Mystique looked in horror as Kurt and Rouge left her, in the aftermath of this mess she NEVER got the chance to tell her children how much she cared, they didn't even stop to listen-they'd NEVER listen. She turned into a raven, her namesake; in a few short days she had flown to the brotherhood house, stopping only for food along the way. When she got back she went to her destroyed room; she cried, grabbed her pillow and sobbed herself to sleep. She was awoken hours later by the sound of laughter. Of all things laughter coming from Wanda no less.
"I knew you weren't yourself father, you're too kind and wonderful to do something like that to me" Wanda's voice drifted upstairs before Mystique jolted up.
"Magneto" She growled under her breath. She marched downstairs to where the man was with his two children; his two loving children. "I'm borrowing your father for a bit" She snarled to the teenagers in a no nonsense manner. Wanda looked confused but Pietro quickly got out of the way of the beeline. He looked more worried than anything; though Mystique's voice bled murder Magneto seemed unfazed by it and followed her upstairs to her destroyed room.
"Is there any reason you pulled me away from my children?" He asked, the word 'children' seemed to be a stab to the heart for Mystique. She snarled at him again
"You will give back what you stole Erick—and so will Xavier." She snarled. Magneto looked confused so she continued "Kurt was lost to me at one year two months; after you used him for your experiments. Rouge won't look at me, won't speak to me, won't even BREATH near me" Tears were in her eyes at this point but she turned back to him "You WILL give back what you stole or so help me, Wanda's memories will be FORCED to resurface, every crack, each crease, every single horrid moment, 'till in a fit of crazed rage her sanity is ripped apart and she kills her brother, you, ANYONE in her way, or just dies from her powers overloading or the pain." Erick stepped back for a moment searching for truth in Mystique's words…she was telling the truth. He sighed to himself. He had been the reason all three of her children hated her, but to go to such lengths to get the two salvageable ones back!!
"Fine—I have Mastermind still in my services, but you must first get your children to come to you…and in time it may give me a stronger team." He wasn't worried much about what Mystique would do to her own children, but he found he was forming a sort of 'father—daughter bond' with Wanda. He wasn't about to destroy it, and Mystique did have a point; for years of being in his service she did deserve the only thing she ever wanted. Not to mention there was the fact that he might get Gambit back; the boy had an unhealthy obsession with Rouge. Mystique smiled broadly, before she called for Lance. Magneto left the room and went back down with his children as the adolescent came up; the poor boy looked worried.
"When is your next date with Shadowcat?" She asked calmly.
"Umm, tonight at six, it's our Anniversary and I have this class ring ta give her. I was just about to leave but we don't know where we're going yet and its summer so Kitty doesn't have to be home till, way late, why?" Mystique smirked at him.
"Well, luckily for you I know EXCATLY where you're going. Take her to the longest new movie, then a seven course dinner, then dance at the new teen club until it closes, then go to the drive in, then to the diner off of Respun Avenue and get the to go breakfast picnic and enjoy it at lovers lane.—understood?" Lance nodded—the club closed at three so he'd have her for maybe fifteen maybe sixteen hours. Mystique looked at the clock; it was five forty—five now. She changed into Tabitha and nodded to Lance "Call her right before you turn the corner to the gate and be in the passenger's seat...and DUCK, like you've fainted on her or something. Oh and Toad" She called, when she had the boy's attention she smirked again "Call my cell phone in about half an hour, that way 'Kitty' will be nice and ready, I'll be speaking in code, go where I'm saying and set up a store made up of the power limiters you stole from that government base. Hopefully with an advantage you'll be able to overpower two of them."
