AN: I do not own anything that is X-men.

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IMPERFECT ELEMENTS CH 11

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Raze looked at the crowd. She gasped as she saw a familiar head.
"Pyro, It's Iceman." she said and she noticed a familiar smirk on Pyro's face. "If he's here then that must mean..." she looked around and gasped. "Rogue!" she looked over at Pyro. "I know you have your agenda against Bobby Drake, my dear, but I can't let Rogue take that cure. She has so much potential." Pyro nodded at her.

"Alright, find her and get her away from the building. I'm gonna go pay a visit to an old friend." Raze walked off and sighed, she wished Pyro would get over the stupid competition they had going, it could only end badly. But she wasn't about to say anything to him, it's his life, if he wants to spend it neck and neck with some iceman, then so be it. She was walking normally,trying her best to find Rogue, though she was having very little luck. After what seemed like and hour, but it was surely only 10 minutes, she saw Rogue's brown hair with the two white stripes. She rushed over.

"Rogue!" she exclaimed, and Rogue turned to look straight at her, a glint in her eyes that told Raze she was not gonna have fun talking to the life-sucker. "Oh Geez." she sighed. "How's Jason?" she asked. Rogue sighed and walked over, seeing that she wasn't going to relent.

"What do you want, traitor." Rogue snarled and Raze backed away a second. She took a moment to collect her temper.

"I want to know how my old friends are." she stated. Rogue sighed.

"Jason's terrible, ever since you left he's been blaming it on himself."

"Did you try what I asked you to?" Raze looked at her hopefully.

"No."

"Well, why not, I figured you would want someone you can touch. Come here." she muttered and reached out to take Rogue's hand. Rogue snatched it away. "I can transform into all my elements now. Earth has a full body shield, you can test it on me, and if it works, it will work with Jason, and if it doesn't, you get to be an elementalist for a few minutes." she said, trying to be perky, though Rogue was making it near impossible.

"Where's Pyro?" she asked, accusation in her tone.

"GOD Rogue Get over yourself! Honestly, What in the Hell have I done to you? Absolutely nothing, Bobby and John are the ones with that stupid competition thing, not us." she ranted. "You have an AMAZING gift and you are just going to throw it away because you can't touch anyone, and here I am trying to help you so that you don't HAVE to take the cure. The cure is a coward's way out." Rogue shook her head lightly.

"You're right. I'm sorry." she said softly. "Can I talk to you about something?"
"Anything, Rogue." she replied.

"I just had a bad case of misplaced anger." Rogue paused and looked back at Raze. "Bobby kissed Kitty." Raze's eyes widened.

"He cheated on you?" she asked, "With walk through walls chick? Oh please." Rogue nodded.

"Okay, you want to see if you can touch?" she asked. "It'll be kinda odd me transforming here on the street, so can we go around a corner?" Rogue looked up at her and nodded.

"Alright. Just so you know, though, you are the only Brotherhood member I will trust." Rogue ducked under the barrier and followed Raze around a corner. Almost as soon as she turned the corner, she transformed into her earth form and turned to face Rogue, who was staring.

"Alright Rogue take your glove off." she held her hand out towards Rogue indicating for her to take it. Rogue just watched for a moment.

"Are you sure?" Rogue asked and Raze grinned.

"Of course, don't make me hug you." she joked,and Rogue let out a small chuckle. Raze made sure her shield was flowing across every inch of her skin as Rogue removed her glove. She took a tentative step forward and then placed her hand in Raze's. A moment later raze reached her other hand out ands cupped Rogue's in between hers and she smiled.

"You don't feel my power?" Rogue asked.

"Not at all, my dear. I told you so." she smiled. "Now," she dropped Rogue's hand and put her hands on Rogue's shoulders. "do me a favor, darling. Find Jason, tell him I am terribly sorry for leaving so suddenly, but I am happy and I want him to be as well. Tell him to put his shield up, coating his skin, and I want you to hug him for me." she smiled as Rogue's face lit up. "And, can I tell you something without you telling on me for telling?" she asked, and Rogue nodded,

"Of course."

