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Chapter 1: The sleep walker.
"…Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing,
doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before…"
Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven.
Scott's team was loosing 5 to 3 against Jean's. It was only the fourth inning, but the game seemed to have dragged on an on for too long now. Hours, maybe? Rogue wasn't sure, but then that was normal; it was always hard to tell. Could it be noon already? Probably, considering how bright the sky was and how intensely the sunlight hit her cheeks, forcing her to narrow her eyes a little as she watched the guys play.
Bobby was leaving a trail of frost on the lawn as he ran to first base, causing Kitty to shriek in annoyance as she reminded everyone, for the hundredth time, that they weren't allowed to use their powers during the game.
"But it's just ice, Kit!" he shrugged, stepping a foot on the base.
"Yeah, but anyway…!" she replied, as other two or three voices rose against Iceman too.
"But I didn't do anything!"
"No powers means no powers!"
"It's already melted anyway…!"
They always did that: arguing about any little thing and then making up two minutes later, but hey, at least that kept them busy. So Rogue rolled her eyes and looked away, some strands of her hair stubbornly deciding to remain over her face, no matter how many times she brushed them away. The wooden swing went back and forth slightly, slowly, driven by her feet that never left the ground and her gloved hands attached to the rough ropes. There was a small pond nearby, with white ducks and everything, and the mansion was there, behind the trees that formed a little forest. She was about to stand up and go somewhere, maybe pick up a soda, when something caught her eye, or the corner of it. For a second she stopped swinging, but then hurried up to keep on doing it, her eyes focused again on the baseball game. On Jean pitching the ball to Tabitha, who couldn't even get the bat close to it, and Kurt laughing and mocking at her, as the tall figure kept approaching to Rogue. She'd forgotten someone would show up today, so he caught her a little bit off guard, but not for too long. She could handle him, just as she'd handled the rest of them; it wasn't scary at this point of her life, more just like… bizarre, if that means anything. Like receiving an unexpected guest at home every once in a while; thing is, none of them ever left.
It was Jubilee's turn to bat when the new guy on the block sat on a bench near Rogue, so she had no other choice but to turn to see him: he lightened on a cigarette and then casually rested his right arm on the bench's back:
"So, dis what y'all do for fun 'round here?"
She had a few seconds to freely observe his features, as his eyes laid on the people playing baseball; they didn't surprise her at all, his eyes, but it was still incredible how such… unique pupils could match so perfectly with the face that surrounded them.
"That's one of the things they do, yeah."
"An' what do y' do?" he said, finally staring at her.
"Well…" she sighed before continuing: "Let's just say ah don't generally have a blast 'round here."
"Pourquoi ça?" he breathed in his cigarette deeply.
"Why? 'Cause…" she was about to start explaining, but technically, she didn't even know him, so why should she? "Who the heck are yah anyway?"
"Moi? Y' sure know who I am, don't y'? I'm de one dat should be askin' explanations, hein?"
Technically… yes, she knew who he was. But she didn't know him, which was different. So she took just a little more impulse in the swing and then let herself go:
"Yeah, ah guess."
There was this huge fuss in the baseball field, caused by a home run that got lost in the forest, or even further away: Colossus merrily jogged base to base, as some people cheered him up and others booed him.
"But hey, let's not start with de wrong foot, oui?" he extended his hand to Rogue: "I'm Remy."
She stopped the swing's come-and-go, firmly resting her feet back on the ground:
"Rogue."
He was about to kiss the back of her hand, but she managed to pull it back on time, brows raised and her lips half open, as she was about to say something, but didn't know exactly what, and all she had left was the hint of a smile.
"Rogue, eh?" he chuckled, taking a quick up and down glimpse at her: "Dat probably one of de best names I've ever heard."
"An' why is that? How do yah know if a name's better than another one? It's ridiculous." She fixated her eyes on a ball that fell on the lawn close to her, and that Amara came to pick up immediately. It was a fault.
"Non, see, names generally be syllables put together without meanin', tu sais?"
"Like Remy?"
