Sanctum 2.6

The evening's sun was beginning to reflect off the screen of Anna's new laptop, so she was forced to reposition on her bed till she could better shield herself from the yellow haze. She was surrounded on all sides by her newly acquired horde of clothes and back-to-school supplies. All of which she had the greatest intention of putting away - that was until she came across the bag with the laptop. It was sleek, touch screen, and could load up a web page in less than a second. It was basically everything her old Dell desktop wasn't back at home. The thing crashed buffering a video and it was a miracle it didn't burst into flames every time it booted up. A laptop too was a novel idea. Something portable. Something she didn't have to have cables twisting over wires wrapped around a monitor just to try and watch something from her bed. Finally, she was getting a glimpse of the future, and it was a six-core behemoth that was barely over a pound.

So enthralled in her new 'strictly school work computer,' she hadn't noticed the door to her room open till there was the face of a girl not six inches from her own.

"Heyyyy roomie!"

"Huh!" Anna flew back into her pile of clothes, clutching her laptop to her chest like it was the final life preserver off a sinking ship. When she looked up, she saw a short petite girl with curly brunette hair smiling so wide and so bright her many teeth reflected the sun's rays.

"Hey-yo, what's up! I've been literally dying to finally freaking meet you! How you doing - how's it going? How you setlin' in?" Her voice was unlike anything Anna had heard before. She had a valley girl way of speaking, yet there was an unyielding earnestness that was near suffocating. Like she was hugging a kitten so tightly that its eyes bulged out of its head.

"Uh -"

"Girl, I've heard you've had a time! I mean like - geeez!" The girl perched on the edge of the bed where Anna had once sat. "So like, what - you're living in the middle of nowhere and you get these 'okie - spooky' powers and the hillbillies start throwing rocks at you, or what? Gawd! That sounds so scary! I don't know what I would have done! When I got my powers, I was all like - 'oh my gosh, everyone knows and everyone is going to freak,' you know? Like, is that guy looking at me funny? But he probably wasn't, but he could be? But like, more than likely not. But how do you know because you suddenly have these powers and, like, how do you know! You know?"

The girl spoke at a clip that would rival any auctioneer that Anna had ever heard of or seen. Her lips were almost a blur at the rate at which they moved.

"Anyway, what's it been like? I mean like here? I mean, I want to hear what else it's been like, like before at home and stuff. But like I said before - how you doing?" She paused for the first time. "I'm Kitty by the way!"

"Uh… Anna."

Kitty's mouth split into an even greater smile. "Anna! Oh my gosh, I love that name! It's like Bell's name from Beauty and the Beast - except of course it's not, her name was Bell - but like, it's the same sort of vein you know? Gosh, I love that movie!"

"Yeah…"

"Yeah? Yeah! I mean, yeah, right! Anyway, how are you?"

"Fine, ah guess?"

"Ho-ly accent! Oh my god, your accent is so freaking cute! Where are you from, Alabama or something?"

"Mississippi."

"Mississippi! You from the South - South. Like, where the confederate flags are made and stuff. Ohhh that sounds spooky. Don't know if I could do that. I'm from Illinois. Deerfield to be specific, but who cares about specifics like that right? It's not like you're visiting my dumb old hometown."

Anna nodded slowly. "I guess."

"'I guess'" She said with a mock playfulness and patted Anna once on the shoulder. "So stop stalling, girl! How are you settling in?"

"Fine! I'm fine! I'm settling in fine!" Anna said with a little snap.

Kitty held up her hands. "Woof! Didn't mean to step on a nerve or nothing." She leaned forward and picked at the sleeves of one of Anna's new shirts. "Black, nice! Mysterious!"

"Yeah, sure." Anna pulled the shirt out of Kitty's grasp.

The other girl stood and ran her hair through her ponytail. "This is going to be great! I've never had a roommate before! We're going to stay up all night talking, and watching movies, and paint each other's nails -"

"I wouldn't get your hopes up too much about any of that," Anna mumbled, crossing her legs on her bed.

Kitty wandered over to her side of the room and started shifting things around on her vanity. "I can move some stuff around over here so you have room to do your do in the morn!"

"My what?"

