• "He's not here, why's he not here?", Ororo sighs deeply, "you know Logan, he comes an goes as he pleases... with out even a goodbye", the last part was mumbled under her breath causing Vanessa to raise an eyebrow, "not only that but scotts missing", wait, missing? "Cant the professor seek him out with cerebral?", Vanessa asked, Ororo shook her head, "that's what I thought as well but the professor couldn't find a trace of Scotts thoughts anywhere, and that worries me deeply", before their conversation could drag on any further Kurt teleports near her making her jump up slightly, "sie sind wieder da!", Kurt was about to pull her into a hug but he saw that she wasn't in a good mood, "vhat is vong mein Freund?", she looks at him and then away, "it's nothing", her tone was a bit harsh causing Kurt to suck in his lips and his tail to wrap around his left leg, "ah, sorry for bozering you", in a puff of blue smoke he was gone, Ororo frowns, "when will you apologize?", she asks her, Vanessa turns away from her, "I didn't mean to...", she crossed her arms, "I don't want to hear it, Kurt should hear it", Ororo turns on her heels and went down the hall leaving Vanessa.

    - - - - -

    During one of her classes she saw Kitty and Rogue and waved over towards them, Kitty was the first to see and hen Rogue but as soon as they saw her they went back to what they were doing, "okay~..." .After class Vanessa stopped outside of Kurts room, she could hear some words being spoken but they were inaudible, "Kurt... can I come in?", Vanessa asks, the silent whispers stop and the sound of a bamf reached her ears. The door is unlocked and slightly opened revealing one bright yellow eye, "of course", the door opens up slowly revealing the rest of him, Vanessa walks into his dark room, the only light available was the two lit candles near his fire place, "its so dark in here", Vanessa says before taking a seat, "that's how I like it... I like to keep to myself", Vanessa crossed her arms, "lies, you never kept to yourself when I was here", Kurt turns his head to look at her, his bright yellows eyes staring into her soul, "yes, vhen you ver here, but zin you left", his tail sways back and forth a bit sometimes whipping about harshly, "but there's Ororo and Kitty, Rogue and the others!", her voice began to raise slightly, "but zey are not you!", his thick German voice pierced her ears causing her to get mad. Vanessa gets up from her seat, "I came to apologize, so I'm sorry! Feel better now?!", she walks passed him and opened his door, and stormed out with out closing it, Kurt was the last person she thought she would get mad at, and now she felt like she had broken a bond that she created, and now broken, just thinking about it made her insides churn making her feel sick, "so you been avoidin' Remy?", Vanessa stops in her tracks when Remy was in front of her, "if that's what it looks like then yes, I've been avoiding you", she passes him by but he takes hold of her hand, "don' act like you hate me", he says, "and don' act like you don' miss me", Vanessa snatched her hand away from his, "don't touch me", Remy backs up, a grin on his face, "see ya around, petite amie", she watched him walk away, "wait!", Remy stops and turns his head to face her, "hmm?", Vanessa rubs the back of her head, "um, wanna just talk for a bit?", Remy now turns completely around to face her, "is it goin' ta cost me?", Vanessa rolls her eyes, "an eye and a leg if you don't stop flirting with me", Remy placed his hands up, "okay, okay", he placed his hands in his coat pocket, "where to?", he asked, "top of the roof".

    "So you did those things? nah~ Remy has ta see it to believe it", he watched as Vanessa smiled, "been a while since I seen you smile...petite amie", Vanessa stared into his eyes as he did the same until she looks away, "I know what you're trying to do, but you know I love someone else", she tells him, trying her best to put her feelings into what she was saying, "I don't have any sort of feelings towards you Remy", she turns her head to face him, "none", a cool breeze brushed passed them, "winters almost here", he says, "I know".

