16 January

Water lily. n. 1. any of various aquatic plants of the genus Nymphaea, species of which have large, disklike, floating leaves and showy flowers 2. any related plant of the genus Nuphar 3. a plant of the water lily family 4. the flower of any such plant

"Hey, Rogue," Kurt called.

Rogue stopped on her way from the restroom. "S'up?"

"The professor wants us all in the debriefing room."

"Huh?"

Kurt smiled. "Are you busy?"

"Ah guess not."

"Komm mit! We're learning our new teams today. Right now."

"Oh!" Rogue gasped. "Ah forgot about that with school an' all."

Kurt grabbed Rogue's arm and excitedly pulled her after him. "I'm going to be a fraction leader!" he exclaimed. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to do... I hope I'll make a good leader."

"Don't worry, Sugah," Rogue consoled. "Ah think ya know more than ya think."

"Danke," he grinned. He slowed his pace as they came up to the elevator. Pushing the button, he waited impatiently, his tail waving through the air. "But as Ally said yesterday, what if I'm not willing to take responsibility for my team?"

"Why wouldn't you? Anyway, if we're a team, we should take the blame as a team?" Rogue wasn't sure if she was saying the right things to reassure the other mutant. It wasn't typical of her to have hung out with many people before coming to Xavier's mansion. A lot of these experiences the past couple weeks were brand new to her.

Kurt hesitated over an answer as the doors to the elevator slid open. "In theory. When it comes to reprimand, I have a feeling that I will take the frontal assault." He pressed a button on the control panel after Rogue followed him in. "Some of these missions are very dangerous, too. I don't want it to be me to ... to have the first casualty as a result of poor leadership."

"Now Ah know you're bein' too hard on yaself."

"You think so?" Kurt demanded softly. "You have not been on a mission. You don't know how bad it can get. I don't mean to scare you, to discredit you, but I have lived this reality for a while."

Rogue didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything. The doors slid open to the elevator, letting the two mutants out of the little box room. Kurt took the lead, guiding her to the debriefing room. The doors were open, revealing that most of the junior team was already present. The only one missing was Gambit.

"Did you tell Remy to meet us here?" Xavier asked Kurt.

"Ja, he's on his way."

"Thank-you. Rogue, would you take a seat?"

Bobby waved her over to an empty chair beside him. Hesitating for a moment, Rogue walked over, nodded her thanks, and sat. She shifted to make herself comfortable, and then stared expectantly at the door for Remy to arrive. Bobby chatted animatedly with Rogue, but the conversation was more one-sided than not.

Remy entered quietly and leaned against a wall by the door rather than sit down. As soon as the professor saw him, he called silence, and began.

"Sean has already told you the news, that the junior team is splitting into two. Because of this fissure, you will no longer be called the junior and senior team, but the gold, red, and blue teams. The red team will be lead by Storm and the blue team by Nightcrawler."

"How are we supposed to grow as a team if we're separated?" Psylocke inquired. "It's bad enough that you've put the best on their own, now bigger, team."

"You will still train as one, but on missions, you'll be-"

"Segregated?" Psylocke supplied.

"Remember that you are still students. This way no one should be overwhelmed with schoolwork and your responsibilities to the team. Depending on the assignment, different arrangements can be made.

"This way, more will be expected of you on the field without overwhelming you. Once school is over, we may rethink the team assignments, unless this exceeds expectations."

"Who are the teams?" Ororo asked.

"Storm will have Dazzler, Banshee, and Rogue. Nightcrawler will lead Iceman, Gambit, and Psylocke. If these arrangements do not work out as expected, they may be switched around, but I do not want to move people based on personal preference. Your goal as a team is to understand each other better than you understand yourself. Learn each other's strengths and weaknesses. If you have any problems, first try working it out with each other, and if that doesn't work, you may come to me. I want to see effort. I know this will be challenging, but I feel like you, as a team, are ready to take that challenge on."

"Verstehen," Kurt said in response.

"We all ready t' go?" Remy asked. He pushed his body away from the wall in anticipation of leaving.

"One moment, Remy," Xavier declined. Remy spun on his heel and crossed his arms across the chest, staring the professor down. "Storm and Nightcrawler, you are in charge of the training schedules of your teams. You will come up with the exercises you need to run through to make sure that your team is ready for any call. However, you are not expected to carry the full weight of the team alone. You may talk to me, to the gold team, to each other, and amongst yourselves. I encourage it. This is something new for us, and I expect some errors. But we are the X-Men, and we will deal with those problems."

"Now we all good," Remy stated more than asked.

Rogue glanced over to him, her brows knitted together in confusion. She couldn't figure out why Remy would be in such a hurry to get out of the room. They had hardly been in the room for more than five minutes to begin with.

"Yes, you may continue your activities," Xavier dismissed.

Remy only managed to turn around before Ororo jumped from her seat to walk beside him. Rogue followed more slowly, trying not to make it obvious that she was interested in their interaction. Remy was acting strangely, and that made her more aware that she hardly knew this man. He had wormed his way into her life so well that she had forgotten how quickly he had done it. It hadn't been over the span of a few months; this was over the span of a couple weeks. Now mysteries were cropping up, and she couldn't help but be curious.

"Remy," Ororo said softly. He didn't turn his face to greet her, but he did walk more slowly than he had been preparing. "May I ask what is wrong?"

Remy shrugged, still not meeting her eyes. "Woul'n't say not'in' wrong. T'ings changin', not sure if I'm likin' dem."

Ororo placed a hand on his arm and pulled him to the side. Rogue had to force herself to keep walking down the hallway. Their quiet voices were quickly becoming harder to hear as she kept up her act. "Remy, think of it as ... rebirth. This isn't ..." Rogue lost her voice to Bobby's much louder one. Pretending not to be bothered, she waited as the rest of her teammates piled into the elevator to be carried up, Ororo and Remy staying behind.