Lance sat on the edge of his bed, with a cigarette in one hand, letting Mystique’s words sink in. He felt awful, like he was just struck by lightning. He looked at the cigarette, then sighed. "If Emerald caught me with this..." He shook his head and swore. "How come everything I look at makes me think about her?" He asked himself angrily. He remembered what Mystique told him about Emerald earlier that night...

He finished his cigarette and put it in the ashtray. He leaned back into his bed and stared at the ceiling. "Oh, Emerald..." He muttered. He pushed Mystique’s words out of his thoughts to make room for his thoughts on Emerald. He thought about everything about her, but he concentrated more on her eyes. Her violet eyes were the first things he fell in love with. The first time he saw them, she had just revealed her mutant form to him. She was different no doubt, definitely made for the water. But he did love her, regardless of what she looked like. Then he thought about her voice. Her beautiful, soothing, enchanting...Mystique’s warning pushed back into his head. "That is why she is so hypnotic..." Was Emerald really just hypnotizing him? Using him? He shook his head, waited until everyone was asleep and snuck out of the house.

~*~Xavier Mansion (Emerald’s Room)~*~

Meanwhile, Emerald was on her bed, crying into her pillow. "It’s not true..." She cried softly. Kurt knocked on the door. "Come in." She muttered. Kurt ported in. He walked beside her bedside and sat down.

"You okay?"

She shook her head. "Do I look okay?" She wiped her eyes, then she hugged her brother and cried into his shoulder. "I can’t believe it, I refuse to believe it...."

"There, there. Everything vill be fine..."

"No it won’t." She sobbed.

"Sure it vill. You just vait and see." He smiled, but she didn’t smile back.

"Look, I think I need s’more time alone..." He nodded, let her go softly, and ported out. She sighed and listened to her conversation with the professor again in her mind.

She sighed and stroked Rascal. "Does everyone enjoy shoving problems and destiny down my throat?" She muttered. Rascal licked her hand and yipped. She smiled. "Probably why I like everything else around me in order. If it was as messed up as much as my life, I’d be a mess myself." She sighed again, stood up, and walked to her window. She decided to go for a walk in the Park.

~*~The Park~*~

She walked over to a park bench and sat down, placing Rascal in her lap. She petted him and he snuggled. "I know what I must do, Rascal..." He perked his ears. "I must...destroy my parents." She lowered her head. She felt miserable. Coincidentally, Lance had also chosen the park to sort out his problems. He caught sight of her, and smiled faintly. He walked over to her.

"Mind if I sit here?"

She looked up and couldn’t help but smile. Even if he was going to kill her, she still loved him. She nodded. He smiled and sat down. For a few minutes, they stared at each other, studying each other. And in that time, the doubt left and they moved closer. They leaned forward and tenderly kissed each other. Rascal sniffed Lance and gave a small growl. "What’s this?" He asked with amusement.

"My dog. He just wants t’know who’s attacking me..." She giggled and set the puppy down on the ground. "Rascal. Run along to th’car." The puppy yipped, licked her hand, sniffed Lance again, then ran to Emerald’s car. Lance grinned and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her cheek as she talked.

"Lance?" She asked.

"Hm?" His lips moved down to her neck and he held her tighter.

"I...stop that, you’re making me forget..." She giggled. He continued to kiss her. "I remember now."

"Hm...good." He muttered. He wasn’t really paying attention.

"Lance...come on..." She gently lifted his head up to look at her. "...This is important."

He stopped and sighed, loosening his grip somewhat. "Alright, baby. I’m listening." He listened intently.

"I must go back home tomorrow..."

"What? Why? I thought you were afraid of your parents..." Uh oh...was Mystique telling the truth?

"I am, Lance...but, what must be done, must be done. If I am to free myself from my own fate, I must destroy Atlantis and everyone in it..."

"Everyone? Why everyone?"

"Because everyone here thinks that Atlantis is some great city, but it is only greatly evil. Everyone there is taught that our race should rule the world...at least, that’s what my aunt told me before she died. She was a rebel back home, she was like me, she didn’t believe in ruling the planet. Besides, it sounds like to much of a responsibility if you ask me..."

"You aren’t going to do this by yourself....are you?"

She nodded. "If I can learn to freeze the waters in the masses, then I can freeze the city and move it to cold waters where Atlantis will remain forever frozen, but I don’t know how to freeze it enough to turn the city into a block of ice. I just need the tune my father uses. He can freeze the waters a little more than I can. But not by much. If I could learn the tune, I could amplify it with my voice."

