Skin Deep
Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: The first part of this chapter is a dream sequence so anything in italics is going on in Rogue's dream while things that are italics and bolded are for emphasis and regular font is occurring outside of the dream. I hope that makes sense and isn't too confusing, there won't be any internal conversations going on with her Psykes during her dream because they can enter her dreamscape if she lets them.
A/N 2: I updated Chapter Nineteen to fix a couple storyline errors and a couple other issues. Nothing too drastic but you might want to review when Rogue is thinking about the Muramasa Blades for part of this chapter to make sense, Eric also notices the matching scars on Rogue's front and back.
Sorry about the long author's notes but I wanted to make some things clear at the beginning to avoid any possible confusion.
Chapter Twenty
Rogue was laying out under the hot Hawaii sun, letting the caressing rays coax a tan from her bikini-clad body. Looking up at the clear azure sky through her sunglasses she let out a heartfelt sigh. She loves her Hawaii dreams.
Leaning back against her beach lounger she watched the waves lapping at the sand, in her dreamscape there's no tourists, no innocent bystanders that can be harmed by all the exposed skin shown off in the tiny bright-electric-blue bikini that is little more than three strategically placed triangles held up by strings. Humming under her breath she took a sip of the fruity concoction in her hulled-out pineapple glass, complete with a little umbrella.
As a shadow fell across her, blocking out the sun for a brief moment, she looked up hand shading her gaze as the male form was thrown in sharp relief to the pale sand and bright sunlight behind him.
"Hello," she said in surprise. "I'm usually alone in my dreams."
"This is your dream?" The man's voice was young in sound but aged in tone, tinged with the faintest hint of an accent. "Yes." He said, turning his head to look around after a moment of studying the beautiful creature before him. "I suppose it would be. I lost the ability to dream long ago."
Standing, Rogue cocked her head to one side as she turned, bringing his features into focus. When she saw him clearly for the first time her gaze was immediately drawn to the tribal tattoos scattered all over his chest and arms, the young – very young – man being shirtless and covered only by a pair of nearly-sheer white linen drawstring pants riding low on his lean hips. Casting her eyes up and down his form, she took in the finely-chiseled muscles cording his chest, stomach, and arms; the short, messy dark brown hair offsetting his deep blue-grey eyes; and his young smooth features.
"I would think," she said musingly. "That if I'm going to have someone randomly invade my dreams it would be one of my Psykes, some of them have no sense of boundaries, but I've never met you before."
"Nor I you," he acknowledged taking in her appearance in turn. The blazing hair with its strange white streaks – a result of trauma rather than age he easily deduced, green-jewel eyes, luminous ivory skin with an intriguing scar under her breast, lush curves matching a lush rose-kissed mouth, and long, long legs. "Something I deeply regret."
Blushing brightly at the compliment implied by both his words and his engrossed look, she crossed her arms over her breasts that were nearly spilling from her top. Thank god Eric can't read her mind or she would likely get in trouble for this little scenario.
She gasped as she felt the scene beginning to shift, a sense of dread washing over her even in her dreamscape as her attire shifted to the black leather uniform she wore for so many years.
"No, no, no." She whimpered, holding her head between her hands as she forget all about her uninvited guest. "Not again. I don't want to see this again."
Moving soundlessly to the woman's side, Godric took her within his arms in an out-of-character show of comfort. Vampires do not dream. He has not dreamt for over two thousand years, and yet here he is sharing this creature's dreamscape. She pulled him to her somehow but how was the question. A question he will puzzle over upon waking for now there are other concerns.
A babble of voices sounded through the dreamscape as it shifted from the glorious beach – sunlight on his skin for the first time in millennia – to a dark, shadowed temple. Looking around as he cradled the beautiful, broken thing in his arms, he saw the calligraphy upon the banners draping the walls, the silk screens and bamboo mats, placing them somewhere in Japan. His sharp vampire ears picked up a pair of gruff male voices shouting before the figure in his arms disappeared, reappearing in a kneeling position before an alter that held a gleaming sword fashioned of a blackened metal.
The male voices belonged to the two creatures flanking her prostrate position.
