Legal blurb – I have made no money form this, therefore it is not mine.
Okay then, here's my take on a Christmas carol, with a Rogue twist and a Cajun for spice ;) I'm just really in the Christmassy mood right now! I hope you all enjoy it, and please please please review! It'll make my Christmas merry!
Thanks!
Now on with the eggnog!
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Chapter One
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Rogue stood in the front yard of the mansion, staring up into a black sky as large white snowflakes filled the world around her. She loved snow, it was true, she'd never seen in before in Mississippi, but just standing out in the middle of it, despite the chill in the air, she loved it. It let her forget, if only for a moment, everything she was. Losing herself was one of the only things she had left that could make her feel better. After Apocalypse, after everything, she felt even more isolated then she ever had before.
But she was fine with that, she was Rogue, she was use to being alone, she preferred it even.
So what did it matter that she was so lonely . . .
It was the twenty fourth of December, Christmas Eve, and all the X-men were staying at the mansion for it, the older students anyway, the recruits had all already gone off to their respective homes for the holidays.
She was glad that they were staying, especially Kitty and Kurt, she was the only one without a home or a family to go too and thought that being completely alone in that mansion would drive her mad. After all, the adults that would have remained didn't have time for her.
Christmas, Rogue wondered briefly what the point of it was. It had become nothing but a consumer season, buy, sell, give, take, she found it hard to find any Christmas spirit at all. It was just another day of year to her, nothing more or less then that.
As her mind drifted back to the immediate and she heard laughter and aggressively cheerful Christmas carols from inside she sighed, deeply, all her pain and all her sorrow contained in that single exhale of breath that froze into a white cloud in front of her and was carried off into the wind and the falling snow.
She should be happy, she should be festive and enjoy the company she feared to be without even if she pushed them away. But she couldn't. There was too much anger inside her, to much self-hatred, to ever be anything then what she was. Rogue. The ice queen. The soul stealer.
Kicking at the ground she turned from the snow and the cold and walked up the steps to the mansion, pushing the doors and allowing the wave of warmth to sweep over her, welcoming her back inside.
Some of the others were in the kitchen, Kurt and Ororo were helping Kitty make a gingerbread house and a large bowl of eggnog. Scott and Jean were sitting together on the couch in the living room, carols surrounded her immediately.
She caught sight of Pyro, also in the living room, sending a small flaming Santa with sled and reindeer to circle the room to the amusement of Bobby who had constructed an abominable snowman to chase him down. Piotre was near the fire place, reading 'A Christmas Carol' looking as content as the quiet and pensive men ever had. The Professor and Hank were talking over a game of Chess, the Professor was winning. There were only two faces missing from the Christmas card image, Logan and the Cajun, Gambit.
As Rogue walked into the kitchen to grab a cup of hot chocolate her question was answered. Logan and Remy sat at the far end of the table playing what looked like poker, with a stronger eggnog then the stuff Kitty and Kurt were making. So even the Canadian and the Cajun, two of the three most unhappy people here were enjoying themselves, herself being the third. Logan was even laughing at whatever Remy had said to him.
As if her thoughts had summoned him Remy turned and when he saw her his face broke into a grin, he said something to Logan, who looked at Rogue and then back at Remy with a growl, Remy laughed, said something else, and moved towards her.
Rogue wanted to know what they'd been saying but wanted more to be away from the kitchen before he reached her.
No such luck of course.
"'Lo chere," Remy said, handing her his glass of eggnog with a sly wink, "Need somethin' ta warm you up?"
"No thanks swamp rat," Rogue said coolly, trying to will the kettle to boil faster as she poured a packet of instant cocoa into her mug.
"Perhaps Remy could keep you warm then?" He whispered huskily, wrapping his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.
Rogue pushed away from him instantly, a small thrill of fear shooting down her spine. "Dammit Remy why do ya do that!" She snarled, "You know it bothahs meh!"
"Sorry chere, just tryin' to be friendly." Remy grinned.
"Yeah, well ah know yer kind o' friendly and it aint welcome here!"
"Like, come on you two, you're not supposed to fight on Christmas Eve!" Kitty suddenly said, getting between them. "Peace, Love, and like, Joy and all that!"
"Ja! Kitty is right!" Kurt said, "For just this von day you two have to get along!"
Rogue glared at Remy, who gave her his best pair of puppy dog eyes and started to whimper, Kitty and Kurt evidently found this amusing because they stood on either side of him and started pouting at her too.
Rogue put a hand to her mouth to cover the starting of a smile, but all three of her tormentors saw it anyway and grinned, "Fahne! For one day Ah'll try not ta fight with dog boy here. Happy."
Kitty squealed and Kurt hugged her, then smoke starting coming out of the oven and with a shout they returned to their baking.
Remy held out an arm to her, bowing slightly. "Ma belle chere amie," he said, "De presents'll soon be given out, let's go find us a good seat on the couch."