"Wow. How long did you think all of this out?"

"I’m making it up as I go along..." She sighed. "I just need a good plan."

"I’m not going to let you go alone. I’m coming along."

"Lance, you can’t...if we’re caught...we could get into a lot of trouble."

"Trouble’s my middle name." He ran his fingers through her hair.

"No, no...I mean we could die...."

"I won’t let you die alone..."

She sighed and gave up. "If you want to come...you can. But please be careful....promise me."

"I promise." He smiled at her. She returned his smile. His arms went back around her waist and he pulled her close. They kissed each other again.

~*~Xavier Institute~*~

Jean was trying to find Emerald’s location. She snorted. "In one ear and out the other." She muttered as Emerald and Lance’s image entered her mind.

~*~Next Day~*~ (Erm, Sunday...I think.)

Emerald looked at the beach. It was sometime around 10:00 in the morning, and she was waiting for Lance. He drove up, parked and hopped out of his car. He walked up and kissed her a greeting. "Ready?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Lance had a boat hooked up to his car. He unhooked it and got it ready, but it took longer because he kept staring at Emerald, who was using her mermaid ability for the first time in a long time. (Nobody’s around) After finally getting it up, she jumped into the water and he was just about to get on when the Brotherhood showed up.

"Where do you think you’re going?" Toad asked.

Lance removed his shirt. "Out." He muttered.

"You ain’t goin out there with that Atlantian chick, are you? I mean, Mystique said..."

"Mystique says a lot of things. Remember, she’s just as rotten as the rest of us."

"Yeah, but her and Magneto are tryin to keep us alive...if the world ends up in ruins, it’s gonna be your fault."

"Alright, it’ll be my fault." He started the motor and went off, with Emerald swimming by his side.

Follow them. Magneto’s voice echoed out to the Brotherhood.

"Can do." Pietro said. They prepared to follow them.

~*~Out in the middle of the Ocean, heading for Atlantis~*~

"So, how far is Atlantis, anyway?" Lance asked. Emerald swam beside the boat like a dolphin, coming up every once in awhile to let him know where she was.

"Pretty far."

"Hope this thing has enough gas in it." He muttered. They continued on, Lance trying his hardest to concentrate on steering the boat, instead of concentrating on the way Emerald’s fin was perfectly curved to make her swim extremely fast.

~*~Above Atlantis~*~

When they reached Atlantis, it was nighttime. Emerald stopped swimming, and signaled Lance to stop the boat. After he did, she climbed in and her fin changed back into her legs. "Now, what?" He asked her.

"We wait until mornin. The we sneak in."

"In broad daylight?"

"They expect attacks at night. That’s when they have the highest security around the castle."

"Oh, alright."

"Lance, do you have a fishing pole?"

"Uh...yeah, it’s in here." He opened a compartment and pulled out a fishing pole. "Why do you need it?" He handed it to her. She smiled and stuck the line into the water. "If any guards are down there, they’ll easily spot our boat. If they see a fishing line, they’ll think it’s just a fisherman who fell asleep. That stuff happens all the time, so they won’t think much of it." She said.

"Hmm, not only are you smart and beautiful, but sneaky too..." He was admiring and started to hold her again. She smiled.

"Lance, we really need to rest for tomorrow..."

"Aww, come on. Just give me one hour...?"

"Fine, one hour, and then we need to get some sleep." He smiled and sat down, pulling her on his lap, and kissed her.

~*~ 59 minutes later ~*~

A few miles away, a small boat was watching Lance and Emerald’s boat. Toad put down his binoculars. "Man, don’t they ever stop?"

"They will, don’t worry. Wait until they’re asleep. Then we go after them." Pietro said. Fred wasn’t with them because he was too heavy for the boat. They continued watching the other boat.

Emerald sat quietly with her eyes half-closed while Lance had his arms around her shoulders, tenderly kissing her. She caught a quick glance at his watch. "You’re like a drug, baby. I can’t get enough of you..."

"You’ll have to, Lance. Time’s up. And besides, you’ve been smoking again, haven’t you?" She folded her arms. "It’s really bad for your health, you know."

"I know. I know. I’ll quit, I promise."

She stood up and walked over to one side of the boat. "Good night, sweetheart." She lied down and yawned.

"Night, baby." He kissed her forehead and walked over to the other side of the boat. He smiled and watched her sleep until he fell asleep himself.