"I called you here to talk sense into her Jimmy!" The massive shaggy-blonde mountain bellowed at the smaller, extremely broad-shouldered dark haired male. "Not give her a fucking Yoda we-are-the-world speech!"
Vamping around to get a better view of the kneeling woman, he felt a ghostly hand upon his shoulder as he caught sight of her weeping face.
"She can't hear you or see you now. She's lost in the memory." Said the phantom form of the dark haired man. "Marie can't hear any of us. Not when the kid loses herself in nightmares like this."
Looking beyond the first phantom he saw a number of others ranging behind him, spread out along the temple walls.
There was an elderly man with still-proud features playing chess with a teenaged blonde-haired boy. Another blonde but not so young as the first was absently forming figurines out of ice while a dark-haired male about the same age flipped a lighter open and closed while watching the woman – Marie – with pained eyes. A wilder version of the first phantom – the man from Marie's nightmare – prowled growling in the shadows while a red-haired woman cowered in a corner, watching the wild-man carefully. Standing almost shoulder-to-shoulder with the first phantom was a tall man with strange red and black eyes twirling a staff. In the very far depths of the shadows, Godric made out a cage that pulsed malicious amusement.
His attention was called back to the tableau as the weeping form of Marie gave a keening cry. The dark man – Jimmy the other called him – crouched low, wrapping her in a one-armed hug and pressed a kiss to her mussed hair.
"I'll be alone, forever Logan." She said brokenly. "I tried everything when I took that blast from Havok and instantly healed. I took pills, I bled out, I jumped from a cliff, I let myself drown…everything, every way I could think of. I'm just like you." She nearly choked on her sobs, clutching at his shirt as she hid her face.
"You're not like us, kitten." The other man hunkered down next to her. "We were born this way. This was forced on you. But you'll never be alone. You'll have us forever too."
"Never alone." She said bitterly. "Yeah that's about right. I always have someone in my head but no one I can ever touch. What a way to spend eternity. Both plagued by and ostracized from humanity."
"We'll take care-a you, darlin'," Logan said, rocking her back and forth. "Always. You have us even though we hate each other's fuckin' guts. Don't do this darlin'."
Victor held out one clawed hand, lifting Rogue from Jimmy's arms. Standing her straight in front of the sword, he wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on her head. Joining them, Logan placed one hand on her shoulder.
"That sword is final." Logan said after a moment. "You're the only one who's ever gotten me and Sabertooth to work together in the last twenty years. You're the only one that can keep us from killin' each other." Tilting her head to meet his gaze, Logan made her a solemn vow. "You ever find yourself thinkin' about this place again, you call us first."
"If you go, Stripes." Victor squeezed her. "We'll follow."
The scene changed again, the woman – Marie – coming back to his side only this time dressed in a regular pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
"That one is always bad." She whispered, wiping the tears from her cheeks with her gloved hands. "I'm surprised you're still here."
Eric woke abruptly from his daily death, well-aware that the sun was still high in the sky. After a moment the reason for his awareness was made clear as the form of Rogue began to thrash in her sleep.
"No, no, no." She cried out, her face a mask of pain. "Not this. Anything but this."
Taking her in his arms, he kissed her brow, sending her serenity through their bond. Rocking her back and forth, he wondered what could be bad enough for her to wake him from his rest without even being awake herself? What sort of mortal peril is she facing in her dreams?
"As am I, little one." Godric said honestly. "Vampires do no dream. I have no idea how I came to be here."
"Vampire?" Rogue studied him intently, noticing the sun-deprived pallor. "Well hmm. That's curious. If I was going to be visited by a vampire in my sleep, I would've thought it would be Eric."
"Eric?" Godric felt his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. She knows his progeny? Although to be fair there is more than one Eric in the vampire world. His Eric is just the most well-known.
"Um-hmm." She felt herself tense as the next scene began to form. "Eric Northman. My…bonded I believe is the term."
Godric felt shocked as the pieces of a puzzle that has been bothering him for weeks finally came together. All the turmoil and riotous emotions pouring through Eric's end of their child-Maker bond at last had a source. His Viking fell in love with a human. Well, with a creature other than a vampire, that last scene seemed to suggest that she was some form of immortal.
