1. Leaving the Familiar

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Chapter One

Leaving the Familiar

Raven Darkholme watched through the window of the family room as her daughter played outside in the backyard, having a tea party with her raggedy stuffed teddy bear and her flawless china doll. The three of them were sitting on a hand-sewn quilt made by Irene, who Marie thought was her mother. Irene was sitting on the couch on the other side of the room, deep in thought, while Raven stood watching her only daughter. Her heart ached just looking at her, knowing that she perfectly happy here and that it would only ruin her harmonious life if she found out that Irene was not her mother. That even though she wished for the chance to care for her daughter as any mother should, she knew that she couldn't bear the thought of Marie having to cope with a mutant mother, a blue one at that, and having her grow up knowing that someday she would become a mutant too. No, she was much better off having her life a normal life living with a normal mother in a normal neighborhood. She loved Marie too much to take her away from all this happiness.

"You're staring at her again, aren't you?" Irene called out to Raven, knocking her out of her daze.

She chuckled. "Aren't you supposed to be blind?" she answered walking over to her friend and sitting down next to her on the couch.

"I can sense things. I may not be able to see, but my other senses are able to detect what my eyes can't."

"I see." Raven watched as Marie stood up and started dancing around the yard, moving among the many flowers and trees. Yes, this was a much better environment for her.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Irene didn't want to tell her, but she had to. The well-being of Marie depended on it.

"I suppose you are wondering why I wished to see you today."

Raven perked up. "Yes, actually I do. You said that you had some important information for me. What's so urgent that you needed to see me so quickly?"

Irene was silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts before speaking again. "I saw something."

"You mean your mutation?"

The corners of her mouth curved upward. "How else am I supposed to see?"

Raven also smiled, but it disappeared after she noticed the dreary expression laid upon her friend's face. "Irene, what did you see?"

Irene paused, remembering her vision, and continued. "I saw that I will die soon."

Raven didn't say anything. She was still trying to let the news sink in as her eyes teared up. "No, you can't. It must be wrong," she said, her voice full of emotion. This was her best and dearest friend, who had helped her whenever she needed it, even when Raven confronted her five years ago saying that she needed to pose as Marie's mother.

"I'm sorry, but my visions are always correct. I will die soon, fall asleep and never awake. But please don't cry for me, dear," she added, grabbing Raven's hand, which was shaking while she was crying. "I have done everything I've wanted to in this world, and I have already accepted this. You shouldn't cry."

This calmed Raven slightly. "No, you can't."

"Yes, I can and I will. It is predicted and I can't change that. The only problem we come across is Marie."

Raven jerked her head upward. "Oh god, what about her? Where is she going to go?" Raven was almost frantic with all of this news being poured down on her.

"I have given this a lot of thought, and I have decided that I will give her to you. She is your daughter and you have the right to raise her."

"But... but I can't-"

"Yes you can. She only five years old, it will be a smooth transition. She hasn't lived here long enough to miss anything. She will enjoy living with you."

"But... no, this won't work out... I can't raise her. It will only hurt her knowing that I am a mutant. I can't hide myself from her forever, she's going to find out about my true skin, I have to be myself at some point in the day. I can't hide in this hideous skin of this woman. No, I won't." 

"Yes, you have to. She needs to know her mother. Her true mother. If you are my friend at all, you will respect my wishes."

Yes, this was indeed the opportunity Raven had always wanted- raising her daughter the way she should be raised- by her mother. But she couldn't provide the environment she needed. She lived in a small house with mutants visiting all of the time- what would that do to little Marie? She'll find out about her future mutation and then hate her mother for having her, for putting this curse on her. She would never accept herself for who she is.

"Raven?"

Raven brought herself back into the conversation. "I can't take her. And don't ask me why, I have my reasons."

"But where will she go otherwise? An orphanage is bad enough, but with her mutation coming soon- she could even be killed if the humans found out that she was a mutant. She needs to live with other mutants, with you, for her own safety."

Irene was right, she had to. She didn't want to, but which would she rather want:

a) her daughter hating her for giving her the mutant gene, or

b) having her daughter killed, thus ending any chance for her to forgive her?

"Okay, I have to. I'll take her.

Irene smiled. "I will miss you immensely. You have been a dear friend. It will probably be best if you pack her things and leave as soon as possible. I don't want her to wake up and find me dead in the morning."

Raven nodded. "I'll go get Marie and pack up. Good bye." She got up and gave Irene a caring hug. "I'll miss you more than you know. Thank you for everything that you have done for me and Marie." She escorted herself out the door and went to fetch Marie, closing the door behind her and leaving Irene to herself, allowing her to gather her final thoughts alone in peace.

Raven walked to the back door and opened it. She called outside to Marie. "Sweetie, get your stuff and come inside."

Instantly, Marie picked up her things and skipped over to the house singing a senseless tune.

"What are we doing Aunt Raven?"

"We are going to go on a trip."

"Ooh, this is going to be fun! Is mommy coming too?"

Raven gulped before continuing. "No, I'm sorry dear. Mommy won't be coming with us. Let's go pack your things."

Raven led Marie to her room and helped her pack up everything that she owned. Afterwards, she brought Marie into the living room in order to say good bye to Irene. I was a very touching sight, and it broke Raven's heart knowing that she will never see her dear friend again. After many hugs and kisses, Marie and her things were piled into the car and the two of them sped off away from the only home that Marie has ever known.

~:+:~

They zipped down the road, Marie fascinated with the lush trees on either side of them. The car was a rental- Raven usually flew in the form of a bird over to Irene's. After a few hours of driving, they were nearing Bayville, where Raven lived. The car ride was generally quiet, with a few questions here and there. Marie enjoyed just looking silently out he window and Raven would rather have it quiet- this means that Marie had a lesser chance of discovering the reason why they were going to her house. Raven wanted to put that answer off until she absolutely had to reveal it.

Marie tore her eyes away from the landscape and turned to Raven. She asked one of her very infrequent questions. "When am I going to see Mommy again?"

Raven gulped. She prayed to God that Marie could understand what she was going to say next. "Honey, I don't think you're going to see Mommy ever again."

Raven was staring intently at the road ahead of her, not wanting to look at the child sitting next to her, but through the corner of her eye she saw that she had a confused expression upon her dear face.

"Ever?"

Raven shook her head. "I'm sorry dear, but we'll never see her again."

Marie was silent for a while. "Why?"

Raven took a deep breath. "It's complicated, sweetie. You see, something happened and your mother asked me to take care of you from now on. But she still loves you, and she wouldn't have given you to me if she didn't have to. But this was the only way."

"What happened?"

"Um... you wouldn't understand that yet. Maybe when you're older I'll tell you."

They were silent for a few awkward moments. "But..." Raven heard Marie squeak up to her. "... if Mommy's not here, what do I call you?"

Raven looked down at the brilliant child. Even she had not thought of this yet. "Um, let's think. Do you want to call me Aunt Raven? If you want, you can call me Mommy."

Marie thought for a second. "I like Mommy." She smiled up at her.

Raven's heart beamed. This was her daughter, calling her Mommy. If only it was less complicated than this.

~:+:~

They pulled into the cracked blacktop driveway. Next to it lied a small, shabby house. It was very old-looking, but had some flowers growing in the front. These were nothing like the gardens that Irene had, but they managed to make the house a little more cozy. 

The two carried Marie's things and marched up the cobble steppingstones and into the house. However the house looked on the outside was nothing compared to the inside of the house. Even with its small size, the place was spotless clean, with fairly good furniture and was very roomy. The kitchen was a simple one, but very beautiful, with many windows that let in the sunshine and showed everyone the stunning backyard. Again, it was not as colorful and exquisite as Irene's, but there were many oaks and pines, green grass, flower beds, and even a small garden in the corner sporting fresh tomatoes and raspberries.

"So," said Raven, "how do you like your new home?"

Little Marie looked around, astonished. "Wow, this is really pretty. I like it here."

Raven smiled. "Want to see your room?" After seeing Marie's enthusiastic nod, she led her up the stairs and into a bedroom to the left. She obviously kept this room as a guestroom, having a spare bed and a small dresser and dressing table. She opened some doors to show a rather spacious closet. "So, how do you like it?"

Marie rushed over to Raven. "I love it! Thank you so much." She hugged Raven's legs, holding on as if her life depended on it. Raven's eyes filled- this is how it was supposed to be... but it's not. It's too complicated to ever be just this.

Raven and Marie unpacked her things and set downstairs for dinner. Being well into spring and having it still be very light out, they decided to have a picnic outside. They made turkey sandwiches, had orange juice, and got some brownies out for dessert. They took an old blanket out from the hallway closet and laid everything out in the backyard. They were well into their meal when Marie asked, "Who lives there?" She pointed to the house next door, a large one with a striking backyard and rich-looking interior. The neighbors weren't horribly rich, but they lived very well.

"Those are your new neighbors." And more mutants, she added to herself. "They are away on a trip, but they will be back in a few days. They have a girl and boy your age. You're going to have new friends."

Marie smiled. They finished their meal and spent some time sitting there and watching the sun go down.

"I like it out here. It's almost as good as my old house."

Raven's heart sank when she remembered her old friend, but she quickly lifted her spirits. "I was thinking about putting in a swing set for you. Would you like that?"

Marie nodded. "Yeah, and can we get a slide too?"

"Of course sweetie."

They sat for a little longer, and after playing with the fireflies, they cleaned up and headed inside. They soon found themselves in Marie's bed pulling on her pajamas.

"So how did you like your first day here?"

Marie, after being changed, climbed under the covers. "I loved it. I had so much fun. Can we do this again tomorrow?"

"Sure honey. Do you want me to read you a book?"

"Yeah." Raven got up and picked up a book from off her dresser: The Three Little Pigs. 

"How 'bout this one?"

Marie yawned and nodded her head. Raven sat down next to her and started reading. When she finished, she found that Marie was struggling to stay awake. Raven got up and pulled the covers up to her chin.

"Goodnight Marie." She reached down to kiss her forehead. 

"Night Mommy."

Raven turned off her lights and left the room, hearing Marie's peaceful breathing and she slowly walked away.

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AN: So... that was it! Please review and tell me what you think. I know that there's no romance yet, but there will be in few chapters. I bet you can guess who lives next door... snaps for anyone who knows! Anyway, review and enjoy!


	2. Meeting Friend and Foe

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Chapter Two

Meeting Friend and Foe

Irene died the next morning (and yes, bad-girl4, she did die!).  Raven found out by receiving a call from her neighbor- the woman knew Raven and knew that she and Irene were close.  She told her that Irene was found lying in bed with a peaceful expression laid upon her face.  When Raven put down the receiver, she found that her eyes were tearing up.  Marie came in from the kitchen.

"Mommy, what's the matter?"

Oh no, here it comes.  How am I going to tell her that the woman she thought was her mother was dead?

"Sweetie, maybe we should sit down on the couch."  She led her to the comfy floral printed sofa and sat down beside her.  She took a deep breath.  "Honey, I just got a call from Mrs. Avery.  She told me that your mother died this morning."

She was expecting a sudden change in Marie's personality, but she remained innocent and carefree.

"Marie, did you hear me?"

A nod followed.

"Aren't you sad?"

She shook her head.  "Why should I be sad?"

Raven was not expecting this.  "Do you know what death is?"

Another shake.

This explained why she was so inexpressive.  "Baby, when you die that means that you go away.  You go to somewhere bigger and better, and you're happy there.  But that means that you're never going to see your mother again."

"But if she's happy where she is now, then why should I be sad?"

Raven stared at the dear child.  She had wisdom beyond her years. (snaps for whoever knows what line that's from!)

"Okay then... is there anything that you want to talk about?"

Marie shook her head.  "No, I want to play."  She jumped up from off the sofa and skipped upstairs.  "Bye Mommy."

Raven was slightly confused.  She hadn't expected this.  She had thought of tears and fits of screaming- well, this certainly made it a lot easier to accept.  Raven got up and went to follow Marie up the stairs.

~:+:~

The next few days were pretty uneventful.  No more moving, talk of mutants, or death contacts.  Raven and Marie just had some good old fashioned clean fun-this was the time for Raven to be the mother that she never had the chance to be.  The two watched movies, played games, had tea parties, and Raven even put on a puppet show. (hee hee, funny thought!)  On this particular day, they were having another picnic in the backyard- now equipped with a swing set.  They were feasting over hot ham and cheese sandwiches when:

"Mommy, who's that?"

Raven looked into the neighbor's driveway.  An expensive-looking car had just pulled in.  Out of it came a man, not particularly old looking, and a boy with white hair and gravity defying bangs in the front.  The man went around to the other side and pulled out a dark haired girl of the same age and with a wide smile.  He swung her in the air in circles, her giggling all the while.

"Those are your neighbors, sweetie."

The man put the girl down as he heard the familiar voice coming from the next-door yard.  He looked around and smiled as he saw her face.  

"Raven, how are you!  I didn't see you there!"

"I'm wonderful, Erik," she said, addressing the man and getting off of the blanket underneath the two of them.  She took Marie into her arms and carried her to the nearby driveway.  "How was your trip?"

"Delightful, thank you for asking."  He smiled sweetly at the little girl in Raven's arms.  "And who is this little angel?"

Marie clutched Raven tighter.

"Now don't be shy, honey, he's a very nice man.  (ha ha, say that again in a few years.)  Erik, this is Marie."

Erik turned his gaze from Marie back to Raven, all traces of kindness and love erased.  Instead it was cold and knowing, and even some fear.  Raven nodded to him subtley (spelling major).  Erik turned back to Marie, and once again a brilliant smile was pasted upon his face.

"Marie, how lovely.  I've heard so much about you.  It's a pleasure to finally meet you."  