"Wait is Kitty going to be O.K?" Lance asked worriedly before he agreed to anything. Mystique smiled
"Kitty will be fine; she'll just go on the best non danger date of her life. Her friends will also be perfectly fine, I swear not to cause any of them harm unless it's necessary, the month long truce will not be hurt. Lance nodded before he left the house with 'Tabitha' driving. He followed Mystique's instructions perfectly, calling Kitty right beforehand and ducking in range and timing of the cameras so that all they saw was Kitty on the phone. Kitty had to run to be right there waiting for him and looked surprised when she saw Tabitha in the car
"Hey Tabby—where's Lance?" Kitty asked
"I wanted to see Amara so I stole his ride, he was blabbing about your date so I made him jump in, and now I think he's passed out from my driving." She shrugged, jumping out the car and hugging Kitty. "Good luck on the date, hopefully he doesn't burry you under BAD rock puns" Both girls giggled and Kitty got in the driver's seat. Tabitha waved as the car drove away and waited until she was sure all the cameras saw was Tabitha driving in, and a female figure driving out before 'Tabitha' returned to the building. She instantly went up to the room she knew Kitty shared with Rouge.
"Rouge?" She called upon entering, switching to Kitty, only to see the gothic girl on her bed reading a book.
"Hey Kitty—ah thought you and Lance ad a date?" She asked, upon seeing that it was indeed her roommate coming in.
"It just got rescheduled. Like apparently father magnetism, wanted to spend the day with his whole family. NO LEAVENG, I like had to reschedule it for tomorrow." She shrugged. "But like on the plus side, now we have more time to shop for something cute!!!" Rouge groaned a smidge.
"You sure you don't wanna just ask Kurt?" She asked hopefully.
"You're right, Kurt might like LOVE to go—let's bring him along too, they just opened a new club style department store, I've been like dying to go to" Rouge sighed, instead of switching Kitty's attention's she had made it so that her adoptive brother was dragged down with her. She didn't realize that Kitty seemed to be almost avoiding the cameras as they left. That was how, twenty minutes later the three of them were piled into Kitty's car driving somewhere out of the way. When her cell phone rang she answered it happily. "Hello? Tabby—hey we're going to that new club slash store on east Famount Avenue and Storiplen lane; number 245 we're going in the store department. O.K, see ya there. Tabby's gonna meet us there, how awesome is that?" Kurt smiled happily
"Jes, most Awesome!! Ve have not seen Tabitha for quite some time" He agreed whole heartedly. 'Kitty' drove in inconspicuous circles for about two hours before she pulled up to an old looking warehouse
"Store entrance" She smirked and got out, half dancing to the door, she held it open for them and they entered the 'store' full of tacky looking metallic jewelry. She picked up a beeping medallion and slipped it around Kurt's neck. "Perfect" She squeaked happily. Rouge looked at a headband and grimaced.
"No offence Kitty, but you usually have better taste en this." She commented looking at a mechanical scarf. A harsh wind knocked the stand down. "Wha was tha?" She looked around, the next thing she knew; she was knocked off of her feet and into Quicksilver's whirlwind.
"ROUGE!!!" Kurt called and tried to teleport over to her, only managing to cause smoke. "Vaht?!" he questioned. Blob picked him up at that moment and took him to another room, strapping his arms, legs, neck, and head to an iron chair. He started struggling and trying to teleport to no avail. "Vaht iz happening to my powerz?" He asked, to which Toad very calmly pointed to his medallion.
"Yo, check it; it's a power limiter. You're basically human righ now" Toad snickered a bit. Kurt continued to struggle, though stopped the useless teleporting. Moments later Quicksilver came in with a totally tied up Rouge and proceeded to double tie her up in the same way as Kurt. Toad basically led in Kitty.
"Keety phase and run, the whole brotherhood's here" Kurt then noticed that Kitty was not only uninterested in his warning, but angry at them, and not surprised at all that they were tied up. "Keety?" He asked Kitty's form shifted back to Mystique's as she spoke
"You refused to let me explain, even now—you'll probably not even listen to me as I try to explain, would you"
"Mother" Kurt hissed as she shifted, he paid no attention to her words—only thinking of the fact that she used their friend to capture them. "Vhere iz Keety?"
"No" Rouge commented coldly "No we wouln't"
"I thought so, and to answer your question Kurt, Kitty is fine; she's safe on her incredibly long dream date with Lance, everyone thinks you're both with Tabitha whom has a habit of stealing people in the night for never—ending Parties. It'll be absolutely normal for neither of you to even come home tonight and by tomorrow…it will be too late." The two kids cringed at the mere implications "Don't be silly, I'm not going to kill you—that would have been accomplished with poison gas when you stepped inside. Besides, why would I want to kill my own children?"