He felt his fangs click down as the scene opened up before him. Humans and strange creatures formed a battlefield with a pair of creatures standing upon a dark hill as others struggled to reach them. Marie stayed at his side this time as they watched the same man from the last memory – Logan fought beside others wearing similar uniforms.
"What is this?" He asked as she remained by his side.
"The day I discovered my death wish." She said, her voice utterly weary as she watched alongside him. "Soon you will see why."
Logan distracted the two upon the hill as a blue-furred creature leapt and stabbed the elderly man from among the phantoms with a cartridge filled with darts of some kind. As the man fell to the ground and the blue-furred creature bounded away, the glowing red-haired woman began to float, her rage palpable even in the memory residue.
"Here it comes." Marie whispered as she faded and reformed coming up the hill behind the glowing woman. Taking her gloves off she waited until Logan was pleading with the Phoenix before pouncing. Slapping her now-gloveless hands on her face, she held on tightly as Logan bellowed at her to let go and let him handle it. As she heard him shout his love for Jean for everyone to hear.
"No, no, no." Rogue whimpered. "Not her Logan. Anyone but her."
Godric watched in awe as the two women floated above the crowd, a dark visage seeming to take over Marie's face as black lines appeared upon both women. After several long moments the two broke apart and plummeted to the ground. Only now the glowing woman was lifeless, her vibrant hair leeched white and Marie's turned from brown to that blazing red.
The man Logan rushed over to the broken body of the glowing woman, cradling her in his arms and sobbing over her body as others circled the fallen form of Marie, all clearly loathe to touch her.
"Move." Another one of Marie's phantoms pushed through the crowd, shoving the others away and leaning over her form. Only he had no lighter in his hands instead having some form of strange device attached to one hand.
"Rogue." He said gently. "Rogue?"
The still form began to convulse and he gathered her in his arms.
"Wolverine!" He screamed over his shoulder. "Get your ass over here unless you want to lose both of them tonight!"
Laying the broken form down, Logan came wearily to his feet, absently wiping his tears away as he ran over to his Marie. Taking her from Pyro, he held her still leaning down to whisper in her ear.
"I know ya can still hear me in there, kid." He said brokenly. "You come back, ya hear me. You come back. I can't lose both of ya to that bitch, ya hear me kid!"
The others in the crowd all held their breath as he lowered his head to hers and pressed their brows together, not showing even the slightest of flinches as she began absorbing him.
*l*l*l*l*
Rogue jolted awake, panting, one hand fisted and tucked under her jaw and the other pressed against her chest at her heart. She always wakes from that dream in the same manner: thinking she has Wolverine's claws and trying to make the pain stop permanently.
"Rävhona?" (Vixen?) Eric's voice called her to true awareness.
Taking stock of her surroundings she realized they were in his bed as he held her in his strong arms and stroked one hand down her hair and back in a soothing gesture. Bringing her memories under control, she felt the care and worry coming from his side of the bond.
Then she noticed something else as she examined their bond closer.
She wasn't just being sent caring, and love, and worry from Eric. It was also coming through Eric from another source.
"Are you alright?" Eric asked her. The nightmare seemed to last forever, keeping him awake against the call of the daysleep for hours, something he did not even think possible until he reached a much greater age. His Maker could do it but Godric was over twice his undead age.
"Did I scream?" She finally asked, scrubbing her hands over her face and feeling the slightest hint of tears. At least she didn't cry her eyes out this time.
"I take that to mean you know what just happened?" Eric held her tighter. As he has not dreamed in a thousand years he is unsure whether such awareness is normal under such traumatic visions or not.
Blowing out her breath she nodded, letting herself fall back against his chest and cuddling into him, soaking up his tenderness like a flower soaking up the sun.
"I've had nightmares ever since my power manifested." She admitted. "Some are worse than others.
At least these ones were mine and not a replay of another's memories." Looking up into his strained face she saw the tracks of blood coming from his ears. "You're bleeding." She pointed out, feeling awful over her issues having such an effect on him.
"The bleeds are a result from fighting the daysleep." He told her with a shrug. "They stopped after the sun became low enough. I will be fine. I am concerned over these dreams of yours. Do they happen often?" He did not remember waking early on the other occasions they rested together.
