Disclaimer: Don't own nothing, no lyrics, no characters, no sanity.
A.N.: OK, I was depressed and I was listening to Nirvana. I was thinking how some of the songs, parts of them anyway, could be used to relate to the Rogue and Gambit relationship (the one I made up for this story, not the real one). Because I only took some of the song, the story of the song is not the same, just think of the lyrics I wrote in relation to Romy. And yes, some of these songs were not originally written by Nirvana, but their version is the only version I have heard, so that's why I'm attributing the songs to them.
Where Did You Sleep Last Night
My girl, my girl, don't lie to me.
Tell me where did you sleep last night...
Professor Charles Xavier sat in his study, silently using his powers. He sensed where each of his students was, if they were calm and asleep, and where his fellow teachers were, if they found anything about the student he couldn't reach.
Rogue, the student who truly needed his help, the one he couldn't help. Not yet, anyway. He usually felt fine with her leaving the house during the night to do whatever she pleased; she was the daughter of the Wolverine after all. There was no way he could stop her from drinking, smoking, leaving without warning. With her added psyche who woke up during the night while Rogue 'slept', she was all the more eager to do 'her' thing, whoever was in control at the time. He was just happy her spontaneity was predictable, knew what she was up to even though she did it randomly. But not tonight.
Around 1 am, he awoke from sleep upon hearing her shout in his head, then all of a sudden go quiet. It wasn't the shout of her being attacked, no, he knew that shout. It was the shout of her being forced to use her powers, as once before. He quickly contacted the fellow teachers to form a search party. Wolverine was ground, Storm was air, he was astral plane, Beast was communications, and Angel was gathering any information that might be useful from the night at the police office.
Ever since his niece (in name, not biologically) was forced to absorb Carol Danvers, she was hard to read with the extra mind in the head, but he was still able to trace, find, and usually read her unchecked thoughts. Not tonight. Something happened, she absorbed more and her mind was even harder to read.
"Charles, Logan has picked up her scent at one of the bars that Rogue mentioned Carol liked. He's going to follow it. Ororo is going to talk to the patrons at the bar; hopefully, some will still be awake and sober enough to remember... Warren reported that the police didn't pick up anything unusual tonight. What should I have him do?"
"Have him join Ororo. Perhaps they'll take her more seriously... Beast, I'm worried."
"We all are."
"The last time she had to cope with absorption, it was a whole person. What will happen to Rogue with more in her head? I should have the answers for her... I haven't a clue..."
"We all feel bad. We just have to go with the flow. The whole mutant thing means there are more and more new things that we have deal with. Rogue is the first and will probably be the only one with her type of mutation. It just makes it that much harder to know what to do. I know you are the last person that needs advice, but, don't be so hard on yourself."
Rogue woke up and looked around her. She didn't recognize anything. "Carol, where did you take us?" No answer. "Carol! Goddamn it! I'm not in the mood for your jokes!"
"Now, I've been told I was the jokester, but I've never been called Carol and I've never woken up in another body. I think the joke's on me for once."
Rogue froze. There was another voice in her head. With dread, she looked through Carol's memories of the night, and then visibly paled.
It was nearing 5:30 am, and Wolverine was getting stronger scents as he neared the end of the city, Bayville to be exact. Rogue was one of the few good things from his past still around, the one of two anchors that kept him sane, and he wasn't going to let her down. As he neared a cheap hotel, he dreaded what could have happened last night. He knew Carol liked to drag Rogue while she slept to strange places. Heck, how could you take the bad tendencies out of a person? Not by taking them out of the body, that's for sure.
"Excuse me sir, may I help you?" asked the hotel manager upon seeing the strange man enter his hotel.
"No, I know the room. My friend is there." In truth, he didn't know, but his sense of smell did. He walked up the stairs, wondering what the other smell was besides Rogue's; perhaps it was the person who attacked her?
He reached a room, and paused. "Hank, I think I found her. Have Ororo and Warren follow my signal and meet me here. I smell someone else, she isn't, or wasn't, alone. She if Chuck can sense who it is." A few minutes of waiting...
"Charles couldn't sense anything, not from the other person, not from Rogue. It would mean she absorbed the person completely. She's now unpredictable, more then usual. Be careful."
"Hank, that's still my girl in there. No matter how many people she has up there, she'll keep control."
"For your sake, I hope she does."