"Dat's my point" he conceded, like he was giving some transcendental philosophical lecture: "But yours actually mean somethin' interestin'. Somethin' dat fits y'."
"An' what 'bout yah? Don't yah have any interestin' name?"
They held each other's gazes for a few moments, like it was a little inexplicit war where each of them was the good and the bad guy at the same time.
"Y' know de answer t' dat, chere."
Rogue involuntarily shook her head when hearing this:
"How did yah just call me?"
"I just called y' "chere"… chere" he exhaled some smoke with this last word.
"Yah can't call me that."
"But I just did, chere. See? Once again. Can't help it. But if y' like cherie better…"
"Mah name's Rogue, all right?"
"I know dat, chere" he winked, and pretended to watch the game again, giving and end to the whole names' deal.
"We're not gonna be gettin' along this way, yah know?"
"Oh, I think we are, cherie. Trust me."
She hated to admit it, but something in her gut told her he was right.
"Why don't yah go an' play with 'em, eh?" she suggested all of a sudden, trying to brush those thoughts away.
"Eh, not exactly my idea of fun" he shrugged.
"An' what's your idea of fun?" she asked, but regretted it immediately when seeing the impish smirk that appeared on his face.
"Well…" he leaned over a little, like he was about to tell her a secret: "Why don't y' an' I go for a walk, t' begin with?"
"To begin with?" Rogue echoed, raising her brows.
"Y' owe me dat, chere. A little tour on the place, at least."
The game was now 5 to 5. Not like she cared, of course. So, why not?
"All right, but I warn yah: there ain't too much to see 'round here" she stood up and began to walk. Remy threw the cigarette's end to the ground, turned it off with the sole of his shoe and followed her.
They walked out of the park, down a street of what seemed to be a calmed suburb.
"Okay, so this is a street, an' that's a car… an' those are houses, over there. Yah like 'em?"
"Impressive, I must say" he nodded, following her little game.
"An'… oh, those are Storm an' Kitty" she pointed out at the woman and the girl walking down the opposite sidewalk, who waved back at her. It was fun to see the puzzled look on his face:
"But de petite one, wasn't she…?"
"Yeah. She was" Rogue said matter of factly, her chin a little bit up.
"Now dat's impressive" he recognized, running his hand through his hair.
"Yah'll get used to it."
"Remy can get used t' pretty much anythin', 'cept starbin'. Y' wouldn't have some nice place where we can grab a meal?"
"Well…" she was kinda hungry too: "If yah wanna eat, yah go to the mansion. The Institute, yah know?"
"Everyone goes dere?"
"Not everyone, ah mean, my family, the X-Men."
"An' everyone else? Remy ain't exactly an X-Men, tu sais?"
She had wondered the same thing too, many times.
"Yeah, well, ah don't know, ah've never seen a restaurant or anythin'."
"Hmmm…" Remy frowned, looking for another cigarette inside one of his trench coat's pocket: "Now dat gonna be a problem."
"Hey, what's with that?"
"With what?"
"This" she took the cigarette away from his lips and threw it to the ground.
"Hey! Come on, cherie, it was a new one."
"Yah can't smoke in here." It's not like it bothered her, that he smoked. She just didn't know yet that she was starting to enjoy teasing him.
"Why not?" Remy asked.
"'Cause…" she looked at the sky and then back at him: "'Cause ah say so, 'kay?"
"Ah! Y' say so?"
"Yeah! Yah know, ah… kinda rule here, an' if ah don't want yah to smoke, then yah don't."
He smirked in disbelieve: "Alors, lemme see if I get it: y' rule here, but we don't even get a little café or somewhere we can eat somethin'?"
She stopped in his tracks and stared at him: "Exactly… ah guess."
"Why?" he insisted.
"Ah don't know Remy, how'm ah supossed to know? Ah didn't choose to be here."
"Me neither." She opened her mouth to speak, but he continued: "What would y' like t' eat?"
Where did he want to go with this?
"Ah don't know… anythin'."
"Allons chere, don't be lazy. Focus a little bit, oui?"
