August 19, 1992
Rogue stared at Angel. She'd only ever exchanged a few words with the woman, but now she was lying on the ground, blood seeping from her, her eyes staring glassily forwards. Luna was still on the ground, weeping.
Max was on his feet, his hands clenched and his eyes blazing.
"Well?" he demanded.
Scott looked around. Rogue could see other students coming out of the trees, confused and scared. Rogue vaguely recognized Bobby, John, Piotr, and Kitty. Kitty put her hands over her mouth.
"What?" Max screamed, "You don't have anything to say? Well?"
"Max," Scott said, his voice level, "Now's not the time to-"
"No, now isn't the time!" Max yelled, "Fifteen minutes ago, that was the time! An hour ago was the time! Now..."
His voice choked and his eyes flickered over to Angel.
"Now she's dead," he said, "You...you were supposed to be here! You were supposed to be heroes! You were supposed to be better than this!"
Rogue could hear the hysteria in his voice, but it was blanketed by anger. Something in his tone made her shrink back. Rogue had always seen him so clam, so collected. She wasn't sure who he was at the moment.
"We came as soon as we could-" Scott said.
"Not soon enough!" Max snapped.
He laughed. When he spoke again his voice was at a much lower pitch. Somehow it was a deep timbre, as though his anger had moved past all vestiges of hysteria and grief. It had turned into something else.
"You know what, the only one I've seen do anything this whole damn night is him," Max said.
He pointed at Magneto. Scott's eyes followed Max's finger. Rogue saw him blink before stiffening. His fists clenched and unclenched, his eyes no longer on his nephew. Instead they were on Magneto, as though he were somehow to blame for what was happening.
Something inside Rogue wanted to run away and hide. There was a nightmare just out of her reach surfacing, something that she couldn't quite identify. This was Max though, her friend, the boy who had offered her a family.
She shouldn't be scared of him.
"Do you have any idea how wrong that is?" Max said.
Scott's eyes remained fixed on Magneto. Rogue could see something passing between the two men, some kind of secret communication. Max shook his head and knelt next to his sister. She was still crying, oblivious to all that was happening around her.
Max forced back tears and murmured something to Luna. Rogue saw Bobby walk up to her, his face cut up and bleeding.
"She's...?" he whispered.
Rogue nodded. Bobby put his hand on her shoulder where the coat was. He took a look at the coat, almost as though recognizing it. Rogue didn't pay much attention to him though. Somehow it felt as though he was on the margins of something that she was in the center of.
"She led us," Bobby said, "None of us really knew what to do...was she an X-man?"
She shook her head slowly. She hadn't known much about Max's aunt, but she knew that she wasn't an X-man.
"She used ta be Brotherhood," Rogue said, "She quit years ago."
Bobby looked shocked. His eyes slid back over to Angel. Rogue walked forward so she was standing level with Max. Scott was wisely keeping his distance, his eyes on the ground. The only one who seemed to want to look at the mourning siblings was Magneto.
He had looked away from Scott and was instead watching Max and Luna intently. It was like he was trying to see something, to figure something out. Rogue thought she saw sympathy, but she knew that must have been a trick of the light.
Rogue knelt down next to Max. When she got close she saw that he was crying silently, his whole body shaking.
"Max," she murmured.
Max looked up at her, his hands still tightly clenched around his sister.
"This shouldn't have happened," he said.
"It wasn't their fault," Rogue said.
Max didn't say anything. He looked back at his aunt and tentatively reached forward. He paused a few times before touching his aunt's face. Rogue flinched for a moment, waiting for his power to turn her flesh to metal.
She didn't though. Rogue blinked, but she remembered that Max's powers only worked on living things. He seemed to understand that as he reached out towards Angel's open eyes. He closed her eyes, but they flipped open again. He tried it again, but they wouldn't shut.
"Please..." Max said.
Rogue put her hand on Max's shoulder. He didn't start crying, just let his hand fall away from his aunt's face. Rogue could see the raw loss in his face, remembered his inability to speak about his mother and what had happened to her.
"Yesterday was normal," Max said, "I went to sleep normal."
She nodded, understanding. Everything had been fine the day before. There had been problems, but they had seemed manageable. Now his aunt was dead and his mother was missing. He'd always been so devoted to his family.
She wondered what it was like to have so much to lose.
"We need to move her," Rogue said.
Max nodded.
"I should do it," he said.
"You can't," Rogue said, "You're tired."
She tilted her head towards Luna.
"And your hands are full," she said.
Max clutched Luna tighter. She'd stopped crying now, out of tears. Now she was trying to stop her sobs. Max got to his feet, pulling her up with him. He gave one last, anguished look at Angel, before he started to move away.
He walked towards his uncle, his sister by his side.
"Where's the Blackbird?" he said.