Wolverine opened the door. He was surprised to find Rogue just sitting there on the bed, no emotions. He walked up and could see her eyes were blank, meaning nobody was controlling the body. The psyches were vying for control. He looked around, looking for the person that might have been absorbed, but didn't find anything. He could smell spices and bourbon, but that was all, and it wasn't strong, as if the person was never there. As if the smell was coming off of Rogue.
"Hey, Logan."
Without looking, he knew he was talking to Carol, his daughter never called him by his real name. Sure enough, as he turned to look at her, blue eyes were staring back, and the white streaks of his daughter's hair had turned blond. "What happened last night, Carol?"
"I don't know! I was at the bar, having a good time, then this stranger grabbed me from behind. He attacked me! I tried to fight him off, I was getting successful, and then I don't know what happened afterwards. We woke up in this hotel room, and you came in."
Wolverine didn't trust Carol, he knew she was lying, but it would do no good to harm her. "Put Rogue back in charge."
"She's in shock. It wouldn't do you much good."
"OK, fine. When Storm and Angel get here, we're leaving for the mansion. You can tell Chuck the truth there."
"Didn't think you would believe me."
"Not a chance, Barbie."
"I could beat you up, fly away."
"You know that wouldn't work."
"Too bad for me."
It was now almost 7 in the morning. Most of the students were up and eating breakfast, getting ready for school. Angel and Beast were put in temporary charge that morning.
"Hey, like, where's Rogue?" asked the unlikely best friend of Rogue, Kitty.
Angel and Beast were given instructions on what to say, as the students didn't know anything about Rogue's past or absorption that happened a few years ago. Angel, the more used to speaking the truth without given the whole truth, spoke. "Rogue was attacked last night. She's in one of the med. rooms, and will be there all day. There is not much we know ourselves; we're going to try to find out today. Go about your day as normal, understood?"
"But, wha..."
"No questions now, OK? Later, the Professor will tell everyone what happened. Kurt, you are to stay behind, the professor already called you out of school for today."
As the students left for school, the boy called Kurt stayed behind, following Beast to the med. room. He was the only student who knew the whole truth of Rogue's past. Hell, he was her half-brother; they got close after their parents got together when they were seven. Even though they had different mothers, they felt they were closer then even twins could be.
He found in the room Rogue, sitting on the bed. He wanted to go to her, to talk to her, but Beast stopped him. "McCoy, what's wrong with her?"
"It seems that Carol forced Rogue to absorb a man... all the way. We can't find the body of the man. To make things worse, Carol won't tell us where he is and she won't let Rogue have the body back."
"Why was I told to stay behind if I can't talk to her, hug her, beat the lights outa Carol?"
"Your father thinks you would be a great help in finding the man. He wants you to meet him at the outskirts of the town after you make sure that Rogue is doing OK."
"Oh." The body of Rogue, as Kurt saw, was under the control of Carol, and she was not giving it up. She knew she couldn't leave the mansion, as much as she wanted to. She tried it once before, but was tracked by Wolverine and put into a painful sleep by the professor. Even though he couldn't read her mind, he could still hurt her mind. Plus, she couldn't keep control forever; Rogue would eventually gain it back. Kurt saw that the body was unharmed, and was relieved. He left the room via teleportation seeing that the professor was going to try to make his sister better. "Viel gluck mein hochschullehrer, mein schwester..." -1-
The professor started the conversation, "Carol, tell me, what did you do last night? And, please, don't lie to me."
"I'll tell you the truth, because there ain't nothing you can do about it. I'm pissed at you, all the x-men, and especially Rogue. She had no right to ruin my life. Yes, I attacked first, and she was the only one still unharmed, but she didn't have to absorb all of me! Now it's my turn. I figured more and more about this body, and I can control more and more. I'm going to ruin Rogue's life now. Either I get to go, absorbing more and more, or you're gonna imprison me forever. Either way, Rogue loses her life. Last night was the first step, killing someone. Of course, he is not dead yet, only in a coma, but without medical care, he will eventually die."
"Who did you attack? Where is he now?"
"Fuck if I'd tell you."
"Then, let's make a trip to the mind, shall we? I think it would be well worth it."
Carol shone fear in her eyes before Xavier exerted himself beyond safe measures to force himself in the mind of Rogue/Carol/unknown.
In the pine, in the pine
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
In the hotel room, before Wolverine arrived, Rogue and Carol waged a battle in the mind, and Carol won. Rogue was left to wander in her own mind until Carol went to sleep. While Carol was dragged back to the mansion, questioned by the entire faculty, Rogue was looking for the person that was recently absorbed.