"Jay always did have a little thing for you." she smirked. "But I've got to go find Johnny, take care of Jason for me, okay?" She gave Rogue a comforting squeeze on the hand before stepping back and changing into her regular form.

"I'll take care of him." Rogue said right as Raze took off to find her lover. She saw his head in the crowd, he was faced off with Bobby, so she stealthily moved closer. She didn't know if he caught sight of her, but she didn't care either, she got close enough to hear the words being said.

"Oh, I get it. Your girlfriend. I figured she'd want the cure. She's pathetic." Pyro antagonized. Iceman's fist froze, and seeing this Pyro immediately had a ball of fire in his hand. "Come on, Iceman." he said quietly, threats obvious in his tone. "Make a move." Bobby stared at him for a moment before stepping back and shaking his head at his former friend turned enemy. "Same old Bobby." Pyro called as Bobby turned his back and walked away. "Still afraid of a fight!" he yelled after him, and Raze moved to so that she was next to his side. Pyro looked back at the clinic and frowned, he shot his already formed fire into the windows, causing them to explode. As soon as he did that, Raze transformed into her air form and hovered them to the top of a building to wait for the craziness to die down. Pyro watched as Bobby ran back in search for him, but Raze's hand on his arm stopped him from moving.

"Not now, Pyro." she said simply.

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Pyro glanced at her, a frustration and anger taking over him.

"You've changed me. There was a time when I wouldn't listen to you and I would just jump down there and make myself known again." he said as he walked up to be face to face with her. "In fact, that's exactly what I should do. You've gotten soft." Raze glared up at him, her mouth partially open.

"So go." she said simply, her voice cold and promising many things he knew didn't want to happen, but he couldn't stop himself. "I'm not your keeper and I don't give a flying fuck about your rivalries and conflicts with Bobby Drake." her eyes flashed red. "I don't care what you do if you can't respect me enough to treat me with dignity." she muttered not backing down. He felt her anger blossom around them. "How can you tell me, you love me and then act like this the very next day?" she screamed, her arms flung out wide as she advanced on him. "Well, you know what, Johnny. Until you figure out what you really want, I am done. I will not subject myself to this hot and cold shit every other day." she poked his chest.

"Back off, you're one to talk about hot and cold. Did you forget that you too made the same revelation?" he screamed at her.

"I was helping you, Pyro." she replied, her voice full of venom.

"How the fuck do you think you could possibly help me. You can't even control your temper. Just leave already!" he snapped and he immediately wished he could take that back, he didn't even know why he said it, she was doing so well. Raze lost it. She finally fully transformed into her fire form, her auburn hair waving wildly in the wind. She grabbed his arm and pulled him to the edge and pointed at the men standing by the door with the guns. She used a gust of wind to bring the gun that was on the ground up to her and she held it out to him, waiting for him to take it before she spoke.

"Cure guns. If I had left you down there you wouldn't be the great fucking Pyro. You would just be poor little St. John Allerdyce because you would have caused attention to yourself." she screamed and turned away from him, her hands burying in her hair. Pyro looked down at the gun in his hand and back to the girl across from him. She had dropped back to her regular form and he saw her shoulders shaking slightly. "I may have gone soft, Pyro, but at least I know how I feel." she said and began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" he asked, suddenly worried about her, forgetting only moments before he was telling her to leave.

"Hot and cold." she said beneath her breath. "Find your own way back." she jumped off the other side of the roof. Pyro ran over to see where she landed, but she was gone already. He looked down at the gun in his hands and thought back to what was said. She was protecting him, like he had swore to protect her. And he just shattered ever bond they had ever built in that single conversation. He wanted so bad to just destroy something, but he knew he needed to get back to the encampment. He needed to fix things with Raze before it got too bad, so he set to running.

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"What are you doing down a cold, dark, alleyway all by your lonesome." a gruff voice asked, and Raze sent him a glare.

