A security guard, who resembled Storm for some reason, was making some rounds at the warehouse she was guarding, not seeing Kitty phasing through the ground behind her. The young mutant girl tapped the guard on her shoulder, and when she turned around, Kitty blasted her with a can of knockout gas.
"North perimeter secure." She said to the others through her walkie-talkie.
Evan was hanging onto the side of the wall using his spikes as he saw another guard, who looked like Logan, walk past him. Evan jumped down and blasted him with a can of knockout gas as well.
He pulled out his walkie-talkie. "This guy's catching Z's. I mean, south perimeter secure." He reiterated trying to sound professional.
"Okay. Let's make it a clean rescue." Scott responded as he, Danny, and Kurt were on top of the roof of the warehouse.
Danny grabbed the two and phased them through the roof. Below them were several infrared lasers, and in the middle was an unconscious woman with a cloak over her, chained to the floor.
As Danny lowered the two to the woman, he felt that Kurt seemed heavier than usual. "Kurt, have you been putting on weight?"
"Burgers seven days a week will do that to a fella." Scott said.
"The breakfast of mutants." Kurt joked.
"More like Blob's breakfast." Danny said. He then got close enough to the woman and fired an ectoblast at her chains, freeing her. "Alright, Storm's free. Scott, grab her."
Scott was about to reach for Storm when a hand reached out and grabbed him.
"Got you!" Rogue said victoriously, revealing her to be the woman they were supposed to rescue instead of Storm. She grabbed Scott's face, absorbing his power, before blasting him with his own optic blast into a wall.
"Ahhh!" Scott cried in pain, but mostly irritation.
"Rogue, what are you doing here?" Danny asked.
Rogue smiled as she shrugged. "I wanted to have some fun, and I did." She chuckled at the dismayed-looking Cyclops. "You should've seen the look on your face, Scott."
"Okay, I'm done." Scott said in annoyance. "Stop the simulation!"
The warehouse changed as it revealed itself to just be another program of the Danger Room. The doors opened, revealing Xavier, Storm and Logan in their guard uniforms, as well as Evan, Kitty, and Jean.
"Scott, you're never to stop a simulation unless you are hurt." Xavier reminded him.
"Trust me, that hurt." Scott told him. "Why is Rogue in this mockup? She wasn't part of the briefing."
"Simply the element of surprise." Xavier told him. "It's part of life. So expect it on every exercise." He turned to leave. "Well, we're finished. Better get to school."
Scott sighed at Xavier pulling one over him. "Come on, Danny. We got to help Rudetsky load for the field trip."
"Oh, field trip." Rogue said as she walked next to Danny. "Where you three going?"
"Going up to the mountains." Danny answered. "So it's gonna be pretty cold."
Danny, Jean, and Scott stood beside their classmates in front of Mr. Rudetsky as he was looking at a clipboard.
"Alright. Double-check your spelunking gear." He told his students. "Make sure your packs contain a hardhat, spiked boots, rope, compass, rations, lamps, candles, and matches. Remember, there are no sporting goods stores in the Tapo Caves. Oh, and I better not see any game toys."
The students grumbled as they put away their games before getting ready to take off.
As the three X-Men were loading their stuff on the bus, Mr. Rudetsky came up to them.
"Scott, Jean. Bad news." He told them disappointedly.
"What?" Jean asked.
"Seems administration won't clear your time off for the field trip." Rudetsky explained. "Something about too many absentee days in your files."
"Wait a second. Those were all approved." Scott said.
"If they just call Professor Xavier, he'll..." Jean reasoned before Rudetsky shook his head regretfully.
"I wish we had time, you two, but they've already sent someone else." He told them. "I promise we'll clear this up when I get back." He looked at their disappointed looks. "Hey, I'm really sorry."
"Yeah. Well, have fun." Jean said as she and Scott took their stuff off the bus.
"Man that sucks." Danny said. "Who's the person they sent?"
"Her." Rudetsky pointed to Rogue, who was wearing a trench coat, as she waved at Danny while getting on the bus.
Danny smiled. He liked Scott and Jean, but between hanging out with them or Rogue, he'd choose Rogue. "On second thought, this may be for the best." He waved goodbye to Scott and Jean.
"Okay, junior geologists." Rudetsky said to the rest of the class. "Let's pile in. We're behind schedule."
"See you guys." Danny waved goodbye to Scott and Jean, and then he got on the bus and sat down with the girl that he secretly admitted he had been crushing on.
He just thought that she was fun to be around. She had great taste in music, and past her shy exterior, she gave off a fun personality along with a dry sense of humor that made him laugh.
The wind was blowing hard at the institute as Xavier was in his study reading. With the sound of the wind getting on his nerves, he went to close the window when some kind of force forced his wheelchair back, making him crash into a dresser.
Xavier knew who was responsible for this. "Magneto, why are you here?"
