River ran up the gravel walkway to the house. She knew the place like the back of her hand. It had been her home since she was four after all. She smiled as she remembered when Charles had first met her. Hank had been there too.

"What's your name?" Charles said while sitting in his wheelchair. She was slightly taller than it. She had been huddling in the corner by a public pool. Four-year-old River liked water; it made her feel safe.

"M-mummy said not to talk to strangers," she had said, then teared up. She missed my parents, even though they had thrown her out a year ago.

"Are you from England?" he asked in the same gentle tone. The little girl nodded but then shook her head.

"Live there." She pointed straight ahead. "But Mum from there." She pointed behind her. "Englash." He smiled.

"Where is your mum and dad?" She shook her head.

"Not here," she said with a small tear. Charles understood. They had thrown her out.

"Can I take you to my house?" he asked.

"Hungry."

"I have food. Do you like..." He thought. "Chocolate?" She nodded enthusiastically. "Hank! Come here please!" Charles had called. A tall man with glasses came over and looked down at her. He squatted down after Charles whispered something into his ear.

"Hey," he said. He looked nice. "Wanna go to a new home? A nice one?" She nodded. She was four and didn't really know better. Such as not to go with strangers when they offer you candy. But if she hadn't, she would've probably in the hands of evil men like Colonel Stryker, who she met briefly in DC.

River smiled as she remembered the fond memory of Charles and Hank. She climbed up the left side of the big staircase and jogged down two hallways before knocking on a door.

"Who is it?" Jean's voice came through.

"It's Riv!" said River.

"It's open!" River opened the door to see two girls sitting on a bed, Jean and, River's very own cousin, Jubilation Lee. Jubilee for short. River grinned and closed the door as she went in. Jubilee was wearing her normal yellow leather jacket with her various collective pins. She had tan shorts on and a plain grey t-shirt. Jean had a brown quarter sleeves shirt on and jeans. Her cardigan was lying next to her.

"Hey guys," she said.

"Girls," Jean corrected.

"Yeah yeah." Jubilee waved her off.

"So...what am I here for?" River asked as she sat down on a chair and pushed off her shoes. Almost all of the "dorms" had the same furniture: two beds, two desks, two chairs, one closet, and one drawer. Usually, the students had a roommate, unless they were new or didn't want one. Most had a window and were decorated to the students' liking. This room was shared by Jubilee and River since they were related. Jean was one of the students who had her own separate room because of her...well, her nightmares. Like last night.

One side of the room, Jubilee's side, had a cork board hanging on the wall with collectable pins and buttons all over it. She switched them out on her jacket weekly. She also had posters of her favorite singers and movies up on the wall. The desk had a laptop (courtesy of her parents in California) and some more pins lying around. There was also some curling foams and hair ties. And homework of course.

On the other side, River's side, the desk was messy with papers. Papers and books were everywhere. Some of them were homework (especially the textbooks), some were her own collections of writing or for fun reading. River had posters of her favorite movies like Jubilee, but she also had records stapled to the walls. Her side was a bit neater, but not by much.

"Well for one," Jubilee looked at Jean. The two were sitting on her bed. "Are you ok?" River nodded.

"Yeah, that tremor was a big one last night. You good?" Jean hesitantly nodded.

"Lies!" said Jubilee, trying to lighten the mood. She hugged Jean. "What happened? Nightmare again?"

"We tried to go to your room, but Hank told us to leave. Charles' orders," said River.

"Oh thanks," Jean said. "Yeah, it was another nightmare. Guys, really, I'm fine." River shook her head. She took a small purple bouncy ball from her desk and tossed it in the air, catching it, and then tossing it again.

"What was it about?" she asked. Jean sighed.

"I don't really want to talk about it, ok?"

"Ok." Jubilee and River exchanged glances as Jean sat in the corner of the wall. "Well," Jubilee announced. "On another note, Alex Summers himself is back!" River rolled her eyes.

"Oh my gosh, Jubi. You are never going to let that slide," she groaned. Jean smiled and made an "ooooo."

"Nope. I never will," Jubilee said with a grin. "C'mon! You gotta tell him one day!"