"That's not your business." she muttered. The man was huge, the only one she'd ever see to rival his size was Piotr and Juggernaut, and she vaguely wondered if this man too was a mutant. He advanced on her, and she stumbled back slightly. Her leg seemed to be either broken, or very badly sprained, from her landing. She kicked herself over and over again for being so stupid, she just hadn't been thinking. She had tried to transform into her water form, but for some reason it didn't work. Her body and power wasn't complying with her. Before she knew it she had backed against a wall and he was inches from her face. She grimaced as she felt his hand trail down her faced.

"You are beautiful." he muttered.

"Hey, back off bud. You're in my bubble." she replied. He smirked down at her and grasped the upper parts of her arm. Raze groaned slightly and tried to pull away. She dug deep into her mind and tried to grasp at the multi-colored strands of her power. She couldn't grasp it though. Her eyes snapped open and she looked up at her assailant for the first time in fear. He was so much larger than her, and was covered in muscles, so he was surely to be stronger than her. She closed her mind off from the scenarios that COULD happen, and just tried to think in the moment to prevent any of them from happening. He bent down and kissed her hard on the mouth. She screamed against his mouth and struggled against him, pushing with every ounce of strength she had in her to try and get him off, but as she predicted, he didn't budge. So when he forced his nasty tongue in her mouth she figured she could do on of two things, and then decided to do both. She chomped her teeth down on his tongue and brought her knee up hard against his groin. He fell away, clutching at his manhood and groaning, so Raze began to take off as best she could with her limp. She didn't get very far before she was yanked back by her hair. She let out a scream as she fell onto the ground. He hovered over her and she saw pure anger on his face. "Oh, god." she muttered right before she was hauled to her feet. He stood her a foot away from him, and reared back. His fist collided with her cheek, and she didn't even have time to breathe before it connected with her other cheek, then her stomach. She was back at the wall by this point. Raze collapsed against the wall, tears flowing freely down her face. Her whole body felt like it was shutting down. It started at her heart, the normally rhythmic and fluttering tempo was slowing, then her stomach gave and she felt like she wanted to heave up everything in it if it would stop the incessant pains, then her limbs began malfunctioning. She couldn't trust her legs to hold her up anymore. But what worried her the most of all was she couldn't transform. She couldn't even get angry enough to use the fire. She was stuck, lost in the city and all alone, except for the man who was currently trying to rape her. She pulled a few breaths deep into her lungs and tried to force herself to calm down. She locked herself in a safe part of her mind, and tried to ignore the vile things being done to her body. He was just beating her then, but soon he would tired of that. She knew his type. She tried to think of what was wrong. She had never had this much trouble accessing her powers, but all of a sudden she walks away from Pyro and she's broken. A fine time to be broken. She was yanked back to reality by the feeling of a cold knife against her breast. Her assailant was talking to himself, but she didn't want to hear. He pressed only slightly into the fine skin, only enough to leave an indention, not a cut.

"What the fuck?" a new voice spoke. Raze didn't even have the energy to look and see who it belonged to. She just wanted this to be over with so she could curl up in a corner and die. Suddenly the temperature dropped dramatically, and Raze was shivering. The man was pushed off her and she came face to face with Iceman's- no, Bobby Drake's- ice blue eyes. "Raze?" he asked as he pulled his coat off. Raze took notice that her shirt had been cut only when Bobby wrapped his coat around her. "Why weren't you defending yourself?" he asked. Raze looked into his eyes and the concern was her undoing. Tears poured down her cheeks as she broke down. The seriousness of her past few moments finally reached her. He sat down beside her, and cradled her to his chest, tucking her head under his chin.

"I couldn't, Bobby, I tried." she whispered against his chest.

"You didn't take the cure did you?" he asked, and she shook her head furiously. "Where's Pyro?" he asked, and that brought on another round of tears. "No, shh, it's okay. I'm going to take you back to the mansion, okay?"

"Jay's there right?" she asked softly. "I could really use my best friend right now." She didn't know when it happened, but Bobby was up walking carrying her in his arms similar to bridal style.

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