Marie still clutched Raven.

"Marie, this is Erik Lensherr.  Don't worry, he is one of my best friends," Raven pointed out.  "Aren't you going to say hi?"

A feeble "Hello" escaped from the bundle in her arms.

Erik chuckled heartily.  "She's so adorable.  Oh yeah."  He realized that he had two little ones on either side of him.  "This is Pietro-" he put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "-and this is Wanda.  Kids, this is Marie, your new neighbor."

Raven put Marie back on her feet, but once she hit the ground she came to clutch Raven's legs.  Pietro looks at Marie and stuck out his tongue at her.  She stuck hers out to him, but Raven catches her.  

"Marie, that wasn't nice."

"He started it," she pouted.

"Did not," Pietro answered.

Erik just sat back and laughed.  "Kids will be kids.  Let's just leave them out her for a while.  Let them get acquainted.  We need to go inside and talk," he said to Raven.  He turned to his children.  "Guys, Mrs. Darkholme and I are going to go inside.  You can stay out her and play.  And be nice," he added to Pietro.

"But Daddy, I'm hungry," whined Wanda.

"Well, we'll just have to fix that, won't we?  Go to the kitchen and ask Paullina to make you something."

Wanda skipped inside, leaving the four of them on the driveway.

Raven turned to her daughter.  "Marie, I'll be out in a little while.  Why don't you talk to Pietro, maybe you could be friends?"

Marie looked innocently at her mother.  "But I don't want to."

"Marie, you'll be fine.  Please?"

Marie reluctantly nodded her tiny head.

"Okay then.  I'll see you later sweetie."  Raven bent down to kiss her forehead.  "Have fun."  The two adults left the two children outside.

Pietro watched as his dad walked through the front door and shut it behind him.  He turned to Marie.  "I don't like you."

"I don't like you either.  You're mean."

"I'm not mean."  Pietro stood a little straighter.  "I'm a gentleman."

"No you aren't."

"Yes I am."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Well, you're not a lady."

"I am too a lady.  You're just mean."

Pietro just stood there.  "I'm bored."

"Yeah, me too."  She searched for something to do.  "Hey, you want to play on my swing set?"

"Okay."  Marie ran over to the swings, Pietro following close behind.

~:+:~

Magneto and Raven were seated in his office, which had a window allowing them to watch their children as they laughed and played on the swing set.

"So this is the Marie that is your daughter?"

Raven nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me she was coming to live with you?"

"I didn't know until a few days ago.  Irene asked me to come over and she told me that she was going to die.  She asked me to take Marie home to live with me.  I had to do it."

"But what about all of your reasons for sending her there in the first place?  You're just ruining the entire plan."

"I know, but I couldn't leave her.  She would be put into an orphanage.  And with her mutation coming, I'm afraid of what they would do to her."  Her voice faltered, and Erik saw that she had tears in her eyes.  He rushed over to his friend.

"It's okay Raven.  She's fine.  Nothing's going to happen to her," he told her as he placed his arms around her.

"But I love her so much.  I can bear the thought of something happening to her.  She is my only daughter…"

"Shhh, don't think about it.  Everything is going to be fine.  Nothing will happen.  She's safe here."

Erik held her for a little while longer, and he calmed her down enough to have her go and fetch her child.

~:+:~

Marie and Pietro were happily swinging and talking endlessly, and they were laughing constantly.  They watched as their parents came to them.

"Marie, it's time for Pietro to go home."

"But Mommy, I don't want him to go.  I want him to play with me."

Raven smiled.  How much her personality toward him changed in such little time.  Maybe that was the beauty of being five years old.

"Sweetie, you can play with him tomorrow.  But they have to unpack.  They just got back from a big trip.  You'll see him tomorrow."

"Okay."  She stopped her swing and looked at Pietro who had already stopped his.  "Bye."

"Bye," he answered, and Erik took his hand and dragged him toward their house.

Raven and Marie walked hand-in-hand to the back door.  "So, how do you like him?" 

"He's funny.  I like him."

Raven smiled.  This could be the start of a very beautiful relationship.

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AN: So, how'd ya like it?  Sorry about the long wait.  With volleyball practice five days a week it's kinda hard to find time to write.  But I hope you enjoyed this and that you REVIEW!!!


	3. A Beautiful Relationship

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Chapter Three

A Beautiful Relationship 

Marie was ten, so were the twins. All three of them had grown up together, but Pietro and Marie had become very close. They were each others' best friend. The trio went to school together and practically lived at each other's houses. Erik, being the generous person he is, (hee hee!) had taken the huge tree that was smack in the middle of the property line and built a tree house on it. This was a common play area for the friends, and they were constantly up there devising up secret plans and pranks to pull. (Pietro was the leader in the pranks, hee hee, it sounds so much like something he would do! Just look at him and Evan!)

On this particular day, Marie, Raven, Pietro, Wanda, and Erik were all playing basketball together on Erik's blacktop court. They were playing guys against girls, and the girls were winning because they started whining about the guys stealing the ball from them so much, so the guys were constantly giving them opportunities to score. Here's how the game was played:

"Ha ha, we are ahead of you!" Marie would boast to Pietro.

"That's only because we're letting you win," he answered smartly.

"Am not. Just face it, we're better than you."

"That's not true and you know it."

Meanwhile, Wanda would be dribbling the basketball and suddenly Erik would snatch it from her.

"Daddy, I had the ball! You're mean! You took it away from me!"

"Sorry sweetie. Here you go." Erik would hand the ball back to her.

"Thank you," she would reply evilly, and she would go in and make a lay-up.

The game finally ended, Marie's team winning by twelve points. Raven was discussing the game with Erik afterwards. 

"I guess we're not the ones who are shabby, like you said we'd be."

Erik chuckled. "Yes you were. We just let you win because you kept whining."

She glanced at him slyly. "It's all strategy, Erik."

~:+:~

That night the children decided to have a sleepover. Marie agreed to go over to the Lensherr's that evening, and then the next sleepover would be hosted at her house. The night had consisted of delicious meal cooked by Paullina, a few games of Royal Rummy, a movie, and finally sleeping. It was very early in the morning and everyone was sleeping, and there was a huge clap of thunder.

BANG!

"Aaah!" Marie shot up from her sleeping bag, having been jolted awake by the noise. She was lying on the living room floor next to Pietro and Wanda. Marie had never liked thunderstorms, and having it be late at night and in the dark made her fears even worse. She looked around frantically at the light-up alarm clock at the end table nearest her. 2:26. The light flickered, stayed bright, and then when off entirely, leaving her in total darkness.

BANG!

This made her jump again. A flash of lightning almost immediately followed, illuminating the room before being engulfed by darkness once again. She couldn't help her- she felt so lost and afraid. She curled herself in a small ball and hugged her legs, tears flowing from her eyes. Small sobs ensued, and she just sat there crying, waiting for some unknown source to comfort her.

~:+:~

Pietro woke up, but not from the thunder. He didn't wake up because of what he heard, more because of what he felt. He sensed that something was wrong, out of place. He rubbed the gunk from out of his eyes and looked around the room, his eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness.

Something caught his attention, and he silenced himself in order to detect it. His ears perked up. Was that... crying? He searched the dark for a figure, but it was too dark to make anything obvious out... but he saw something. In the corner, next to one of the sofas, was a trembling ball. What was that? A flash of lighting again lit up the room, and he saw that it was indeed a person. Feeling the sleeping body beside him, he noticed that Wanda was still in dream land. So that must have meant...

"Marie?"

Marie's head shot up, terrified. She somewhat relaxed when she saw the familiar face, but she kept crying.

"Marie? Are you okay?" Pietro advanced on her, wondering if she was alright.

"I... I'm fine," she managed to choke out. "I'm just... just afraid of thunder... storms."

Pietro came up beside her and held her trembling figure. "It's okay, nothing's going to happen to you. I'm here, and I won't let anything bad happen."

Marie looked up at him in the dark. "Thanks, Pietro."

Pietro smiled, but she wasn't able to see it. "Anytime. You can always count on me."

Marie snuggled into her best friend and got comfortable. He reached over and pulled her blanket over the two of them, also shifting around and making himself more comfortable. They sat in peaceful silence.

"Goodnight, Pietro. And thank you."

"You're welcome. Goodnight."

The two fell asleep in each others arms, and little did they know how much this night would affect them in the future.

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AN: I am so sorry! The first part of this chappie was pure and utter crap! I had so much writer's block! But I liked the last part, I actually enjoyed writing that. Wow, I posted two chapters in one week! I know that this was really short, but don't worry, the next chapter will be really good (or at least I hope so) and it will also be longer. The next chapter will be the last one of their childhood, but it's a really important one. Don't worry, it's getting there!

I hope you enjoy and REVIEW and tell me what you think!

Good bye and REVIEW!!!

I forgot to wish you all a Happy St. Patty's Day, so HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY!!! and REVIEW!!! 

hee hee, I'm lovin' it!

REVIEW!!! 

Good bye and good night, and REVIEW!!!

*go around singing* I'm an annoying a-ass! I'm an annoying a-ass! *shake my tail feather and keep on singing* I'm an annoying a-ass! Review, review, rev-view!

hee hee, this is fun!


	4. Changes

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Chapter Four

Changes 

Marie is now thirteen years old. She and Pietro have become even closer than before. It has gotten to the point that they don't want anybody else around; no one in the world was good enough to replace one of them in their eyes. They couldn't imagine being best friends with anybody else.

Wanda separated from the two almost entirely. She had her own friends, and she never belonged with them in the first place. She enjoyed to do her own thing and it didn't bother her not being close friends with Marie and Pietro. 

With Marie and Pietro, sleepovers became more and more common. Now with the tree house, they were constantly spending their nights outdoors and up in the tree. They decided that afternoon to have one that night, but little did they know that this would be the last one they would have in a very long time.

~:+:~

It was about midnight, and Marie and Pietro were up in the tree house, covered side by side in blankets and talking.

"I can't wait for high school next year."

"Yeah," Pietro replied. "Middle school was getting a little too small for me anyway," he answered casually, trying to sound slick and cool. 

Marie laughed and shoved him playfully. "Yeah, too small for your ego."

He joined along with her. "What? Or that's it. You're just jealous because I'm cool and popular and downright hot."

"You know, I think you shouldn't spend so much time in front of the mirror. I think it's plaguing your brain." She knocked on his head. "Evil spirits, rid yourself from the immature and dirty environment that is Pietro's mind!"

He swiped her hand from atop his head. "Hey, you know that this is my hair you're messing up! It must always be perfect."

Marie giggled, but something wasn't right. She looked downward at Pietro's hand- it was still holding hers. Pietro noticed this too, and they both let go suddenly, as if the other were diseased. Five years ago they could have held hands for the entire day and have it feel completely normal. But something was changing in them. Something that neither of them fully understood.

"Umm..." Pietro stated, his eyes still focused on the place of contact.

"Yeah..." Marie was equally confused. "Umm, we should probably be getting to bed."

"Oh... okay. Yeah, it's getting late. Um, good night." He shuffled around in his blankets and laid his head atop his pillow.

"Good night Pietro." She too rearranged herself into a more comfortable and definitely less awkward position and slowly drifted off to sleep. Both had dreams about the other, and both had no idea on how to handle their sudden change in relationship. 

~:+:~

Birds chirped softly above the sleeping figures, or at least one sleeping figure. Marie jostled herself awake, and sunshine filled her vision as she opened her eyes, temporarily blinding her. She soon adjusted to the late spring sun, and she look at her surroundings. She gazed down at Pietro, sleeping peacefully, and memories from last night rushed back to her. She decided to not wake him; instead, she would find something else to occupy her time.

She reached in her bag for her diary. She had started it in seventh grade and had been writing faithfully in it since. Today she had something important to write about.

__

Dear Diary,

Something really strange happened last night. Pietro and I spent the night in the tree house and we were talking. I put my hand on top of his head for a second and when he pushed it off, he didn't let go. He just held it, at least until he realized what he was doing and let go of it. What does this mean? Does this mean that he likes me? Is that what I want him to feel? I'm so confused- why me? I don't know if I like him too- more than a friend, my best friend. What am I going to do? He's been my best friend forever, but this will change everything. In some ways I want him to like me back, but in others I don't. This could ruin or relationship forever, and we might never get it back again. Oh Diary, what am I going to do?

Marie

She had just closed her diary when she jumped, hearing Pietro rustling in his blankets. He groggily sat up and rubbed his eyes. When he cleared himself of the sleepies, he noticed that Marie was abruptly shoving something in her bag. 

"Marie, what are you doing?"

She turned back to him quickly, looking innocently into his eyes. "Nothing."

He shook it off and brought his wrist up to his eyes in order to read his watch. "Crap, it's already past nine. We need to get home before my dad hunts me down for breakfast."

"Yeah, okay," she replied, personally relieved that he had changed the subject so quickly. She couldn't let Pietro find out what she had written in her diary. Never.

The gathered up their things and climbed down the rope ladder a little clumsily considering the heavy loads of backpacks, sheets, and pillows that they were carrying in their arms. They parted at the bottom of the tree, and headed into their homes for breakfast.

~:+:~

A little less than an hour later, Pietro rushed inside of Raven's kitchen, finding Raven supposedly making a cake, but she was making even more of a mess. Flour fluttered to every surface available within five feet of the counter, and more chocolaty batter was on the tabletop than in the bowl. Pietro looked around, slightly confused, but didn't dwell on it. He needed to talk to Marie.

"Whoa, slow down! Where are you going in such a hurry?" she called to him through her heavily floured face.

"I need to see Marie. "Is she up in her room?"

"Think so. Go right ahead."

He nodded at her thankfully and left the kitchen, but not before swiping his finger along the bowl and gathering some of the batter. He stuck it in his mouth- Yuck! She really shouldn't be baking, he thought to himself.

