- - -
CHAPTER III
Are
the things we hold inside
Like a day in the open,
Like the love
we won't forget
Like the laughter that we started
And it
hasn't died down yet
The Gathering of Spirits by Carrie Newcomer
- - - - -
Webster's dictionary states that restoration is 'a putting or bringing back into a former, normal, or unimpaired state or condition'. If it is bringing things back to an unimpaired or uninjured state why then can the restorations be bitter-sweet and leave bile in a person's throat? Could it be the reason why reunions after years of anger are embraced with joyous emotions? Or the simple act of reconciliation itself that stirs the emotions, which have simmered so long, to the surface. What is it that causes the bile and apprehension?
Rogue wish she knew. It would have helped.
She walked away from Ororo and towards her dormitory. She had her duffel slung over her shoulder, as a precaution just incase. Incase she wasn't allowed to stay, unless she didn't choose to return—incase things were different. But of course things would be different. Things were always different when it came to Rogue.
Every time Rogue came to the mansion things were different.
When she had first arrived there trailing Logan as scarred little Marie; naïve and easily impressionable to acts of kindness due to the harsh nature of her mutation. She had immediately warmed up to the place. She was even enthused at being able to attend classes at the school. That was where she first met Bobby and John. It was that fateful day when a timid auburn haired girl sat down in her first classes at Mutant Manor.
---
Marie sat down in the class Professor Xavier had placed her in. He had offered her a room here if they choose to stay here after Logan woke up. Logan. He still hadn't recovered yet, recovered from their being attacked by that beast, that man. Sabertooth, that's what the nice redheaded doctor Jean Grey had called him. Logan's truck, trailer and bike had been ruined because of that man. But the two of them had been mostly unharmed; except for Logan. He didn't have any outwardly injuries so he should have woken up. But he hadn't woken up yet. Marie guessed it was her fault; she might have touched him by accident in the confusion. But the X-men had showed up, to help her with Logan, for which she was grateful.
She had been sitting by his bedside hoping he would wake up; if only to ease her own peace of mind. She would admit to herself she felt something for the Wolverine. She just didn't know what. It wasn't what she'd for David, or her aunt and uncle. It was something else entirely. Marie didn't know what it was, but she liked it. He made her feel safe and she acted braver when she was around him, partially to show him she wasn't some scared little girl. Like when she snapped at him when he wouldn't give her a ride. It wasn't a crush, it wasn't quite love—it was something else.
She had been sitting near his lab bed when Charles Xavier had rolled through the automatic doors. He graced her with a grandfatherly smile as he regarded her with a pleasant expression. "I thought I might find you here."
"Is there something ya need Mister—Professor?" Marie corrected herself. When she had arrived Xavier had told her to simply use the pronoun Professor instead of Mister, claiming the latter made him feel old. She had scoffed, as the man could hardly have less than fifty seasons behind him.
"No my dear, I simply wanted to see how our patient was progressing," Charles wheeled closer to Logan's beside. "He is quite a remarkable man. I have no doubt he will pull through this."
"Thank ya, Ah know it seems silly me sittin' here an' all. Ah mean Ah've barely known the guy a few hours and already Ah'm worried over him. But ta be honest, he was the only other mutant Ah knew…An' Ah don't know. It just felt like we clicked some how. Ya know?" Marie dragged her eyes away from Logan's lying form to look at the Professor's sympathetic face.
"I do indeed. The two of you share several similarities, as far as I can tell," he smiled again. It was true, the two people in front of him were alike in many ways, and they had been connected by a fateful meeting. The bond was unexplained, but present nonetheless.
Marie put her gloved hand to her forehead, exhausted. "Ah'm sorry, Ah didn't mean ta go all teenage drama on you. Not while ya'll have been so kind. Gawd, Ah just keep ramblin' on don't Ah?"
The Professor's chest rumbled with a rich chortle. "It is quite alright. I must admit, I did have an ulterior motive for coming to visit down here."
Marie's eyebrow shot up, "Care ta elaborate Professor?"
"I had noticed how infrequently you left this room. And," he began holding up a hand as he saw Marie open her mouth to protest. "I believe you need something to take your mind off of the patient at hand."
"Ah'm fine, honestly. Ah don't mind waitin' for Logan ta wake up," Marie objected. She was perfectly fine with waiting for him to wake up. It was a tad on the boring side and she kept going over everything that had happened to her so far since her powers had surfaced. How she kept shifting the blame from herself to Sabertooth to Logan for not wearing his damned seatbelt!
