Disclaimer: Characters still don't belong to me.
Author's Notes: Many more thanks for all the reviews and support. Although I've set my story in the comic book universe, there are certain things I really liked within the movieverse, and one of those things was their interpretation of Cerebro. Just bear this in mind as you're reading:) Thanks and enjoy!
****
Unexpected
by Kristen Elizabeth
****
Logan woke up to someone screaming in French. He lifted his head from the pillow of Storm's white locks, his senses on overdrive.
"What is it?" the half-asleep woman next to him said.
"Shh." He pushed back the covers and got up carefully, as not to disturb her further. "Stay here; I'll be back."
After pulling on his discarded jeans, he stepped out into the hallway. His ears, so highly attuned to things no one else could hear, led him down the hallway. French wasn't one of his better languages, but he knew enough to know that the words were not friendly.
And there was only one person who could be flinging them about so carelessly.
When he realized the argument was stemming from Rogue's room, Logan snarled and unsheathed his claws. If the Cajun thought he could get away with yelling at his fiancé like that, he had another thought coming…and Logan intended to give it to him.
Without stopping to consider anything, Logan kicked Rogue's door open. If there was anyone still asleep in the house, they surely wouldn't be now. He entered the room, prepared for anything. What he saw was Rogue backed up against her closet door and Gambit holding three charged playing cards in between the fingers of his right hand.
Remy turned his head upon hearing the wood splinter. Dismissing the shorter man entirely, his attention immediately whipped back to the pregnant woman. "Gambit only ask one more time. W'at you do wit' my Rogue?!"
Logan frowned. Before he could say anything, Rogue looked at him, wild fear in her eyes. "Logan! Help me…he's gone crazy!"
"Don' listen t'her, mon ami," Remy growled. "Dat not her."
Rogue shook her head. "Logan, please!" She put her hands on her stomach. "Ah'm 'fraid he's gonna hurt the baby!"
"De bébé…" The Cajun man's murderous expression became even darker. "If anyt'ing happen to it…dere gonna be pickin' up de pieces o' you for weeks!"
"Listen to him!" She reached out one hand towards Logan. "Do somethin', sugah!!"
Logan stepped forward, but he was once again cut off before he could do or say anything, this time by the appearance of Bobby, Kitty and Storm. "What the hell?" Bobby said, pushing to the front. "Gambit…what the fuck do you think you're doing?!"
"Oh my god!" Kitty put her hand to her throat. "Rogue, are you okay?"
Storm made a motion to approach her friend. "Remy…calm down. Whatever it is, I know we can work it out. Just put the cards down."
Remy's raging eyes slammed into each of them in turn. "Don' you see…don' you know who dat is?? It be…"
Logan wasted no time charging the cowering pregnant woman; within seconds, she had three adamantium claws pointed at her throat. "Mystique."
"Oh my god," Kitty repeated.
"Have you both gone crazy?" Bobby looked back and forth between Logan and Remy. "Just what…"
Storm put up her hand. "Quiet."
"Show 'em," Logan ordered. After a second, he moved the razor sharp tips of his claws closer to her skin. "Show 'em now!"
The Rogue look-alike licked her lips, nervously glancing around as though searching for an escape route. When nothing presented itself, she looked Logan straight in the eye and smiled. "Ya really are more animal than human." As she said the words, Rogue's body melted into that of the woman who had raised her. "But that's long been established."
Remy withdrew the charge on his cards; two of them fluttered to the ground. "W'at you done wit' my Rogue?" he asked. The uncontrollable rage had dropped also; his words were raw with worry.
Mystique regarded him in the same manner she might a gnat that was circling her head. "Now you're worried about Rogue? Maybe you should have thought more about her when you…"
He charged the single card left in his hand. "Gambit," the Professor's voice from the doorway compelled him to stop. "I'm sure Rogue will want to return to an intact room."
Remy rubbed his arm across his face; it might have only been sweat that was bothering him, but any careful observer would have been able to see that the moisture originated from his red-in-black eyes. The Professor moved his chair into the center of the room and addressed their unwelcome guest. "I believe he asked you a question, Mystique."
"Why don't you just read my mind?" she retorted.
"I can and I most certainly will. But I'd rather give you the opportunity to come clean on your own."
"Professor," Logan hissed. "This thing don't deserve any opportunities."
