Author's Note: Hey all! I'm not necessarily new to the site, but this is my first story, so please take it easy on me? I'm pretty sure I'm going to have some grammar and spelling issues with this one because of the dialect and what not, so bear with me :) Also, I love constructive criticism for those of you who are brave enough to PM or send out a review. Either way, enjoy the story and I strongly urge you all to listen to the song "Cape of our Hero" by Volbeat. Surely, it'll kind of depict where I'm going with this story.
Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men Evolution or any of the following characters that may be featured in the Marvel Universe
Chapter 1: A Moment Forever
Rogue POV
"Again? Really?" I asked with annoyance clearly laced in my voice.
"Yes, again. We do it 'til we beat our record time," Scott Summers said.
Sure, Cyclops is a good leader during actual battle, but during danger room sessions? Not so much. Sometimes I think he tries to impress Logan a little too much.
"Whah are ya putting us through so much trainin'?!" I asked, outraged. "Evah since we destroyed Apocalypse, there hasn't been any threat from the Brotherhood and almost nothin' from the Acolytes! Whah do you keep pushin' us and pushing' us and pushin' us when there's hardly any reason tah? Did ya evah consider that we maht, oh I dunno, wanna break?!"
With each word, I seemed to have gotten louder and louder, my southern drawl increasing with each word, considering Scott and I now had an audience; however no one took sides in fear of both mine and Scott's tempers.
It seemed as if Scott had noticed the audience too, because he lowered his voice, saying, "Yes. Apocalypse is gone. Sure, the Brotherhood and Acolytes haven't shown much of a threat lately, but what's gonna happen when they do? Hell, what happens when something else comes up?"
Looking around, I noticed all the worried downcast glances of my fellow teammates. I've put up with this so far, what's another hour? "Fahne. We'll do the stupid run threw again," I said with resignation in my voice.
"Thank you, Rogue. That's all I wanted to hear," he said.
The simulation started up again. This time, however, it was a new setting. Unlike the usual New York City landscape, it looked more like a small logging town. There were lots of trees and shrubs and a few houses and other buildings. All of this overlooking beautifully blue body of water that seemed to go on for miles and miles. The picture was so serene that I mentally slapped Kurt when he brought me back from my calm state as he "bamfed" in front of me.
"Rogue! Isn't dis place preetty?!" Nightcrawler asked, while appearing from the sulfur-smelling smoke.
Coughing from the disgusting smell that I vow to never get over, I managed to wheeze out, "Yeah, it WAS nahce."
"Oh c'mon Rogue, like lighten up!" The recognizable voice of Kitty Pryde piped in.
"Wish Ah could," I muttered more to myself than those around me.
"Alright, guys, let's split up into two groups. Jean, Iceman, Berzerker, Jubilee, and myself will search out the residential or town- whatever it is- area. Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, and Rogue will take forest. If anyone sees anything that could be of potential threat, call it in to the corresponding group," said Scott in his leader-like voice.
Everyone nodded their understanding and moved to their respectful sides. "Rogue," Cyclops' voice called out. "You're in charge. Think you can handle that?"
By this time, I was seething with anger, but what kind of an example would I be setting for the younger students if I were to act out with hostile behavior. "Aye, aye ca'tain!" I said with an eye roll and sarcasm rolling off my tongue.
"I'm sorry, Rogue… for Scott's behavior. I don't know what's going on with him. It must be the new classes he started teaching. It doesn't take a telepath to sense how stressed he is," Jean Grey mentally said to me.
"Jean, ya shouldn't have tah apologize foh his actions. Ah understand that he must be stressed, but whah take it out on us? It's just… not fair, ya know?" I thought back.
"Yeah, I get it. I'll talk to him later about it, okay?" She reassured.
"Thank ya, Jean, really," I finished.
And with that, the telepathic bond was broken. Ever since the fall of Apocalypse, "Little Miss Popular" became friendlier, actually putting thought into building a friendship and I didn't disagree with the idea. Jean Grey, even as perky as Kitty could be sometimes, was surprisingly a decent person.
Before long, we had made it into the far depths of the tall cedar trees. Unfortunately none of the branches were thick enough to climb or hold onto as demonstrated by Kurt "bamfing" to one of them and almost falling on his face if not for his mutation.
"So," a timid voice sounded behind me. "Are you, like, okay? Cause you and Scott were like totally going at each others' throats earlier, and…"
"Kitty, Ah'm fahne. Don't worry 'bout it. Jus' focus on the mission at hand," I said. "So we can jus' git this ovah with," I muttered the last part.
At least Scott had the raht mind tah give us Wolfsbane.
"Hey, Rahne," I said loudly enough to the girl in the back of the line. "Smell anythin'? Hear anythin'?"
"Not really. Just us and the trees, it seems," she said.
"Hmmm," I said as we reached a clearing.
"Jean? Have y'all found anythin' yet?" I mentally asked the telepath, testing for any type of mental connection.
After a couple seconds came a faint voice within my head. "Not yet. Just oddly quiet, very unsettling. Nothing for you guys, either?"
"No, nothin'. Keep in touch," I thought, putting my mental block back up again.
"Alraht, gahs," I suddenly said. "We should split up. One group goes down this left path and the other goes down the right. Ah'll take Rahne and Kurt and Roberto go with Kitty. Any problems?" I asked.
"Yeah, like why do I have to go with the two Neanderthals," Kitty said, looking at the two boys goofing off with one another.
"Fahne," I said calmly, but viciously. Roberto, you're with meh. Anyone have any complaints?"
Everybody shook their heads in unison, now afraid to speak up, more so than usual. With that, Sunspot and I took the left path, while the three others took to the right.
"So, what exactly are we looking for?" Roberto asked after a few minutes a peaceful silence.
