Everything Important
Chapter Eleven: Rogue's Video
Rogue pulled the videotape out of the paper sleeve and pressed it in to the machine.
The machine took the tape and began to rewind it. She turned on the TV and sat down with the remote on the end of her bed.
A moment later Abair appeared on the screen.
She felt herself go numb.
He looked at her, sadly. "I never told you about my mutation." He began. "And now I am sorry, because it's important to my story." He lay one hand on his chest and rubbed it, as though remembering an old injury.
"My lungs are lined with a poison." He said. "I produce it." He sighed. "And I seem to be designed to expel it." He shrugged.
And the strength seemed to leave him and he sank in to the chair.
"And it's bad." He said. "Getting worse." He took a breath for strength. "It's supposed to be an air-born viral agent."
"This poison. It's been growing stronger and more concentrated as I got older. The Professor said that within two years it will be strong enough to kill me."
"Two?" She whispered, her bottom lip, quivering.
"He said I would be sick and bedridden for the last year. And getting sicker all through the first one. Unless I went in to this cryogenic suspension unit he was building downstairs. And then, I would have to go in to suspension for four years at a time. And only be out for a few hours between sessions." He cast his eyes down at the floor. "And they say they could stretch it to twelve years that way." He swallowed and looked back at the camera with shining eyes.
"Twelve years to find a cure for a disease that only effects one person." He looked very much alone on the screen, and Rogue realized that he was wearing his clothes from their last date. He must have recorded this right after. "Well, only one person – So far."
He forced the words out of his mouth. "This poison in my lungs has finally reached fatal concentrations for normal people and most mutants." He grimaced. " Hank tells me that should I be allowed to reach full potency, and then eject the poison as my lungs intend to, the mortality rate could be as high as two thirds of population of the planet." He shook his head.
"Two thirds of the planet." He said. "And not just the humans." He shook his head in disagreement. "All the air breathing mammals."
Rogue sat stunned.
"And I didn't want to live in a box for the next twelve years." He smiled, and tried to find his humor. "Not for another nine hours of life in between four year long sessions of being an ice cube."
"And what about the next time Lance brings the roof down, or the Juggernaught stomps by? What if they break my suspension unit and I destroy … the … world? Twelve years is a long time to go without an accident."
She could see that this last point made a lot of sense to him. He really believed it.
"I am a biological weapon, with a burning fuse and an experimental new warhead that scares the hell out of not just me, but the Professor and everyone we come across."
He was tired. She realized. Tired and scared.
"And so, right or wrong, I'm taking myself out of the game." He leaned in to the camera and looked at her. "And I am so sorry."
She could tell – He meant it.
"Believe me." He smiled. "I don't want to go." His eyes seemed alive, like when they had talked on the midway. "Because you are the most worthwhile person I have ever been with." They were clear, blue and shining.
"And no man could ask for anyone better to spend a life with." He paused. "Or, as much as he has left, anyway."
"And I'll make a deal with you – if love is eternal – and survives in to the next world – I will send you a sign."
"Look for a signal." He told her "On your twenty-first birthday." He shuddered with emotion. Then steeled himself against some unseen wind. "Take good care of yourself. And don't be sad, and please don't be angry with me …"
She shook her head and fought back her tears.
He spoke suddenly, forcefully and with great passion. "Live your life baby, be happy, find love and indulge yourself in it. Wrap yourself up in it like silk sheets made of joy, and don't ever let anyone ever try to …"
He looked sad and regretful. " … take it away." The tear rolled down his face and he wiped it away quickly.
"And … dress sexy, at my funeral." He paused.
"For me?"
He forced another smile, moved one hand, and the screen went to static and then became a blank wall of blue leaving her alone in her room.