    - - - - -

    "Today's training is on self control", Vanessa stood in the back of the group, "oh~ self control, I can do that in my sleep", a boy younger than her says, "me too", another boy whispers toward him, they both give each other low high fives before the teacher began to call out the groups, "oh and remember that each one of you will have to help your teammate though the training process", Emma says as she assigned the groups, sadly she was stuck with the two guys in front of her. "So what power do you have, "the boy asks her as static begins to dance around his body, "yeah what power do you have?", the other asks although his friend already asked her, "why do you care?", the two boys look at each other and chuckle, "its obvious that you're going to have to be able help us control our powers, I just want to know if you can handle it", although Vanessa was shorter than the two she stood her ground, "oh I'll show you--?!", the hologram starts up automatically, the room transforms into a smaller, almost darker room, "ehe...", one of the boys bump into her, "the walls, they're moving!", he was right, the walls were closing in, "it's just a test come on", Vanessa says, then came the water, "w-water, why's there water all on the floor?", suddenly the two were freaking out, one banging on the walls, and the other trying to blast his way out with fire balls. Soon the walls were pushing the three back to back to back, the water already to their chests, "I can't do this!!", the two boys say in unison, Vanessa could tell at any second the two could lose control and go berserk, "do you guys trust me?!", she says, but they were too scared to listen so you yelled even louder, "DO YOU TWO TRUST ME?!!", they snap out of it for a few seconds and nod their heads, "close your eyes, nothings here, nothing at all, now do what I say and repeat those words over and over in your heads", they both look at her, unsure if it would work, "just do it!", the two close their eyes, "say it like you really, truly mean it", she says as the water began to rise to her chin, "nothings here... nothing at all".

    The training room goes back to normal, only Vanessa's group remained, "w-what happened to the others?", her teammate asks, "they all failed, each and everyone of them, except for you three... good job", Emma stared at Vanessa, "that wasn't the hologram Vanessa, I was the one who projected that into everyone's heads, I'm surprised that you could manage even with those two", Emma says as she looks over at the two boys as they gave each other high fives, she pulls Vanessa to the side, "the Professor is hand picking a team to search for Scott, and I think you could be the one he picks", she says before turning around, "why do you say that?", Vanessa asked, "because you're the only one who can find him".

    "So what was it like being in S.H.I.E.L.D?!", one girl asks out of the many students that surrounded her, Vanessa felt her cheeks getting warm from all the attention, "well at first it seems cool but I learned real fast that S.H.I.E.L.D wasn't fun and games", Vanessa chuckled, "but we always found a way passed the rules", gasps and giggles reached her ears, "so did you fight bad guys!", a little boy asks her, "yeah, a lot of bad guys", she smiles, "tell us about the part where you ditched us for S.H.I.E.L.D", it was Rogue and Kitty, Vanessa crossed her arms, "that's not true, I was just given an offer!", Rogue rolls her eyes, "an offer you happily took and left with", Vanessa stood up from her chair along with Rogue, "don't piss me off Rogue", a grin starts to form on Rogues face, "oh, so now that you come back you think yur' all big and bad", Vanessa frowns, "no, I don't think I'm bad, I know I am", Rogue's grin quickly turned into a frown, earning Vanessa one for the win, "now if you don't mind I have an audience to attend to".

    Sadly Emma had to stop everything because it was way passed everyone's curfew, "sorry children but you know how the Professor gets when his students don't get proper sleep, a wrested mind is a healthy mind~", groans of detest came from the kids as they got up and went to their dorm rooms, "don't take it the wrong way Vanessa, but when you left some of the students thought you abandoned them for something bigger", Emma placed a hand on Vanessa's shoulder, "please tell me its not just Rogue and Kitty", Emma sighs, "you'll figure it out soon, but right now you need some wrest because in the morning we're leaving first thing in the morning".

    - - - - -

    Vanessa dragged herself out the bed as loud knocking woke her up, "I'm coming, geez!", she unlocked the door before opening it, "if it isn't the Scarlet X", Vanessa rubbed her eyes and blinked twice, "Bobby?", he chuckled softly and sighed before tossing her her gear, "we leave in ten", was all he said before leaving, "but I.. oh what ever". Everyone arrived in their suits how ever Vanessa had her own attire, "too good to wear the jump suits?", Kitty asked, "no I'm just used to wearing this", Vanessa glanced over at Remy as he talked with Rogue, "there's no seat available Ororo", she points over at Kurt who sat in a seat alone, "oh, I didn't see that...", it seemed as though everyone knew about her and Kurts little argument seeing as they were giving her looks, "well this is going to be a long trip..."