"I used to have them several times a night." She sighed, thinking back to the year when she almost went crazy, leading up to her finding and nearly using one of the Muramasa Blades before Victor found her and stalled her while Logan came to help talk her down from the ledge. "Back to back. I'd wake, fall back asleep, have another nightmare, wake, etc. Now it usually takes outside events to trigger them."
"Like breaking a serial killer?" He hazarded shrewdly. "Or bonding with a vampire."
"The first is much more likely," she said drily, shooting him a teasing glance. "Although if the vampire was bratty enough…"
Growling playfully, Eric set about tickling her until she was gasping from laughter. Hugging her to him, he sat them both up, keeping her firmly trapped in his arms.
"I could not wake you." He said, voice troubled. "I could feel some of your terror, your fear, even your hopelessness. But no matter what I did you would not wake."
"Yeah." She sighed, resting back against him, settling between his spread thighs. "No one can and believe me many have tried once I start screaming. Maybe our bond just isn't strong enough yet, you said that it gets stronger with each exchange, right?"
"Mhmm." Eric nipped at her ear his relief over her being relatively-unscathed by her night terrors coursing through their bond.
"Uh uh, Mr. Big-Bad-Viking. There's somethin' I need to do before you go gettin' frisky." She said pulling away and rising with a firm look for him to stay where he was.
Walking over to the attached bath, she dampened a washcloth with warm water then wringing it out returned to his side. Working with the gentlest of touches she wiped away the evidence of his bleeds, his still-worried but slightly-aroused gaze focused intently on her calm face. Moving quickly she tossed the now-bloody rag in one of his laundry bins before coming back over to his side and snuggling back under the furs.
"No one has taken care of me like that in longer than I can remember." He said, thinking back. "Not since I was a child, before I started training to be a warrior."
"What about your Maker?" She asked, trailing one hand along his smooth chest as he stared contemplatively off into the shadows of the room. With a whirring sound the light-tight shutters began to rise, showcasing the coming night.
Eric chuckled at the thought.
"The Maker-Childe relationship generally is not as parental as humans like to think." He said amusement plain in the little smirk he gave her. "It is more about desire and companionship then it is "parenting" although in some cases it can be strictly parent-child that is very rare, usually occurring when a vampire has found their true mate but wishes to turn another for whatever reason. There almost always is a strong sexual element involved not a nurturing one."
Rogue analyzed this for a moment, hitting on a couple of point she wanted clarified.
"True mate?" She asked softly, looking up at him with velvety eyes.
"They are very, very rare." Eric caressed her cheek. "And are considered a gift from the gods. I know only of…" He trailed off, thinking of the vampires he either knows or has heard of. "Less than five couples." He decided. "I have only met two of them and all mated couples tend to be very secretive and reclusive."
"How do you know you've found a true mate?" She asked, giving him a glance from under bashfully lowered lashes.
"Interested?" Eric teased, flipping them so that she was flat on her back and he was crouched over her. "Thinking about applying for the position?"
"Maybe," she teased back, fluttering her lashes. "After all you're already spoiling me rotten and treating me like a queen. Why wouldn't I wanna be your true mate? We're already stuck together for eternity."
Growling with arousal at the thought, he set himself to pleasuring his little bonded. As they slept naked, he easily stripped away all her defenses and left her in a quivering, fuck-drunk mess, bringing her close to her peak over and over again but refusing to let her come. Stroking deep within her heated-silk channel, he lowered his masterful mouth to her ear.
"Bite." He commanded her in a deep growl, barely holding onto his control. "Bite me now."
As her sharp – but still dull compared to his fangs – canines bit deep into his chest and she began lapping at his rich blood he threw is head back in ecstasy before lowering himself to her neck and taking her blood in several long pulls. Their pleasure spiking as their blood joined, they held onto each other fiercely as they came together.
Coming down from his euphoric buzz, Eric picked her up and padded with her into his bathroom, running them both a bath for her to relax in while he held her. Once they were in place, he whispered the answer to her question in her ear, the words shocking her from her waking-dream-high like a plunge into an ice-bath.
"Dreams." He nuzzled at her ear. "A vampire only ever dreams of his true mate."