He flew up the stairs ( AN: he doesn't have his powers just yet ) and barged into Marie's room. He found her staring up at him angrily, sitting in front of her dressing table and in the middle of brushing her hair.

"Hello, haven't you heard of knocking?"

"Sorry," he spat out, grabbing her from the chair and pulled her onto the bed next to him. "But I really need to talk to you. It can't wait."

Marie looked at him, almost afraid. "What happened?"

Pietro took a deep breath before continuing. "My dad and I were eating, and suddenly he told Wanda and me: 'Kid's, we're going away for a while.'"

She stared at him, stone frozen with shock. "What?"

"We're going away, on a trip."

"How long?"

"That's the thing, he doesn't know! But he said that we were going to be gone for a long time, so that could mean a couple of years!"

"No!"

"I tried to talk him out of it, but he said that we needed to leave right away and that there was nothing that would stop us from going with him. This sucks!" He lied back into the floral-patterned covers. On a normal day he would have made fun of them and how girly they looked, but his was no normal day.

Marie was afraid to asked this question. "When are you leaving?" she managed to choke out, trying to fight back tears.

He looked into her eyes deeply. "Tonight."

She gasped, and the tears that she had fought so hard to hold back now rushed forward, flowing freely down her cheeks. Pietro wiped them from her beautiful pale face.

"Marie, no matter where I go or how long I'm there, I will never forget you. You are my best friend, and I'll never lose you. Can you promise me this too?"

She nodded. "Of course. Nothing could make me forget you."

Pietro gazed at her, and they just stood there for a long time, silent. Pietro was fighting back unwanted tears, but he couldn't. They suddenly leaked from him and he felt his hands reach up to Marie's face, and they rested on her cheeks, bringing her full attention to him.

"I can't leave you." His voice came out barely as a whisper, and it touched the very pit of Marie's soul.

"You never will," she also whispered. "Now matter what happens, I'll always be with you." (guess what line that's from! It's the same movie as before, hee hee!)

Pietro brought her face closer to his, and they leaned forward instinctively, slowly. This was an intense moment, and when their lips finally touched, it felt... right. Just like it was meant to be. Both of them felt the same toward the other: care, friendship, and even how they tried to ignore it... love.

They broke apart, breathing hard from their crying and what just happened between them. They sat there staring into each others eyes, until a voice broke the peace radiating from the two.

"Pietro, come down! Your father wants you home!"

Pietro looked down, then up again. "I will never forget you." He gave her another kiss, short and sweet, and he got up. Their hands were still grasping the others, until finally he walked far enough away from her place on the bed that they had to let go. They did reluctantly, and he exited the room, leaving Marie to her silent tears.

~:+:~

That night, Marie watched as Pietro packed his things inside his car and got himself into the front seat. The car started, and pulled away from the driveway. Marie waved helplessly to him, and he noticed and waved back. Nothing would ever be the same, seh thought. I'll be miserable without him. As she watched the car drive farther and farther away, her heart ached more and more, and dread overfilled her. She knew that the journey ahead of her was going to be a hard one.

~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~

AN: So, how did you like? I enjoyed that chapter. Review! Please?


	5. The Truth Revealed Part 1

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Chapter Five

The Truth Revealed

Marie, now called Rogue, sat on her new bed, engrossed in the little book laid out in front of her. She was reading some of the entries that she had made, some back when she was in second and third grade. Now she was in high school, and it was the night before school began again. She was going to be a sophomore at Bayville High. 

She was about to put the book down when something caught her eyes. She was looking at an entry that stopped abruptly. Oh yeah, she remembered that page. She had written it a week or two after school ended at the beginning of the summer. She closed her eyes, and she disappeared from her bedroom. She relived the day that all of the secrets were unleashed, a day that she had hoped she would never have had to relive again.

~:+:~

Marie hadn't seen Pietro in three years. She was sixteen. Marie had almost forgotten about Pietro. She hadn't seen him in so long, and the things that she remembered about him were confusing and blurry. But any things she had remembered about him had left her mind completely when she laid eyes on... him. He was a god to her, straight from the heavens. He was tall, had dark hair, a muscled and toned body, mysterious sunglasses... he was Scott Summers.

She had fallen head over heels in love with him since the moment she saw him on her very first day of her freshman year. It was at the end of the day, and they had bumped into one another in the hallway, both rushing to get their belongings and get out of the dreadful building. Upon impact, their books had fallen to the floor, and Scott had bent to pick his up, and graciously picks hers up too. Since then she had been staring at him all year, and asked questions about him to anyone who would listen to her. They hadn't said anything to the other since that day, but Marie had resolved that this coming year would be different.

Marie was laying on her stomach outside in her yard on the raggedy blanket that she and Raven had always used for their picnics. The rose bushes were swaying in the breeze, the birds chirping harmoniously, but all of that she was oblivious to. Her entire being was focused in her mind and on the small book that lay in front of her.

__

Dear Diary,

For some strange reason I had thought of Pietro this morning, I don't know why. I was just sitting up in the tree today, thinking about random stuff and all of the sudden I thought of him. It's been so many years. I miss him so much.

I wonder how he's doing write now.

Marie put down her diary and for a second to think. She fiddled aimlessly with a blade of grass and started humming a senseless tune when... what the hell? Something weird was happening, she felt different, she felt... stronger? Something had been added to her body and it made her feel- powerful. She looked down at her fingers. They were now desperately clutching a yellow and dead stub of grass. She panicked, what did she do? What was going on? She reached for another, and another, and each of them died the instant it came into contact with the tip of her finger. Her breathing started coming in fast and shallow, and each dead blade gave her more strength, more power. Oh my god! 

She leaped up from her spot on the blanket and rushed to the back door, wanting to talk with her mother about his horrible curse, but she stopped. Marie stood on the doorstep, but she did not go in. Her hand was inches away from the doorknob, but it didn't touch it. Instead she reached out to a rose, a single rose that blew in the breeze directly to her right, beautiful and peaceful. Her hand moved closer, and closer, and the instant it touched her skin it wilted, and was then a brown crisp hanging limply from the stem. Her eyes filled, and she ran inside, slamming the door behind her, and leaving her diary lying on the blanket forgotten.

~:+:~

Raven had been reading her romance novel quietly on the couch when Marie appeared in the doorway of the living room. She looked terrified and distressed. She instantly got up and rushed to her daughter.

"Marie, sweetie, what's wrong? Do you have a fever?" She reached up to touch her forehead.

"No, Mom! Don't touch me!" Her voice came out hoarse and thick with emotion.

"Why not?" Raven looked at her quizzically. If only she knew what was going on, then she could fix it.

Marie's voice came out small and faltered multiple times. "I... you... can't touch me. Something is... is really wrong... and- and..." She broke down in sobs.

Marie cowered onto the ground and Raven went down to gather her daughter in her arms. "Come on, baby. Keep going. I'm listening," she said calmingly.

"I- I can't touch things."

"What?"

"Something is... happening, and- and whenever I touch something, it... it dies. And I... I feel stronger when they... when they die. I don't know what's going on." She managed to choke this out without her crying slurring her words.

Raven panicked. She had heard everything Marie had told her, but did this mean... this mean... was this what she had dreaded ever since the days of Irene?

Raven had to see this herself. She guided Marie up to her feet and walked her crying self over to a potted plant sitting atop an end table. "Here, touch this. I need to see what's going on."

Marie looked at her mother, frightened. "No, I don't want to kill anything!"

"Honey, I need to see it in order to tell you what's wrong. Now just touch it."

She watched as Marie's shaking hand reached down to the green healthy leaves, vibrant and full of life. She also watched as her daughter touched them gently, and that life and color flooded from them and into her fingertips. Raven gasped.

"I feel it again, it's like... like something was just added to me, something that wasn't there before."

Raven tried to keep her tears back. "Does this happen to everything you touch?"

"No, I don't think so... um, I think it's only things with life in them."

Raven felt faint. No, it couldn't be happening. Not now. She had a beautiful life with her daughter, but if she knew the truth, that would all change. She had tried to tell Irene this many years ago. This is bad, everything that she had tried to build up between the two of them were now going to go up in smokes. And she couldn't bear that thought.

Raven gripped her way over to the couch, tears falling freely from her eyes. Her breath was coming in jaggedly, and she almost stumbled onto the couch.

"Mom, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Marie's concerned face, loving, beautiful face, came into view through blurry eyes. She was going to miss that face.

"Marie, there's something I... I need to tell you."

"Mom, what is it?"

Raven remained silent.

"Tell me!"

She took a deep breath and started. 

"Marie... you are a-- a mutant."

Marie stood there perplexedly. "What?"

"You are a mutant. That is your mutation. It comes along in your life when you are an adolescent. I'm one too. And there's this person you need to know about... wait. Let me just start from the beginning."

Marie listened for the entire explanation. Irene, the house, mutants, having her live with Raven, everything. Her anger raised as she went on, and finally it reached the boiling point. But she waited courteously until her mother finished, wanting to now everything the she presented to her.

Raven concluded. "And that's it."

Many questions flooded her mind. "So I'm a... a mutant?" 

"Yes."

"And now I have to live like this for the rest of my life?"

"Yes."

"I can't be normal anymore?"

"No, sweetie, you can't."

Fury clouded her senses. "So I'm going to have this for the rest of my life?! This mutation, this curse... I won't be able to touch anything for the rest of my life?! Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

Raven was waiting many years for this anger to be unleashed at her, but she still wasn't prepared for it. "There might be a way to control this, but I'm not sure. But yes, you will have this for the rest of your life, and you won't be able to touch anything anymore without something between your skin and the objects."

"What the hell! Why is this happening to me!"

"Sweetie, I know that you are upset, but-" Her crying was now out of control, and so was Marie. 

"No! Don't call me "sweetie"! Not ever again! Why didn't you tell me this sooner? Then maybe I wouldn't have had to find out like this! Why are you doing this to me? I thought you loved me!"

"Marie, I do love you, but-"

"No, you don't! But even if you do, I don't love you anymore! Because of you I am a freak! Why did you have me in the first place?!" She turned around angrily and marched up the stairs, tears forming from her fury.

Raven stood there stupidly. She didn't know what to say, and all that she could do at the moment was cry helplessly.

Marie stormed into her room and packed her things quickly. She only packed the things she needed most: clothes, toothbrush, her beloved teddy bear that she had had since as long as she could remember, ect. She packed lightly, only her school backpack and a small duffle bag. She was about to rush out the door when... wait. She turned around and headed toward her dresser. She ruffled around her things in the top drawer until she found them. Her hands shook as she pulled on the winter gloves that she had pulled out. She didn't have to worry about touching anything now.

She again went down the stairs and headed toward the back yard. She quickly ran out the door and reached down to pick up her diary that had been abandoned when the mutation had kicked in for the first time. She made her way out into the living room and headed toward the front door, passing her mother, curled into a ball on one end of the couch, distressed. 

"Where are you going?" Raven demanded.

"Like you would care."

"I do care."

"Well, I don't have an answer for you, because I don't even have know myself. But I know that it's going to be far away from here. And don't think that I am ever coming back."

Raven shook uncontrollably. "So this is it. You're just going to leave your childhood behind. Leave me."

Marie turned to look at her. "My childhood was made up of lies and secrets. I don't want to remember any of it, especially you. This is all your fault." She had her gloved hand on the doorknob and turn it open, but something came suddenly... an idea. She didn't want to do it, but she had to find out. She then strolled over to her mother, who looked up suspiciously as Marie pulled one of the gloves off. "What are you doing?"

"Trying something." She went up to her and stared at her in the face. "Good bye, mother." She then took the ungloved hand and pressed it gently against Raven's cheek. She felt it instantly, the draining of life, and felt it as it flowed into her. She pulled away quickly. Raven went lifeless and fell awkwardly onto the carpeted floor.

So it was as she thought. She couldn't touch humans either.

She pulled her glove back on and checked Raven's pulse. Her heart was still beating, but she looked unconscious. So she didn't kill her. Good. Even though she hated her right now, she didn't want another death on her mind.

Tears rushed forward as she headed toward the door. This time she opened it. She took one look at the house, her home. But not anymore.

"Good bye." She slammed the door shut behind her and walked down to the sidewalk. Down the street. Around the corner. And not once did she look back.

~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~

AN: This technically isn't done, this is only the first part. The second part will be in chapter six. Sorry about breaking it up, but I am getting kicked off of the computer. But I didn't want to leave you hanging, so I decided to give you part of it to enjoy. So enjoy!

REVIEW!!! Please? You will? Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! You're too kind. *takes a graceful bow, but fall over* Oops, well, yeah... that was awkward!


	6. The Truth Revealed Part 2

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Chapter Six

The Truth Revealed: Part Two

Meanwhile, at Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters:

"Scott, come here quickly. Cerebro has found something."

Scott Summers rushed over to the man sitting in front of a large computer-like thing at the end of a thin walkway. "What is it?"

"It seems that a new mutant has been found. Her name is Marie Darkholme. She earned her powers about an hour ago. By the way she is moving, it looks like she is running away from her home in the eastern part of Bayville." 

"Do you want me to go after her?" Scott asked. 

"No, I think it would be best to send Kitty to recruit her. They are the same age, and I think that she would get to her better than you can. Besides, you probably wouldn't want to be with an upset teenage girl who's probably angry enough to kill you, now would you?" the professor asked with a slight chuckle.

"Nothing different than around here. But I'll go get Kitty right now."

With that, Scott quickly left the room, leaving Charles to find out more about the new girl.

~:+:~

Sixteen year old Kitty Pryde walked eagerly down an empty street. She didn't get it. No one was around, but this was the location that the professor had told her she'd be in. She had been searching for her for about half an hour.