Rogue was ready to refuse him when she saw Kitty and Kurt watching her like a hawk. "Fahne," she grumbled, ignoring his arm and walking past him.
They sat together on the couch, Rogue put as much distance between them and the lovebirds, Jean and Scott, as she could, and waited in silence. Though she was uncomfortably aware that Remy's eyes never left her the entire time.
Xavier pulled his knight forward, and Beast tipped his king over with a sigh. "I admit defeat," he said dramatically. "You're strategy is superior to my own."
"Good game Hank." Xavier smiled. Rogue, Remy, Bobby, and Pyro were all watching him. Three because they wanted presents. Rogue because she wanted to go to her room.
"I suppose I know what you all want." Xavier said lightly, chuckling to himself. "Very well." A moment later, at his mental summons, Kurt Kitty, Ororo and Logan all entered the room and Jean and Scott turned towards him as well as Piotre. "The Christmas tradition here, as you all by now know, is that on Christmas eve we all may open one present from someone in this room. You may choose and open them now if you wish. Ororo, Logan, if you would please bring out the refreshments."
"We choose Rogues!" Kitty and Kurt said at once, all but pouncing on the gifts beneath the tree. Rogue wondered if they already knew what she'd gotten for them. They'd probably been into them as soon as she got back from shopping for them that morning! (Rogue often left things until the last minute, there were usually less crowds)
Kitty pulled out from her box (after tearing apart the wrapping and the box itself) a red coat, the very latest in fashion and very flattering on her person. She practically beamed at Rogue, who she'd been complaining too since the first snowflake that she needed a new coat.
Kurt was a little more controlled in his unwrapping, the box being left unharmed, to pull out a brand new game for his precious game-cube, a game he'd also told Rogue he desperately wanted. And grinned at her while his tail flipped from side to side like a very contented cats might.
Rogue hid another smile, glad that they liked their presents, and when everyone seemed caught up in the moment turned to slip away while no one was watching.
"Goin' somewhere chere?" Remy asked as Rogue, literally, rounded into him.
"Dammit Remy! Get out of mah way!"
"But Rogue, you haven't opened yer present yet." He said slyly, pulling a box from behind his back. The wrapping was a shiny apple green, and the ribbon a much deeper forest shade.
Rogue stared at it for a long moment, taken off guard.
"Yer s'pose ta open it chere," Remy smiled.
Rogue took the gift, gently pulling the ribbon and paper off of it to lift the lid from the white box underneath. Inside was a beautiful green silk scarf. Rogue looked up wide eyed at Remy.
Remy, for his part was grinning from ear to ear, "Like it chere? Remy bought it himself, no stealin'," He lifted two fingers. "Scouts honour."
"Yeah well ah doubt ya'all were in scouts, but Remy, it's really very nice."
"De real gift's still inside chere."
Rogue lifted the scarf out of the box, and sure enough, wrapped up inside was a necklace of a green butterfly on a silver chain. "Oh Remy!" She gasped, it looked like real emerald. "Ah can't accept this!"
Remy shrugged, "Sure ya can chere," he said lightly. "It'll look good on ya, s'ides, Remy can't return it." He winked.
Rogue casually dropped the box and wrappings to the floor, and put the necklace on, it was a short chain, the pendant resting just below the small of her neck. "Thank ya Remy." And she really meant it.
Remy's smile grew, and quickly, so she couldn't pull away from him, he brought one gloved hand to his lips. "Y'welcome chere, anythin' for ya." Then he bowed and returned to the festivities.
Rogue stared after him, unsure what to do now, one hand subconsciously touching the butterfly pendant.
"So, do you, like, like your present?"
Rogue jumped, startled as the valley girl floated up out of the floor where she was probably spying. "Damn Kitty! Don't go sneakin' up on people like that! Nearly gave meh a heart attack!"
"Well?" Kitty asked, her eyes gleaming.
"Anyone evah tell ya that ya look a lot like the Cheshire cat when ya grin like that?" Rogue snapped.
Kitty laughed, "Actually, people like, have!" She said.
"So tell meh Kitty, honestly, you and Kurt knew what I got ya before this didn't ya?"
Kitty looked a little sheepish, but Rogue was only too happy to let the conversation drift away from where it started. "Well, like, technically, but we weren't spying on you or anything! At least, not at first. See me and Kurt were in town making a Christmas video, you know, like catching all the decorations and lights and stuff, when we, like, saw you shopping, and like. . ." she rubbed her head and laughed nervously, "Well, we knew you were shopping for us and when you went into the game store Kurt just had to know, and then, like, you went into that clothes store, and well, I had to know, you know?"
Much to the surprise of both of them Rogue laughed. Maybe it was just Remy's gift and the confusing thoughts and emotions that followed it, but Rogue was suddenly feeling rather giddy.
