Chapter 6: Caving In

            Kurt, Kitty and Jean were near the hospital wing of the Mansion, sitting patiently waiting for results on Rogue's condition.  Seemed she hadn't even been out of there for long and was already back in.

            Kurt, once again feeling frantic.  He wished Rogue had listened him when she'd had the chance, if they'd been able to confront Professor Xavier when she'd shown the first signs of Miss Marvel being present in her, they could have avoided the situation.

            Logan came around a corner, a grim expression on his face, "well," he leaned back against the wall, folding his arms casually, "I've been on the phone to your School, it doesn't look too good, Kids."

            "What's going to happen to us?" Jean asked worriedly.

            "You've all been expelled," Logan sighed.

            "Expelled?!" Kitty gaped.

            "Rogue destroyed a school wall, and a light post, a locker door – not to mention the tiled floor that was underneath the locker door she was pounding at is all cracked to hell.  You guys missed two periods and this isn't the first time you've skipped periods to do something – related to the cause or not."

            "What are we going to do?" Kitty asked, she could feel tears piercing her eyes, she could not believe she'd been expelled from Bayville high, she'd loved being there, she'd always felt – despite her mutant powers – that she fit in there.  She paced the floor worriedly.

            "Look, don't worry, we'll figure something out," Logan assured.  "We've gotten out of worse scrapes," He reminded, stood to attention and slung his arm around Kitty, and half hugged her, "so dry your tears, Pint size."

            Kitty wiped her tears on the back of her hand, "sorry."

            "It affects all of us, that's for sure," Logan admitted, "but we'll make the best of it, we have to, what else can we do."

            "Can't the Professor just make all the people at school forget what we did?" Kurt asked.

            "What Rogue did…" Kitty pointed out.

            "We're in this together, we'll take responsibility together," Kurt stated.

            "We only skipped two periods," Kitty reminded.  "Rogue's the only one guilty of criminal damage."

            "Hush now," Logan flicked Kitty's ear to make her stop making accusations.  "And no, the Professor can't make everyone forget.  We can't keep relying on his powers to solve every little problem," he explained.

            "This isn't a 'little' problem though, Logan, this is a BIG problem," Kitty frowned.

            Jean shook her head, "No, Logan is right, if this is how things have to be, then this is how they have to be, we'll figure out something, just like he said. 

            "It hardly affects you though," Kitty pointed out, "you and Scott are like, not long away from Graduation or something, me, Kurt and Rogue have another three years of education to go…Bayville is like the nearest School to us, everywhere else is like too far a distance to get to easily each day."

            "Stop fretting," Logan patted Kitty's shoulder, "Like I said, we'll figure something out."

            They were surprised to see Rogue walking down the hallway heading from the direction of the hospital wing, "hi…" she said in an insecure way, her voice tiny.

            "Rogue!" Kurt jumped to his feet and rushed over excitedly, hugging her, "you're alright!"

            "Yeah…Rogue hugged him back weakly for a moment, before bashfully pushing him away, "No month long coma this time," she added meekly.  "I'm sorry I put you all through this," she looked at everyone.

            "Kid, don't worry about it," Logan said.

            Kitty looked at Rogue, "we're all expelled…" she sighed.

            Rogue chewed her lip, "my fault?"

            Kitty looked as if she was about to answer yes, but a look from Kurt advised her to use another approach, "all our faults."

            "So…what about Miss Marvel?" Kurt asked, "is she still in your head?" he asked.

            Rogue sighed, she sat down on the bench in the hallway, next to Jean,   Professor Xavier wheeled down the hallway and over to them, "Miss Marvel will always be there," He sighed, "she and Rogue are sharing the same mind now."

            Rogue looked down to the floor.

            "Does she pose a threat?" Jean asked.

            "At the moment, no, I have locked her away in Rogue's mind in a way that is almost like a repressed memory," Professor Xavier explained, "however, one day, and this is a definite warning, it may be triggered at any time and unlock itself and let out Miss Marvel once again.  But that may be a long time away from occurring."

            "So is there no way to remove Miss Marvel?" Jean asked in concern.

            "Unfortunately not, Jean," Professor Xavier sighed, feeling as if he'd failed Rogue.

            "Me and Miss Marvel are connected totally, memories kinda overlapping," Rogue stated, she'd already had this explained to her by the Professor.

            "To try and attempt to remove the presence of Miss Marvel would be like trying to separate Siamese twins who share one heart – one may die, both even possibly.  No guarantee of which one will survive…"
            "So if you try to remove Miss Marvel, you might end up removing Rogue and losing her?"

            "Yes," Professor Xavier responded.

            "Professor, not to change the subject or anything, I know Rogue's been through a terrible ordeal and stuff," Kitty began, "But what are we all gonna do now, Logan just told us we have all been expelled…"

            Rogue gaped, "we're expelled?!"

            Logan looked to Professor Xavier, "it's true.  As of effect immediately.  Even the mutants who weren't involved in that ordeal."

            "I feared this might happen some day.  But all is not lost.  We shall manage to somehow educate you all, even if we have to do it ourselves," Professor Xavier, "But don't concern yourself at the moment.  Let me, Logan and Hank discuss the situation, you concern yourselves only with continuing to study whatever you were studying at school in the meantime until we come up with a solution."

            Kitty continued to drill Professor Xavier with various questions, Rogue stood up and wandered off intending to go upstairs.  Kurt followed her.

