TITLE: Motherly Love.
DEDICATION:To my friend Corey Westerly, because the dangerously addicting cycle of southern King and Queen Cards reflects our own sometimes.
RATING:Teen, for a touch of language and violence.
SUMMARY: Motherly love. Is that what she called it? All the torment and trouble Rogue went through because of Mystique's return…that was love? No, she knew what love was, because she'd found it along the way. ROMY.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Marvel, yada, yada, yada, yada. If I did…well, I'd be rich and…doing whatever it is the lucky owners of Marvel do.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Y'know, I shouldn't even be writing this. I should be working on the three huge ass projects I have due at the end of the month as well as the long story I promised my friends I'd commit to, but unfortunately for me, this plotbunny would not be silenced and would keep stabbing me in the head unless I carried it's thoughts through. Enjoy.
Motherly Love,
an X-Men Evolution story
CHAPTER ONE – One Year Anniversary
Rogue sat silently on the balcony of the room she shared with fellow teammate and close friend Kitty Pryde, staring down at the cold late-November scene. It hadn't snowed yet, so there shouldn't have been snow on the grounds, and yet thanks to New Mutant de-facto leader Bobby Drake, there was.
At the moment, he and part-time New Mutant part-time X-Girl Tabitha Smith were showering their friends with snow as Tabitha created a small firecracker and then Bobby iced it over and they threw it into the air where it exploded in a shower of soft white snow-like substance.
As Rogue watched a snowball fight ensue, she smiled slightly at the youths that either rivaled her age or were within one, two or three years of her. She sighed and glanced at the calendar on Kitty's bulletin board. November 21st. One year.
One year since the events of Apocalypse. One year since things had calmed down in Bayville. One year in which so many things had changed.
She and Kitty had recently talked about that year and how things were different. It had taken them three hours – but that's because Kitty felt the need to go into detail about every single little event, no matter how small.
First, there had been Magneto. Father of twins Wanda and Pietro, the family had never been that close, what with all the things Magneto had put his children through when they were younger. And yet, somehow, this whole thing with Magneto being possessed by Apocalypse and his kids believing him dead turned out well. They were closer now, and although Magneto traveled, he still took time to visit them as well as come to the mansion to help Xavier train New Mutants. All in all, he'd reformed.
Then, there had been all the sign-ups to the X-Men and the Institute. After having helped out with the horsemen and Apocalypse, people like Scott's brother Alex, Kitty's old friend Danielle Moonstar, their old enemy Colossus, as well as the surprise of the aftermath – X-23, Wolverine's genetically engineered daughter.
Although most kids at the Institute knew little about her, Rogue knew a lot, because they'd become close friends after she joined up. Because it was senseless to keep going around as X-23, the girl had to have a name, and before Xavier or Wolverine had been able to think of one, she'd come right out and told them her name was Laura – Laura Kinney.
During a rare moment where she'd first trusted Rogue enough to divulge information, the stripe-haired girl had discovered that the woman, who had helped create X-23 and give birth to her after having the genetic samples implanted into her, had been the one to give her a name. She'd raised her well despite Hydra's tinkering with her, and had helped her escape when the time came, although it had cost her life. The woman, Dr Sarah Kinney, had given X-23 the name Laura just before her death, and the young girl had held to it strongly.
Rogue chuckled a little as another thought came to mind – she wasn't the only one close enough to Laura to know a lot about her now. Other than herself and Wolverine, Laura had put her trust in one other – Alex Summers. Somehow, through the time as New Mutants together, the two had become close, close to the point of falling for one another and starting up a relationship despite the furiously protective Logan.
Chuckling again, Rogue moved from the balcony back into the room, flopping down on her bed. Logan had always been protective of her since she'd arrived at the Institute, as well as Kitty. But the paternal instincts he'd adopted for them were nothing compared to the fierce parental attitude he took for X-23. She was his "daughter" after all.
Her mind now blanking on the subject, Rogue drifted back to thinking about the changes since Apocalypse. With a half-smile she thought of how her friendship with certain people had gotten stronger. With her adoptive brother, Kurt, things were smooth again, and they couldn't be any tighter. As for friends, Rogue hung around most times with Tabitha Smith and Laura at home, since they all shared memories of dysfunctional childhoods, and attitudes to boot. It came as no surprise that Wanda Maximoff of the Brotherhood had been added to the mix, and the four friends had formed an inseparable and tight group of friends.
Rogue glanced across the room at Kitty's half for no reason, and happened to spot a picture pinned up on the petite girl's bulletin board of Kitty and Piotr Rasputin, and she chuckled again. Who would've thought it - small little perky Kitty and big silent-boy Russian Piotr, a couple? Rogue had always imagine Kitty and Lance spending their lives in their on-off relationship, since Kitty seemed to be the happiest when she was up until one in the morning talking on the phone with the earth-shaking rebel, but it wasn't her place to have a say in the matter, so Kitty was with Piotr instead.
