A/N: It took me more time than expected to post this chapter up because I sent my chapter to my betas but one of them was having trouble opening the file, I think this is my computers fault, it's so old. :(
I haven't heard from my other beta, and I'm dying to post the chapter so I'm going to go ahead and do it, and hopefully by the next chapter they'll be able to get the file properly and revise it for me. : )
Thank you for all the reviews! Some people are a little confused by what's going on, just trust me on this one, the story has a place to go, and I'm not making myself confused, I know exactly where the story is going. yes, I know that in the movie Rogue got the vaccine, but this story isn't exactly following the movie.
Again, I'm new at this, so bear with me. Hopefully my story will get better with each chapter.
kytzya- I know you're my friend and everything, but I think you over did it a little with your enthusiasm in the review. p Muchos thanks!
Danny- Your pen name is really, REALLY long. / and I did use your ideas!
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3 Months pass in a Flurry
Somewhere in the forest...
Rogue stared, clueless, at the two large rocks that were placed on top of a barbecue grill, the fire softly crackling underneath. "What's this?"
"It's your first step for training." Replied Hermis.
"Hmm.. Caveman gourmet? How is that going to help me?" Asked Rogue with slight raise of the eyebrow.
Hermis just gave her a side look. "You are going to practice how to dull your sense of touch. If you dull your sense of touch you can touch people without hurting them."
"That's nice and everything but what role do the rocks and grill play in all this?" Rogue asked, still not getting the significance of the rocks and grill.
"Well, that's quite simple. You are going to touch each rock with each of your hands while concentrating on dulling your senses. You're going to try it until you don't feel the burning sensation."
Rogue just shot him an incredulous look, not sure if he was serious or not. "You're kidding, right?"
"No. This is a very effective method of training. Just touch the rocks and pretend that they're cool, force yourself to not feel the fire."
Rogue wondered just how stupid Hermis thought she was, actually, she wondered just how stupid Hermis was. "Yeah, I'm sure it's quite an effective method, but I think I want an example. I propose this, and excuse my vulgarity, why don't you cut off a nut and pretend it's still there. You tell me how that goes and then I'll decide if this method is the right one for me." Her comment loaded with evident sarcasm, and her face displayed a mock smile.
"Rogue." Hermis said her name in the way that adults say a kid's name who just said a no-no word. " Vulgar language is quite unbecoming for a young lady like you."
Rogue couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm sorry, but you are extremely insane if you think you can convince me to touch those rocks. They're placed over fire! When I was in pre-school they taught me never to play with fire, and I'm pretty obedient."
"If you're such the obedient pupil as you say then prove it and listen to your teacher now." Hermis turned his body to face her now. "This isn't going to work unless you show some cooperation. I need you to fully trust me. I wouldn't tell you to do this if it were to seriously harm you. I'll be honest, it is going to hurt at first, but it's nothing that will kill you. Whatever wounds you have, I can cure. I brought all the herbs and potions needed for your training."
"I'm guessing your people don't believe in pharmacies and band-aids."
"Oh, believe me, these little herbs I'm talking about go beyond your average painkiller."
Rogue sighed and stepped closer towards the grill. " Time to develop some masochist tendencies, I suppose."
Hermis smiled and stepped forward. "Just think about the coldest object and try to dull your senses. Unlike other mutants, you have the power to dull your senses due to your abilities. It's just that no one tried to show you before. You can do this." He said with a confident nod towards the heated rocks."
Rogue shook her head in disbelief, disbelief in herself. 'I can't believe I'm about to touch two burning rocks.' She stretched her arms above the grill and slowly lowered her hands to the rocks. She could already feel the sting of the burning fire. She squinted her eyes, and clenched her teeth, expecting some pain to come. 'Here we go.' And with that thought she fully placed her hands over the two heated rocks.
And there it was, the unbearable pain that came with first-degree burns. "Motherfucker!"
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In the School for Gifted Youngsters...
Inside the main office, the new Principle, Storm, Logan, and Bobby were discussing the disappearance of Rogue.
Bobby Drake was quite upset with the situation. "It's been three weeks already and we still can't find her!"
"We know that Bobby, but there's not much we can except to keep looking for her." Logan answered, shaking his head in frustration.