"Zen vhat are jou planning to do to uz?" Kurt asked. Rouge looked at Quicksilver, whom was in a box looking for something. He pulled out two 'Cerebro' like helmets and Blob got the T.V. Rouge looked at the man behind Quicksilver, she had seen that man with Magneto before; bad news. Mystique nodded at Quicksilver and he handed her the helmets. She began putting them on her children while Quicksilver explained
"You remember my crazy sister Wanda right? How she was all 'kill father' because of the horrible memories she had. Well Dad hired this guy, Mastermind—to get rid of them, now her head's full of happy, normal girl memories of our dad being a great person. But now she's asking things that Dad doesn't know so Mystique has these helmets fixed up so that she knows the memories. By the time anyone realizes you're missing you'll both think Mystique's the greatest mom the world's ever known and nothing they say can make you think different without killing yourselves. Rouge's getting it done first, just so that Kurt knows what's going on; that's what he gets for being such a good son. He has less work to do anyways." The T.V was set up and Rouge's helmet activated. Mastermind stood in front of Rouge. Quicksilver directed Kurt's eyes to the screen as her memories started to play. Rouge's eyes were shut tight and she gave out groans from trying to fight the shimmers, tears, and rips in her mind. (1)
A small Rouge hugging a woman's legs with tears in her eyes as another woman dragged her to a disguised Mystique as Mystique signs adoption papers. It shimmered. A small Rouge looking at an undisguised Mystique with pure adoration—Mystique holding her as a cruel looking woman snarled at her while grudgingly letting Mystique sign the adoption papers.
A child Rouge with a blind foster mother, few presents under the tree, the child Rouge gives a small smile, but tears up as she notices there was only one present from her missing mom. She hugs the present, then throws it away "Abandoner" She shouts. It Shimmered. Child Rouge happily held in her mother's arms as she receives her gifts. The blind woman is still there and Rouge gets up to hug her happily with each gift from the woman. She sips hot coco and what looks like eggnog. She is safe and warm through the blizzard out.
A child Rouge yells at a disguised Mystique, She is yelling about how stupid her boss is for taking her away all the time, and if she cared she would quit. How she can't even be called a mother 'cause she was always missing. It Shimmers. A child Rouge is tucked in by an undisguised Mystique. Mystique kisses her forehead and gives her a plushy as Rouge turns over cuddling it.
Preteen Rouge suddenly grabbed by her caretaker, her suddenly worried Caretaker that is so SUDDENLY strict. Layering her with EVERYTHING in the closet and suddenly making sure she doesn't go near others. Rouge falling into the depression she still hadn't come out of. Her foster mother yelling about her having a skin condition that when Rouge she test and finds it doesn't exist. It shimmered. Preteen Rouge trying on layers of her own free will, a magazine showing that the layered look was in as Rouge tried to emulate the style. Mystique giggling and helping her through it. The blind woman and Mystique giving the conversation of the birds, bees, and balls (2).Preteen Rouge nodding, laughing, and blushing through it.
Rouge when she first discovered her powers running from the fake Wolverine and Storm. (3) It shimmered. Mystique found her and Rouge automatically clung to her mother; she begged to know what was happening to her. Mystique explained to her what she was and gave her demonstrations. Mystique letting her daughter touch her and drain her memories. Mystique faints and Rouge, in horror, runs away until she confronts Kurt. Here the memory turns back to normal, only Kurt's warning to Kitty is replaced with a nod. The graveyard with Jean, the scene flashes before Rouge touches the communicator. Jean's smile turned cold and malicious and Rouge screams in pain before the memory goes back to normal.
Rouge walking in the brotherhood house to hear Toad and Lance fighting…again she sighs and goes to her room, slamming the door and repeatedly banging her head on the wall. It flashes. Mystique's voice is heard and all goes quiet. Mystique enters the room and sympathetically smiles at her daughter and holds up a hairbrush as a peace offering. Rouge smiles and lets her mom brush her hair, all the while complaining about the loud, noisy, messy, annoying boys.
