Chapter Thirty Eight- Rogue's Legacy
Author's Note- One more chapter before the end! Enjoy!!!
A few days later, Xavier had declared it safe for the school to be re-opened and everything was back to normal. Apart from everything wasn't normal. Rose refused to leave her room and she just sat on her window ledge and stared out the window at the grounds below. She saw kids playing basketball, running, play fighting and she wished she could join them. Once or twice after the lessons had finished Bobby and the others would go play basket ball just like they had done when Rose had first come to the mansion, she would watch them until the sickness that the guilt caused her to have whenever she saw them got too much.
Mystique and Magneto had left soon after they had returned from the compound, her uncle had left her the only known picture of her mother, the first night they had moved back up to the mansion Rose picked it up from her bedside table again and studied it. The picture contained three people, her mother, a much younger Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr. It was taken at the front of the mansion, you could see the building in the background. Her mother was wearing a cream and floral summer dress and a cream summer hat with a large brim that shaded her eyes but her deep, ruby coloured hair escaped from under it and framed her face. Her father was stood on her left smiling and wearing a blue suit. Her uncle was stood on her mothers left, he was also wearing a suit and his left arm was placed around her waist. Rose sighed as she looked at the happy scene and looked at the date written on the back; twenty fourth of August 1990. Just over a year after the picture was taken her mother was dead and the almost brotherly bond shared by Xavier and Lensherr was shattered as they finally turned their backs on each other. Rose placed the picture back on the table as a single tear rolled down her cheek. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep. A long lost memory drifted into her mind and as if a beautiful voice was carried on the wind, it was in a different language; polish. But Rose knew what every word meant.
A little spark twinkles from the hearth
to little Adalbert:
- Come, I'll tell you a story,
it will be very long.
There was once a princess,
She fell in love with a busker!
The king arranged a great wedding
And...it's the end of the story.
Once there was a witch,
she had a little hut made of litter;
And in this hut,
there were only strange things!
Pssst! The spark went down.
Adalbert looks and muses,
His eyes filled up with tears:
- Why did you fool me so? I'll remember that!
I won't ever believe you! You little spark!
You shine for a moment, then you go down!
And that's it - the whole story.
For the first time in days, Rose slept peacefully as the enchanting chorus sang her to sleep and she felt in contact with her mother for the first time since she was held by her almost seventeen years ago.
The next day Xavier and Ororo set off back to Rogue's hometown to inform her parents of her death and hand her body over. They left early in the morning and only returned late at night. She didn't go to greet them instead Rose, staying her room even when Bobby came to see her, she didn't open the door. She couldn't bare to face him. He knocked on the door and tried to talk to her but after a while he gave up.
One day Rose was watching Kitty and the others play basketball solemnly from her window and Bobby scored, she couldn't help but let a half smile cross her face. He gave Peter a high five then looked up at her room, he met her eyes and they stared at each other for a long moment. It was clear Bobby blamed himself for Rogue's death, it was also clear that Rose blamed herself for her death. Rose finally tore her eyes from him and she went to lay on her bed.
A week after the events in eastern Texas, Rose was laid on her bed looking at the only picture of her family, the morning sunlight was drifting in through her window and the cotton curtains moved silently in the cool breeze. It was the last day of lessons before students either went home or if they lived at the mansion, their last day before they didn't have to worry about getting up the next morning. She sighed and closed her eyes just as someone knocked on the door, after she didn't reply they knocked again. Rose simply intended to ignore it but then they spoke.
"Rose…it's Scott, your dad sent me…" his voice came through the air, it was dulled a little by the wooden.
She rolled her eyes and pulled herself up off of the bed. Scott hadn't come to see her before so she knew the odds were good that he didn't want to talk about what had happened. She got the door key out of her pocket and placed it in the lock, she twisted it once, all the way around. She put it back in her pocket and opened the door. Scott was stood there, he was wearing his ruby coloured glasses. His hair had been cut and washed, he was wearing fresh clothes and his skin was almost radiant now.
"Yeah?" Rose asked him.
"The memorial starts in a few minutes, Xavier wanted to know if you wanted to join us…" he told her but then he sighed, "but, I know what its like to loose someone…if its easier for you to shut the world out then go ahead and do it, I just want you to know that I did the same thing…look where I ended up…"
"It's not like that…I feel guilty" she told him, Scott was the first person she told.
"So did I, I thought it was my fault that Jean went out and sacrificed herself like she did, I blamed myself for not stopping her…but if it was going to happen, it was going to happen and no one would have changed that" he told her.
You just don't get it, I saw it happen before it happened…
Rose sighed, "Look…thanks for letting me know but…"
"I know, you just want to be left alone" Scott stated.
"Yeah…" she said quietly and Scott turned and left her alone, she watched him turn the corner and she closed the door. She was alone again. After a few moments she opened the door and walked out of her room.
She walked down the stairs slowly and when she came to the huge window on the staircase, she stopped and looked through it. Rose could see the entire memorial from there, nearly the entire school was out there. She stared blankly out of the window and searched for her.
Rogue…are you there?
What? Who said that? Came the startled reply, it was Rogue's southern belle voice but before Rose could see any further she was interrupted and her power slipped away.
"Hey Rose…" It was Jimmy.
Just my luck…
He was stood next to her and looking out of the window too.
"Hey, Jimmy…" she said half heartedly.
"Good job about Texas, everyone thinks you're a hero." He told her and Rose felt a stab of guilt attack her insides.
Yeah right…a hero…
"Trust me…I'm not…" She told him sternly.
"Oh come on!" he said and she gave him a look she had given Mark Ginsham nearly two months ago, "Fine…you going out there?"
"She's not…" Rose reconsidered, "I wasn't much of a friend…"
"So?" he said, "you helped free her…or…be there for Bobby, he hasn't been the same since you guys got back and I think that, well if you were just there to hold his hand…it'd be easier for him, you know?"
"Yeah…I know" she said quietly and she walked down the rest of the steps.
A few moments later she was stood on the steps at the back of the mansion, Rose took a deep breath and walked up to the memorial ceremony. There were many seats so she skirted around the edges until she found her seat, next to Bobby's. It had a 'reserved' sign on it, she removed it and sat down. Bobby had his head in his hands as Xavier said words of sadness and regret, when he noticed someone was sat next to him he lifted his head to look at them. Rose smiled softly and he reached for her hand, she squeezed it tenderly.
Xavier said his last few words, "Rogue was a strong girl. She had been through so much yet she had kept fighting…I am sure the WMHG now know what horrors they cause to others and they now know that we will not allow for such things to happen, let this be Rogue's legacy."
A round of thunderous applause met his final word but Rose couldn't help but wonder if she had imagined Rogue's thoughts.