"Logan is right, for the moment there's nothing else we can do, except to keep on searching for her." Storm said apologetically. "I know you're very worried Bobby, we all are, but if something really bad had happened to her, I'm sure we would have heard something in the news about an accident, or anything of the sorts. Let's just keep a positive attitude, I'm sure we're going to find her soon." Storm was trying to give Bobby some comfort, as well as Logan.
Logan moved towards Bobby and guided him towards the door while saying, "It's already late, you have classes tomorrow and you need some rest. We'll continue looking for her after you're done with your classes."
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then." He said with some resignation.
Bobby walked down one of the school halls until he reached one of the bedroom doors. He gave a low knock, making sure not to wake up any of the students in the other rooms. A few seconds later the door opened.
Kitty opened the door, she was in her pajamas, clearly she was ready to go to bed.
"Hey, Kitty, I'm sorry, I know it's late. I just really needed someone to talk to. But if you're too tired we could always talk tomorrow. I don't want to bother you."
Kitty gave him a sweet smile and let him in. "No, it's ok. I was just listening to some music."
She led him towards her bed and sat down, petting the space next to her; she motioned for him to sit next to her. Bobby accepted the offer and sat next to her.
"So what's on your mind?" Kitty asked. Then she shook her head slightly and said, "What a silly question, of course I know what's on your mind. Everyone in this school knows what's on your mind these days. You're thinking about Rogue, right?" She asked him, not really needing an answer.
"It's driving me crazy; not knowing where she is. Why would she go out for the vaccine? I never asked that of her. I love her just the way she is. I never pressured her to do anything!"
"I'm sure you didn't. I'm sure she had to do this for herself. I mean, if I were her, I would want to get the vaccine too. I'm guessing that it's hard not to be able to touch anyone. Specially a boyfriend." She said this with a lower voice and looked at Bobby with a meaningful look.
She had never thought about Bobby as anything but a big brother figure until the night when he took her out in the middle of the night to the fountain outside the school. Him turning the fountain water into ice for ice skating to remind her of her home was the sweetest thing that anyone had ever done for her. And as they skated, he took her hand in his and skated alongside of her. When he took her hand, she felt warmth that she hadn't felt for any guy before. Then, when he suddenly stopped, causing her to twirl a little towards him. They were so close, and she had the strongest urge to kiss him.
She had the same urge at this very moment. The only thing that stopped her from doing it was the fact that Bobby was crazy over Rogue. Kitty didn't give up hope, though. It had been three weeks already since Rogue left the school and hadn't come back. Kitty had no idea, just like that others, why Rogue didn't come back, but she hoped that she wouldn't come back again, or at least, not in a long time. She wanted Bobby to get over Rogue so she could attempt forming a relationship with him.
"I just miss her so much, you know." Bobby said in the saddest of voices. He was about to break down.
"I know, Bobby. But I'm here for you, you can talk as much as you need, I will listen." Kitty took his hand in hers and gave it a soft squeeze.
Bobby looked her in the eyes, smiled in gratitude and softly squeezed back.
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Somewhere in the forest...
After a month of burning her hands, large amounts of herbs and potions, and countless bandages later, Rogue was going nowhere with her training.
"And so we meet again, stupid burning rocks." Rogue said to herself as she prepared herself to touch them once more. 'I can do this, I can do this.' She thought. "Just think about something cool, the coldest thing out there." She smiled as she thought about it. 'Iceman.' She hadn't given herself any time to think about him, it wouldn't only hurt to think about him away from her. She wanted so bad to go home, but she couldn't. What if the bad guys Hermis warned her about found her? She would have no way of defending herself. Sure, the X-Men would fight for her, but what if these bad guys proved to be stronger than the X-Men are. She had to learn how to defend herself. She was determined to finish her training before going back to the school.
"Ok, Rogue, stop fooling around and get serious about this. Those rocks are pathetic; they can't hurt you unless you let them. Now, dull your senses pretend that you can't feel the pain and it'll become reality."
