Disclaimer: DO. NOT. OWN.
Sorry I can't get the next chapter of X-treme Force out till tomorrow, so until then, here's my contribution to X-Men the Movie Fanfiction archive.
Canon with X-Men, X2 and the alternate ending X-Men the Last Stand. Because it made no sense for Rogue to take the bloody cure.
The pianos melodic tunes played, that was the first thing she heard before walking up the pathway to her home. Her green dress swayed in swished with her steps as a cool summer breeze blew past. Her hair left free to fall around her shoulders, her white bangs framing her face. While she made her way to the door, her sandals clapping against the ground, she glanced back at the pair of reassuring eyes staring back at her. She could do this.
As she neared the porch, she began having second thoughts about this trip. True she could turn back now, get back into the car and drive away, never giving it a second thought. But if she was ever going to get this done, now was the time. Timidly, she knocked on the door and awaited their response, but in the sweltering Mississippi heat, the time passed by torturously slow. She glanced at her surroundings, and she realised how much had changed. The picket fences were gone and in their place were brick walls, street lamps laced the sidewalks and for the teens who instead of the childish pastimes she had growing up as a kid, like mud, catching dragonflies and water-pistols, iPad's and cigarettes were in their hands. Oh how old she felt.
The door opened behind her and she slowly turned to see a woman in her mid fifties standing there, a glass of cool ice tea in her hand, her other resting on the door knob. She glanced at the young woman curiously and the car parked at the base of their pathway. As the two women glanced at each other, there was a flicker of recognition in the older woman's face.
"Can ah help you, Mam?"
"Ah just came down south...to see mah Mama." Replied Rogue or, as she was once known, Marie.
The older woman face lit up like a Christmas tree and recognition broke out across her face. Placing the glass on a table inside the door, she embraced Marie once again like a mother would and pulled her inside. Before the door closed, Marie displayed a sign to her fiancé to wait three minutes. And then the door was closed and she was enveloped by the cool.
Her mother had gotten older, slight streaks of grey in her auburn hair and wrinkles beneath her eyes. Marie now towered over her by at least two inches. But in other ways, she had never changed.
"Owen, come down here quick!" she yelled up the stairs. Marie forgot how loud she hollered sometimes, like when she wouldn't get off the phone to come to dinner or she didn't come in after curfew and kept on playing in the mud. (Oh how she loved her mud.) She must have got that from her. Guess she knew why all the kids would duck and cover when she taught DR.
"Ah'm Comin' Priscilla, what's the big emergency" came Owens voice as he made his way downstairs. As he reached the bottom step, he saw Marie standing before him. No matter how old either of them got, she still looked the same as when she was sixteen.
"Marie...mah baby girl, yah came home!" with that, he too enveloped her in a bear hug which she gladly reciprocated. Releasing her, he began herding all of them to the lounge, where he promptly plopped Marie down on the couch and Priscilla rushed to bring Lemonade and extra glasses. An awkward silence overtook the three of them as Priscilla poured out the lemonade, no one sure what to say or how to broach the elephant in the room.
When it became too much for her, Marie switched onto Rogue mode and took the plunge. "Ah missed ya both. Ever since ah left...ah just couldn' understand why ah left things they way they were." She looked pleadingly into their faces and saw they too were remorseful for how things turned out.
"So...what have ya been up to? You managed to survive this whole time on just your own or didya...get help?"
She began her story from the moment she made it to Laughlin city. "Ah made some friends along the way. First ah headed up north, ah was plannin' on headin' there as part o' my post high school trip. While there, ah met a man called Logan, also known as 'the Wolverine'" she smiled at the way their faces grimaced when hearing a name like that. Who was this animal and what was he doing with their daughter? "Anyway, we ran into some people from New York. They were from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. After a while we settled down there, but ah can tell ya, things were never boring."
She proceeded to tell her tales of the Liberty Island incident, the school invasion, the cure incident, why decided against taking it, her job at Xavier's, her relationship with Bobby and those at the school. She also discussed the X-Men and how Professor Xavier's death was mostly false. (Mostly because I felt too lazy to right out this entire conversation) For some parts they were incredulous and extremely concerned, especially with her near death experiences. Mostly, however, they were proud and this showed as they beamed upon their superhero daughter.