"Kitty, have you seen her yet?"

Kitty picked up the walkie-talkie hanging from her belt loop and held it up to her mouth, holding down a button and speaking to Scott on the other end.

"No, I haven't yet. But this is where the professor told me she'd be. But I don't see her anywhere." Something caught her eye at the and of the road. "Wait, hold on a sec." She put down the walkie-talkie and walked a few steps ahead of her. "I think I see her... yeah, that's her. Okay, I'll talk to you later."

"Good luck," she heard him say before she placed it back into her belt loop. She jogged forward, trying to call out to the girl in front of her. "Hey, come here!"

Marie looked up to find a girl that she slightly recognized from school rushing toward her. What the hell was she doing?

Marie cautiously turned to the other direction and began walking away from her.

"Wait, no... stop!" cried Kitty, running to catch up to her. "I need to talk to you!"

"I don't want to talk," Marie called back.

"Marie, stop! It's about your mutation!"

Marie froze. How did she know? She hadn't told anyone... had her mother?

"Is this some kind of sick joke? Because I'm not laughing!"

"No, Marie, it isn't. Just... let me explain!" Kitty panted out, trying to run and yell at the same time.

Marie trusted Kitty for some reason. She didn't know why. She suddenly turned around and watched as the girl quickly made her way over to where she was standing.

"Okay, start explaining," she started, crossing her arms across her chest. Kitty took a moment to catch her breath before starting.

"Marie, I know that you are a mutant."

Marie looked at her quizzically. "How would you know if I am or not?"

"Long story, really weird computer thing. I'd rather not get into it right now. But I was sent to get you."

"Hmph, who would send for me? Who wants me?"

"Charles Xavier and his school for gifted youngsters."

"Yeah right, like I'm gifted."

"Yes you are. You're like me and the others that go there. You are a mutant."

Marie was shocked. "You're one too?"

"Yeah, I am. Here, let me like show you." She scanned the ground quickly, and then found what she was looking for. She then picked up the fairly large rock and held it with one hand in front of her and Marie. Then, she easily phased her right hand through it.

Marie jumped back in surprise, then she began to cry again. "So you're a freak too."

Kitty watched her as Marie started to break down crying. "No, we're not. We're just different. And it's kinda like cool when you get used to it."

Marie looked at her. "You wouldn't say that if you had mine."

"Oh, come on Marie-"

"I'm not Marie. That's a life that I want to forget. Now I'm... Rogue, a rogue, because that's all I'll ever be."

"No, that's like not true. You're more than that." She gathered her in her arms and held her comfortingly. "We want to be your friends. Your family. We want you to know that we will care for you. No one in the mansion is unloved. Well, maybe Logan..."

Marie giggled. "I have no idea who you're talking about, but I can't wait to meet him. He sounds quite the character."

"Oh, he's quite a character alright. And you should like totally be rethinking the whole 'I want to meet him' thing. He will be you're worst ever nightmare."

She crept in closer to Marie's ears. "And he makes us get up on Saturday morning at 5:30 am."

Marie shivered and laughed. "God, he sounds like hell." She looked around. "Well, anyplace sounds better than where I am now. And there is no way in hell that I am going back to that house that I _used_ to live in. So, where are we going again?"

"Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. We live in a beautiful mansion with these pretty gardens. You'll love it."

The mention of gardens suddenly frightened Marie, thinking about the rose. But she quickly brushed it off. That was all in the past. And this was going to be the start of her future.

"Who's 'we'"

"Oh, lots of people. You'd probably recognize them from school. There's Kurt Wagner, Evan Daniels, Bobby Drake, Rayne Sinclair, Jean Grey..."

Maybe this wasn't going to be a good thing.

"... Scott Summers-"

"Wait! Did you just say Scott Summers?"

"Yeah, why? Do you like know him or something?"

Marie struggled to keep her happiness contained inside of her. Oh my god, I'm going to live in the same house as Scott! Maybe it won't be so bad. But she tried to make her crush no so obvious. It was hard not to jump up and down screaming his name over and over again. "Um, yeah. I know him a little. We bumped into each other a few times." Well, really only once, but she didn't know that.

"Good. Then you know some people to begin with. Come on, let's like get over there. I like totally can't wait for you to meet everybody." Kitty started walking, but when she realized that she was by herself, she stopped and turned around, finding that Marie had not moved from her spot on the road. "Like, come on. I can't carry you."

"Don't call me Marie. I'm Rogue now. I don't want to remember my childhood anymore."

"Okay. But you still have to walk there yourself."

Rogue smiled and took her first step as Rogue. It was her first step of her new life. Never again would her life be full of lies. Never again would she be Marie.

~:+:~

Rogue remembered everything so vividly. She had never forgotten a moment of that day. She even remembered when she had met every single person in the mansion, and how she had found herself cowering when meeting Logan. She laughed at the thought.

Since then, she and Kitty were almost inseparable. Kitty was her closest friend besides Pietro. She was also friends with everyone else, and had a special bond with Kurt, especially after they found out that Mystique was his mother too. This was another added lie and also added to the anger she felt for their mother. She had abandoned Kurt completely.

Charles had some tests done on her, and he concluded the full strength of her mutation. Never again would she touch a living thing again without something in between the two skins, and this bothered Rogue. He had also said that there was a chance that she could learn to control her powers, but not to get her hopes up. Rogue could never touch anyone. Her life would be filled with the constant fear of someone accidentally touching her and falling unconscious- even dead- to the floor next to her. Never again could she hold someone's hand or wear shorts and skirts. Never again would she kiss someone.

She suddenly remembered her kiss with Pietro with confusion. It has been three years. Why hadn't she heard anything about him? Or was he another secret that Mystique kept hidden from her all these years? She wondered whether she'd ever see him again.

Raven had fled soon after Rogue joined the X-Men. She hadn't seen or heard anything from her since the day that she had left her house forever.

Rogue steadily grew more and more in love with Scott. He was civil to her, but showed no real interest. This disappointed her. She had forgotten about Pietro.

Rogue fiddled with the little book. She suddenly wished to write and she leapt off of her bed, grabbed a pen from her desk, and flung herself back onto it and started to write.

__

Dear Diary,

Tomorrow officially starts plan "Get Scott for Myself and Step Over Anyone Including Jean Grey if I Have To." He is going to be a senior this year, and after this he is going to be moving out of the mansion and going away to college. I need to get him while I still have the chance to. This is going to be my year.

"Rogue?"

Rogue jumped as Kitty's head appeared through the door. She breathed again when she saw that it was only Kitty. She giggled. "Oh my god, you freaked me out."

"Sorry," said Kitty, also giggling. "Anyway, dinner's ready."

"Okay. I'll be down in a second." She watched her roommate's head disappear from the door. Rogue took one last look at her diary and closed it slowly. After carefully slipping it underneath her mattress, she climbed off her bed and made her way downstairs.

~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~:+:~

AN: Oh my god, that took forever! I was originally going to combine both chapters to make one chapter, but I decided not to. For some reason I think that you wouldn't like that. Anyway, here it is! Hope you enjoy!

And I'm giving a hint to everyone that's reviewed my fic so far:

Chapter Seven will have lots of Pietro in it!

Review so you can hear more of these stupid little hints in the future!

Hee hee, I love bribing people into doing what I want! It's almost as fun as blackmail!

Hee hee, REVIEW!

*said in a big and important voice:*

We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin... REVIEW!!! 

This is so fu**ing fun!

REVIEW!

Thank you and good night. And REVIEW!!!

Hee hee, REVIEW!!! 


	7. Reunion

::::::::::::::::::

Chapter Seven

Reunion

Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, bee-

"Aaarrrrggghh!" Rogue shot her hand from under the bedspread and grabbed the alarm clock. "Fucking thing." She flung it across the room angrily. She felt superior for a moment, that was until she heard the faint "beep beep" from the clock now on the other side of the room. She swore. It still hadn't turned off.

Rogue had seen the time before she had grabbed the clock and chucked it. 6:35. Kitty had let her sleep in for as long as she could. With a tired glance through half-opened eyelids, she noticed that Kitty had already gotten up and was probably fighting for the bathroom right now. Damn education. Today was the first day of school, and she was not looking forward to it. Learning was the last thing that she wanted to do right now.

Rogue reluctantly got herself off from the bed and stretched. Logan would throw a tantrum if she stayed in bed any longer. After a quick look in the mirror to straighten up a bit, she headed out into the hallway. Though she would never admit it, she truly did care about how she looked in front of people. Especially when she knew that Scott would be somewhere near.

Walking outside, she found that there was already Jubilee waiting outside the bathroom door. She wasn't too much farther along than Rogue was; she must have just gotten up also.

Jubilee banged on the door impatiently. "Kitty! Hurry up! Some people need to pee out here!"

Rogue giggled and headed into her room again. It would be a while before she would be given a chance at the bathroom. After entering, she opened her closet and searched for something to wear. She looked through her things. When she had first arrived, the professor had seen that she had not brought much; she had only brought enough to get by for a while. And since she refused to step foot into her old house ever again, he had graciously allowed her to go to the mall and buy some new clothes. While she was throwing back hangers and searching for something for today, she paused as she came across a pastel purple short-sleeved shirt hanging in her closet. She hadn't worn that since before her mutation, and never again would she wear it. Never.

Instead, she pulled out a black tank-top and navy blue mesh cover with black pants. Ever since her mutation started, she had turned Goth. She figured that it would be easiest to cover herself up if she were Gothic. It would explain why she wore gloves and heavy make-up all the time.

She finished getting herself ready as much as she could without a bathroom. She had decided to skip her shower- one day shouldn't be too bad. But something sour was in the pit of her stomach when she pulled on her gloves. The dreadful gloves. The things that allowed her what little touch she could have with people. A stab of anger was felt toward Raven. Why did she have to pass this on? Why couldn't she have a mutation like Kitty's? Or Kurt's? They didn't stop them from living a normal life. She knew that this wasn't Raven's fault, that she didn't choose what she gave to her daughter, but Rogue felt like she needed to blame someone. And it certainly wasn't Rogue's fault.

When she was out in the hallway again, she found that the bathroom was now open. She scurried her ass in there before anyone else could take it. Once inside, she had proudly shut the door behind her and locked it. This gave her a somewhat satisfying feeling as she quickly finished getting ready.

::

About twenty minutes later, she was ready and gathered her things together and headed down the stairs. She found that everyone else was already situated around the large dining room table and indulging in breakfast. She took the seat on Kitty's right.

"Good morning, Rogue. Glad to see you join us on this very early and beautiful Monday morning," said the professor from the head of the table. He was already finished with his meal and was sitting quietly, fingers steepled.

"Ja," Kurt agreed, mumbling through large mouthfuls of pancake and eggs. (AN: Mmm, that sounds SOOO good right now!)

Rogue smiled. "Shut up. You know that I'm not a morning person. And stop inhaling your food. I'm starting to loose my appetite." She watched Kurt look up from his plate and say something to her, but it came out to be just a spraying of food that sounded something like "I'm hungry. And it's not my fault that you're cranky." Or at least that was what she thought he said.

Kitty came into the conversation. "So Rogue, while you were like in the bathroom, I like found my alarm clock totally not where I put it last night. Do you know anything about this?" she asked Rogue, trying to give her a glare that would make her cringe, but she was failing miserably seeing that she couldn't stop grinning. Kitty was never good at acting.

Rogue giggled as she remembered the alarm clock's adventure flying across the room this morning. "Sorry Kitty. I told you, I'm not a morning person. And anyway, it was looking bored, so I decided to give it a few flying lessons."

Kitty laughed too. "Yeah, okay, I'll buy that. But if it happens again, I can like totally get Logan to be your like personal alarm clock." She had an evil smirk planted on her face.

Rogue suddenly realized what hell that would be. He'd most likely get her up at insanely early hours and give her a solo Danger Room session in order to wake her up. She turned to Kitty. "You wouldn't dare."

"Yeah, I would."

The two just stared at each other, expressionless expressions on their faces, although Rogue could see that Kitty was trying hard not to laugh. They both turned away at the same time when they heard Scott heading to the front door. He called out to the people inside the dining room.

"Anyone who wants to drive with me needs to leave now."

Both Rogue and Kitty quickly got up and grabbed their bags, along with Jean and Kurt, who was carrying his plate with him. The five of them climbed into Scott's car and drove off to Bayville High. Rogue dreaded going to school again; the summer had been too short. But she loved the fact that she was sitting behind Scott, where she had a perfect view of his profile, but went sour as she saw Jean's hand in his right, while his left was on the steering wheel. She grimaced. This was going to be her year. She was not going to let Jean steal Scott from her. Scott was already taken by someone else.

He just didn't know it yet.

::

Classes sucked in Rogue's mind. Of course a person like Jean probably absolutely loved them, taking in the corny cracks of the teachers, fresh smell of new books, and favoritism shown toward them from the teachers, who obviously seemed not to notice that their skirts were too short, yet yelled at others who were not on their good side this morning. Yep. School sucks.

Now it was lunchtime, and both Rogue and Kitty had just grabbed their food and trying to find a place to sit and eat.

"Damn, like all the good seats are taken. Were going to have to sit next to the math-letes." She pointed to a group of guys on the other side of the cafeteria.

"Yeah, and they'd probably die of shock that anyone would step inside the five foot radius that seemed to be avoided all day." This comment made Kitty giggle. "Anyway, I can't stand this building anymore. I'd rather eat outside today."

"That would be a lot better then our other option." They both shared a laugh at the boys' expense. "It's totally nice out anyway. Come on!" Kitty grabbed Rogue's gloved hand and dragged her outside to a picnic table near a large maple tree.