Rogue sat up and grimaced – why was she caring about anything when it came to the subject of couples? That was Jean's job, even if she was busy spending all her time with her stick-up-the-ass Golden Boy boyfriend.
A thought itched at the back of Rogue's mind, but she couldn't get to it for some reason, and suddenly didn't want to as a feeling of loneliness swelled up inside of her. Unfortunately, it still made itself known as four words echoed across her mind with frustrating laughter. I'll never have that.
She sighed as she realized the simplicity and truth to those words. Because of her powers, her inability to touch, her curse, the reason she was called "the untouchable girl', she could never be with anyone. Well she could, but their relationship would suffer greatly, if exist at all. I mean, where was the fun or the love if you couldn't kiss, or hug, hold hands or touch at all without the fear of having your girlfriend zap your life force away?
Rogue mulled those thoughts over in her mind as she clambered off her bed and kneeled down, lifting up the skirt of her bed to glare at the sickening layer of dust that hid beneath. She reached her free hand through the mess until she found what she was looking for.
She pulled the shoebox out, taking a deep breath and sent the dust bunnies flying through the air, coughing a little as one managed to get to her. Brushing a little remaining dust off, she sat on the floor, her back leaning against her bed, and placed the box between her outstretched legs.
She stared at it for a good minute before finally getting the nerve to open it. Again, for another minute, she stared, only this time her eyes scanned the contents. The com-link Jean had given her after her first encounter with the X-Men, an old pendant Irene had given her when she was a child, some news clippings reporting the sudden coma of the star football player from her old town, Cody, her favorite CD and last but not least, the thing that seemed to have drawn her to pull out the old box of mementos – a card.
Not just any card though. The Queen of Hearts. Rogue never was able to figure out why she still kept it, since every time she held it or looked at it, a familiar scent of Cajun spices would invade her nostrils and music from Mardi Gras would echo in her mind. Memories of a day on the wild side, a day back to her southern roots, a day where she kidnapped for a supposed vacation what turned out to be a ploy to save a man's father. A father who wanted to use his "son" just as her "mother" wanted to use her.
Y' got people watchin' over y', Chère…
His parting words to her still burned deep and vivid in memory as if it had been only a day. In reality, it had been more than a year since she'd seen or spoken to the Cajun with red-on-black eyes that seemed to look into her depths when they crossed her green irises.
But what did she care? He was an old enemy, a thief and a man whose recklessness had nearly got her killed – twice. He'd once told her he was her friend…and yet…wouldn't a friend have answered a plea for help? Wouldn't a friend have come to help when the world they lived in was crashing down and she and her friends were there to stop it?
Yes, by her beliefs and feelings, they should. And yet – he hadn't. So what did she care about a supposed friend who took off when others depended on him even the slightest?
"Nothin'," Rogue answered her own question aloud, staring at the card in her hand. "An' if he didn't care, then he ain't no friend o' mine either."
She closed the box and placed it back in its spot to rebuilt it's collection of well-earned dust and stood up. It was then she realized she still held the card. She glared at it a moment and was about to bend down and put it back in the box when a blonde with excited blue eyes and ears full of piercings and a shorter brunette with green eyes filled with emotions she'd been deprived of in her childhood appeared in the doorway.
"Hey Roguey, we were thinkin' of doing some shopping, wanna come?" Tabitha Smith inquired, eyes dancing with the energy of an earlier snowball fight.
Rogue looked up at her two friends and thought about it a moment. "Sure, Ah'll just call Wanda and tell her to meet us."
She picked up the phone and dialed quickly. Within two rings, a sleepy voice drawled through the other line, his voice thick with an Australian accent. "Whatcha want, luv?"
"Hey John, its Rogue. Wanda there?" Rogue inquired.
"Yessir, want me to get her for ya Sheila?"
"No thanks, just tell her we're going shopping and if she wants to come, to meet us at "Hot Topic", alright?"
"Will do," John stated. "Now, if you'll excuse me, the couch and I were havin' an interestingly silent conversation about nappin'."
Rogue smiled as he hung up. She nodded to the others before hanging up the phone and placing the card on the bedside table beside it. She walked over to her desk chair and grabbed her coat as Laura nudged Tabitha and motioned towards the card. "What's that?"
"Hmm, not sure Laur," Tabitha frowned, shrugging. "We'll ask her later or something."
They agreed silently on the matter as Rogue walked up to them and they exited the room.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I realize that the events of Apocalypse were obviously not on November 21st, and if they were, well then that was one hell of an approximate guess. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, even if it was a bit slow. It's only purpose was to inform you of the setting of the story, and to set up my plotbunny and his little friends. So R&R and I'll get the next (and more interesting) chapter up as soon as my school-possessed life will allow.