Title: Familiar Faces (Or Forever Young)
Author: Mac Xavier
Email: mac_xavier@yahoo.com
Fandom: X-Men & Highlander
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Wolverine returns to Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youth, with a few more memories and an old friend he and the Professor have in common. Rogue learns there are worse things in the world than not knowing who you are.
Series Title: Change is Eternal [1/?]
Characters: (From X-men the Movie) Wolverine, Cyclops, Professor Xavier, Jean Gray, Storm, Rogue, Various Students {like that blue haired kid I've decided is Beast} (From Highlander: The Series) Methos, Duncan MacLeod, Richie Ryan, Kronos, Cassandra, (OFC) Taylor 'Tayla' Clark.
Pairings: JG/SS, W/OFC, and a little W/R subtext
Class: Crossover (X-Men the Movie/Highlander the Series)
Disclaimer: X-men in all it's many incarnations belongs to Stan Lee and Marvel Entertainment Corperation. Rysher: Panzer/Davis owns Highlander style Immortality, Methos, Duncan MacLeod, Cassandra, and Kronos. I own Taylor Clark, and they can argue with the Clan Denile about who owns Richie Ryan. Marcus Brutus belongs to history, but don't worry, he isn't around long.
Note: ^ ^ denotes telepatic communication. ~ ~ sets off thoughts.


"I was wondering if you were planing on bringing that back," were the first words out of Cyclops' mouth when Wolverine stopped the motorcycle in front of the School's garage.

"Yer right, luv," drawled the girl behind him in a lazy British accent. "E is a dick."

"Scott Summers, Taylor Clark," Wolverine grunted. The girl swung off the bike with a smirk firmly locked on her face as her eyes raked over the prep school poster boy standing with his hands shoved in his pants' pockets.

"Ya can call me Tay," she drawled in the same lazy tone. She shoved her own hands into the pockets of her leather jacket. "This that mutant school, ya been telling me 'bout, luv?"

"You're a little old to enroll, babe," Wolverine rumbled as she shaded her eyes to examine the building.

Tay snorted. "Yer never to old ta learn."

Cyclops glared at them both from behind his ruby quartz glasses. Not that Tay was paying attention to him or that Wolverine cared. Tay had locked eyes with Professor Charles Xavier and a small smile was playing around her lips.

"Long time, eh, Charlie," she said softly.

"You haven't changed a bit, T. C.," Xavier whispered in shock.

Wolverine and Cyclops exchanged surprised looks. Cyclops found his voice first. "You know this girl, sir?"

"I haven't seen her since I was fifteen," the Professor explained, "but we were quite close then."

"Close," Tay chuckled. "Yeah, that's one way to put it."

Xavier raised his eyebrows. "Of course I remember you being more...."

"Refined for a teenager?" Tay offered in a suddenly crisp Oxford accent. "Quite. But that often becomes tiresome and lacks something for my current life."

Wolverine shook his head slowly. "I'm lost."

"That makes two of us," Cyclops muttered.

"No reason for you to be, kids." Tay flashed a sudden briliant grin that her earlier small smile had only hinted at. "My... special ablity is that I can't be killed, so I don't age."

"As I recall you're also rather talented with edged weapons," Xavier said with a small smile of his own.

Tay turned back to him with her eyebrows raised in concious mimicry. "As I recall you also have a tendancy to walk around in peoples' heads. Any thing else you'd care you recall?"

"Yes," he said slowly. "Your mind is rather overwhelming to attempt reading."

Her smirk returned firmly. "You always were a quick learner. And the name is Taylor these days. There wouldn't happen to be a spare room for an old friend, would there?"

"Always," Xavier said with a smile. "I take it you want one near Logan's?"

"Where ever one is avalible, actually," Tay answered.

Wolverine snorted and glanced at Cyclops. "So has Jean come to her senses about you, yet?"

"Don't hold your breath," Cyclops retorted.

"Jean?" Tay inquired icily. Her deep green eyes raked over the two younger men.

"Yes?" Jean Grey asked gently as she joined what was becoming a rather large gathering. One of her arm's entwined with one of Cyclops' arms.

Cyclops shot a smug smile in Wolverine's direction. "This is Jean, my fiancee."