"You know-" She said over her shoulder. "Do your hair and makeup and stuff?"

"Oh - uh, thanks, but I was just planning to use the bathroom for all that."

Kitty tisked. "Don't bother. Jean takes so much dang time in there, trust me, you'll need this thing in the morning." She paused and turned suddenly. "Oh my god, I just remembered! I think I came in here for something other than to say hi." She turned to run for the door but didn't reach for the handle. Instead, she ran for it, and just when it looked as if she were going to smash her head into the wood, the top part of her body suddenly disappeared. For a moment in time, Anna was just staring at the girl's headless midsection and her right leg. A second later, the rest of her returned from the other side of the door.

"Oh! Now I remember." She chirped with a little flick of the wrist. "Dinner is ready!"

***

Kitty insisted that they walk arm-in-arm down the stairs and into the dining room that Anna had yet to see. A long table made of some sort of dark wood sat in the center of a grand room layered with more paintings than Anna had seen in the rest of the house combined. In the corners sat marble and wooden busts of people she didn't recognize, and to the right was a window so large it felt as if the lawn and the evening's dying sun beyond were fellow guests to the bustling dinner before her. On the table was a long white runner cloth, and atop that was a buffet with all the fixings of a barbecue. A massive stainless steel container cradled a trough of juicy look steak tips and another was spilling over with pulled pork. In smaller containers were potatoes, green beans, a pile of caesar salad, and at the end was a stack of something loosely resembling hot dogs - but instead of pink or red, the color of their flesh was completely white.

Around the table were several people, all of which Anna's at least now briefly met. At the end closest to the great window, were the two boys she saw earlier. Sat next to one another, they had both piled their plates high with food. The blue-haired boy opted for the white hot dogs as opposed to the other meat options. Between them, they were both looking at a phone and the more athletic-looking boy with the white tank was whispering something. Opposite them was the redhead, Jean. Like before, her long hair was wound up in a loose bun. Her plate was, a little less loaded than the boy's, with an even amount of greens, meat, and the strange white hot-dog things. Her mind seemingly elsewhere, she was picking at her green beans with the prongs of her fork. Next to her, was Summer Boy himself. He looked deeply involved in talking to Jean about something as he roughly stabbed into chunks of meat and shoved them into his mouth between words. Just able to hear his voice but not quite close enough to hear what he was saying, Anna, was sure the conversation just missed the par of 'fascinating' by the look on Jean's face.

At the head on the opposite end of the table sat Xavier and at his right was Ororo who was still wearing her Bart Simpson tee. Their plates were empty and they seemed deeply engaged in some sort of discussion between them. To Xavier's left, who look to have just recently arrived, was Logan with a fresh pan loaded up with little white buns while wearing a stained apron reading 'kiss the chef.'

"A-hem!"

Anna's eyes went wide and she slowly swiveled her head in the direction of Kitty who still held her arm in hers. The other girl stood ramrod straight, arms firmly on her hips. Despite her obnoxious throat clearing, only Jean turned around in her chair to recognize the pair's arrival.

Anna felt Kitty draw to the extent of her unimpressive height. "Hey-yo!" She shouted, and all the conversation fluttered out of the room like air leaving a balloon. Every eye and every unfettered ounce of attention now fell on their combined shoulders. "That's better." Kitty let go of Anna's arm and then presented her as if Kitty was some sort of game-show hostess and Anna was the prize. "May I present to you all, the latest addition to our family!"

A lopsided sort of silence fell over the room. Eventually, a singular clap sounded from the hands of the boy with the blue hair. The boy next to him joined, then so did the rest of the room - all except for 'Summer Boy' who only sat in his chair and stared at her from behind his black sunglasses. Anna felt a heat in her neck and face that she was sure was hot enough for Logan to cook a fresh round of steaks on. Her throat was so dry that nothing but a rasp could escape through it, so instead of speaking, she raised her hand to her shoulder's height and quickly waved it back and forth.

"Yes, of course!" Xavier finally said once the clapping died down. "Thank you, Kitty. Normally I would do that, but I got a bit distracted." He held out his hand towards Anna. "Welcome, Anna. Please, take a seat anywhere you like and have your fill!"