            "Rogue?" he asked, he caught up with her in the grand hall.

            Rogue stopped at the bottom of the stairs, "I know what you want to say, Kurt, that I should have listened to you from the beginning and I could have avoided this mess – that because of my own stupidity I cost the School thousands of dollars worth of damage, and got everyone expelled," she sighed, "My whole world is caving in around me, my life will never be the same, the last thing I need to hear is that I was wrong, Kurt…"

            Kurt sighed, "No, that's not what I wanted to say at all…" he assured.

            Rogue looked over her shoulder at him, "then what?"

            "I uhm…I just wanted to say that no matter what happens, we're all going to stand by you and that even if Miss Marvel does try to show her ugly head again…we'll be here, and we'll fight for you, no matter what…" Kurt explained softly.

            "She'll never be gone, Kurt," Rogue sighed, she sat on the stairs, and hugged her legs insecurely.  Kurt walked closer, standing opposite her.

            "But right now she's just a repressed memory."

            "That can rear it's ugly head at any time," Rogue reminded.

            "But right now it isn't here, and you can't spend the rest of your life worrying when Miss Marvel is gonna try and take over again, there are more important things to worry about..." Kurt stated.

            "Like?" Rogue raised an eyebrow.

            "Studying for School…" Kurt began

            "Which we're all expelled from," Rogue chimed in.

            "Focusing on the good things in life," Kurt added.

            "What good things?" Rogue asked of him, "remind me of the good things in my life…"

            Kurt sighed and sat beside her on the stairs, "okay," he paused, "you have a roof over your head, clothes on your back, and food in your belly, you have your health, and that's a lot more than some people in the world have," he looked at her. 

            "But what about the bad things, like my power, I can't touch anyone…" Rogue looked at her hands absently.

            "So what?  Rogue, you don't need to touch someone physically to show affection, and even when you do, a thin layer of cloth can help you achieve that…" Kurt looked at her, "You keep dwelling too much on what you can't do, Rogue…" he looked at her.  "What about the things you can do?" he tried to lift her spirits a little, he saw the vague look on her face.

            "Y'know…" Rogue stared into space distantly, "when I was up there, in the sky, with her in my head, I saw her memories like they were my own…and there was this one memory…it was so beautiful Kurt…" she brought her arms around herself and hugged herself insecurely.  "I would have killed to have been her, I would have killed to have had that memory as my own…"

            "What was it?"

            "Miss Marvel…Carol…Carol is her name…" Rogue stuttered, "She…there was this time, she stood on a moonlit beach with her feet in the ocean, kissing this…really good looking boy, god he looked so familiar…I can't place him…but when I saw that memory, I could feel his lips on mines…his arms around me, his fingers on my bare back, it made me shiver.  I could FEEL it…" Rogue looked to the floor, "and it occurs to me that I'm never going to be that way with a guy…my powers can't be contained.  I'll never get to feel like she did with that guy, Kurt.  I'll never be able to kiss a guy without ending up with more people in my head."

            Kurt looked at her, "you don't kneed to kiss someone to show them you care, Rogue," Kurt looked at her, "me and Amanda rarely kiss, we don't always even hold hands, we talk a lot, we tell each other things, we confide in each other…" he looked at her.  "It isn't all about kissing and holding hands."

            Rogue sighed, "but still…I'm so jealous of those who…those who can kiss and holds hands," she looked at him.

            "Right now, it's not an issue…you don't have to worry about it yet," Kurt looked at her.

"How can I not worry," Rogue felt tears trying to escape, she blinked them away, "I spend every moment of my day worrying that one of you is going to end up like the others I've touched – unconscious, or like Carol…braindead…" she looked at him.  "Sometimes it's…its just easier to distance myself so that no one else gets hurt.  It's not 'cause I'm being a bitch who doesn't want to know y'all, Kurt," Rogue looked at him, "I…I do care, its just…its so hard…I don't want to have to live with myself for the rest of my life if I seriously hurt one of you…you're the only real friends I've had…"

"You can't spend your entire life isolating yourself," Kurt sighed, he put his hand on her gloved hand and gripped it tightly, "there are precautions that can be taken," Kurt reminded.

"But still…"

"Rogue, right now, stop worrying about it so much…" he looked at her, "Some day it may be curable Rogue, in the meantime I'd worry about your other powers…"

            "My other powers?" Rogue asked, having forgotten already.

            "You can fly, Rogue…and you have the strength of superman – I'd kill for those kind of powers," Kurt admitted, "I'm jealous of you…"

            Rogue looked at him, "you are?" she asked.

            "Seriously," Kurt stated, "you're lucky…"

            "Yeah…lucky…" Rogue said distantly, not convinced.  "Remind me what else is good in my life, Kurt…" she looked at him.

            Kurt smiled a little, "You have every Black Sabbath album ever made, you have a huge collection of horror movies, you have friends who love you and will do anything for you, and…you have a brother who loves you, and is always going to be there for you no matter what…"

            Rogue looked at him, "thanks bro," she murmured softly, and then stood up, she headed upstairs.

            "You called me Bro!" Kurt stood up, shocked and yet, pleased at the same time.

            "Yeah, well uhm," Rogue gained an embarrassed expression, "don't tell anyone, and uhm, don't expect to hear it again," she said, and gave a wink, and headed upstairs, and when she was out of sight, she smiled to herself smugly, with the knowledge that all was well in her life – for now.

The End