Liz didn’t get a chance to explore the noise out in the hallway before the door to her dorm room opened revealing the makers of the disturbance. It was Bobby and a girl her own age. When she saw her, Liz knew that she had to be her roommate. She was a few inches taller than she was with bright green eyes and fair skin.
But her most characteristic feature was her hair. It was dark and shoulder length with a streak of pure snow-white hair that started at the peak of her forehead. Most people wouldn’t like it or think it was strange but Liz liked it. The contrast between the dark and light was stunning. Liz could tell by the look in Bobby’s eyes that he was taken by her roommate so she assumed he liked it too. Thinking back to the abrupt flash she had gotten from Bobby back in Roswell and realized that her roommate matched the girl she had seen in it.
Bobby decided to help the girls break the ice so to speak by doing the introductions. Motioning to Liz, he said, “This is Liz Parker, Liz, this is Marie.”
“Hey, it’s nice to meet you Liz.” Marie said. Although she was uncomfortable touching people for long periods of time, she did reach out to shake Liz’s hand. But only for a few short minutes. “And don’t listen to Bobby, I don’t go by Marie. Everyone calls me Rogue around here.”
“It’s nice to meet you too Rogue.” Liz said as she took Rogue’s proffered hand. As she did she couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t meet flesh, she melt fabric and understood why there had been gloves lying around. Liz just didn’t know why her roommate was covered from head to toe with clothing.
Rogue looked around and saw that Liz had brought in all of her stuff. “So what do you think of this place?”
“What I’ve seen of it so far is nice.” Liz stated. She was aware of the fact that Rogue seemed to keep herself at a distance from Bobby and her while still appearing to be with them. She had a feeling that it had something to do with the long sleeve clothes and gloves.
“I was just about to take Liz and the others downstairs. The Professor wants them in his office so they can meet the teachers.” Bobby declared. Although Bobby wanted to stay and spend some time with Marie he knew that Professor Xavier was expecting him to guide the new students around so he decided to get a move on it. The sooner he was done, the sooner he could spend time with her. “I’ll go check on the others while you two chat.”
Rogue gave Bobby a departing smile before turning to Liz. “If you don’t already know it, you’ll find out soon that Bobby is a huge pacifist. He always plays peacekeeper if any of the students get into fights.”
“Sounds like my friend Alex back home. He’s always cracking jokes and stuff to try and ease tension of a room.” Liz stated laughing fondly at the thought of her friends back in Roswell. She needed to write them as soon as possible to tell them everything about her new school.
Rogue noticed the affection in Liz’s voice as she spoke about her friend. It made her broodingly think about the life that she left behind when she discovered her mutation. She pushed the thoughts away and asked, “Leave a lot of people behind?”
“Some. A few friends and my parents.” Liz answered.
“Do they know why you’re really here?” Rogue asked.
“You mean do they know if I’m a mutant?” Liz questioned and Rogue nodded. “My friends do, my parents don’t. I plan to tell them sometime but not now. How about you? Do your parents know?”
“They know I’m a mutant but they don’t know where I’m at. I ran away after I put my ex-boyfriend in the hospital. Which is something we need to talk about if we’re going to be roommates.” Rogue declared. When Liz looked at her puzzled, Rogue explained.
“My mutation is something cool like Bobby’s. When someone touches me, bare skin to bare skin, I drain his or hers life force, like draining their body of what lets us live. With normal humans, it varies by how long I touch them. It can be anywhere from a coma to death. But with mutants there is a little more resistance. I first steal their powers, I can use them myself while I’m touching them and for a short time after. Eventually I can drain them enough to kill them. So you see why I wanted to bring it up right away.” Rogue stated. “And I understand if you want to be transferred to another room.”
Liz was bowled over by what Rogue told her and she knew that Rogue was by no means trying to intimidate her, just warn her of the dangers of rooming with her. She appreciated the thought but it didn’t make a difference. “I’m not going to request a transfer. I’m staying here.”
“Liz…I don’t think you realize.”
“I do understand but it doesn’t matter to me. I would be in just as much risk if you had some other type of power and didn’t have any control, like me. I just found out I was a mutant a few days ago and I have no idea what I’m doing. You never know when you might wake up in the middle of the night and get hit in the head with a flying pillow.”
Liz’s remark produced a mental image that Rogue couldn’t help but find hilarious and she started to laugh. Liz joined in too and that was how Bobby and Max found them when they entered. Both boys looked baffled but glad that the two girls were getting along. Liz couldn’t help but smile brighter at Max. “Hey, Max. This is my roommate, Rogue. Rogue, this is another new student and a friend of mine Max Evans.”
Rogue and Max exchanged pleasantries before Rogue stated. “You guys should get going. I’m going to get started on some homework. I’ll probably see you guys at dinner.”
Liz exited the room then, leaving Rogue to her schoolwork and heading with the two guys to the last meeting of the day. At least Liz hoped it was. It had been a long day what with saying goodbye to her parents, the plane ride, tour of the school, settling in, and meeting everyone. She hoped that after the meeting they could get some dinner and she could come back to her room to relax a little bit.