"About five minutes that way," Scott said, "You can't miss it."
Max nodded and began to move again.
"Max-"
"Don't," Max said, "Just don't."
Scott didn't say anything as Max began to walk off towards the Blackbird. Piotr came up and, gently, lifted Angel's body up. Rogue didn't like the way Angel's eyes lolled. She felt sick suddenly: someone she had talked to hours before was dead now.
"Chere?"
Remy crouched next to her.
"Time ta get movin," he said, "We need ta gather da odder students."
She nodded. Remy held out his hand to help her off, but she shrugged him off. He stared after Piotr.
"Remy didn't know her well," Remy said.
"Neither did I," Rogue said.
Remy crossed his arms.
"Max came from good people," he said, "Remy's guessin she was like dat."
"She used ta be Brotherhood," Rogue said.
She didn't want to dampen Angel's memory, but she felt that it needed to be said. It had been a part of Angel, and she had changed her life. Remy understood though. He looked after Angel with faint admiration.
"An Remy used ta be a thief," he said.
Rogue didn't say anything. She'd heard the rumors just like anyone else.
"Ya did good chere," he said.
"He needed someone," Rogue said, "He's going to try to be strong for Luna, and he won't let anyone be strong for him."
"Summers family trait," Remy said.
He cocked his head at Scott and Magneto, who were walking up to each other. Rogue bit her lip. She had no idea what those two were going to talk about.
"What are you doing?" Scott hissed.
"Helping, of course," Erik said.
He smirked. Scott was struggling to control his temper, and it showed. He wondered when the calm, collected leader of the X-men had turned so volatile. Perhaps it had been when Max had said that Erik had been more help.
Yes, that was something to be smug about. He hadn't been very complimentary afterwards, but he had certainly complimented them in his own, backhanded way. His father, in his best moments, had never done that.
It was promising, it really was. More than promising though, it was opening a new door for him, a door that he didn't think would be present. Perhaps he didn't have to be such a stranger in his grandson's life.
It was a thought that would have to be examined at a different time. There was too much else going on here at the moment. Still, they had a few minutes. It was enough time to put the younger Summers in his place.
"I heard that something was going to happen here," Erik said, "And I sent aide. I suppose that Mystique briefed you?"
He looked past Scott. Mystique was giving him a sour expression. He couldn't imagine that Scott had been easy to deal with. The thought pleased him.
"She did tell you that, didn't she?" he asked.
"I wasn't talking about that," Scott said.
He pointed towards the woods.
"What are you doing near Max and Luna?" he asked.
Erik smiled. So Scott had noticed.
"Nothing," he said, "It appears that he was with a group of students that we met up with. Nothing more."
Scott crossed his arms.
"What did you say to him?" he asked.
"Barely anything," Erik said, "He seems intelligent. He can make his own conclusions."
Scott turned his face into a sneer.
"I know what you're trying to do," he said.
"I don't really need to do anything," Erik said.
He gestured behind him, where the boy with metal skin was finishing bringing Angel's body inside the cabin.
"I wasn't the one who came here too late to provide adequate assistance," he said.
Scott shook his head.
"You're right," he said, "You were here. And that didn't help. You failed to help her and you were actually here. And yet you stand here, smug and unrepentant. What does that make you?"
Erik felt a twinge of anger. He did feel sadness over Angel's death, especially her last words. He didn't suppose that anyone had seen her ask him to protect his grandchildren. He knew for a fact that no one had understood who 'Ms. Dane' was.
The very thought of Susanna was an old wound, one that had never healed. It could never heal, not with what had happened with their daughter. He pursed his lips at Scott, and went for the jugular.
"Max doesn't see it that way," Erik said.
Scott clenched his fists. Erik rather enjoyed getting under his skin.
"Stay away from my nephew. Him and my niece," he said, "You're the one who decided that you didn't want to be part of their lives. I was there when you tossed Lorna aside."
He frowned and looked around.
"Where is she?" Scott asked.
Erik's blood ran cold. He turned his head to the side. Scott was a solider. He was a poor one, but he was a solider. He knew what that meant.
"Do you have it confirmed?" he asked, his voice quiet.
Erik shook his head.
"Good," Scott said, "We'll find her, one way or another."
His level, quiet tone, irritated Erik.
"You're very calm about the possibility of her death," he said.
Scott's jaw twitched.
"And you're very concerned about a woman you casually tossed aside when you found out she didn't want to kill people for no reason," Scott said, "I was there. I know what happened."
Although Erik couldn't see Scott's eyes behind his goggles, he knew that they were narrowing.
"So don't you dare lecture me about my family," Scott said, "And I'm telling you one last time: stay away from Max and Luna."
He turned on his heel and walked towards the Blackbird. Erik stared after him, his feelings churning and bubbling inside him.