Kitty took Anna by the arm. "Sit next to me, roomie!" Then led her to the end of the table toward the boys. Two seats were available, the one next to the boy with the blue hair, and the one at the very end next to Jean. Kitty pushed Anna into the one next to the boy while she took the other one.

"Mmmm barbecue!" Kitty flopped in her chair, then took her plate. She eyed the stainless steel containers in the middle of the table, paused as if considering something, then stood again. This time not to the side of her chair, but instead in the middle of the table, her midsection phasing through the runner and everything atop it. She walked over to the containers holding the food and filled her plate.

"Kitty!" Jean held up her hands. "That's so - ugh!"

"Yeah, seriously!" Summer Boy pulled his plate off the table. "Your insides are going through our food!"

"Oh, stop freaking about it." Kitty dropped her plate at her spot, then picked up Anna's and filled it. "I'm just passing by your food, it's not like I'm leaving anything behind, or whatever."

The blue-haired boy next to Anna was quietly munching on a white hot dog with one hand, and gently pushed a fork into Kitty's flank with the other where it disappeared, then reappeared when he pulled back.

Once Anna's plate was filled to bursting with a random assortment of food, Kitty dropped it in front of Anna, where it spilled over ever so slightly on the well-crafted dark wood of the table, then took her time sitting back down at her spot.

"Could you at least warn us next time?" Summer Boy settled his food back in its spot. The look of disgust on his face gave Anna unyielding satisfaction.

Kitty stabbed one of the steak tips on her plate with her fork. "What, you mean like how you 'warned me' before you dropped that giant robot thing on me during practice today, Scott?"

"What? I knew you were going to phase through it like you do everything."

"I have to turn it on first, jerk! Good thing I saw it, otherwise you guys would have had one squished Shadowcat to scape off the Danger-Room floor."

Jean settled her utensils on her plate. "I think we all just need to work on our communication skills a little bit more."

"Sure, Jean. Whatever you say. You always know what's best, right?"

"Hey!" Summer Boy pointed his fork in Kitty's direction. "Don't take it out on Jean."

"Why do you always feel like you need to defend her?"

Jean rubbed her temples with both of her hands.

The blue-haired boy swallowed the food he was chewing on. "So… these - uh - tofu dogs, pretty good with ketchup, huh?"

"Don't change to subject!" Both Kitty and Summer Boy shout in unison.

The blue-haired boy, Kurt, dipped his head and drew his lips to the longest line Anna had ever seen.

"Yeah, seriously dude." Anna could hear the other boy whisper to him. "Just let them duke it out. Who cares?"

"Okay!" Jean raised her hands. "Okay, children - calm down. Seriously." To this, both Summer Boy and Kitty seem to settle back down in their chairs and lower the forks they seemingly had poised to throw at one another. "What happens in the Danger-Room, stays in it. We can work it out in there. On ground level, everyone just needs to… just chill the hell out." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Besides -" She let it go and worked up a smile. "We got a new member of the squad! It's a great day!" She looked at Summer Boy. "So freaking act like it." She said through clenched teeth.

"The squad." Anna let the words fall out of her mouth like a lead weight. "What squad is that exactly?"

"The X-Men." Summer Boy folded his arms in front of him. "Remember from the plane?"

"Oh, I remember from the plane." Anna hissed and watched Summer Boy's brow tighten.

"Right." Xavier chimed from the other end of the table. "After your training with Logan is complete, you would - should you choose - join the budding squad of defenders we have here."

"Budding squad of defenders?" Anna directed the question at Xavier. "What does that entail?"

Xavier rested his elbows on the table. "Well, The Brotherhood has been getting more active lately, and the missions they have been caring out have been threatening innocents. Beyond Brotherhood activities, budding mutants have also been on the rise and we need trained representatives to speak to these individuals." He laced his fingers together. "I also have reason to believe that there will soon be a rise in anti-mutant activity, and I want us to be as ready as possible for whatever might come. All these things and more have become far more than what Ororo, Logan, and I can handle alone. As much as I would prefer to keep you all out of harm's way - I'm afraid I have little choice but to ask for your help in these matters. Thus, my assembly of the X-Men."

