Title: Suit of Hearts
Chapter 1: Ace of Hearts
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or anything associated with it. I just own the little story-line I've written – not the characters, the setting or anything based on the X-Men: Evolution Universe. I do, however, own the plots that I concoct and the characters (such as Reese and Angelique) that are otherwise not found X-Men: Evolution Universe. There may/may not be references, but I assume that fans can distinguish which is a part of the canon universe and which is not.
Author's Notes: As stated before, please let me know what you think. Any and all thoughts and critiques are welcome but I do not appreciate flamers. I would like to think that we all live in a civilized society in which we all can be courteous to one another. I will attempt to update once a week or once every other week, but as I am starting back on school again, I may not be able to do so at that particular frequency. I do apologize for not being able to write this over the summer – work and reality got in the way, once again. Also, this story is a sequel to King of Hearts and The King and His Queen. Please review :) Also, I'm not going to be writing in Rogue's accent because it gets in the way of the writing, I feel, and since you lovely people know what she sounds like, I thought it would be best to leave it up to you lovely readers' imagination. I will, however, continue the upkeep of Gambit's accent to the best of my ability.
Pairing: Gambit/Rogue with some Storm/Logan and Jean/Cyclops thrown in here and there.
Rating: T+/M to be on the safe side
Word Count: 1,789 words.
_
Rogue groaned in protest as the alarm clock went off with its shrill, high-pitched beeping. Kitty was dead-asleep, deaf to the sound and the entire clock was across the room. It was placed there for a reason, of course. Rogue would be forced to get up, out of bed rather than simply reaching over to shut the damned thing off. With a sigh, she tossed aside the covers and crawled out of bed. Her bare hand brushed through her hair, getting the frayed, bed-messed strands out of her face as she did so.
Today was the day.
And today was Saturday.
Rather than having the day off to do what she wanted – which really composed of watching a movie, training, and doing homework (yes, little Marie did do her work, otherwise, she knew Professor X would not be pleased with her). Oh, and sleeping. Oh, how she loved sleeping. It helped too, considering it was hard to keep up with school work, and missions, and training. There were only so many hours in one day and eight of those hours was, unfortunately, not dedicated to sleep.
Unfortunately, her favorite day of the week – her sleep-in-day – was not to be. Just the evening before Ororo had wanted her up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, so that they could show their new recruits around. There had been a big fight about it. She and Kitty had just gotten back from a mission, helping a little mutant girl be removed from the foster home she was growing up in seemed like an easy task but with Magneto still wanting new pawns for his power-play, it had not made matters easy. By the time she and Kitty had come back with the little girl, Jean and Spyke, it was five o'clock in the morning. Ororo had dropped the bombshell less than half an hour later.
Now, running on barely four hours of sleep, Rogue was not bright-eyed.
"But my hair's bushy." She muttered in irritation as she remembered the conversation. She bit down on her lower lip and forced herself to get herself ready for the day. She had twenty minutes. That was plenty of time for a low-maintenance girl like her.
She stretched tiredly and, within the allotted time, she was downstairs.
Tours, why was she the one who always had to get stuck with these damned, good-for-nothing tours? What did she do to deserve this punishment? Surely all the good she had done would, in some way, kick in. Hah, karma. As if she even believed it.
It was nine thirty in the morning. Already, there was a small group waiting for her in the lobby, with Hank, not Ororo, calmly talking to them. She ground her teeth together. She never had a problem with the weather-witch – but at the moment, she had a problem with everybody. It must have shown on her face, because the recruits started to shift their weight from one foot to the next. Some did their best not to look at her, others blatantly stared. Those that did, she returned a sharp glared to, until Hank cleared his throat. At that point, she had no choice but to plaster a fake, cheerful smile – which probably only made the recruits feel even worse. At the glance of one of the decorative mirrors, she knew why – she looked like an exhausted, red-eyed, sneering woman who wanted nothing more than to return to the comfort of her bed.
Her nice, warm, inviting…
"Ah, Rogue! There you are!" Hank interrupted her train of thought. Perhaps it was a good thing he had done so, because as soon as she seemed to relax, if only a little, the group of five of six recruits seemed to as well. Perhaps it was because she wasn't just some punk-goth chick who didn't give a damn about anything or anyone. The thought made her want to snort.
Let them think what they want. Don't give a damn, and I never will.
It was a false thought, she knew, but at the moment, it made her feel better.
"Mornin'," she greeted the large blue beast with a faint smile. It was a tired one, but it was genuine.
"Storm knows how tired you are, so she said that you don't have to give the entire tour – just the dormitories, and the Danger Room. She'll meet you in Professor Xavier's office with the recruits and you'll be done for the day." Hank added.
Relief swept over the young mutant. Hank sympathetically patted her shoulder before turning to the recruits.