Rouge in the quad; flirting with Cyclops. It flashes. Cyclops leading her on, smiling at her, blowing kisses. It shimmered. Rouge's planner read a date with Scott. She went to the place and found him kissing Jean. The betrayal hit even harder.
The ski trip, touching Mystique, Rouge was SO confused and hurt. Leaving with the X—men in the Jet the scene had flashed so that he said yes before she had to say she was one of them. The nightmares. Charles figuring it out with Rouge. The scene flashed as Charles told her she must NEVER tell Kurt his lineage. Her breaking the promise, after the ambush, though Kurt had already figured it out. The scene flashed, her telling Kurt her secret, he smiled and called her his sister for the first time. In the hug she accidently touched his skin. She apologized about it, though he was o.k. she also said she was sorry about his relatives being so mean. Kurt asked what she meant; his relatives were great. The scene ripped apart. Rouge stealing Kitty's powers and hiding when Kurt asked Scott about it. Scott talking about the communicator switching the memories of those programmed into it while Rouge spied. Rouge going back to the brotherhood; taking Kurt with her this time to meet his mom. Mystique telling her to go off with her X—Men while she had to do something.
Rouge seeing Risty for the first time having a pleasant conversation, the scene flashes Risty taking her and Kurt aside and showing who she was. Rouge apologizing over and over Mystique listening to her and nodding with the explanation. Mystique smiling and telling her kid's she always forgave them.
Mystique as a statue. Rouge standing there as Kurt tried to convince her to touch the woman. It rewound, then flashed, and then ripped apart. Rouge smiling and congratulating Kurt on getting her; taking off her glove and putting her hand next to Mystique. Rouge suddenly started floating; she slammed into Mystique, Jean laughing in the background as Mystique smashed on the rocks
Rouge headed to school. Looking at the building and walking the other way, bumping into Kurt. The wince on her face with the pure hatred of his voice. It rewound and flashed. Rouge looked at the school and bumped into Kurt, tears streaming down her face, she waved him to school; telling him she was fine, he gave a soft smile before going on. She went back and was captured by Gambit. When she was rescued by the X—men the scene flashed to Kurt hugging her and the brotherhood being there as well.
Finally the last scene, Rouge and Kurt at the end of the Apocalypse debacle. The scene flashed and the teens ran and embraced their once dead mother happily.
That was it. Rouge's entire history had been changed, destroyed, or rewritten. Mastermind let his hands fall; Rouge's head fell to the side with a groan as she fell asleep.
"Now you blue boy" Quicksilver said in a sort of happy indifference as Mastermind moved over to him. Kurt's eyes were full of tears as he watched Rouge's memories torn apart. He jerked up, noticing Mastermind so close to him
"NO, GET AVAY FROM ME" He screamed as he jerked harshly. He even started trying to teleport again. It was useless, he felt a dull sort of dreariness before he fell into the sort of 'sleep'; the last thing he saw was his mother with tears in her eyes
"I'm sorry, It was the only way; you wouldn't listen.
3115 words and nine pages—I LOVE IT. Notes
(1) Shimmer means he's completely replacing the memory with a new one, Flash means he's taking the memory from that point and changing it. Rips mean he's placing another memory where there wasn't one before
(2) Bees, birds, and balls—has any other girl had this convo with mom? If a guy tries to get in your pants, kick him in the balls. If the guy is a jerk or a pervert, kick him in the balls. If a guy tries to take advantage of you kick him in the balls. If he tries to sleep with you before you're married to him, kick him in the balls. If he tries to flirt with you though you're married to someone else, kick him in the balls…we see where this is going
(3) Eppies in order—Rouge recruit, Mutant Crush, growing pains, Impact, Cajun Spice, ascension 2
I don't own 'em, I'm just havein FUN…and I watched X men Evolution for a week with no sleep so I'm currently obsessed…Oh well. Also, HATES tabs, so I tried spaces