Chapter One:
She was the untouchable, the unapproachable, she was the Rouge. A teenager of only seventeen, Anna Darkholme had experienced more hardship in her short life than hundreds do in years. She pushed her two toned hair back from her face, sighing in disgust at the younger students who went rushing past her.
'Why is it that Ah have tah put up with da munchins while everyone else is at the stupid fair?' This was not the firt time that this thought had gone through her head. All the other mutants of Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters got to the Bayville National Fair, all but the younger students and, of course, Rouge.
After Apocolyps, nobody trusted her. They all expected her to loose it again and try to blow them up. 'If I wanted tah Ah would have...' They didn't know it, but when she beat Apocolyps, Rouge had gotten slight control. When in high emotional states, she could access powers that she had absorbed in the past. 'At least Professor X can't say Ah aint persistent.'
Ying-Lee, aka Siamese, went running past her, the girls twin chasing after her. They were new, only being in the house for a couple of days. The twins could join hands and morph into whatever they saw fit, but they had to stay touching to do it. Unfortunatly anytime they touched, they morphed, so they were like Rouge... untouchable to the one they loved most.
"Hey Rouge!!!" Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler, "Bamfed" into the air over top of his sister. The blue fuzzy elf hung upside down from the light, smiling at her. In his three fingered hand was a fluffy stuffed pig. "I got ya somting at da fair! See iz a pig!" He held said stuffed animal down towards her.
The thing was obease and ugly, but Rouge didn't want to hurt his feelings, so she grabbed it and held it to her chest. "Thanks Kurt, Ah love it." His smile grew to a painfull porpotion.
"I'm glad. I never know what to get for you. You really like it?" His voice was uncertain, wanting more than anything to see her smile.
Painting a sad, tired grin on her face, Rouge looked her brother in the eye and lied her heart out. "Of course Ah do, it's soooo CUTE!" Watching as Kurt smiled wide enough to cover half the state, they both heard the front door open, and the voices that fallowed.
"I was, like, so totally crushin' on the dude! Did you, like, see him?! He was so freakin', like, hot!!!" A Chicago accent was the firt to hit the goth's ears. Kitty Pride walked around the corner, flicking her long brown hair. She was small and slim, but very pretty. Her grey eyes met Rouge's and she smiled. "Rouge!" The Valley girl practically charged her.
"Easy Kitty, ya don't want tah have a heart attack do ya?" But the warning was to late as Shadowcat plowed into her. They both went tumbling, Kitty ending up on top.
"You, like, so should have been there. There was, like, this vender guy, and he was so totally buff! God I totaly wanted to, like, ask him out." Her smile was innocent and perfect, just like her.
Rouge pushed the girl off of her and sat up. "If he was so hot, why didn't ya ask him out? Ya aint ever had the guts naught ta." The goth was right, Kitty would ask anyone out if she thought they were cute, or hot enough. "Ya finally settling down?" 'Please God let it be so...'
Kitty laughed, full out and almost crippling. "She didn't because he was talking to some uptight little blonde." Jean Grey said, and for the firts time Rouge relized she was there.
Jean, don't-you-dare-call-me-anythingelse, Grey was tall, beautiful and popular. She was a soccer star and on the honor roll. Her dark red hair was down and perfect, as if she had used enough hair gel in it to gag a linebacker. Her grey eyes were clear and, you guessed it, perfect. She wore a brown skirt and a green shirt, flashing her ankles, knees, and nothing else.
"Hey Rouge, Professor Xavier wants to talk to you. I think it's important though..." Of course it was or Jean wouldnt be the one telling her about it. Rolling her emerald green eyes, Rouge set off for Professor X's office... Could this day get any worse?
Chapter Two
Charles Xavier was a middle aged man, with no hair, and enough mental capability to kill you with a look. He wheeled his chair over behind his desk as he waited for Rouge. She was one of the older students, and was very powerful, strong enough that she scared him.
A knock came to the door and Logan, the Wolverine, walked in. He was about 5' 10" and looked positivly furocious. His blue/black hair was swept back in a natural look, his square jaw was clenched around a cigar. He wore a white shirt, a brown leather jacket, jeans and riding boots.
"Chuck, I don't think this is a good idea." Logan said, his left hand twitching. He was talking about sending Rouge on this mission, the one he had said she would be best for.
"Logan, you are the one who said she should be the one to do this." Xavier knew why he didn't want Rouge to go. The healer was attached to her, loved her like a daughter-though he would die before admiting it- and he was worried that she would get hurt. "Rouge is the best choice for..." He trailed off as the door to his office opened.
She walked in, dressed in the normall all blacks and greens. Her green eyes were encased in black eyeshadow and her lips in purple lipstick. Glancing curiously at Logan, she took the only open chair in the room, across for Charles.
"Ah heard ya wanted tah see meh Professor."