"So, this school, what exactly do you teach there? Owen inquired.
"Well...hand to hand mostly, physical practices in controlling more physical mutations, mah abilities come in handy when ah need to give them inspiration or ideas. But hopefully not enough to cause trouble or start another dang prank war." Marie had also mentioned the student's tendency to pull fast ones, finding herself the victim of one or two herself.
"Ah also teach English literature and help in auto-shop. Ah like to keep mah options open."
"Ah gotta say Marie, fighting for your rights and teaching young ones. Ah just couldn' be more proud of you."
"Marie, I think it's time we said our apologies." Cut in Owen as the two continued to chat. "Let me start by sayin'...over-reactin' like that and callin the cops. Ah just didn' think straight. Then you left the next mornin', everything ya owned packed and gone..." he trailed off as he tried to steady his breathing.
"We looked, we looked for so long, but after ten months and no one had seen hide nor hair of you. We thought the worst. But then police were telling us 'bout people seeing you travelling about and then news reports seein' you with those...X-Men. Well...we were relieved I'll tell you that." finished Priscilla.
"Mama...Pa...Ah am so sorry for runnin' away like that. But seein' you angry and then people givin' you the stink eye. Ah just couldn' put ya through that. But ah made mah decision and in a lotta ways, ah don' regret it at all."
Before she could get any further however, the two of them moved over next to her and enveloped her in one more hug. "So...wait. We can touch ya, but what about yer powers?"
"Ah got help, ah told you that. But mostly it was Remy who helped me. He teaches Foreign Languages and helps in DR as well. He mostly deals with energy based powers. Then there was Xavier when he came back. Together, we worked on it until we realized that ah had blocks in mah head forming every time ah used mah powers. We broke them down and reassembled mah mind, now here we are."
But they was soon interrupted by a knocking on the door. 'Didn' we have a doorbell, ah can' remember'. Getting up, she moved towards the door and opened it for her guest. She gave a loving kiss and practically melted into his arms before letting each other go before they could embarrass the in-laws.
Mama, Daddy...this is mah fiancé, Remy, Remy LeBeau. Remy, these are mah parents." They turned to see him standing almost a foot over Marie, a red dress shirt covering his torso, dark jeans, a trench coat slung over his arm and shades covering his eyes. He had short stubble and his dark auburn hair was tied into a pony-tail. He held his hand out for Owen, who shook it tentatively. Priscilla offered her own hand as a sign of peace, which he gladly took and kissed the back of her hand. This caused her blush profusely and giggle like a little girl, while Marie groaned and rolled her eyes at the distinct display of 'piss off the father', which he enjoyed to no end doing with Logan before coming down south with Rogue.
"Bonjour, madame et monsieur. It is tres charment to meet ya." His Cajun droll was met with an immediate smirk from her father and her mother beaming fully. By Rogue's urging, he removed his glasses carefully and revealed his red on black eyes. Initially taken aback, the two realized that one bad impression was enough and they owed it to their daughter to trust her decisions.
"Of course ah would trust you to seduce a New Orleans boy Marie, and such a handsome one at that."
"Mama! Seriously! Come on Swamp Rat."
Remy merely chuckled at the exchange and Owen gestured for the two of them to go on ahead. Turning to his wife, his eyes were as wide as saucers. "A Cajun!" he whispered, "Ah don' trust him"
"Well now see, this is what ah wanted. The protective father spiel. At least we can cross that off the list."
"AH need to interrogate him, see what his future intentions are to mah daughter, or ah am not given her away at the wedding. You don' suppose it's a shotgun weddin', do ya?" He asked nervously.
"No. Fer one thing, that means your forcin' them to marry. Another, if you don't do it, ah'm pretty sure Logan would."
"Ah'm sure he will" he replied dryly, not too happy that his daughters raising had been taken over by someone else. "But ah still don' trust him"
"No one said ya had to Sugar." she smiled, taking his hand and leading them into the living room.
Hope you liked it. I'll be honest...I'm not a big Rogan fan, but I debated this for the story before settling on Romy. Also, I am amazed by the lack of stories where Rogue goes back to meet her parents after everything that went on.