    The X-Jet lands on an open field, "well here we are", Ororo unbuckles her seat belt and so does everyone else. Everyone's out of the Jet and out on the field, Vanessa stays with Emma and Ororo seeing as how the wrest don't want anything to do with her at the moment, "don't let it get to you, " Ororo says, "easy for you to say, you're not the one getting the cold shoulder", Vanessa walks away, heading in a random direction, "Vanessa!" Emma calls out but she was too far for her to hear, "just give her some space", Ororo says, "yeah, a lot of space", Kitty interrupts, Emma sighs while Ororo gathers everyone.

    "What ever, I don't need them I can search for Scott by myself", she kicks a rock to the side, "oh who am I kidding, I don't even know where to begin...", how was she the only one able to find Scott, it didn't make sense at all, "help...me...", Vanessa froze in place, "huh, who said that?", she looks around but sees nothing until she was grabbed from behind, "AAAHHHH!!!", Ororo and Emma turn their heads in the direction of the scream and run over as fast as they could, "Vanessa!", Ororo shouts out as she makes her way through the thick underbrush, "oh gosh did you see her face?!", Emma and Ororo grit their teeth, but before they could say anything a red beam of energy struck Rogue causing Gambit to drop his thoughts and run after her, "Rogue!!", Vanessa watched as Gambit was hit as well, "its--?!", out of no where Kurt appeared, taking her in his arms and teleporting her and himself in another area, "Kurt! What are you doing I can--!!", he placed some of his weight on her and groaned... he was hurt, "ah, Kurt! You idiot!", she says, her voice laced with worry, she helps him over towards a tree and set him down. Kurt removed his hand from his burned side, "I could have protected myself Kurt, now look at you!", she shook her head in frustration not knowing what to do, "am I vorrying you Vanessa?", he asked her as he smiled a bit, revealing his fangs, she looks at him and frowned, "of course! Why wouldn't I be?", his bright golden honey eyes held such warmth when she stared into them, "I'm so sorry Kurt", his smile fades as he sees tears forming in her eyes, he'd never seen this side of her before, "I didn't mean to be mean I just- -?!!", her unfinished sentence was put at a stand still as Kurt pulled her into a kiss.

    Kurts tail wrapped around her waist, his three fingered hands placed upon her cheeks, 'this is so wrong', Vanessa thought, 'but so right' so she continues kissing him until every type of sound being created around them became mute, it was only him and her right now... nothing else, except a seven foot tree ready to fall on them. Kurt breaks the kiss and immediately teleports before the tree fell on them both. One of Scotts energy beams hit a tree causing it to fall, "ve must stop Scott before he does somezing he vill regret", he takes a step but groans in pain, "you are staying put, I can handle this", before she could take a step forward he takes hold of her hand and stared into her eyes causing her cheeks to grow warm, "I'll be okay, I promise", she reassures him, Kurt gives her hand a light squeeze before letting go.

    - - - - -

    Storm shot down a flurry of lightning bolts down at Scott but some type of invisible shield protected him from the attacks, even Emma's telepothy wasn't doing the trick, "Rogue, Gambit, and Shadowcat are down", Iceman says as he shoots ice at Scott, "and Nightcrawler and Scarlet X aren't- -?!", he stopped mid sentence when he spots seven red X's heading for Scott but he destroys all seven, "where is she?", Storm says, "wait, Storm... she's hiding for a reason", Emma says while changing into her crystal form. Seven more X's come darting towards Scott from different directions but as he was busy shooting down the X's another smaller X crept up from the side until it reached the invisible shield and stopped, three X's shot straight towards him this time as he attacked the smaller X fazed through the shield and vanished, that's when Scarlet X leaps out from a bush and ran for Scott, throwing X's his way, "the shield only works when he's on the defense!", Scarlet X says as she unsheathes her katana, "you heard her, lets get to it!", Emma says as she runs towards Scott, Storm and Iceman follow behind. Scott shoots a red beam at Scarlet X which she blocked using her katana, "S-Scott! snap out of it!", she says as she fights to hold her grown, "you're being controlled... c'mon Summers, don't be such a- -?!", a large burst of energy hit her hard sending flying into a couple of trees, "uuh..."