At the top of the stairs, Michael and Isabel waited for them and then they headed downstairs. Although they all now knew where the Professor’s office was Bobby led them. As they approached the door, Liz felt another flutter of nervousness over the thought of meeting her new teachers. True, they had already met three of their teachers, Ms. Munroe, Mr. Summers and Professor Xavier himself but the others were unknown. But that ended when Bobby opened the door.
The students all picked out the teachers they knew quickly and focused on the ones they didn’t. The closest one to them held himself in a way that made Liz and Max instantly think of Michael, reminded them of the rebel inside of him. His hair was also suggested Michael with it’s wildness and shagginess. His face was weathered by lots of time outside and his clothes had a similar appearance. Something about the way he watched them that had Max thinking that he was used to being on the defensive and usually won. Although his appearance was distinctive at least he looked human
Standing on the other side of room was another man who was skinnier but looked no less fit. What was strange was the fact that he was covered from head to toe with a mixture of fur and skin that was so dark blue that it appeared black at a casual glance. Another shocking feature was the fact that he had a long forked tail. As he turned his gaze on them, they saw his eyes were a bright yellow. Isabel chanced a quick glance at her brother as she felt her courage slip a little at that. It was a little strange to see someone so different than them standing in front of them.
“Ah, children. Glad to see that you settled in quickly. Why don’t you take your seats?” The Professor offered. “We’ll start with introductions and go on to discussing your courses. This is Max and Isabel Evans, Elizabeth Parker, and Michael Guerin.”
Each of them held up their hand as their name was called then the Professor moved on. “Now you have met most of your teachers but there are a few here that you have yet to meet. First, the newest addition to our staff is Kurt Wagner.”
“Guten Morgen.” Kurt responded offering them a shy smile. “I teach history more often than not European history. I have traveled the world when I was in the Munich Circus as the ‘Incredible Nightcrawler’.”
“Logan.” The Professor stated directing the introduction to the tall burly guy they had first seen. He just nodded and grunted what they thought was a hello. It was apparent to three of the Roswellians that the similarities between Logan and Michael were continuous.
“What does he teach?” Michael asked sardonically.
“Art, and combat training.” Logan said as he narrowed his eyes at Michael, instantly recognizing the familiar attitude in the young man and not sure if he liked it. With a quick snickt one set of claws popped out causing the teens to jump slightly in surprise.
Michael tried to not show the nervousness he was now feeling at the site of Logan’s claws. He was used to being a hard ass to his teachers and they putting up with it. But it was obvious that Logan wasn’t going to just let him slide. However that didn’t mean that Michael was going to change his own attitude.
PART 12
Liz quickly gathered her books so that she could leave her classroom. It was the end of her first day of classes at her new school and so far she enjoyed all of her classes. It had been strange at first, the classes were so small compared to back in Roswell but she liked knowing that it gave them individual attention. She had a feeling that Michael didn’t like it much since it eliminated the likelihood of him slacking off.
The classes were also for longer periods of time, as they didn’t have them everyday because of the limited teaching staff. So they had four classes a day and switched the schedule every other day. Thus far, Liz had Bobby, Rogue, Michael, Max and Isabel in all of her classes and was sure that she would have them in the next day as well. After all they were all in the same age group and grade.
Once they met their teachers, each of them had gone through what they taught and talked a little about their classes so that the teens could decide what classes they wanted to take. There were basic classes that they all had to take but also had electives. Despite the rough start Michael decided to take Logan’s art class and joined Max in Mr. Summers’ mechanic class. Liz took an extra literature class with the professor and an organic cooking class with Isabel that Storm taught. Combat training was mandatory for all students since the attack on the school the month prior but it wasn’t part of their scheduled class. There were two classes, one for the younger students and one for the older that met a few times a week after dinner. Nothing too demanding but something that would help if they needed to defend themselves.
At dinner the night before they had been able to meet more of the students and it had been an interesting experience to say the least. When the four of them had entered the dining room, all eyes had turned in their direction and stared. Of course this made the aliens had been standoffish until Liz reminded them that it was normal for old students to ogle the new ones. They relaxed a little but started to sit off in the side.
Watching their way of behaving Liz couldn’t help but wonder why they had even bothered coming to the school to be with others who would understand a little what it was like to be different if they were still going to act unapproachable. They could have done that back at Roswell. So she decided to help them out a little. Knowing that Michael and Isabel would follow, she drug Max over to the table Bobby and Rogue were sitting at and made herself comfortable. Her plan worked and not long after, they were acting a lot less uneasy.
The other students came over to brake the ice and find out what they could about the new students. While they introduced themselves, they also would talk about what gifts they possessed as well as ask what they could do. Liz explained her telekinetic and The new arrivals quickly become conscious of the fact that there were a wide variety of mutants. The two girls that were the most outgoing were Jubilation Lee and Tracy Roake. Their codenames were Jubilee and Siryn and after explaining their gifts, it was obvious why they had chosen those particular names.
