Author's notes: Okay, I liked the New Mutants limited series, but it left me with one huge question: why didn't Rahne and Dani at least talk about the whole undercover Shield agent/MLF situation? I mean, they used to be closer than anybody else in NM, so Dani's just going to lead a strike team into Muir, fight Excalibur, try to steal Legacy Data and the Xavier Protocols, then say "Oh, it didn't mean anything because I was undercover," and Rahne just accepts this? I didn't like that, so I'm writing the scene as how I think it should have happened. This is before the New Mutants drop in on their older counterparts. I've also taken liberties with Marvel continuity, namely, certain events in here hadn't yet happened in the official timeline, and I'm not writing accents because I'm not that good at them. (Still, I'm probably better than Raab....) If anyone wants to archive it, just let me know. "regular speech" \\private thoughts// Reasons by Rhiannon Liddell Danielle Moonstar sat up in bed, glad the night was over. \\ It's tough spending the weekend with your old best friends whom you've recently pretended to betray,// she thought. \\I'm not sure I like it. And the worst part of being undercover as an enemy of your friends is the guilty conscience and the nightmares that stem from it.// She thought about what Rahne had whispered to her under the cover of their reunion at the airport yesterday: "Dani, we need to talk." Dani agreed with her friend. Of all the things she had done while with the Mutant Liberation Front, nothing had hurt more than invading Rahne's home on Muir Island and fighting her friend's teammates.\\ At least Rahne was here in the States, so we were spared seeing each other, at least. With our psi-bond, we'd never have been able to fight each other. If that old bond even works.// Dani got up and pulled on jeans and her X-Files T-shirt. She wandered downstairs to the kitchen and found Xi'an Coy Manh and Roberto DaCosto eating breakfast. "Good morning, Dani," Xi'an greeted her friend cordially. Roberto looked up from his plate just long enough to mutter a greeting around a mouthful of syrupy waffle. " 'Berto, where the _heck_ did your manners go?!" demanded Dani in her most severe tone of voice. "I left them in Texas at the Machine Man festival, of course," he responded coolly. "Same place you left your morals, huh, Bobby?" came a new voice, as Sam Guthrie appeared in the kitchen. "Look, Sam, we told you, Tabby and I didn't exactly plan to be attracted to each other, it just..... happened!" Bobby defended himself. "What happened in Texas?" Rahne Sinclair wanted to know, as she appeared in the kitchen and leaned against the doorjamb. Sam scowled across the table at Roberto. "Tabitha sent me an invitation to meet up with X-Force in Texas. I got there and found my girlfriend locking lips with this jerk." Dani intervened before a shouting match could break out. "Sam, I know you're upset, but could you at least act your age? I think the two of you should have a calm, rational discussion. Shan, would you act as referee, please? I'd like to talk to Rahne for a while." The three of them nodded and disappeared into the living room. Rahne sat down at the table and looked at Dani expectantly. Dani took the seat across from her friend. "Okay, Rahne, I'm pretty sure you want to talk about why I ever joined the MLF, right?" "Right," she answered firmly. "And how you could invade Muir and attack Excalibur. That was pretty cold-blooded, Dani." \\Don't I know it?// Dani thought ruefully. Aloud, she replied, " I was an undercover agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Furtop. I had to earn a living somehow, and while Prof's scholastic courses give the illusion that we're studying at a private academy, the stuff leaves you completely unprepared for real life. The skills I learned here guaranteed that I was only fit for the superhero or espionage trades. So I joined S.H.I.E.L.D.. And yes, of course I was simply _thrilled_ that my first assignment involved joining a team I consider the enemy and attacking people I consider friends." "Don't use sarcasm on me, Dani," Rahne snapped. "And don't give me that 'following orders' excuse. It didn't work for the Nazis, and it won't work for you." "Nice to see you've been keeping up with your studies," Dani returned. "Anyway, Rahne, I wasn't as lucky as you and Sam and Bobby. I didn't get a nice cushy job saving the world with Xavier paying all my expenses. I had to live in the real world, and do you know what? It wouldn't hurt any of us to get out of Xavier's manipulative grasp for a while." "What do you mean, manipulative?" Rahne demanded hotly. Dani met her gaze coolly. "Think about it, sweetie," she said, with a hint of their old closeness in her tone. "Xavier culled us out of, well, there must have been at least a thousand other mutants when he was assembling the New Mutants. Think, Rahne, about why we were chosen over others. I was completely ostracized, alone and afraid, of others and of myself, bearing the guilt of my parents death, looking for someone I could trust. "Hayseed was the oldest in a large family, and families have often proven to have several mutants in them. I mean, just look at the Summers clan. By removing Sam and recompensating them for not having him with them, he set up their gratitude so that he'd have a good chance of getting the training of the other children if they manifested mutant abilities. Isn't Paige training with Generation X now? "Prof only got the idea to start the New Mutants after Moira told him about you, which probably touched a nerve because it was so similar to how he himself had recruited Nightcrawler. "By recruiting Shan, he was making her and her siblings depend on him for their livelihood. They'd be completely dependent on him if Shan didn't have that independent streak that forced her to buy an apartment; not rent, mind you, but buy, and set up her own life outside of Xavier's grasp. "And Bobby, well, his dad wasn't around, his mom couldn't control him, and Xavier appeared as a savior just in the nick of time. He did the same thing when he gathered the other teams. He's-- he's been culling us, Rahne, just the same way that Apocalpse or Magneto would, picking us up at rough times and giving us a life. Trouble is, that what he gives us may not be the best thing for us." Rahne was watching Dani with round eyes and chewing the tip of her index finger, looking much younger than her sixteen years{1}. "You've grown up all of a sudden, Dani, and you're making me feel like a little kid," she stated matter-of-factly, with no trace of her earlier rancor. Evidently, Dani's point had connected solidly with her. Dani came around the table and hugged her friend tightly. "Are we still best friends?" she asked hopefully. Rahne nodded. "Always, no matter what." Footnotes: {1} Rahne's age is almost as hard to define as Kitty's, but [a] she was 13 at the beginning of NM and [b] it has been stated that three years have passed since then, as well as [c] Raab says she's 16. (I know, listening to Raab is a bad idea, but it's easier than trying to reason against him. And for the most part, he has fairly good reasons for his actions. Some of them, anyways.) Okay, I know this was probably a little sappy, but I couldn't stand not seeing at least a little conversation. Now, if only I could come up with a reason Raab knew about Rahne's old crush on Sam, but not about her and Dani's psi- link.... And, depending on the feedback, this may kick off a new series (working title: Explanations and Farewells) in which various characters explain their actions and/or say goodbye to others. So send me feedback at ZaraLyon@aol.com!