Et Tous le Musique Arrêtee
Chapter One: Crash and Burn
Sorry if the French is wrong. It's supposed to mean "and all the music stopped". And it is relevant to the story. I think. Anyways, I am sorry for butchering the language. Don't know anything about it.
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men. Yet. And I don't own anything else mentioned here. Well, I own some things. But it should be really obvious what I don't own. There. You can't sue me.
~~~~
Rogue shakily reached for the bottle of Motrin. Her hand trembled as she desperately tried to unscrew the top. Hell, all of her was trembling. Her throbbing, stabbing, painful headache hadn't faded, so she'd headed to the painkillers. But she knew they wouldn't work. They never did. As she finally removed the lid, an especially violent tremor ran through her, causing most of the pills to spill out of the bottle and roll across the floor. She fell to her knees, dropping the bottle onto the floor. It fell with a sharp noise and more pills rolled out and hit the ground. She moaned and clutched her head.
The last thing she remembered was Ororo stepping into the room and whispering her name.
~~~
"Will she like, be OK?" Kitty asked Mr. McCoy worriedly. He sighed.
"Yes, I think so, but… there's something wrong here. I don't understand it. I thought that the Professor solved this whole mess after she found out who Risty was." He said, frowning and scratching his shaggy hair. Kitty shrugged.
"What makes you so sure that it's her powers?" Kitty asked. Mr. McCoy sighed again.
"Kitty… it couldn't be anything else. The only X-Man in better physical shape and health than her is Logan. What else could it be?" he asked rhetorically.
Kitty shrugged. "She's been sayin' stuff about, like, headaches, but she didn't seem to think they were like, a real concern," she remembered. Mr. McCoy nodded.
"Constant headaches aren't unusual. I knew a girl that had headaches every day and painkillers never worked. They were never this bad, however. She always just trembled a lot and couldn't think straight. But… this is the first time I've seen anything like it. Is this the first time this has happened?" he asked Kitty, who guiltily shook her head.
"Third," she said meekly. "Twice at school. She ripped up the notes and made me swear not to like, tell anyone." She continued at his puzzled and slightly frustrated look.
"I see," he said. Suddenly, there came a beeping noise. Kitty's head snapped up.
"Intruders," she hissed. Mr. McCoy nodded.
"Gather everyone and get rid of them. Try not to hurt them too badly, ok, Kitty?" he asked her desperately, but the freshman girl was already gone.
~~~~
Willow, the newest employee of the X-Men, was talking seriously to Mr. McCoy. Her skin was so pale it was almost translucent. The first time they'd seen her, they'd though she was a solidified ghost. Her black hair- down just past her shoulders- was black and curly, adding to the vampiric appearance. She also apparently had the same tastes in clothing and make-up as Rogue, and at the age of nineteen, she certainly looked the part of a rebel without a cause. However, she had been a valuable asset to the mansion. A former hacker, she had a formidable knowledge of computers and could look up almost anyone or anything. But along with the wisdom, she had a great disrespect to the human race, proclaiming that all mutant hostility was simply a defense mechanism as humans teased them and branded them as monsters. Also, she was not above tricking people and seemed to have quite a criminal record. But the thing that worried them most was her lack of loyalty. She seemed to move from group to group, making friends but never achieving any sense of loyalty. She simply seemed to favor whoever held the most power.
Her eyes glowed with unmistakable -and frightening- anger as the intruder's face appeared on the monitor. Ignoring this, Mr. McCoy pointed to him and asked,
"Can you get information on him? Real name, age, anything like that." He said. Her eyes quickly snapped back from the screen.
"Ten minutes, tops," she said, smiling cheerfully. Mr. McCoy shook his head. It seemed that the girl could sit and lie, straight-faced.
She went to her laptop and opened up a screen. After hacking into the New Orleans criminal records, she moved to Magneto's personal files.
"It's on a computer," she explained at his puzzled look. "And if it's on a computer, I can find it." She added confidently. She frowned minutes later and began typing furiously again.
