Rogue let out a sigh as she twirled around a pencil in her fingers. She couldn't seem to focus on her schoolwork; things had been so strange since she left the Brotherhood of Mutants. Granted she was very grateful to be in a place that accepts her, and even better people who know actually how to clean up after themselves. She tucked a strand of her white streak behind her ear, and looked out the window at the younger X-Men playing around with a Frisbee. She was like a nobody even around here, but she knew that she couldn't be with the Brotherhood either. There was a knock on her door, and she looked up in surprise. She went to the door, and looked at the "popular" girl who was on the other side. "Hey Rogue,"
The brunette resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "No thaunks," she said, her southern accent, throwing the poor girl off. Jean Grey sighed; Rogue clearly wanted to be friends with some people here, but she just couldn't let down her walls.
"Well if you change your mind..." Jean said, walking away from the Southern Belle's room. She closed her door, and went back to the unfinished homework. As she sat down, she heard a bamf noise. Her green eyes turned to her window and saw Kurt Wagner there. She had a flash of when she had grabbed a hold of Mystique. Seeing a baby who had a very familiar looking tail, and yellow eyes, full of innocence. She saw a blond woman holding the baby, and she formed into Mystique.
"What the hell is going on?" she murmured to herself. Kurt must have heard that and he turned around to knock on her window. She jumped, finally being shocked out of her flash down memory lane. He opened up her window, and his eyes shown kindness as he approached her.
"Are you doing alright?" he asked softly.
"Ah'm fine," she said, stepping away from him. He normally wouldn't want to push people into talking with him, but he had a feeling she really did want to open up to somebody. He tossed the frisbee down, and looked at her. "Ah said Ah'm fine, now back off," she said to him, taking a couple steps back.
"Sounds like you are trying to convince yourself," he said to her.
"Buzz off blue boy," she snapped at him, heading towards her bed. He grabbed her arm, and before he realized that he had accidentally touched her skin. She gasped, and immediately pulled her arm away and saw him sway a little. She grabbed onto his arm with a gloved hand, and led him to the bed. "Ah'm sorry," she murmured to him, as she tried to focus on her own memories. She saw him being chased by crowds of people, and feeling of loneliness and a craving for a normal family.
"I'm ok," he said to her, "I remember the first time that it happened so..." he wheezed. She had another flash of him as a child, and of her own childhood dealing with Mystique. "Rogue..."
"Did you ever think about looking for your actual birth parents?" she questioned suddenly. That had definitely called the blue mutant off guard.
"Vhat's a personal question," he said softly, "but I vill tell you," he said, hoping that she would open up to him as well. "I did..but I never found my birth movher or favher," he said, his voice thick with emotion,"
"Ah'm sorry Kurt," she said, "that was unfair of me to ask you," she said, readjusting the sleeves on her blouse to make sure it covered all of her skin. "Look...its just hard for meh to talk about things with people," this is the most that she had ever revealed to anyone. She had this tough girl persona about her and it hardly ever broke down. "Look...you probably would prefer to have fun with the othas," she said in a soft voice.
"Its alright," Kurt said to her, "everyone needs to have a friend," he said to her.
"Friend huh?" she questioned, actually liking the sound of that for once in her life. He nodded his head with a small smile. "Thanks Kurt," she said to him.
"Ja," he murmured, finally being able to stand up. "Do you want to join the others?" he asked. She shook her head; there was no way in hell she'd play with them right now. "Okay,"
"You go have fun sugah," she said, leading him to her window.
"Its fine Rogue," he said to her, "if you want to do something-,"
"Maybe next time," she said to him, "Ah gotta finish this," she said gesturing to her math homework. Kurt disappeared with a bamf, and seconds later reappeared with his own math book.
"I should do it too," he said, "Ja wanna go to the library?" he asked, offering his hand out to her. She thought about it a moment before grabbing her homework. "I can teleport us there," he said, taking her sleeve before bamfing them to the library. She felt a rush as the swirl from the teleportation disappeared. It was quiet in the library, and Rogue welcomed the quiet. Even though they did their homework silently.
