Fight and Shadow - plans for the future

[scribblemyname]

I'm working on my plans for Fight and Shadow, trying to figure out the best way to travel through the fic and wind it up. Oddly enough, I tend to plan after a certain point with this kind of story.

I'm summarizing what I've got so far for the first 21 chapters. The first 12 are already written, but the rest aren't. So if you don't like spoilers, don't read on.

Still thinking them all through and have a few chapters scattered here and there for the later sections. I'm kind of theming each set of ten: Obsession, Fury, Pain, Passion, Fire.

We'll see.

1. Friendship Renewed
Storm tells Rogue that the Cure is failing and Shadowcat that Pyro is returning. Shadowcat remembers John. The two girls reconcile when they realize that Bobby and Kitty’s relationship was more about John than either of them.

2. Balance of Power
Pyro agrees to his attorney Emma Frost's plan for his probation. Storm informs the team about the Cure, Pyro, Rogue returning to teaching, and Remy's imminent arrival. Shadowcat expresses concern at Emma Frost's name. Bobby discovers that Rogue and Shadowcat are now friends again.

3. The Queen's Game
Shadowcat steals Rogue medical files from Hank at Rogue's request. Remy receives a letter from the Guild and tells Storm he will be delayed. Pyro arrives at the mansion with his probation officer, Emma Frost, and encounters Shadowcat returning from the medical bay. He provokes her and she slaps him, then warns him to call her Shadowcat. He is confused by this, as he gave her the name. Emma asks what that was about but he blows her off.

4. Obsession
Rogue and Shadowcat commence mutation research with Moira's permission. Moira has been caring for the Professor so he can return and also spending time at the school as doctor. Rogue observes mutations, especially Logan's. Shadowcat waits for Pyro in his room to return his lighter. He says it was John’s, not Pyro’s. Emma monitors Pyro’s conversation because he fits into her plans. Remy encounters someone obsessing over him.

Chapter 5: Light Switch

Bobby begins to worry about Rogue and her seeming obsession with mutations and her behavior around him. Logan finally talks to her and finds out what she’s up to before his meeting with Storm about Pyro and Remy. He agrees to a game of poker with the two guys.

6. A Girl You Can Touch
Remy dreams about what happened in New Orleans. Moira and Shadowcat discuss the girls’ research and formalizing their working relationship. Remy meets Rogue when she's trying to meet Shadowcat in the library. He's immediately attracted, but Pyro accuses her of betrayal for taking the Cure. When Bobby looks for Rogue, he finds her in the library with Shadowcat. Rogue breaks up with him, making it clear it’s about both girls.

7. Adaptive Measures
Shadowcat works off her frustration with Pyro in the Danger Room. Remy wakes from nightmares and also goes to the Danger Room. They spar with each other and he realizes she is angry with Pyro. He wakes up Pyro to confront him. Pyro feels guilty for not protecting her. Emma is eavesdropping again, wishing she could use Remy instead of Pyro. Rogue waits for Shadowcat to go to sleep, then sneaks downstairs for ice cream, encountering Remy.

8. What Lies Within
Pyro decides between being Pyro and John, while Emma tries vainly to stop him. Professor Xavier talks to Moira about Shadowcat while she is back at Muir Island. Rogue finishes her ice cream and practices reaching for the psyches. Remy asks what she is doing and they talk about powers before she tries using hers on him. Logan takes Remy down to Hank for an exam. Emma is unable to hack into a secret place in Pyro's mind.

9. Shadows of the Past
Shadowcat recruits Logan to help her and Rogue find people to use for their research. Logan joins Remy and Pyro for a game of poker. Pyro learns that Remy arrived with extensive injuries. The three remember various things about telepaths. Pyro always identified with Jean, but not the Professor. Remy remembers Sinister's vain attempts to break into his mind. Jean did something for Pyro when they were both with the Brotherhood.

10. Learned Behavior
Rogue watches Remy fight in the Danger Room and finds herself attracted. Shadowcat has her first tutoring session with Pyro and they lay some ground rules, including no personal interactions or code names. Storm suggests to Rogue to get Remy's help working on her mutation.

11. On Touch and Touchability
Rogue returns to the control room to wait for Remy to finish fighting. He flirts with her shamelessly but agrees to help her with her mutation. Rogue and Shadowcat commiserate over the guys while grading papers before classes. Logan corrals Bobby into being one of the girls’ research subjects. Remy joins the girls in the library and finally finds out what Rogue’s mutation is.