"I've come to pay you a compliment." Came Magneto's voice. The same voice as the man that Mystique was taking orders from, and also the same one that broke Pietro out of jail. "Your young charges, they seem to be flourishing under your tutelage."
"Yes. They're doing quite well." Xavier said as he tried to make his chair move.
"I'm referring to the development of their mutant powers." Magneto reiterated. "Especially the one called Danny. Such power that one wields. I'm curious to know where you found a mutant like that."
"I'm very proud of them." Xavier replied.
"Proud." Although Xavier couldn't see Magneto, he could practically hear the sneer when he said that word. "Yet you don't trust them."
"But I do trust them. With my life." Xavier said passionately.
"But not with the truth!" Magneto took control of Xavier's chair and brought him to the window. He would've fallen out if Magneto hadn't closed the window, making the glass shatter as Xavier's chair collided with it.
As Xavier looked out the broken window, he contemplated whether Magneto was right or not.
Did he truly trust his students?
"So how did you end up on this trip?" Danny asked Rogue as the bus continued to climb the mountain.
"Darkholme pulled me out of class and offered me to go." Rogue explained. "She even had all the coats and stuff for me as well. I thought it was better than geometry class."
"I know that." Danny said, having a deep hate for math. "Though I'm surprised that Darkholme did that."
"What?" Rogue asked. "Have equipment ready for me?"
"No." Danny shook his head. "Her doing you a favor. I don't see that lady doing anything nice for anybody."
Rogue shrugged. "Maybe she was having a good day."
Danny snorted. "There is no such thing as a good day for Principal Darkholme."
"Why do you not like her?" Rogue often wondered why Darkholme and Danny seemed to dislike each other so much. The principal always had a glare on her face; well, she always did, but it would always magnify whenever she set eyes on Danny.
"Because she's a bitch to me." Danny said simply. "She always seems to have it out for me."
"Maybe because it's your personality." Rogue suggested. "No offense." She added hastily, not wanting to offend the boy she liked. "You have a great personality; it's just..."
"Just what?" Danny asked, not offended in the slightest.
"You don't mesh well with authority." Rogue told him.
"Well, in my old town, the authorities, whether it be my parents or my teachers, would always look down on me and believe the worst in me." Danny told her bitterly. "I also had a classmate who saw me as nothing but a menace and believed it was her job to bring me to justice. So I just decided that I was done taking everybody's crap."
"But you don't act like that with the professor." Rogue pointed out. "Or Wolverine and Storm, for that matter."
"Because they're not dicks." Danny answered. "They don't give me attitude, so I don't give them attitude."
"Sounds like your old town wasn't a nice place to live." Rogue observed.
"It wasn't, though they pretended it was." Danny confirmed. "They even wrote it on the sign. Bayville's much better."
Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah, I have you." Danny said before realizing how that could be taken, so he hastily added, "And the others."
Rogue's cheeks turned a scarlet red as she looked out the window and saw that it was starting to snow. "Oh look. It's snowing."
"Yeah! Fresh powder!" One student cheered.
"This isn't a snowmobile trip, people." Rudetsky informed them. "Too much of the white stuff means we turn around."
The teacher kept driving the bus until the snow caused the vehicle to swerve a bit. As the bus was tittering close to the edge, Danny shot out ghost rays from his eyes, melting the snow and preventing the bus from falling off.
Everyone sighed in relief that they were safe, not knowing who saved them except for Rogue, who smiled at Danny in thanks.
"Everybody okay?" Mr. Rudetsky asked the students, getting many nods.
"What do we do now?" Danny asked.
"We head back." Rudetsky got back in his seat to turn around.
"Fuck, I don't want to go back." Danny replied in irritation.
"Language, Fenton." Rudetsky scolded. "Now who wants to get out and push?"
"Mr. Rudetsky, why not take our snowmobiles to the cave and wait out the weather there?" Rogue suggested.
"That's an excellent idea, Rogue." Danny praised. "We should do what she said." He said to Rudetsky, getting his classmates to agree with him.
Rudetsky simply facepalmed but acquiesced to the idea as everyone got on snowmobiles. Following his classmates out of the bus, he took one step into the cold and collapsed as he felt something inside him withdraw.
Rogue immediately went to his side. "Are you okay?"
Danny took a couple of breaths as he turned to look Rogue in the eye. "I don't know. My powers." He tried to make his hand glow with energy, but it wouldn't respond. "The cold is stopping them from working."
"Your powers don't work in the cold?" Rogue asked as she raised an eyebrow.
Danny shook his head. "No, it's not like that. It's..." He tried to get a feel for the ecto-energy in his body. It was still there, but it was dormant, as if resting. "I don't know. It feels like my powers are taking a break and are charging as they use the cold as a power source." He could feel the energy taking in the cold as it started to feed on it. "It's weird; nothing like this has ever happened before."
