AN: It's been a while, haha! I found this story in my documents drive once I switched computers, and I want to finish it! So this is what I want to do: I will go back and edit all the previous chapters. This is the last chapter I wrote back in 2013. After I'm done editing it, I will continue to write new chapters!
Chapter 21
A couple of minutes after she slammed the phone down, Lily still grasped the phone's handle until she could barely feel her fingers. Half of her wanted to redial Connor's number and demand answers. How did he find her? How did he get past the mansion's security? Why was she under surveillance? What did he want from her? The cold sweat of fear ran up her back and onto her face.
A knock on her door made her stomach lurch. "Who is it?" Lily asked. Her dry throat burned.
"Me," Rogue's undeniable accent seeped in from behind the door.
Lily rolled out of bed and made her way to the door, glancing at every corner of her room. She wasn't as unnerved about Connor finding her as she was about her inability to find the cameras which were undoubtedly hidden throughout the mansion.
As expected, Rogue stood behind the door, one hand on the doorframe and one on her hip. "Is there something wrong, Ravyn?"
Chills ran up and down Lily's back and she flinched. Her hands clenched and she willed herself to hide her skittishness. "What-Why? Nothing's wrong," she mumbled.
Rogue looked at her curiously. "I bumped into Kurt. Did you tell him I wanted to talk to you?" Lily stared blankly at her. She heard the words coming from Rogue's mouth, but they weren't registering in her mind. After a brief silence, Rogue continued, "Because I wasn't expecting you after your danger session."
Finally, Rogue's words sank into her mind. "Oh, that. That was nothing," Lily waved her hand in front of her face for emphasis. "I just needed to be alone."
She didn't expect Rogue to believe her, but the goth girl nodded understandingly and turned to leave.
"Wait. Do you want to come in?"
Rogue looked Lily up and down, suspiciously. "Don' you wanna be alone?"
"Not anymore." Lily's heart was beating fast and anxiety caused her to twitch under Rogue's stare. "Please?"
"Um… ok," Rogue entered the room and took a seat on her bed.
"Uh… so how's… how's Remy?" Lily asked.
"He broke up with me. Three weeks ago." The reply was blunt.
"Oh," Lily was going to follow with the generic 'I'm sorry', but stopped and smiled. "But, hey! Now you're broken up, I can get back to killing him."
Rogue looked at her incredulously until she added. "Too soon? Right."
As a heavy silence fell on the room, Lily realized how little she and Rogue spoke. She recalled that the last time they had a full conversation was the day she came back from the dead with Kurt.
Rogue broke the barrier of silence, her eyes burrowing into Lily's. "Something's wrong, Ravyn. And don't give me that 'I'm fine' crap, because I know something's going on."
Lily tried to laugh it off. "A rough danger room session with Logan."
"I'm serious, Ravyn. What? Trouble with Kurt?"
"No! Definitely not. I just don't like-" her voice died down, silenced by the frown her friend wore. Lily took a breath, and her voice dropped to a lower tone. "Rogue, do you ever feel like you're being watched? Like someone somehow got past the mansion's security?"
Rogue visibly relaxed. "No. Because it's impossible. Even if someone got past the mansion's security, there's no way they wouldn't be sensed by the Professor."
Instead of being reassured, Lily felt tense. She had no doubt in Connor's skills of stealth, but she was shocked that he was able to get past the Professor. She looked at Rogue, who was waiting for her to speak. She forced a smile. "You know what, you're right. I'm just paranoid."
"Maybe you are. I dunno, maybe from all those years of being watched."
Rogue looked away from Lily, out the window. In that time, Lily dropped her smile, and stared almost angrily at her friend. The irony of her situation destroyed her. "Yeah. That's it," she said dryly.
Rogue's gaze returned to Lily's face just as she plastered on a neutral expression. "So, Ravyn, are you dressing up tonight?"
"For what?"