Tay hummed to herself as she moved around the kitchen. She paused when she caught sight of the girl with huge brown eyes and chestnut hair staring at her from one of the doors. "Morning, ducks. Ya must be Rogue. Hungry?"

"Who... who are you?" the Southern teenager stammered.

"Name's Tay," she answered cheerfully as she resumed buzzing around the kitchen like a wingless bee. Her long black curls hung around her face and down her back in a sleep tousled mess. "I'm making omlets, want one?"

Rogue continued to stare as the strange woman cracked eggs with one hand while she sauteed mixed vegetables with the other. "Yeah, sure."

Tay flashed her a smile. "I hear we're both members of a very small club."

"Huh?"

"The Society of Logan's Friends," Tay chuckled. The eggs were quickly beaten and poured into a frying pan. "He doesn't have many, so we better stick together, yeah?"

A slow smile curled across the young mutant's face. "You've got a point. So, what's in those omlets of yours?"

"We've got mushrooms, onions, peppers, and tomatos," Tay chattered cheerfully. "All diced up and sprinkled with a touch of dill weed, a bit of corriander, and a dash of black pepper."

"Sounds good," Wolverine said from the door. He yawned. "Got enough for me?"

Tay snorted. "Ya eat enough for a small army. Lucky us, this kitchen's set up for a huge one!"

Rogue made an apricitive sound as a fluffy, folded omlet found its way to a plate in front of her. "Ooooh, that smells great."

Wolverine sat down next to her on the stools across the counter from the flat range where Tay was working her magic on breakfast. A moment later he found a cup of coffee in his hands.

Tay smirked at him. "Tuck in, kiddies. There's more where that came from."

"And she cooks too," Cyclops drawled from the door Wolverine had come through a moment before.

"Well, if it isn't Prince Charmless," she said in a low cool tone. "Want some?"

Cyclops scowled at her for a moment as she started another omlet. His eyes slid over to Rogue and Wolverine. The girl's eyes slipped back down to her plate while Wolverine only glared back.

Tay looked up slowly and turned her eyes toward the door that lead to the backyard, and beyond that into a thickly treed area of the property. She muttered something that sounded like a curse as she quickly finished off the omlet in the pan. It was flipped onto a plate in one easy movement, then Tay was sliding around Cyclops. The last they saw of her, she was running up the stairs toward her room.


Storm paused at the door to the bedroom across from hers when she heard a sharply spoken curse in Zulu. The girl who had just moved in there the evening before way yanking something from the large duffle bag that contained all she owned.

Tay turned with a snarl at the sudden gasp behind her. Her rapier and main gauch at the ready. She blinked and lowered her arms. "Sorry, you startled me. Storm isn't it?"

The African blinked slowly as the cultured tones washed over her. "I did not mean to startle you. But the sword..."

"I'm afraid my particular ablities are purely passive in nature," Tay explained slowly, "so I prefer to have a surprise on hand."

"And you have those out now?" Jean asked from behind Storm.

Tay stiffened. "I was going out to practice in the woods. Now if you ladies will kindly excuse me."

The two female members of the X-men found themselves moved aside as Wolverine's friend stalked down the hall. Her bare feet made no sound on the hard wood floor as she moved. Storm and Jean exchanged worried looks, the other woman still had her sword and knife.


He was standing in an open space far from the School, but not far from the students. Tay found him with his sword at the neck of the blue haired boy.

"Brutus," she growled, low in her throat. "Let him go. He's only a child."

"He's a freak, Tay," Brutus said coldly.

Tay smiled icily. "Then what does that make us? Are we any less freaks than mutants? Just because we were here first? I thought you were better than that, Brutus."

"Are you willing to stake your life on that?" The Roman sneared.

"Yes," Tay said flatly. She threw her rapier away and knelt in the dry leaves, folding her hands behind her back. "Let the boy go."

The teenager stared wide eyed at the strange woman he'd caught sight of back at the school. The strange man's sword was cold against his throat as he gulped. Suddenly he was shoved aside as Brutus lunged for the apparently unarmed woman.

Tay kept her face carefully blank as she pulled her hands from behind her and used both hands to slam her main gauch home. She looked up into Brutus' eyes. In softly spoken Latin she said, "Did you forget everything I've taught you, Marcus Brutus? Always have a back up."

"Ma.. Ma'am?" the boy stammered.