"Well, we'll worry about it when we get back." Rogue reassured him as she put a hand on his cheek, making him smile.
"Yeah." Danny said, feeling butterflies in his stomach as he looked into her eyes. They were a shining green that drew him in. He could stare at them for hours.
After getting that settled, the students paired up, and each pair got on a snowmobile as they made their way to the cave.
Danny was currently driving his snowmobile with Paul hanging on him when Rogue came up next to him on her snowmobile.
"Test your mettle, tough guy?" She challenged with a grin.
"What?" The girl riding with Rogue panicked. "No! No racing! No!"
Danny smirked. "You're on!"
He floored his snowmobile and was in the lead when Rogue went up another pathway that was about to turn. As the snowmobile jumped off the path, it landed in front of Danny and Paul, putting Rogue in the lead.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Danny saw an oncoming ramp and was about to use it to bypass Rogue when Paul grabbed his wrist.
"Danny, what are you doing?" Paul said worriedly.
Danny slapped his wrist away. "Shut up, Paul!" Unfortunately, Paul's distraction ended up causing him to pass by the ramp as Rogue continued to be in the lead as they finally made their way to the cave.
When Danny pulled over his snowmobile, he saw Rogue leaning on hers with a cocky smirk on her face.
"No trophies for second place." Rogue said.
"Hey, I want a rematch." Danny protested playfully. "Paul there kept interrupting my focus with his whining."
"Aww." Rogue mocked before she got close to him. "Well, here's a consolation prize to cheer you up." She kissed him on the cheek, making Danny blush heavily before he pulled himself together.
"Hey, maybe I should come in second place more often." He said smoothly before looking at the snowmobile. "By the way, how does a Southern gal like you learn to handle a snowmobile?"
Rogue chuckled. "Let's just say I'm full of surprises."
As it rained at the institute, Logan was speaking to Xavier by the fireplace.
"Why not tell them the truth?" Logan asked Xavier, who was still thinking over Magnet's accusation of his lack of trust in his students.
"How do you tell students that their principal, whom they're supposed to respect, and their enemy are one and the same?" Xavier replied as he thought it over.
"Well, Danny doesn't respect her at all." Logan brought up. "It's like the kid already knows who she is."
Xavier shot that theory down. He knew that Danny didn't like Darkholme, but it was for completely different reasons. "If he did, then he would've already told the others."
"Look, if there's anything those kids are used to doing, it's keeping their cool and keeping their secrets." Logan said, trying to get Xavier to tell the students the truth. He knew they would be able to handle it.
Xavier hesitated. "I don't know."
"They'll deal with it. Trust me." Logan assured him. "You've taught them a lot."
Their conversation was interrupted when Storm, Jean, and Scott entered the room.
"Trouble's brewing." Storm informed him. "A blizzard in the mountains."
"The geology club left there for their field trip up there this morning." Jean added.
"Scott, Jean. I thought you two were going with them." Xavier said.
"Yeah. So did we." Scott said, still disappointed that he didn't get to go.
"We found out that Darkholme deep-sixed us at the last minute while Rogue went in our place." Jean explained.
"Oh, dear." Xavier said. He knew that Mystique had some kind of interest in Rogue, and her sending the young mutant up to the mountains could only mean she was plotting something. "You're right. Trouble is brewing."
"Okay, we're stuck here." Rudetsky announced to the class as they all stood in the cave as a snowstorm raged outside. "Might as well make the best of it." He looked around the cave that they were in. "Did you know that this place is called the Mountain of Claritas? Legend says that it bestows visitors visions of absolute clarity."
"Clarity of what?" Danny asked, a bit interested in the legend.
"Who knows." Rudetsky shrugged. "Some say the future. Others say different worlds. There are even reports of climbers hearing voices. But this is geology class, so we'll be talking about the rock formations." He gestured to a rock. "So in review, metamorphic rock. Question: What has altered it from its original state? Answer: Heat, pressure, or chemical change. It was one thing; now it's another. A mutation."
Danny snorted at the last two words as he elbowed Rogue gently. When she looked at him, Danny nodded his head over to the deeper parts of the cave, silently asking Rogue if she wanted to explore with him.
Smiling, Rogue grabbed his hand as the two snuck away from the class and went down further into the cavern. The two walked silently for a couple of minutes before they stopped at the sight of a subterranean waterfall.
"Wow." Danny gasped at the beautiful image.
Rogue agreed. "It's beautiful."
As they walked closer to it, Danny put his arm in front of Rogue and pointed down, revealing they were at the edge of a cliff with a long drop below them.
"Wouldn't want to fall down there." Danny said as he aimed his flashlight into the abyss.
"You got that right." Rogue nodded.
"I think we should head back before they notice we're gone." Danny said.
The two turned to leave, only to run into Paul.
