Back to Bayville – Part VI
Later on that evening, Rogue found herself tucked away in a corner of the mansion's library. A book lay open on her lap but instead of reading she was staring off into space. She often came into the library to be alone since nobody bothered to utilize it. Professor Xavier had quite an extensive collection of books and had mentioned it to her when he noticed that she was bringing home leisure reading from the school library. Right now, though, Rogue's thoughts were not on the musings of Edgar Allen Poe, but instead on her own musings of a certain Remy Lebeau. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. *Your avoidin' him, gal,* she told herself. And she was. Between his dream-induced proclamation of love last night and his protective behavior this morning, she didn't know what to think anymore. In her Danger Room session earlier today her thoughts had been so distracting that she couldn't concentrate on sparring with Remy and ended up with several new bruises. Since then she had taken to simple avoidance. Being around him made it too hard to sort out whatever it was she was feeling. *And what am Ah feeling exactly?* she wondered. Over the past few weeks she had grown extremely comfortable around the resident Cajun and found herself unable to keep from opening up to him. They had such a great time together and everything between them seemed to work like clockwork. Often times she found herself hoping that their time together would never end and it was those thoughts that were beginning to scare her. Ever since he had saved her from the attack on her mind, she had been working quite hard to keep from feeling anything remotely romantic towards him. She would remind herself over and over again that he was the enemy, that she couldn't touch, and that it was not really her feelings but those of their dreams. At some point, she found those excuses being replaced with thoughts of how he made her smile, how he made her feel special and how she was finding it more and more difficult to imagine her life without his presence.
She got up from her seat to stretch her sore muscles and wandered over to the window. Her gaze fell upon the grove of trees that she had found herself in last night. Remy's actions last night made her even more confused. Granted, she understood that he was not himself, but in what way was he not himself? He had thought she was dead and that simple idea had spurned such strong feelings of grief and despair in him. She would never forget the feeling of emptiness he emitted and the pain clearly etched on his face. The concept of losing her had affected him so much and she didn't understand why. Her heart was screaming 'because he loves you!' but her mind wasn't so quick to believe. Thy hadn't talked about what happened last night so he didn't know what he had said and she wasn't sure how she got outside. The professor and Magneto had left after making sure they were okay and soon after they went to bed so the entire matter was left hanging between them. Therefore, he didn't know that he had said that he loved her. At some point she would have to go to him for clarification if she wanted the discomfort between them to be alleviated, but for right now, her confusion allowed a small part of her to believe that he meant it.
**********
The next afternoon, Charles Xavier found himself seated inside a quaint little house situated near the banks of the Mississippi River. His eyes wandered around the room and couldn't help but smile as he took in the former home of one of his most difficult to reach students. Pictures of Rogue decorated the room, taken at various ages. He memorized the looks of pure joy that showed in all the snapshots for it was an emotion that Rogue hardly ever displayed. He moved to pick up a frame when his hostess entered the room and took a seat opposite him.
"Ms. Adler."
"Professor Xavier. I trust Rogue is well?"
"She has recovered for the most part. I have restricted her to the mansion for her safety."
Irene nodded. "I see. And her companion?"
"Her companion?"
"Do not sound surprised. We are both well aware of the extent of my abilities. Otherwise, I highly doubt you would be here right now."
Xavier regained his composure. "Of course. Remy is . . . quite fond of Rogue. In many ways I feel he is more protective of her than Logan."
"Is that so? I suppose that could be viewed as a good thing."
They traded idle chatter for a while before Xavier felt it was time to get to the point. "Am I correct to assume that Rogue and Remy are the reason that I am visiting you today?"
"Quite possibly." Irene stood and walked over to the bookcase, removing a thin hard-back journal from one of the shelves. She sat down next to Charles and began to explain. "Since the second door has been unlocked, I have been receiving visions nearly everyday. Many of them are repetitive. I have documented what I have seen so far but I am afraid I will not be much help in interpreting their meanings." She flipped through the pages of the book and Xavier was overwhelmed with the myriad of images and words. He asked to look through the tome and turned the pages slowly, trying to make sense of the distorted images.
"You are writing in several different languages. You do not know the translations?"
"No. Whatever I see I write. These visions come to me shrouded in darkness. Often times the images are fuzzy so my pictures may not be accurate."