"Scott and Jean want to ring in the New Year 'fancy' or whatever, and Kitty is gonna force me into a dress. So, are you?" Rogue said, an annoyed tone in her voice.
A snicker slipped through Lily's lips. Because of all that happened during the day, she had forgotten it was New Year's Eve. "That's what you get for being friends with her," she accused.
Rogue stood and made for the door. "Well, last I heard, Kurt, Evan, and Logan were suiting up."
A genuine smile spread across Lily's face. "Logan?"
"Kitty has her ways. Point is, everyone is dressing up, so you'd better." She didn't give Lily a chance to argue, leaving the room before she even finished talking.
Lily took a good look at her reflection in the full body mirror. It had taken a lot of self-convincing before she pushed all thoughts of Connor to the back of her mind and knocked on Kitty Pryde's door. As soon as Kitty opened the door, Lily saw dresses scattered on the bed and floor. Rogue was in the center of the pile, dressed in a bright blue dress. She gave Lily an apologetic look before her friend was dragged into the room and subjected to an inspection by Kitty, who was already dressed in a bright pink, sleeveless dress. The material was stiff over her chest, and came in at the waist before flaring out. The hem ended above her knees, making her legs seem longer. Her hair was done up to one side; gentle ringlets fell over her shoulder.
Kitty squealed in delight. "Oh my god, Ravyn! I didn't expect to see you!" She squeezed the girl's shoulders in a spastic moment of excitement. Lily flinched as Kitty ripped the elastic out of her hair. "Let's start with your hair, then we can do something with your face."
In reality, the process was no more than half an hour, but to Lily, it seemed much longer. Finally, she gave up protesting and sat emotionlessly in the chair as Kitty fussed with her hair and makeup. After she was deemed presentable, Lily was given a white, lace dress, which Kitty forced her to put on. She didn't have the freedom to choose her own dress, like Rogue did.
Unsurprisingly, Rogue chose the only black dress Kitty provided. The dress sported long, black sleeves. The body of the dress hugged her curves and accentuated her small waist. She finished her look with black gloves and her usual makeup. Grabbing Lily's waist, Kitty dragged her to the full body mirror, and, placing herself beside them, they all looked at their reflections.
Lily's eyes were drawn to her reflection's exaggerated eyes, emphasized by the deep black liner. The rest of her makeup was subtle, slightly pink cheeks and glossy, berry-colored lips. Light brown, gentle, curls framed her face. The curls weren't tight enough to be ringlets, but were more like messy waves. The waves tapered off, the longest strands of hair reaching below her bosom. Her white, lace dress contrasted her natural tan. The material was light. Like Kitty's it came in at the waist, but instead of fanning out, it was light enough to swish around her every time Lily made any subtle movement. The dress ended above her knee.
"Damn, girls, we clean up good," Kitty said, pulling them both close. Both Lily and Rogue shared an uncomfortable look. The two of them headed to the door as Kitty struggled to put on her heels behind them.
"You two aren't, like, gonna wear shoes?"
Rogue turned, her face scrunched up. "Please, I don't even get why we're dressing up for them."
Kitty playfully stuck out her tongue and linked arms with the girls as they walked down the hall. Upon arriving at the stairs, Lily saw Logan, dressed in his usual, greasy white t-shirt and worn jeans.
"Lucky bastard," she said. All she gained was a glare from Kitty.
Logan acknowledged the girls with a slight nod, before snorting and heading into the living room, the only room with a TV after Logan slashed the one in the common room. On the TV was a picture of Times Square and a countdown to the New Year. Various artists were performing to the swelling crowd.
To the right of the television were fancy glasses of champagne and elaborate-looking, small sandwiches. The professor was beside the table. Although he wore a suit on a regular basis, he donned a black tuxedo and a worn bowtie. Logan made a beeline to his friend and spoke to him in a low tone.
