Torn Pages Part 2: Falling
Chapter 3: Falling
***
"I'm falling,
Falling silently to the ground,
Falling,
Falling slowly out of time…"
***
"Where's Rogue?"
"She says she'll take the long way home." Kitty replied as they piled into Scott's car.
They frowned and gave her a questioning look.
"What?"
Kitty sighed, giving a sort of nervous laugh before she continued.
"This will seem, like, really hard to believe, but Rogue and Pietro were like, made partners for an assignment, so they're gonna have this discussion…"
Her voice trailed off as she found them staring at her with eyes and mouths wide.
"Rogue and Pietro?" they echoed.
Kitty nodded and added lightly, remembering.
"Oh, and Rogue told us not to over react over the matter. If she's late for dinner the first thing we should not do is go over to the Brotherhood and pound them."
Tugging at her bag pack, Rogue felt slightly uncomfortable as she walked side by side with Pietro, both silent since leaving the school grounds.
Finally, Pietro, who had been strangely walking a normal pace, spoke up.
"Guess I'm stuck with you for the weekend."
Rogue stopped walking as she turned to glare at him.
"Hey, as bad as it already is, I didn't ask for any of this, remember? All I want is to get this stupid assignment done and over with so we can both go on with our own normal lives!"
Pietro shrugged, hands in pockets he nodded,
"My thoughts exactly."
"Fine."
"Fine."
Silence.
After a while, Pietro spoke up again,
"So what was the assignment again?"
Rogue sighed, eyes towards the sky.
"We're supposed to do a research on this plant and get a specimen of it." She explained, handing him a piece of paper.
Surveying the paper, Pietro rubbed his chin thoughtfully,
"I thought this plant only grows up in high places."
"It does."
"What? That means-"
Rogue nodded.
"Yup, we're going hiking tomorrow."
"Windstorm cliff?"
Again, Rogue nodded.
Groaning, Pietro asked,
"So see you tomorrow?"
"Here at 7.30 a.m."
***
The morning was just coming out from her sleep, the cool air still lingering in the fresh dawn. Yes, everything was awake, everything and everyone else.
Rogue rolled her eyes as she slipped on her shoes with her breakfast still at hand.
"I told you that there's nothing to worry about." She said again to the frowning concerned faces that sat across the breakfast table, staring at her with arms folded.
"What if he tries to pull off something?" demanded Scott.
"Then you and everyone will come and tell him off." Rogue joked, but failed to lighten the atmosphere as Scott's expression only deepened.
Sighing and taking another bite out of her toast, she said,
"Look, it's only an assignment. What could possibly happen?"
Seeing that they weren't convinced, she reminded them,
"Hello, this is the Rogue we're talking about? If he does try something funny…"
She pulled off her glove, lifting her bare hand in the air.
"I know how to deal with it."
Giving in, Logan who had been quietly sitting beside Ororo, said in his usual gruffness,
"Alright, but be careful kid. Not about that silver-haired punk, but they don't call it Windstorm cliff 'fer nothin' "
Rogue nodded, smiling as she waved them goodbye.
"I'll be back soon." They heard her call out, followed by cheerful laughter as she left.
***
So he did get here on time…
Rogue smiled slightly.
He probably wants to get this over as much as I do…
"Hey."
Pietro gave a nod in return to her brief greeting.
"Guess the X geeks finally decided to let you go."
Rogue rolled her eyes. Ignoring the statement asked instead,
"Did you bring the stuff we need?"
He nodded.
"The only thing we need now is a mode of transportation," he said, with a certain grin and glint in his eye.
"Wha-?"
Before she knew what was going on, Pietro slipped his hands beneath her legs and back, lifting her up in his arms.
"What's say lightning speed express on this very early morning."
With that there were off in a mere second, leaving behind the dust of morning's wake.
***
For a moment, Rogue felt wobbly. Pietro caught her just as she was about to lose her balance.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked, a look of concern passing his face.
She nodded, slightly pulling away from him.
In truth, she still felt dazed. The feeling of excitement and thrill still rushed through her body in great flowing waves of turbulence. The feeling of how it was to pass through time as though time itself were an invisible piece of thread that you happen to fall through so smoothly that it felt as though you were the silky drops of water itself. The thumping of your heart that was enough to deafen you yet unheard, and that you were the meaning of time itself; time that had lost its meaning to you.
The feeling was familiar to when she had absorbed his powers and witnessed it for her own. Yet somehow, it was different. Now, was different, as he had carried her along with him.
They had arrived at the foot of their destination where Rogue had insisted they hiked like everyone else, and Pietro had objected by pointing out that there was no everyone else.
