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[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

Marie-Ange hovered outside the door to the side chapel at St. Drausinus Church for a moment. She brushed her fingers against the edge of the thick folded paper in her coat pocket, and tried to breathe calmly.

The note had been a neatly penned brief request from Doctor Essex to meet with him here. The note had been slipped inside a letter from her grandparents. How Essex had gotten it there was currently on the list of things Marie-Ange was desperately trying not to think about along with lying to Kurt about going to confession, and actually meeting with the Doctor, which she was fairly sure would get her into a world of trouble.

The chapel was dimly lit by candles and amber colored lights behind the small alter. Essex sat straight in the pew, the light from the strain glass window scattering around him, rendered his form black and featureless. His pale scarred hands rested on the back of the pew in front of him, and he waited soundlessly as Marie approached him.

"Doctor Essex?" Marie-Ange whispered as she slid with practiced ease into the pew behind the doctor.

"I apologize for the secrecy, Ms. Colbert. However, I think that the staff would not support your meeting with me." Essex said, looking around. "I haven't been in a church in twenty years.

"I am still not sure if this is the right thing to do, but it was definitely the right thing to make you leave. I do not understand it."

"Ms. Colbert, unfortunately it was just a matter of time. One does not fight the system without the system fighting back." Essex said. "I trust that they have not pressured you or the other students that I worked with for information?"

Marie-Ange shook her head. "Not really. They asked me what I discussed in your class, and if I knew about Ms. Braddock's surgery, but there have not been many questions."

"Good. Interrogating you students would have been most unfair." Essex nodded. "Has there been any change in Ms. Braddock's condition?"

"She is not awake yet." Marie-Ange paused to look around briefly, and cross herself. "And she has not gotten worse, or died, that I know of."

"Blast." Essex' fingers tightened on the pew. "As I feared. Ms. Colbert, it has never come up, but how do you feel about the entire situation?"

"I am not sure. If Miss Braddock asked you not to tell anyone, then you should not have told anyone. I am worried for her though."

"I am worried for her as well. Very worried. The trust Ms. Braddock placed in me is not the type of thing that can be blithely discharged, and if I am not allowed to treat her, she will die."

Marie-Ange paled and made a small sighing noise. "They should not have made you leave then."

"But they did, and that is something that I must deal with." Essex said. His knuckles were white from where he gripped the pew in from of him. "Ms. Colbert, what is happening is wrong. I am no martyr, but I am afraid of what is happening in that school."

"I do not understand. I do not think anything bad is happening.."

"Ms. Colbert, one day the combat training and the paramilitary aspects of that school will get to the ears of those who fear a mutant uprising. When that happens, they will bring the combined weight of their power against it. A thousand mutants wouldn't be enough to stop them. I don't want to see my students in the ruins."

Marie-Ange shakes her head. "We are not combat training, like in the army. "
"How is unarmed combat class?" Essex said quietly.

"It is.. not going.." she trails off. "But that is not the same. It is so we can be safe if someone attacks us."

"It's the first class in basic training, Ms. Colbert." Essex shook his head. "I am not saying that Xavier intends you to serve as his shock troops, but from outside, it looks very much like it. The current government may get scared. When it gets scared, the tanks roll."

"It is? I do not want to think that Professor Xaiver is training us like that though. I thought that American colleges taught karate classes sometimes. Why does the government not get upset by that?"

"Because a group of college student does not have the ability to level Upper Manhattan." Essex pointed. "It's your power that they fear. That power being honed for a purpose they don't understand. In their minds, Xavier is building an army, and the training he provides only convinces them further. That is why I think your project is so important, Ms. Colbert."

"Your government is stupid. I do not mean any offense, but it is. France is no better, but we do not try to make people into soldiers."

"I strongly agree, Ms. Colbert." Essex said. "I want to see a balance happening. I don't want any of you fed into the gears of the machine, Ms. Colbert. There can be peace between human and mutant, but it cannot come behind cocked weapons."

"I do not know what to say or do to fix it. I do not know if we can fix it." Marie-Ange shakes her head, and sighs. "It took your country a century to understand that skin color does not mean anything. There are people in France who barely understand that, but mostly they just hate everyone who is not French."

"And we still have a long way to go." Essex said. "Still, I am legally obligated to hate the French. I'm not allowed back home in England if I do not."

Marie-Ange covers her mouth with her hands to smother a laugh. "I have to swear to hate the English to get a drivers' license at home, or that is what my Papa says. His supervisor is from London, so I sometimes think he is kidding. " she pauses. "I sometimes do not think that a school just for mutants is a good idea. It is.. holding us back, I think the phrase is? It makes us have to go further to get people to understand. I do not think we should be hiding. I think we should be wearing pins and shirts and all of us making our hair funny colors."

"I refuse to dye my hair, Ms. Colbert. Otherwise, I think it is a brilliant idea." Essex gave one of his thin smiles.

"It is? Ms. Munroe didn't like the other idea, and .. I thought this would maybe be as silly."

"Ms. Munroe wears leather to work. I don't think her opinion should matter much." Essex said. "I will help you all I can with it, Ms. Colbert."

"Really? That would be really good. But.. I kind of feel bad because.." she pauses. "Won't you get in trouble?"

"I have no doubt that I can handle any trouble, Ms. Colbert. I am about to stir up a vast amount."

Marie-Ange frowns at the last sentence, and looks puzzled.

"Ms. Colbert, I'm going to ask something of you that I have no right to ask. Something that is terribly unfair to ask of a young woman and that I loathe being forced to ask. However, I have no choice." Essex said, obviously not wanting to bring up the subject.

"I.. I am not sure what you need, but.. " she trails off, still looking rather confused.

"Ms. Colbert, Betsy will die if she is not treated outside of the mansion. I cannot let that happen." Essex said. "I have made arrangements for the surgery outside of the school. It cost me a great many favours, but I can save Ms. Braddock's life."

Marie-Ange tilts her head, realization slowly crossing her face. "The professor will not let you take her to another hospital, yes?"

"No. If Ms. Braddock is to receive the treatment she requires, I have to get her out of the mansion. To do that, I need the help of the students. You can now see what I'm asking of you, and why it is unfair."

Marie-Ange grabs the edge of the bench tightly and bites her bottom lip. "I do not know what I can do to help, but I do not want Ms. Braddock to get worse, or to die. "

"Are you sure, Ms. Colbert? If the staff finds out, they will be extremely angry. They could even expel you." Essex said. "I want you to be sure you understand the decision you are making."

"I am very not sure, but if I do not help, Ms. Braddock could die, and letting someone die when I know I can help is a mortal sin." She unclenched the bench. "If I got expelled, I would go back to France and go to my old school. If I do not help, I could be condemned to hell."

"Thank you, Ms. Colbert. I am in your debt more than you know." Essex patted her hand. "I will send word about what I will need you to do. I will do all I can to see that you are protected."

"All right. As long as I do not have to hit anyone, I will do almost anything to help."

"I think I can guarantee that." Essex said, giving her another thin smile.