    She placed a hand over her shoulder as it bled, Scarlet X stands up and limps forward until another blast hits her, sending her back and hitting a tree, another blast hits her on the back, this one lasting a lot longer than the others, "aaaahhhh!!!", she placed her arm in front of the scorching beam but it was too much, "STOP!", a shock wave of energy caused some trees and boulders to fall back or crumble. Scarlet X stands up, her eyes now a crimson red, "this is bad, last time she almost destroyed the mansion what do you think she'll do now that Scotts pissed her off?", Iceman says, "I can't connect with her mind, its filled with too much hatred", Emma says as she tries to focus even harder. Scott shoots another beam but it had no effect, "you're going to wish you'd never done that", Scarlet X says as she lifts the palm of her hand up towards the sky, a red mist starts to form until it blocked out the sun, 'Vanessa, no! Don't do this, you can fight this!', Scarlet X's concentration was put to a stand still as she tried focus on what was going on, "wuh? Emma?", she placed a hand on her head as the throbbing pain started to creep back again, 'yes, you can fight it Vanessa you can', Scarlet X sees Scott moving towards her, ready to aim, "I... I got this", her hand falls down and the red mist blocking out the sun darts down directly at Scott as he's about to shoot. The red beam is now aiming at her and as it does the red mist makes contact with the mind control helmet on Scotts head making it go on the fritz, as it did she was hit with the beam, Scarlet X is pushed back, hitting the same tree once again, Scott falls back and in a couple minutes is up, a bit groggy but okay.

    Scarlet X with the help of Nightcrawler makes her way over towards everyone, Rogue, Gambit, and Shadowcat are all up and about getting first aid, that's when Storm and Emma rush over, "she's hurt pretty badly", she contained burns on her back, stomach, and arm including a nice sized cut on her shoulder, "where's Scott?", Scarlet X asks, "in the jet, sitting", Storm says before Nightcrawler placed her on the grass, "uh!", he pulled her back up seeing as the burn on her back caused great pain, "I can ease the pain a little", Iceman says as he placed his hands over her burn. A paper thin layer of ice covered her burn, "nhg..." she tensed and then relaxed, "it'll last until we get back to the mansion, we need to go", Iceman says as he heads back onto the jet.

    - - - - -

    Vanessa stood over by the window and sighed, she wished she had Logan's healing factor, but living forever wasn't such a good thing, she sighs again, "vhy such the long face?", Vanessa nearly jumped out of the window, if she could have, "oh, its just you... Kurt! don't scare me like that!", Vanessa crossed her arms her frown soon turning into a soft smile, Kurt took a short glance before looking out the window, his tail lightly wrapped around her calf but the two were too busy staring out the window to notice, "so how's that wound of yours?", Vanessa asked him, a grin appeared on his face, "it's fine but don't you think I should be asking that question?", he reached over and touched the bandage on the right side of her cheek, "I'll be fine", she found it enjoyable just to have Kurt caressing the side of her face so gently, if she could have purred she would have by now, but then she realized what she was doing and who she had back at S.H.I.E.L.D, "uh... yeah that reminds me", she reached down and took hold of his tail causing him to flinch, "eh?", his tail removes itself from her hand and sways back and forth, "I have to go do some work... school work...", she smiles a bit before backing up and turning around, "see you at dinner!"

