10 January

Dark. adj. 1. having very little or no light 2. radiating, admitting, or reflecting very little light 3. approaching black in hue 4. not pale or fair; swarthy 5. brunette; dark-colored 6. having brunette hair 7. (of coffee) containing only a small amount of milk or cream 8. gloomy; cheerless; dismal 9. sullen; frowning 10. evil, iniquitous, wicked 11. destitute of knowledge or culture; unenlightened 12. hard to understand; obscure 13. hidden; secret 14. silent; reticent 15. (of a theater) offering no performances; closed 16. phonetics a. (of an l- sounds) having back-vowel resonance; situated after a vowel in the same syllable b. (of a speech sound) of dull quality; acoustically damped -n. 17. absence of light; darkness 18. night; nightfall 19. a dark place 20. a dark color -v. 21. to make dark; darken

Rogue remained eerily silent as Scott and Jean led her out through the morning twilight and into Scott's car. She didn't want to come across as huffy or irritated, but in truth, she was. Xavier described Monday as an accident that could be quickly remedied should it ever arise again, but that didn't account for his reasons.

Jean must have picked up on Rogue's sour attitude. Rogue wasn't sure if it was through her telepathy or empathy, but at least she was kind enough to break the silence and console the younger girl. "Rogue, you're quiet this morning. Different than yesterday," she amended. "Is everything alright?"

"Ah s'pose there's no harm," Rogue vaguely replied.

"Is this about yesterday?" Scott turned his ruby-glazed glance to the rearview mirror in order to get a better look at Rogue's expression as he drove.

"If ya wanna know, yeah."

"It wasn't our fault we couldn't uphold our promise," Scott argued for himself and Jean. "The professor had the senior team pull out of school so that we could take care of a quick problem in New York. We're the X-Men, Rogue. Things don't normally go according to plan."

Rogue figured it was a satisfactory explanation, but it still left her annoyed. Her closeness to Remy was bothering her, especially when he could sum up their recent relationship in so few of words and leave her speechless. She hadn't known how to react to him when they arrived at home, so she quickly handed his helmet back and left to find Xavier to sort school papers out. She wasn't looking forward to seeing him any time soon.

"You'll wait for me after school today?" Rogue inquired. "An' … contact me or something if you can't?"

"Actually, no," Jean said slowly. "You're familiar with Nightcrawler?"

"Who?" A mental image flashed through Rogue's mind at the name, but she wanted to make sure.

"Kurt Wagner. He's rather … unique in appearance. Very blue, but full of energy."

Rogue nodded her head. Her assumption definitely matched Jean's short description. "What about him? Ah don't think he can pull up in school an' pick me up lookin' like the devil himself."

Jean pursed her lips. "You're supposed to meet him in the stadium behind school after the final bell rings. He'll be working one-on-one with you for a little bit as well as teleport you home. He's been working on teleporting passengers lately, and he feels confident that he can safely take you back to the mansion in as few leaps as possible. Before that, he'll be bringing your costume, which you can change into in the bathrooms around the stadium. No one should be bothering you in the middle of January."

"An' why are we doin' this today?" Rogue looked suspiciously between the two senior X-Men.

"He wants to get to know you," Scott answered for Jean. "You're a team, Rogue. Don't worry, he doesn't bite."

"Uh-huh." Rogue waited as Scott shifted the car into park in the school parking lot. As he pulled out the keys and simultaneously switched off the lights, she had the door open, and was on her way to her locker. She figured she'd have a long day ahead of her and she didn't think Scott or Jean would help that at the moment. Better to jump into what needed to be done head first and struggle to keep her head up in the waves.

Fortunately for her, her classes kept her busy doing just that, leaving her no time to be anxious about her individual training session with Nightcrawler. By the time the final bell rang, all of the information was thrown back at her. She exited the building with mixed feelings, making her way slowly to the stadium. Upon arriving, she saw the mutant's excited face.

"Guten Tag!" he called cheerily. "How was school?"

"Time consuming," Rogue answered grumpily. "Ah don't see why I need to learn half of this stuff."

Kurt snorted back a laugh. "You're telling me. I'm the one that can't walk in public without a crowd running away and shouting 'monster.'" Rogue's gaze shot to her feet. "Ack, what am I saying? The way things are going at the mansion, I'll be the go-to mutant when things go wrong. You would be surprised how applicable many of these classes can be." He bumped something he was holding into Rogue's arm. "Here. Go put these on. The bathrooms are over there." He gestured with his three-fingered hand. "If they're locked, just give me a little shout and I'll help you inside."

"Uh … thanks," Rogue said, grabbing the costume material. Striding across the lightly blanketed ground, she easily opened the bathroom door. Frowning at the freezing temperature, she quickly pulled on the new set of clothes. She was surprised to find how warm they became upon wearing them. Stuffing her day clothes into her backpack, she met Nightcrawler in the middle of the stadium.

"You look nice, nicht wahr?" Kurt cheekily observed. "We even get to be on the same team this time."

"Then what kind of trainin' is this?" Rogue asked. She tossed her pack aside.

"Not everything is fighting, Fraulein," Kurt smiled. "I'm sure Gambit or Storm would be a better teacher of this, but looking the way I do, I need to be incognito. In the night, I actually blend into the shadows to the point of invisibility. In the daylight, I have other tricks."

"And how does this apply to me?" Rogue rubbed a finger across her eyes, crossing the other arm over her chest. Rogue didn't have oddly colored eyes, though she did have unique hair, and she didn't look like she came out of a horror movie; she blended in fine with the crowd at school and beyond.

Kurt's devilish grin widened. "Because some of the X-Men's objectives are low-key. You need to learn how to be unseen when it matters."

"We're kind of in the middle of an empty football field," Rogue observed. She gestured at the surroundings before recrossing her arms over her torso.

"Ja," Kurt agreed. "But we're not going to stay here. You are going to show me your locker. In case of emergencies, grip tightly to the elf, promise not to barf, and we will be home shortly."

"'Promise not to barf'?" Rogue quoted.

"You'd be surprised at the reactions I get sometimes," Kurt confided in her. "Ready?" Rogue nodded. "Los!"

"What?"

Kurt threw his head back, exasperated. "Go, meine Freundin. Like 'follow after me' or something."

Rogue's eyes lingered on him for another second. "Oh."