12. Fury
Remy, Shadowcat, and Rogue discuss mutations and how they work. Remy lets slip that his methods of control has changed and tells them he is an Alpha mutant. Professor Xavier and Moira discuss Shadowcat's research with Rogue. The Professor feels the Phoenix awakening. Pyro pesters Shadowcat in the kitchen and she lashes out at him bitterly, quoting him a poem he wrote her before his defection to Magneto.

13: Illusions of Control

Rogue goes over her notes regarding mutations: mutation categories, memory storage, telepathic function, triggers for Logan/Kitty, profile Phoenix, Xavier, and them. The body has to feel its current assets are not strong enough before it will access other potentialities. Logan convinces Jubilee and her friends to help the girls in their research in exchange for help with their own mutations. Pyro volunteers when he overhears Logan saying it might help Rogue get over the Cure faster. Remy explores the lab while Shadowcat and Moira explain everything. Remy learns that Xavier is alive but is warned to silence by Moira. Shadowcat explains to him her theory of illusions of control. At the end of that, Bobby shows up for his testing.

Chapter 14: The Way They Were

Remy watches with great interest as Rogue, Pyro, and Bobby go over stats and stuff, "embrace the mutant within" "shut up, Pyro." Moira gets the samples. Shadowcat takes notes on the data they’re collecting, while Rogue and the boys work out some of their unique dynamic and history. Emma has decided to allow Pyro the time in the lab, figuring only useful consequences will follow. She is having some interference with her meddling. Logan comes in and adds a menacing guardian to the picture. Professor Xavier searches for Phoenix, but can no longer find her. He decides to travel to where he found her last. Rogue leaves the lab very tired after and Remy offers to walk her to her room. She hesitates, but accepts the offer. They talk about how he wants to work on her mutation.

Chapter 15: Fighting Fire

Remy gets a phone call from Henri about the Assassins. Shadowcat teaches her biology class then goes to tutor Pyro. Shadowcat/Pyro in the library, tension between them, he refuses to tell why he left. Remy decides, since adrenaline is supposed to trigger/activate absorption, they practice in the Danger Room: "as much as I appreciate the leather, chere, we need something that shows more skin." Finally succeeds in pulling something. Sparks and charges, not at all what either of them expected.

Chapter 16: Injured Relations

Remy is in the medical bay being treated for burns after what Rogue did to his powers. He expresses his surprise and suggests a different approach. Shadowcat, Moira, and Hank all go over the data in excitement. Remy has to talk Rogue into starting back up right away. Logan offers to help Rogue for his healing factor. She declines. Pyro/Shadowcat “I’m trying, Kitty.”

Chapter 17: False Start

Shadowcat sorts through the data, but says she’s about to needing Rogue’s. Xavier gets nothing at all when he visits the birth place, but is then hurt badly by an unknown entity in search of the Phoenix. Rogue and Remy come up dry in their following sessions. Pyro and Shadowcat begin to slowly reconcile.

Chapter 18: The Fire Burns

The Shadow King finds Phoenix. Remy angers Rogue deliberately, trying to activate her powers. Phoenix battles with the Shadow King. He is testing her to see how strong she is. When he is satisfied that he knows, he leaves her. The cry of the Phoenix bird echoes across the astral plane. Emma tells Pyro the plans she has for him and makes clear to him why he will follow. Pyro stares at the door long after Emma has left him and makes his choice.

Chapter 19: Reality Check

Storm tells Logan what she’s hearing from Alex and Betsy regarding the astral plane. Xavier wakes up with Tessa, who has saved him (from?). He asks her to help him get to the School. Shadowcat gets the brush-off from Pyro in the hallway. Remy tells Rogue about his past (a little) and what getting control really means.

Chapter 20: What Lies Ahead

Xavier arrives at the Institute with Tessa much to Storm, Moira, and Logan’s surprise. Shadowcat is angry with Pyro when they sit down for their next session. Pyro gives Shadowcat his lighter then leaves the library. She doesn’t know he has left altogether. Someone gets Rogue and Remy for an emergency meeting. Shadowcat and Rogue sit in the War Room as Xavier explains to them some of what is going on with the Shadow King and the Phoenix.

Chapter 21: Edge of the Worlds

Marrow arrives at the mansion, bringing the warning that the Assassins know Remy overstayed the safe passage. They wanted to torture her knowledge out of her, but she got away because of the Thieves. Storm and Remy about what is really going on and why he was delayed in coming. Betsy, Logan, and Warren prepare for their mission to scout out the Shadow King. Kurt and Remy are also suggested.