"So -" Anna looked around the table. "You're all a part of this 'X-Men' thing?"

"Yep." Kitty sawed off a hunk of steak greater than her whole mouth. "I think we've been on…" She pointed the knife's end to her temple. "Like, two… and a half missions?"

"It's three missions, Kitty." Summer Boy corrected.

"No, she got it right, Summers." Logan leaned in his chair. "I had to bail you group of jackals out on the last heap you were in. Got yourselves stuck in a damn ravine. Had to pull around the Blackbird and fight off the last of those Brotherhood wackos for you."

"The guy could make earthquakes, Wolverine." Summer Boy raised his arms. "How were we supposed to account for that?"

"You're supposed to be ready for anything, kid! There is no accounting for what you'll face out there."

"Really? Because you know it really could be anything on the missions we go on. How about next time I just take a tank to be prepared!"

"How about you stop complaining for once and actually try thinking through -"

"Enough!" The air around the dinner table felt instantly alight with electricity as Ororo stood, her hands planted on the tabletop. "We do not speak to each other this way, especially while sharing a meal and especially with new family! You can both fight as much as you want outside, but in this house, there will be peace!"

Summer Boy and Logan exchanged a look. Logan stood and grunted. "I'm going out." He pulled off his apron, draped it over one shoulder, then left out the kitchen door.

"That's a great idea." Summer Boy stood, dropped his plate in a nearby bin, and left out the same archway Anna and Kitty had arrived in.

Ororo dropped in her chair, rolled her head back, and raked her eyebrows with her thumb and forefinger. "Children." Anna could just hear her mumble.

"God…" Anna whispered as quietly as she could to herself. "When are those two just going to kiss already?" She heard Kurt snort next to her and cover his mouth with one of his hands. Despite herself, she smiled.

"I… apologize for both of them," Xavier said as he ran the back of his fingernails up and across his forehead. He eventually straightened back up and rested his hands neatly before him. "The X-Men squad is… still fairly new. Only three weeks old, actually. I will go ahead and divulge this information since I'm sure most of you have already figured it out anyway." He eyed a few of the students at the table, specifically Kitty who had formed her lips into the shape of a duck bill and grew a sudden interest in picking at the end of her green beans with her fork. "Deciding the leader of the squad wasn't an easy decision. Logan wanted it originally, but I insisted it be one of you all. The decision happened to land upon the shoulders of Scott. Logan loves and cares about you all very deeply, and because of this he tends to ride Scott particularly hard." Xavier held his hands in the air at his side and lowered them again to the table. "I will talk with Logan about this again. Ororo is right, this is not acceptable behavior, especially in front of you all. And to you Anna, I can only extend my deepest apologies."

Anna shrugged a shoulder. "I mean - whatever. Can't say I'm too beat up about watching Summ- um, I mean watching Scott get his butt handed to him."

Xavier rubbed his chin. "Right…"

Kitty grabbed her arm. "Know your code name yet?"

"My code name?"

"Yeah! I'm Shadowcat." Kitty said with a little cat scratch motion in the air. She then pointed at the boy next to Kurt. "Evan is Spike, Kurt is Nightcrawler, Captain Butt-face is Cyclops -" she then gestured with a flourish to Jean. "And Jeany is Phoenix!" Jean forced a lopsided smile and, with the arm she had resting on the table, pointed back at Kitty and made a clicking sound with her cheek.

Kitty looked back at Anna. "So what's yours? Could do something related to your powers! Like you could be - um…" She blinked. "What are your powers anyway?"

"When I touch people with my skin they die."

Kitty straightened her back and pulled her hands close to her body. "…oh."

Anna felt a grin reach across her face. "I'm kidding - but they do pass out."

Kitty put a hand on her chest and let out the breath she apparently been holding. "Oh! But still… oh."

"Then I get their powers and memories for a while."

"What really?" Kurt jumped in his chair next to her. "That's crazy! Do me!" He held out his finger towards her.

"Let's maybe not do that at the table, Kurt," Jean said through a smile that soon faded. "Or like, maybe ever."

Evan craned his neck around Kurt. "What powers have you used before? Anything crazy?"