"Honestly," I began, turning around to face him. "Ah have no idea. The last few tahmes we've done the simulations, it's usually with the Brotherhood, but that was always in a city-lahke environment. This? I dunno. I don' remembah doing this one with Cyclops or even Logan."
As if on cue, a forest fire had began to make its way towards us from behind, sending us further into the forest. And away from everybody else. Smart move.
As if things couldn't get worse, a raging Sabertooth came at Roberto and I full force. Being the somewhat good teammate I was, I pushed Roberto out of the way, as Sabertooth sent me flying across the clearing we had managed to get ourselves in into a nearby tree.
To say the least, damn, that really hurt. Good thing though is that I didn't hear or feel anything crack or break.
"C'mon little girl!" The feral man yelled. "You don't have the guts!"
Just then, Sunspot came crashing into Sabertooth with a new, reserved strength that sent Sabertooth to the ground for a few short seconds. "Go!" He yelled.
Too dazed to do much else, I got up and tried to make my way towards him to help when a streak of fire seemed like it was thrown into my way, separating me from Roberto.
I skidded to a halt, but not before the uncontrolled flames lashed out at my hand and arm, exposing the now burned skin.
Wait. Uncontrolled fire. Fire in general. Threat. Pyro! That must mean we're dealing with the rest of the Acolytes as well.
I began to run in the opposite direction from my teammate and enemy, pushing branches and anything in my way, away from myself. And of course, there had to be a root. And even more of a cliché, I had to trip over it, landing hard on the forest-y ground.
I attempted to get back up, only to fall right back down due to the shot of pain running through my right ankle up my leg. Groaning, I felt around the area in hopes that I could pinpoint the area of pain.
I groaned as I touched the tender spot, trying not to scream or cry from the pain. It was just a sprain. A big sprain, but still better than being broken.
What happened next, was nothing I couldn't have anticipated in a lifetime.
"What's a fille like yo'self doin' on da groun' like dat?" Was all the man said, while holding out a hand for me to take. Trademark smirk plastered on his face.
Rogue, it's just a simulation. Don' let 'im get tah ya.
Scowling at his outstretched hand, I swung my left leg around as to knock him off his feet, only to have him do a backflip and land perfectly on his feet as if nothing happened just then.
"Ah swear, if this guy wasn't alreadeh a Swamp Rat, he'd be a damn cat for all Ah know," I muttered to myself, while staggering to my feet.
"Chere, yo' call moi un cat, non? Remy bets dat yo' can make moi "purr" all night long," Gambit said with that damn smirk of his.
How did he even hear that? Whatever. Now I'm ready for a little action.
Ignoring the pain shooting through my right leg, I trudged over to the grinning Cajun, ready for an attack at any given moment. "What are ya waitin' foh, Swamp Rat? Afraid tah hit a girl?" I said, giving him my own smirk.
Simulation, Rogue. Jus' attack!
Sprinting the rest of the way to the blasted Cajun, I threw punch after punch for his face and stomach, each one being deflected by him or by him just dodging it all together. When did Ah git so sloppeh?
Apparently, I had given him enough time for him to react, so he pushed me back a ways away from him and took out his bo staff, letting it come out to full length. "Yo' know Chere," he began, while making to strike out toward me. "Remy be t'inkin' 'bout mo'e… pleasurable t'ings dan doin' dis."
"Raght," I curtly stated.
Before I had much time to react, another blow from his staff came at me, which I blocked by crossing my arms over my head and chest. He repeated this over and over again until he had me backed into a tree.
Then, he pushed me up against the tree with all his weight on me, keeping my hands above my head locked in what felt like a death grip. He moved his face to where he was directly looking me in the eyes, only an inch away from touching my face.
I wanted to reach out and just brush my cheek against his, knowing full well that he would drop to the ground, hard as a rock, but something kept me from doing it. Something… entrancing.
"Jus' remember Cherie, yo' asked fo' dis," he said, as he leaned in to kiss me.
In that moment of shock and excitement- Excited shock? Shocked excitement?- I realized I did want it and I thought I was ready. It was just the two of us; his body nearly towering over mine. It seemed as if the world had just stopped for a second, all rational thoughts out the window, no pain from the injuries made itself present and I couldn't comprehend anything other than the fact that I was about to be kissed by "La Diable Blanc" himself.
And then it was gone. And the pain came back as I recalled hearing the last words of Logan screaming "end simulation" before falling onto my knees, ready to pass out from the overwhelming physical pain I felt, as well as the impending sadness that I would soon have to conceal from everyone else.
It was jus' a simulation. It wasn't real.
"Rogue!" An angry voice made itself present. I didn't have to look up to see that it was Cyclops. "What were you thinking going off by yourself? Did you even stop to think about how that would overall affect your other teammates? Well?!"
Level-headed Scott seemed to be working himself up into a rage. Something I wasn't ready to deal with yet. I stood up with as much pride as I could with a sprained ankle and other wounds that would probably hurt in five minutes or so and glared at him like no tomorrow. He glared back. I left him standing there, baffled by my standoffish attitude towards him and walked to the medical bay.
The thing about the danger room is that the scenarios may not be real, but the pain and injuries from it sure are. No one better understands that than me, telling by their unscathed bodies and relaxed emotions coming from their expressions.
On the way to the medical bay, I passed by Logan. "Hey, Stripes," he said in his gruff voice. "Do you wanna talk about it?"
Oh gawd, he saw. Noticing his sudden awkwardness, I settled with just giving him a small, sad smile and saying, "No, Ah'm fahne."
"Rogue," he said. "I know what I saw down there."
"Logan, jus' drop it. Ah'm fahne," I said a little harsher than I meant.
And with that, Logan left with a huff in the opposite direction of where I was headed, leaving me with my thoughts. Great.