02
It was mid-morning in the Xavier Mansion's kitchen. Sunlight streamed through the big window and a fresh pot of coffee gave off an earthy aroma. Outside, because it was the school vacation, the X-kids were having a ball in the grounds. The sound of laughter permeated through the window, making Rogue feel oddly melancholy as she came into the kitchen. Her white bangs of hair were in her eyes. She could do nothing about it as in one hand she carried her tablet and the other was full of papers. College forms. She should have completed the paperwork weeks ago but she'd been putting it off. Rogue had thought no one had noticed her lackadaisical approach, however as she entered the kitchen she realised she couldn't have been more wrong.
Wolverine and Angel were sitting at the table, waiting for her. Rogue scowled, clutching her tablet and paperwork to her chest like a shield. "What's this," she asked, "an intervention?"
"Depends," Logan was gruff, as usual. "Have you signed those college forms yet?"
"Ah, err…" Rogue looked sheepish.
"I told you," Angel told Logan knowingly. Rogue's boyfriend sat back in his chair and folded his arms. His white wings extended slightly as he ruffled his feathers into a more comfortable position. One of them drifted free and floated lazily to the floor, but no one noticed. Rogue took a breath and pulled herself together.
"Ah'm just not all that sure that college is for me right now. After everything that's happened, lift just seems so…short. Ah kinda feel like I need to get out there an' live a little, y'know? Find some beauty in the world that's worth livin' for."
"Sounds like you're not cute enough for her anymore, Angel," teased Wolverine.
"That ain't what Ah mean Logan, you know that."
"Stop teasing her," Angel chastised, "seriously Wolverine."
"Yeah yeah, Pretty Boy." Wolverine pushed back his chair so that it squealed on the floor and stood up. He crossed to Rogue and held out a ball-point pen. "Rogue, you're gonna sign the forms."
"But…"
"And you're gonna date them one year from now," Logan continued unabashed. "Then you're gonna leave them with me." He pulled his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans and dusted it down, before opening it to remove a single plastic card. He gave it to Rogue, explaining, "This is an Institute credit card. It has $400 on it that will be paid off every month, for six months. If you go over that amount, I'll freeze the card. After six months you're on your own. Fair?"
"Oh," Rogue was amazed, "Logan, thank you!"
"One more thing," Wolverine wasn't finished. "In twelve months I want you back here and ready to go to college. Don't make me come get you."
Angel laughed, "But if you need a lift home you can call the mansion any time. I hear they have a helicopter and everything!" Rogue looked to her beau, "Yah don't mind, Sugah?" Angel gave a shrug and a little, sad smile. He knew, as she did, that if she left Bayville it meant they were breaking up. Warren just said, "You gotta do what you gotta do." Rogue was relieved he didn't say that he'd wait for her or anything so nonsensical. It made her leaving easier on both of them. Warren just asked, "When do you think you'll go?"
Rogue grinned, feeling the whole world calling to her, "No time like the present!"
"Do you need a ride to the airport?" Wolverine wanted to know.
"Ah'm gonna travel the world, Logan. Ah think I can manage the airport bus by myself." Rogue scrawled an illegible signature on the college forms and fled from the room in a flurry of excitement. Logan met Angel's eyes and asked, "You're sure you're okay with this?"
Angel looked abruptly stern, folding his arms and frowning. "It's what she needs, to get her away from him…"
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Rogue bid a hasty farewell to her friends at the Institute, embracing Kitty and Storm, promising Kurt and the Professor that she'd write. She only had one more goodbye to make before she left Bayville behind. The hospital was a grand building of red brick. Ambulances filled the bays at the front of the building, whilst medical staff in scrubs rushed backwards and forwards saving people's lives. Rogue easily navigated the massive corridors and winding staircases with barely a glance to the signs she passed. The smell of disinfectant clung to everything. The light was diffracted, greenish and sickly. Finally she turned into the ward that she had come to visit. There were a handful of patients lying here, all still, all unresponsive. The television mounted on the wall was showing Disney cartoons. As she entered the room, Rogue caught the attention of the attending nurse. "Any change? Any visitors?"
"Not since you last came, Miss," the nurse said flatly, answering both questions in one.
"Ah wrote to his father, Ah don't know why his family wouldn't send someone…"
"Nothing surprises me in this job anymore, Miss. Go right ahead, he's not going anywhere."
Rogue took a breath, steeling herself. Then she strode across the ward to a patient's bedside. Monitors bleeped, a drip dripped and she tried not to notice the charts that said nothing had changed in all the days since the patient had been admitted. The bedsheets where flat and white, pinning the patient's arms by his side. Rogue wondered if he did wake up, whether he'd be able to move.
"Hey, you still wastin' time hangin' around this place?" she asked in a quiet voice. "Ah know livin' at the Brotherhood house sucks, especially sharin' a bathroom with Toad, but this is getting a li'l dramatic even for you." There was no response. The monitor gave another bleep, but that was all. Rogue glanced at the lines on the screen, but there was nothing. Gambit simply didn't know she was there. Steeling herself, she tried again. "There's still no sign of Paradox. After he blasted you he just up an' left town."
Bleep, said the machine.
"It isn't like yah didn't deserve what he did to you, you know that. But you didn't even try an' fight him. Yah just walked straight into that office and let him shoot his powers off through that thick head o' yours. Why? Did you think it'd bring her back?"
Bleep.
"Anyway, Ah came to say goodbye. I'm leaving town for a while. Expect by the time I come back you'll have up an' gone…" Rogue choked up a little, then took a breath and forced herself to get a grip. "Bye Remy, stay outta trouble."
Bleep.
Rogue turned and left, trying and failing not to cry. She hoped wherever Gambit's consciousness was, it was a darn bit better than a dreary hospital ward…
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Meanwhile somewhere completely different, a certain Cajun had a very, very sore head. He squeezed his eyes tight shut and said, "Why do I feel like I've been kicked in the head by a horse?"
"It's not Rogue's fault, yo," said a familiar voice. "You just surprised her."
"Wha…" Gambit forced himself to open his eyes. He had already established that he was lying on his back. Now he could see trees above him and beyond the leafy branches was a glimmer of blue sky. He blinked tears from his eyes and two faces swam into view. One was Toad. The other was a shaggy, skewbald horse. What the heck was going on?
