The game ended, and Jubes' team won of course. I dunno what it was about that girl, but she had the knack of wranglin' kids, I'll tell you that for free. See, this was the good stuff I was telling you about earlier. Logan loped along next to me as we made our way back to the mansion, not sayin' anything, just walkin', nudgin' me every now and again and givin' me a flash of a tiny smile. We got to the front door, and waltzin' in we saw the Professor lookin' very stony-faced, just sitting in his chair next to the stairs. I frowned at him, drawing near.
"Hey Professor -- what's wrong?"
"He's near us," he said. "Coming up the driveway. I don't know what he wants."
My jaw inched open, and I glanced to Logan.
"Magneto," he growled. "I can feel it in my bones."
Fear burst in me then. I saw what Magneto could do to Logan, and this time -- damn him all to Hell I'd let him know how I felt about the scars in my mind. I had new powers now, ones he'd get to know pretty intimately if I had the chance.
"No, Rogue," Xavier said suddenly. "No hate, no vengeance."
"Just fluffy bears and periwinkle hugs," snarled Logan.
I blinked at him. Besides the inappropriate situation, his words had been rather poetic. Shaking myself, I glared at the Professor evenly.
"We let Sabretooth walk all over us -- and look what happened to Jean," I said. "No more, Professor."
Xavier sighed, shaking his head and closing his eyes. "We should see what he wants first."
"No bets for selling cookies," I said coolly.
It was then a firm knock shook the door. I glanced to the Professor, who nodded at me. I ventured forward, pulling open the door, my heart in my throat. In the bright glow of day two figures were partly silhouetted. The tall dour figure of Erik, dressed completely in black and crowned with a simple black hat, and the visage of Senator Robert Kelly. I shook all over, stepping back, rage flashing in my eyes.
Magneto didn't say anything. He just looked at me with those sad blue eyes. I felt tears sting my eyes, utter discord ripping through my chest and sending my soul plummeting. I couldn't see this, not him, not the memories he yanked out from the corners of my mind. My lips shuddered, and before Xavier could speak I breathed:
"What do you want?"
A light facade of a smile flittered on Erik's face and he bowed his head. "To see Charles, of course."
"I'm here, Erik."
The Professor wheeled forward, his eyes a strange mix of affection and anger. That affection rushed through me like a splash of agony, the betrayal I felt balling my fists. I'd given so much of myself to the Professor, laid my trust and love in him, and he looks at Erik like THAT. I stalked over to Logan, who inched towards me protectively.
Magneto and "Kelly" stepped inside, the looks on their faces clear masks to their true nature.
"I do believe one of our own came to you a few days ago," said Magneto. "Victor Creed."
I frowned with confusion. "Who?"
"Sabretooth," said Professor Xavier. "I'm afraid that he--"
"He had a little accident," Logan snarled suddenly. "Fell on my claws when he thought he'd deprive my friend of oxygen."
Magneto's eyes flickered. "I see."
The Professor actually looked embarrassed. "I wasn't here at the time. Had I been--"
"No need to explain," Magneto said good-naturedly. "We do what we must to survive."
The front door burst open suddenly as a stream of sweaty teens poured into the room, hooting and cheering, Scott being carried along with them. Scott slowed down, trotting over to Logan.
"Gee Logan -- you look like someone threw your cigar supplies in the pool."
"Nothing that trivial," Logan grunted.
Scott's face fell, and he followed Logan's deathly glare.
"Mr. Summers!" called Kitty. "This door is locked!"
I looked over to Kitty. She was at the main doors leading to the rest of the mansion. My eyes flew to Scott, who now stepped back to flank Professor Xavier, his lips growing firm in anger as he glared at Magneto.
"Professor..."
"It's all right, Scott," the Professor replied.
"Yes, we were just checking up on our comrade, but it does seem he's come to harm."
The kids all milled at the door, staring at Magneto with fear. I wasn't sure if they knew who he was. This wasn't their life, not yet. Their life was live-in schooling, foosball, and crowding around televisions. Not facing killers and psychopaths with powers. They knew Senator Kelly, though, and they knew -- he wasn't who he looked like.
"You got what you came for," I said, my accent thick. "Perhaps you should leave before you wear out your welcome!"
Logan ground his teeth. "Too late."
Oh I loved that man.
Magneto ignored me, eyeing all the children keenly. My heart was thumping wildly as we stepped over, looking down on the kids and the young adults like me.
"Hello," he said. "I'm an old friend of Charles'."
"Sure looks like it," Jubilee said, snorting. "The Professor is just falling over himself to get you some tea."
The Professor wheeled himself forward. "Jubilee."