Rogue had just finished her slice of pizza when Kitty pointed out to their left. "Hey look, it's Lance. Hey Lance!" she called to her boyfriend.

Lance Alvers turned toward the sound and walked to them when he realized that Kitty was calling him. Behind him were Todd Tolansky and Fred Dukes bringing up the rear.

"Hey, Kitty-Cat," he greeted Kitty, giving her a small peck on the lips. Kitty grinned. Rogue felt a sudden rush of jealousy for her best friend. She was able to have a boyfriend and kiss him whenever she wanted. Rogue couldn't have that.

Lance sat down next to Kitty while Todd hopped on top of the table and Fred came up behind Rogue. While her attention was on Kitty and Lance, Fred tried to sneak a cookie from off her plate. At least, that was until Rogue's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.

"Let it go, Fred, before I drain you. And you know I will." Fred reluctantly let go of the cookie and pouted.

Lance changed the subject. "So, did you hear that we have a new member?"

Kitty didn't know about this. "Really? Since when?"

"A while ago. Came in sometime in the summer. There was something about his dad not wanting him to go to the X-Men… I don't know. He doesn't tell us much."

Kitty smacked him upside the head.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"For like not telling me! God knows how long he was living with you… you didn't even tell me!" She turned away from him.

"Aw, come on Kitty. It just slipped my mind. And he hasn't been here that long. Kitty, I'm sorry." He reached over and tickled her.

Kitty squirmed to get out of Lance's grip, but she couldn't. Through fits of laughter she managed to choke out, "Okay! You're forgiven! I forgive you! Just stop!" This was all Lance needed, and right after he stopped he leaned over and kissed her again.

"Yo, guys, get a room," Todd called out from behind them, still sitting on top of the table.

"You know, for once, I agree with him," Rogue said. She couldn't stand watching them touching any longer.

Kitty broke apart from Lance. "So, when do we get to meet this new member?"

"Soon. He's in a couple of your classes in the afternoon." He looked around. "Guys, do you know where Speedy is?"

"He's probably ogling himself in the mirror… in the girls' bathroom." The boys shared a laugh, but the two girls didn't get it. Suddenly, a rush a air hit their faces as another boy entered their midst. His silver hair looked freshly done up in his unique hairstyle.

"Did somebody call me?"

Rogue thought he looked familiar. Where did she see know him from… "Pietro?"

Pietro looked at the girl who spoke. He was not used to seeing her in a Gothic body suit, but he recognized her anyway. "Marie?"

Rogue got up from her seat and walked toward him. He did the same thing, but using his super speed, he was able to scoop her up in a hug before she realized what was going on. He spun her in the air.

"Hey, let me down!" she called out, somewhat nauseated from the sudden ride.

He let her down and stared at her. He was at a loss for words. After a few silent awkward moments, he tried to take her into another hug, but Rogue stopped him.

"I'd rather you not."

"Why not?"

Todd spoke up from behind the two. "She's afraid she'll suck you dry, yo."

Rogue glared at him, and in doing so she also noticed that Fred had successfully taken two of her cookies.

"Wait, what?" muttered a confused Pietro.

Rogue turned back to him. "Long story, rather not get into it." Something clicked in her head. "You're a mutant too?"

"Too? You're one?"

"Yeah, but-"

"That's a part of the long story that she doesn't want to get into, yo," replied Todd.

"Stop being a smart ass," Rogue said to Todd. "Yeah, what he said. Hold on, why doesn't your dad want you to join the X-Men? He doesn't seem the type that would have something against us."

"Long story, rather not get into it." Pietro smirked at her, and Rogue smiled. It was good hearing his egotistical remarks again.

"Wait, what?" said a very confused Lance. "How do you guys know each other?"

Kitty stepped in. "Rogue and Pietro grew up living next door to each other and were best friends. But when they were thirteen, Pietro moved, and they haven't seen each other in three years, well, like, until now."

Everyone except for Rogue looked at Kitty, bewildered by her speech. Kitty sat under their gaze, suddenly nervous. "Rogue tells me these things." Then everybody turned to stare at Rogue. She shivered.

"God, you guys are vultures." The bell rang. "Shit, we have to go inside." She went to pick up her tray and found it empty and lying next to a satisfied Fred. No wonder he remained quiet throughout the entire conversation.

Pietro pulled her back to talk to her. "I can't believe that you're here. I thought that I would never see you again."

Rogue smiled. "It's really good to see you again." And idea popped into her head. "Do you want to come over to the mansion after school? We can catch up."

Pietro stayed silent, appearing to be deep in thought. Rogue smacked him.

"You have to think before deciding to hang out with me?"

"Hey, give me a break. I was checking my mind-powered schedule. And I have come to the conclusion that…" He rubbed his temples, activating his "mind-powered schedule" "… I have an opening after school! Your lucky that you found a time slot, because it's pretty booked up here."

Rogue slapped him again.

"Hey! Stop the bruising of the merchandise!"

"Well maybe if you weren't such a fucking smart ass then I wouldn't have to hit you!"

Pietro swiped his finger at her. "Language, Rogue. I thought I knew you better."

The word "language" stirred something in her head. "Shit, classes. So I'll see you after school at the mansion?"

"Guess so." They stood silently until Rogue carefully pulled him into a hug.

"It's so good to see you again."

"Same here." With that, Rogue ran into the building trying to catch up to Kitty while Pietro headed in the other direction. Rogue momentarily found Kitty by her locker.

"So, that was the Pietro that I've like totally heard so much about."

"Yep." Rogue opened her locker and got out her books.

"And you are happy to se him again?"

"Yep." Rogue slammed the locker door shut and started walking toward her class.

"So I guess Scott now has some competition."

Rogue paused. She had told Kitty about the kiss that the two shared, but she didn't think that it would come up again. "Kitty, that was three years ago."

"I know, but I can totally tell. You two have so been crushing each other ever since you two met. And you still are."

"Kitty, it's called moving on. And I don't like Pietro that way. Scott is on my mind now."

"Okay, whatever you say." Kitty watched as Rogue walked on toward her English class. She didn't buy that story for a second. She knew that they were totally in love with each other. You could tell right from looking at them. But she didn't think that Rogue knew what she was feeling at the moment. Poor Pietro. He's going to be devastated when he finds out that Rogue wants to believe that she is in love with Scott. Which could be true, but that would mean that Rogue's heart belongs to two people. Whatever it is, this is going to be hard for Rogue to figure out.

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AN: That chapter was kinda weird. I dunno, it just was. The ending was kinda crappie, but WHO CARES! Hee hee. Anyway, I'm finally updating. See, told ya that there was lots of Pietro in that chappie. Hee hee, review and I'll give you more hints of what's coming in the future! Hee hee, I'm high!

REVIEW!!!!!!!! NOW!!!!!!! I don't care what you say in it, it could be utter nonsense but REVIEW ANYWAY! Wow, that sounds a lot like my reviews, don't you agree PMH? Hee hee, I'm HIGH! REVIEW!!!


	8. Catching Up

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Chapter Eight

Catching Up

It took about three minutes for Pietro to finish homework that would take a normal person about five hours. But he wasn't a normal person- he was... Super Pietro! The eighth, ninth, and tenth wonder of the world! (hee hee, Pietro obsession crept in right there! Must be the sugar talking! But wait, I didn't have any sugar today! Hmmm.... AIR! Hee hee, I'm high on air! That explains a lot.....) Anyway, let's try this again.

It took about three minutes for Pietro to finish homework that would take a normal person five hours.

...

...

Whew, I didn't shout out any obscene things. Anyway,

Pietro then did a few random activities, like trashing Lance's room, stealing Fred's sandwich from right out of his hands while it was inches away from his mouth, and sneaking into the cheerleaders' after school practice and knocked over their pyramid while seizing the moment to look up their skirts too. (hee hee, die cheerleaders!) He then headed for the mansion.

1.9 seconds later:

"Ding dong, the witch is dead. Which old witch? CHEERLEADERS!" (sorry, that's the air talking again!) Pietro stood waiting for someone to answer the door. These people are so god damn slow, he thought. And he decided to occupy himself. With that he did three sprints around Bayville, and when he came back, the door still wasn't opened. Not for long at least.

The door opened abruptly.

"Whata you want, bub," asked Logan. Pietro got scared, and had good reason to. That sexy little body of his was no match for Logan's huge size.

"Um,I'mheretoseeMarie,um,ImeanRogue,um,yeah." he stammered out. Logan looked ready to pound him into the marble flooring at any given moment.

Logan stared hard at him. Pietro shrank.

"I'm right here, Logan, don't murder him. Come on, Pietro." Rogue walked up from behind him and grabbed Pietro's hand to drag him inside, since Pietro was immobile, due to the fact that Logan was scaring the shit out of him and he couldn't even think straight.

On their way upstairs, Rogue pointed out to Pietro, "Don't worry about Logan. He's a sweetheart, even though he doesn't want to show it." She smiled as she heard Logan's growl from downstairs. Pietro shuddered. Rogue laughed as she led him to her room. "Although I'm surprised that he's letting me take a boy up into my bedroom." As she opened the door she found Kitty reading on top of her bed.

"Kitty, could you read somewhere else while Pietro and I catch up?"

She looked at the two of them and smiled. "Sure. Like take all the time you need." She quickly exited the room, book in hand. She didn't want to be the one interfering in the blooming romance between the two, even if Rogue didn't realize it.

Rogue shut the door behind Kitty and walked over to sit on top of her bed while Pietro followed her and sat down to her right. He seemed to be a little more relaxed.

"Holy crap, I thought that he was going to kill me. How can you live with him? He's a beast."

Rogue laughed even more. "He may seem that way, but he's not _that_ bad. Well, hold on, maybe he is that bad, but anyway, he hasn't murdered anyone in the mansion yet."

"Is that supposed to comfort me? That implies that he has killed outside of the mansion." Pietro looked at her.

"Um, well, there's a couple of evil mutants, and then there's the fact that he always almost kills some of Magneto's goons-" Rogue noticed that Pietro squirmed when she brought up Magneto. "What's wrong? Do you know him?"

Pietro didn't want to talk about it right then. Maybe later, but not now. "Everything's fine. Just, um, we'll talk about it later." He changed the subject. "So, you're a mutant."

Rogue gave him a funny look, but she left the talk about Magneto behind her. "Yeah, I am. And I see that you are too. But your mutation's not as bad as mine."

"What is yours?" Pietro asked curiously. He didn't know that it would make Rogue tear up by just thinking about it. Which she did. And Pietro put his arm around her shoulders and rubbed her back comfortingly. "Hey, what's up?"

Rogue slipped her hand out of her glove sadly and held it out to Pietro, just inches away from his face. "If my hand touched your face, I can put you in a coma for weeks. And if I hold on for too long, I could kill you." Tears fell, and she sniffled. "I can't control it, it just happens. I suck up their life force, and I get their memories. In the case of mutants, I get their powers temporarily." Her voice cracked. "I'll never be able to control it. I can never touch anyone ever again." She cried silently. She didn't feel self-conscious crying in front of Pietro. He has been her best friend since she was five.

This suddenly put a lot of the pieces in his mind together. Their conversation at lunch now made sense, and the full blast hit him. She'll never touch again. That kiss that they shared when they were thirteen would be the only one they'd have. He couldn't imagine a more horrible mutation, or a more deadly. How hard this must be on Rogue.

He gathered her into a loving hug. "I'm so sorry."

"But you didn't do anything. You didn't give me this."

"Yeah, but I'm sorry that you have to carry this on you. That I wasn't there when you needed me the most." He carefully tilted her head up to look at his. "But I'm here now." He would have kissed her right then and there, but he knew that he couldn't.

Rogue smiled. "And I'm glad that you're here." She giggled slightly and wiped away her tears. Her makeup was smudged in a million places, but she didn't care. Neither did Pietro. He thought that she was beautiful no matter how bad her makeup was. "Anyway, let's move on."

"Yeah." He thought for a second. "Why did you change your name?"

Rogue took a deep breath, readying herself for the long speech ahead. "Oh boy, this opens to another long story. Well, to start, my mother didn't tell me anything about being a mutant. Right after school ended last year, I was playing with some grass when all of the sudden they died in my fingers. Everything that I touched died. I told my mom and she started crying and telling me this story about this woman named Irene and how I used to live with her until she died, and how she didn't want to live with me because she didn't want me to know that I was a mutant and how she loved me so much and that she didn't want me to be angry with her, but how could I not? She didn't tell me!" Rogue stopped to breath deeply, again affected by crying. "She made me suffer a terrible day that day! Just imagine yourself touching things and having them die right in front of you! You are a murderer, and then realizing that you could never touch anything again, and finding out that you're a mutant and knowing how much people hated mutants, and... and...." She couldn't continue because she was crying too much out of hatred for her mother. Pietro again tried to calm her down.

"It's okay, I'm right here. That was terrible what your mother did that to you. I can't believe it. It didn't seem like something she'd do."

Rogue cuddled into him, and she was soothed by the warmth and comfort that he provided for her. How much she had missed this when he was gone. Nothing could comfort her like him. "I hate her so much," she continued. "How could she have done this to me? I ran away that day. I changed my name to Rogue, it just seemed to fit. I didn't want to remember that life I had." She looked at her gloved hands. "But this curse is always a reminder. I can never escape this." She snuggled farther into Pietro. "Kitty found me and brought me here. And now you're here. This has been the best thing that I've had for a while now."

Pietro grinned. This was the best thing for him too. He had thought that he had lost her forever. But he hadn't. "So that's why when I came to look for you, your house was abandoned."

This didn't surprise Rogue. She figured that Raven would flee to somewhere else. She had no reason to stay in Bayville. Rogue again wiped her tears away. "Alright, that's enough about me. What about you? What happened after you moved?"