"What's yer name, pet?" Tay said as she shoved aside the dead body.

"H-h-hank McCoy, ma'am," he said with a gulp.

"Well, Hank, I want ya ta go back ta the school," Tay said gently, her accent soft. "Ya go on and tell Logan and the Professor I ran into a little trouble."

Hank bounded out of the clearing in an unconsious display of his mutant enhanced agility.

~Once his body catches up with his power, what a fine addition to Charlie's team he'll be.~ She glared down at Brutus' body for a moment before kicking him hard in the ribs. "For threatening that child alone, I should kill you."

She retrieved her sword and studied the edge for a moment. Then she walked over and yanked her main gauch from his chest. The ancient Immortal settled down to wait for her former student to recover. She left his gladis where it had fallen. ~Idiot Roman. Cassandra was right about taking you on as a student. Silly me, Cass is hardly ever wrong.~


"Prof!" Hank shouted as he rebounded off the walls to avoid running down his classmates. "Professor Xavier!"

^Here, Henry. In my office.^

The young mutant sling-shot himself through the office door and hung off of the light fixture. "Your friend, the lady with the green eyes, she killed somebody out in the back woods. He had a sword and she had a sword and she threw her sword off to the side, but-she-still-had-a-knife-and-when-he-let-me-go-she-killed-him."

^Calm down, Henry. And come down while you're at it.^ Professor Xavier raised a silent eyebrow at his suddenly still student. "Now, what was that about Taylor killing someone?"

"I was out in the woods bouncing around when this big guy grabbed me," Hank said calmly as he dropped to the floor. "He had a sword at my neck and was calling me a freak of nature. He said he was going to correct that error. Then Miss Taylor was there with another sword in her hand. Her other hand was behind her back. She said she was willing to give up her life for me and threw her sword away. He pushed me and lunged at her, then he was dead. Miss Taylor told me to come back here. She said to tell you she ran into a little trouble."

Logan kicked his legs off the Professor's desk and stood up. "I remember Taylor's idea of a little trouble."

"So do I," Xavier said softly. "Shall we wait or..."

"Wait for what?" Storm asked from the door.

Logan and Professor Xavier turned toward the windows lightening flashed in the clear blue sky.

"This," Logan breathed.

The electrical storm continued for several minutes. Storm stared wide eyed. "No natural force caused that."

"Actually, it was increadibly natural," Xavier murmured. "Shall we wait or...?"

"I'm not waiting," Logan growled. "Stay here." The feral mutant was out the window without another word.


Tay pushed herself slowly to her feet. She shook her head hard to try and clear the reminants of Marcus Brutus' Quickening from her mind. Once she could stand without wavering she ran through all the names she had used until she recalled which one she was now. "Taylor Clark. I'm Taylor Clark."

"That's nice to know," Logan drawled. "So, what was you're name the first time we ran into each other?"

"Tarra Rosenburg," Tay said after a long moment of thought. "It was World War II, you were one of the soldiers who liberated the camp I was in."

"I don't remember that," he said after another long pause.

Tay grunted. "You remember it when we ran into each other at Woodstock, but I guess your brain got cheeze wizzed since then."

"You've lost your accent." Rogue stepped out from the darkness between the trees. "You're older than Logan aren't you?"

"I'm older than the writen word, Rogue," Tay said tiredly as she looked down at the headless body of her former student. She sighed, "Et tu, Brutus?"

"Was that really Marcus Brutus?" Logan asked.

Rogue frowned. "That fella that helped kill Ceaser?"

"Yeah," Tay answered with a low bitter chuckle. "That guy that helped kill Ceaser. He turned on his best friend, it was only a matter of time before he turned on his teacher, too."

"I think you have a lot of explaining to do, if you expect to continue on here, Miss Clark," Cyclops said sharply. "Or whoever the hell you really are."

Tay regarded the young leader of the X-men with a stony mask. "I never expect anything, child. Expectations lead only to disapointments. And I believe that weather or not I stay is up to Charles. Not you."

Cyclops clamped his lips together and turned to walk back toward the school. Tay waited for a moment as she waited for Wolverine and Rogue to leave. "Well?"

Wolverine started at the sharp tone in her voice.

"Both of you get back to the school," Tay said tiredly. "You don't want to know what happens next."

