Taunting Repartee
Chapter Forty-Nine
Rogue sat with every member of the institute's household in the kitchen. The Professor had just finished explaining the situation; which in her option had taken entirely too long. It was nearly four- thirty. She had to leave soon. There had been so many questions about the truce. The Professor had vaguely told them some details. He hadn't mentioned that Rogue was now Magneto's second in command; interestingly enough. Were they keeping that a secret?
"So, everyone please know, that no one in this house is in any danger from Magneto or any of his associates," the Professor reiterated strongly.
"So, everything's okay? Just like that?" Evan asked in disbelief. Rogue took a deep breath as she pushed back the onslaught of traumatic memories begging to be relived. She restrained herself from saying anything out loud. They weren't supposed to know everything she had gone through.
'Just like that,' Rogue repeated darkly to herself; she could feel her own eyes narrow.
"Yes, everything is fine, now," the Professor answered.
"Rogue, you okay?" Kurt asked her; pulling her out of her thoughts. She glanced up at her brother and smiled.
"I'm fine," she reassured him.
"So, unless there are any other questions," the Professor started to say before pausing. No one asked anything. "Then you are dismissed," he said before people started to stand. Almost instantly several conversations started at once. The sound of chatter, and laughter over took the room.
"While we have everyone here," Ororo started to say loudly, "Bobby would you help me hand out the mail?" she asked.
"Sure," Bobby said as he took a pile from here. "Hey, Sam, I think your mom sent cookies again," he smiled.
"Really?" Sam asked happily.
"Sounds like it," Bobby smirked as he shook the box near his ear.
"Hey, cut it out. I wanna eat those," Sam exclaimed as he jumped out of his seat. Bobby ran across the room laughing as he Sam chased him.
"Kitty, there's a letter here for you," Ororo said as she handed it out to Kitty.
"Thanks," Kitty said as she phased through the table to get it. Ororo handed out other pieces of mail as the Professor, Mr. McCoy, Logan and some of the other students started to make their way towards the elevator. "It's from my mom," Kitty smiled as she showed the letter to Kurt.
"Cool," Kurt said as he sat down next to her. Rogue stood up and headed for the elevator.
She turned as she heard Sam scream out "Got ya." For a brief second Rogue felt envious. She dismissed the feeling as quickly as it had entered her mind. Given who her mothers were, why would she want to receive anything from them?
Rogue let out a soft laugh as she saw that Sam had managed to grab the box out of Bobby's grasp. Rogue let out a blissful sigh as she watched the antics of her family. This is what she had fought so hard for; their peace of mind and happiness. But now finally it was her turn to just rela-
"Rogue, you got a postcard," Bobby said as he held it out to her it to her.
"Huh?" she asked as she glanced over at him.
"Postcard. You have one. Here," Bobby said as he put it in her hands. She grasped hold of it as he let go and moved on to handing out more mail.
"Thanks," she muttered as she stared down at the front of the postcard. Her raised eyebrow as she read: "Greetings from Genosha."
'Where the hell is Genosha?' she asked herself as she flipped the card over.
She froze as she recognized the handwriting; it was Irene's. Her eyes stared down at the postcard, her expression emotionless as she read: "Dear Rogue, one day soon everything I have and will do to you, everything I still plan to do for you and mutant kind, will make sense to you. Your mother, Irene." Rogue took a deep breath as she pushed back her feelings.
'…Keep it together, girl,' she thought as she repressed the urge the breakdown. She quickly folded the car in half and put it in her pants pocket.
'Anna?' the fragment of Magneto asked concerned as she took a deep breath.
'I just need to be alone for a while," she told him as she turned from the room.
"Hey, Rogue, like, where are you going?" she heard her roommate ask. For a brief moment she considered telling both of them about the postcard.
'There is no need to feel guilty about requiring time alone. You do not have to share your troubles. You have the freedom to keep them to yourself.' he told her.