"I see." Xavier continued to pour over the drawings, trying to make sense of them. The pages themselves were bordered with words. Le rêve est clef. Le lien doit être fort. Der Traum ist Schlüssel. Die Verbindung muß stark sein. Il sogno è chiave. Il collegamento deve essere forte. O sonho é chave. A ligação deve ser forte. ang managinip ay susi. ang ikawil dapat maaari malakas. somnium est key. link must exsisto validus. όνειρο is κλειδί. σύνδεσμος μουστάκι να είμαι δυνατός. It did not take him long to translate. The dream is the key. The link must be strong. An obvious reference to Rogue and Remy. The images were a bit more difficult to decipher. On every page, a dark figure stood silhouetted in flames. Some pages displayed what looked like corpses at the feet of the figure. Others showed a figure lying down on what appeared to be some sort of sacrificial table. Smaller pictures surrounded the central figure and Charles recognized many of them. *I know many of these people but I cannot figure out why they are here.* When he finally flipped to the last page Irene spoke up.
"What do you know of their connection?"
Charles was a bit surprised by the question. The page he was looking at showed a single playing card, the ace of spades, and a gothic cross, connected by chain links. "The connection represented here?"
"Yes."
He traced his fingers over the images. "It is as you have drawn it, very strong and formidable, but not without weaknesses. All of its capabilities are still unknown to us. It serves a purpose but we do not know what that purpose is."
Irene nodded. "I expected as much." She stood and moved to exit the room. "You may keep the book. It is a copy. Would you care for some lunch?"
Tucking the journal inside his jacket and noting the many questions it had spurned in his mind, he replied, "Lunch sounds wonderful."
**********
Remy sat in the Rec Room, dozing on the large couch while soft jazz played in the background. He had not really slept well the night before and it had finally caught up with him. After the meeting yesterday morning he had wanted to talk to Rogue about what had happened the night before but she seemed to be carefully avoiding him. He knew something was on her mind and it had to do with him. Her less than stellar performance in the Danger Room only strengthened his suspicions and he wanted to know what he had done. Their link allowed them to know where each other was at all times and she had managed to put quite a bit of distance between them despite being confined to the house. Every time he tried to move closer to her location, she moved. After a while he gave up his chase and left her to herself. Last night he had laid awake in bed, waiting for her to come in. When she had finally crept in at about three in the morning he still could not sleep because all the thoughts running through her mind were creating a constant buzzing in his. At some point she finally fell asleep and he followed soon after. When he woke this morning she was already gone. He was slowly drifting off to sleep when he felt a pair of hands cover his eyes.
"Guess – omph!" Rogue soon found herself lying on her back on the couch, pinned down, with a glowing card near her neck. She was so caught off guard she was momentarily speechless.
Remy tried to clear the sleepy haze from his mind so he could focus on his attacker. When he finally realized who was under him his eyes widened with horror and he quickly moved off, tossing away his card.
"Mental note, never try to sneak up on you again," Rogue said as she took Remy's pre-offered hand to help her up.
"I'm so sorry, chére. Old habit. Didn' know it was y'."
"It's okay. Reflex, Ah know. Ah've seen ya do it before."
They found themselves sitting on opposite sides of the couch. A strange discomfort hung between them, a feeling that had been absent since day one. They stared at each other until Remy broke the silence.
"Y' been avoidin' me."
It was more a statement than a question and Rogue inwardly winced at the accusation. It was quite difficult for her to meet his eyes so she focused on her hands folded in her lap. "Yes, Ah was. Ah needed to think and Ah couldn't do it around ya."
"Didn' wan' me to 'hear'?"
"Didn't want to be distracted." She tried to lighten the comment with a smile.
Remy briefly smiled back. "Can' help dat I'm so charmin'."
"Yeah." Rogue sighed and closed her eyes, rubbing her temples.
Concern flashed across Remy's face. "What's wrong, chére? Anot'er headache?"
"No. Just trying to clear my head. There's so much Ah want to say but Ah don't know how to say it." She felt her hands being gently down from her head. He didn't let go, but instead held on for comfort. When she opened her eyes he was sitting right in front of her, silently waiting for her to start.
"This is gonna sound so dumb . . ." she shook her head. Taking in a deep breath she started. "Ah need to know something."
He nodded for her to continue.
"The other night-"
"Wait a minute," he let go of her hands and crossed his arms in front of him. "If dis be about de ot'er night, y' gonna have to fill me on what I don' know."