"Now, we make our move..." Pietro and Toad got out of their boat and swam to Lance and Emerald’s. They quietly snuck aboard. "Alright, now be real careful and gag the girl."

"Right." Toad got a rope and quietly tied it around Emerald, gagging her to keep her quiet if she awoke. "Good thing she’s a deep sleeper. Too bad. She really is kinda cute. No wonder Lance is crazy about her."

"Ssh." Pietro hushed him. "Shut up, man. You wanna wake up Lance? Just tie her down and let’s scram." Toad nodded and finished. "Alright, pops’ll do the rest." Magneto used his power to quietly pull their own boat towards them. They quietly lifted her up and set her down into the boat. The paddled out until Lance was out of earshot, and then they started the motor and headed back.

~*~The Next Morning~*~

Lance awoke and yawned. He sat up and stretched, sleeping in the boat made him uncomfortable. He blinked and looked over to where Emerald was supposed to be, but he didn’t see her. "Emerald?" He called. He looked into the water. Hmm...maybe she already went down....He thought. He shrugged and changed into his diving suit. He dove into the water and after swimming straight down for twenty minutes, he saw it. A large beautiful city with a crystal castle right in the middle. He swam to the castle and looked around. He saw many people, who were like different colored merpeople. Their scales were all different colors, like blue, green, red, purple, and so on. They all had large butterfly wings too. He hid behind a windowsill of the castle. He peered in and saw the king, or whom he thought looked like the king, sitting at a desk. But no Emerald. Where is she? Did they capture her? Oh no...what if they killed her? The king stood up, and looked at a special paper in his hand. He was tall and muscular, with blue scales. He hummed, then smiled and nodded. Then he took a deep breath, and sang. His desk turned to ice. Lance memorized the melody, although he was afraid they caught Emerald. He told himself to be calm. He had heard that lovers almost had a psychic bond and they could know what was going on with each other, but he never believed it until now. He concentrated. Emerald, where are you, baby? He thought hard. Oh God! She’s with Magneto! I can feel it. I gotta get outta here. He began to swim up to the surface. Something grabbed his ankle. He turned and found a long chain around his leg, with two guards smirking at him. "Well, well, well...what do we have here?" They laughed at each other and pulled Lance down, who was fighting them the best he can, but they were to strong. They took him to the dungeon.

~*~Magneto’s Lair~*~

Emerald opened her eyes slowly. "Lance?" She said...or tried to say. Instead she gave a muffled "Mmfh?"

Emerald opened her eyes wider, then gasped as she saw that she was bound and gagged. She was surrounded by the Brotherhood, with Magneto floating above them.

"Sure thing, pops." Pietro took off her gag and she growled and tried to bite him. "Woah. Feisty, aren’t you?"

"You creeps. What have you done with Lance? Where are we? Where is he?"

"He’s back in Atlantis. Don’t worry, they’ll take good care of him. We’ll wait until he’s learned his lesson before going back and getting him..."

"But they’ll kill him! How could you be so heartless?!"

"Sacrifices?" Her voice softened. She was scared. "What are you going to do with me?"

She sighed. She hadn’t a clue what to do now. She was helpless because there was no water around, but maybe...she would wait. She had an idea. I hope Lance is okay....She thought miserably.

~*~The Atlantian Castle Dungeon~*~

Lance was chained to the wall of the underwater castle. "Emerald..." He muttered. The king floated down, along with the two guards who captured Lance. "So..." He said, his voice deep and rich. "What do we have here? An actual human? My, my. How interesting. And you look to be around Synondra’s age. Too bad she’s not around. She hasn’t been for years after my sister ran off with her. Anyway...what are you doing here?

"I was just scuba diving...where am I? What is this place?" Lance tried to act like he had no idea what was going on. He had the melody and he needed to get out.

"He has no idea...hmm. What shall I do with you? Well, you are just a human, and you humans are completely stupid...so I think we should waste no time and get rd of you. I don’t want to spoil our waters with useless blood, so guards...release him."

The guards exchanged glances, then looked at the king like he had lost his mind. "Are you sure, sire?" One of them asked.

"Yes, yes. If he tells his friends, no one will believe him. Just get him out of here." They nodded and released Lance, who swam towards his boat as fast as he could.

"Why did you do that, sire? We always kill every human that comes around here."