"Yes Rouge. You see, I realized that we haven't sent you on any missions scence, well, you know, and I was wondering if you would do me a favor." Her eyes seemed to darken swiftly, then went back to normal.
"What would that be?" Her voice had dropped, as if she was guarding herself, and she probably was. Rouge didn't fully trust any of them. She didn't depend on them, only herself. She had been taught the hard way that you have no one but yourself.
Charles looked at her for a minute before answering. "We would like you to go and recruit a new member. He is in Bayville, but wont be for long. Do you think that you can track him down and maybe convince him to join the X-Men?"
Now this was something new. 'Recruiting a new membah, that sounds like fun.' Her eyes went back to Logan, and saw the odd look on his face and got suspicious. "Who is he?"
The professor flinched as if she had struck him. His black eyes met her fire green ones and he saw no point in lieing. "You know him. He goes by Gambit, his real name is Remy LeBeau."
Comprihenshion dawned on her. "Yah want meh tah go and recruit the guy who kidnapped meh and took meh to Louisianna?" The old man nodded once, bacing himself for the rejection and the blow-up that was sure to come. "Why meh? Why not send Jean or Scott?"
He sighed in slight relief. "Mr. LeBeau doesn't trust anyone on this team, except maybe, you." Doubt filleed her eyes. "Rouge, he kidnapped you, not Jean. He trusted you to find his father. He saved you life, and in return, you saved his. I think that he trusts you because you two are similar..."
Rouge sighed heavily. 'They want meh tah find the Swamp Rat? Where in the world could he...' Thinking about his personality, or what she saw of it, Rouge decided she had a pretty good guess. "Fihne, do yah know where he is?"
Charles smilled, warm and pleased. Logan huffed and then growled threateningly. "As a matter of fact, I do. He is going to be at a bar called 'Renegade' later tonight. Lucker still is the fact that tonight is the only time for another month that they are letting minors in unchaparoned"
Aka, 'Welcome to Hell Rouge', just great she got to go Cajun fishing...
Chapter Three
"Renegade" was croweded and noisy. Rouge pushed her way towards the bar, wondering how she was going to find him in this place. 'He's prabably out on the dance floor right now...' Her green eyes were drawn to the swaying of the people huddled around the danceing area. So many people, to many forher to risk touching.
Finally reaching the bar, Rouge ordered a coke and looked around. The tables to the left showed nothing, so he wasn't there. The bar was clear of anyone fitting his discription. 'Where the hell are yah Swamp Rat?'
"You lookin' for someone cherie?" She whipped around at the southern drawl, comming eye to eye with the very man she was looking for. "Could it be moi? Is Remy so lucky that 'e 'as a belle femme like you lookin' for 'im?" A wide smile took over his face.
Remy LeBeau was a ladies man straight out of hell. His eyes were a hypnotic red on black, his voice deep and emotional. His auburn hair hung in his chisled face as he looked at the southern belle, the person he had returned to Baville to see. Rouge, his chere.
The young female X-man looked him up and down, envying him for his long leather jacket. "Ah don't know, Swamp Rat. Yah seen anyone around here who lookes like a womanizer?" Her answer made him smile as he sat down next to her. 'God, he hasn't changed a bit.
"No, aint seen no one like that. There just be Remy and his chere." His eyes lit up slightly. "What ya doing 'ere Rouge? Remy tought tat yah were back with t'e X-men. Why you 'ere Rouge?" His accent got thicker, showing he was either completely serious or he was hitting on her.
Sighing, the teenage mutant met his incredable eyes. "Ah am back with them. They sent meh here on a mission tah bring yah back with meh. They want yah tah join the X-Men."
The cajun theif laughed slightly. "Why would they send you then? They should know that Remy be the charmer, not the Rouge." He was lieing through his teeth. Rouge was a charmer, a charmer who had stolen the heart of Remy LeBeau.
"They say that yah might trust meh where as yah don't trust them."
That was true too, Remy trusted his chere. The X-geeks on the other hand, he mostly wanted to kill. "Remy aint joining that team chere. They remind 'im to much of Magneto and 'is goons."
"Please Remy." She whispered, watching as it hit him. "This is mah first mission scince Apocolyps, Ah don't want tah screw it up."
His heart was breaking, and yet jumping for joy all at the same time. She was asking him to do something for her, trusting him to say yes. 'They been treating 'er like a child scince Apocolyps, that was 'alf a year ago. She doesn't want tah mess this up.' He sighed before standing up from the stool. "Grab your coat."
Rouge jerked around to him, smiling. "Yah really mean it Swamp Rat, yah'll join?" Bear, painfully plain joy was in her eyes, if not her voice. Remy nodded, praying to god that he hadn't made the wronge choice.
She did something then that he never expected. Rouge leaped out of her chair and hugged him. It was so fast he couldn't return it, and before he knew it, she had let go. Her mask was back in place. She was back to being the untouchable, the Rouge of Bayville. She only said one thing as they were leaving. "Thank yah Remy."