"Ah was getting to that." She crossed her own arms. "The other night, the prof said ya weren't yourself. The way ya acted, the things ya said, kinda confused me a bit." She looked up to see Remy looking at her pointedly. "Fine. For some odd reason ya thought Ah was dead and went all buck wild on the prof. Ya thought he killed me. Ya were so angry and so hurt and ya felt so empty thinking Ah was gone. When ya realized Ah was still alive, ya were so happy ya were cryin'. And then, ya, said . . . ya told me . . . ya said ya loved me. The professor said ya were probably in some kind a dream state since that's how Ah ended up outside but Ah guess . . .Ah guess Ah just want ta know if he was right and ya didn't mean anything by it."
Remy just stared at her for a moment, letting the information sink in. When he didn't say anything after a while, Rogue took it as a sign that he was trying to think of a way to let her down so, not wanting to face the embarrassment, she got up to leave. As she was walking out the door she staggered to remain on her feet as a wave of emotion assaulted her. She whirled around and leaned on the doorframe for support. "What're ya doing?"
Remy was already off the couch and walking towards her. "Tellin' y' what y' want to know. Wasn' really how I planned on doin' it but it'll have to do." He reached for her and pulled her into an embrace so he could support her. Using his empathy as a booster he fed his feelings and thoughts through their link. She closed her eyes and laid her head on his chest as the new feelings flowed through her. When he was finished he felt her body go limp as she tried to process everything that he had fed her. He picked her up and laid her on the couch so that her head was in his lap. Slowly he ran his fingers through her hair as he waited for her to wake up.
Rogue was on her own personal high. She was astounded at how beautiful love really was. Remy loved her. Not because the dreams say he's supposed to, but because of who she was. She saw how he pictured their first date and how he always tried to make her smile. She also saw how he longed to touch her. He imagined the feel of her skin under his fingers, the sensation of her lips on his. Everything he had showed her was so strong that she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed and a bit frightened.
A very worried Remy watched over Rogue was tears began to stream out of the corners of her eyes. *Shit,* he thought. *What if she don' feel de same?* He started to panic a bit as he began to mull over the repercussions of his actions.
Don't worry.
Rogue's voice echoed through his head and he looked down at her. A small smile appeared on her face.
It's okay.
Are y' sure?
"Yes." She opened her eyes and looked into his. "Ah guess Ah got my answer."
"Yeah, but I feel like I been left hangin'." He gave her a soft smile.
"Yeah." She laid there, quiet. "Ah'm a bit scared."
"Scared? Of what? Me?"
"No, not really. More along the lines of 'us'. Ah've never felt this strongly for someone, ya know, enough to be willing to lay down my life for that person. Ah've seen some of what ya would like to have. Ah can't give ya some of those things." Her voice cracked a bit at the last comment. "And Ah'm afraid of losin' what we already have. Ah know it sounds corny but you've been like my best friend. It would really hurt to have things be awkward between us if things didn't work out."
He cupped her cheek with a free hand. "Dat ain't gonna happen. We always be friends first. I promise. And about dat ot'er stuff. . . y' may not believe me but I really don' care about your powers. Just bein' around y' is enough. Nearly drove me crazy yesterday when y' wouldn' talk to me."
She reached up and squeezed his hand with her own. "Ah know. Ah'm sorry. Ah just needed to deal with it my way." She changed position, getting up and resting her head on his shoulder. "Where does that leave us now?"
"Here." He reached into his pocket and retrieved the bracelet. "I meant to give dis to y', complete wit' de whole 'will y' be my girlfriend' speech, but I was in de process of workin' up de nerve. When y' wouln' talk to me yesterday I chickened out."
Rogue looked at the charm bracelet and couldn't help but smile. There were only two charms on it, a gothic cross and an ace of spades, but it wasn't hard to understand the meaning.
"I got anot'er charm for it but I figured y' could put it on when y' were ready." He handed her the hearts.
"Thank you," she managed to get out through teary eyes. She quickly gave him a hug and he held her tight, not willing to let go right away.
"T'ink we should tell everyone?"
"Only if you want Logan to build ya your own room."
"Nah, I kinda like wakin' up next to y', even if we are in separate beds."
