Emil coughed and hugged himself, leaning against the side of the bus. He was absolutely miserable, but the bus was the safest way for him to travel. There wasn't much security in a bus station, whereas in an airport you could find security every two steps. So there was Emil, switching buses every few cities, slowly working his way up the country.

What he was going to do once he got to New York, Emil had no idea whatsoever. He had never been there before, plus he had never even seen a picture of any of the X-Men, so he really had nothing to go on. He was just hoping that he'd be able to find his way to them with few problems.

Emil tried not to look at the lady sitting beside him, although it was difficult, and he tried even harder not to draw any attention to himself, although he noticed that every time he had a coughing fit, the lady looked his way.

The woman, who looked to Emil to be in her mid-sixties, finally decided to say something to him.

"Honey, are you alright?"

Emil stopped coughing and took a deep breath before looking at her and replying. He felt feverish, and like he was going to throw up. He also wanted nothing more than to lie down somewhere and go to sleep. He had been starting to feel a bit better, but this trip was draining him of all energy.

"Non…I'm not okay." He told the lady, half wishing she'd minded her own business. "I feel rotten an' I probably shouldn' be here…"

"Then why are you?" she questioned, a concerned look on her face.

Emil pondered that question for a moment before answering. He finally decided to play it safe. "Fam'ly business."

"Are you going to make it to where you're going okay? Do you want me to get them to stop the bus so you can rest somewhere?" the lady asked.

"Non, non, dat's okay. It's extremely important dat I get to New York as soon as possible."

The bus continued to roll along the high way and Emil sat there, looking out the window and coughing. The lady decided to leave him be, although she continued to look at him sympathetically every time he coughed. Emil sighed and wished the trip wouldn't take so long. He was exhausted. He just hoped Tante Mattie was having an easier time back home than he was.

Tante Mattie woke up to find herself bound and gagged beside the thieves, along with Bella Donna, who was shooting angry looks at Fifolet, Questa and Singer. Gris was nowhere to be found, but Mattie had an idea where he was, and suddenly dreaded his return. She knew he would not be happy when he learned that Emil was gone.

Sure enough, Gris rejoined them in the basement a few moments later, his dark eyes blazing furiously. He went over to Mattie and pulled the bandana out of her mouth.

"Okay, old woman, where is he?" he demanded.

Tante Mattie looked as innocent as she could. "What are you talkin' 'bout?"

"Don' play coy wit' me!" Gris snarled angrily. "Lapin. Where is he? Where'd he go?"

Mattie didn't make eye contact with Gris. She knew he would not be happy when he found out the truth. "He has gone to New York." She told him simply, not offering any other information.

"He went…? Wait. He went to get LeBeau! You sent him to get LeBeau! How dare you?!"

"Dis has gone too far. It needs to be stopped. An' since you aren' listenin' to Bel, dere is only one other option. Remy. I jus' hope Emil gets de message to him in time."

The bus rolled to a stop at the station in Westchester and Emil sighed with relief. He hadn't been able to get much sleep on his trip, partially because he didn't want to miss any of the switches he had to make, and partially because of the small children who were continually making noise around him. The lady who had been his seat partner had gotten off the bus hours ago, and he'd been sitting alone for the last leg of his trip, something he didn't mind. If he didn't have to sit with anyone, he didn't have to answer any questions that would be best left unasked and unanswered.

Emil got off the bus and started walking. He had no idea how big Westchester was, but he figured if he could walk around New Orleans all the time, he could walk around Westchester, and hopefully get where he needed to go.

He had to admit as he walked around, Westchester was a beautiful little town. However, as the day wore on, he was starting to think he was never going to find his destination. He hadn't seen a single mansion since he arrived, and he knew that the X-Men lived in a mansion. He was feeling discouraged, but he knew better than to give up, so he kept going, even though his mental and physical pain and exhaustion was beginning to get the best of him.

As the sun went down, Emil's eyesight started giving out on him. He was having a very hard time keeping his eyelids open, and when he could manage to get them to function for a few moments, he couldn't focus his eyes. He sat down on some grass and leaned against a large elm tree.

"Mus' rest…jus' for a minute…" Was the last thought that went through Emil's drained mind before he passed out and fell over onto the grass.

The Harley sped along the road, it's driver seemingly unaware of anything except himself, his bike and the road. That wasn't entirely the case, however, and the bike came abruptly to a halt when the driver saw a shape lying under the tree just outside the gate to the Xavier School. He parked the bike and got off, going slowly over to the shape, which he saw was a young man with red hair.

His keen senses alive, the short, stocky man sniffed the air and took a look around, but could not smell or see any danger surrounding the young man, who was obviously either deeply asleep or unconscious. The only thing that registered was the fact that the young man was very ill and in a lot of physical and emotional pain.

The stocky man sighed and rolled the red-haired man onto his back, something that got a slight, almost undetectable groan out of the stranger, but nothing else. He tapped his communicator.

"Logan to Jean."

A charming female voice came over the communicator link. "What is it, Logan?"

"Jeannie, you better come out here. I'm just outside the gate, there's a man, I'd say early-to-mid-twenties, unconscious under one of the trees. Bring Hank with you."

"We're on our way. Jean out."

Logan waited for his teammates to join him and looked down at the young man. "Don't worry, kid. Hank's one of the best damned doctors on the planet. He'll take care of you. Whoever you are."