"My dear, you have been projecting quite loudly for the last few hours. I sense it would be in your best interest if you had something to take your mind away from things."
Marie looked at the bald man in front of her. "How am Ah supposed ta take mah mind away from this?" Her hand motioned backwards to the form lying on the bed before them.
"By going back to school," Xavier held a knowing smile upon his features.
"School? Ah really don't think—"
"Nonsense, school has always proven to be an excellent distraction for the intellectual mind," he still had on the knowing smile and although it held no malice she couldn't help but feel apprehensive.
Marie chewed on her lip, a nervous habit she had never quite grown out of, as she regarded the man sitting before her. "School, Ah don't suppose it's a normal school."
"You would be correct in your assumption."
She sighed. "School, Ah guess Ah could try it."
Charles's smile never seemed to falter as he began to lead her towards the automatic door. "I'm glad you've chosen to try my school, Marie."
Marie stopped dead. Charles stopped as a result looking back at the girl. "Is something wrong dear?"
She was chewing her lip again. "Yeah, Ah'm not Marie anymore. Would ya mind callin' meh Rogue from now on?"
"If that is what you want, I do not see a problem in it," And then the two of them had walked out of the medical bay, leaving Logan alone in his comatose like state.
And now here she was; sitting in the back of Ms. Munroe's class. She shook her head to clear it of thoughts of Logan. This was supposed to be distracting her. She focused on what her instructor was teaching, but only managed to notice things about her teacher. Ororo Munroe, also called Storm was the white haired woman she had met while being picked up in the plane they called, the Blackbird. The chocolate of her skin tone and the azure colored eyes she held complimented her snowy hair. If she didn't know any better she would have thought that the woman was a goddess.
She shook her head again. This wasn't helping her at all. If anything it was encouraging her mind to wander and thus go back to the med lab and Logan. School. She hadn't been in school for months, and it felt foreign to her. Even in as different a setting as her past school, as this one was. It didn't matter that this wasn't a public school where you were shunned for being different from the norm of that town. It didn't matter that her fellow classmates fell in the same mutant boat that she did. It was school, and it was like crawling to her. The knowledge was always present in her mind yet she didn't want to have to digress back to that stage. And yet here she was. School.
Marie had slipped absentmindedly into a seat, half expecting someone to come up and tell her that was their seat. But no one did, they all just filled in around her. One person to her left was a perky short haired brunette girl who seemed to have an unhealthy passion with the color pink but diluted it with a soft baby blue jacket. It gave off a girlish innocence that Marie wished she, herself still possessed. Next to the brunette, and to the left of Marie, was an Asian girl with sleek black hair. She wore a yellow jacket over a simple black shirt with sunglasses planted on the top of her head and cracked her gum every so often. She only seemed to be half paying her attention to the perky girl on her left.
At the table to the right of Marie sat a blond, almost dirty blond, haired boy with blue eyes wearing what appeared to be a blue plaid over shirt. She noticed he kept sneaking glances over at her and she subconsciously tugged the gloves on her fingers a little tighter. And then the more shaggy blond haired boy with a long sleeved red shirt that sat in the table directly ahead of her would look back at the blue eyed boy and then at her. She felt like she was in some twisted unspoken tug of war game with the two of them. Each sneaking glances at her and then glances at each other. It was down right infuriating to say the least.
The red shirted boy was the first to make a move as he slowly took a lighter from his pocket and brought both hands behind his back. He ignited the lighter as if it was intimately a part of his hand. And then a ball of fire stood suspended a few inches away from his hand. He looked back to see if she was looking, and he wasn't disappointed. Even the two girls sitting next to her were looking on curiously.
Marie was stunned. How could he do that? He wasn't getting burned or yelling from the heat. He was holding the fire, holding it in the palm of his hand. It was amazing. Whatever his power was, she wished she had something like that instead of her curse.
Apparently though, the boy to her right wasn't deterred so easily. He outstretched his right hand and a stream of cold mist flowed into the room and settled around the fire ball, until it was frozen solid. This shocked the boy in the red shirt into dropping what had previously been the fire ball. It smashed on the ground as the boy stopped slouching in his chair.
Ms. Munroe looked back sternly, "John," she warned.
So that was his name. John. It didn't seem to fit his personality; except she didn't actually know him, so why would that matter at all. John looked back to glare at the other boy before slouching in his chair again, to presumably sulk.