Rogue turned back to Kitty with the fake smile she had perfected over the months and said, "I'm just gonna go relax for a little while, before I have ta go meet up with Magneto. I'll see ya all later."
"Okay," Kitty smiled.
"See you later, sis," Kurt smiled.
"Later, Kurt," Rogue smiled before she turned back out of the room and walked towards the elevator. Rogue took a deep breath, her foot tapping impatiently against the floor as she waited for the elevator to arrive.
"Ya nervous about your lesson with Magneto?" Sam asked. She glanced over at him. He was holding a plastic box filled with cookies.
"Not really," Rogue huffed honestly as the elevator door finally opened.
"I think I would be," Sam said as they walked into the lift.
"Most people would be," Rogue commented as he pressed a button on the controls. She leaned forward and pressed a different button.
"I guess you ain't most people then, huh?" he asked with a soft laugh.
"No, I ain't," she said bitterly as he reached into his box and pulled out a cookie.
"Ya want one?" he asked as he held out the box to her. She glanced at the box surprised.
"I- …No thanks," she said.
"Ya sure? My mom made them," he said as she felt a sting of anger at the mention of mothers. "Ya can't go wrong with my mom's cooking," he laughed
"I'm sure," she snapped harshly as the doors to the elevator opened. She instantly regretted her tone. He was just being nice. "…Sam, I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that. Thanks for offering but no thanks," she said to him. She let out a sigh as she quickly marched out of the elevator; not giving Sam a chance to comment.
There was no one else in the hallway, so she ran into the first empty workout room she saw.
'Anna, do you wish to talk about it?' the fragment asked concerned as she walked up to a punching bag.
"No…" she said strongly. "She has no right to call herself my mother," Rogue yelled out in anger as she started to attack the punching bag in front of her with all of her strength: her fists and legs taking turns to assault the bag.
Charles Xavier sat with a couple of his students in the kitchen area. Ororo and Hank were making dinner. With only twenty minutes left on the cooking time, they were hoping to eat by six pm. Charles glanced over at the phone as he heard it ring. He picked it up and it put it to his ear.
"Xavier Institute," Charles answered.
"Ah, Charles," he heard Magneto start to say, "I was wondering if you happened to know where Rogue is?" he asked as Charles' eyes widened.
'Anna, I know you're angry and you have every right to be, but please stop this before you put yourself back in the infirmary,' the fragment beseeched, yet again. Rogue slowly staggered back from the punching bag exhausted. Drenched in sweat, she took shallow breaths attempting to regain her composure.
'Feel better?' the fragment asked dryly.
'Ask me that again when I can breath,' she thought before her let her body collapse to the floor: her eyes closing. She coughed violently as her back hit the floor.
'Why do you do this to yourself?' he asked. Even after all of that she was still on the verge of tears.
'I don't wanna cry anymore,' she told him as she bit back tears.
'Perhaps, you need to,' he offered gently. 'It's perfectly healthy to feel these emotions in response to everything you have been forced to endure but the way you have been repressing it. I understand you felt you had too to keep going but now we are at peace. Now is the time when you can start to confront these emotions and work to put some of it behind you.'
'… Max, I just- … I need it to stop hurting so damn much,' she thought as she bit back tears.
'Give it time, Anna, and take solace in the company of those of truly care about you,' he told her.
"Oh, fuck," she exclaimed in a panic as she sat up, "what time is it?"
'Past five, most definitely,' he answered. 'How much so I am unaware,' he added.
"Fuck," she yelled out as she failed to keep her tears back. "Fuck… I only had to do one more fucking thing today and I," she mumbled as she drew up her knees and rested her head on them. "Fuck," she screamed; letting all of her anguish out. She hugged her knees to her chest, needing the comfort as she cried.
A moment later there was a knock at the door.
"Rogue, are you alright?" the Professor asked. Rogue took a deep breath as she prepared herself to stand.
'Anna, you're already late, a few more minutes will hardy matter. Finish calming down first and then we'll proceed,' he told her.