He shrugged. Willow's odd personality hadn't made her particularly likeable to most, but she and Rogue seemed to have become friends. He supposed it was healthy for her to make another friend after that whole Risty fiasco. But he wasn't sure if Willow was the first person he would have picked. True, she was outgoing- which might help Rogue want to control her powers more- but she also wasn't exactly the nicest person. He didn't want the already-lonely girl to be badly influenced by Willow. He abandoned his musings, simply deciding to deal with things as they happened.
"Bastard," he heard her mutter as she typed in Remy's name, having hacked into Magneto's computer. Mr. McCoy decided not to ask her what the cause of all this hatred was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Gambit," Jean hissed through her teeth as they saw him slip through the gates. He was wearing his uniform for Magneto, but he appeared to be alone. He approached the group, holding up his hands for the universal sign of 'I'm not holding a frickin' huge gun, ok?' and was smiling somewhat. His eyes roved over the group one by one, then frowned slightly.
"Where de femme with de white bangs?" he asked curiously. Kitty and Kurt threw him a murderous glare each before Kurt snapped,
"Vhat's it to you?" angrily. Gambit laughed slightly.
"Just curious, mon ami," he replied.
"Why are you here?" Jean asked him angrily. He smiled cheekily.
"I've come to join de X-Men, chere," he replied plainly. Jean closed her eyes and sighed.
"Can't read his mind, but it seems he was telling the truth," she said with a shrug. Gambit replied with another smile.
"I t'ought dat be against yo' rules," he said coolly. Scott glared at him.
"Rules don't apply to thieves," he responded sharply. Gambit shrugged.
"You goin' t' answer m' first question?" he asked them. Kitty shook her head and glared homicidally at him.
"Why do you, like, care? She's not dead and she's, like, still an X-Men, so it doesn't matter where she is." She responded coldly. Gambit shrugged.
"If she still be wit' you, why ain't de femme here?" he asked. Kitty looked uncertainly at Kurt who opened his mouth with little hesitation,
"Sleeping. She didn't sleep well last night, so the Professor let her rest." Scott responded for them. The concerned look Kitty and Kurt had shared pinned this as an improvised lie- they obviously hadn't expected him to ask about her- but he didn't push it. Instead, he let himself be led in.
~~~~~~~~~
"Any information on Magneto's allegedly-ex-lackey?" Jean asked sarcastically as she entered Mr. McCoy's experiment and research room. Willow had taken up a small part of the room- a laptop, regular computer, printer, and scanner. She had a folder that she was inserting carefully marked pages into. She nodded and shoved the last piece in.
"There you have it," she responded. Jean read aloud.
"Real name Remy LeBeau, Occupation- thief, age unknown, we know your powers, wait…" she said, trailing off. "Biological family unknown, adopted by Jean-Luc LeBeau…" she trailed off as Mr. McCoy entered the room, carrying a tray of food that was barely touched.
"She's awake, but doesn't want to eat. She said she just wanted…." He trailed off as he saw Remy, who leapt up and ran to the glass window that showed the infirmary. Rogue was there, idly flipping through a book called Blood and Chocolate. She looked up and looked startled, and then the book slipped from her grasp as her hands flew up to grip her head.
Within a minute, she had fainted again.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"L'on e^tes gardant secret!" Willow exclaimed as Remy questioned her. "Depuis tu veulent pour joignez eux, croient eux!" she continued, almost angry. Kitty hesitantly raised a hand.
"Um, translation please?" she said. Remy threw her a look but Willow simply said,
"I said 'We are keeping no secrets!' and 'Since you want to join them, trust them!' That's a rough translation, anyways," she answered, and Kitty nodded.
"From now on, try to speak in English, please," the Professor told Willow, who sneered but nodded slightly.
"Then why did de femme just faint?" Remy demanded. "I just looked at her!" he pointed out. Mr. McCoy sighed.
"We don't know," he said simply. Kitty nodded.
"It's like, the fourth time it's happened. Like twice at school and about two times here. It's totally freaky," she added. Remy struggled to not show his annoyance at her valley-girl accent.
Xavier wheeled himself closer.
"At first, the only theory we had was her powers. But now… we're not sure if it has anything to do with her powers." He explained. Willow spun around again.
