Author's Note:

QuoththeRaven's text

GreenMachine13's text

Chapter One

He would never understand it. He would never understand why Charles Xavier had kidnapped him, he would never understand exactly what the telepath had done to his surrogate daughter during his absence, he would never understand what had caused such a heart-wrenching rage and sorrow in the otherwise happy young woman's eyes on her last night on Earth.

Aurora.

She had died far too young, only a few days after her fourteenth birthday...and her killer...The weather witch...Ororo Munroe. It was still too early after Aurora's death to feel the heat of rage. He still felt the stabbing, hollow cold of sorrow. He hadn't slept for nearly a week now, and had barely touched any of his meals, although he drank readily. Water, tea, soda. Anything he could get his hands on. There was no alcohol allowed on the Brotherhood island for obvious reasons, to Mortimer's dismay. Magneto needed his followers alert and ready to fight at any given moment; besides the fact that drink could allow the mutants of the Brotherhood to lose their grasp on their powers...never a good idea with a Chaos sorceress and a teenage pyromaniac around.

He spoke even less then usual to the other Brotherhood members. He was easily angered, and lashed out at everyone and anyone. The Toad now spent most of his time in his workshop or on the computer.

He tapped his fingers nervously on the edge of the keyboard, his eyes scanning the screen. He fished a scrap of paper out of his pocket, and typed its message in to the blank space. He sighed.

On the day of the funeral, Aurora's sister, Lenore, had given him all her contact infromation. Whether it was out of pity or fear he didn't know. He didn't even know if it was real. He'd figure he'd settle for the screen name first. Least personal.

He stared at the screen as the computer processed the infromation.

QuothTheRaven111 has signed on

Mort squinted his eyes. He reluctantly switched from "invisible" mode to "active mode" and opened up the message box. He took a breath. His palms were sweating. What was the matter with him? What should he type? It should be something deep...insightful...

GreenMachine13: Hi

Oh, bloody brilliant. He scolded. That'll really make an impact.

QuothTheRaven111: Hi to you too. Interesting choice of screen name.

She was talking to him! He blushed, then felt sick. Should he tell her? Or would it dredge up more pain?

GreenMachine13: It was Aurora's idea

There was a pause. Oh shit! He had upset her. What now! What should he do!

QuothTheRaven111: She came up with mine too

He wasn't sure of what to say next. He waited. Minutes ticked by.

QuothTheRaven111: Listen, I've never been very good at this online thing- it's so impersonal. Do you want to meet me for coffee sometime?

His eyes widened. What! His blood ran cold and his face went hot. He couldn't believe it. She actually wanted to be around him? No. She probably just felt bad. Needed someone around that had known Aurora. But that was ok. He needed some human contact. He paused for a minute, then typed...

GreenMachine13: Sure

Author's Note: Hello again, dear readers! A rather crappy first chapter, I'm afraid, but my muses wouldn't stop jabbing me with pointy things until I wrote this. They wouldn't even let me read... sadnesssss... ooooooook...lesse. I should be updating this alot. The plotbunnies are breeding. It scares me. 0,o...