Pietro decided to tell Rogue everything about his father. Rogue has been through hell and told Pietro about it, so he'd tell her. "Well, we moved. Simple as that. Dad would disappear for a while, then come back again and say it was a meeting for work. Everything else was normal until Wanda got her powers about a year or two ago. She has the weirdest power, it's like she's a witch or something. She throws hexes and stuff. Anyway, Dad didn't want to handle it so he sent her to an asylum. You should have seen her, she was furious at him. And she almost went crazy with her hexes. But Dad probably gave the doctor dudes enough money to satisfy them into keeping her there. So she stayed there. Then I got my mutation. Not long ago, he explained to me what was going on. Turns out he's this big leader of a group of mutants and he wanted me to join them. They weren't the greatest saints in the world and I told him no. Well, he got pissed and threatened me with a lot of things, including death."

Rogue gasped. "Your dad threatened to kill you? But- he couldn't- he's not like that."

Pietro shrugged his shoulders. "That's what I thought too. But then things got even worse and I moved out. I also helped Wanda escape from that asylum, but I haven't seen her after that. Anyway, he knows that I'm back in Bayville, and he still offers me to join him occasionally. But I'm never going to. You should here some of the stuff that they do to people. And he's planning to take over the world or something. He's a lot like Hitler."

Rogue stood stupefied. She couldn't believe that this was the same man that she grew up with. The kind, gentle father. He acted like her own father. How did he turn so evil?

"So why doesn't he want you to join the X-Men?"

Here came the story that he wasn't too keen on telling to her, but she had to know. He continued again. "Well, it turns out that Charles Xavier and my dad are old buddies. They go way back. And they still are friends. But my dad doesn't agree with his theory that peace can be between the humans and mutants. My dad thinks that a war will come, and I think that he's planning to start one. But there's this almost rivalry that my dad has with him. He's always trying to come on top and prove his point. The X-Men and his group have had a few run-ins, but nothing too serious. His group has never been able to defeat you guys. So my dad isn't too chummy with the X-Men right now."

Okay, that makes a lot of sense, thought Rogue. But, wait a minute. She has heard the professor mention someone named Erik a few times. And he sounded a lot like Mr. Lensherr. Something clicked in her mind. Does this mean that he is...

"Magneto?" she asked hesitantly. Pietro just nodded.

"Your father is Magneto?" He again nodded.

"I cannot believe this," she said. How could he have changed so much?

"Who would have thought that our parents would turn evil?" Pietro said with a smirk. Rogue laughed slightly.

"My mom is probably working for him now."

"I wouldn't put it past them. Your mom probably told my dad about you leaving and offered a spot to her right then and there. If she wasn't working for him already."

Rogue agreed with him. This was weird. If someone had told her that this would happen when they were back in elementary school, she would have thought that they were crazy. This whole thing was crazy, but she knew that it was true.

"So, what's your mom's mutation?" he asked her.

"Shape-shifter. Yours?"

"Master of Magnetism."

"Oh, I've heard the professor talk about that. He can control metal stuff, right?"

Pietro nodded. "That made living with him really scary. I could get him really pissed off and he could order a knife to plunge into my heart, and there's no way of stopping it."

"Geez, that must have been really hard." They continued talking about their weirdo parents while making cracks about how they were intimate lovers who had failed attempts for children and had a plan to take over the world. Both laughed uncontrollably at the thoughts.

Pietro stopped laughing and took a look around her room. "Nice room." It was obviously decorated to Kitty's liking because every inch of it screamed Kitty, from the pale purple walls and creamy carpet to the floral patterned bedspreads and desk with pink heart magnets holding up pictures of Lance. Rogue's side of the room wasn't so Kitty-fied, but it still wasn't her own.

"Yeah, I hate it. She won't let me change anything in here. She wants me to die a slow and painful death."

Pietro took a long look at Rogue. "Yep, I can definitely see that girly isn't exactly your style anymore."

"Hey, I was never this bad."

"Um, yeah you were." Pietro smirked until Rogue smacked him. "Hey!"

"I was young and stupid."

"And now you're old and stupid." Rogue slapped him again. Both laughed while Pietro tried to defend himself while she playfully picked on him. Finally, Pietro just sat there quietly, staring into her beautiful green eyes. Her makeup was still smudged, but he didn't care. He couldn't believe that he had left this behind three years ago.

"I am so glad to see you again." He took her hand into his own. She smiled at him, temporarily forgetting about Scott. She was just happy to see her best friend again. That was, at least until the door flew open.

"Rouge, why is he in here?" a very angry Scott yelled.

"How did you know that he was here?" Rogue replied. The answer came to her quickly. "Kitty!" she yelled at no one in particular.

It didn't surprise her to see Kitty's head hesitantly poke through the wall. "Sorry, it just kinda like, slipped." One look at Rogue's angry face and her head quickly disappeared into the wall. Rogue sighed with disappointment.

"Rogue, I demand you to tell me why you have a person from the Brotherhood in your bedroom," Scott fumed. He looked ready to pull off his visor at Pietro.

"Scott, he's my friend. And it's not like we were going to do anything. You know that."

"How do you know him? He's only been here for a couple of weeks."

"We grew up together, now will you get out of my room?" she returned angrily.

"Not until he's out of the mansion." He pointed to Pietro.

Pietro spoke up. "I'm not going anywhere. And you don't scare me." And that was the truth. The only thing he was afraid of was if he were to call for Logan and have him crash through the door instead. Pissed off Logan. Oooh, scary thought.

Rogue tried to calm Scott down. "Scott, I'm okay. He's not going to do anything, to me or the X-Men. He's just here as a friend with a friend. I trust him with my life." Pietro felt a sudden surge of pride at Rogue's comment. Yeah, she trusts me. Beat that, Red-Eye.

Scott took one more look at the two of them and then gave up and slammed the door shut, him now on the other side. The two could hear him stomping angrily on the ground as he walked away.

"Jesus Christ, who stuck the vacuum cleaner up his ass?" Pietro asked, still eyeing the door maliciously.

"I don't know, but I don't care." One look at Scott, even though he was furious, was all Rogue needed to bring back the feelings she felt for him. Her heart was fluttering as she watched him heatedly yell at both of them. Once again Pietro was out of her mind.

Pietro looked over to her, and suddenly he remembered what they had said when he was leaving Bayville three years ago.

"Marie, no matter where I go or how long I'm there, I will never forget you. You are my best friend, and I'll never lose you. Can you promise me this too?"

She nodded. "Of course. Nothing could make me forget you."

But that was just it.

Pietro watched as Rogue stared stupidly at the door that Scott had just exited through. She would probably start drooling in a while. She looked like someone just gave her drugs and she was stoned, she looked... in love. With Scott.

The truth punched Pietro hard in the gut.

She had forgotten about him.

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AN: Oh my god, that was the worst chapter I have ever written in my life! I totally can not write right now, what is wrong with me? I think that the air is getting to me. Oh well. Just yell at me in your reviews and maybe that will knock some sense into me.

Review and keep the feedback coming. And thank you for all of the reviews you have given me, you all deserve five golden stars each!

Hey, can someone flame me? I want to get one. Nobody's given me one yet, and since this chapter sucked so much, maybe you have a reason for one. Anyway, just a request.

REVIEW!!! AND FLAME IF YOU WANT TO!!! Please?


	9. Revelations

AN: Sorry guys! The computer was acting like a retard yesterday and I couldn't log myself in so I couldn't post it yesterday. Well, here it is now! ENJOY!!!

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Chapter Nine

Revelations

Pietro slammed the door behind him after he entered into his room. He plopped himself onto his bed, the worn apart mattress beneath him squeaking as he landed. After Scott left Rogue's room, Pietro was too upset to stay any longer, so he made up a stupid quick excuse (that he was surprised that Rogue bought) and get his fine little ass out of there as fast as he could (which was pretty fast). He then went straight home to the Brotherhood, seeing that he was not in the mood to play silly little tricks on people. And at this particular moment, this is where he was, burying his face angrily into his pillow, mumbling incoherently and cursing about what just happened at the mansion.

Damn you, Scott! Damn you, damn you! You don't love her, you don't even like her! I leave for a while and then you scoop her up and she falls madly in love with you! Damn you for being there!

Pietro took a deep breath.

That was is. Scott was there. He was there when I wasn't. I should have been there. Fucking father! He had to drag me away from the best thing I have in my life, especially when she needed me most. And I come back and I don't have her anymore! You took me away when she needed support, comfort, and hope... and love. And I wasn't there to give her those things. Fuck you too, Dad.

He thought hard. Something came to him that he didn't realize before.

But why, Rogue? Why Scott? Why did you forget me like I was something expendable? You don't think of me that way, do you? Don't you remember when we were growing up? All of the times I came and rescued you from everything that was giving you pain, your troubles and fears? I chased them all away. Don't you remember the storms? I bet you didn't even think of me at all after I left. You couldn't have gone for Scott if you remembered me. Did you realize how much I cared for you? I wonder if you could even picture me in your mind. Don't you remember the kiss?

But Pietro couldn't blame this on Rogue. This was partly his fault too.

She was just moving on from me, because I didn't try harder to come home to her. I took too long. I don't know what I was expecting, it was three years! I let her slip through my fingers. I let her forget me. I practically gave her up for anyone to grab. And Scott took her.

Scott will hurt her. That's the only thing he'll do. He can't love her- he won't love her, not like I do... I love her?

Is what I'm feeling love? The thing that I've felt since I was thirteen?

It is love. I love her.

I can't forget about her. Everything about her since we first met is so clear in my mind like it happened just this morning. I can't forget her, I'm physically incapable of doing that.

But she forgot about me. Does that mean that she didn't love me at all?

Pietro was so deep in thought that he didn't realize the steadily growing pool of drool flowing from his mouth and onto his pillow, creeping onto his face.

I can't tell her that I love her. I know that Scott is wrong for her, but am I wrong, too? I can't control who I love, and neither can she. I can't make her fall in love with me. Confessing this to her would only ruin our friendship, the memories of which that got me through moving away from her, knowing that I would come back and find her one day. And all of those memories would get flushed down the giant goddamned toilet if I told her. I'm wrong for her because she doesn't love me back. Why would she forget me if she did?

No. I am the right person for her. I always have been, and always will be. I knew that even when we were five. She is just so blinded by Scott that she doesn't know that I love her, and that she loves me, and that we were meant to be together, not her and Scott. But Scott made her forget about everything, especially the kiss. One pretty face and her past is gone down the drain. She loves me. I was always the one she would turn to. I was meant for her. I'm the one she loves.

Pietro sighed.

But I can't do anything. If Scott is the one she wants right now, then I can't stand in the way of her happiness. Even when it's not with me. I just have to wait and watch as Scott breaks her beautiful heart. There's nothing I can do. I can't go up to her and tell her what I feel, she'd probably freak out and that's the end of our friendship. I don't have many options. But I can't stand to see her hurt. Knowing that I will have to watch as Scott steadily crushes her into tiny pieces will be unbearable to me, like digging my own grave, but I have to do it. I have to accept that I can't control her love. If I told her about me loving her, then that would make things awkward. Then I would tell her to give up Scott, and then we'd fight. We wouldn't be friends anymore. And then when he breaks up with her, I won't be there to comfort her. I can't imagine the pain she would be in knowing that her best friend since we were five couldn't come to her right now. It's better if I just stay out of it. For Rogue's sake, it's better. She needs happiness right now, and by the way Scott was acting in her bedroom this afternoon, chances are that she'll find it soon.

Dear god, I'm going to need so much therapy in order to make it through this.

::

Scott sat with his head resting in hid hands on the edge of his bed. Emotions were flooding through him, combining to form a great jumble of anger, frustration, confusion, and something that he didn't quite understand.

What happened back there? Why are all these feelings rushing through me?

I can see why I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated because I'm the leader of the X-Men and I had no control over having one of the Brotherhood enter the mansion, not to mention having him in one of the bedrooms. They are the enemies, right? Why is there so much contact between us? First there's Kitty and Lance, and now Rogue with Pietro.

And now I'm angry. Am I angry with them? For being together?

No, I'm only mad because Pietro was on the premises.

But for some reason, that's not good enough. It doesn't feel like that's the reason. There's a lot more to it…

…am I jealous?

Jealous of Maximoff? That's ridiculous. There's nothing about that boy that I want. Absolutely nothing. What possibly could he have that would be of any value to me?

He thought for a second. And then an answer surfaced. Rogue. But Scott couldn't accept that answer.

No, that can't be it. I already have her, she's on my team. She's not one of them. She's under my rule. That can't be the reason that I'm jealous of Maximoff… that's even if I really am jealous.

I may have her on my team, but she's still not my friend.

Is that what I want? Her friendship? Because that's definitely something that they have a lot of. Their bond is so strong that I can't even come between them.

Most people would settle for that, that it was only friendship that he wanted. But Scott knew that it went farther than that.

What more could I want from her? What more does Pietro have?

… Her love for him. That love that kept them friends for so long.

Is that it? Is that what Pietro has that I want, that I'm so jealous of? Is that the thing that sparked all of these emotions inside of me? That made me storm out of Rogue's room after I saw them together? They weren't doing anything. They were just talking- although he was holding her hand…

No. I love Jean. I'm _in love _with Jean.

Oh, there was confusion, all right.

Nothing can come between Jean and me. We're best friends. We love each other. She's the best thing in my life. I love Jean. I love Jean. I love Jean. I love Jean. I love Jean. I love Jean. I love Rogue. No! No I don't! I love Jean. I love Jean. I love Jean. I love Jean. I love Jean. I love-

"Well, I'm glad to her that."