Rogue had never concentrated so much in doing something as she was right now. She thought about her fingertips and made herself believe that she could prick them and she would not feel the pain. As soon as she stopped visualizing that, she went on to visualizing the rest of her hands. Her hands were slowly lowering themselves onto the heated rocks. She could feel slight warmth but it didn't hurt. She could feel the smoothness of the rocks, but nothing hurt. Suddenly, she realized that she wasn't visualizing anything, she actually was doing it!
"Oh, my God! I did it! I did -- ow!" All of the sudden she felt the burns on her hands.
Hermis heard her screaming and ran out the camping tent he'd set out for himself.
"You did it?" He asked her with a big smile.
"Yeah, but I touched the rocks and it didn't hurt! For a moment, that is. As soon I took my hand away it started hurting, and my hands did burn."
Hermis led to the outside of his tent. She left her waiting outside for a few seconds while he disappeared into the tent and came back out with some herbs and bandages.
They both sat down on the grass and Hermis began applying the herbs and wrapping her hands with bandages.
"You really are making progress. I'm sure that in a few more days you're going to be able to touch me without hurting me." He said enthusiastically.
Rogue smiled at him. "A few days ago I wouldn't have believed you. But now, now it's different." She looked up at the sky, contemplating on her small victory. "Wow, imagine, soon I'll be able to touch people without hurting them."
Hermis nodded. "Not only that, but you'll also be able to use another ability. Remember that you can also 'borrow' other's abilities. Depending on how long you touch them, you could even get to keep them."
"Ugh, that only means more training once I gain other's abilities." Complained Rogue.
Hermis just laughed.
"I think you should take some rest. You've already made enough progress for today."
"Ok." Rogue didn't mind taking a rest at all.
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In the School for Gifted Youngsters...
It had been already 2 months and a half and there was no sign of Rogue. Nothing appeared in the news about a young girl being in an accident, rape, murder, and the X-Men took that as good news, as the saying goes, no news is good news. After searching for so long they decided to give up. Maybe Rogue had moved on with her life and decided that the school wasn't her place any longer because she no longer was a mutant, they assumed she wasn't a mutant any longer, anyways.
Bobby was shattered. He loved Rogue so much, and it hurt to think that she had left him. Maybe their bond wasn't as strong as he thought it was. As hard as it was on him, he decided that the best thing to do was to try and move on. If Rogue could go on living without him, he could do the same thing. His pride is what caused him to pursue a new relationship.
Bobby was outside in the gardens, taking a walk, when he heard a girl's soft voice, and he turned around.
"Hey, baby. Guess what day it is today?" Beamed Kitty as she approached him.
"I'm not sure, it's not your birthday, right? If it is, I'm really sorry!" Bobby clasped his hands together, begging apology.
"No, you're safe on that one. There's still a few months left until my birthday." Kitty smiled and took both his hands with hers.
"Then, I give up, what's today?"
"It's our 2 day and 3 hours anniversary!" Kitty said with the biggest grin on her face.
Bobby laughed and hugged her tightly. "Ahh. This is why I like you so much; you're so goofy and sweet. It's hard not to like you."
Kitty giggled and looked into his face, taking it all in. She thought herself lucky to have such an attractive boyfriend. She had been overwhelmed with excitement when Bobby asked her to be his girlfriend. She knew Bobby would come around to his senses eventually, and he would move on and forget about Rogue. She was happy with Bobby, and she didn't want that to change.
Bobby hugged her again and looked at the rose bushes next to them. He was happy. Kitty had a way of making things a little more fun. Maybe it was because she was a little younger than him and tended to not make a big deal out of things. She had a more innocent way of looking at things. So yes, she made his days more cheerful. But Rogue, Rogue was always on his mind. He didn't love Kitty, but he thought that maybe in time he would. She wasn't hard to like, maybe it would be easy to fall in love with her.
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Somewhere in the forest...
Rogue woke up very early in the morning. She got ready and gathered her things and set them inside her bag. As soon as she was done, she stepped outside her tent and took a last look around the forest. She had a big smile pasted on her face. Today, she was returning to school. She was going back to what she'd come to know as home. Most importantly, she was going back to her Bobby.
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A/N: I think this chapter was a little better than the next. I hope you guys think the same also. : )
Now, go review! Please:D
P.S - I have finals in 4 hours! Eep! Wish me luck!
