But you promised...
Chapter One
In The Arms Of The Angels
The warm tears kept rolling down the sides of her rosy cheeks as her emerald eyes focused in on the tiny body that lay silently in the old hospital bed. Her vision was blurred and she blinked to see the body's young innocent face, the pale child was quiet and lifeless.
"Rogue?" a voice called from the open hospital door
She gulped and reluctantly turned from the child, wiping her tears away with her leather glove covered hand and turned to face the person who called on her. Young Kitty Pryde stood by the door with a pitiful look on her face, her hazel eyes widened as she saw the tears in Rogue's eyes,
"Just…" Rogue began and then took in a shaky breath "Just a…, minute, please?" she finally began to cry
Kitty bit her bottom lip apologetically and nodded silently before leaving the door and disappearing back into the bright corridor. Rogue frowned and shook her head before turning to look at the beautiful little girl, she hadn't moved but there was a useless hope that Rogue held onto that just maybe she would waken from the everlasting sleep that she was so brutally thrown into. She walked to the small child's side and sat in the old wooden stool so she could look at her face more closely, a purple bruise had formed across her fragile cheekbone and a red mark around her neck. Rogue's jaw began to tremble and she covered her mouth to let out a heart wrenching cry, the rumours had been true, she had been strangled. Rogue looked down the child's tiny arms, bruises and cuts all over them, her hands bruised the worst, purple marks over her knuckles where her fingers were broken. Rogue's slender hands balled into fists, the leather gloves making a noise as her whole body began to shake with anger, the whites of her eyes were red with pure anger, the tears continued to stream down her face as images of the child alive and healthy flashed through her mind. She finally closed her eyes and dropped her head of long auburn curls to the bed in defeat, Asher was gone, she was dead. Her little sister was with God now and there was nothing she could do to reverse the situation.
"Rogue…"
She raised her head from the bed and looked towards the door, Professor Charles Xavier sat in his wheelchair frowning with apologetic blue eyes, Rogue gulped and stood from the stool.
I'm gonna kill him, Rogue thought as her hands continued to ball into fists by her sides
Charles sighed and looked into Rogue's beautiful chocolate eyes; she wasn't thinking straight and the emotions inside were overwhelming, he felt her passionate feelings as he searched her head. Communicating with her at this moment in time was vital so nobody got hurt,
"You're not going to kill anybody, Rogue, I will help you through this disaster but I need you to be willing to open advice." Charles explained in the kindest of voices
Rogue grabbed her hair tightly; her jaw began to tremble again with anger.
He killed her, don't you understand, he murdered my baby sister, Rogue thought and then began to cry again
Charles sighed as he listened to her pain, he wanted to cry for her, but that wasn't going to help anybody.
"I don't know what it's like to loose a young sibling, Rogue but now that she's gone do you really think that she would want you to seek revenge and risk your own safety?"
Rogue growled loudly,
"Yes, she would want me to take revenge, she expected me to protect her and I couldn't, I wasn't there when that bastard murdered her, I failed her and now I need to make up for it!" She screamed as she punched a deep hole through the hospital wall.
Charles frowned as he watched her violent actions; he wanted to calm her down, to talk to her but in this state of shock and anger it was going to be impossible to do. Logan, Scott, Ororo and Jean were in the room in an instant, Kitty and Bobby slowly followed and everybody's gaze was fixed on Asher's body.
"Stop staring at her!" Rogue shouted angrily
Wolverine stepped towards Rogue, he wanted to comfort her but she wouldn't have any of it, she was too far gone in her rage to see clearly, she wanted a man dead.
"Rogue, calm down, we can help you!" Wolverine growled
Rogue clawed her face in fury,
"If you can't bring Asher back then you can't help me, get the fuck away from me now!" she screamed loudly
Everybody was suddenly silent, Rogue fell to her knees and dropped her head between her hands as she sobbed; she was exhausted but couldn't sleep. She was alive but she felt as if she had died, her heart was beating but it felt dead.
"Asher's not coming back…" she cried as she raised her head to look at the lifeless child once again
The others watched as Rogue raised herself to her feet again and climbed into the hospital bed. They watched as she lay next to her tiny sister, she pulled the cover over Asher as if to keep her warm and she stroked her pale blue lips gently. Kitty ran from the room in tears while Rogue's full attention was on her baby sister, she ran her fingers through her long dark curls and gently stroked the injuries on her frozen body.
"You have no idea how much I love you…" she whispered to the child before kissing her cold forehead and wrapping an arm around her tiny body to embrace her, the tears flew down her cheeks and over the bridge of her nose as she took in sharp gasps of air.
"Tell me this isn't real, Asher, tell me you're okay, please!" Rogue cried quietly
Jean and Ororo left soon followed by Scott and Bobby, the professor also left but Wolverine stayed a little longer before a nurse dressed in a blue outfit entered the room with a clipboard. Two other men entered with her and held a metal like hospital bed,
"Um, this is the body of Asher Owens, am I correct?" the nurse asked.
Rogue lifted her head from the pillow and frowned at the nurse,
"Yes, why do you want to know?" Rogue snapped
The nurse looked at her two male assistants, and then turned to face Rogue once again.
"We're here to collect her body for further examination; once all tests have been taken her body will be released to her family," she explained
Rogue frowned,
"I'm her only family!" she growled to confirm her status.
The nurse nodded,
"Her body will be released to you safely, ma'am, I can assure you…"
Rogue took another look at Asher and smiled slightly at her angelic face.
"Do I not get any authority to what happens to her, can I not stop these examinations, my sister is not a lab rat!" Rogue growled.
The nurse nodded,
"No, she's not a lab rat, she's a murder victim and we need the tests for evidence against the offender,"
Rogue frowned,
"My father!" she growled angrily.
The nurse gulped,
"We need to collect her body…"
Rogue got out of the bed and stood as they grabbed her and carried her to the metal bed,
"Be gentle with her!" Rogue shouted as they placed her onto the bed.
Wolverine frowned as the nurses covered her body with a white sheet and removed her from the room, Rogue blew her a kiss as tears streamed down her cheeks once again.
"Are you alright, kid?" he asked
Rogue shot him a glare,
"Do I look fucking okay?" she shouted
Wolverine frowned,
"It was just a question!" he growled angrily.
Rogue sighed and shook her head as she stormed out of the room,
"No I'm not okay, I've got a fucker to kill!" Rogue growled as she exited the building.