"I want you to follow him. He knows Synondra; I could almost smell her wings. He will lead us to her. As for you..." He pointed to the other guard. "Prepare the army." The two guards nodded, then swam off.

~*~Xavier Mansion~*~

Logan was reading when he heard a knocking on the door. He grunted, set his newspaper down, and opened the door. He was surprised to find Lance standing there. "What do you want, kid?"

"It’s about Emerald..." He folded his arms. He hated standing here, talking to an X-freak. But it was for Emerald...

"So, what did you do to her?" He growled.

"Nothin. It was my gang, and Mystique...they took her..." Kurt walked downstairs and stopped and gasped when he saw Lance.

"Vat are you doing here?" Kurt glared. "Vhere’s my sister?"

Lance lowered his head. "Magneto kidnapped her...that’s the only reason I’m here. I need.......your help." He finally said. Now he was asking the X-dorks for help...what next? "But don’t think this changes anything...you’re still a bunch of X-dorks." He snorted.

Logan studied him. "Alright, we’ll go over there...but we’re only doing this for Emerald..."

"Aren’t we all..." Lance muttered. Suddenly, the two guards tackled Lance.

"All right, where is she?"

"What are you doing here? You said I could go..."

"We lied. Now give us the girl, or we kill you...aah!" A lightning bolt struck both of them. They fell back and cringed. Storm tied them up.

"Who’re they?" Logan asked.

"Guards..." Lance muttered as he stood up. "Atlantian guards."

"They’re from the city of Atlantis?"

"Yeah, they’re looking for Emerald...the king’s daughter..."

"Daughter?" Kurt didn’t understand. "But if he’s her father, then vhy isn’t she with him? Does she know about this?"

"She knows."

"Then vhy..."

"Same reason you and Mystique aren’t all buddy-buddy. To him, she’s a little pawn. I’ll tell you more later. We need to get her away from Magneto before he slices her genes."

"Right, let’s head for the X-jet."

~*~Magneto’s Lair/Castle/Whatever~*~

Her violet eyes were glowing brightly and vines were shooting out of windows and trees, branches, and other plants were growing everywhere rapidly. Pietro, Mystique, and Toad were avoiding the thorns.

Stop this! Magneto yelled. Just then, the X-jet lands outside and Kurt, Lance, and Logan jump out. Lance heads towards the castle, and watches Magneto float away. He notices the vines start to cover the castle. He makes a dash inside. Logan and Kurt follow. "Emerald?" He called. He heard a faint groan coming from one direction and he ran over in that way. He stopped and looked at the large room of the castle. "Woah..." He muttered. It looked like a jungle. Emerald sat in one corner, still tied up, and looking really weak. She opened her eyes, and smiled faintly. Toad, Mystique, and Pietro were caught in thorny vines. Lance stomped up to the Brotherhood, causing small quakes with each step. He folded his arms and glared at them. "Try that again..." He growled. "And I’ll join them..." He pointed to Logan and Kurt, who were untying Emerald.

Mystique glared. "Okay, we need a talk..." She said...

~*~A few weeks later~*~ (Saturday)

It was 7:00PM and a car honked outside. Emerald rushed down the stairs in her jeans and white tanktop. She was about to open the door when Kurt ported in front of her. "One O’clock." He folded his arms. She smiled, hugged him, and kissed his cheek. He smiled.

"That I can do." She smiled and he stood out of her way. She walked out and hopped into Lance’s car. They smiled at each other and drove off. He pulled over to a cliff by the ocean and they got out. They walked up and sat at the top.

"I’m so glad everything worked out, Emerald." He smiled and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Me too, Lance." She sighed and closed her eyes. After working everything out, the X-men and the Brotherhood agreed to let Lance take Emerald out every Saturday night, as long as it didn’t affect the battles between the gangs. But now, Lance had quit smoking and is trying a little harder in school. He also tries to leave the X-teens alone and if he is forced to battle, he tries not to seriously hurt anyone. And the same with Emerald, she tries to avoid arguments at school. They sat there, quietly kissing for awhile. Then Lance stood up and smiled. He walked over to the car, and turned on the radio to a slow song. "Shall we?" He offered his hand. She smiled, took his hand and stood up. They began to dance.

~*~*~*~*~*~THE END~*~*~*~*~*~

*Note: Here’s the little disclaimer saying that the X-men and the Brotherhood aren’t mine. But Emerald IS. Her and her little dog too, if you take her or her Pomeranian pup, I WILL find you and beat you to a bloody pulp.