He gave a mischievous grin. "Afraid I might drop you on the way to the top?"
"No. Just that you might miss the stop sign and send us both flying off the cliff." She retorted hotly as she started walking uphill.
Pietro followed, adding coolly,
"Ok. But if we don't get there like in an hour or so – we're hiking Quicksilver style."
Great. So the whole avoiding plan failed, we're stuck doing this really boring assignment which involves plants and cliffs that I don't really even care about and to top it all I have to hike the normal way! Man, this is so not cool! Even Lance and the others had a kick out of my misery. 'Planning anything romantic for you and your new girlfriend, Petey boy?' Lance says as he and the other idiots laugh themselves silly.
Yeah, right. Pietro scoffed, recalling the little scene at the Brotherhood home.
On the other hand…
He felt his heart skip a beat as his steely blue eyes gazed over Rogue's form as she cooled herself of the heat. Sparkling drops of water running down her skin, shimmering in the suns rays as white locks of hair hung limply against the frame of her face.
"What?"
Rogue's sharp inquiring tone brought Pietro back to reality as he realized he had been staring longer than intended.
"I…it…nothing." He mumbled, stumbling over the right words to say.
Rogue frowned, unconvinced.
"Well, let's get going before the sun gets hotter than this," she said, turning away from him and resuming their walk.
Nice going, Petey…at this rate she must really think you're a first class idiot! Stay focus or you're really gonna lose it!
Pietro scolded himself as he reluctantly followed after her. Hopefully by the time they got this over with, that suspiciously tingling in his spine would have disappeared.
Man, I have never been this beat!
Rogue thought, wiping a sweat off her brow, feeling as though she'd hiked this way up for years.
They'd finally managed to make it to the top and somehow the atmosphere up here felt rather unsettling.
Not like it hadn't before…
Rogue noted coming up behind Pietro.
"I told you we'd have saved more time and waste less energy if we'd done it my way!" he announced knowingly as he extended a hand to help her up.
Briefly staring at his offer to help, Rogue brushed his hand aside as she managed her own way up.
"I can do just fine, thank you." She muttered coolly as she took her place beside him.
Pietro gave a slight shrug as he placed both hands deep into his pockets.
Surveying their surroundings, the cliff a good few feet away from them, a magnificent breathtaking view stood miles below them. Indeed it was an overwhelming sight of Mother Nature's beauty as colors of the sky and earth mixed in such tranquility. Both stood in silence as they took in the spectacular scenery.
Pietro gave a low whistle, "Not bad".
Rogue shook her head.
"Beautiful is more like it."
Then they turned their attention towards completing the reason they'd come here in the first place. Of course it didn't take them long to discover the plant, which grew comfortably in one of the shady spots around the cliff.
Careful not to get too close to the edge, they picked a plant and placed it safely into a container.
"Finally." Rogue muttered as she closed the lid. "Looks like the worse is over..."
"Yup…" was all Pietro said.
Feeling the wind start to pick up, Rogue started to pack her stuff.
"Best to get going…" she muttered softly.
Funny, though she'd been waiting for this moment, she didn't seem so thrill about it now. Somehow, she felt despite his annoying behavior, she was going to miss him being around. Just then she realized she could have slapped herself sooner for even imagining of such a thing.
What? Hello? This is Pietro we're talking about! The Pietro who hangs out with the same bad gang as Lance and the other goons – the same Pietro who's constantly trying to cause havoc in your life – the exact same Pietro who doesn't care a shilling about anyone else except perhaps himself!!
Sighing, she wondered beyond wonders why it was she was even reminding herself of these things she already knew in the first place.
Now she was even more than sure that it was a good thing they'd gotten this assignment done.
Even he must think so…she guessed as she stole a glance at him. Pietro, who was also getting his gear together, had a serious expression about him as he thought about their completed assignment and what it meant.
Oh come on Maximoff! This is the moment you've been waiting for – the moment you're your own man again! No more stupid assignments (if that could be helped), no more having to spend weekends hiking cliffs, no more...no more…Well, no more a whole lot of other things! He concluded hotly, wondering why he still felt bothered.
Suddenly a strong gust of fierce wind blew past.
"I really think it's time we were off," Rogue shuddered, feeling the temperature suddenly drop. Carefully balancing her stuff as she tried to stand, another even stronger gust of wind followed ever so sharply that it caused the container containing their day's work to slip from Rogue's hand. She let out a sharp gasp as it rolled onto the ground only edges from the steep landing of the cliff. Rushing forward, followed by the stubborn persistence of the wind, Rogue managed to get a hold on the container before it could roll any further.
