Rogue's P.O.V

"Beans, beans, are good for your heart. The more you eat the more you fart~!"

I tried my best to block out the annoying sound of the duplicated brat sitting across the table from me and raised a dripping spoonful of cornflakes to my lips, which where pressed into a thin bored line.

"Beans, beans, the magical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot!" Beans aren't a fruit, and that's REALLY starting to get annoying!

"Beans, beans, they give you gas; go in your mouth and out your-"

"Shut up, Jamie!" Half the table and I hissed menacingly on cue. Summer break totally sucked, especially since there wasn't much to do-that was to my liking, at least. I wasn't fond of anything other than wall ball with Scott every now and then, and maybe a round of table tennis with Kurt or Sam... and Gambit wasn't around as often, either, so there went a session of Go Fish. The only slightly more interesting day at the Institute so far was yesterday, when the new girl showed up. To think, the one day Gambit's actually around she has to hog up all his time.

Speaking of that girl, here she comes now. I studied her as she poured herself a glass of milk and sat down in the only empty seat to my left side (seeing as Kurt had my right and Multiple had the only other three extra seats taken).

This girl's name is Raison Maddock, but some people call her Rai or "Cimmerian" because of her mutant ability to transform into either a monster bat with a muscular structure that put Beast to shame, or a small one with only a three-foot wingspan. The transformation takes only a split second and the returning result is enough to give Bobby nightmares. She was about a month older than Jean, but admittedly she had a very motherly attitude about her; she had a frequent tendency to give everyone cutesy names. She called me "Baby" on a normal occasion-and she had only been here A DAY.

Why did Jamie feel the need to take up four chairs in stead of one? Maybe then she wouldn't have to sit next to me. "Good morning, everyone," Raison chimed and sipped her drink, "You too, Baby."

I had given up in less than A DAY to correct Raison to refer to me as "Rogue" and not freaking "Baby". I glanced wearily at the window and dreaded the annoyance of the condensed liquid slamming against the window panes and sliding down in pathetic rivulets. Lightning flashed briefly and practically blinded me, but I blinked the light away from my vision a few times. "Yeah, it's such a great day already." The gray clouds were dark and gloomy, just as they always were in this kind of weather. "Ugh, can Storm do something about the... storm?"

"You'd think she would," Kurt muttered.

"Oh?" Raison mused when an all too familiar mutant strode into the kitchen, "Good morning, Love." I winced and considered stabbing her with the spoon in my gloved hand. "I see you have a lot of morning pep."

I noticed the heavy bags under Gambit's dulling red and black eyes and I wedged another spoonful of cornflakes past my clenched teeth. That was another thing that pissed me off about Raison's stupid nicknames-she called Gambit Love. Sure, apparently they've known each other since they were kids and apparently they were separated and what gave her the right to call him Love? It's not like they were dating or anything! Or was this some kind of trick to make me jealous? If it was, it was working.

Wait, was I seriously jealous? About what?

"Pfft," Gambit rummaged through the fridge, "I'm not like Havoc over there. Now he defines mornin' pep." He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to Alex who had fallen asleep face-down in his cereal. Gambit finally shut the fridge door and revealed to have found the orange juice that was gradually pushed into the darkest corner of one of the overloaded shelves. He checked the expiration date on the bottle, and after deciding it was safe aside from probably being poisoned or drugged, he poured himself a cup and recapped it.

I was finally fed up with Raison's presence at this point and got up abruptly; I practically stomped over to the counter and dropped my bowl in the sink.

"Bonjour, Cherie-"

"Can it, Gambit," I snarled bitterly and switched on the faucet. I was starting to get pissed off with all the nicknames lately. Rogue I could live with, seeing as I hated my real name, but Baby and Cherie and even girly and mutant by any asshole walking down the street who knew I was "unique" were nicknames that had originally gone unnoticed until Raison showed up. I was as frustrated with life as ever.

I sensed Gambit shrugging to someone, most likely Raison, but I ignored him and scrubbed my anger out on the bowl and spoon before drying them with a cloth and abandoning them in the cabinets overhead.

"So, it's my turn to cook tonight," Scott announced, "What does everyone think about pasta?" Groans of complaint. The problem was, when Scott cooked shit burned. It was a wonder why Professor Xavier let him cook to begin with, but I figured it was a good excuse to buy the students pizza without looking like a total push-over, "What do you guys want for take-out?" Scott instantly received random outbursts of likes and dislikes. Even he had learned by now that he was not compatible with the stove unless he planned on burning down the institute.

"I vote for pizza and hot wings," I declared, "but that's just me." I silently stalked out of the kitchen to find Storm to see if she could do something about the rain.


~ * WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE STORM * ~


The day before, early morning...

The air was heavy with the aftermath of the previous night's downpour. It was supposed to rain all week, which was a downer because almost all of the activities in the institute required the outdoors and open fresh air. At least the rain wouldn't start up again until late into the afternoon.