"Give me a minute, okay?" Rogue yelled out.
"Take all the time you need, Anna," she heard Magneto say. Rogue's eyes widened.
'Did you say that?' she asked.
'No, I did not,' the fragment answered.
"Max, I'm sorry I-," Rogue started to rant.
"My girl, there's no need for that. I won't begrudge you fifty minutes," Max said: he didn't sound annoyed or anger, just concerned.
"…Thanks," she called out.
"You're welcome," he said. She took deep breaths; using the techniques Ororo had taught her to calm herself down.
Max sat down in the hallway waiting, with Charles Xavier, for Rogue to welcome them into the room. He had arrived at the institute about ten minutes before. He had informed Charles of Rogue's absences from just outside the mansion. In fear of her safety, Max had insisted upon being allowed inside the Institute. Charles had cautiously agreed to his presents; which suited him well enough since got had gotten his way. The two had met in the elevator and proceeded to this floor. They had arrived just in time to hear Rogue start screaming. It was clear to him she had just realized she was late, on top of whatever else was bothering her.
"Okay," Rogue finally called out. Max stood up and walked up to the door. He turned the knob but found that it was locked. With the use of his powers he was quickly able to rectify the situation and opened the door. His eyes run over her body as he entered the room. Aside from looking exhausted she seemed alright. There were no open wounds as far as he could see. For some reason there were little scraps of paper shattered on the floor circling a punching bag. He made a mental note to ask her about it later.
"Charles," Max started to say as he walked up to Rogue, "would you be willing to go get a bottle or water or two?" he asked.
"I could ask-" the Professor started to say as Max took a seat in front of Rogue.
"The fastest would be Mr. Wagner and I highly doubt that Anna wants him to see her in this state," he said as he took her gloved hand in his. She stared up at him wide eyed; wondering what he was doing. He smiled at her reassuringly. As usual the expression alone helped to diminish her fear.
"The reason she came back with all you today was to assure your student body that all was well," Max said as he slipped off her glove; her knuckles were bruised, but not bleeding as he had feared. "If any one of your students were to see her now that illusion would be shattered," Max said as he repeated the process with her other hand; he found a similar bruises on that hand as well
"Illusion?" Charles asked in anger.
'Does she look alright to you, Charles?' Max asked annoyed as he applied pressure to his touch as he studied her face. "Does that hurt?" Max asked.
"I don't think it's broken. I would've stopped before I-" Rogue started to say.
"Would you have?" Max asked. "How many times did my counterpart ask you to stop before you would listen to reason?" he asked as she cast her gaze downward.
"…I lost count," she said quietly.
"Anna, you can't keep doing this," Max said desperately. "You must take care of yourself," he said. "It's perfectly healthy to feel these emotions in-" he started to say.
"Response to everything I've have been forced to endure but the way I've have been repressing it, isn't," Rogue muttered; taking Max by surprise.
"We've already had this conversation, I take it?" Max asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah," she answered, "and I know your right, Max. But I don't wanna feel this way anymore. After everything I've found out about what Irene's done to me-" she started to say before she stopped herself.
'So, this has to do with Irene,' Max thought to himself.
"No, I- I don't wanna think about her," she told herself.
"Eventually, you must," Max said gently as he his hand went to her shoulder. He gave her a moment to respond but she said nothing. If she didn't want to think about Irene at the moment he was more than happy to provide an alternative topic.
"When we first started all of this I saw the state you were in," Max continued as she gasped. She clearly hadn't expected him to bring up that. This conversation, he knew was long overdue. Both of them had put it aside because of the turn of event. But now, finally they could give the issue the attention it deserved.
"Over a year you had endured the voices, the screaming, and the nightmares. You were forced to experience the absolute worse of humanity and the most painful of memories. You were terrified of closing your eyes and still you did so, every night. You know my past. You know that more than once I contemplated ending it all. But you, my brave girl, never did. Not once," he said strongly.