"No," Magneto smiled at Xavier. "I find her honesty refreshing." He looked back to Jubilee. "I don't really like tea very much."
I could sense the rage in Logan rising. I knew what he wanted to do to him. I wanted to do it to him as well.
"So, how do you enjoy your life here at Professor Xavier's little school, hmm?" asked Magneto, addressing the group of youngsters who were looking more frightened by the second. "I'm sure it is exciting, learning to use your powers for the good of mankind."
A few of the kids dared to nod. Magneto smiled. It was a fucking ugly sight.
"Well." He bent over to one of the smaller kids. "One day you shall be all grown, and then you may wear a dark shiny suit like the other X-Men. Do you look forward to that day?"
A lot of the kids nodded now. The smile on Magneto faded as he stood upright, turning away from them. "You've brainwashed them well, Charles."
Anger prickled within me. He strolled over to Logan, his blue eyes glinting. "Your healing powers really are extraordinary," he said. "I'm sure Creed wasn't an easy man to kill."
Xavier's eyelids fluttered. "We are sorry, Erik."
Logan snorted. "I'm not."
"You planted him," I said suddenly.
Magneto glanced to me, a frown appearing on his face.
"You planted Creed," I said. "To frame Logan. 'Cause you knew that it'd cause trouble. You wanted to rip this school from the inside out."
The older man's lips tensed.
"Didn't work, did it?" I said, stepping foward, meeting his glare. "You didn't expect him to actually get his ass kicked huh?" As I spoke, I pulled off a glove, lifting up my naked hand. "He nearly killed me you know. Ah bet you told him to come after me. Mustah been annoying to know that I got away from you the first time."
My hand trembled over his wrinkled skin. He suddenly looked very sorry. So very sorry. "Do you really want any more of what's in my mind, dear girl?"
I clenched my jaw.
"I only kill if I must. I don't derive pleasure from it."
He turned away from me unharmed, facing Charles. The door to the rest of the mansion began rattling suddenly, a stiff cold wind streaming underneath the door.
"Uh oh..."
The kids ran back, Magneto retreating to Senator Kelly's side.
You know when like, you're amongst a bunch a' chickens? Well, I had a friend in Mississippi who lived near the edge of town and her Ma had chickens. Once chicken flaps its wings and gets frightened -- and like a wave, all the ones around it get frightened, then the ones next to those and so on will you got a pen full of screamin' chickens and a bewildered human swingin' their arms about just trying to stop from gettin' shat on.
That's exactly what happened in the hall of Xavier's mansion when Storm, in full meteorological splendor, burst through those doors and floated in on a rush of air, licks of lightning lashing off her civilian-attired frame.
"Oh man," Jubilee leapt towards Rogue, pushing fluttering bangs from her face. "Someone got Storm pissed!"
"Ya don't say," replied Logan through grinding teeth.
Kids ran left right and centre, smashing into Magneto and screaming at him like he was the boogieman (which is kinda ironic seeing as the boogieman isn't anywhere near as well dressed). So -- kids bouncing off Magneto, screamin' at him -- Logan's claws were out, Xavier looking around him with the most bewildered look on his face I'd ever seen. Storm was reaching up into the air with a hand, spinning up a small swirl of cloud, her eyes glowing angrily.
That's when Cyclops stepped in the front door, arms full of sports equipment, and his jaw dropped at the sight of screaming children and teens, half of them with their mutant powers going off half-cock. Ice, fire, stretching limbs and kineticly charged shrapnel was everywhere. Had it not been such a serious situation I honestly think I'd be laughing my ass off. But it was serious, 'cause the metal things in the room (including Wolverine) were rattling. Logan clenched his teeth at Magneto, who seemed to be garnering a bit of a headache.
"What the hell is going on in here?" gasped Scott.
Before he could say much else, Storm bolted forward in more ways than one, wind slamming into Magneto who just cocked a brow, his silver hair flipping about ridiculously.
The bag of soccer balls that Cyclops had been hefting broke open suddenly. Lord knows why. Maybe it had something to do with the metal clasps keeping it closed -- who knows.
There were balls everywhere -- one knocked over a plinth that a vase had been sitting on.
Xavier, in the meantime, looked really pissed. I mean, I never seen him look so annoyed in my time here. He rolled forward, meeting Magneto's gaze and frowned. "I think you've done enough here, Erik."
Magneto smiled down at him with a lot of amusement. "This is your highly-trained band of students, eh Charles?"
"They're children," Xavier muttered, but the sudden steps of Scott made him raise his hand, halting him. "Why are you here, Erik?"
"We came to collect Creed," said "Senator Kelly" suddenly, inching forward with a flash of amber eyes.