The boy to her right reached over to her desk and made a small dome with his hand. He lifted it after a few seconds to reveal a flower, a rose, made out of ice. He gave her a smile before saying, "I'm Bobby. Welcome to Mutant High."
And that was that; her first real acquaintance with the student body of Xavier's, and certainly not her last. Bobby. The boy with the icy blue eyes; who seemed to try and make up for his friends behavior. John. A teen with a certain twang to his twitch and the unmistakable Zippo ever clicking in his hands. Kitty. A perky brunette with a seemingly detrimental love affair to the color pink, and an aptitude for filling uncomfortable silences. Jubilee. Yellow jacketed Asian who crackled her gum with the same indifference she showed to an algebra problem. Piotr. A fellow connoisseur of literature and static Russian teddy bear. Friends, mutants, comrades. Anyway someone set the pieces they were all connected around the school and around the auburn haired girl.
---
It was that first stay at Xavier's that she told people her name was Marie. Marie, she hated to hear that name now. It was weak; it was from when she was weak. And if there was one thing Rogue hated to be, it was weak. She hated having others watch over her and protecting her. Of course she made the exception for Logan. He wouldn't stop looking out for her if she asked him to. She was given the mutant power to have untouchable skin, there was no way anyone could really harm her if she didn't allow it. That was over now. She was better now, she was normal.
If there hadn't been bile in her throat at the thought of being back at the mansion it was there now. How many of her fellows would resent her for that one act? How many would try to condemn her? Not that she would have chosen a different path; she would have done the same thing willingly. Life would be better this way, this way she could touch any single person she chose too. And they would stay conscious.
"Shit," she muttered her palm warming the metallic knob beneath it. It was smooth. Rogue brought her hand to her face and lightly sniffed it, noticing the definite brass and copper appeal radiating from it. It brought a smile to her face, reassuring her that she had made the right choice. She turned the handle and walked into her room to deposit her pack on the table closest to the window. Simple stitched canvas was emptied of its contents rather quickly as she rearranged them to her liking.
Rogue walked over to the mirror and took a good long stare. Nothing about her was different. Her green eyes were still shining, her auburn hair was presently cooperating in straightened strands with an exception to her the two framing platinum portions. She still seemed gaunt to her perceptive eyes but that hadn't changed since her days of hitchhiking. Her body just refused to gain mass in anything but muscles from constant workouts—Danger Room or otherwise. She ran her fingers through her hair lazily taking a deep inhalation of breath as she did. She was still Rogue.
A Rogue who could touch nonetheless. She shook her head lightly and stepped away from the mirror. She decided a change of clothes would be welcome. Really it turned out to be a change of shirts, she removed her many layers to don a brown tank top. She walked around to the other side of her room, nearest the door and ran her toe quite forcefully into one of the idle chairs in her room.
"Dear lord!" Rogue exclaimed in a semi-hushed tone as she hopped on one foot trying to shake the pain from her appendage. She silently went through a string of curses in her head and she gave the chair a heated look hoping it would just explode. She had finally been able to stand on two feet again when her gaze tore to the creaking of the door opening.
And then she was barreled into and straight onto the bed behind her. All she saw was a blur of black hair and the exclamation of "Chica!" from her assailant. Of course that narrowed the possibilities down to the one and only Jubilee.
Jubilee caught her southern friend up in a fierce hug. "You're back!"
"Jubes," Rogue gasped, "Ya cuttin' off mah air supply."
The Asian girl sat back so that she was no longer smothering Rogue. "You have got some major dishing to do, Woguey."
Rogue scowled at the hated nickname. "Dishing on what?" she inquired with a quirked eyebrow.
Rolling her eyes, Jubilee favored Rogue with a hardened look as she absentmindedly cracked her gum. "Oh, I think you know what," the girl stated matter of factly.
The green-eyed girl was saved from answering when Kitty literally walked through the wall and into the room. "Hey Jubes what are yo—ROGUE!" And Rogue was trapped in a bear hug for what seemed like the millionth time that day, and she knew it wouldn't be the last either.
"Like, what are you doing here? Not that I'm not glad to see you or anything it's just that, like, we—"
"Kitty, breathe," Rogue instructed lightly removing the lighter girl from on top of her to move next to her on the bed. It was getting quite crowded with the three of them.
"You have perfect timing, Kit-kat. Rogue was just getting to the juicy details," Jubes pointed out while leaning back and cracking her bubblegum.
