Eye of the Beholder

Author’s Notes: Again, another big thank you to blue_lioness, here’s another chapter just for you. Please feel free to tell you friends about this story. Hell, tell you mailman for all I care, the more the merrier. As always, please review.

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She can’t move, she can’t breathe and she can’t think. Fear and anger wage war inside of her as she waits for someone to finally pick up the other end. As she does, those three words keep spinning round in her head.

Serena is missing.

Necessity forces Amanda to draw air into her lungs and her brain starts to slowly function. What was she thinking? She agreed to let them take her if she won the case because they convinced her that they were the best. No, not them. Her.

Ororo Munroe called her shortly after it was announced that Amanda was taking the case and waiving her lawyer’s fee simply claiming that she wanted to see justice properly carried out. Munroe spent literally hours on the phone with the attorney and countless emails talking Amanda into allowing the school to take Serena into its care once she was free. She read the brochure that had been mailed to her and studied it very carefully, trying to read between the lines. Amanda was promised that the girl would have a good home with people who would care about her, keep her safe and help her control her powers.

Now everything she had worked so hard for, the hours spent in the library, the nearly sleepless nights writing up her defense, silently enduring Mr. Steele and his animosity, even begging her sister for help had all been for naught. Serena is missing and could be god knows where. And then a new feeling hits: guilt.

She’s the one who believed Munroe’s words. She’s the one who ultimately agreed to have the guardianship papers drawn up. She’s the one who let them take Serena away with promises on their lips, but it seems lies in their hearts.

“Miss Simon?”

The sound of a voice in her ear snaps her out of her reverie and she suddenly stops pacing her room, an activity she hadn’t even been aware she had resumed.

“Yes?” she replies, barely avoiding snapping at the person on the other end.

“I’m afraid Serena can’t come to the phone right now,” a man’s voice tells her.

“May I speak to Miss Munroe please?” she requests, politely, but firmly.

“I’m afraid Miss Munroe is busy right now,” he replies, a superior tone in his voice.

“May I ask to whom I am speaking?” she inquires, still polite, but firm and only just holding onto her anger.

“This is Warren Worthington the third,” the man replies with that same superior tone. “I’m one of the teachers here.”

“Mr. Worthington, would you be so kind as to deliver a message to Miss Munroe for me?” she asks, feeling the hand holding the phone start to shake.

“Of course,” he responds.

“Tell Miss Munroe if anything, anything, happens to Serena that I will personally make her life a legal nightmare,” she snarls through clenched teeth before snapping her phone shut.

She stuffs her cell phone into her pocket, hastily puts on her tennis shoes and grabs a light jacket before charging out of her room. She flies down the stairs and through the house, ignoring the calls of her nieces and nephew as she slams out the back door. She’s not sure where she’s going and quite frankly, she doesn’t really care.

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Warren gently returns the handset to the cradle and slightly scowls at the phone, his feathers ruffling. A movement of air behind him is all of the announcement he needs to know that he’s no longer alone in the hall.

“That the lawyer lady on the phone,” Logan asks around the butt of an unlit cigar.

“Yes, and she’s threatening law suit if we don’t find Serena,” Angel calmly tells him.

“Damn lawyers, more trouble than they’re worth,” Logan quietly growls. “Storm know?”

“Not yet, I just hung up,” Angel replies. “Or more precisely, I was hung up on.”

“Well, we better get to the dining room,” Logan states as he starts to move silently. “Storm has got her panties in a right twist over this.”

“I’m afraid my news is not likely to improve her mood either,” Angel sadly responds.

The two men make their way to the dining room where all of the students are already gathered. Angel and Logan take up positions at the back of the room under Kurt who hangs upside down from the ceiling. The room is almost silent with only the sounds of quiet murmuring voices, people shifting in their seats and the occasional cough.

About a minute after Angel and Logan’s arrival, Storm walks in wearing her X-Men uniform looking none to happy and with Kitty dejectedly behind her. Kitty quickly sits down next to Peter looking like she wants to climb under a rock and hide. The large mutant puts an arm around her shoulders and gives her a reassuring hug.

“Ok, folks, Kitty’s just gone over the surveillance tapes and it seems Serena left a little after midnight,” Storm announces without preamble. “Now the front gate hasn’t been opened and none of the walls have been breached, so she’s either still on the grounds or she got out some other way. I want people to break up in teams of two, older students with younger, and take your communicators with you. We’re going to cover every square inch of the grounds until we find her or find where she’s got out. Angel and I will be covering the surrounding properties, Nightcrawler will remain here in case she returns or calls and Wolverine will try to track her. Are there any questions?”

“Which door did she go out?” Logan asks.

“Back,” Storm answers.

“Any idea where she might go?” Logan inquires.

There’s silence for about a minute until Kitty hesitantly raises her hand.