Jubilee created sparks from her hands that reminded Liz of fireworks while Siryn could adjust the octaves of her voice to create sonic waves. Which meant that if she screamed, most of the surrounding glass would shatter. Liz had made a mental note not to startle her especially considering she didn’t have complete control over her ability.
The guys quickly pulled Max and Michael into sports talk and Liz saw for the first time Michael talking passionately about something other than keeping the aliens’ secret. He and another boy Jamie Madrox got into a huge hockey debate that had to be broken up by another guy. Neither party argued with their peacekeeper though considering the guy, Peter Rasputin, was the size of a small building. It was plain as the noses on their face why his code name was Colossus. But after talking him for a little bit, Liz found out he was a big teddy bear whose biggest passion wasn’t sports but drawing.
As soon as dinner was over the students went their separate ways. Some of them went upstairs or into the library to do homework while others retreated to the common room. The atmosphere was very casual and laid-back. Liz had decided to go back to her and Rogue’s room to get some writing done. She wrote long letters to her parents, Maria and Alex as well as a lengthy entry in her journal.
Later when Rogue came up, they talked a little more to get to know each other. They discovered that they did indeed have a lot in common with music and some other interests. As they had been reaching for the same CD their hands touched and despite the fact that Rogue had on her gloves, Liz got a flash.
((Flash
Rogue minus her skunk strip, crying and screaming for help while tied to two metal columns.
Flash))
The raw terror had knocked Liz’s breath out of her and Rogue instantly noticed something was wrong. At first she had been terrified that her mutation had grown stronger to where even gloves wouldn’t give any protection. But once Liz had gotten her breath back, she quickly explained what had happened.
Rogue calmed down after everything was explained and Liz decided then that maybe her roommate wasn’t the only one who should be careful about touching people. She didn’t know how to control this ability and felt like she was invading peoples’ privacy when she raided their memories even if it was unintentional.
As Liz made her way out of Mr. Summer’s geometry class she wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing and ran right into Max. She thought he had left with the other students and hadn’t seen him hanging around outside the classroom so she hadn’t been able to stop the crash. “Max!”
“Sorry.” Max apologized. He hadn’t meant to cause an accident, just catch Liz to talk.
“It’s okay, no big deal. I just wasn’t expecting you to be standing right there.” Liz said. “What are you doing here?”
“I just wanted to see how your day was going, you know first day and all.” Max stated innocently so she wouldn’t know it was just an excuse to talk to her. They had three classes together that day so he knew how some of her classes had gone. The next day though he only had one.
“Fine. A lot of it is similar to back in Roswell, some of it different.” Liz said shrugging. “How about you?”
“It’s good. Kind of strange knowing that everyone around me has powers.” Max stated.
“Have you gotten all unpacked?” Liz asked.
“Mostly, there are a few things that Mom and Dad are going to send later.” Max informed her. “Michael’s side looks like he’s been living there for years.”
“I know he’s not big into writing and words but I’m sending Maria a letter and I’d be happy to include anything he might want to write her in it if he wants.” Liz offered.
“I’ll let him know.” Max stated. Then working up the nerve to ask her, he asked. “Are you going to get started on home work now? Because I thought if you were I’d meet you in the library and we could study together.”
“That’s a great idea.” Liz said enthusiastically before her face fell. “But I can’t.”
“Oh, that’s okay.” Max said trying to hide his disappointment. Although they had been there for each other throughout the whole phase of getting out of Roswell and moving to Westchester, Max felt they still needed to work on getting back to being comfortable with each other. After all, they were living just a hallway away from each other.
“I’m sorry. I really would like to but Professor Xavier told me during my literature class that he wanted to arrange for a practice session with me after classes were over for the day. So that we could figure out the extent of my powers. I have to meet him in the garden outside his office as soon as I drop my books off.” Liz explained. She had told the Professor about the episode with Rogue the night before after he had scheduled the practice and he said that it just supported his idea of finding out what she could do soon. If she knew, then they could work on controlling them.
“In the garden? Isn’t it a little cold out for that?” Max asked. While it had still been warm in Roswell, it was very chilly in Westchester. After all it was winter and they were a lot farther north. They had packed warmer clothes and were prepared but they still had to adjust to the temperature change.
“Yeah, But the Professor thought I should have an open area for my first practice and most of the training rooms downstairs are still being remodeled. So I’m going to work outside today. I’ll grab my coat, it shouldn’t be too bad yet.” Liz stated. “I heard on the radio this morning that it’s supposed to snow this weekend.”
“I heard some talk about it.” Max stated. “It’s hard to believe it considering it’s so warm back in Roswell.
They had talked as they walked so by this time, they had reached the top of the stairs where it split the hallway to the dorm rooms. Liz started to turn in the direction of her room but stopped. “I don’t know how long I’ll be with the Professor but I should be done by dinner. How about I meet up with you then? And then we could go to the library and study?”
Max nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
“That’s me, always got to have a plan.” Liz joked. “See you later Max.”