Wolverine stared at her for a long moment. "You're not gonna split on us are you?"

"No," Tay whispered. "I'm not running away. Go on."

Rogue was still staring wide eyed at the body as Wolverine gently took her gloved hand and pulled her back toward the school. Tay watched them go with a strange feeling in her stomach.


The X-men were waiting for her when she returned. Jean looked almost symathetic about her mud and blood splattered appearance before the redheaded mutant relized just where the blood must have come from. Then she just looked ill. Storm was working hard to keep her face impassive, but wasn't doing very well in Tay's oppinion. Rogue looked frightened while Wolverine and the Professor were calm. Cyclops on the other hand appeared livid, as much with Wolverine as with Tay herself.

"Mind if I clean up before the trial?" Tay drawled with her lower-class London accent firmly back in place.

"Actually, yeah. I want an explination, and I want it now," Cyclops snapped.

Tay tilted her head to one side as her rapier came to rest on her shoulder. "You've got a big attitude for such a little boy, Summers. Fine. 'Ere's the short version then." Her accent fell away again, leaving her origin unidentifiable. "My name is Tayla, and I am Immortal. I have walked this world for fourty five hundred years. I have seen horses domesticated, the wilderness tamed, and great beauty both created and distroyed. I have seen mortal humans change, learn and adapt. I have seen them become you, the mutants."

"I don't believe it," Cyclops said finally.

"Believe it, kid," Tayla said flatly. "Because I'm not alone. There are other Immortals out there, some good, some bad, and some who just want to hide from mortals and other Immortals. And here's a shocker, some of them want to wipe mutants off the face of the earth, like Marcus Brutus."

"I believe her," Professor Xavier said calmly. "That is the only logical explination."

"You call that logical?" Rogue managed to squeek.

"I know what your power is, Rogue," Tayla said gently. "Touch me."

"Are you out of your mind?" Storm asked quietly.

"At my age? You should just about count on it," Tayla said dryly. "But I'm not crazy. I grew up with crazy, this is relitively sane compaired to the encampment. Come on, Rogue, I don't bite."

"But I do," Rogue mumbled as she tugged off one of her gloves.

"You sure, darlin?" Wolverine asked softly. His hazel eyes locked on Tayla's endless green.

The Immortal remained silent, that question was aimed at the young mutant pulling out of the safe circle of Wolverine's arms.

Rogue only nodded and lightly brushed her fingers against Tayla's offered hand. The Immortal smiled softly and twined their fingers together.

The young mutant's eyes widened as the power flooded into her. Tayla stood there as if she were unaffected. When the girl would have pulled away her hand tighted. "All of it," Tayla whispered.

Rogue nodded and both of them closed their eyes.

Rogue found herself standing in the middle of a group of tents watching slaves scamble around the camp. There was sand every where, sand and rock and sky. She turned toward the sound of pounding hoofbeats. A smile she knew didn't belong to her curled at her lips.

"Father," Tayla's voice called from Rogue's lips.

The white clad figure swung off his white mount and swept her into his arms, smearing blue paint across her cheek with a laugh. "Little one! I found you a new playmate. Once I have her tamed, she'll do well for you."

"What will you call her?" Tayla asked curiously.


"Cassandra!" Tayla/Rogue called as she strode through the camp. Dust swirled around her boots and a scowl was etched deeply on her face. "Cassandra! Where in the ninth hell are you?"

"Mistress?" called a familiar/unfamiliar voice. The tall auburn haired woman turned with wide golden brown eyes.

Tayla/Rogue's voice softened. "There you are. Father is looking for us. He wants to see that new dress you made me and I don't know where it is."


"Methos!" Cassandra screamed as Kronos yanked her away from the tent that was her home. "Methos!"

Talya/Rogue's head snapped around from the camp slave who was serving her dinner when she heard her friend screaming. Her eyes narrowed in rage as she shoved aside the young man.

The scarfaced Immortal known both as War and Kronos stared up at the younger looking Immortal when her bronze blade sliced through the back of his private tent. "Talya, what are you doing? Get out!"

"I don't think so," Talya/Rogue growled in the same tone she had used on the first raid she had joined them on.

Kronos screamed as her bronze knife sliced across his face. "You little.."