"Rogue!" came Pietro's voice through the hollow calls of the wild winds, which was undeniably at this point about to turn into a raging storm.
Wild hair about her, Rogue proceeded to make her way through, storm or no storm.
That was of course before she was knocked off her feet by a furious force of fleeting air.
Past the steep landing, everything a blur, Rogue knew the worse was yet to come.
She was falling…
Falling towards the deadly edge of the cliff.
She must have screamed so deafeningly that she must not have heard her name being cried out as a pair of hands suddenly appeared and caught hers just in time before she went steer clear off the cliff – not that she wasn't exactly.
She wasn't quite out of harm's way either as Pietro tried desperately to bring her up.
What with the storm hovering above, that wasn't the only problem.
The moment his hands come into contact with her bare skin he felt that sharp pain of electricity shoot through his body, surging like wildfire – it was only a matter of time before he gave in.
WHY? Why'd I have to take off my stupid gloves just then? Now we're both gonna die!! Rogue grimaced as she felt that familiar and unwelcome flash of power absorb into her body.
Breathing hard, his body drenched with cold sweat, Pietro tried to concentrate, tried to get his mind to think clearly, but his energy was flowing out of him faster than anything that he was beginning to get groggy.
"Pietro!" he heard her call out and realized his grip was slipping.
Gritting his teeth, he muttered, "Can't…let you go…"
It was now or never. Gathering whatever strength he had left, he gave a tremendous effort using his speed to haul her up – so hard that he could feel every last breath of his body whoosh out and the pain…that excruciating pain…
He was unconscious by the time he fell back to the ground with Rogue securely in his arms.
***
"Hey."
Was it he, or was the whole world echoing in strange voices? Coming into focus, he realized who it was.
"You okay?" came Rogue's voice again, her face etched with a frown of concern as she stared down into his frozen blue eyes.
Feeling his face suddenly flush and then his head dizzy again, he managed an audible mumble, "Guess so."
Relief settled on her face and a gentle smile warmed over it. Despite his feeling drained, he couldn't help noticing how lovely she looked.
Then he realized that he had been lying on her lap and that the air had finally calmed down.
Noticing the questioningly look, Rogue told him,
"After you passed out, I dragged both of us away from that…cliff. Fortunately, that storm's moved on…"
And that we escaped near death, Rogue secretly added with a shudder.
"That's the last time I ever go hiking," muttered Pietro as he slowly tried to get up but found himself still weak.
"Perhaps you should rest a bit more before we go," Rogue advised, not trusting that he'd be able to make it all the way back down.
"No sweat," he joked. "All I need is an extra boost of sugar in my system and I'll be hyper…once…more…"
Rogue shook her head as his voice trailed off and his eyes drifted shut as he fell into slumber again. There he was, breathing softly and looking so innocent, you wouldn't believe he could act the way he acted when he was awake. Sighing, even she couldn't believe what had just happened back there. He could have just let her go, and yet he had hold on despite the consequences that would have been. Well, you had to give the guy a little credit, even he couldn't have been that bad, could he? Funny, though she'd absorb most of his powers, it must have been the shock that caused her to take his memories in such a flash that she could hardly see any of them clearly. It was all a fuzzy picture except for little bits of it. Shuddering again, she recalled once more how her powers nearly caused them their lives. She safely had her gloves back on and for that time she vowed she wouldn't take them off again unless something really came up.
Guess one can't really know a person all too well…She reflected as she gave a tender smile, gently brushing away the silver hair from his eyes.
***
"Well this was quite a weekend," said Pietro as he saw Rogue off at the institute's gates.
"Just hope we don't ever have to go through it again," said Rogue as she took a step halfway through the gates.
"I don't know," Pietro said, pretending to be thoughtful. "It was kinda fun, don't you think?"
Rogue rolled her eyes. "Pietro Maximoff, if you weren't acting like such a jerk all the time, you'd make more of a good friend."
Pietro stared at her, startled.
"Um, anyway…thanks." With that she was off, heading hurriedly towards the institute.
Pietro stood there for a moment and somehow it hit him that he was feeling a bit disappointed. About what, he didn't really want to find out just yet he decided as he himself headed back to the Brotherhood house.
***
Back to school again, and when one thought that it was back to dullsville – yet another event was about to come up.
"What?!" Rogue cried as she threw her books into her locker.
Kurt and Evan laughed. Kitty scowled at them as she repeated,
"Bayville's upcoming play! And I'm in charge of it."
***
To be continued…
Sorry it took me so long to update!!! But I'm afraid it'll take me another while before I can get chapter 4 up, but I'll try my best and won't leave this fic till it's finished ^^ Anyway thanks for the support and reviews!