“Bye Liz.” Max called after her as she hurried to her room.
**Note: I haven’t read the comics and know only vaguely of the danger room. Since it has yet to be in the movies, I’m not bringing it into this story. **
PART 13
When Liz arrived at the garden, she was surprised to see Mr. Summers was joining her and the Professor for her training session. She had thought that it would just be the two of them but it was the Professor’s choice. The Professor noticed her arrival first, turned towards her and sent her a friendly smile. “Very prompt Liz.”
“I tried to hurry.” Liz explained. “I didn’t want to be late and keep you waiting.”
“We’ve only just arrived. I hope you don’t mind the added company.”
“No, it’s okay.” Liz stated. She trusted the Professor to not bring up the alteration of her powers or what caused them in front of the other teacher. “So how is this going to work?”
“I thought we could work on two things. Number one will be working on your control and calling upon your abilities at any time. Number two will be to see what all you are capable of.” The Professor explained.
“What should I do first?”
“Cyclops set up a variety of objects of varying weights and sizes. You already demonstrated with the pencil back in Roswell, so the smallest of the objects is bigger and heavier than that of the pencil. I want you to start small and work your way up.” The Professor said giving details.
Liz nodded and looked at the items she was supposed to move. There were several rocks but most of it was stuff she was sure he found around the school, and there were some odd green colored Frisbee disks that looked like something you would use for target practice. She decided to start with those first. Focusing on those, she replicated what she had done in Roswell and urged them to come to her.
Having gotten used to moving small things, Liz was not surprised when the disk lifted. She put it back in its place and proceeded to lift the other objects. But when she was half way through, the Professor stopped her. “Try to focus your energy through your hands. You’ll find it give you a little more control on directing things.”
After a little more instruction, Liz did what the Professor directed. Starting over Liz learned how to use her hands as conduit to focus her power. It took a little getting used to but did manage to accomplish her task. Liz surprised herself when she was able to lift the final object that the Professor requested she lift, a nearby stone table that was extremely heavy. She struggled with it until it finally lifted off the ground. When she put it back down she happened to glance over at Mr. Summers who did not look pleased at her success, only sad.
“Professor, I’m not really needed here and I have some work to grade.” Scott said
“It’s okay Scott, I understand.” The Professor said dismissing him. Cyclops nodded a goodbye before quickly withdrawing from the garden and heading inside. He knew that Scott would go up to the room that he and Jean had shared and bury himself in his memories.
When they heard the door shut, Liz turned to Professor Xavier. “Was it me?”
“No, Liz it’s not you. Well no you personally but you’re powers. I shouldn’t have pushed him to attend when I knew it would be hard on him.” Professor Xavier explained. “You are know who Jean was don’t you?”
“Yes, Bobby told me about her.” Liz answered. “She sounded like an extraordinary person.”
“She was. Scott and Jean were some of my first students. Scott would attend when Jean was learning to control her abilities. That’s why I asked him to join us. He knows a lot about telekinesis. I thought he might be of help but it brought up too many memories of Jean.” Professor Xavier explained.
“You didn’t mean to hurt him. You were just trying to help him deal.” Liz reasoned. “He’s got a lot of hurt inside that he’s not letting out.”
“You’ve know this for certain don’t you?” The Professor asked then picked up in her thoughts how she was so positive. “You received a flash from him.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me about it.”
“It happened in Roswell the first time I met him.” Liz explained. “The flash was just a quick one, just an image of who I now know is Jean. But the emotions I picked up were vast. Deep love, adoration as well as longing and grief. It was totally unexpected and with all emotion and the surprise it kind of jolted me. But I did my best to not act as if anything had happened. I kind of figured it was best if he didn’t know that a total stranger had seen into his head.”
“You are correct. You are very good at reading people and I do not believe it has anything to do with your gifts.” The Professor complimented.
“Thank you.”
“I am curious though, when you receive a flash do the emotions dwell after?”
“Yes. They stick around for a little while after it’s over. They kind of become my own. I feel like I experienced them. It’s not always… pleasant.” Liz said thinking of the flash she had gotten from Rogue. The Professor must have heard her thoughts because it was then that he said.
“Perhaps you should try your best to avoid physical contact with people. I don’t doubt that playing host to others emotions and memories is something you are entirely comfortable with.” Then added. “But not forever, just until you can get control of that aspect of your gifts.”
“I came to the same conclusion.” Liz stated. “It’s harder than I imagined it would be though. I see why Rogue makes sure she’s always covered though, just in case she bumps into some one. Too bad that won’t help me.”
“When you receive a flash is there any hint of it before it strikes?”
Liz thought about it for a minute and said, “I never thought of it before but I guess I do feel a little tingle in my head. It’s so quick that I didn’t think about it.”
“Next time when you first feel the tingle if at all possible, try to mentally push it away from you. It might help to visualize doing it when you have a few minutes alone to yourself.” The Professor instructed.
“I’ll try it and see what happens.” Liz stated. “But what should I do now?”
