Rachel's PoV

I sleep through breakfast and not woken until I hear kids roughhousing in the hall. The classes today are canceled, and although students got advised to use their free time to catch up on assignments and study for upcoming tests, my classmates would rather goof off.

I squirm under the showerhead as I scrub the blood off my thighs. Sometime through the hell of a night, the pad shifted, letting the blood seep out everywhere. I've been washing blood off my body since I was ten, but there's something different about this blood. It's not from an injury or the remnants of someone's life that I took. It just falls from my body as a natural function. It's not something I'm used to, and I don't like it. Is this how normal teenagers feel? Awkward and squeamish?

I haven't thought of myself as a kid for years now, but now I'm really not a kid. I can get knocked up now! It's disgusting.

I get myself dried off, knowing it was a race to get dressed before the blood starts flowing again. The steam settles on the mirror above the sink. But as it condenses into water, the droplets roll down the glass. I stand there, fixated on them. Their flow seems unnatural as if an outside force is manipulating it. Suddenly, a shape begins to form.

First, it's piercing eyes that glare at me through the glass. A toothy grin follows. Water drips, like blood from the mouth and tears in the eyes. I stare at it, and it stares back. I feel my heart rate rise. Blood pounds against my eardrums, making me deaf to the outside world. Fear isn't the right word to explain how I feel. Excitement sparks as darkness creeps over me. I stand in a staring contest with the face on the glass. There is nothing human about it, yet it's full of some sort of twisted empathy. It projects feelings of dread and panic but leaves me wanting more. I am transfixed, knowing that if I look away first, I will lose the battle for dominance it has on my mind.

Then, my concentration gets broken by a scream. I turn to the direction of it, and when I look back to the mirror, the face is gone. The steam has cleared away, leaving no trace of that face. I still feel the same sense of dread. I pull my clothes over my damp body and run to investigate what the scream was for.

Without much surprise, I find the X-Men back in Auntie Ororo's room. She's even more distressed than she was last night, tears rolling down her cheeks as she argues with Logan. "He had Kendall! He has to! Where else would she be!?"

"Maybe one of the students wanted to babysit?" Logan suggests. But he's not convincing even to himself.

Sure enough, Kendall's crib is empty. I know some of my classmates are stupid, but not stupid enough to take Storm's baby, especially not without her permission. We all know who's responsible for this, even if no one else wants to say it out loud.

"Ororo," My mom says. She's calm but sympathetic. "We are going to find her, alright? But we are going to need you to tell us exactly what happened. What were you saying about the mirror?"

"He was in the mirror! His… his face, in the steam. Watching me," Ororo is pacing, looking under furniture as if Kendall could roll under the inch of open space under her dresser.

I read her mind just to see what face she saw, and it was identical to the one in my bathroom. I feel my jaw drop, and I quickly shut it again. "I saw it too," I say. "Just before you screamed."

Eyes are on me, even Ororo, who stopped in her tracks like she's realizing she isn't going crazy. "It was him?"

I try to figure out who it might be beside the Shadow King, but I draw a blank. "I guess. I don't know. When I dreamt about him last night I never saw him. All I know is I got out of the shower and that face was on my mirror, watching me. I couldn't look away and it just made me feel… weird. "

"He was watching you in the shower?" My dad asks with a fit of anger to his tone that My uncle scoffs at.

"I believe we have bigger problems than a demonic peeping tom, Scotty," Alex says. "We have a missing baby."

"Not missing, Alex," Xavier corrected as he wheels into the room. "I found her with Cerebro. She is alive and unharmed in Cairo. Although I could not locate the Shadow King, this has him written all over it. This could be only a rescue mission, or turn into a brawl. Since I cannot confirm this, we will utilize the entire team. Scott, you're leading. Due to the emotion of the mission, Jean will be your second-in-command."

"You heard him. Let's suit up," My dad says. The X-Men depart to their rooms to get ready, and I follow my parents.

"You're not coming with us," My mom says. I don't know if she is reading my mind or if I was that obvious. "Do you realize how irresponsible it would be for us to let you come along?"

"But mom, I'm the only other one who has had any sort of contact with the shadow king!" I argue. "Besides, with his brain tricks, you need something like the Phoenix to combat it. It'll be a mistake not to let me go."