"Tell him what? That I had a small crush when I was fourteen? That was in '80! Three years ago!"

"Yeah. And then I came and blah blah," Jubilee said.

"He is sorta cute," Jean said. "So's his brother."

"Oooo a brother?" Jubilee whistled.

"You guys suck," River laughed. She put the ball back down and spun her chair around to clean her desk.

"And that desk is the messiest I've ever seen it," said Jean. "And I've seen it." Jubilee laughed.

"Riv went on a writing streak last weekend," she told Jean.

"Yeah and I got some real good ideas down!" said River.

"Uh huh, but you can't write a song!" Jubilee smirked.

"I'm writing stories! Not songs," River said turning back around. She had a pile of papers in her hands and started to straighten them.

"You should sing more though," commented Jean.

"Yeah for the Summers boys! Oooo!" Jubilee winked. River rolled her eyes.

"I don't like them! Any of them!"

"Yeah yeah yeah. Ok last note," Jubilee became serious. "The professor seems worried. I was in his class today, and..." She paused. "Mystique's back." River looked up sharply.

"What? Why? How? She is? Where is she?"

"Woah slow down there," Jean said. She turned to Jubilee. "Mystique like Raven Mystique?" She nodded.

"She wasn't blue though."

"Well, she doesn't really like being blue," River said softly. She put the papers down and flopped onto her bed. "Why's she back?"

"I don't know," shrugged Jubilee. "I was just in class today with the professor, and Hank came in and then whispered something to him and then he announced that class was adjourned."

"Wait how do you know though?" River asked.

"I followed them after class," Jubilee said matter-of-factly.

"Jubilee! You know you're not supposed to!" Jean scolded.

"Yeah but I wanted to know what happened. So anyways," Jubilee continued. "I followed them and then they went into the professor's office. Then Hank closed the door a bit, and I saw Raven and a blue kid."

"WHAT?!" River sat up. "She has a kid?!" Jubilee shook her head.

"No no no calm down! He's a darker shade of blue and is a different mutant. I had to run after that because the professor kicked Hank and the kid out of his office so yeah." The three sat in silence, thinking about this new information.

"Ok well meeting adjourned," Jubilee said. "Also I think Raven is staying but I don't know. You can ask Charles, Riv. Jean you doing anything?" Jean shook her head. "Wanna do some archery?"

"You know she smokes you literally every time, Jubi," River said with a laugh.

"Yeah, but what she does it awesome! Telekinesis is so cool." Jubilee grinned. River and Jubilee were the only two students who truly accepted Jean for who she was, and she was extremely grateful for them. She shrugged.

"Alright I'm up for it. River, you want to come?" Jean looked at River as she and Jubilee put on their shoes. She shook her head.

"I think I'm going to talk to Charles and then find Raven or something."

"Ok, see you at dinner, cus!" Jubilee waved. She and Jean went out the door. River sighed and got up. Time to find Charles.

"Knock knock," she said when she had walked down to his office.

"Who is it?"

"River!"

"Um...you can come in!" She opened one of the big doors and saw Charles and Raven looking at her. Raven was in her human form, blond hair in a ponytail and mysterious brown eyes. She was wearing a black leather jacket with black jeans and a striped shirt. Charles had a purple sweater and a tan blazer over it. His brown hair was a little messy, as always.

"Ra-Raven you're you're back!" River said with a grin. Raven smiled slightly.

"Hey. Yeah. Sort of," she answered.

"What do you mea-"

"River, dear, may I ask what you need?" Charles cut her off.

"I was actually going to uh ask about Raven, but she's here so..." River trailed off.

"How did you know I was back?" Raven asked. River shrugged.

"Uh...just heard?" Don't ask again don't ask again.

"Did Jubilee tell you?" Charles asked. River looked down at the ground.

"No..."

"I could sense her when she followed us. And I can read your mind you know," he laughed. "Not that I am, dear." She looked back up.

"Well anyways, you're back! Are you staying or..." Raven looked at Charles.