"Cassandra is MINE, Kronos," Talya/Rogue hissed.


"Who are you?" whimpered the warrior under her bootheel.

"I am Nemisis," Talya/Rogue snarled as her sword dove into his chest.


"Shhh," Talya/Rogue murmured as she craddled her dying child in her arms. The old woman looked up at her. "Shhh. I'm here, little one."

"She's gone, Daughter," Methos said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"It still hurts, Father," she whispered harshly. "I can't stop loving them, but it still hurts so much."

"I know," Methos whispered.


Talya/Rogue dove easily to one side. "I don't want to fight you, boy!"

"I challenged ye, woman! Stand and fight!" bellowed the man in a Scotish tartan.

"Are all you Highlanders so stupid, or just you MacLeods?" Talya/Rogue shouted in frustration. "What the devil is this about? I've never even seen you before!"

"Ye killed ma friend, woman!"

"That idiot that attacked me?" Talya/Rogue sputtered as she pulled her main gauch from its sheath at the small of her back. "That had nothing to do with this!"

"Yer Immortal!" he roared and came at her again with his claymore.

Talya/Rogue rolled inside the arch of his swing and stabbed quickly into his heart. "And for that I should lay down and take it like a whore? Think about that when you wake up, boy. Because that's no way to treat a lady, Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod."


Tayla/Rogue stood on the side of the road and kicked angrily at her motorcycle's flat tire. She stiffened, feeling the oncoming buzz of another Immortal. Her eyes searched the traffic on the night darkened highway before settling on another motorcyclist pulling off the road. He pulled off his helmet and sent a little boy smile at her. An unruly crop of red-gold curls tumbled into his forehead.

"Richie Ryan," he said, carefully keeping his hands where she could see them. "Need some help?"

"Tayor Clark," she replied in her carefully cultivated lower-class London accent. "Didn't see a bloody spike in the road and it took out my front wheel."

"I can give you a lift into town," Richie said slowly. "Unless..."

"I'm not head-hunting if you ain't," she said with just a hint of laughter in her voice.


"My god," Xavier whispered as tiny bolts of electricity passed from the teenaged Ancient and the teenage mutant.

Tayla and Rogue dropped each other's hands then opened their eyes slowly. Tayla had a small smile on her lips.

"Tingles doesn't it?" she asked the girl softly. "The Quickening you can feel in me now."

"You're telling the truth," Rogue whispered back. Her eyes weren't brown anymore. They were the same endless green as Tayla's. Bracketed by the shock of white bangs that fell on either side of her face the effect was startling. "Even if you leave people like Brutus will come."

"And if I'm not here to deal with them, you won't be able to stop them." Tayla nodded.

"Why isn't she dead?" Cyclops whispered to the Professor. "They were touching for an hour."

"Because she is Immortal," Xavier said slowly.

Rogue stared at the other girl, still seeing her through the Immortal's own eyes. Trapped forever at seventeen, she would never do the things that Rogue would be able to do even with the limitations of her mutant ablity. "I'm sorry, Tayla. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, Marie," Tayla said with a small smile. "You understand. That's enough for me."


Rogue sat quietly as Tayla sharpened her sword with long smooth motions of the stone. The gentle rasp was soothing in a way, with an almost hypnotic motion.

"You want to ask me something," Tayla commented quietly.

"What's it like? To be able to touch..." Rogue let her voice trail off.

Tayla stopped and set aside her blade. "I don't know. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it's the most wonderful thing in the world."

Rogue took a deep breath. "Do you love Logan?"

"As much as you do," Tayla whispered. She gave one of Rogue's white locks a gentle tug. "Get some sleep, honey."

Tayla watched the young woman go off to bed. She sat there for a moment, examining the edge on her blade. "I know you're there. Come out, Cyclops."

"The Professor wants you to stay," he said flatly.

"You don't like me," she said in the same tone. "I can deal with that. But you have to deal with me. I'm not going to let that girl get hurt. Not again."

"I suppose you'll want a codename," Cyclops muttered.

Tayla turned to face him with a small amused smile gracing her youthful features. "I suppose I could stick with the classics and go back to Nemisis."

"Nemisis," he said slowly. "It fits."

"It should. I was the original." Tayla shot him a dark grin before she gathered her equiptment and vanished into the late night shadows.