Scott and Jean were on the other side of the room, having trouble keeping their hands off one another. Jean was dressed in a figure hugging, one strapped, cream dress. Scott wore a fitted, black suit, complete with a tie and his omnipresent, sunglasses. His hair was neatly slicked back with gel.
Kitty's vision zeroed in on the backs of Evan's and Kurt's heads. "Hey, guys, what do you think?"
The two boys stood, revealing their choice of outfits: sweats and a t-shirt. Kitty recoiled in horror before subjecting them to a passionate monologue. Rogue put her fingers to the bridge of her nose, as if to relieve a headache when Evan tried to reason with Kitty that they 'weren't feeling it'. Lily kept a shocked silence.
Evan was the first to weasel away from Kitty. He approached Lily and Rogue. "Looking good, you two."
Rogue was annoyed. "Yeah, whatever," she said, moving towards the champagne.
Lily frowned. "Words cannot describe how jealous I am of you right now."
"C'mon, Ravyn. You look great." Evan's smile was infectious, and Lily found herself taking the compliment.
"So do you. Not only look great, but I bet you can breathe just fine."
Evan was about to reply when he saw Kurt heading towards them. "Thanks… Listen, I'll catch up with you later."
Kurt reached Lily as Evan stepped away to join Rogue and Kitty at the tables. He handed her a glass of champagne.
"If I had known you were dressing up-"
"I wasn't planning to," Lily smirked up at him, "but then I thought that if I didn't, I'd be the jerk who came in sweats."
Kurt chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders. Lily eased into his lean body and sipped the champagne.
"You look beautiful, Lily," his voice was low as he almost whispered her name. She couldn't stop a smile from spreading across her face.
"I should hope so. Kitty spent an hour on me."
Kurt feigned exasperation and dropped his arm from her shoulders. "I'm serious."
"I know."
Lily's attention was drawn to the television in time to witness the reporter collapse, a gunshot wound in his head. The reporter convulsed on the ground as crowds of people surged back in panic. His body shifted from a handsome reporter to a black-scaled being, complete with dark, angelic wings. He was a mutant.
A shocked hush fell over the room. Panic seemed to slowly radiate out of the television set into the room they gathered in. Lily's lungs refused to fill with oxygen and she violently shrugged Kurt's arm from her . It wasn't long before everyone's eyes had turned to look at her, as if they were waiting for her to give an explanation.
"I-I don't know," she said, answering the unasked question. She tore her gaze from the bleeding mutant, whose death was being televised to the world. The urge to call Connor spread through her body. "I don't know."
She turned to make a quick exit. She needed a phone. A blue hand closed around her wrist and forcibly turned her body around. Kurt's eyes were filled with worry and pity, and she hated it.
Scott stepped forward. "You can't leave without explaining this. What did we just watch?"
"I can't think-"
"Try." Scott had reached the couple. He placed his hand on her shoulder and shook it. His grip was desperate, but gentle.
"How am I supposed to know? I don't have any contact with them," She flinched uncomfortably, realizing too late the lie she told. Conner didn't mention any mission against mutants to her, but why would he? Her eyes locked with the professor's. Although he was across the room, she knew he had caught her lie.
"All I can say is that if there's someone paying for mutant deaths, there's going to be a lot more of this," Lily continued, twisting out of Kurt's grip.
The doorbell rang. Lily glanced up, meeting the glances of the x-men. Confusion was apparent in all their expressions. Kurt moved towards the foyer.
"Wait, elf," Logan got up and followed Kurt towards the front door, his claws extending from his knuckles.
Lily froze where she stood, staring at the front door in anticipation. Could it be Connor? If so, he must have a reason for brazenly walking in through the front door; he must have some leverage on her. She felt her heart plummet to her stomach as Kurt threw open the door.
The door blocked her view of the visitor. She jumped when Jean lightly touched her arm.
"Ravyn?"
Kurt backed away and the visitor came into view: a blue skinned woman with flaming-red hair.