“I want to test you ability to move things that you can’t see. I want to know to what scale you are able to do it.” The Professor coached. “Since my office is so close, let’s start by you calling something, a copy of book we are currently reading is lying in the center of my desk here.”
Liz nodded before doing as she was told. Within a minute, the book glide out to them in the direction of the Professor’s office windows. Once it was visual, Liz used her hands to direct it to land in the Professor’s lap. She was pleased at her accomplishment but only dwelled on it for a minute before asking what she was to do next. She brought several more objects until they found her limits. Unless she knew what she was trying to call looked like, she couldn’t bring it. If she had seen it or at least given a detailed description of what she wanted, she could ‘call’ it.
The Professor nodded before saying, “I think we’ll end our session for today. We can work on it again tomorrow and perhaps this weekend if you do not have too much schoolwork.”
“That’s fine.” Liz agreed. The Professor began to go inside and asked if she was coming as well. Deciding to do a little thinking, Liz shook her head. “I’ll stay out here for a little bit.”
“As you wish but do not stay too long. You’ll miss dinner.”
Liz watched as the Professor’s wheelchair proceeded into the school as she sat down next to the table she had lifted earlier. For the first time she wondered if maybe she shouldn’t have come to the school. She didn’t like causing others pain and it seemed like she was doing just that. At least her powers were. They reminded the people here of someone they had lost.
From his spot a few feet away, Logan had watched the teenager girl who looked as if she was down in the dumps. He had been walking around the grounds, oblivious to the weather when he had come up on the garden. It was then that he easily heard her conversation with the Professor about Cyclops. He had stayed to watch her training, interested in seeing what she could do. When she stayed behind after, he was pretty sure he knew what was probably going through her head. “You know, Cyclops’s attitude isn’t directed at you.”
Liz looked up, startled at Logan’s appearance but his words quickly sunk in. “Is that your way of telling me that it’s nothing personal?”
Logan smirked at her remark, “Yeah, guess it is. But mostly to tell you that he doesn’t hate you. Cyclops likes everyone, except maybe me. He definitely doesn’t like me.”
“And why is that?” Liz asked. Sure, from what she had seen Logan was a little rough around the edges but it wasn’t anything to make her not like him.
Thinking about his attraction to Jean caused his own grief to surge but didn’t want to load Liz down more so he just said, “I wasn’t exactly Mr. Friendly when we first met. And it’s been that way ever since. We normally have a ‘difference’ of opinion about almost everything.”
“He might not hate me but I remind him of Jean. And he’s in enough pain and suffering from enough grief without me adding to it.” Liz explained.
“I take it that the flash thing you and Charles talked about really gets you inside his head huh?” Logan asked curiously. Until he had been brought to Westchester, he hadn’t come into contact with a lot of other mutants, of course he hadn’t came into too much contact with humans either if he could help it. Now that he was surrounded my mutants, he was always interested in finding out about their abilities and how they differed from his own. From what he’d seen, Liz was quite a bit different.
At the mention of her abilities, Liz pulled her hands farther back and away from him. As she did it, she reminded him of Rogue the first time they had talked back in his old camper. She had jerked away so quickly from his touch that he had first thought she was disgusted by the thought of being touched by a mutant. Then when she explained, he understood. She wasn’t scared of him hurting her but the other way around.
“Yeah. Sometimes when I touch people I get a flash, a memory from that person suddenly pops into my head and it’s like I’m experiencing it for myself. I see what they saw, feel what they felt, stuff like that.” Liz explained.
“That can’t be fun, people have some messed up memories.” Logan said thinking of what she could see if she ever got a flash from him.
“It’s not always bad.” Liz said thinking of the first time she had gotten a flash. The night of the blind date contest when Max had kissed her. She had liked getting that flash and not only because of the method she had gotten it. “But I think a lot of the students will be freaked when they find out.”
“You’re probably right.” Logan agreed. “You should talk to Rogue some about it. She’d understand. She’s your roommate isn’t she?”
“Yeah. And we’ve talked a little bit after I got a flash from her last night. But you’re right, I probably should.” Liz stated before cocking her head up at Logan. “You two are close aren’t you?”
“I guess. She’s imprinted me twice so I guess she understands me better than most.” Logan commented uneasily. “And I guess I feel responsible for her a lot of the time so I keep an eye out for her.”
“No wonder Bobby is scared of you.” Liz snorted.
Logan smirked. “He’s a smart kid.”
“I should get inside. I’ve got homework to do and someone waiting for me.” Liz said as she got up. “Thanks for talking to me, I needed it.”
“I know things can get rough. But things here are better than out there and Charles will help you learn to use that power of yours.” Logan stated. He watched Liz nod again before heading inside. Getting up himself, he decided then that he would have to have a little talk with Cyclops about his actions some time.
PART 14
For the rest of the week, Liz, Max, Isabel and Michael became accustomed to living at their new school. It became routine for Liz and Max to meet up after training sessions to work on their homework together, even when they had work in the classes that they didn’t share. Many times Rogue and Bobby would join them. After the second day of classes, Professor Xavier set up training sessions with Isabel, Max, and Michael. It was as much a learning experience for him as it was for them. He could give them suggestions and advice on improving their powers and control while he gained knowledge of their powers.