Scott jumped, his head shot out of his hands, and he spun around so fast that he nearly fell off the bed. He gripped the sides of the bed to regain his balance. He looked up to Jean, his girlfriend, the woman that stole his heart. His heart raced at the sight of her, but it was more from fear that she found out something that she shouldn't have than of passion. He quickly cleared his mind of everything concerning Rogue.

"Jean," he led out, his voice exasperated.

"Hi, honey," she answered and Scott watched as she made his way over to him, leaned down to kiss him sweetly, and sat down next to him, locking his arm with hers. "Sorry that I startled you. Deep in thought, were you?"

"How long have you been here?"

Jean looked at him and replied nonchalantly, "Only a little while. Just long enough to see that you were repeating that you loved me over and over again. It's not enough to just tell me that, but you have to think about it all day?"

"I thought that you respected my privacy and didn't read my thoughts," he said with a smirk.

She grinned. "You were thinking so loudly that it was hard not to. You really need to work on your mental shields." She nestled her head into his shoulder, her hair tickling Scott's face. "Anyway, you really shouldn't think to hard, you'll strain yourself."

Scott chuckled softly. He was relieved that Jean hadn't heard anything about Rogue.

"Hmm? What was that?" Jean muttered from his shoulder. He had obviously been thinking loudly again. She's right, I really do need to work on my mental shields.

"Oh, nothing dear." He panicked slightly before he saw that Jean bought his lie. He quickly cleared his mind of everything involving Rogue and reached down to hold her fingers in his. He played with them silently as he felt her head snuggle farther into him.

He realized that he had to be on a constant watch on what he thought around Jean. Keeping this to himself was going to be harder than he thought.

::

Rogue leaned back comfortably into her bed, head snuggling into her favorite pillow and foot jiggling at the end of the bed at a non-existent beat. She replayed the afternoon over and over again. How she loved being with Pietro again- her life hadn't been quite the same without him. He was like her other half, like he completed her.

That afternoon Pietro had taken her hand and told her how much he missed her. His hand in hers felt good. A sudden flashback that was buried deep in her memory flowed forward- it seemed so trivial then. It was of her and Pietro when they were eight, talking animatedly and excitedly while they were on their way to the local ice cream parlor. They were laughing together merrily; they were having the best time. Rogue smiled as she remembered that they were holding each others hands, swinging them back and forth while they walked. She always depended on his hand to be whatever she needed most. At that point it was a guiding one while they were journeying their way towards blue moon ice cream. At others, it had meant comfort and protection. Just this afternoon it had been a hand of friendship and something else- love. Oh, it felt so good knowing that Pietro was back home again.

The replay of the afternoon played on as she watched Scott storm into the room forcefully. Her heart fluttered as she saw him, even with his jaw set stern, hair on end, eyes flaming behind the ruby-colored glasses. He was furious, but Rogue found him stunning. Throughout the rest of the replay, Rogue paid hardly any attention toward Pietro, even though he was sitting right next to her; her entire focus was on Scott.

She watched as Scott once again exited the room heatedly and Pietro, herself, and an awkward silence was left behind him in his wake. Pietro then made a quick excuse and Rogue, who was completely distracted by Scott's presence, accepted it easily. Pietro lingered for a few moments longer before leaving the room quickly. She was left alone to her thoughts, and that's were she is now.

Deciding that she had watched the scene enough, her thoughts drifted from one random topic to the next, blue moon ice cream, Logan nearly about to claw Pietro's head off when he first arrived (a smile started on Rogue's face as she remembered this), Scott majorly pissed off because Pietro stepped foot inside of the mansion, Scott yelling at the two of them and demanding what they were doing...

Rogue was happy.

After all this time, after all the endless thinking and plotting, after all of the attempts and failures, she finally realized what she needed in order to grab Scott's attention.

She wondered why she didn't think of it before, it was kind of obvious.

She needed Pietro.

::

Rogue looked for Pietro in school the next morning, but had no luck. She searched for anything- a tiny flash a white hair, a sudden rush of wind- but she hadn't noticed anything. She couldn't understand why she hadn't seen him, she'd thought that she would pass him at least once already in the hallways. Why hadn't she seen him? Not seeing him because he was avoiding her was out of the question, why would her best friend not want to spend time with her? What happened that would even put that idea in his head? She racked her brain for answers... he was ecstatic to see her at lunch yesterday... was it something at the mansion? We were fine until Scott came in... Pietro had seemed kind of weird after that, but I'm not sure, I wasn't really paying any attention to him.

Her mind was somewhere else when she was loading her lunch tray with food. She really had no idea what she put on there. She followed Kitty outside to grab a table in a daze- was Pietro mad at her? Both her and Kitty sat down and Rogue finally glanced down at what she had grabbed to eat- a slice of pizza, piece of vanilla cake, an apple, a fruit cup, and a Sierra Mist. Only the fruit cup appealed to her at the moment, but she realized with only mild disappointment that she had not grabbed a spoon- or a fork for that reason. This didn't upset her too much thought. While Kitty blabbed on about some useless topic that Rogue wasn't listening to (although she caught the word "Lance" a couple of times, now she _really_ didn't want t listen)- anyway, while Kitty blabbed, Rogue searched the high school campus for anything promising that would lead her to Pietro, but she didn't notice anything. She looked down at her lunch. A few seconds later she found Kitty's hand being waved in front of her face.

"Hello, like, are you listening to me?" Kitty looked slightly irritated.

Rogue snapped her head up. "Umm, yeah, I am."

Kitty looked at her weirdly. "Okay then, anyway, I was thinking about dance that's coming up, and I was wondering if Lance is like gonna ask me, I think he is, I'm gonna be mad if he doesn't, should I ask him? That be totally weird, but then I don't have to worry if he's gonna like ask me or not- oh my god, like what am I totally gonna wear!"

This is where Rogue toned her out; she really didn't want to her the rest of it. She took one more useless glance around her and was on the verge of giving up when she saw something that she hadn't before... ah ha.

"Kitty, I'll be back in a second," she told her friend while getting up and started walking over to a tree on the other end of the campus.

Kitty called after her hopelessly. "Rogue! You can't leave now, what am I gonna wear!"

::

Pietro had been avoiding Rogue. He did everything he could to not come in contact with her- took all the hallways that he knew she wouldn't, used stairways that were no where near his classes, but luckily no where near hers, either. He peered around corners just to make sure that she wasn't walking toward him. He didn't want to make it seemed obvious that he was staying away from her, just a casual, "Oh, really? I didn't notice that I hadn't seen you all day." The truth was that Pietro didn't think that his heart could stand seeing her and knowing what her feeling were for Scott, and what her non-existent feelings were for him. He wasn't going to walk around seeing Rogue following Scott around like a attention-deprived puppy that Scott kicks whenever he wants her to go away. He knew that he should act casual toward her and seem as if nothing's wrong, but it was hard for him. Not seeing her at all solved all that.

And now he was sitting there at lunch, not wanting to risk seeing her in the cafeteria, so instead found himself a shady tree to sit under. He wasn't hungry anyway, he figured that he could always steal a burrito from Taco Bell if he got hungry.

He heard the grass from behind him, someone was walking over to him. He panicked and stole a glance as fast as lightning at the person. It was Rogue, shit! He couldn't run away, it would make it seem like he was running away from her and she had already seen him here. He would just have to stick it out.

"Hi Pietro."

He turned around to see Rogue smiling down on him. The sight dazzled her, but then he remembered Scott. "Oh, hi, I didn't notice you there."

Rogue took a seat next to him in the grass. They sat quietly for a few moments, unsure of what to say. Pietro didn't want to risk saying anything because that might bring up soem unwanted questions.

But too late. She started.

"Are you mad at me?"

Pietro looked over to her, amazed. He hadn't expected that. "No, why do you think that?"

"Because I haven't seen you all day, so I thought that you were purposely avoiding me, although I have no idea why you would."

If you unclog your head from your Scott fantasy and open your eyes for a second, maybe you would then. God, he has you so blinded. Then he went on as planned. "Oh, really? I didn't notice that I haven't seen you yet."

Rogue looked relieved to hear that. "Oh, okay. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you could come over to the mansion later. I need to talk to you about something."

I should have run away when I had the chance. He suddenly remembered what happened last time. "Um, I don't think that's a good idea. I don't think I was very welcomed in there."

"Oh don't be silly. Just because Logan doesn't like you, which he doesn't like anybody by the way, doesn't mean that you're not welcome." She looked at him expectedly.

"I'd rather not..." He paused as he watched Rogue stick out her bottom lip and opened her eyes wide, glistening with unshed tears that she could will forward if she wanted them to. She pouted, "You don't want to spend time with me?"

She looked so cute when she did that. "No, that's not it, it's just..."

"Please?"

One more look at her and he gave in. "Fine, okay then. I'll come over after school." That face of hers worked when they were younger, and it still worked on him.

Rogue smiled happily. "Thanks, because I really need to ask you something." She stood up and wiped off the seat of her black pants, ready to go back over to Kitty and her lunch. "Okay then, I guess I'll see you later."

Pietro remained seated. "Yep. I guess so. And I see that you still have mastered the art of puppy dog faces," he replied with a grin. Rogue smiled even wider.

"I practiced just for you." With that she turned and walked away.

Pietro looked at her retreating figure and leaned his head back into the rough tree trunk. He probably messed up his hair, but it didn't bother him.

He said to nobody, "Fuck, and what am I supposed to do now?"

Meanwhile, Rogue was reaching her table once again. Kitty looked at her, aggravated. "So, like what was that all about?"

Rogue sat down and opened her pop can. "Oh, I was just talking to Pietro." Kitty just shrugged that whole thing off and continued talking about Lance once again. Rogue looked down at her food in a new light. Now she was hungry.

::

Later that day, Rogue and Pietro were once again sitting on top of Rogue's bed. Kitty had again given them the room to themselves and Rogue had just told the plan to Pietro.

"So you want me to pose as your boyfriend in order to make Scott jealous?"

Rogue nodded.

"But I thought that he was going out with someone else," he asked, trying everything he could to find a flaw in the plan and get out of the situation. "How is this going to work?"

Rogue looked at him. "Remember yesterday, when he stormed into the room and nearly blasted you to a crisp?" Pietro nodded. He remembered yesterday all too clearly. "Well, I think that he was so mad because he didn't like seeing you with me, which insinuates that he likes me, even though he thinks he's in love with Miss Goody-goody Jean down the hall, you see? If we can get him to realize that he's jealous of you, then he'll dump Jean and ask me out, and I'd say yes." She looked so proud of herself that she had come up with something that she thought was fool-proof.

Pietro looked uncomfortable. He really didn't want to do this. "I don't know..." Rogue started showing signs of her puppy face. "Oh, you're not pulling that crap on me twice in one day," he said with a slight laugh in his tone. She started laughing too and she completely blew the act.

"Fine, fine, but will you do it?" she managed between laughs.

Pietro thought it over. He didn't want to do anything that would help Scott steal Rogue away from him... but on the other hand, this might help him. If Rogue sees how great a boyfriend he is, even though it would all be fake, maybe it could rekindle what they had felt for each other when they were thirteen, and then Rogue would have to choose between us. This could help his position or ruin it entirely.

Knock knock: "Rogue, are you in there?" It was Scott.

Rogue looked nervous. "Are you going to do it?" She pleaded with him with her eyes.

Pietro decided to take a chance. "Okay, I'll do it."

She beamed and hugged him. They broke apart when they heard Scott opening the door.

"Rogue?"

Pietro thought fast (and that's pretty damn fast) and came up with a plan. He grabbed her hand in his and started playing with her fingers, and with his other hand started fiddling around with her hair. She caught on quickly and leaned back on her other hand while she also played with Pietro's fingers. She also acquired a goofy grin that made you think that she was all giddy and mushy around Pietro. The two of them set this up and by the time Scott peeked his head slowly around the corner, they had created the sense that they were flirting and such.

"Rogue, I just came by to tell you that-" He stopped, shocked at what he saw the two of them doing. Since when did they start dating?

His blood began to heat. His eyes flashed. "-Logan has scheduled a Danger Room session for eight o'clock tonight. Hopefully you and your little friend over there will be ready by then." He then slammed the door shut behind him.

Rogue looked at Pietro and both of them started giggling, but trying to keep it quiet so that Scott wouldn't hear them. Rogue looked up at Pietro's face. She was so happy.

"Thank you so much." She pulled him into an intimate hug that lasted a long time. Both of them didn't want to let go.

Pietro sat thinking, _Maybe this will result in my favor._

::

Scott stood outside the door after he slammed it behind him.

I can't believe they're doing that. Since when have they been doing that? They shouldn't be flirting and stuff inside the mansion, they are enemies! When did they start dating? Oh, I really want to murder that Maximoff right now!

He realized why he's feeling these things. Despite how much he tried, he just couldn't escape the fact that he was jealous of Pietro. He wanted Rogue.

::::::::::::::::::

AN: Whoa, that took FOREVER!!! Sorry that took so long to update, I've been away on vacation for a long time. I know that Rogue is a little out of character in this chappie, well, now that I think of it, everyone is kinda out of character. Anyway, I'm the author and I have a right to do that, so ACCEPT IT!!! That means you, Gaby! Don't be complainin' 'bout no cheesy corn and what not, that's just the way it is!!! Urgh!

Hee hee, that was fun! Anyway, after school starts, I wont have much time on the computer because of volleyball practices every night, so until the season's over, it's going to take SOOO long to post a new chapter. But don't worry, I will update occasionally. And until then, enjoy! And review! Please?

Oh yeah! I'm going to dedicate my, oh let's say twelfth chapter to whoever is my 100th reviewer! So you peoples better start reviewing, cause that's a VERY special honor! snicker snicker Hee hee, but seriously I will dedicate it to whoever that is, so let the reviews start rolling!