"New girl?"

"Yeah, she's about Jean's age, apparently."

"Dang, so that means we're getting a new teacher then?"

"If we are, I hope she isn't as strict as Wolverine's morning training sessions," Cannonball bit into his apple and stared at Wolfsbane across the table, "I really hope she's nice, and maybe I push-over so she won't punish us as strictly."

I had my nose stuck half-way through Rahne's copy of Blood Bound but I couldn't help but overhear their conversation and add in my own comments, "With all the chaos you guys cause, strict is an understatement for the punishment you need." I flicked my eyes over the top of the book, "Or am I wrong?"

"It's not like we burn entire cities to the ground," Sam shot back defensively and nibbled away at his snack.

It's a morning like this, when the dawn's light is kissing the horizon and teasing an assortment of colors into the landscape and tingeing the leaves with vibrant radiance, that you know something is going to happen... and not in the good way. With me, I always think that bad occurrence might have something to do with my powers. The way my abilities worked was like looking through a box that held someone's entire life. I would unintentionally dig through this box, pushing and picking out the thoughts and memories that I would play with until I was bored of them, and if I was given enough time my nails would scrape against the bottom before I realized the true potential of the gifts in this box, such as a mutation. I would play with what I've gotten, and once I was bored I would return it. If I wasn't careful, I might like what I've borrowed too much to let go. So now that box wasn't as full, and I could move on to a different box that was filled with someone else's life... someone else's toys.

In basic terms, a total piss off because I couldn't control myself, and some people would come along who would decide they wanted to play with my toys, those stolen thoughts and powers, but I was selfish. I wouldn't let them near my toys cough Mystique cough.

Sometimes the mere thought of it made me sound crazy; that was the last thing I needed.

"Will the X-Men please report to my office," Professor Xavier's voice rang out over the intercom, "I want everyone to meet our new family member."

Family member, because that was what the institute was: one big messed up family. There wasn't much too it.

Curiosity always got the better of me as it did a lot of other people, and Sam, Rahne, and I headed down to Prof. X's office to meet this new comer. Talk about a sight for sore-eyes: Brown hair, startling green eyes and light skin. I had stayed in the back of the crowd, in the way back, so I didn't have to bother even looking at her. No, I didn't have a problem with her appearance. That actually had nothing to do with it. When I had walked in she and Gambit were hugging. She didn't hug anyone else, just him.

It hurt just to look, especially since he hugged her back. "Remy LeBeau," She said breathlessly, "It's been forever!" Blah blah blah "I heard about this institute for mutants. I figured since it was getting dangerous to be a mutant out in the real world it would be nice to try and fit in for once."

"You're safe here," Professor X reassured her. He clearly wasn't taking into account the number of times we've gone into Defcon 4 in one year and how Defcon 1 was rigged to either be a wave of nukes or Scott's cooking. "Welcome aboard," blah blah blah rant rant rant boring lecture blah "Storm will see you to your room."

Of course, this was how everything started. I bumped into her (literally) in the hall later into the day and she decided to make conversation with me.

"Oh, excuse me, Baby," She bowed slightly, "I'm 'Cimmerian', or Raison Maddock. Who might you be?"

"Rogue," I replied briskly. Move outta my way!

"Oh, you're Rogue!" Raison's excitement peaked and freaked me out, "Gambit told me about you... Actually, he wouldn't shut up about you. From what he's told me, you're quite an amazing girl."

Whoop-die-freaking-doo. "I'm gonna go," I bluffed, hoping to delude her so I could get away from her ASANOW, "I have somewhere I need to be." I wasn't one for lying, but I REALLY didn't like this chick.

She only smiled ever broader, "Of course, let me not slow you down! Have a nice evening, Baby," and she walked off.

"It's Rogue," I muttered and shuffled down the hall towards my room. Thunder rumbled outside and I paused briefly to glance out the window, "Storm!" I called and jogged down the passage towards her room, "Storm! Can you do something about the weather?"


Present...

The thing is, when it rains it pours, and even a tornado hitting the school couldn't keep Scott from at least attempting to make dinner. Even though he asked us if we wanted take-out and Jean insisted three times every hour that he should avoid making contact with the oven, boys will be boys and Cyclops will (try to) be Chef Cyclops... so in the end, not only did he actually go within ten feet of the oven, we now need a new one. We also need a few of the students to work on fixing the holes that was blown open through the floors above it... and even through the top of the building.

We ended up eating our take-out, which did turn out to be pizza and hot-wings, while watching Scott explain what had happened to Hank and the Professor.

I kept my eyes on Raison and Remy poking fun at each other until I felt like either throwing my chair at them or puking. Watch out, Raison, 'cause there's a storm coming your way.


End of chapter 1. tell me what you think ^_^ this won't be a long fic, just a quicky because i'm only trying out the pairing of Romy (Rogue/Remy).