Again Rogue was forced to scowl at the girl. What was there for her to possibly dish on? She hadn't even been gone that long; it was just that when any of them was not present in the mansion for more than a four hour period the others felt like they had lost a limb. It was a bond that the triad had created the first day they had met in that classroom, the same as John and Bobby and invariably Piotr.
---
After John and Bobby's antics the two girls besides her rolled their eyes and chuckled respectively. The brunette had extended her hand and slid a piece of paper over towards Rogue. Hi, I'm Kitty. And this is—
Jubilee, the Asian girl wrote after glancing at the paper before sliding it all the way to Rogue.
I'm Marie, um Rogue, She slid the paper back over towards the girls, watching them to gauge their reactions. Kitty seemed curious as a sly smile appeared on her face. Jubilee's rhythm of cracking her gum never faltered but the same smile and speculative gleam appeared in her eye.
I have a feeling you'll fit in just fine, Jubilee wrote in her purple pen. She looked as if she might write more before Kitty tugged the paper from her.
Sorry about Bobby and John. They are just trying to, like, impress you and everything, Kitty stated before sliding the paper to the right.
Jubilee stopped it and added, And failing as usual.
Rogue suppressed a giggle at the last few lines. I'll be aware of that in the future. Truthfully though I'm a bit new to this whole, mutant thing.
You get used to it eventually, Jubilee noted truthfully. The whole thing had gotten easier for her after arriving at Xavier's and being among fellow mutants.
Somehow I highly doubt that, Rogue scoffed. So what are ya'lls powers?
Fireworks, was Jubilee's one word reply. She would have demonstrated, but Ms. Munroe would be bound to notice that.
And you Kitty?
Phasing, Kitty replied. She noticed a slightly blank look on Rogue's face and decided she at least should demonstrate her power. She held up her hand and saw the nod of Rogue's head that she was watching. And then she phased her hand through the table.
Nifty, Rogue commented.
It's gotten me out of a, like, pinch or two, Kitty admitted.
Jubilee let out a small laugh, Try seven.
Shut it Jubes! So Rogue, what's your power?
Rogue bit her lip. The moment of truth. She had been making idle friendly chatter with these girls hoping to avoid this question by beating them to the punch line. It apparently hadn't worked. I, um, I do this like sucking thing when I touch someone else's skin. Its like, a fast track on their life's story. I learn everything about them, and they stay in my head. I don't have any control, probably never will, so I can't make skin to skin contact, She slid the paper back over to the girls.
"What?" Jubilee exclaimed after she read the paper. The whole class turned to look at the trio of females, Ms. Munroe in particular with a scolding look. John and Bobby had looked between the girls utterly confused, but then again they weren't usually that perceptive. "Sorry," she muttered apologizing.
Everyone turned back in their seats to have the lesson continue. Rogue though had sunken lower in her chair. It was out now; they would know what a freak she was. The girls that were almost forming a friendship with her were going to hate her, fear her, and resent her because she was a parasite. She was silently wishing she had never agreed to come to this class and had just stayed in the med lab with Logan when a paper was slid across to her.
Rogue stared down at the two messages scribbled on the dead tree.
That, like, totally sucks. But I have to say, you take the whole covering up everything really well. I would never be able to keep all of my skin covered and still look as good as you do.
Chica, anyone ever tell you, that you would make an excellent spy. Especially with a name like Rogue. Ow, Kitty that hurt. Anyway, you want to grab a burger after class?
Rogue looked at the two girls and scribed a quick, Thanks, I'd love to, before turning back to the lesson and biting her lip to stop the tears from leaking over the rims of her eyes. She was glad she wasn't talking aloud; otherwise her voice would have surely trembled and betrayed her. She had friends, who accepted her and her mutation. Maybe Xavier's was the right place for her to stay.
---
"Jubes, Ah told ya. Ah don't know what you want meh to dish on," Rogue sighed finally retracting her thoughts from the mists of the past.
"Well, like, where did you run off to?" Kitty switched her position on the mattress to lie on her stomach.
Rogue bit her lip, as was her nervous habit. "Ah went to get the 'Cure'."
"And…did you?" Jubilee asked the previously unasked question.
In response Rogue moved to take Jubilee's hand in her own bare one. "That settle the question for ya?"
Kitty stared at Rogue and noticed her exposed arms due to the tank top she was wearing. The way that both she and Jubilee had greeted would have normally rendered them both unconscious rather quickly if Rogue had still possessed her powers. Kitty rolled unto her back and brought her hand to her forehead. "Duh, you, like, would have never worn a tank top by itself otherwise. I feel so, like, observant."