“Yes, Kitty?” Storm prompts.

“She’s mentioned her grandparents a couple of times,” Kitty softly states, not looking at anyone in particular. “When she destroyed her dresser the thing she was most upset about was that she wrecked the picture she had of them.”

“Any idea where they live?” Logan questions the girl.

“Miami,” Kitty answers.

“Then I’ll head south,” Logan states just before he turns and leaves the room.

“Ok, people, get your communicators and pair up,” Storm instructs. “We’ll meet up on the north lawn in five minutes.”

There’s a lot of noise as the students rise to their feet and go off to get their communicators. Storm watches them as older students pick younger ones to work with and they slowly file out of the room. As the last of the stragglers leave, Warren walks up to Storm as Nightcrawler simply appears next to her.

“I got off the phone with Miss Simon a little while ago,” Warren says. “She’s threatening legal troubles if anything should happen to the girl.”

Storm lets out a sigh and closes her eyes.

“Damn,” she whispers and opens her eyes again. “Then we better find her. Kurt…”

“I shall remain ever vigilant,” Kurt promises just before he disappears in a puff of smoke.

“Come on, Warren, let’s go keep our butts out of legal hot water,” she grumbles as she turns to leave.

“I don’t understand why she left,” he muses as he follows her out of the dining room.

“Kitty says that she and Serena got into a fight last night after dinner,” Storm says as they walk down a corridor. “I have a feeling this all has to do with Rogue’s return.”

“She was pretty happy in calculus on Monday and that was before Rogue’s return,” Angel muses as they go out the front door. “But yesterday in economics, she was very sullen.”

“When we get her back, I’m going to have to sit down and have a long talk with that girl,” Storm states as they head towards the students already gathered on the lawn.

“If we get her back,” Angel mumbles to himself.

Scene change

With a sniff, Serena gets up off the ground where she had been resting with her back against a tree, grabs her bag and slings it over her shoulder. She brushes herself off and continues walking south using the sun as her guide while trying to ignore her tired muscles and hurting feet. She sniffs again and angrily wipes away an errant tear, trying to forget everything that’s happened over the past several days, especially what happened last night.

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“Hey, Kitty, do you think you could help me with my history homework?” Serena asked, sitting on her bed with her book and notes spread around her. “There’s a test on Monday and I don’t want to fail.”

“Sorry, I promised Rogue I’d help her get caught up,” Kitty answered, heading for the door.

“But you’ve been over there every night since she got back,” Serena pointed out, trying not to sound like a petulant child.

“I told Rogue I would help her,” Kitty repeated.

“Can’t someone else help her for a change?” Serena demanded.

“Well, why don’t you get someone else to help you?” Kitty snapped. “I’m not your personal tutor, you know.”

“No, you’re Rogue’s,” Serena yelled back. “Ever since she got here you’ve been spending every minute with her.”

“So, what? You want me to pick between you and her?” Kitted shouted heatedly. “Because I’ll tell you right now, I’ll pick her.”

With that, Kitty spun on her heel and marched through the wall, leaving Serena there alone in their room again. By the time lights out was called, Serena’s bag was already packed and hiding under her bed. Kitty came back long enough to be there for the bed check and then disappeared through the wall again back to Rogue’s room once it was safe to do so. Serena laid there until she was sure everyone was asleep and then took her leave of a place that obviously didn’t want her.

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“Logan, have you had any luck?” Storm’s voice crackles over the link.

“Yeah, I got her scent,” he replies as he balances on top of the stone wall. “She went over the south wall. She’s headin’ south alright, but there’s no tellin’ if she circled back so keep checkin’ the grounds just in case.”

“Alright,” she agrees. “I’m going to send Warren in your direction to give you aerial coverage.”

“I don’t need Tweety to cover my back,” Logan snarls as he leaps off the wall.

“I heard that,” Angel states, less than pleased.

“Good,” Logan growls as he picks up the scent again and starts out in an easy jog.

“Logan,” Storm warns. “I’m sending Warren your way to help you find her. He’s going to be able to see her long before you do.”

“How long can you stay up in the air, Tweetie?” Logan asks.

“A couple hours, three if I catch a good updraft,” Angel answers proudly.

“The kid has more than a ten hour head start on us and the scent isn’t that strong,” Logan points out as he pauses at a roadside long enough to make sure he doesn’t get hit. “I don’t see me comin’ across her for several more hours and that’s if she ain’t hitched a ride. You think Birdbrain can last that long?”

“Fine,” Storm sighs. “I want you to call as soon as you see her and we’ll home in on your location. Is that understood?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Logan grumbles as he hurdles over a guardrail and continues running down an embankment.

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“SHE DID IT AGAIN!”