"I used Logan's powers for while. That was weird." Anna scratched her chin and looked up at the ceiling. "I had Mystique's powers, for like, a minute."

"Wooooow-" Both boys said in unison. "You got close enough to Mystique to touch her and take her powers?" Kurt asked, his body fully facing her.

"Yeah I mean -" Anna paused. She thought of the hotel room where her Mom first told her about the Mutant world, the finger touch they shared, and the very first time she saw her mother in her true form. Her head lowered towards her chest. "Um… yeah… I did."

"Well, you can't just leave it there!" Evan shouted past Kurt's head. "Where did you meet her? Was she after you or something?"

"Evan!" Ororo snapped. "It's clear she doesn't wish to discuss it. Now please, eat your dinner."

"But I did, Auntie. I did while Logan and Scott were having their screaming match."

"It's alright, Ororo." Xavier rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "I think… the children are probably well past eating at this point. I think we should just retire to the library and discuss what we need to."

Ororo nodded and stood, as well did everyone else. Kitty took Anna by the arm, her other hand stuffing her mouth with a bread loaf. "Well cween up watter." Kitty shoved the bread into her cheek to clear her mouth. "Xavier mentioned talking with us in the library while you were up in our room."

Without having any kind of opportunity to respond, Anna was foisted away by her arm out of the dining room, into the hallway, and through an open pair of high-reaching dark oak doors. The room beyond was beautiful, like every other room in the manor, but instead of the happy peach wall paint and blonde hardwood floors, the room felt far more cozy and even a little bit mysterious. Sprouting out from a well-stocked fireplace was a wall of books as far and as wide as the dimensions of the room would allow. Layered in scarlet drapes, a lone window crisscrossed over with thick black rods leaked in a few bleeding rays of light to the right, and on the left was a great big empty space on a wall where books and shelves were absent. In the space where the wall was bare, the dark wood wall was slightly lighter in comparison to the rest of the wall. Like some great painting once hung there, but had since been taken down. The floor, all scarlet rug, had two long couches and a chair so comfortable it looked as if each cushion was hand fluffed daily. By the time Kitty and Anna had entered, everyone had already taken their seats by a fireplace that was already stoked and roaring. On one couch sat Kurt and Evan, the other sat Jean by herself, in the large chair was Ororo and by her side was Xavier in his wheelchair, his fingers tented before his mouth while he watched the fire dance in the fireplace.

"Here!" Kitty shouted, mouth still full of food. She kicked the heavy doors shut behind them and plopped them both on the couch next to Kurt and Evan.

"Kitty…" Ororo said with a breath. "You don't need to announce yourself every time you enter a room."

"But, like, how will people I'm here?"

Ororo rubbed her face with her hand.

"So what is it that you wanted to talk to us about, Professor?" Jean asked, her hands tucked neatly in her lap.

There was a pause near long enough Anna almost wondered if Xavier hadn't heard her. Finally, there was an acknowledgment in the form of his hands falling from his face and into his lap. The features of his face grew ridged, like the fire he was looking at was helping further forge his already hawk-like features.

"There is something that I think needs some airing. Something that could be used to drive a divide amongst us by our foes if we don't bring it out into the open now… and I believe it would do to help alleviate the burden of those who know already." Xavier wrapped a hand around his fist. "I want it clear that Anna comes to us with her loyalties without question. Though, she does come to us from a complicated situation."

At this, Anna immediately felt her stomach clench so tightly she was sure if she had the opportunity to eat, she may have thrown it up right then. She could feel the room's air, unlike the electricity in the dining room, now grow so thick and heavy it almost felt as if grab she could grab a chunk of it and hold it in her hand. Not a person moved, and not an eye blinked as Xavier spoke.

"Anna, though circumstances out of her control, has Mystique as an adoptive mother."

A single silent shock wave rippled through the room. Anna didn't see but could feel everybody on the couch she sat on go as rigid as statues. She dared not meet their eyes that she knew were falling on her. Instead, she tucked her chin to her chest and made herself as small as possible. Despite herself, she shut her eyes as tight as she could and felt tears tapping at the inside of her lids.