Rogue had fashioned her mind as a big forest, after her favorite childhood book character, Robin Hood, lived in the forest. It was Xavier's idea that she fashion her mind as a place to make it easier for him and her to make order in her mind. Most people don't fashion their mind in any way, but most people don't have to organize their mind to stay sane. The forest was a perfect symbol of how her psyches drifted farther and farther away in the trees until they no longer existed in her mind. The only thing she ever maintained of the people she absorbed was their memories. Carol would never leave, unless her link to her body was severed, as in Carol's real body was to perish. Xavier had hopes they could return Carol to her body, or at least let her have some semblance of a life with Rogue. No matter how much the two girls tried, there was always some sort of resentment between them. Lately, they had started to get along, agreeing upon the Rogue during the day Carol during the night arrangement. As far as Carol was concerned, she would never forgive Rogue. Rogue thought if she had to do it again, she would.
Rogue finally found the person in question. He, she knew it was a he with some of the memories she read before she was forced away from control, was in the coldest part of her mind, where the imaginary sun didn't peek through the leaves. The light was a pale green, her favorite, and saddest, color. It was here that all her sad memories were stored, and Carol's too. Carol must have pushed the person here to keep him quiet. She found the man, more like young adult, shivering and really cute. As she walked closer, she accessed his memories. In the mind, things are super speed. It would take her years to write down all she found out about him, days for him to tell her what was in his head, if he remembered all of it. But it took her a few minutes to process all he knew and experienced. She heard Carol growl at the fact that she had to suffer the headache of processing the memories, but Rogue didn't care, she didn't have to suffer, she wasn't in charge of or able to feel her brain, and Carol deserved it.
Crouching down to the shivering, sleeping Cajun, she blew into his ear, as she knew that would wake him up. He did, and she saw brilliant red on black eyes. He in turn saw gorgeous green eyes, unlike the cold blue eyes, in a kind face, unlike the stern face, and he was captivated. Eyes truly were the windows to the soul, and it makes all the difference, he mused. He was also surprised that she did not look too surprised or frightened of his own eyes.
'Get a hold of yourself, Remy.' "So, care to explain to me what happened? And where am I?"
"Think, and you'll find the answers."
He looked at her strangely, tried to remember what happened last night, and found he knew three versions of what happened. He also found he had memories of three different peoples' lives, including his own. Upon further investigation, he knew the scattered memories of about 20 other people. It was mind boggling to say the least. He heard someone groan, and the girl in front of him starting laughing. "What's so funny?"
"Carol is not enjoying the headache we are giving her."
"No, Remy reckons not. How did I know that? Don't answer that. This is too confusing. So, we are in your head?"
"Yeah. Sorry. Carol thought it..."
"Would be good to ruin your life." Gambit finished for her.
"Yeah. Like I said, sorry."
"Don't be, not your fault."
"Yes it is!" Rogue's face had dramatically fallen by now. "My stupid mutation! It's all I can do to stay sane with all these people in my head, and now, I have ruined two other peoples' lives as well, neither of them will forgive me!"
"Hey, Remy one of those people, you don't see Remy angry at you, do you?"
"Why?"
"Can't you read my thoughts and find out why?"
"Not new thoughts gained in my head. Same with Carol, and me. All we can share now are powers and memories, no thoughts. So, why are you so forgiving?"
"Just in Remy's nature, Cherie."
"I know you're lying. But you ain't gonna tell me, so I won't press it."
"Ah, so you are the person absorbed last night, and you are?" Addressed Xavier, coming into the clearing, dragging Carol by the wrist.
"My name is Remy LeBeau, at your service, Charles Xavier."
"Did not take you long to get used to your new surroundings, did it?"
"No, sir."
"Uncle Chuck, I'm really, really sorry about what happened..."
"Rogue, don't worry about it. I need you to tell me what happened to this young boy's body, so we can get him medical attention. Carol will not tell me where she had stashed him."
His head was found on the driving wheel
But his body, never was found
Wolverine was traveling around on his motorcycle. By the looks of it, he was slowly driving, enjoying the weather, looking at the scenery. But looks can be deceiving, Wolverine was trying to locate the scent of the man he smelled in the hotel, but was having no luck. "Hank, did the police come up with a body anywhere? Any filed missing reports? How about Kurt, he have any luck?"
"No, Logan. Warren and Ororo have so far have not had any luck with the police. Added with their reluctance with working with mutants, I do not think that working with the police would be a good thing."
"I agree, Hank. Do you think they could help me look for the man?"