Cathy just shakes her head and gives a soft chuckle as Annie’s indignant shriek fades away. A second later and heavy footsteps can be heard as someone comes charging down the stairs. Cathy catches sight of Stuart sneaking out of the house out of the corner of her eye.

“Coward,” she mutters just as Annie comes flying into the kitchen, cellophane wrappers clutched in her hand.

“She did it again, Mom,” Annie nearly yells, waving the wrappers towards her mother.

“Honey, if you didn’t react so, she’d probably stop doing it,” Cathy reminds her as she goes back to getting lunch ready. “She does it because she knows it drives you crazy.”

“She’s evil,” Annie states as she marches over to the garbage can and tosses the wrappers. “That explains why she became a lawyer. She’s evil.”

“Annie…,” Cathy tries to start.

“I feed my children good, wholesome foods and what does she do?” Annie continues her tirade. “She gives them sugar. She’s evil.”

“Annie, it’s not like she gets to see the kids that often,” Cathy reminds her. “A little sugar every once and a while isn’t going to hurt them. Speaking of Amy, have you seen her since we got home?”

“No, and she better pray that I don’t,” Annie snarls as she filches a carrot stick from the cutting board.

A moment later three little bodies come barreling into the kitchen.

“Mom, they won’t stop bugging me,” Paul complains.

“Girls, stop bothering your brother,” Annie tells her daughters.

“Yes, Mom,” the girls say in unison just before turning and running out of the kitchen.

Mike walks in and barely manages to get out of the way by flattening himself against the wall as the twins barrel past him and out the back door.

“Mom, can I play on the computer?” Paul asks.

“It’s almost lunch time, honey,” Annie answers as she lovingly brushes his bangs out of his green eyes. “By the time you got the computer up and the game running you’d have to turn it off.”

“Not if I use Aunt Amy’s computer,” Paul tells her. “Hers is already turned on.”

“Then you’ll have to ask your Aunt Amy,” Annie points out.

“I can’t,” the eleven year old replies. “She took off a couple hours ago.”

“Did she say where she was going?” Annie asks.

“No, but she looked really mad about something,” Paul answers. “It might have something to do with that email she got.”

“Paul, have you been playing on your aunt’s computer without permission?” Annie demands.

“Yes,” the boy admits, hanging his head in shame.

“In that case, you can just forget about playing on the computer today, mister,” Annie tells him

“Aw man, that’s not fair,” Paul whines.

“Go wash your hands,” Annie instructs turning the boy around. “And when Aunt Amy comes back you’ll apologize for playing with her computer and reading her email without her permission.”

“That’s not fair!” Paul yells before storming out of the kitchen and Annie sighs.

“I thought I heard the lovely screams of my wife,” Mike says as he steps up to Annie.

“She did it again,” Annie grumbles and he chuckles as he kisses her forehead.

“What was it this time?” he asks. “Ho-Hos? Ding-Dongs?”

“Twinkies,” Annie growls.

“Ah, her favorite,” he chuckles as he wraps his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Someday she’ll have kids of her own and then we’ll get to return the favor.”

Annie gets a wicked smile on her face and chuckles so deep and low in her throat that it sounds more like a purr than a laugh.

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“Still no sign of her?” Annie asks worriedly as she steps out onto the back porch next to her mother.

“No,” Cathy answers, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. “Annie…”

“I know,” Annie interrupts. “Sunset is in a little over an hour.”

“I wouldn’t ask, but the kids said she was really upset and Paul mentioned something about an email,” Cathy states.

“Alright,” Annie sighs as she turns back towards the house. “Let me go get changed and then I’ll go look for her. She better be hurt or so help me I’m going to bite her on the butt.”

Cathy gives Annie a sad smile before the younger woman goes back into the house leaving the back door partially open. A few minutes later something large and black brushes past Cathy’s leg and the woman doesn’t even blink as she continues to stare at the woods and the darkening sky.

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How many times did her mother tell her not to talk to strangers? How many times did she tell her not to accept a ride from a stranger? To many to count, yet here she is on the side of a road with her thumb out hoping for some relief for her tired legs and aching feet.

What the hell did she know? Serena thinks uncharitably. She let that bastard throw me out after saving her baby.

She trudges on along the side of the road, sticking her arm out whenever she hears a car’s engine, which admittedly isn’t all that often. She glances at the sun low in the sky off to her right and she’s about ready to collapse, but she knows that she needs to keep going. She’s not sure how long she’s been walking, it feels like forever and she’s even too tired to cry.

She hears a car and she sticks her arm out even though it feels like there’s a twenty pound weight attached to it. She doesn’t get her hopes up, but she then the sound of the car slowing down actually brings her head up to look and sure enough, the car is pulling over to the side of the road. Her hopes start to soar until she gets a good look at the car and then her stomach drops to her feet while her hope fades away with the breeze.