"I'm glad you're happy Rogue," Jubes started, "you are happy with this right?"
Rogue smiled, genuinely. "Yeah, Ah'm right as rain with this here 'Cure'. Now that line, that was another thing entirely."
"You were never really known for your patience, sweetie," Kitty pointed out bluntly.
"Naturally Ah had some distractions," Rogue commented dryly thinking back to the 'Cure' line. To when she had been standing there hoping that things would pick up in pace a little. And then she had spotted John and Bobby among the mutants protesting the 'Cure' across the street. Of course that was when the damned Cajun showed up. "Stupid swamp rat," she muttered darkly. If she ever got her hands on that man again…
"What was that?" Jubilee's ears never really failed her. "Stupid swamp rat? I think we deserve an explanation young lady."
"Yes, mom," Rogue sneered. "It was nothing just a guy."
Rogue instantly regretted letting those words leave her mouth, but of course the brain thinks faster than the mouth can talk. So it often will say the thought that it can grab on to, whether a person wants it or not. Two sets of eyes livened and she was sure that their ears were perked up like a dog's when they glimpse a leash.
"Guy?" Kitty and Jubilee chorused their voices pitching higher at the end of that one syllable word.
"Ugh."
"Chica, you better be explaining before we gotta use our feminine wiles against you," Jubilee threatened with a half serious half light hearted tone.
The auburn haired girl looked between her two friends. "Do Ah really have ta?"
"Yes!" the two girls exclaimed in unison once again.
"Fine," Rogue consented, she knew from experience that one did not deny Kitty or Jubilee potential gossip if you did not want to be annoyed every single second of your life there after. "So Ah was there, at the 'Cure' line, which was movin' like a snail in molasses, and Ah saw Bobby show up."
"You saw Bobby? He said he couldn't find you," Kitty looked concerned. Her face held traces of guilt she was trying to hide. She hadn't had a chance to talk to Rogue alone yet.
"Ah saw Bobby and John," Rogue corrected. She held a finger when Jubilee looked like she wanted to interrupt at the mention of John. "Ah knew why Bobby was there, he would have stopped meh. So Ah just hide behind some woman in line, and Ah saw John and Bobby talking. Ah heard a bunch o' it too. Right when Ah was about to clock that pyromaniac some moronic Cajun stopped meh."
"That's all?" Jubilee asked doubting her friend was telling the whole truth. She wouldn't have spoken about him with such venom if he had merely stopped her from pummeling John or Bobby. God knows Kitty and Jubilee had had to stop her from the same thing several times in the past.
Rogue visibly fidgeted by looking down at her hands which were trying to keep themselves occupied with one another. "That's all that happened."
"Liar!" Kitty exclaimed rolling back on to her stomach and pointing an accusatory finger at Rogue.
"Ah am not!" Rogue protested shocked at the Illinois girl's outburst. "'Sides ya a horrible liar, how would ya be able ta tell who is lying an' who isn't?"
"Like, duh. You were totally fidgeting and avoiding eye contact. Major liar signs, really bad liar signs too," the brunette pointed out.
Rogue's protest was drowned out by Jubilee who fixed her friend with a pointed stare. "Rogue, Chica, you are telling Kit and I the whole story this time."
"Gawd, Ah hate ya two sometimes," Rogue laid back against her pillows.
"We know, now continue please," Jubilee ordered.
Rogue stuck her tongue out at the Asian girl. "Alright, so Ah talked with him a little bit. And then he said that he had helped meh so Ah should help him. Ah told him he didn't really help me and then it continued from there…and then he left."
The two other girls present looked at her with a mistrusting look. "No," Kitty began,"something else happened before he left. What was it?"
"You two won't give a gal a break will ya?"
"Not likely," Jubilee supplied, cracking her ever present gum.
Ah was hoping Ah wouldn't have ta tell this part, Rogue thought wistfully. She groaned and covered her face with her hands and told them the part she had been omitting.
All her friends heard were muffled mutterings. "I'm sorry, we didn't hear you."
"Ugh, Ah said he kissed meh," Rogue restated, peaking in between her fingers to gauge their reactions. What she saw was priceless. Both of their mouths reached the floor.
"What!" Kitty screeched, but not in an angry tone. "Did you, like, absorb him then?"
Rogue bit her lip, "Actually no."
"So then you didn't get the 'Cure' at all, and you gained control?" Jubilee asked excitedly. She was thrilled by that fact that her southern friend might have finally gained control over her mutation, and getting kissed in the meantime wasn't all that bad of a deal.