Rogue placed her hands on her hips, sighed and looked around: there was nothing but houses, houses and more fancy houses all along the street that got lost far away.
She couldn't avoid smiling a little when she said it: "Cotton candy."
He nodded and then looked over her shoulder:
"What are de odds?"
Before she could do anything about it, he held her left hand and led her back on their tracks.
"What…?" she couldn't say anything else, when she saw where they were heading to.
"Cotton candy! Get your cotton candy! Only 2 dollarz each!" No other than Kurt was standing there, wearing a white cap and a white outfit, holding several cotton candies in each three fingered hand.
"Schwester!" Nightcrawler greeted: "It'z only one buck each, for you."
Remy paid for the candies, Kurt was giving him the change back, as Rogue watched open mouthed all of it. It made no sense…
"Not exactly what I had on mind," the Cajun handed her one cotton candy: "But it's 'kay, t' begin with."
"How… how did yah do that?" she grabbed the candy with the tip of her fingers, like she was scared of it.
"Moi? I didn't do anythin', chere. Y' did."
(***)
When it starts, it's hard to tell what is it, like it has no shape, like you can't even tell what kind of sensation it causes you. You just know it's annoying. And it's getting louder. And you start to move randomly, like a fish that's just been taken out of the water's safety.
"That damned… song from hell" Rogue groaned, searching for her cell phone on the floor besides her bed, until she finally grasped it and pressed whatever button for it to cut it out at once. Then she let herself fall backwards again, sighing.
"Hey, get up already, I mean, seriously" Kitty sprang out of the bathroom, already dressed up and fixing her pony tail.
Like getting up early was the first thing Rogue wanted to do after a day of missions, rescues, saving the world and the likes.
"People who finished high school don't have to wake up at… six?" she replied, stretching.
"Keep rubbing it in my face! And it's like seven already." After picking up her things, the younger girl stormed out of the bedroom, leaving Rogue alone face to face with the thing that had been stuck in her brain lately: yes, she finished high school almost a year ago; and now what? What would she do with her life? Was there anything she could do at all? At least the school gave her a purpose: getting up early, going to class, doing homework. But now what? Was her goal… her duty, being an X-Men forever? And if not, until when?
Not like she could solve all of it this morning, of course.
A while later, when she reached the kitchen, the place was still crowded with people trying to make their ways through breakfast. So she glimpsed down at herself for a second, as a reflex, just to make sure no one would accidentally get knocked out by a touch of hers.
"All right, who ate my Froot Loops, ha?" Tabitha seemed furious, holding the empty box in her hands.
"Jamie" Jean sighed: "You know only one of you should eat, right? Otherwise you eat for four, it's absurd."
The four boys shrugged at the same time and then became only one Jamie again, thing Sam could take advantage of, as he took the three unfinished sandwiches the boy… or boys, had left.
"What are you doing?!" Rogue heard Kitty's squeal behind her back: "You know I hate juice when it's like, totally frozen! Now I can't drink it!"
"But it's just ice, Kit!" Bobby shrugged, staring at the little ice cubes floating in the orange liquid.
"Yeah, but anyway…! Gee!"
Rogue frowned and stayed looking into empty space for about two, three, four seconds…
"Oh mah Gawd. Déjà vu."
Note: hi! I'm so happy to be back with another fic. I had this terrible writer's block that lasted probably centuries, but then I was watching on the TV the trailer of a movie named "The Science of Sleep", and the girl said something like "But I'll be awake when you get back" and boom!! That was the trigger that initiated this story in my head. Haven't seen the movie yet, but I'd like to rent it.
I hope everyone noticed the first part of this chapter is happening in her head as she dreamed at night. I'm not sure if it's completely clear, is it? I didn't want to write it all in italics 'cause it felt like it was too much text in italics, so, how should I separate the dreams parts from the reality parts? I'm not sure yet, if anyone has any idea, it'll be appreciated.
What did you like, what didn't you like of this fic? Any question? Then please drop me a review! They make me happy.