Mystique looked away. When she finally looked back, her voice was bored. "She's unharmed." A second passed. "He's taking good care of her."
With that, she puckered up her lips at Logan and morphed into Jubilee. Logan was so caught off guard that he backed up a step, allowing her to slide down the wall and slip out from around him. She made a mad dash for the open window and, despite the two-story plunge to the ground, threw herself out of it.
Remy ran for the window, and he had one leg over the side before Storm yelled, "No! The fall is too much, Remy!"
Bobby blinked and joined the Cajun man. He placed one hand on the windowsill; ice formed on the wood, creating a slide that stretched at an angle away from the mansion, all the way down to the ground. "Go get her."
He nodded his thanks. The ice-slide would have been fun under any other circumstances, but Remy could only count the seconds until he landed on solid ground. The crack of lightning drew his attention towards the sky. Dark storm clouds swirled from out of nowhere, Storm's contribution, meant to slow down Mystique.
Something stirred in the bushes a few yards away and he went for it, pushing apart the foliage with wild hands. In the dark of the approaching storm, he saw nothing.
"This way!" He whipped around upon hearing Logan's voice. The other man had followed him down, and was pointing the opposite direction. Remy ran after him, trusting the Wolverine's sense of smell above his own senses.
They crashed through the woods that led into the Japanese gardens, changing directions every few minutes. Mystique managed to stay ahead of them, however. They never even caught so much as a glimpse of her. They stopped on the curved bamboo bridge.
"The water." Logan let out a string of foul words, before shaking his head and retracting his claws. "I can't smell her anymore."
Remy bent over to catch his breath, supporting himself by his upper thighs. Eventually, even standing was too much. His knees and hands landed on the hard bamboo.
Just then, the clouds opened and rain spilled down onto the earth, soaking them both within seconds.
Logan wiped sweat and rain from his brow and looked down at the Cajun man. He was repeating Rogue's name, his fists balled up and his chin resting on his chest. Water dripped from the auburn ends of the former thief's hair. Awkwardly, Logan knelt and gave Remy's shoulder a quickly, manly squeeze. "I'm sorry, bub."
They stayed there for what seemed like hours before he sensed someone else approaching. Instantly on guard, Logan extracted his claws once more. "It is only I." Hank held up both paws as he approached the bridge. The rain had plastered his blue fur to his body, making him look two sizes smaller. "Come back to the house. The Professor is getting ready to use Cerebro."
****
She'd lost count of the days. It didn't even seem to matter anymore. Three days…thirty…what was the difference? She was alone, without her powers, and except for a few blankets and a tray of food that appeared whenever she woke, without any basic means of survival. Suspecting that the food might be drugged, she'd considered refusing to eat. There was no telling what the drugs might do to her baby. But then, wouldn't it be just as bad to cut off the baby's sustenance by starving herself?
Rogue couldn't choose, so she only nibbled at the food when it came. Inevitably, she'd fall back to sleep and wake up without a clue as to how much time had passed. It wasn't hard to believe that he was doing this to her. After what she'd done to him, she was surprised he hadn't simply left her to die.
"Yeah. That's what Ah want," she'd told him, anger building up in the center of her chest. He still considered her his property, despite all the years she'd spent trying to reaffirm her independence and make amends for the things she'd done at his side. And he thought that all he had to do was say a few words to woo her back; he was so fucking arrogant.
Her anger had grown into rage, and before she knew it, she'd lashed out with her foot, kicking him in the most sensitive place she could think of. "But Ah don' want it if yer comin' attached to it."
Because his own powers were negated by the force field, the groin shot had made him double over in pain. She'd seen Magneto in the look he'd given her. "You might come…to regret that…my dear."
That was the first and only time he'd come into her presence, not that she cared one way or the other. Dead, cold silence was preferable to the sound of his voice offering her everything but moon at the small price of her soul.
"Remy." His name escaped her lips in the moments she was awake. She shivered under the inadequate blankets, rubbing her belly to keep it warm. Was this how he had felt when she'd flown off, leaving him behind in the snow? Freezing. Alone. Without hope? Was she still being punished for that?
No one had rescued Remy. No one would be coming to rescue her. Rogue closed her eyes as sleep claimed her again. Somehow, it was fitting.
****
"Gambit, I'd like you to join me inside."