"It was your strength I first fell in love with, Anna," he said as he moved his gloved hand to her cheek. Tears poured out of her eyes; as he gently rubbed her cheek. He used his free hand to pull out a handkerchief from his pocket. He handed it to her with a small smile. She wiped her eyes dry.
"I knew what a toll the year had taken on you, which is why when I started teaching you, under the guise of the fragment, I tried to convince you to focus on yourself and just relax. I distracted you from you search of my memoires every chance I had. But you insisted upon looking, as you constantly do. Finding out the truth in the name of those of you care about was persistently more important than your own well being."
"If only for a little while, I had hoped to keep you from traumatizing yourself further. The only thing that seemed to work was touching you," Max said. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Charles looking suddenly extremely uncomfortable. If he didn't want to hear the conversation he was free to leave the room. "It was the only time you fully let yourself stop worrying about others," he said. "I will admit I was quite pleased when I realized that," he said with a smirk. She let out a soft laugh. He chuckled.
"Being in your arms, Max, it was the only time I could stop thinking," Rogue said; her eyes distant. "I love the way you make me feel," she said with a small smile.
"But you nearly always felt guilty afterwards," Max supplied.
"Yeah, I didn" she sighed sadly.
"Although, I don't know why; taking solace in my company is not a betrayal. You have the right to seek happiness in whatever form you choose, my girl," he argued.
"I know that," Rogue said. He repressed a smirk; a month ago she would have argued with him. He listened to her let out a sigh as she glanced up at him. "When you're right, you're right. By you ain't right that often, Max. Don't let one small victory go to your head," she told him. He stared down at her curiously. Where had that comment come from?
"Perish the thought," Max said with a smile. She let out a short laugh at that. "Anna, my point is, is that this world is filled with an abundant of problems, or secrets to uncover, of family members to look after. But you need to make certain that you are mentally and physically up to the task first before you go about offering aid to others. And it's not selfish to do so, either," he said. 'I certainly know I'm right about this, but perhaps my words are not enough,' he thought to himself. "Don't you agree, Charles?" he asked as they both glanced over at him. Max watch Charles' eyes met hers; he seemed surprised to be brought into the conversation. "When it comes to the question of ethics Rogue is reluctant is take my advice," Max explained.
"Can you really blame me?" she asked with a laugh.
"Not in the slightest," Max chuckled. She laughed at that.
"… I do agree with Magneto," Charles said hesitantly. "But you have suffered through several unthinkable traumas. A surmountable sum of those trauma inflicted by Magneto himself," he pointed out strongly. Max felt his eyes narrow at that.
"I know that, Prof," she said softly as she glanced down at the floor, her hair shielding her face; a gesture of shame.
'You have nothing to be ashamed of, my girl,' he thought strongly to Rogue's future self as he so often did. He watched a small smile appear on her face through the hair; as though she had heard what he had thought.
"And I understand that you have forgiven him for all the pain he's caused you. But I hope you won't forget it, and remember exactly what he is willing to do to you to suit his ends," Charles said.
"Couldn't if I wanted to," she muttered.
'Well, that's not entirely true. All you would have to do is ask,' Max thought..
"Yeah, I know," she laughed, "but I ain't gonna," Rogue said as she lifted her head to met his gaze. "I value knowledge way too much to ever willingly get rid of any," she told him with a short laugh. He stared down at her with a raised eyebrow. Rogue let out a soft laugh at his expression. "Fragment's, like, three hours old, Max. I might as well be telepathic right now," she explained with a small smirk.
'…I'm not going to be able to hide a thing from you, am I?' he asked in his mind. She smirked.
"No, you're not… Guess it's a good thing ya don't really want to, huh?" she asked playfully.
"I suppose so," Max answered thoughtfully. "… I take it you still do not wish to talk about Irene and the crimes she has committed against you?" he asked.
"You have no idea," she told him.
"Would dinner by a suitable distraction?" Max asked.
"Assuming there's good conversation," she said as he stood up.