"Everyone, I would like you to meet Rogue. She will be giving you the first half of the tour and as I have said earlier, Storm will finish the rest of the tour for you. If you have any questions, feel free to ask Rogue - if she does not know the answer, she can direct you to someone who does, or you can wait to ask your questions later. I shall leave you lovely young people be now. I do sincerely hope you enjoy your time here." Hank continued when Rogue did not answer. She couldn't form the words properly quite yet – she'd not yet had her daily dose of caffeine. It would take at least another ten minutes, at the very least before her brain would properly function – and she would have to take extra pains to not snip, snide or snark at their new group of recruits.
Even if it was only half a tour – it was going to be a very, very long one.
Several Hours Later, after the Tour:
Marie….
Marie….it's me….help me….
Please…
She was dreaming, she knew and it was one that she had not seen, in years. The thought made her shudder. The feeling faded, however, when she caught a flash, a small glint of gold in the distance. She swallowed, and tried to take a step forward.
She couldn't. She was routed in place.
She looked around wildly – there had to be a way to get out of here. Instinct screamed at her to run, to wake up, to do whatever it took to get the hell out of this foggy, shifting place. She'd had dreams like this before, she knew – and they always, always ended badly.
Another shiver, somehow, wove through her bones, andin the distances, she heard a wolf howling. Or maybe it was a coyote. Did coyote howl?
It was a very small, vague question at the back of her mind that completely faded when something resembling a mix of shadows and a person darted across her face, towards her, away from her in blurs. She felt her arms sting.
Carefully, shakily, she looked down – and she froze. Her arms were bleeding.
Within moments, she felt pain, searing through her, until -
She felt a sudden flow of energy, her eyes snapped open. Her breath caught in her throat – warm lips pressed against hers, but she didn't care. Not at that moment. Without a second thought, gloved hands forced against the attacker's chest and, with the renewed strength she felt, the sparks that seemed to course through her veins, she shook and push. The man fell, hard, against the shelf of books.
Purple sparks sizzled in her hand and she stared – and she knew only one person could be the cause.
Gambit winced as Rogue got to her feet, hands on her hip. The nap she'd managed to get after stealing away in the corner of the Institute's Library made her feel less tired – but the credit had to go to the rush of adrenaline and the sudden kiss. She glared down at him, green eyes glowing in rage. She cracked her knuckles, ignoring the small aches she felt beneath the sleeves, along her arm. She didn't want to look at them; she was not keen on having her current need to dish out hell on a certain Cajun to be set aside for later. Ever since he joined the team, he'd seemed to be a constant thorn in her side. This little "incident" was the worst one of all.
"Are you fucking crazy?!" She shrieked, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, "I could have killed you if I had not woken up!"
Gambit, unperturbed, smirked as he picked himself off the ground and fallen books.
"Come now, mon chere, ya looked so cozy, Gambit couldn' resist." He replied with a wide grin before rubbing the back of his head. "But damn – yer a wild one out of bed."
And just for that alone, Rogue picked up one of the books – a copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it seemed, and threw it at him, charged. The man easily dodged the on-coming explosion.
Now tired and more frustrated than before, she fell back on the couch, head throbbing.
All pretenses of amusement dropped and Gambit started forward, moving to kneel in front of her just as Rogue took a seat back down. Why was everything hurting? This was far worse than when she'd absorbed a part of Jane's mind.
"Cher?"
"Don't touch me!" Rogue snapped, snapping away from his outstretched hand, She calmed, if only a little when she looked at him. Red and black devil-eyes seemed to soften, if only a little. She almost physically flinched at the sudden closeness. Rogue didn't care for being close to anyone. she was here out of necessity. There was a reason why everyone and everything kept their distance from her - she wanted to keep it that way.
Gambit, apparently, did not get the memo. If he did, he probably made it explode.
"I'm fine! Leave me alone!" Rogue raged, moving to stand up. She needed to get away from him. She'd seen his throughts, the mischief he wanted to cause – the mischief he had caused. She also caught glimpses of his thoughts – how long he'd watched her sleep before finally kissing her – this time, without the scarf as a barrier.
She did not need anyone's thoughts in her head – she certainly did not want anyone his thoughts in her mind. She'd kept it that way since her little "trip" to New Orleans. He was a manipulative bastard, afterall. Or so she kept convincing herself.
"Just…leave me alone." She muttered before she stormed out of the Library.
The pain in her arms did not go away and once safely away from the small group that had gathered, she ducked into her room. The young mutant was still tired. Even the energy Gambit had oh-so-generously "donated" was suddenly gone. Sleep, she just wanted sleep, but she force the thought aside for now. Her arms still hurt, and she wanted to know why. She bit down on her lower lip, fighting a wince as she pulled off her gloves and carefully rolled up her sleeves.
They were bleeding.