"That's what Ah started ta think, but then," Rogue began to tell the two what had happened after the Cajun had left her in the line.
---
Rogue had been in line for perhaps fifteen minutes after the red eyed man had left and she had just finally gotten all of her psyches to calm down relatively. Kitty and Jubilee in particular were extremely adamant in a desire to race after that Cajun. It was quiet enough in her mind now that she could begin to process everything that had just happened to her. He had touched her, really touched her and not gotten hurt.
"Oh mah Gawd," she whispered. She could have finally gained control, after so long. After absorbing so many people and hurting others, she would be in control of her skin and of her mutation. She took one of her gloves and stuffed it in her pocket marveling the feel of a breeze against her exposed skin. Rogue couldn't help but suppress the smile that appeared on her face.
"What are you smiling about?" demanded a masculine voice asked from behind her.
Rogue whirled around to face three hostile looking mutants. The one who had spoken to her was an Asian male. He wore a designed tee with two layers over it; a leather vest being the outmost layer. Rogue who was forced to wear layers to cover all of her skin never fully understood why someone would do that by choice. He was maybe the same height as her or perhaps shorter with a thin layer of black hair covering his skull. What caught her attention was the three pronged tattoo underneath his lower lip and one that look like it was an accompaniment from his neck to down his collarbone.
Next to him was a woman that looked masculine, due more to her hair style than anything else. Her hair was slicked back with so much gel that the little curled pig tail practically stuck to her forehead. She possessed a distinctive tattoo on the right side of her neck. She wore a strapless black bra with a large holed fishnet shirt over it and covering her stomach, although displaying the piercing of her belly button. She wore a dirty looking diagonally striped leather jacket over everything. One thing that Rogue noticed though was the purple gloves she wore on her hands.
The last woman bore no visible tattoos like the others did. Although she had obvious oriental ancestry, parts of her raven hair were dyed purple. She wore a simple forest green tank with a leather corset around her waist with straps to secure it under her arms. She stood out less for her clothing and more for her hair. Rogue personally thought the three of them looked punks trying to be military.
Rogue turned her eyes back to the instigator of the question. "Its none of ya damn business now is it?"
"Leave the traitor alone Quill," the purple haired woman commented dryly. She looked as if she would rather be anywhere then where she was currently. "Being around this place gives is giving me bad vibes."
"Shut up Revanche, no one was talking to you," Quill snarled he looked back at the 'Cure' line full of pathetic mutants willing to give up their powers to be mere homo sapiens. Magneto would take care of the homo sapiens soon enough and they would never know what they were missing out on.
"Quill, Revanche would you both be quiet. We are here to on Magneto's orders. We should actually try to follow them," Arclight suggested with an unpleasant sneer on her face.
Rogue's ears perked up at hearing the name of the man who had tried to kill her for the advancement of mutant kind. He had had many grand schemes for mutants already, and they had all failed. This one would most likely due the same. She had to suppress a chuckle at the thought of what these three would do once they saw the Great Metal head's plan's fall down around him in perfectly organized chaos.
"What are you laughing at?" demanded the ever egocentric Quill.
Rogue tilted her head to the side as she smirked at the trio. "The fact that ya'll work for Magneto," she replied smoothly.
"You shouldn't say his name traitor. At least he's using his powers to help our kind instead of getting rid of them like you are," Quill spat towards the Southern mutant.
Her blood boiled, "Don't ya dare say that bastard is better than meh. Ya don't know what he's done ta me, and ya don't know what mah powers are," Rogue stalked towards the Asian male as his companions looked on in amusement, they had in fact been itching to smack him for a while now because of his cocky attitude. Why stop the girl that was most likely going to do that? Rogue brought her bare hand to his face, "So get off ya high horse," and she touched his face.
A part of Rogue was sincerely wishing that it wouldn't work, that she wouldn't absorb him at all. But when has that ever happened? The control that she had covertly possessed a few moments before was shattered as she felt herself melt into him. She heard thousands of thoughts; saw millions of memories, faces of people she didn't know, places she had never seen. It was all in her head, he was in her head. She had had control, and then she lost it. It was gone, for those few glorious minutes it had been there, and now it was gone.
She released Quill and he fell to the ground severely winded but still conscious. Rogue activated his power as thin porcupine quills emitted from her hand. She withdrew the quills as quickly as she saw the astonished and horrified look on their faces. "Try learnin' some manners sugah or someone will teach ya a lesson worse than what Ah just did," Rogue stalked away from the sprawled form of Quill and the two women standing on the sides of him. The mutants in the 'Cure' line gladly allowed her back to her place after praying witness to that display.