"It's okay Kit," Rogue said, immediately regaining control of herself. "Ah'm not mad or anythin', just wanted to know. I'm going to bed kay? I suddenly don't feel so well." Her eyes darted over to Remy who was currently beating the hell out of a small fire with his jacket while Pyro laughed nearby, Scott was scolding him.
"Like, Rogue," Kitty started in a stern voice.
"Listen Kit, Ah'll just dampen the mood, me an' Christmas, we jus' don't mix that well. Ah'll see ya in the mornin' for the rest of the gifts."
Kitty sighed, fighting with Rogue was always pointless because she always won. "Like, fine, but I am so bringing you up some eggnog when I go to bed and we'll, like, talk or something, kay?"
Rogue nodded, trusting that Kitty would forget her promise by the time she was tired enough to drag herself away from the festivities.
When she'd finally made it to the safety of her room, with the door shut tight behind her, Rogue sighed, tossing the scarf onto her nightstand and collapsing onto her bed. She didn't bother to turn the lights on, she'd rather lay in the darkness anyway. It was cold in her room, she'd left the balcony open a crack earlier in the day to try and clear out Kitty's perfume, which her roommate had spilt all over the place that morning.
Rogue sniffed, but she couldn't smell wildflowers anymore, and since the cold didn't trouble her she didn't bother getting up to close the doors.
The sounds from the music and laughter downstairs she could still hear, it was muffled but with Logan's senses in her mind she heard it well enough. She really should be down there, everyone kept telling her to stop shutting them out.
Rogue sighed, rolling over and curling up around herself. "Bah," she said glumly. "Humbug."
Which was exactly how she felt.
Rogue came awake slowly, her eyes opening in their own time, adjusting to the light in her room. It was freezing. With s disgruntled noise she pulled herself up out of bed and shut the balcony doors tightly.
Still foggy from sleep, it took her mind a moment to catch up to her instincts. First of all. There was a number of candles lit around her room, the light smell of smoke and melting wax sending a small chill through her, not the kind she got from Remy, but a kind that really frightened her.
The next thing she became aware of, her mind instantly waking itself up into sharp alertness, was that she wasn't alone in the room, and that it wasn't Kitty.
"Glad to see you're awake." A strange hollow sounding voice said behind her.
Rogue spun around, crouching into a defensive position, all her training at the ready for use, only to freeze and stare in unguarded surprise and no little amount of fear at what rested across from her.
"Oh mah God!" she choked out.
"Not quite child, I'm much more fun."
Rogue gaped in horror at Mystique, or rather, a ghostly apparition of her adoptive mother. "But, but, but," she sputtered, "You're not dead!"
"Not yet, but I'm still as real as anything else. I'm simply from a different world, a world where I am dead. And I'm here to warn you."
"Warn me?"
"Yes, It's not a nice place where I am Rogue, where I might be forever."
"What place?"
"I can't tell you, it's not allowed." Mystique lifted her arms out to the sides and suddenly Rogue could see chains encircling them, and her legs, it looked a little painful and more then a little uncomfortable. "We earn these chains through life," Mystique started. "Through what we do. A selfish act or a sinful act puts links onto the chains, the severity of our acts determine how many, and kindness takes links away. These chains, Rogue, I'm a prisoner, I can't escape them, not as I am now but you still have time!"
"Time!? Time for what!"
"I know I've never been a good mother to you or Kurt! I know it Rogue! But you're more like me every day, Rogue, you can't keep going this way or you'll become just like me! You need to learn to love Rogue, and trust, things I never learned, fear and hatred and anger only make the chains stronger, you're a good person Rogue, but those emotions will currupt you and they call the chains!" Even as she said this Rogue could see the ghastly chains crawling of their own will up her legs.
Screaming she leapt to her feet kicking them away backing up against the walls.
The chains around Mystique moved up to encircle her neck, grimacing she turned her gave onto Rogue again. "Please! Listen to me, my time is near its end now! You will be visited by three spirits tonight Rogue! The first will appear at one, and then every hour after until all three have seen you, please listen to me! Rogue! Despite the things I've done to you and your brother, the things I will do in this time, I have loved you both, don't be like me Rogue! You're stronger then that! Better then that!"
The chains pulled tightly around her, dragging her into the floor, Rogue wanted to shut out the horrible sounds of them clanking against each other.
"Please Rogue! Listen to the spirits! Learn to love before its too late!"
Mystique disappeared, then, and so did the candles. Rogue fell to the floor trembling badly despite herself. Pressing her head against her knees, pulled up against her chest, fighting back the tears that threatened just behind her tightly closed eyelids.
This is all a dream! She told herself fervently.
This is all a dream!
But the shaking didn't stop and the darkness didn't end. It didn't matter what she wanted to believe, she knew the truth in her heart. This was real, and it wasn't over.
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A/N Well there we go, first chapter done, so what did you all think? Eggnog and candy canes to everyone who reviews!
Please Review!