"Um...River, could you give Raven and I a minute? I'll come talk to you later, is that ok?" His accent sounded gentle, pleading. Something was wrong.
River nodded. She understood. Raven really wasn't staying. Just...visiting. Just like last time. And the time before that.

"That's fine. See you guys."

She went to open the door when Raven said, "You know, you're getting more and more powerful every time I visit." River turned around.

"How do you know?"

"Just do. And more pretty. I bet all the guys are after you." River flushed.

"Thanks, but meh."

"River," Charles nodded at her, which meant to leave. River looked back at Raven, who winked at her. She grinned and walked out the door.

River went across the hallway and knocked on another door.

"Door's open!" She opened the door to see Hank drop some metal sheets with a crash.

"Uh...do you need any help?" she asked. Hank looked up and smiled.

"Hey River!" he greeted as he pushed up his glasses. "And sure. Could you help me carry these thing downstairs?" She nodded and picked up some of the sheets carefully and followed Hank into another room next to Charles' office. There was a secret code, which Hank punched in with some difficulty. A door hissed open and walked into a silver room, which turned out to be an elevator. They went down and got out as the doors opened again.

"Can I levitate these? Please? I can do it now!" she asked. Hank raised an eyebrow. River had been training with him to be able to use water molecules to levitate objects. If you have a little, you have a lot, he always told her.

"Alright. You do yours then," he said. She placed the sheets on the floor, and concentrated on gathering the right amount of molecules to levitate the sheets and to make sure they could still breathe. She felt the microscopic atoms and then made them slide under the sheets. Come on, come on. Water was as flexible as the best gymnast in the world. Slowly, she raised her hands and the sheets shakily went up. Yes!

"You got it, River. Keep going," Hank encouraged. She grinned and carefully walked to see if the sheets would follow. They did!

"Yay! Hank look! I got it!"

"I see it. Alright, c'mon. Into my lab." They walked (a bit slowly because of River) down the silver hallway.

Not many of the students knew, in fact, none of them knew of the downstairs lair. It was for the X-Men; Hank, Charles, Alex, and Raven were the only ones left. Erik had left. River had never met Banshee or Angel, but she had always heard of the stories of Cuba and the battle that had occurred. Charles always said that they would never need to fight again after DC, so River had never really worried about fighting. However, Hank was still building gear for the X-Men and the slim possibility of another war. He also had a plane, which was pretty cool. River was the only one who knew about the downstairs. She had told aJubilee, but Jubilee didn't really care as much. All the students knew about the X-Men of course, but they were mostly like stories, not reality.

"So, what are these for?" she asked as they went into the pristine lab. He signaled for her to put the sheets on one of the tables. She picked them up and placed them down.

"I want to make Charles' wheelchair better. Also Cerebro needs some repairing," Hank replied. River walked around as he grabbed some tools and whatnot.

"I saw you made Scott those glasses. Those were pretty sweet," she said. Hanke looked up.

"Really? I wasn't sure if he'd like them. Does he?" he asked. He ducked down to look for some paper.

"Yeah, he does. A lot I think," River smiled. She saw some shattered ruby quartz on the table. "This was for them?" He looked up and nodded, then ducked back down.

"So...should I go back up or..."

"Whatever you want. Oh! Wait, by the way," Hank stood up and banged his head on the table. River covered her mouth with her hand.

"Are you ok?" She stifled a laugh.

"Yeah, I'm good." He rubbed his head. "Alex told me to tell you to meet him by the pond after dinner. So like eight."

"Thanks!" River grinned. "Everyone's back, huh?" Hank shrugged at the first statement and nodded at the second.

"More or less." He bent over the table to examine one of the metal sheets. "Ok, you can leave now. Thanks for the help, and we need to work on the levitation stuff later today or tomorrow." She nodded with a smile and waved as she left.

Back in the elevator, River thought about Alex. I wonder what he wants to talk to me about. There was a lot to talk about though. It had been three years since she had seen him last. He went to take a job or something somewhere away from Westchester. She did miss him.

The door hissed open, and she quickly ran out, making sure no one saw her coming out. She turned to see the door close.

~

Yay another chapter! Sorry this one was kinda short.

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