"And perhaps...some recuits?" added Magneto.
Xavier's eyes grew stony, and he spoke so -- quietly -- so very very evenly. I felt a chill run through me. God help me should he ever use that tone against me. "You won't find them here."
"Won't I?" Erik practically cooed, looking suddenly entertained. He strolled forward to where the kids huddled, looking them over. "Remember being made fun of in school, my dears?" He bent over in front of Howard, a round little boy with a sweet temperment, the old eyes of Magneto glistening with enthusiasm. "Remember being called 'freak'? Mutie? A biological mistake? Hmmm?"
He stood straight once more, shaking his head.
"Well, your persecutors were wrong. You are biological improvements. I want you never to forget that. I want you never to forget that what you are is something to be proud of -- always."
I gazed at Magneto for a long time. In some aspects, I think he was as paternal as Xavier, in his own twisted way. Kinda sad seeing him so bent on destruction, really, with all he could do to help us. The kids were looking less scared; some even looked interested. Had I been Xavier I would have gotten angry and kicked the bastard out by now. Especially at his schpeil that made him look a little too good to be true.
Magneto paced away from the kids, meeting the serene deadly eyes of Mystique in the guise of Kelly, then swung around to face them again.
"You know -- you don't have to like the humans if you don't want to. No one makes them like you -- what makes you think you have to feel the same way about them?"
I couldn't let that slide. I narrowed my eyes and spoke. "Because if you hate them, you become as bad as those that despise us."
The look of pride from Xavier nearly felled me. The look of thinly veiled contempt from Magneto chilled me, however; he stepped towards me, regarding me in silence. His words were always measured, well thought. They were weighted, and frightening.
"I didn't leave as much of a mark on you as I hoped I would have," he said, lifting a leather-clad finger to my hair and running it through the platinum bang. I felt a chill run through me and I clenched my teeth, narrowing my eyes at him in defiance. Son of a bitch. "Didn't learn, did you? Of sacrifice...of our cause."
I heard the grinding of Logan's teeth against each other as he closed in on us, the front of his body pressing to the back of mine. Magneto eyed us, registering the sentiment with a barely noticable tick of his brow. Protectiveness rumbled up inside of me, and without thinking my hand slid back to his thigh, squeezing. This caused an amused smile to flutter onto the old man's face and he peered at Wolverine with a tilt of his head.
"Tragedy does make the heart grow fonder, does it not, my friend in metal?"
Logan tilted his head. "You insinuatin' somethin'?"
Magneto shook his head. "No, merely observing."
I could see the anger rising in Logan, his eyes almost glowing with rage. "Oh yeah, what's that?"
He looked around us, at Cyclops, Storm, and the Professor. Extra long gaze at the Professor. He finally dragged those crystal-blue eyes back to Logan. "How X-Men have a tendency to pair up and attempt to procreate...no matter how..." He gave a tilt of his head. "Inappropriate it may be."
The next move was lightning. Logan's arm flicked out next to me, grabbing the neck of the man and slamming him into the wall behind us. The wood cracked, and Magneto winced. I jumped forward.
"Logan, NO!"
"What ya wanna protect this pile of shit?!" His eyes flashed with fire.
"No!" I gasped, shaking my head. "He's going to HURT you!"
As I said that, Magneto pursed his lips, looking at Logan with a wrinkle of concentration in his brow.
That's when I heard it -- the popping of something in Logan's neck, then arm. Logan stepped back stiffly, eyes brimming with pain.
"NO!" I ran forward, grabbing Magneto, pulling him from the wall and slamming him back into it again. "Let him GO!"
"ROGUE!"
It was Scott's voice calling me, and the whip of wind grew around me. I could hear the frightened whimpers of the young teens that huddled in the corner, and soon their frenzied footsteps as they ran down the hall. I clenched the soft neck under my fingers. "Ya feel that, ya bastard?!"
"Rogue -- put him down -- that's not going to solve anything!"
"Like hell," I growled, eyeing Magneto. He looked barely worried. I could hear the pained grunts of Logan behind me and my fingers clenched tighter around the neck. "You hurt him again -- I break your fucking neck."
"You break my neck, dear girl," he croaked. "And I break his..."
Before the words even processed I let go, Magneto slipping to the floor. I didn't even hear the deathly rush of bare padding feet as the slipped up behind me and struck me upside the head. The clout only hurt a moment as I fell to the floor. I heard the X-Men call out behind me, and as I stood up, I saw what I had always feared.
