out the cafeteria.

"Whoa…since when has John been angry like that?" Bobby asked, sounding uneasy.

Scott glared after John, his furious gaze fixed on his plate. He then glared up at Logan and Bobby. "What are you going to say?" he demanded heatedly. The lighter-brown portion of his eyes was more visible, which meant he was in an emotional state.

Bobby had been Scott's best friend almost since they were born. Since before they became Assassins, since before all this mess started. He knew how Scott felt and what he's thinking most of the time, but this was the exception. It was pretty safe to say Bobby was stunned.

"We have to kill them." Logan replied.

"I'm not killing Jean!" Scott shouted at her. "I can't!"

"Then we can switch the girls," Bobby suggested. Scott's eyes flamed.

"I mean I don't want to see her die!" Scott spat, and raced out the door.

It went against how they were supposed to feel, but Logan surprisingly felt the same way as Scott did. Ororo didn't deserve to die. He needed to find out why the Commander wanted them to kill them so much. Rogue's murder would be understandable and Kittybe even Jean's and Kitty's, but Ororo…just was innocent. Why would she be mixed up in this?

Logan wondered how Scott was feeling. He felt sympathy; Scott's 'love' seemed to be anger and a swirl of emotions that upset him and change him from his usual act. Logan wondered…if he was feeling as Scott did, Kittybe less of a raging love, however, and it was Ororo…would he kill the Commander and sacrifice himself for her?

Ororo looked over to Scott as he was shouting at his friends, and she caught a fragment of his words.

"Kill her" he shouted. Ororo's eyes widened. Kill her? The 'her' was obviously Jean…but Scott wouldn't hurt her, much less kill her, would he?

"What did you hear?" Rogue asked Ororo, looking over to Scott.

"'Kill her,'" Ororo replied dully. Rogue shook her head.

"I heard, 'Can't kill her,'" Rogue corrected. Ororo's eyes widened and then went back to its regular size in an instant.

"I'm going to find out what's happening," Ororo said determinedly. "Wish me luck, Rogue."

"Good luck," Rogue replied automatically, giving Ororo a hug.

I'll need it, Ororo thought as she went to her room.

"Okay, to lay out the facts," Ororo said aloud to herself as she lay on her stomach on her bed, a hard-cover notebook and pencil in front of her. She promised herself to burn the paper she wrote on when she was finished.

"Let me help," Jean said, coming in. "I've had a…history of the Assassins."

"Me too," Kurt added, following her. His usual cheerfulness was gone, and Ororo was shocked at how different Kurt was.

"Okay then." Ororo wrote at the top of the page.

"Hey, Ororo, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Jean cried out quickly, and pulled Ororo's pencil out of her hand. "Pull out the paper and wrote on the cover of the notebook, so you don't leave any mark behind." Jean pulled out the paper and pointed to the paper behind the one Ororo had written on. The 'A' was apparent in an imprint on the next page.

"Oh, whoa. I never knew that," Ororo muttered, and closed the notebook. She placed the piece of paper on top and continued writing 'Assassin Information' on the top of the page.

"Okay, so what kind of information do you need?" Jean asked, leaning back. Ororo tapped the end of the pencil against her chin thoughtfully.

"Um…" She quickly wrote Assassin Evidence, on one side, and Assassin Disapproval on the other.

"Disapproval?" Kurt repeated.

"Hey, it works," Ororo replied.

"So…the boys have been acting weird," Jean said. "You can put that in the middle." Ororo nodded and wrote it in.

-Boys acting weird around us

"Us?" Kurt demanded. "What do you mean by 'us'?"

"Uh, by me, Jean, Kitty, and Rogue," Ororo said, surprised at the sudden change of attitude of her friend.

"Not a good sign," he muttered, leaning back against Kitty's bed.

"What's not good?" Jean asked sharply. "Kurt. I know you were once an Elite member of the Assassins. Spill."

"What?" Ororo exclaimed. "Kurt, you were once an Assassin? I don't believe it."

"I was one, too," Jean said quietly. "Just not an elite, but near that position." Ororo gaped, looking from one to another.

"Are you two…related?" she questioned shakily. Jean and Kurt shook their heads.

"Just close friends," Jean replied. She turned to Kurt. "I think Kitty and Rogue should know this."

(Now we are at the point where Kitty remembers)

Now, the only thing left for her was to break the news to her friends. But Assassin-related or not related, her friends were going to kill her.

Kitty raced towards the girls' dormitory, intent on telling her friends immediately about Bobby and what she suspected about the other boys.

Bobby belonged to a dark organization called simply the Assassins. They killed anyone they were sent to kill, and Kitty knew that she and the other three girls had to be the targets.