My dad steps into the argument, making it obvious he's not letting me come. "Your mom and I can't lead the mission properly while being worried about you. Shadow King already has an interest in you. If you're a target, then you'll put the entire team in danger, not just you. And don't roll your eyes at me."

I resist not rolling my eyes again. "I'm not putting the team in danger! I'm protecting the team."

"Yes, you are protecting us by staying home." He shuts the bedroom door, and I silently fume outside it. He's making a mistake! They think that because I'm their daughter, they need to protect me. But in reality, with the Phoenix, I'm more powerful than everyone. My age shouldn't be a determining factor for what missions I can or can't go on. He acts as if I don't have the control to overthrow the Shadow King by myself; As if I'm not the one who single-handedly stopped the harmful views on mutants.

I'm not going to stay behind when they can use my help. Are they that stupid? Or do they think I'm not that willful?

Mom opens the door when she realizes I'm still standing there. "We're not doing this to punish you, Rachel. Missions just aren't your responsibility anymore. Let yourself be a kid for once."

Be a kid? I have the power of an ancient, celestial entity in my head and she just wants me to be a kid? I have trauma to last a lifetime and she wants me to be a kid? She wants me to be a kid while my uterus is shedding from the inside out? I'm not a kid. I haven't been for years. Most of the time I don't even feel human.

"That's easier said than done," I argue. "How am I supposed to stay back when I know you guys are out fighting someone as strong as the Shadow King? You're a powerful telepath, Mom, but I have the Phoenix!"

"And what happens if the Shadow King ends up with the Phoenix? The Professor said he is looking for a host, and he has taken an interest in you. We can't defeat the Phoenix and the Shadow King."

"He could still come here and do that. But you act as if I don't have the power over the Phoenix. She might not have listened to you, but she listened to me. I'm not just some sort of meat sack like you were. We have an agreement!"

"I thought I had one with her as well, but the Phoenix is going to take what it wants. No matter what the cost to you is. What happens if the Shadow King gives her the opportunity for new sensations? Do you think she is going to pass them up? Or are you going to be the one losing control?"

It's obvious that she is voicing a concern she's had for a while. I always knew she was wary of the Phoenix, but I thought she at least trusts me to know what was happening in my head. Ever since I lost control at that store during a telepathy growth spurt, she thinks I'm incapable of keeping everything under reins.

And I get it, she's my mom. She is always going to worry about me or whatever, but that doesn't change the fact that I deserve some trust!

"First of all, The Shadow King would be really stupid to think he could take up residence in me when the Phoenix is still inhabiting me. Second of all, even if he did, you don't know for sure that the Phoenix would go to his side. I'm almost certain it's stronger than the Shadow King."

"Look, Rachel," She sighs. I'm testing her patience. "I get that you want to go on this mission, but you will just have to accept that it is not going to happen. You aren't an X-Man. You hold so much power, Rach, but you're also so young. Even if it were not for the Phoenix or The Shadow King having an interest in you, we would not allow you on this mission. It is as simple as that."

"That's not fair!"

"I am not going to play the "Life isn't fair" game with you. You could have died when you went with Magneto last February. Do you know what that would have done to your dad and I if that happened? We're doing this because we love you, Rachel. Not to be mean, not because we don't think you're capable. It is our job to protect you, and that is what we're doing. Now, we have to leave. And you are not to come with us or after us. The Professor and Magneto will be here to make sure you stay put. No sneaking out and trying to play the hero by herself, alright?"

I scowl and head off to my bedroom. The Blackbird lifts off outside as I sulk on my bed. She doesn't really expect me to sit and do nothing, does she? I spent my entire pre-teen life fighting, either alongside the Shi'ar rebels or alongside my grandfather's team. I was never too young or needed protection. I was a great asset to the teams and we got shit done. It's unlikely for my parents to think I'll just adjust back to normal, everyday life when I ran across the galaxies for two years.

If I am not allowed on the X-Men, maybe I will start my own team. It was teens that saved the X-Men from the MRD prisons. Maybe it won't be the last time those guys are utilized.

To Be Continued...