Liz continued to shy away from physical contact so to avoid flashes. A few times it couldn’t be helped and she had tried to do what the Professor had suggested but to no avail. She just couldn’t get a hold over it. But she wasn’t going to give up. She talked to the Professor and he explained that once she got total command over her telekinesis, they would work harder on the flashes. He reminded her that it was all still very new to her and she had to start with what was the easiest and work her way up. It was frustrating but Liz knew he was right.
Things were kind of tense around the school. There were news reports of a small act of violence on a group of humans by mutants. It had caused an uproar against mutants again and making everyone worried. By the description of the news report, it appeared that her teachers as well as Rogue knew who were behind the attacks. A mutant they called Magneto. But they were unable to locate him.
Liz noticed that after her first training session, Mr. Summers seemed to curb his unhappiness around her. He wasn’t exactly cheerful but he did seem to put on a positive façade around him. Liz couldn’t help but wonder if it had anything to do with the talk she had had with Logan. She mentioned it to Rogue who presumed the same thing. Rogue also told her that it would be pointless to ask Logan about it because he’d deny it. So Liz just accepted it but offered a smile of thanks to him the next time she ran into him.
Rogue was proving to be a good friend. Liz could see that she typically shied away from the other students so she didn’t know if it was because they were roommates or what but it was nice to feel like she had a friend. She missed having Maria around and Isabel wasn’t exactly the friendliest of people at least not to her. Isabel did end up making friends with a few of the girls their age and was often seen with Tracy.
One thing she found out early about Rogue was that she was a big people watcher. Liz was sure that the trait came from distancing herself from others. Rogue knew a lot about the people in the school and shared it with Liz. After they had gone up to their room for the night they would often chat about Rogue depictions of their fellow students.
Like the weatherman predicted, Westchester was blanketed in a foot of snow on the first weekend after the new students arrived. When Liz woke up on Saturday morning she was facing the window and saw the flakes drifting down. She had seen small snow flurries before but never anything like what was outside her window. Everything was covered. She had been so excited that she had hoped to run over to the window for a closer look and caused such a commotion that Rogue woke as well. Despite the fact that she wanted to go back to sleep, Liz’s enthusiasm was infectious and she got up too. Liz thought about waking up Max but didn’t think it’d be a good idea. She might wake up Michael as well and she knew he was grumpy as it was in the morning. He’d be worse if he was woke up early on a Saturday.
After dressing warmly, the two headed downstairs. They first stopped off at the kitchen and ransacked the kitchen until they found everything they could to make coffee. Not many of the students drank it but Liz had gotten into the habit when she worked at the café and Rogue had always drank it. When they were done, they went into the library where there was a large window to watch the spectacle of white. Gradually the other students started to pour downstairs and everyone began heading outside. Max, Michael, and Isabel even came out to have a look.
They had only been outside for a minute before Max felt something hit him in the back and felt a spray of snow against his neck. Someone had thrown a snowball at him. He whirled around to see who the culprit was when he spied Liz standing about fifteen feet away next to Bobby and Rogue, smiling innocently at him. “What?”
“You threw a snowball at me.”
“Me?” Liz asked as if she didn’t know what he was talking about. She did of course. Bobby had been telling them about a big snowball fight he’d been in with his brother back in Boston when she had decided to start one of their own. She told Bobby and Rogue her plan and Bobby had enthusiastically agreed. As if the iceman could resist. “Prove it.”
Before Max could say anything, another snowball came flying at him from the side and landed smack dab in the center of his chest. When he saw Liz trying to fight back a grin, he knew for sure that she had used her telekinesis to hit him, probably with Bobby’s help. A thought that was confirmed when he, Isabel, and Michael were hit with a bombardment of snowballs. They quickly took cover behind some trees but it was insufficient cover to hide all three of them.
“I’m soaked.” Isabel complained even as she waved her hand over her clothes to dry them.
But Michael had a mischievous look in his eyes that wasn’t often there as he looked at Max. “I think it’s time we start fighting back instead of being targets, what do you say Maxwell?”
Max only nodded in agreement as he bent down and started gathering up enough snow to make a good size snowball. Michael repeated the same process and they moved to take aim. But when they looked around the tree, they saw a half wall of ice protecting their attackers.
“None of their snowballs are going to get past this wall.” Bobby said proudly. He was having fun. Just before Liz had thrown the first snowball, she told him her plan he had been thinking along the same lines. While she had been acting innocent with Max, he had used his own gifts to form the ammo they would need and she had sent one of them straight at Max. To join in the fun, he had showered a lot of the other ones at their targets and the battle begun.
Bobby looked over and saw Liz and Marie smiling at him. It made his smile grow bigger knowing that he made Marie smile. She had her own ball in her gloved hand and was ready. “On three?”