"So, basically, they know nothing," she supplied. "Ah, the undefeatable X-Men, in the dark about a series of headaches." She snickered. "Ironic, especially when you throw in Remy's interest in her. Maybe he did something," she accused, and then smiled cruelly. "After all, he did get very near the door without your security systems noticing, and that was when he wanted to be noticed…" she said, trailing off. Remy glared at her.
"You're one to talk," he said. "Don't think I don't know about-" she cut him off.
"Ok, training tomorrow with me and… oh crap…" she said trailing off and flinching.
"Who?" he asked her. She shivered, and he decided it was good to see her afraid.
"Logan," she whispered, and shuddered again. He laughed at her. She glared.
"I know le loup-garou. This is not going to be pleasant." She said quietly. She then turned and left the room without a word. Remy shrugged and let himself be led to his room, but not before he cast another doubtful look back at Rogue's room.
~~~~~~
Wolverine was waiting for them. But when they came in, uncomfortable in their plain black bodysuits, he glared at both of them, and shook his head.
"Welcoming thieves to join the X-Men. I don't understand it." He said. Willow was slouched against the wall, trying to turn invisible. Her head was bent over, her mid-length black hair secured into a braid. He pointed at her.
"You," he said. "Look up." She did, and her eyes looked at him- green with black swirls, no pupils. "Hmm." He said gruffly. "I'd know those eyes anywhere."
"From where, mon ami?" Remy said. Wolverine growled.
"She's the one that stole my bike and my wallet," he snapped at him. Willow flinched.
"I was desperate, loup-garou!" she exclaimed. "I needed a way to escape! Desole!" she snapped as a continuation.
"Escape from what?" Remy asked her sarcastically. Later she would swear she heard Logan snort.
"Like you need to ask, ge/nie," Willow muttered sarcastically. "The cops," she added grudgingly. Then, she mocked Rogue's accent, "Ah stole some rich boy's wallet. Ah was poor and alone. Why isn' that raht, sugah?" she asked, pouting. Logan pointed a menacing finger at her.
"Don't make fun of Stripes," he said angrily. She batted green-mascara caked eyelashes at him.
"Ah ain't makin' fun o' no one," she said sulkily. "So, why do Ah hav' ta train anyways? Ah'm jus' research," she inquired. Logan all but snarled at her exaggerated Mississippi accent. Instead, however, he answered your question.
"Because you will be going on missions with us. And we can't let an untrained girl who likes messing with her powers into the battlefield," he responded.
"Ah dunno, you let Jean in," she said easily. At their inquisitive stares she sighed. "Look, she uses her telekinesis to play with her hair. There's no breeze, so how else would it happen? She could probably be a much bigger asset to our team if she would stop worrying about looking pretty." Remy snickered slightly, but Logan simply motioned for them to enter the Danger Room. Behind his back, Willow waggled her hands with long fingernails and stuck her tongue out, wiggling it like a serpent.
"Level one," he told the computer, and then retreated to watch the madness that ensued.
Instead of simply breaking out weapons, the Danger Room shifted to look like an island. White sand, blues-than-blue water and sky, the whole deal. They heard, however, the cocking of guns. Gambit whipped out some cards and prepared his bo staff, and Willow reached over and snapped off the branch of a simulated tree. It turned out to be part of a gun. She sighed and snatched his staff. He glared indignantly at her, but soon they were being fired upon by guns that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere.
She flipped and dodged the shots, much as he did. Leaping up on top of one of the simulator trees, she bashed the top of a gun with Remy's staff. He threw charged cards at the rest. Within the hour, they had beaten the Level Two simulator as well. Logan stopped Willow as she attempted to exit.
"What's your power?" he asked her. With surprising strength for one so small, she moved his hand and left. Logan growled and didn't follow her. Remy didn't know it, but he didn't need to.
~~~~
"Hey, Rogue," Willow said as she slipped into Rogue's room. Rogue looked up from her book and smiled somewhat. Then she saw that Remy had followed Willow, and threw him a glare that would have made Logan shiver. Willow elbowed him lightly in the stomach and motioned for him to leave. He went to leave, but before he did, he turned around and grinned cheekily at Rogue.
"Kitty threw out all of your make-up," he told her and waited for a response. She threw her book at his head with amazing accuracy, considering her current physical weakness. He walked off, rubbing his head and muttering about girls and tempers.