The Brotherhood...foreign mutants I didn't know, that didn't look upon me with the care I'd grown to be used to in this place...in Professor Xavier's sanctuary of peace. He'd expected a weakened force, chaos, an easy break. How insanely stupid of him to think that Wolverine and I could ever be a weak link.
Anger burst through me. He tried to destroy the X-Men through Logan and I. Well...I'd destroy him with the very same thing.
A blue hand gripped my neck and dragged me up a wood-panelled wall, amber eyes flashing at me.
"You nearly killed him," she said coolly. "That won't ever happen again."
I just gave a weary smile before sending a swift kick up to the back of her head with a flick of my leg. As her head lurched forward I slammed into it with my own, a trickle of blood spilling down my face that wasn't my own. It took a lot to actually hurt me now...again, those nifty new powers.
Mystique staggered back, wiping at her brow, glaring at me. I could barely glance around me to see the all out fist-fighting that was taking place. Magneto had Logan again, as if taking out his frustrations that it all didn't work, and that one of his toughest had been taken out in the process. I couldn't let it happen. I ripped off my gloves, baring my ivory hands to Mystique, who at the sight of them stopped stock still.
I grinned. "Wassat -- big scary morphin' lady frightened?"
I jumped forward, and she leapt back, a catch of breath in her throat. "You don't want me inside, child..."
There was something careful, tender in that voice that frightened me. Probably because she was right -- I didn't.
"I'd risk it," I said, darkly. "For him."
A look of incomprehension flittered across Mystique's face. "You would risk your sanity and life comfort for him?"
I nodded. "He's done as much for me."
"I would do as much for him."
I knew who she was talking about. Erik. I felt that chill again and I knew -- they were all as devoted to Erik as we were to Charles. And that's what made them so damned dangerous. I couldn't face her, not this woman. With a grunt I launched myself up into the air, flipping back and landing a few steps from Logan's crumpled form on the floor. Spinning around I kicked at Magneto's gut, watching him as he staggered back.
"What's wrong? Can't bend my bones with your head, eh?"
He fell on his behind, eyes sharp with anger. I heard the running steps of Mystique this time, and when her foot swung to clobber my head, I ducked, hearing only a whoosh over my head. With a jab of my leg I wrapped my ankle around her leg, giving a swift pull.
The naked woman slipped onto her bottom, and I glared at the both of them. "Ya wanna fuck with me? Huh? 'Cause I'll kick both your asses!"
"Mar--"
I looked down. Logan lay back, tears of pain in his eyes. I stood with a sigh, turning around and grabbing Magneto, hauling him to his feet.
"You want to let him go, Princess, or do I have to get angry?"
Mystique stiffened suddenly, and looked to Magneto in my hand. As I glanced around the room, I saw that the two or three extra mutants that had entered after Magneto and Mystique had stopped in front of their adversaries, similarly paralyzed. I looked to Mystique, but she had eyes only for Magneto. She came closer, very close, her deep blue lips close to his.
"You shall leave here, Erik," she said smoothly, her voice a rush of many. "Never return under the guise of peace, or you shall know real suffering."
Logan's stiff breaking form slackened, and he gave a sharp cry of relief that tore through me. I let go, very slowly, a sharp crunch of Magneto's esophagus being a quiet reminder of what I could do to him. Damn that high-neck skivvy. Had it not been there today would have been his last. I quietly thanked God for not having to have that madman in my head any more than he was, though. It was a place I liked having dominated by myself, and Logan.
He slipped down and staggered back. Slowly I could see control being returned to the mutants. They turned and glared at Magneto, and he coughed haggardly.
"Out!" he rasped to his comrades.
Like hunting dogs, they took barely a blink at him and complied, racing out the door. Mystique's blue slithering arms wrapped around Magneto, doting and care in her eyes at the broken form of Magneto. She glared a me long, anger in her face that probably mirrored mine not a few moments ago.
"You'll keep," she purred, pulling the injured Magneto away from me.
I glanced around the room. It was -- well, it was wrecked. A few heavy wood panels were cracked, a number of expensive vases were smashed by upturned plinths. Storm's hair was a wild mess around her shoulders from her windy intervention, and the scorch marks of Cyclops' energy blasts marred the usually elegant hallway.
Xavier frowned, but relief was in his eyes, I could see it. He wheeled forward to the kids, a gentle frown on his features.
"Come with me," he said. "And I'll explain a little about 'adequate timing'..."
Grabbing my gloves I leapt down to Wolverine, shrouding my hands before cradling his face. "Logan... Logan -- you okay?"
The eyes blinked and looked to me. He grunted. "I feel like shit run down, Marie."
I let out a long doting groan and pressed my cheek to him through my draped hair. "It's okay," I said softly. "You'll be fine, sugah."