Hee hee, I hope you like this chapter and thank you for all of my reviewers, especially **Southern Goth Gal **for reading my story so much! I'm SO glad that you like it so much! I feel so loved! hugs self and squeals, falls out of chair and onto floor, muttering while struggling to get up again "I really need to stop doing this!"

Hee hee, I love you guys!


	10. Faux Dating

Chapter Ten

Faux Dating

So there. I did it. I have finally given up on Rogue and surrendered her over to Scott. There's no way I can win now, because once he watches us "dating" and once he stops being a stupid asshole then he'll realize that he wants her and he'll take her away from me. There's no way that her plan is not going to work. It's going to work.

Pietro's mind was spinning wild with thoughts and regrets about what he had just done at the mansion. Pietro had left Rogue in her room soon after he had agreed to the plan, unable to be with her until he sorted this out in his head and accepted it. Running around usually calmed Pietro down and relaxed him; but, as he was sprinting around New York, the world on both sides of him, the swirling colors and beautiful scenes rushing by, blurring together to form a mural of life, held no meaning to him. He didn't see any of it. He could hardly see where he was going. Pietro was only using enough of his brain to make sure that he didn't run into a building or something like that. He didn't know where exactly he was going, nor did he care. Most of his mind and all of his heart was set on the war raging inside of him.

How could I have done that? Sometimes I act like such an idiot around her, jumping up at any opportunity to aid her every need. I'm so stupid...

No, I'm not. I didn't have much of a choice. I said yes to her because she is my friend, my best friend. And that this has the possibility of biting her in the ass and making her realize that she does still have feelings for me. Her "feelings" for Scott only go skin-deep, but the way she feels about me has always been there and will stay there. She loves me as much as she did when we were neighbors, all she needs is for someone to unbury those feelings. And that someone is me.

But that might not work. She is so set on her love for Scott that I am invisible when he is there. How am I going to make this work?

Pietro knew that this was going to be a tough challenge for him to win now that Scott has the upper-hand. But he still had something that Scott didn't, something that took years of friendship to create.

This was possible. Very possible. (AN: Oh god, this part majorly sucks!)

Kitty walked into the mansion, coming back from having a soda with Lance at a local diner after school, to find that Pietro was just about to exit it. A few fumbled "who's going first" shuffles occurred until Pietro finally just stopped and let Kitty pass before rushing outside, slamming the door behind him.

"What's his problem?" she said to herself. She made her way up the stairs.

Upon reaching her room she phased through the door. She watched Rogue, sitting quietly on her bed reading a book for English, jump up in surprise.

"Kitty! Warn me when you're going to do that!" Rogue demanded disgruntled and shaken up.

Kitty disregarded her as she sat lay down on her bed lazily. "Why was like Pietro here?"

Rogue picked up her book once again and replied naturally, "We were just talking." She didn't notice that she was grinning just a little bit as she remembered the plan.

But Kitty noticed. "Pietro seemed like tense or something when I saw him leaving. What were you talking about?" She watched as Rogue smiled slightly more than before. "And what are you smiling about?"

Rogue, realizing what she had been doing, swiped the smile away and tried be act as natural as possible. "Nothing."

"Oh, like come on. I know that it was totally not nothing. What were you talking with Pietro about? I wanna know!"

"Nothing," Rogue said. Kitty was starting to bug her.

But Kitty didn't give up. "Was it about school? Or like about when you used to like live next to each other?" She added slyly, "Or maybe you were smiling because you are totally crushing on him!"

Rogue froze and blinked. "What? No, no way, Pietro is just my friend."

Kitty kept going. "You totally like him. You did before and now that he came back you are totally again."

When Rogue didn't say anything Kitty knew that she was getting her ticked off, but she continued anyway. "Ro-ogue," she sang. "You like Pie-tro." Again she got nothing from her except annoyance. "You like know that I'm not gonna like to give up."

Rogue just sat back and tried to read her book, but Kitty wasn't allowing that. Finally Kitty crept up next to her ear and whispered, "Pietro likes you too."

This surprised Rogue. Her eyes got wide as she realized what Kitty had just said. "No, he doesn't."

Kitty just stared at her knowingly. Rogue, figuring out that she wouldn't let her get any homework done until she told her about what happened, decided to tell her. "Fine, if I tell you, will you get off my back?"

Kitty leaned back, smug as a puppy that just got it's ears scratched. "Happily."

Rogue rolled her eyes and began. "I asked Pietro to come over so that I could ask him something-" Seeing Kitty's hopeful face Rogue cleared something up. "-and no, I did not ask him out." Kitty's face fell. "Well, kind of. I asked him to pretend that we are going out so that Scott will get jealous."

Kitty had not expected this. No, she couldn't do this! "Rogue, no! You can't do that! What about Pietro?" she pleaded.

Rogue looked at her quizzically. "What about Pietro?"

Kitty knew that she had said too much and tried to cover it up. "I mean, like, he just came back into your life, and you're already like trying to push him away again?"

"Kitty, I'm not pushing him away-"

"Yes you are! You totally are. You're practically saying to Pietro, 'Hi. It's been so long. Now that you're here again I like need a favor. I need you to pose as my boyfriend and forget about any chance for you to be with me because I like Scott better.'"

"I told you, I don't like Pietro!"

"Did you think about how he feels about this? You just threw this at him before you knew how he might feel about you!" (AN: to clear something up, when Kitty is really passionate about something you will notice that she doesn't say as many "likes" and stuff. Same as in when she was trying to get Rogue to come to the mansion.)

"Are you saying that Pietro likes me?"

"I'm just saying that it's a possibility! And that you didn't make sure that it wasn't true before you make him do something like this!"

Kitty was right. Rogue had just assumed that Pietro didn't like her anymore. After all, that was three years ago... who doesn't move on by then? He can't like her anymore.

Kitty realized that what she had said was really harsh. "Rogue, I'm sorry..."

"No, you're right. I should have considered that. But it was so long ago! He can't still... but it's too late. He already agreed to doing it, that means that he doesn't like me, right?"

Kitty nodded. "It could."

Rogue didn't know what to say.

Kitty perked up once again. "Well, if he said yes to it, then it must mean that he doesn't like you. So, does Scott like know yet?"

Rogue smiled. Count on Kitty to just forget everything and move on like that. "Yeah, he does."

"And," Kitty egged on, "how did he react?"

Rogue beamed. Kitty rarely saw Rogue so happy about something. The only other time she was like this was when... Rouge saw Pietro.

"I think he might have been a little jealous."

Kitty smiled too. This _was_ what Rogue has wanted for a while now. But she still couldn't forget about Pietro. She was almost positive that he liked her. Could he have said yes to her because he felt pressured to do so? What choice did he have? And would that mean that he still likes her?

But one look at Rogue could tell that if anyone was going to manage to get past her Scott phase, Pietro would have to be the one to do it. So Kitty decided to act normally from now on and not talk her into thinking that he liked her or that she liked him back. That could ruin their friendship. If Pietro still liked Rogue, then he would have to tell her himself. She should just act happy for Rogue and wait until Pietro finally told her.

But Kitty still didn't like the idea of them pretending to date. In her mind, she still had her money on Pietro. (AN: God, I really suck today...)

The next morning was normal. The only thing out of the ordinary was at breakfast.

The mansion had all assembled to the dining room and ate a delicious breakfast as usual. Rogue had once again gotten up groggily, still not used to the new schedule of getting up in the mornings. She had also gotten to breakfast after everyone else because of the crowded bathroom and being the last one in line to use it.

Everyone was talking happily and eating until Scott got up out of his seat, having finished his plate. He announced to the rest of the group:

"Anyone who wants a ride with me better get in my car right now."

Scott watched as Kitty, Kurt, and Jean stopped eating (well, Kurt kind of just stuffed everything he could into his mouth if you call that stop eating) and got up to go into the garage where his car was parked from yesterday. He noticed that Rogue hadn't gotten up out of her seat, nor had she put her food down. "Rogue, aren't you coming? You normally do," Scott asked her curiously.

Rogue looked up, glad that he had given her an opportunity to throw this into his face again. "I don't need for you to give me a ride. Pietro's picking me up." They had decided this yesterday before Pietro left. It would make them look more like a couple if he picked her up.

"Oh yes. I forgot about him."

"Vat the- vy the hell iz Pietro picking you up?" shouted Kurt, having overheard while gathering his books.

"Yeah, that scumbag? Why is that piece of crap coming here?" Evan said. Even though Pietro had just arrived, he had made it a point to pick on Evan _just_ a little bit.

The professor chimed in. "Language, boys," he told to Evan and Kurt. Then he zeroed in on Rogue, all though he had an idea on why from bits and pieces of things she had managed to slip past her mental shields. "Why is Pietro picking you up?" he asked,

steepling his figures and looking intently at Rogue it a knowing way.

Kitty decided to add to the conversation. "Like, didn't you guys find out? They're like, going out!" Since last night, she had tried to make their relationship sound real and did not fret about Pietro's feelings anymore.

Kurt fumed. "Vat! Since ven? I vill not have my zizter going ouvt vith that, that, that demon!" He was a _little_ overprotective about Rogue after finding out about them being siblings. (AN: that's a story that I don't want to get into)

Rogue was slightly annoyed at his reaction, thinking that he knows best, but was actually very amused at how they were taking this. "That is none of your business and he is not a demon. Just because he is one of the Brotherhood doesn't give you the right to judge him."

"Oh, come on Rogue, please don't turn into another Kitty," responded Bobby from the other end of the table.

Kitty smacked him. "Hey! That was totally uncalled for!"

Rogue got up from the table. "Now if everyone will excuse me, I have to be picked up."

"And about what time can we expect the little speedster?" asked Scott icily.

"Just about... (ding dong) ... now."

Rogue walked out of the dining room along with her books and into the hallway. Scott's riders and him had followed her out to the door. Rogue answered it and smiled as she saw Pietro leaning up against the door frame clutching some newly-pulled black-eyed-suzans out from the garden. "Oh thank you," she said as she took the flowers from him. "I can always count on you to be so thoughtful," she added sarcastically.

"Yeah right," Scott growled from behind them.

Pietro glared at him. "What, got your shades on too tight?" He smirked as he saw Scott glower at him. He turned once again to Rogue. "Come on, Roguey, can't be late for school." With that he scooped her up and sped off out of the grounds. The students heard Rogue squeal with surprise and give a far-away "good bye" that one strained in order to hear it.

Kitty giggled. "Like, she totally meant it literally when she like said that he was 'picking her up'." She was the only one laughing as she climbed into Scott's car. Kurt bamfed next to her while Evan, seeing that Rogue was not riding with them-

"Hey dudes! I'm taking Rogue's spot!" he cried as he rushed to get inside the car. Scott and Jean took their sweet time in walking over to the vehicle.

"They are an interesting couple," Jean replied.

"Yeah, never saw it coming," answered Scott as he slammed his door harder than usual as

he got into the front seat, but no one else noticed anything wrong with him. Except Jean of course.

"Scott, what's up? I could tell that that was a little less than friendly."

"What? Nothing's up. Why would you think that?" He tried to add to this lie by taking Jean's hand and smiling.

"Hey, like come Scott. You're like totally the one that got us running out here in the first place," Kitty called out from the back seat.

"Yeah, dude, come on! Let's get this baby rollin'!" Evan shouted.

Both Scott and Jean turned around to glare at him.

"I suggest that you keep your outbursts to yourself, Evan," Jean started.

"Or else you don't have a ride with us anymore," Scott finished, "and I'll personally see to it that Jean will remove you from my car." Everyone smiled as they watched Evan cower away from the two, a look of pure terror upon his face.

"N-no, that's um okay, I'll um remember to keep it down." He smiled sweetly to them, a trace of fright still seen.

Scott and Jean turned back around smiling, both having forgotten that Rogue was not there with them and instead with Pietro.

Meanwhile, two seconds after Pietro started running:

"Whoa, head rush," Rogue said as Pietro let her down. After she regained her balance, she told Pietro, "You didn't have to tell Scott that. It was kind of mean."

"Yeah, well he started it." He reached over and carefully placed Rogue's hair back into place having been disarrayed by the wind they had created.

Rogue, having forgotten about what Kitty and her had talked about last night, thought nothing about having him touch her hair. "Thank you. Let's go in. I have to talk to one of my teachers." She started walking when she felt Pietro's hand slip into her gloved one. It caught her by surprise and stopped walking. She felt his gaze on her as she looked up at him.

"What?" he asked nonchalantly. "We have to make it convincing, right?"

Rogue blinked nervously. "Oh yeah, yeah we do." Pietro smiled at her as he tugged on her arm to keep going. Rogue smiled back, a familiar yet distant feeling creeped into her stomach. She hadn't felt that since... that day.

She and Pietro walked hand in hand up toward the school. She could tell that people were staring, but Rogue didn't care. She liked the feeling of Pietro being her boyfriend, even though it wasn't real. Then she remembered last night.

No, he doesn't like me, he's only helping me out.

Her determination made sure that he didn't like her, but it couldn't hold in her next thought.

Was Kitty right when she said that I liked Pietro?

AN: OH MY GOD... I SUCK!!! I hope all of you understood what I just wrote there, I couldn't put down anything that I wanted to say, I'm so confused! But anyway, it's one more step closer to the good parts, and I'll tell you a secret... come, come in closer...

whispering Remember that dance that Kitty was talking about? Well, that's going to take place in the next chapter.

MUHAHAHAHAHAHA- huu! cough cough Uck! Uck!

Uh hem, whoa...

REVIEW!!!

And remember, 100th reviewer has twelve chapter dedicated to them! And that's a good chapter to be dedicated to! I might even give you a walk-on role... REVIEW, before it's too late!


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