"Don't worry, Rogue," Willow assured her. "I'll make sure he doesn't bug you. Since Scott isn't here, tell him Jean doesn't have a boyfriends or somethin'. That'd keep him busy," she continued, misunderstanding her angry look.
"Kitty took all my make-up?" she asked Willow. Willow smiled- it reminded Rogue more of a vampire baring her fangs, though- and pulled out a tube of lipstick, one mascara, two eyeliner pencils- black and purple- and her purple eye shadow.
"I managed to sneak this away, along with your brushes and eye make-up remover as well. Until then, you can just borrow my stuff. So, do you want me to keep the Cajun away from your room? He's a perv, ignoring him works best. He seems to have a special interest in you though," she added with a wink. Rogue all but snarled at her. She settled back against her pillows, crossing her arms over her chest and looking for all the world like she was attempting to bore a hole in the wall.
"Send him in so I can rip his head off," she replied. Willow shrugged.
"Oh, forgot to tell you. Everyone's gone, some sort of mission. They even took the new recruits except for me and Gumbo- that's Logan's nickname for him- and obviously you. Beastie said that you should rest and then you might be better by tomorrow." Rogue nodded, and Willow got up.
"Yo, Gumbo! Never got to officially introduce you to Rogue!" she called up the stairs. Remy appeared fairly quickly, and Rogue glared at him.
"Don't look so down, sugah," Willow said, putting on a somewhat understated Southern accent. "Yoah admirer brought ya a present," she explained. Remy glared at her.
"No, I didn'!" he practically yelled at her. She shrugged.
"Fine Ah'll give it to her," she said, and then threw a box at Rogue. Rogue cocked her head to the side, then swept one half of her white streak out of her face. She opened the box tentatively, and she smiled at what she saw.
"A jacket like yours!" she said to Willow. It was black denim, with various patches and buttons. The most prominent one- one that Rogue had admired several times- was a fabric duplicate of the headline "Sid Vicious Accused of Murder". "Thank you," she said quietly to Willow, who threw a very obvious smirk to Remy.
"Ah told ya, sugah," she mimicked Rogue's Southern accent as she had quickly become famous at. "She loves Sid almost as much as me." She added, dropping the accent. She stretched then, arching her back and resting her hands on her lower back.
"Gad, my ass is sore," she muttered. Rogue rolled her eyes.
"Ah'm sure we all needed to know that," she drawled. Willow crinkled her nose and glared at her.
"Y'know, you've got an awfully smart mouth for someone who's stuck in bed." She mock-threatened.
"'M hopin' de fille's mouth can do more'n dat…" Remy said dreamily. Willow shrieked and smacked him as Rogue glared.
"I did not need that mental image!" she screamed at him. Returning to her seat, she shuddered. "Now whenever someone says the word 'mouth' I will have a mental image of Rogue servicing Remy," she muttered, shuddering again. Rogue glared at her. Remy was still quiet for once.
"Anyways," Willow said, "I gotta go. There's somethin' I gotta do. I'll leave you two lovebirds alone. Oh, and Rogue," she added. "If you need it, I think Logan left a gun under your mattress." She finished with a wink, and then swept out of the room. Rogue looked as if she wanted to kill her, but didn't say anything. As a matter of fact, she completely and totally ignored Gambit. Then he looked at her. Her head started to throb.
Flashes of memories passed through her head before she passed out, but she would forget them when she awoke.
~~~~~~
This chapter is all boring and such, but it gets better. And those headaches? Minus the passing-out part, that is my life. So I guess my life inspired this in more ways than one… Anyways, before you read on, let me tell you: This is not a story where there's something that negates Rogue's powers. I am continuing this because I heard somewhere that Rogue can be touched, it's just a psychological issue- she doesn't want to be touched. And I came up with a storyline based on that. This takes place after "Self-Possessed".
If you have not seen "Self-Possessed" or at least read a summary on it, then this will not make much sense.
Just thought I'd warn you.
Anyways, review please! Tell me if I should make the next chapter more exciting or hold out and not tell you the big secret until later.
-The Tourniquet.