"Xavier has asked for them to come back to the mansion to look after the kids. As for Kurt, he has not had any luck searching all the old warehouses Magneto abandoned after Carol was taken out."
"What is the prof's plan? It better be a good reason, I don't want Warren and Ororo to stop, not when this could torture Rogue later on. Killing a man she had no cause to..."
"Charles recently traveled in to the mind of Rogue. He is attempting to gain information there."
"Is it safe for him to do that?"
"He assured me before he went that it would be worth it and that it was probably the only way."
"I hope he's right." And Wolverine continued searching, talking with Beast, as he knew if he didn't he would loose his cool.
And in the mind of Rogue, Carol played mind games, something she was really good at. Not as good as Xavier, though. She had wrenched her wrist out of Xavier's hand and turned into a large dragon. Xavier himself turned into a griffin, and the two duked it out. A fireball came out of Carol's mouth, straight towards Rouge after Xavier dodged it. Gambit pushed her out of the way and was hit in the chest. As no one dies in the mind, he floated up. 'This must be what dying feels like.' It was not what dying felt like, as he would find out later. He opened his eyes, and gasped. In front of him was the concentrating face of the professor, to close for comfort. He got off the bed and was shocked at how easy it was to move. Not easier, more like there was less gravity pushing him down, not because he was more graceful. The reason? 'Oh, merde, a woman's body!' Upon further investigation of his new body, 'Hmmm, I could get used to this though...'
"Rogue! Wait, you're not Rogue. Not Carol either. Are you the third person?"
"How could you tell, McCoy?"
"Your eyes and hair. Red, black and red stripes instead of white. I guess you knew my name from Rogue's memory of me?"
"Yeah."
"How are you in control?"
"I was knocked out of the mind, not by choice, though I don't mind."
"Don't get me wrong, I was just curious, not angry. Not your fault, or is it?" McCoy suddenly realized that he had no idea what happened last night; maybe Rogue, or Carol, really was attacked?
"No. Remy was flirting with the girl, and then she led me out of the bar, made moves on me. Then she attacked me, I was totally surprised. Next thing Remy knows, there was a draining sensation, was becoming weak. Next, Remy was looking out of this body."
"Sorry for the suspicion. I have more questions, as I bet you do, but now is not the time. We need to find your body, do you know where Carol hid it?"
"Yes. It is in the river closest to the bar we were at. She placed my head on the ground and the rest of me in the river so that Wolverine couldn't smell me. I'm under the weeping willow, hidden from site. She didn't want my death on her hands, but she wanted me dead all the same."
"Stay here for a while, will you? I'm gonna call Wolverine and Kurt to tell them where you are, they should have your body here soon."
As much as Remy wanted to go outside and have a smoke, he knew from Rogue's memories that the mansion inhabitants knew nothing of Rogue's situation and it wouldn't be good if they saw her/him. Also, the teachers would be angry with him. The big thing that kept him there, they truly cared. So he sat there on the bed, waiting, getting used to a woman's body.
My girl, my girl, where will you go?
I'm going where the cold wind blows.
By the end of the day, Remy's body was found, dried off, and hooked up to some machines to keep him alive. Xavier subdued and severely weakened Carol, exited the mind and was currently taking medicine for the exertion his head was feeling from the whole ordeal. Wolverine was relieved that his daughter was going to be OK, though he yelled at Carol for a good while, and threatened Remy not to mess with his daughter. Kurt was happy Rogue was back, and celebrated by making them both a hot fudge sundae, the only thing he could make, food-wise. Rogue was back in control, refusing Carol any control, and talking to Remy, after she went to bed and fell into her mind as her body 'slept'. She didn't trust Remy just yet, but felt he was the best person there was to absorb completely.
She knew that her whole life was changed, and this incident was the start. She hoped that whatever was going to happen, it wouldn't send her over the edge. The students still didn't know what was going on, were told nothing upon coming home from school, but they would, as soon as Xavier was up from the Tylenol PM induced sleep the next morning.
REVIEW PLEASE!
1- "good luck my professor, my sister..." (German is a cool language, I think. I actually know very little German; just enough to say thank you, your welcome, hello, strawberry (ice cream), and exit. This translation is from the Internet, could be wrong.)
A.N. I finished this when I was back to being happy, so if you don't think this depressing enough, that's why. It took me more then a week to rewrite and add stuff and delete other stuff, I want this to be my serious story (more then usual), so... yeah. And, yes, too many notes, feel free to ignore what I write in my author's notes.