“Yeah, one two THREE!” All three jumped up then and started flinging the snowballs as fast as they could. Max and Michael came out from behind the tree and returned their strike. The fight went on for a while. Max and Michael got in a fair amount of shots but Bobby was able to give the girls enough cover that the two aliens got the brunt of it. Isabel, who was not even participating in the fight, took several hits and left in a huff.
Liz saw an opportunity to sneak up behind Max and decided to have a little more fun. Using some bushes nearby, she snuck behind them and over in the direction of Max. But once she got there, only Michael was still behind the tree. She was completely confused about where Max went until she felt a tug around her waist and felt herself tumbling into the snow. When she landed, she felt a weight on top of her and looked up to see Max smiling down at her. He had tackled her! Although she was covered from head to toe in cold wet snow, she was pleased to see him laughing and smiling. She had only ever seen him this carefree when he’d been drunk with Kyle. She whacked him on the shoulder as she said, “That wasn’t very nice, tackling me.”
“Well it wasn’t very nice to try and sneak up on Michael and I was it?” Max teased. “Especially since you guys have been cheating.”
“Cheating? We haven’t been cheating.” Liz argued.
“You can throw multiple snowballs with the help of your powers and you have Bobby on your side. I’d say that is cheating.” Max said.
“If you two are done…” Michael said from above them.
Max blushed slightly as he crawled off top of Liz and helped her up. “I was intercepting a sneak attack.”
“Sure you were.” Michael commenting sarcastically.
Liz knew what Michael was hinting at and decided to make a gracious exit. “I’m soaked and need something warm to drink. I’m heading in.”
“Bye Liz.” Max called after her as she took off.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When the snowballs stopped flying, Bobby sat back against his ice wall and looked at Marie. “I think we won.”
“Was there any doubt, Iceman?” Rogue teased. “I think we had a slight advantage over them.”
“Are you accusing me of cheating?” Bobby asked with eyebrows raised. When he saw that Marie was going to try and reason with him he shushed her by pressing a quick but affectionate kiss on her cold lips.
Rogue’s breath hitched in surprise at Bobby’s kiss and she thought of what happened last time she had dared to let him get that close. He was too quick to have had her imprint him but she still had to be careful. If he had been just a few seconds longer…. she didn’t want to think about it. “Bobby, you shouldn’t have done that. I could have hurt you.”
“But I’m fine.” Bobby said. “And it’s worth the risk if it means I can touch you, even for a few seconds.”
Rogue didn’t know what to say. She enjoyed the brief skin to skin contact that the kiss had given her. It wasn’t often that she had the luxury of feeling another person and was glad that it had been Bobby.
Bobby saw that Marie was thinking about what he had said so he added, “I’m not giving up on me and you just because of your mutation. We’ll work things out.”
Rogue nodded although she didn’t know how they would be able to do what he was promising.
PART 15
Liz tossed and turned unable to get comfortable and go to sleep. She didn’t know why, she knew she should be sleepy after a day playing in the snow but sleep wouldn’t find her. A part of her thought it might be because of her earlier tumble with Max. She had a feeling that if Michael had not interrupted, something might have happened between her and Max.
She wondered if that was why Michael had interrupted them. She wished she had thought to send him flying across the lawn with her powers before he could say anything. She really wanted Max to kiss her again but it had not come to pass. After she and Rogue had gotten cleaned and warmed up, they had spent the rest of the day in the common room watching TV.
Liz looked over and saw Rogue was sleeping peacefully oblivious to Liz’s plight. Not wanting to disturb her, Liz got up snuck quietly out of their room. The hall was dark and it was late enough that although it was the weekend, the other students’ rooms were quiet. She headed downstairs thinking maybe a hot cup of cocoa would help lull her to sleep.
At the foot of the stairs, Liz heard the faint murmur of the TV and she decided to go check out who was still up. At first when she entered she thought that someone had just left it on, but then buried in one of the large couches, she saw one of the younger students who they simply called Jones. He didn’t seem aware of her presence as he flipped through the channels with the blink of his eyes, literally so she slipped back out quietly and down to the kitchen. There was no one there so she got right down to business making her drink.
Liz took her mug back upstairs but stopped on the landing instead of going back to her room. On the landing was a window seat that gave her a good view. It was snowing again and it was beautiful. She wished Alex and Maria could see it, she would have to take her camera outside tomorrow and hopefully get a few shots.
She didn’t know how long she sat there watching and thinking but by the time that her mug was empty, she felt lethargic enough that she didn’t think she’d have a hard time falling asleep now. But as she rose from her spot, a shadow on the lawn caught her eye. She stared at it for a moment thinking that her eyes had to have deceived her. There was no way that there could actually be someone out there, it was too cold.
But as she watched the shadow moved again and she got a better look at it. It was a person for sure, and that person seemed to be having problem walking. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw the figure stumble and collapse in the snow. Determined to help the person, Liz rushed down the stairs and towards the front door.