Rogue put her glove back on, as she stood confidently in line, daring anyone to challenge her again. In truth the exterior was just a façade; a well practiced one at that. Inside she was dying, dying because she had lost her control; if it was ever there at all. She took a shaky breath, the only sign of her true feelings.
---
The stripe haired girl looked to her two friends. Jubilee and Kitty looked to each other before launching themselves at Rogue and smothering her in a group hug.
"I'm sorry Rogue," they both chorused empathetically.
Rogue smiled softly, "It's alight. Will ya'll get off o' meh! Ah'm gunna suffocate."
Jubilee laughed before her face became serious again. "So then, if you absorbed the cocky boy why didn't you absorb the Cajun?"
"Ah honestly don't know," Rogue was still baffled by that aspect of everything. "Maybe he's got something like Petey in his metallic form." The mansion had discovered that Rogue could not absorb Piotr when he was fully covered in metal; due to the fact that metal was not an organic substance.
"Alright, well why didn't you, like, run after him after he kissed you?" Kitty demanded, earning a satisfied nod from Jubilee.
"Don't worry, ya both were tellin' meh to go give him a few more smacks, 'cause ya thought he was gorgeous or something."
The digital clock on Rogue's nightstand beeped twice to signal to arrival of another hour. Jubilee glanced over at it and swore. "I gotta go chicas, Logan's going to kill me if I'm late again," she explained.
"Don't worry we'll catch you afterwards," Kitty assured the oriental girl before she sprinted from the room.
Jubilees head popped through the doorway again, "And don't think I don't want detail on this gorgeous hunk of a man," she looked straight at Rogue who only groaned in return.
Kitty laughed before looking over at her friend and quieting down again. They were finally alone, and she would be able to talk with Rogue about what had happened. "Rogue, I-I, like, need to talk with you."
Rogue sensed the change in attitude of her friend and sat up. In truth she was a little angry with Kitty about seeing her ice skate with Bobby, although she blamed Bobby more than Kitty. "What's on yahre mind sugah?"
"Um, well lately…Ugh. Never mind, I'll get straight too it. You remember the other day when we found out that the Professor died?" Kitty looked at Rogue who nodded. "Well, I was in my room crying and then Bobby came in. We talked about how I was homesick and then I mentioned how I missed the first snow back home. He saw my skates and took me outside and froze the pond over so we could go ice skating. It was really fun, I thought he was just being a great friend, since I've know him forever. But then like I was kind of falling and he caught me and then he all of the sudden kissed me. I swear I pulled away right after that, but I can't change that it happened. Are you mad?"
Rogue was a shocked. Yes she had seen them ice skating, and she had been a little jealous, but Bobby had kissed Kitty; Kitty, one of her best friends. "Yeah, Ah'm mad; but not at ya Kit. Ah know ya would never do that. Especially since yah've gotten over yahre crush on Bobby ages before he asked meh out, and now ya got eyes only for our Ruskie."
Kitty threw her arms around Rogue. "Oh my god! I'm so glad you believed me, I, like, thought you wouldn't and then you wouldn't want to be, like, my friend anymore and I would have to deal with Jubes all by myself."
"Ah knew immediately ya weren't lying Kit," Rogue laughed and began to list off the reasons on her fingers. "Firstly ya a terrible liar anyway, secondly ya going for tall, dark and Russian, and then ya never said 'like' once in that whole thing."
"I'm so glad I got that off of my chest. I mean Bobby's been acting weird around me lately, and he's just a good friend to me. So I've been confused, but I never got a chance to talk to you to ask you about it," Kitty explained.
"Don't worry Kitty, Bobby and Ah are just good friends now," Rogue stated.
"What!" the brunette shrieked. "I, like, can't be the reason you two are breaking up!"
Rogue smiled at the younger girl, "Ya not the reason Kit, its just something Ah've been thinkin' about lately. An' Ah'm different than Bobby is, we just don't work. Now why don't ya high tail it so a gal can unpack."
Kitty smiled before giving her friend one last hug. "Jubes and I will be around later," and she phased through the wall, leaving Rogue alone in her room.
- - - - -
Bobby strode down the hallway briskly, having heard that Rogue might be back. When he reached her door to find it open, he knew she was back.