"Always," he chuckled as he extended his hand down to her.
"… Okay, then," she smiled as she took it. He helped her up to her feet. He reached down and picked up her gloves and handed them to her. He watched the slight sting of pain cross her face as she started to put them on.
"Rogue?" Charles started to ask.
'I'm fine, did it to myself. I'll be fine," she answered quickly.
"I thought the whole point Magneto was trying to make was that you are not in fact, alright: quite, the opposite. But you keep pushing your feelings back: ignoring them. It's not healthy," Charles said.
"It's worked for a year and half," Rogue said under her breath.
"Miraculously," Max committed dryly as Rogue let out a sigh. "You know there must be so truth to our logic if Charles and I are agreeing," he said.
"I know," she said. "I know I'm gonna have to start dealing with everything. Feel the emotions, head on and work to put them behind me," she said. "But that day, is not today," she said strongly as he gaze shifted between the two of them. "It's my pain, my trauma. I know that both of you care about me and only wanna see me be happy and healthy but neither of you are gonna talk me into confronting anything before I decide that I'm ready too," she said before she turned towards around towards the door.
'This is your fault, Magnus,' Charles projected into his mind as they both watched Rogue leave the room. 'She wouldn't have this desire to so firmly assert her freedom if you hadn't stripped her of it completely,' he thought in anger.
'I offered her the help she needed within minutes of entering her mind. She refused my help in the areas she most desperately needed assist, because of her misplaced loyalty to you, Charles. You had her here for half a year before I began involved and were too blind to see just how traumatized she was. Tell me, whose fault is that?' Max asked dryly before he marched out of the room after Rogue. "I'll have her back around eleven," he shouted out as he saw Rogue's hand holding the elevator door open for him. He quickly joined her. "Thank you," he said as she pulled her hand into the elevator.
"You're welcome," she said as the lift's doors closed. "… Thanks," she said.
"For what?" he asked curiously.
"For being a jackass and entering my mind, I don't know where I'd be right now if we hadn't of started all this," she told him. "The thought of it… scares the crap of out me," she said quietly as she wrapped her arms over her chest.
"Then cast those hypothetical notions out of your mind," he said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "You have no need for artificial fears," he said.
"… I really don't," she muttered her eyes distant yet again.
"I wish I knew what was going on inside of that mind of your. I know how much you despite explaining your troubles; the pain it causes you to retell a horror from you past," he said.
"That's never gonna go away, is it?" she asked sadly.
"We had less than a month of real training, my girl. It took years for me to gain real control over my abilities. I wouldn't give up hope just yet," he said tenderly before he kissed the top of her head. She lifted her head up and kissed him on the lips. His hand went to her cheek, hers to his chest, as they deepened the kiss. They pulled their lips apart as the doors to the elevator opened. He took her hand in his. "Where would you like to eat, Anna?" he asked as they exited the lift.
"I don't know," she smiled as she moved to face him. "Surprise me?" she asked with a smile.
"Is that even possible, right now?" he smirked as he started to lift himself into the air. He felt her utilize his powers to do the same.
"Only one way to find out," she grinned, he chuckled, their hands entwined as they floated high into the air. He pulled her close to him. Her arm wrapped around his neck as their lips met again. "Lead the way?" she said as she pulled away from him.
"Gladly," he said as before he started to fly south.
Thank you for reading! Please review! Quick fun question: what type of food do you think they should go eat for dinner? And seriously thank you to everyone who reads and reviews. Every review I get is inspiration to keep writing. The reason this fic has lasted so long is because you all gave me the inspiration and support to keep moving forward; which I will always appreciate. ^.^ Till next time.
Oh, one more quick thing, I'm going to go start working on Individual Repartee's second chapter Charles Xavier! And that will probably be the next chapter I post. It shouldn't take too long to write. His back story has mostly to do with one really long scene; which is going to be awesome! Ever wonder why Juggernaut wants to kill Charles? Stay tuned!