"Hey, everything all right?" He asked. "Rudetsky's looking for you, Anna."
This made Rogue narrow her eyes at Paul. "How did you know my name?"
Paul smirked as the inexplicable happened. He changed his form. Not only that, but in the form of Principal Darkholme. She smirked at their dumbfounded faces. Especially Danny.
"Hello, Danny." Darkholme said mockingly. "Are you more surprised to see me?" She then revealed her true form. "Or me?"
Danny simply glared at Mystique. "I always knew there was a reason I didn't like you. And now I know why." He then chuckled. "Ah, well. You always were a shitty principal, Darkholme. Though I wonder how the professor will react to this."
Mystique let out a cruel laugh. "He already knows. It appears he's neglected to tell you. Nice of him, wasn't it? You have no idea what he's been hiding from you."
Mystique was expecting many things from Danny at the revelation that Xavier knew who she was. Anger, betrayal, sadness. But what she got was complete indifference.
"I don't care." Danny said neutrally. "He's not the only one hiding anything." As Danny said this, he had a fearful look in his eye, as if remembering something horrifying.
Mystique rolled her eyes. "What could a mere child like you have to hide?"
"Something that would frighten even you." Danny said knowingly.
The blue lady scoffed. "Nothing scares me, boy. It's you who should be afraid. Afraid of me."
Danny couldn't help but laugh. "Afraid of you? You think you and your Brotherhood and whoever is leading, because I know you're not the leader since you're just a pawn, you think you're the scariest things in this world?"
Danny looked at her as if she were just an annoying fly, which enraged her to no end that he didn't register her as a threat. Rogue was just looking confused, wondering what Danny was talking about.
"You don't know anything." Danny said to Mystique. "There's a bigger world out there. With hungrier and deadlier creatures waiting to gobble you up. You." He snorted at Mystique. "You're just a footnote. A lackey."
"Don't call me a lackey!" Mystique roared. "You X-Men are the ones who are nothing but puppets for Charles Xavier. And I am a sharp blade cutting your strings, just so I can watch you fall." She pulled out a gun and, in a second, shot Danny in the shoulder as he fell down the cliff.
"No! Danny!" Rogue shouted as tears formed in her eyes. The sadness transformed into rage as she glared at Mystique. "Why did you do that?"
"I'm protecting you, dear, from his lies." Mystique said indifferently. "He only wants to hurt you, just like Charles Xavier and all the other X-Men."
"And you don't?" Rogue challenged. "You hurt me! You hurt Danny! And what did you do to Paul? Did you hurt him too?"
"Let's just say he missed the bus, thanks to a little miscommunication about the departure time." Mystique informed her before changing back into Paul, offering a hand to Rogue. "Now let's rejoin the others and break the tragic news."
This proved to be a huge mistake, as Rogue took off her gloves and grabbed her hand, causing Mystique to feel weak at the loss of energy and making her turn back into her true form. Rogue let go as the blue woman fell to the ground. She then went to the cliff and found that Danny fell on a piece of rock formation that was sticking out of the cliff.
"Danny, are you all right?" Rogue asked as she hopped down next to him, hoping that he would be okay.
"Yeah." Danny groaned as he pulled the bullet out of his shoulder. To Rogue's amazement, the wound started to heal itself a bit. Not instantly, but enough that Danny wouldn't die from blood loss.
"Is the blue bitch gone?" Danny asked her. The two looked up to see that Mystique, who had recovered from Rogue's attack, was standing on the edge of the cliff.
"Guess that answers my question." Danny said as he tried to think of a way out when, before their eyes, the rock in front of them became transparent before disappearing, creating an opening to escape.
"What the heck?" Rogue said at the sudden entrance appearing. Danny, however, was more concerned with getting away from Mystique.
"Come on, let's go!" He grabbed her and led them into the entrance, with Mystique jumping down and following them through the opening.
The two found themselves in a cavern with no way out; even worse, Mystique caught up to them and aimed her gun at Danny.
"No where to run." She said sinisterly as she prepared to shoot Danny again. This time in the head.
Before any of them could move, the ground underneath Danny disappeared, making the hybrid fall down below.
"Danny!" Rogue tried to grab him, but the ground reappeared, preventing her from rescuing her friend. She tried to bash it open, but it was too strong.
"It's over, Rogue." Mystique said as she went up to her. "Come with me."
As Rogue was wondering how she was going to get out of this one, the ceiling started to collapse as the rocks formed a wall between her and Mystique, saving her from the shapeshifter for the time being. She then went deeper into the cave to hide from Mystique and look for Danny.
As she went deeper and deeper, she noticed that the cave was all frozen, making her shiver. This ended up causing her to slip on the ice she was walking on, sliding into a wall.
Groaning in pain, she got up and looked around. She was now in a circular, icy room with no exit in sight, which only confused Rogue further as she wondered how she got in here in the first place.