Rogue was sitting on the edge of her bed wearing a green sweater over her brown tank top with jeans to accompany. She still wasn't completely comfortably showing so much skin, so she had decided to ease into the new revelation. She even had a glove on her right hand, because it had become as much of a safety blanket to her as anything else had.
He stopped briefly at the doorway to look at Rogue before simply saying, "Your back," and walking over towards her. Rogue rose from her bed to stand in front of him. Bobby let out a heavy sigh, realizing what this meant; Rogue had gotten the 'Cure', and he hadn't been able to stop her.
Rogue had looked down at the floor as she stood before Bobby. For some reason he could always make her feel ashamed of her actions, except this time it didn't matter. She liked what she had done. She looked up into his icy eyes. "Ah'm sorry," so much for not being ashamed Rogue, she thought to herself. "Ah had too."
"This isn't what I wanted," Bobby shook his head lightly.
"Ah know, it's what Ah wanted," her gaze kept flicking to the floor before going back to his face. They both stared at one another for several moments before she reached out her bare left hand to grasp his right one. And for the first time in her life Rogue didn't have to be afraid of human touch. She relished the simple gesture, smiling as she gazed down on their joined hands.
"Rogue—" Bobby began.
Rogue shook her head and looked into his eyes for longer than she had before. "Bobby, Ah didn't do this for you. Ah did it because Ah wanted ta, that's all. And Ah have noticed lately that we've been distant. Ah think that we made better friends than a couple, an' that we should go back ta that."
She had been blunt. She knew that, but she didn't really see the point in dragging out the whole thing saying such things that would likely hurt their friendship further. She had forgiven him mostly for what he had done with Kitty, but a part of her would always be angry with him for it. But she really didn't want to start this new part of her life with anger, especially not when she was so happy currently.
Bobby looked like he wanted to protest what she had just said, but then he let out a long breath. "Okay," he started, "if that's what you want, alright. But I know this is my fault, I just don't know what has been wrong with me lately. And I'm sorry, for everything. For what I did to you and Kitty. I'm sorry."
Rogue offered Bobby a soft smile that he would surely miss being directed only at him. "Ah know ya are Bobby. A part o' meh will always hate you for it, but the rest of meh has already gotten past that. Ah'm a different person now, Ah don't have mah powers looming over mah head forever threatening to kill the next person who touches mah skin. Ya did last for a long time however with the untouchable girl."
He smiled. "Rogue, why are you being so nice to me? I've been acting like a complete ass the last few days if not weeks and here you are being incredible nice to me."
An impish smile appeared on the Southerner's face, "Well, it just so happens that Ah don't want the new music director to be gloomy in his first days."
The Boston native groaned. "You heard then?"
"From the weather witches mouth herself. Robert Drake Ah am so proud of you!" Rogue teased.
"I told my mom I never wanted to play the piano," Bobby retorted with his forehead in his hands.
"Aw, well on the bright side Ah don't think Kitty and Jubes know, yet," a mischievous glint appeared in her eye.
Bobby having spent an extended amount of time with Rogue noticed the glint that often ended in misfortune for someone in the mansion. "Don't you dare," he warned.
"Ah dare," Rogue exclaimed before bolting from her room and down the corridor in search of Jubilee and Kitty. She was laughing her head off as her ex-boyfriend, full friend Bobby chased after her shouting for her to stop.
Everyone jumped out of Rogue's way as she ran down the hallway to be hotly pursued by Bobby. In the end he finally iced up to catch up and tackle the southerner to the ground, right at the feet of Jubilee and Kitty. Blue and green eyes peered up at the two figures looming over them. One groaned while the other burst into laughter to be joined by her companion. It seemed like things in the mansion were returning to normal with the return of their Southern half.
Author's Note: Alright, I finally pumped this one out. I am going to say again that I am terribly sorry for the delayed update. I've decided to just ignore school entirely from now on…Nah. Tempting as that might be I'll just juggle around it, writing in the spare time I find each day. I tried to make this chapter longer because it was a longer wait.
Reviews – Thanks for reviewing! I had to agree that Rogue is a kick-ass character and that in a lot of ways the movies don't really do her justice. Danger Room sessions will be interesting. I'm open for any suggestions on it though. I figured that Remy would probably put his message in French, and Logan might teach if asked, but you know he can't appear too soft. And taking his bike away is a surefire way to make him teach. If you ever need more information on character's look at it's a great source for the comic information.
Coming up: Memorial services and midnight confessions and Danger Room ahoy!
Translations:
Chica – Girl, young woman