"Wow." Was the first word Anna could hear. She didn't know who said it at first till there was a follow-up. "I wonder what growing up in that house must have been like." Anna dared a peak and spotted Jean on the other couch. Her posture relaxed, she tucked her feet under herself and rested her long fingers over her legs.

"Yeah really!" She heard the distinctive German droll of Kurt's voice. "I bet it was all like - 'No TV till you finish your knife throwing practice!'"

"Nah dude, you got the voice wrong!" She heard Evan punch him in the shoulder. It's more like, 'Anna, you better clean your room or I'll blow it up with C4!'" His impression was more nasally and witch-like.

"Like, imagine coming home late from a party to that!" Anna felt Kitty look at the others. "She'd totally be like that parent that waits up, but like with a machine gun sitting in her lap!"

"More like a rocket launcher," Kurt suggested

"Or like, a machine gun - rocket launcher." Evan continued.

Anna felt a hand rubbing her back and she looked up and saw Kitty smiling down at her. "Dude! Glad you got the heck out of that! Like, geez what a buzzkill she had to be, right?"

Anna smiled and ran her thumb across the bottom lid of her eye. "The real horror is seeing her when her team loses."

Evan looked past Kurt. "Whose her team?"

"The Mississippi Soaring Eagles."

"What? Seriously?" Evan looked around at the others who didn't meet his abundant excitement. "They won like, maybe two games last season? Your house must have sucked."

"So wait-" Jean crossed her arms. "Where you like, raised in The Brotherhood or something?"

Anna shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I know my mom… I know Mystique was there my whole life, but she's my adoptive mother. I had another mom named Irene and they were married."

"And Mystique is married?" Kurt grabbed his head. "This is a real head trip."

Anna shrugged again. "I couldn't give you much as far as details. We were pretty normal I guess. Mom -" Anna closed her eyes. "I mean Mystique, would bring work friends over every once in a while, but they were never weird with me or anything. I don't ever remember seeing that Magneto guy. But I never, like, went to any facility or anything that I can remember."

"What about your other mom?" Kitty asked. "Was she in The Brotherhood too?"

"She's a Mutant by the name of Destiny." Xavier sat up in his wheelchair. "She has the ability to see the future in multiple realities. It was she who originally predicated Anna's powers."

"She was the reason I didn't get abducted by The Brotherhood…" Anna said in a near whisper.

"What?" Jean rubbed her arm. "I thought Wolverine was assigned to your case."

 Anna blinked and stared at the floor. "He was, but Mystique had him pinned to the ground. Irene came around a corner and tased her with a taser we kept in our car. She attacked her own wife to save me from… whatever was waiting from me at The Brotherhood."

"Jesus." She could just hear Kurt whisper.

"I don't understand, wasn't Irene also a part of The Brotherhood?" Jean looked at Xavier. "Why would she stop Mystique?"

"I'm not sure," Xavier answered. "She might have known something, or saw something -"

"She said she couldn't stand and watch me become another tool in 'his' arsenal," Anna said though a slight film in her throat.

Xavier seemed the straighten up at this and nodded. "I see."

"What happened to Irene then?" Jean looked at Anna and back to Xavier.

"She's gone rogue," Xavier announced with certainty. "I can't get a hold of her through my old Brotherhood contacts and I'm sure Magneto is having the same problem. She's completely off the grid."

"Out of The Brotherhood's reach, now that's something impressive."

"Quite." Xavier ran his hands along the armrests of his wheelchair and looked back at Anna. "You've had quite the day, young lady. I'm sorry to have put you on the spot like that, but I thought it best we get that out of the way."

Anna met Xavier's gaze, her eyes pointed like the edges of a razor. "I know what my name is."

Xavier blinked. "I'm sorry?"

Anna looked in the faces of all that were present and stopped at Kitty's. "You asked what my code-name was going to be?" She looked back at Xavier. "I'm going to make good on the chance my Mah gave me. Whatever thing she was so determined to keep me from, she risked her own life and fought her own wife to keep me safe. I'm going to do what shes done. I'm going rogue like she did." Anna stood up, her eyes like two beams of holy fire looking down upon Xavier. "From now on, I'm the Rogue."