I felt his hand pat my shoulder and I sighed with relief. I hugged him, my hair falling down over his face, the fear I'd held for his safety coming out in soft sobs.
"I love you," I mumbled. "I love you."
"You too, Marie," he said, muffled under my hair. "I'm not dead, ya know."
"Ah know," I said. "I just -- I coulda killed that bastard for touching you!"
As I lifted my head to look at him, he nodded haggardly. "I'm kinda glad you didn't."
I rose my brows and he closed his eyes. "Ya don't want that shit on your conscience."
I smiled, hugging him again.
Hank looked us over, and obviously he'd never treated Logan before as he insisted that he have gauze and dressings on all of the man's wounds. I tried to tell him it wasn't necessary. Hank just looked back at me with cool blue eyes and said that infection was a danger to anyone, super healing or no. I tried to tell him that it just wasn't so in Logan's case. Then again, Hank was the doctor.
Then the guy suggested the last thing I'd thought I'd ever hear suggested so many miles from home. I mean -- after the past two days, and Logan bashed black and blue and his poor bones twisted this way and that and me all bleedin' and bruised, he looked at us.
"There is little more I can do for you," he said, washing his furry blue hands at the sink. "I doubt the walls of the infirmary will do much for your state of mind."
"In English," Logan said tiredly, rubbing a bandage.
"Perhaps it would be good for you both to go have a nice cup of tea."
We stopped, looked at each other, and blinked. Logan was as dumbfounded as I was.
"Tea?" he croaked. "Do I look like the kind of guy that drinks tea?!"
Beast eyed him a moment and smiled patiently. "You should, the antioxidents would do you good," he said in that cool well spoken tongue.
Logan stepped off the bed, no shirt, a spare pair of tracksuit pants grabbed from the nearby supply room clothing his bottom half and feet perfectly bare. How he could have cute feet, I had no idea, but he did. And they padded across the room towards me, Logan's hazel eyes looking tired.
"So," he said. "Want some tea?"
I smiled. "Make mine an English Breakfast," I said, wrapping a long-sleeved clothed arm around his bare one. I could feel his muscles hardening against my arm and I was in heaven.
Our trip to the kitchen was one that was mostly in silence. Relief was bound between us, relief that we'd been through what we knew was the worst of things for now, that we'd survived the chaos with each other, and that we'd even become an "each other" in the first place.
He was quiet still as he made the tea, and I watched him as he filled our mugs with the boiling water that was stained with the tea-bags inside. The smell, strong, herbal, lofty, drifted past him, past me. It filled the room only a moment. He looked to me. "Milk?"
"Yes please."
It was such an odd thing, watching Logan make tea. I couldn't even believe he was drinking it. Maybe the prospect of doing something with me was appealing, I don't know.
We sat at the table with our cups of tea, and I drank it hungrily. Something about it was cleansing, so sweet and delicious. The hearty taste of English Breakfast tea had always been something I enjoyed.
Well...son of a gun.
"Hank was right, the tea is kinda theraputic," I said, gazing at the mug, letting my feet tangle around Logan's at the ankle. He glanced under the table only a moment, then leant back on his elbows like before and eyed me past the mug.
"Who'da thought," he said into the cup.
"Remember that corny tea-drinking scene from Karate Kid Two?"
This elicited a sharp glare from Logan. "I'm proud to say I never SAW Karate Kid One, Two, or Three."
"Never?"
He shook his head and eyed me. "No."
"Well, basically, when two people are in love in Japan, or wherever the hell Mister Miyagi is from--"
"Mr. Who?"
"No, not Mr. Who, Mr. Miyagi!"
Logan narrowed his eyes. "Funny."
"Listen!" I pouted. "I'm trying to tell you an amusing story!"
"Sorry..."
I nodded. "Anyway. So he meets this chick there who like -- she's beautiful and there's this stupid tradition where two people drink tea together. Like they go through all this stuff, turning the cup and stuff where they drink the tea... I mean it was stupid -- kinda pretty though. I wonder if that's a real tradition?"
Logan just gave me that steady glare. "What's your point Marie?"
"Oh!" I nodded and took another gulp of my tea. "Point is -- she took her hair out and they did it on the floor after. It was so silly."
Logan just grinned. "Sounds like a good idea to me."
I looked to him, face turning red.
Needless to say, I'll never look at that kitchen table the same way again. So that's the story of a cup of tea. It's how I ended up in that kitchen, with Logan and I all beaten up, and the tea in my hands. Tea's curing properties is still in question to me, but I think adventures under kitchen tables will never ever be. And I was right... Logan was healed up under all those bandages.
Under the pants too.
The End