Even though it was silent, Rogue was glad for her newfound friend she found in Kurt. "Hey..." Kitty Pryde came in, "do you mind if I sit with you guys?" she asked, and Kurt looked at Rogue. She shrugged her shoulders, and Kitty sat down on the table with them. Rogue put on a set of earphones, and started blasting some music as she did her homework. Its what she did while she was the Brotherhood, it didn't seem much different over at the Institute.
"You guys know there is power practice in a couple minutes," Kitty reminded them. Rogue took out an earphone. Did he hear her correctly? Power practice? She rolled her eyes; it would actual take the ability to control your own power to go to this thing.
"I know..." Kurt said. "Its just..." he started. Rogue put a piece of gum in her mouth, and put the earphone back in her ear. She wasn't going to go; all her power did was get people hurt. "Aren't you going to come?" he asked, as he started to pack up his things.
"Why?" she asked, once again tearing off her earphones once more. "Its not like I can actively practice my power...Ah'd kill y'all if I 'practiced,' my curse," she muttered.
"Wolverine is going to kill you," Kitty said to her, phasing through the floor. Rogue just rolled her eyes. Kurt knew that the young mutant wouldn't hear the last of it ditching practice; especially with Wolverine leading on the practice.
"Rogue..." Kurt started, "I think you should go," She let out a final sigh, and nodded her head reluctantly following him out the door. It wasn't like they were going to take her seriously anyways. She rubbed her arms as they walked towards the elevator.
Rogue felt a little irritated that she had caved so easily, but then again she thought, what the hell could they have prepared for her? Kurt looked at her, and she just shook her head. She couldn't ignore the fact of Kurt's mother was from him forever. They met up with the rest of the X-Men in the Danger Room, and Rogue adjusted herself in this body hugging costume. Before Wolverine started up the program, he pulled Rogue aside. "Kid I am going to have you do something else,"
"Like what?" she asked, tying her short hair back in a messy ponytail.
"I want you to go to this part of the danger room," he said gruffly, "and the program will lead you through some hand to hand combat,"
"You want me to that?" she asked skeptically.
"Believe me, your power requires close contact, and martial arts will help prepare you...especially against foes like Mystique," Hearing her name made Rogue's blood boil. "Start it up!" he shouted above to the box in the ceiling.
Meanwhile Logan had the other X-Men doing routine power practice, dodging, evading, reflecting; the works. As they did their normal routines, Kurt couldn't help but look at Rogue as she fought. It had looked like she already had some training in some forms of fighting already. "Elf watch out!" Wolverine shouted, and Kurt instinctively teleported. "Keep your head on this!" he grunted.
Rogue was doing well with the training for a while, until suddenly the bots started to dodge more, and hit faster. Kurt once again had looked at his newfound friend and saw that she was in trouble, and getting knocked down. He teleported to her, and grabbed her before teleporting once again. The simulation ended. She shook her head, and sighed. "Thanks," she muttered, standing up. He offered a hand to help, but she smacked it away.
Kurt winced expecting the worse from Wolverine, but when the smaller man approached them he seemed impress. Not everyone refused to listen to his orders, but when they did it was for a good reason. Helping out a fellow teammate, especially one that had been formerly with the Brotherhood of Mutants was definitely a show of maturity on the blue skinned mutant's part. "Alright..." he said gruffly. The power practice was over already; Rogue was definitely surprised; though everyone had worked up a sweat. She looked towards Scott and saw him looking at Jean. Maybe he belonged with the preppy girl and not Rogue.
"Rogue...are you okay?" Kurt asked.
"Ah'm fine don't worry," she said, smiling lightly. "Look...Ah'm going to go upstairs and finish my homework..." she started to walk away, but decided she owed him a thank you. "Thanks...no one else has been this kind except for Professor Xavier," she said to him. Before he had a chance to respond, she walked out of the Danger Room. Deep down, Rogue knew that she had to tell Kurt about the memories she had taken from Mystique the night that she and Scott had fought her. He deserved to know the truth about his mother, and to know that they were almost like...siblings. She shook her head, it was for another time to tell him. She needed more proof than she had, but for now she should focus on her schoolwork like Professor X had said. Before she knew it she was in her dorm room, and she opened up her math book once again.
She finished up her homework for once and laid down on her bed. She was more tired than she thought she was; she closed her eyes and felt a fitful sleep overcome her.