And she knew that Bobby would not hesitate to kill her.

She didn't know for absolute certainty that the other three boys were Assassins, but she knew that it was about ninety-nine percent likely. And if that was true, Kitty needed to warn them!

She was still outside, and was just about to pass the boys dormitory when she stepped on a twig.

SNAP!

Kitty froze. That was a mistake, and she knew it.

She just didn't know how much of a mistake it was at the time.

Bobby's head snapped up instantly alert when he heard a twig crack.

Gazing behind him, he caught sight of red and white. Kitty, of course.

Bobby sighed; he didn't feel like dealing with Kitty at the moment. But he changed his mind almost at once. Kitty had picked up her pace again and he had heard her mutter one word. Assassins.

His eyes widened. He didn't care if Kitty was talking about something else. But he couldn't risk it.

Picking up his communication device and dialling a few numbers, he said into the mouth piece, "Stop Kitty."

The person on the other end responded, "Will do."

"I kind of already do…" Kitty's voice called a little out of breath from behind the door adjoining Jean's and Rogue's room to Ororo's and Kitty's.

"Get over here," Kurt called. "And try to stay silent you never know who's listening. Also where's Rogue." Kitty stepped through the door.

"Sorry, I don't know if I have been followed, and I don't know where Rogue is?" Kitty apologized.

"Alright, this is the scoop," Jean elaborated. "John, Logan, Bobby, a-and S…Scott…" Her voice choked in her throat as she tried to continue.

"Are the Ice-types, the most Elite group of the Elite members of the Assassin organization," Kurt finished bluntly. Kitty's eyes widened.

"I know Bobby is," she mused. "He and I were friends when we were younger. I guess…I guess it was easy to say back then I loved him. But he moved away, and my parents and had no recollection of him…so I assumed he had finally left for good to the Assassin organization. I had gone into his house, looking for him…" Kitty was lost in her memories. "That was probably the turning point."

"Turning point?"

FLASHBACK

A younger Kitty went to Bobby's home. She knocked on the door and found that it was ajar.

'Maybe Bobby's inside?' Kitty thought to herself. Kitty cautiously went in and walked quietly into Bobby's room. Shocked, she saw the many papers that contained the word 'Assassins' on it. In disbelief, she shuffled through the papers.

There was a detailed list of previous murders, some that Kitty recalled from the news. It hadn't been in Bobby's handwriting, but it was obvious that it was about Bobby…

Frightened, she ran out of the house. Unfortunately, the door slammed shut behind her with a loud noise.

END

"Oh boy," Ororo muttered. She wrote in the 'Assassin Evidence' side: Bobby is Assassin (confirmed by Kitty who knew first-hand).

"John is the killer of Rogue's parents," Jean continued bleakly. "He…was sent by the Commander of the Assassins."

"Do you know the identity?" Kitty asked Jean curiously. Jean swallowed and shook her head.

"No…but Kurt does." They turned to look at Kurt.

"So many memories," he murmured. Then he looked up at the girls. "The identity is known by few, and only shown to those who will die in a matter of minutes. I managed to escape."

"Who is it?" Jean asked.

"Why do you need to know?"

Rogue looked around and realized with surprise that Jean, Kitty, and Kurt were gone as well as Ororo, who had gone to her room. Not that she was surprised.

She looked over to the new students. They were pretty impressive, and the brown-haired one was intimidating. Somehow, she felt as if she knew him, but she didn't recall seeing him.

He snarled at the other brown-haired boy and stalked out of the room, his stance obviously angry. Rogue shot a look at his friends—the brown-haired boy, the blond-haired boy, the black-haired boy—and followed him.

"What's wrong? Why are you angry?" Rogue called, almost running to keep up with his fast, strong strides. He turned to glare at her but Rogue was undaunted. "Is it something the brown-haired boy did?"

The boy stopped, turned around, and glared full-force at her, causing her to step back. "Leave me alone," he growled, turning around once more and continuing on his way.

"But I want to help," she protested, trying to keep up.

"Troublesome girl."

"I'm serious!" Rogue persisted.

"You'll help me better by leaving me alone."

"That's no way of helping someone!" Rogue cried.

"It'll help me."

"But—" Rogue didn't understand why the boy—John, she remembered—kept blowing her off.

"Just leave me alone," John snapped. "Annoying girl. Stop following me!"

Rogue was about to protest again when John turned and fixed her with his intimidating glare once more. She finally took the hint and stayed standing where she was instead of trailing after John.

Stop following me.

Where had she heard those words?

Stop following me!

Many years ago…her darkest memories. The ones in her nightmares…

Stop following me!

Her head throbbed. Maybe she'd go lie down and see if that would help.

Please R&R