"Where am I?" She asked as she walked next to the ice walls. They were so clear that they showed her reflection. As she passed by them, she noticed one reflection that stood out from the others.
For one thing, her reflection was older, making her a middle-aged woman instead of a teenage girl. Her skin was not pale like Rogue's, showing that she got out into the sun more often than she did. She was wearing a green robe that highlighted her curves, which made Rogue feel a bit envious of her figure. What was much weirder was that this reflection was moving by itself. She was at a sink and putting some eyeliner on when she seemed to notice Rogue.
"Whoa!" Rogue cried in shock as the two made eye contact, with the older Rogue dropping her makeup into the sink. The woman cursed at her misfortune before looking at Rogue.
"Who are you?" She asked, looking at Rogue in confusion.
"I'm Rogue." Rogue answered shyly as she wondered if she had passed out and was having some weird dream. That was the only explanation she could think of for what was currently happening.
The reflection looked her up and down, skeptical of her claim, before she noticed the color of her hair. The woman shook her head in amazement. "No kidding? I'm Rogue."
"What?" Rogue refused to believe it, as this woman was so different from her. She could never be as sexy as this lady. That wasn't until she looked at the woman's hair. Although it was more luscious than her own, it still had the trademark white stripe in it. Just like hers.
"How is this possible?" Rogue murmured to herself as she wondered what kind of weird world she had stepped into.
"You tell me." The older Rogue replied. "I'm just getting ready to go out and celebrate my anniversary when someone appears in my bathroom mirror."
Rogue was contemplating how this was possible when she thought back to Rudetsky talking about the mountain. "The mountain." She whispered to herself. "Other worlds." She then stopped as she remembered what her counterpart said. She turned to look the older Rogue in the eye. "Wait, anniversary? For what?"
The older Rogue had a lovesick smile on her face as she sighed. "My marriage with my husband."
"Husband? You're married?" Rogue couldn't believe that her counterpart was married. Well, not really. She was a gorgeous bombshell that would attract any man. Though that left the problem of her powers. But what Rogue wondered the most was who this mysterious husband was. "To who?"
The older Rogue smiled, no longer feeling on guard around the younger teen. "Well, sugar, who do you think? Who's the one man that we can touch without hurting?"
Rogue knew the answer immediately. "Danny." She blushed. Sure, she liked Danny a lot. He was very kind and supportive, and he made her heart beat faster than normal when he was around her. But marriage? That was too much for her. Way too early. Though a part of her was curious to see the kind of life this lady has.
"On the money right there, honey." Her elder self replied. "So you and him boyfriend and girlfriend?"
Rogue blushed again as she thought of being in a relationship with Danny. She still remembers how warm her hand felt when he touched it for the first time. How he always kept her engaged in a conversation. Although he was the same age as her, he really seemed mature. Not mature in the way Scott was, but a different sort of maturity. As if he has accepted who he is and isn't afraid to hide it from the world. That kind of maturity made him more attractive to her, along with his devil-may-care attitude when it came to authority.
She looked down as she felt envious of her counterpart. She already had a man by her side, while Rogue couldn't tell her feelings to the boy she liked.
"Well, not really?" Rogue admitted to her other self's question.
The other Rogue smiled understandably. "Haven't told him how you feel, have you? Figures. I was the one who had to confess my feelings to him as well. I was also the one who proposed."
Rogue blushed as she imagined how that went. "So what do I do?"
"I suggest you buck up your courage, sugar, and tell him how you feel." Her counterpart advised. "And you better do it quick. If he's like mine, he's a nice boy who's sure to get the attention of other girls. So you better get moving." She then started to get her makeup together. "And I got to go. See ya later, sugar."
The reflection then changed to one that was identical to Rogue.
The young girl sighed, as she had so much more to think about now. Though it changed nothing about her worry over what had happened to Danny.
She hoped he was all right.
"Where am I?" Danny said as he picked himself off the ground that he landed on. He was in complete darkness. As he got up, he tried to feel around for a way out, but it seemed from the lack of running into anything that he was in a very open area.
As he tried to think of a way out, he could feel something. He wasn't alone. Danny didn't know why or how, but there was something else in here.
"Who are you?" He asked himself again.
This time, he got an answer in the form of footsteps. He could hear them behind him as they headed towards him. They were getting louder as they got closer, with Danny getting into a fighting position, ready to defend himself.
"Come on, Mystique!" Danny shouted, thinking it was her.
The hybrid stood where he was standing. He didn't try to move. Why would he? For some reason, he felt that trying to escape was pointless. He knew that whoever this was, it wasn't Mystique or Rogue. This was something much more dangerous.
The footsteps started again as they came toward Danny at a much faster pace.
Danny felt a hand grip his throat and lift him off his feet. As Danny struggled in the darkness, he tried to get a look at who this was. Though it was dark, somehow Danny, whether it was his imagination or something else entirely, managed to get a brief glimpse of what was holding him.