Remy paused as he pulled a thick sweatshirt emblazoned with the X-Men insignia over his head. After a second, he tugged it down the rest of the way. The cloth was warm against his skin, and he was momentarily grateful to Storm for making him change out of his wet clothes. He looked at the Professor. "Dat be all righ'?"
"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't." The metal doors slid open and Xavier moved his chair into the huge, empty space on the other side.
Taking a look back at his teammates, Remy followed the Professor. He'd never entered Cerebro before, but he'd always been a bit curious. Again, under different circumstances, it might have been fun. The doors slid shut, sealing them up inside.
The Professor lifted the metal helmet from its resting place. "Ground yourself. It's very easy to become disoriented."
Remy nodded as Xavier placed device onto his head. For several long minutes, it seemed like nothing was going to happen. But just when he'd started to wonder if he'd see anything, or if it really was all in the Professor's mind, the grey walls seemed to expand and dissipate. Images appeared, people, mutants, all connected by a fine, grey mist. Although he never moved a muscle, he felt himself zig-zagging through them. So many faces, so much action. People he recognized, people he'd never met. And then, finally, everything stopped on the one person they were looking for.
His Rogue…his belle seemed to be suspended in mid-air by the mist, although she lay on her back. Her head was thrown back, her face distorted with pain. She clutched at her belly, the source of her agony.
"Mon Dieu…"
Everything vanished, crashing them both back to reality. The Professor fumbled in his haste to remove the helmet. "Gambit!"
Remy was already at the doors, pounding on it as though he could open them through willpower alone. When they finally did open, he ran out into the antechamber, surprising every single X-Man gathered around.
"What is it?" Jubilee asked in the tiniest of voices.
He found himself unable to answer. The Professor guided his chair to Remy's side and replied for him, "Magneto's holding her. Cyclops, Storm…prepare the jet. Gambit will be going with you, of course. And Hank…" He looked at the team's doctor. "You'll go, too. She's in labor."
****
An hour later, Remy found himself back in the Blackbird. The lift-off was smoothly executed under Scott's steady hand. Storm sat next to him in the cockpit, leaving Hank and him in the passenger seats towards the back. Except for the occasional words that passed between the two pilots, there was no conversation.
Remy bit into his thumbnail and stared out the window. He was on his way back to Antarctica.
****
To Be Continued
Author's Notes: Many more thanks for all the reviews and support. Although I've set my story in the comic book universe, there are certain things I really liked within the movieverse, and one of those things was their interpretation of Cerebro. Just bear this in mind as you're reading:) Thanks and enjoy!
****
Unexpected
by Kristen Elizabeth
****
Logan woke up to someone screaming in French. He lifted his head from the pillow of Storm's white locks, his senses on overdrive.
"What is it?" the half-asleep woman next to him said.
"Shh." He pushed back the covers and got up carefully, as not to disturb her further. "Stay here; I'll be back."
After pulling on his discarded jeans, he stepped out into the hallway. His ears, so highly attuned to things no one else could hear, led him down the hallway. French wasn't one of his better languages, but he knew enough to know that the words were not friendly.
And there was only one person who could be flinging them about so carelessly.
When he realized the argument was stemming from Rogue's room, Logan snarled and unsheathed his claws. If the Cajun thought he could get away with yelling at his fiancé like that, he had another thought coming…and Logan intended to give it to him.
Without stopping to consider anything, Logan kicked Rogue's door open. If there was anyone still asleep in the house, they surely wouldn't be now. He entered the room, prepared for anything. What he saw was Rogue backed up against her closet door and Gambit holding three charged playing cards in between the fingers of his right hand.
Remy turned his head upon hearing the wood splinter. Dismissing the shorter man entirely, his attention immediately whipped back to the pregnant woman. "Gambit only ask one more time. W'at you do wit' my Rogue?!"
Logan frowned. Before he could say anything, Rogue looked at him, wild fear in her eyes. "Logan! Help me…he's gone crazy!"
"Don' listen t'her, mon ami," Remy growled. "Dat not her."
Rogue shook her head. "Logan, please!" She put her hands on her stomach. "Ah'm 'fraid he's gonna hurt the baby!"
"De bébé…" The Cajun man's murderous expression became even darker. "If anyt'ing happen to it…dere gonna be pickin' up de pieces o' you for weeks!"
"Listen to him!" She reached out one hand towards Logan. "Do somethin', sugah!!"