Taking no notice of the fact that she only wore her pajamas and slippers, Liz hurried out the door and in the direction of where she had last seen the figure. She found it just as her feet began to go completely numb. She rolled the figure over and Liz was shocked to see it was a boy about her age. He was covered in grime as well as small cuts and bruises. But through it all she was able to make out his face and she recognized him. She had seen it in a flash she had gotten from Bobby back in Roswell. She just couldn’t believe it was him.
John’s eyes slit open when he heard and felt someone draw near and saw a small brunette that he did not remember from before he left. But she seemed to be friendly and he needed her help. Through his cracked lip he managed to mutter a few words. “Professor Xavier. I need to talk to the Professor.”
“I’ll take you to him right now and get you some help, John.” Liz promised.
Liz carefully but forcefully lifted one of his arms and wrapped it around her neck. Between the two of them, they managed to hoist John off the ground and head towards the faint lights of the school. It was rough going with both of them frozen and John’s injuries but they finally managed to make it to the front door. As they stumbled into foyer Liz started yelling. “HELP! We need some help down here!”
Liz knew that everyone might not hear her so she released his arm from around her neck and lowered him to the floor. As she did, she looked him over. He appeared to be almost unconscious so she turned to go find help herself. But before she could, John grabbed her arm and whispered, “Don’t leave me.”
But Liz didn’t hear his plea. She was too caught up in the flash she was hit with when he grabbed her arm.
((Flash
John trapped inside a jumble of metal rafters and girders flames burning nearby. The flames didn’t touch him but were heating the metal that was touching him, burning him. A gray haired man and a blue skinned woman watching nearby, the man said. “If you’re not going to do what is needed then you are against us.”
John watched them abandon him and he knew he had made the wrong decision. He had left people who cared about him for someone who just wanted to use him. If he got out of there alive, he’d make sure he made up for his mistakes.
Flash))
The flash broke only when Liz felt someone pull her away. She shook her head to clear away the terror and pain that she had picked up from John’s memories just in time to see that Storm and Logan had come downstairs a long with a few of the students. Someone had caught her when she had been pulled out of John’s grip. She looked up to see it had was Michael surprisingly. Behind him was Max with Bobby and Rogue. The two mutants were staring at their injured friend, completely astounded at his appearance but also expressions of concern for his energies. Liz turned her gaze back to John just in time to see Logan lift him and follow Storm to the elevator that would take them to the lower levels.
Cyclops was also downstairs, directing the kids to go back up to their rooms. Liz looked at him and said, “What’s going to happen now? Is John going to be okay?”
“The Professor and the others will look after John.” Cyclops assured her as he finished corralling the students up the stairs. “Go back up to your room and change before you catch pneumonia.”
It was then that Liz became aware again of the iciness of her skin. The snow had soaked her clothes and her teeth began to chatter. When they did, it seemed to snap the remaining students, Max, Michael, Bobby, and Rogue out of their stupor and Rogue quickly pulled her robe off and wrapped it around Liz’s shoulders. “Come on, Cyclops is right. We need to get you in some dry clothes before you get sick.”
The five of them moved up the stairs and as they did, Bobby asked, “What happened Liz?”
“I couldn’t sleep so I went and got some hot cocoa. I was sitting on the landing when I saw someone out the window so I went out.” Liz stated.
“In the freezing snow? Alone?” Michael asked. “You had no idea what could be out there.”
“He looked hurt so I went out. I just reacted, I didn’t think of getting anyone else. When I got close enough to him, I saw that it was John and I helped him inside. When we got in, I started yelling for everyone, that’s when you all came down.” Liz explained upset that Michael wanted to chastise her for helping someone.
As they walked up the stairs, she felt Max’s hand on the small of her back just before she felt a jolt of warmth hit her. She smiled her gratitude at him for him using his powers to help her. When they reached the landing, Bobby and Rogue stood off to the side spoke softly to each other and Liz whispered to Max, “Do you think you could heal John if the teachers can’t help him?”
Max was taken aback by Liz’s request. He would not have expected Liz to ask him to heal a perfect stranger who had just showed up in the middle of the night, she knew how risky it could be for them even though everyone there thought that his healing was part of his mutation. But she had asked and by the way she asked, it was almost as if she had some kind of familiarity with the guy, John. Who was he? He looked into her eyes as to find some kind of clue that would make clear to him the reason for her actions. All he saw was a plea for his help. One that he couldn’t resist. “We’ll just wait and see what happens.”
Liz nodded, before pulling away and following Rogue down to their room. As soon as she was inside, she grabbed a change of clothes and her toiletries, intent on heading down the hall to bathroom and taking a hot shower. As she did, she heard Rogue ask her, “You got a flash from him, didn’t you?”
Thinking of what she saw and felt Liz nodded in response. “Rogue, however hurt you and Bobby were when John took off you should know before you see him that he regrets leaving. Go easy on him, Magneto didn’t have the answers John was looking for. And he when John went against him, he made John pay for it.”
Rogue didn’t know how to respond to Liz’s statement so she stayed quiet and watched Liz leave. She’d have to talk to Bobby in the morning and let him know. Maybe John hadn’t deserted them as easy as they had thought.
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