He saw a flash of a white skull staring him down.
"Somebody!" He tried to shout. "Anybody! Help me!"
Danny panicked as he prayed for anyone or anything to save him. And in what seemed like a miracle, he got a response.
"I cannot help you." A voice replied. "Only you can save yourself." It was soft as a whisper. Though it sounded familiar to Danny, as if it were a part of him that he never knew existed.
"How?" Danny choked through the grip on his hand. "Who are you?"
"Think. Concentrate." The new voice told him. "If you wish to pull yourself from the brink of despair, you must find something. Anything that keeps you from falling down that abyss."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Danny said as he tried to use his strength to pry off the hand on his throat.
"To vanquish your fears, you need to realize what it is that keeps you going." The voice informed.
"Going?" Danny asked as he wondered what this person was referring to. And how could they be so calm? He was getting strangled, and this person acted like it was just an ordinary day.
"What is it that gives you life?" The voice asked. "Or meaning? What gives you purpose?"
Danny tried to think of what this person was talking about. What was it that gave him purpose? "I..." He paused, as he couldn't think of anything. Having something choke the life out of you would do that. "I don't know." He admitted. "I..." He stopped as he thought about something. Something that worked.
"No. Wait. Yeah." He realized what the voice was talking about. He thought back to his friends. All of them. Though the one that came to mind the most was Rogue, with her smiling at him with her bright green eyes that made his stomach do somersaults.
"My friends." He answered. "Rogue, Kurt, Kitty, Scott, Jean, Storm, Logan, and the professor. They're what keeps me going. I always knew that."
"Now, you can fight it." The voice said as its approval echoed through the walls.
Danny managed to pull the arm off and give a strong punch to the face of whatever was holding him hostage. As Danny landed back on his feet, he could hear the footsteps again, but this time they were retreating.
"It's gone." Danny said in relief.
"For now." The voice said. "Remember, whenever you fear that you'll lose everything that makes you good, it will be your friends that give you strength."
Danny nodded as he understood what the thing was talking about. As long as he kept his friends close, he would never have to fear losing his humanity. "I will."
The room then lit up, showing Danny was in a wide room with no exit in sight, until one of the walls opened up, showing the outside of the cave with the snowstorm going on.
Danny shrugged. There was nowhere else to go. As he went to leave, he turned back to the room.
"Who are you?" Danny asked, though he doubted he would get a response.
"Let's just say, I know what it's like to lose friends and family." The voice said. "And I just want you to know that despite how bad things get, you can always rely on the people who care for you."
"Thanks." Danny replied in gratitude as he ventured out into the snowstorm. As he started to make tracks in the snow, he looked back one more time and saw the opening start to close. Inside, Danny could see another person in there.
Though he couldn't identify him, Danny thought he spotted snow white hair on them, along with glowing green eyes.
Just like Danny earlier, Mystique was also stuck in complete darkness. She was breathing heavily as she tried to look for any glimpse of Danny or Rogue. She tripped over a rock formation that was sticking out of the ground, making her curse heavily.
"Trouble finding them?" A voice chuckled at her, making Mystique leap up as she aimed her gun in the direction of the voice.
"Who are you?" She demanded only to get a snort in response.
"How amusing." The voice replied. Unlike the one that spoke to Danny, this one sounded much crueler. As if it belonged to someone who enjoyed the suffering of others. "You think you can intimidate me?" The voice laughed at the absurd idea. "As if I would be scared of you like your foolish Brotherhood stooges are."
"Show yourself!" Mystique fired her gun at where she thought the voice was, but it didn't change their demeanor.
"Why?" The voice sounded bored this time, as if it were already losing interest in toying with her. "So you can feel less fearful now that you have a visual of me? So that the unknown doesn't continue to terrify you."
"Where's Rogue?" Mystique questioned, having a feeling that this... creature knew where she was. "Where is she?"
"Why would I tell you?" The voice challenged. It was more angry this time. As if Mystique asking about Rogue aggravated it for some odd reason.
"Tell me where she is!" Mystique shouted.
"You're just like Cheesehead." The voice told her. "You're trying to take something that was never yours to begin with."
Mystique's blood boiled at the way this thing was talking to her as well as the idea that Rogue wasn't hers. "She's mine!"
"Aw, how pathetic." The voice mocked. "Let me tell you something, Raven. The more you try to increase your grip on that girl, the more she'll slip right through."
Mystique was getting angrier as this voice continued to chide her as if she were a misbehaving child.
"She'll never be with you or want anything to do with you. It's time to face the truth. You have lost."
"No, I won't lose!" Mystique fired again, hoping that this time she could hit it, but it was to no avail. "I won't let Xavier or that bastard Fenton take her from me!"