Logan stepped forward, but he was once again cut off before he could do or say anything, this time by the appearance of Bobby, Kitty and Storm. "What the hell?" Bobby said, pushing to the front. "Gambit…what the fuck do you think you're doing?!"
"Oh my god!" Kitty put her hand to her throat. "Rogue, are you okay?"
Storm made a motion to approach her friend. "Remy…calm down. Whatever it is, I know we can work it out. Just put the cards down."
Remy's raging eyes slammed into each of them in turn. "Don' you see…don' you know who dat is?? It be…"
Logan wasted no time charging the cowering pregnant woman; within seconds, she had three adamantium claws pointed at her throat. "Mystique."
"Oh my god," Kitty repeated.
"Have you both gone crazy?" Bobby looked back and forth between Logan and Remy. "Just what…"
Storm put up her hand. "Quiet."
"Show 'em," Logan ordered. After a second, he moved the razor sharp tips of his claws closer to her skin. "Show 'em now!"
The Rogue look-alike licked her lips, nervously glancing around as though searching for an escape route. When nothing presented itself, she looked Logan straight in the eye and smiled. "Ya really are more animal than human." As she said the words, Rogue's body melted into that of the woman who had raised her. "But that's long been established."
Remy withdrew the charge on his cards; two of them fluttered to the ground. "W'at you done wit' my Rogue?" he asked. The uncontrollable rage had dropped also; his words were raw with worry.
Mystique regarded him in the same manner she might a gnat that was circling her head. "Now you're worried about Rogue? Maybe you should have thought more about her when you…"
He charged the single card left in his hand. "Gambit," the Professor's voice from the doorway compelled him to stop. "I'm sure Rogue will want to return to an intact room."
Remy rubbed his arm across his face; it might have only been sweat that was bothering him, but any careful observer would have been able to see that the moisture originated from his red-in-black eyes. The Professor moved his chair into the center of the room and addressed their unwelcome guest. "I believe he asked you a question, Mystique."
"Why don't you just read my mind?" she retorted.
"I can and I most certainly will. But I'd rather give you the opportunity to come clean on your own."
"Professor," Logan hissed. "This thing don't deserve any opportunities."
Mystique looked away. When she finally looked back, her voice was bored. "She's unharmed." A second passed. "He's taking good care of her."
With that, she puckered up her lips at Logan and morphed into Jubilee. Logan was so caught off guard that he backed up a step, allowing her to slide down the wall and slip out from around him. She made a mad dash for the open window and, despite the two-story plunge to the ground, threw herself out of it.
Remy ran for the window, and he had one leg over the side before Storm yelled, "No! The fall is too much, Remy!"
Bobby blinked and joined the Cajun man. He placed one hand on the windowsill; ice formed on the wood, creating a slide that stretched at an angle away from the mansion, all the way down to the ground. "Go get her."
He nodded his thanks. The ice-slide would have been fun under any other circumstances, but Remy could only count the seconds until he landed on solid ground. The crack of lightning drew his attention towards the sky. Dark storm clouds swirled from out of nowhere, Storm's contribution, meant to slow down Mystique.
Something stirred in the bushes a few yards away and he went for it, pushing apart the foliage with wild hands. In the dark of the approaching storm, he saw nothing.
"This way!" He whipped around upon hearing Logan's voice. The other man had followed him down, and was pointing the opposite direction. Remy ran after him, trusting the Wolverine's sense of smell above his own senses.
They crashed through the woods that led into the Japanese gardens, changing directions every few minutes. Mystique managed to stay ahead of them, however. They never even caught so much as a glimpse of her. They stopped on the curved bamboo bridge.
"The water." Logan let out a string of foul words, before shaking his head and retracting his claws. "I can't smell her anymore."
Remy bent over to catch his breath, supporting himself by his upper thighs. Eventually, even standing was too much. His knees and hands landed on the hard bamboo.
Just then, the clouds opened and rain spilled down onto the earth, soaking them both within seconds.
Logan wiped sweat and rain from his brow and looked down at the Cajun man. He was repeating Rogue's name, his fists balled up and his chin resting on his chest. Water dripped from the auburn ends of the former thief's hair. Awkwardly, Logan knelt and gave Remy's shoulder a quickly, manly squeeze. "I'm sorry, bub."