    She stood outside in the back where a few students messed around with their powers, "so how dat boyfriend of yours?", Vanessa jumps forward, her hand clutching her shirt, "what the hell! Do you and others get a kick out of sneaking up on poor unguarded people!?", Remy chuckles before sitting down, "maybe", he teased, "anyway, why do you want to know?", she hissed, "just checkin' I mean it'd be nice to know what my girl's doin' while away", Vanessa squints his eyes, "what the hell are you getting at Remy?", his grin widens, "didn't you say dat you loved someone? Yet I see you and Kurt exchanging feelin's in da forest petite amie", her eyes widen, "now how dat work cherie?", yeah how does that work? "He kissed me!", Remy stood up, "but you kissed him back", she clutched her head in aggravation, "uhg!!!", the kids playing out in the field look over in their direction, "why do you care, you have Rogue don't you?!", Remy's jaw tightened at what she said and she noticed, "yeah, you're on a short leash and you know it", Vanessa smirked seeing that her words were effecting him but it ended in a split second when he casually came closer, "what short leash... cherie?", he whispered before running his hand up her thigh, Vanessa frowns before she smacked his hand away, "I don't know why you try when you know you'll never get any, 'nothing'", Remy simply backs up, that same 'you can't resist this' type of grin on his face, "we'll see petite amie", she crossed her arms, "what ever."

    - - - - -

    It was already dark out and dinner was being prepared by Emma and Ororo, everyone appeared and sat down in their seats, Vanessa sat beside Bobby and made small talk, "sorry for before, I... we just thought that you bailed on us", Vanessa looks at him, "you guys are my family, I would never bail on you or anyone else", she smiled softly before noticing the others were listening on the twos conversation, "sure you do", Rogue says as she sits down across the table from them, Emma said that it would take time for things like this to go back to normal but Rogue was making it rather hard, she already had half the mansions students against Vanessa, "what's your deal Rogue?!", Vanessa says as she slams her hand on the table causing the plates and or cups to move, "my deal? My deal?!", Rogue got up from her seat, "you ditched us, and I can't believe you're buyin' her story Bobby!", Rogue says, she was obviously pissed but Vanessa wanted to know why!

    "I didn't ditch anyone!"

    "You really don't remember Vanessa?", Rogue says before laughing

    "It was a Friday afternoon, everyone was getting ready to go out", all of a sudden it came back to her, "so ya figured it out", Vanessa didn't dare look around, or speak, "don't you have anythin' to say?", Rogue asked, Vanessa stares at Rogue, "yes I do", she clenched her fists tightly, "I left with out warning, and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... but I would never abandoned my family Rogue and you know that", Vanessa crossed her arms, "I'm sorry Rogue, for hurting you, but I will not beg in order to obtain your forgiveness", she was going to sit back down but she didn't feel so hungry anymore so she left for the training room.

    "Oh please Kurt I think I can hold my own against you", she grins before sending a few X's towards him, he vanishes leaving a cloud of blue smoke behind, then that's when he appeared behind her, taking her in his embrace, "ja, that is if I didn't teleport", Vanessa chuckles lightly until the two gaze into each others eyes, his tail wrapped around her waist as he leaned down and kissed her. Her fingers trailed up his chiseled abdomen all the way to his neck where she wrests them, she would have let this last longer but she couldn't so she broke the kiss, "vhat is the matter, did I do somezing vong?", he asked, a bit of worry in his voice thinking that maybe he had done something to bother her, "n-no, you didn't, but I did...", Vanessa sighed, "I have someone else...", she didn't look him in the eyes, "his name's Danny",
    she felt like crying, but she was more frustrated than ashamed, "you can go ahead and hate me like everyone else in this mansion, go ahead!", Vanessa felt tears forming in her eyes, "it's not too late Kurt so do it, I deserve it", she did deserve it but Kurt pulled her closer towards him, "vhy vould I hate you?", he took her hand and kissed it softly, "I vould never hate you, Vanessa", he gazed inside her eyes with his bright yellow ones, she didn't know why he didn't push her away, but she was glad he didn't, "thank you Kurt... thank you".