At this, she got a laugh. A cold laugh that made her stand up straight. A laugh that promised pain and violence.
"They already have. Her fate always belonged to them. See it for yourself."
In the darkness, Mystique could see a light emanating from a figure. As she adjusted her eyes, the shapeshifter could see it was Rogue. She was older, with her hair parted to the right. She was wearing a dark navy blue X-Men uniform under a brown trench coat with gray combat boots. She also had a black choker necklace and a gold utility belt with the X logo on it.
Strangely, she was not wearing any gloves, but what caught Mystique's attention was the huge smile on her face as another figure appeared next to her, holding Rogue's hand. It was Danny in his ghost form. Although older, his outfit didn't show any significant change. But Mystique didn't care, as she was focused on his eyes, which were staring at Rogue with love and adoration, but to her, it was a smile that taunted her. Mocking the fact that he had taken her.
"This is a lie!" Mystique refused to believe that she would fail to get Rogue to join her.
"What's wrong, Raven? Sad that he can make her happy when you can't?" Whoever was talking to Mystique, they were getting a kick out of her misfortune. "Well, you could make her happy. You'd just have to stay the hell away from her. That would bring anyone joy. Even the most depressed person in the world would smile at not being in your loathsome presence."
Mystique let out a cry of rage at the insult as she fired every shot in her gun at the person who dared mock her. Even when the gun was empty, she still kept pulling the trigger, producing a clicking sound that echoed throughout the cave.
"Finished with your temper tantrum?" The voice asked in an amused tone.
"Whatever you're doing won't stop me." Mystique said. She would bring Rogue back. No matter the cost.
"Fine. Go ahead." The voice said, uncaring of whatever decision Mystique made. "I don't care. But I'll tell you this: You keep going after Fenton, and you'll run into me."
"And who are you?" Mystique asked.
In the darkness, two glowing red lights appeared, which frightened the woman, though she tried not to show it on her face. But what really caught her attention was the white flame above the red lights. It almost appeared that the red lights were eyes and the flame was some sort of hair.
"Your final fate." The voice snarled before it, and the lights and flame left her. Leaving Mystique alone in the cave.
Danny was trekking through the snow at a snail's pace when he saw the wall next to him open up, and out came Rogue.
"Rogue!" Danny cried, getting her attention.
"Danny!" Rogue's eyes lit up when she saw that he was okay. She hugged him. "Oh, thank goodness, you're all right." She then grabbed him by the arm and led him through the snow. "Come on. We got to keep moving."
As they kept going, the two failed to notice Mystique in the distance, watching them.
But help was on the way as the Blackbird was making its way toward Danny and Rogue's location. Xavier and Wolverine were piloting the jet while Storm was using her powers to stop the snow from bombarding them.
"We're moving too slow." Wolverine sighed. "Spread a little more sunshine, would you?" He said to Storm.
"I'm a weather witch, not a snowplow." Storm snapped. "I'm doing the best I can."
As the three were trying to find Danny and Rogue, Mystique decided to turn into a wolf as she advanced toward the two teens.
Rogue and Danny heard the growling and turned around to see the wolf in the distance, baring its fangs.
"It's Mystique!" Rogue could recognize her through the yellow eyes the wolf had.
As the wolf got closer to them, Rogue suddenly got a telepathic message from Xavier.
'Rogue!' He cried. 'I hope you can hear me!'
'Professor, I can hear you.' Rogue replied frantically. 'Please, help us. Mystique's chasing us, and Danny's powers aren't working.'
'We're on our way.' Xavier assured her back in the Blackbird before turning to Wolverine. "Mystique is pursuing them, and Danny's powers seem to not be working." He told Logan.
"Great." Wolverine said in annoyance. "How are we gonna find them in this whiteout?"
Back with Danny and Rogue, the two were backed into a wall, with Mystique advancing toward them.
"X-Men." Rogue muttered to Danny. "They're coming."
"What?" Danny said before registering what she said. "They are? Great. I just hope they can get here before she tears apart my throat with her teeth."
The wolf snarled again before it leaped at the two.
Danny and Rogue braced themselves before something tackled Mystique from the side.
The two watched in awe as some giant beast was currently fighting the wolf. Mystique tried to lunge at the creature's throat, but it slashed her at the side, making her yelp as she retreated, clearly outmatched.
Looking at each other, the two didn't know what to feel, whether it was relief that Mystique was gone or fear that something else was gonna hurt them.
The creature turned around as the duo observed its appearance. It was a yeti coated from heat to two in white fur. It stood on two legs as it made its way to them before dropping down on one knee, as if it were bowing.
It then spoke in a regal tone. "It is an honor to meet you, great one."
"What?" Danny said, flabbergasted, as he saw that the yeti was looking at him. "Are you talking to me?"
"Yes." The yeti replied. "You are after all the one who sealed up Pariah Dark."