They stayed there for what seemed like hours before he sensed someone else approaching. Instantly on guard, Logan extracted his claws once more. "It is only I." Hank held up both paws as he approached the bridge. The rain had plastered his blue fur to his body, making him look two sizes smaller. "Come back to the house. The Professor is getting ready to use Cerebro."
****
She'd lost count of the days. It didn't even seem to matter anymore. Three days…thirty…what was the difference? She was alone, without her powers, and except for a few blankets and a tray of food that appeared whenever she woke, without any basic means of survival. Suspecting that the food might be drugged, she'd considered refusing to eat. There was no telling what the drugs might do to her baby. But then, wouldn't it be just as bad to cut off the baby's sustenance by starving herself?
Rogue couldn't choose, so she only nibbled at the food when it came. Inevitably, she'd fall back to sleep and wake up without a clue as to how much time had passed. It wasn't hard to believe that he was doing this to her. After what she'd done to him, she was surprised he hadn't simply left her to die.
"Yeah. That's what Ah want," she'd told him, anger building up in the center of her chest. He still considered her his property, despite all the years she'd spent trying to reaffirm her independence and make amends for the things she'd done at his side. And he thought that all he had to do was say a few words to woo her back; he was so fucking arrogant.
Her anger had grown into rage, and before she knew it, she'd lashed out with her foot, kicking him in the most sensitive place she could think of. "But Ah don' want it if yer comin' attached to it."
Because his own powers were negated by the force field, the groin shot had made him double over in pain. She'd seen Magneto in the look he'd given her. "You might come…to regret that…my dear."
That was the first and only time he'd come into her presence, not that she cared one way or the other. Dead, cold silence was preferable to the sound of his voice offering her everything but moon at the small price of her soul.
"Remy." His name escaped her lips in the moments she was awake. She shivered under the inadequate blankets, rubbing her belly to keep it warm. Was this how he had felt when she'd flown off, leaving him behind in the snow? Freezing. Alone. Without hope? Was she still being punished for that?
No one had rescued Remy. No one would be coming to rescue her. Rogue closed her eyes as sleep claimed her again. Somehow, it was fitting.
****
"Gambit, I'd like you to join me inside."
Remy paused as he pulled a thick sweatshirt emblazoned with the X-Men insignia over his head. After a second, he tugged it down the rest of the way. The cloth was warm against his skin, and he was momentarily grateful to Storm for making him change out of his wet clothes. He looked at the Professor. "Dat be all righ'?"
"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't." The metal doors slid open and Xavier moved his chair into the huge, empty space on the other side.
Taking a look back at his teammates, Remy followed the Professor. He'd never entered Cerebro before, but he'd always been a bit curious. Again, under different circumstances, it might have been fun. The doors slid shut, sealing them up inside.
The Professor lifted the metal helmet from its resting place. "Ground yourself. It's very easy to become disoriented."
Remy nodded as Xavier placed device onto his head. For several long minutes, it seemed like nothing was going to happen. But just when he'd started to wonder if he'd see anything, or if it really was all in the Professor's mind, the grey walls seemed to expand and dissipate. Images appeared, people, mutants, all connected by a fine, grey mist. Although he never moved a muscle, he felt himself zig-zagging through them. So many faces, so much action. People he recognized, people he'd never met. And then, finally, everything stopped on the one person they were looking for.
His Rogue…his belle seemed to be suspended in mid-air by the mist, although she lay on her back. Her head was thrown back, her face distorted with pain. She clutched at her belly, the source of her agony.
"Mon Dieu…"
Everything vanished, crashing them both back to reality. The Professor fumbled in his haste to remove the helmet. "Gambit!"
Remy was already at the doors, pounding on it as though he could open them through willpower alone. When they finally did open, he ran out into the antechamber, surprising every single X-Man gathered around.
"What is it?" Jubilee asked in the tiniest of voices.
He found himself unable to answer. The Professor guided his chair to Remy's side and replied for him, "Magneto's holding her. Cyclops, Storm…prepare the jet. Gambit will be going with you, of course. And Hank…" He looked at the team's doctor. "You'll go, too. She's in labor."
****
An hour later, Remy found himself back in the Blackbird. The lift-off was smoothly executed under Scott's steady hand. Storm sat next to him in the cockpit, leaving Hank and him in the passenger seats towards the back. Except for the occasional words that passed between the two pilots, there was no conversation.
Remy bit into his thumbnail and stared out the window. He was on his way back to Antarctica.
****
To Be Continued