Danny then had a look of realization on his face. "You're a ghost?" He wondered why his ghost sense didn't go off before realizing that the cold prevented that from happening.
"A ghost?" Rogue said in shock as she looked at the yeti.
"Indeed." The yeti said. "I am Icetooth, and my tribe lives in the Ghost Zone. Though sometimes we explore your world."
Danny grinned, happy that they had found assistance. "Can you help us? Our friends are in the air trying to find us, but they can't get a visual."
Icetooth nodded. "I will help." He looked up into the sky and opened his mouth, where a blue beam of light came out, creating a signal.
Wolverine managed to spot the signal as he pointed to it.
"There!" He got out of his seat. "Charles, take the controls."
The Blackbird landed next to the two as they turned around to thank Icetooth for his help, only to find that he was gone.
Danny shook his head before getting onto the Blackbird with Rogue. The jet then took off and started to make its way back home.
"We're glad you two are okay." Xavier said as Storm got to work on Danny's wound.
"If you defined getting shot at as fine." Danny said sarcastically.
"What happened, Danny? And why didn't you use your powers to protect you and Rogue?" Logan asked.
"I don't know." Danny answered. "It was like the cold shut them down for some time."
"So they don't work in the cold." Xavier observed.
"No. It's not that." Danny told him. "It was as if they were feeding on the cold. Like they were taking a break so they could charge."
"Interesting." Xavier pondered. "Perhaps the cold is bringing out something in you. Perhaps even enhancing your abilities." Xavier pointed to the wound, which was completely healed.
"Maybe." Danny said. "But the thing I'm concerned about is Mystique." Danny narrowed her eyes at the professor. "She was Principal Darkholme, and she told us you knew."
Xavier sighed at the cat being led out of the bag. "It appears I have some explaining to do."
"What I'm curious about is how did you make that signal?" Wolverine asked.
"A friendly ghost helped us." Danny explained, making Wolverine, Storm, and Xavier raise an eyebrow.
"Ghost?" They said in unison. They knew that Danny had ghost powers, but that was a mutation. To hear that they encountered a real ghost was something else.
"It's a long story." Rogue said.
After getting home, Xavier gathered everyone in the living room, where he explained to them that Darkholme and Mystique were one and the same.
Naturally, the students reactions were anything but pleasant.
"It's the same as lying to us." Jean said. "We had a right to know who our principal really was."
"Yeah. Totally." Kitty agreed.
"How come you didn't tell us?" Scott asked the professor, making him look down in shame.
"Yeah, man." Kurt added. "What did you think we were gonna do? Go after her?"
"Man, we know better." Evan said. "She wants to play like nothing's going down; so can we."
"It's like we were playing with fire and didn't even know it." Kitty said.
"It's kinda fucked up that you didn't tell us that we would be in the same place as that bitch." Danny said.
Xavier took in his students comments before noticing one was being silent. "Rogue."
"I..." She hesitated a bit before gaining confidence. "I learned that honesty is very important. That you need to be honest not only with the people who are close to you but with yourself as well." She then turned to Danny. "And if I'm being honest with myself, I want to do this."
She put her hands on the side of his face and leaned in for a kiss.
Danny was shell-shocked at this before he reciprocated as the two shared their first kiss.
Everyone else's mouths dropped at this scene, not expecting this would happen.
The two then stopped as Danny gave a look of amazement to Rogue. "Rogue, I..."
"I like you." Rogue said to him, making him smile.
"I like you too."
"Yes." Xavier said, getting everyone's attention. "Well, you're right. All of you. I must apologize for keeping this secret from you." He said sincerely. "But please understand, there are many challenges in your future, secrets, elements of surprise. Some you're ready to deal with, some you're not. In the future, I will try to do better knowing which is which."
"Thanks, professor. We're all in this together." Scott said. "It's nice to know we've all got something to learn."
"That's what makes us X-Men." Danny added as he and Rogue shared a loving gaze.
As everyone was heading to bed, Rogue wanted to ask Danny something while they were in the hall.
"So, what was going on with what that ghost said?" Rogue asked.
"Uh, I..." Danny didn't know how to explain it. "I used to fight ghosts back in my old town."
Rogue's eyes widened at this information. "So, you're like a superhero?"
Danny shrugged, preferring not to remember those days. "Somewhat, but that's behind me now." He sighed. "Look, Rogue. I have a lot of secrets. Things about my past that I just want to forget about. I know it's hypocritical of me to be mad at Xavier for his secrets, but mine don't involve you guys. I just want to leave my past behind."
Rogue grabbed his hand. "I understand, Danny. You can tell me when you're ready. But I want you to know that you don't have to hide anything from us. We care about you. Especially me."
She then kissed him on the cheek before heading to her room.
Danny smiled; despite how horrible the trip was, he got a girlfriend out of it. As he went to his room, he wondered what else the future had in store for him.