**********
Ororo, Kitty and Piotr wandered through the cave, studying the drawings on the wall. They had encountered no trouble in locating the cavern that Ororo had told them about and were taking pictures of the drawings in hopes of discovering what it all meant.
"How are you two coming along?" Ororo asked her charges.
"Pretty good, Piotr and I have just about taken pictures of everything we've seen and I'm uploading them to the computer."
"Good. I think we are nearly at the end." Inside, Ororo was quite glad that he cave was extremely large and the pictures were near the entrance, otherwise her claustrophobia would have ending this mission quickly. Her flashlight shone across the walls and she mentally translated any writing she could see. So far all of the pictures and words coincided with what she had told the others in their meeting. She searched each section of the wall thoroughly, making sure she was not overlooking any details. "Has anyone seen anything that could represent what we are looking for?" she called out.
"Not really. Just all the same stuff you've already told us about," Kitty called out.
Ororo nodded to herself, keeping her eyes on the wall. Suddenly, her light illuminated a mural that she did not remember seeing before.
"Kitty, Piotr, I think I have found what we are looking for."
The two hurried to Ororo's side and gazed at the images that adorned the side of the cave. A huge painting depicted a large, dark, ominous figure bathed in flames. A set of hieroglyphics was etched at the bottom of the picture.
"What does it say?" Kitty asked.
"The dream is the key, the link must be strong."
Both Kitty and Piotr looked puzzled. "What does that mean?" Piotr asked.
Storm moved her flashlight across the wall and settled on another image. "I think this provides a nice clue."
They followed the light and Kitty gasped at what she saw. A large man stood in a battle stance, hands aglow with fire. However, it was his eyes that made elicited the gasp. They were red on black.
Ororo read the inscription near the base. "And he shall come to protect us all."
**********
In New York City, Logan, Kurt and Ray all sat together in an abandoned warehouse, waiting. "Ya sure he's gonna show, kid?" Logan asked. His patience was wearing thin. They had been sitting around for almost two hours.
Ray's answer was a bit defensive. "Yeah, he's usually pretty good about this stuff. Give it time. We only set the word out a few hours ago. We don't know if he even got the message yet."
"Vhell, I hope he shows soon. It's been ages since vhe've had zomething to eat. Plus, mein schwester is home without many adults. I have a bad feeling zat something might happen to her."
"Don't sweat it, Elf. The Cajun'll watch over her." Logan was going to continue but froze before he could say anything. "He's here."
They all stood as Caliban slinked out of the shadows. He regarded each one of them with a look before settling on Ray.
"I hear that you have been looking for me." He stated, his eerie voice echoing through the empty building.
"Yes, we did. We are looking for someone. Could you help us?" Ray asked.
"And why ssshould I help you?"
"You would just be playing a role in saving the world. No big deal." Logan told him with a scowl on his face.
Caliban pondered this for a moment before asking, "Who isss it you ssseek?"
"A man named Mesmero."
They stood silently as Caliban closed his eyes in concentration. "He isss clossse. Baaayville. He isss not alone."
"Looks like he may be on the hunt. We gotta get back. Thanks, bub." Both he and Kurt ran back to the jeep, while Ray hung back for a moment.
"Yesss?" Caliban stared at the young mutant.
"Just one last question. Evan. Is he okay?"
"He isss safe. Do not worry."
Ray smiled. "Thanks." He turned and started jogging towards the jeep. "Take care!" he called over his shoulder.
Caliban nodded before melting back into the darkness.
**********
Rogue and Remy had been sitting in the Rec Room for a while, not really talking, just enjoying each other's presence. Both had been fighting to stay awake but the sultry jazz beats were extremely soothing. Rogue sat with her head leaning on a dozing Remy's shoulder, eyes closed. Remy held her hand tightly, as if she would disappear if he didn't. As a new song came on the stereo he nudged Rogue a bit.
"May I have this dance, chére?" She nodded and they walked over to a clear space in the room. They held each other close, Rogue's head resting on his right shoulder. He could feel her breath on his neck and his desire for her quickly multiplied ten-fold.
"Can I tell you something?" he asked softly. He felt her nod and continued. "I know it may sound crazy, but I love you. I'm in love with you. I feel like I've known you forever and I know it's only been less than a week. I feel like we belong together."
Rogue kissed him on the neck. "It doesn't sound crazy. I feel the exact same way. My heart's been calling out to you since day one. I've loved you from the moment we met. I don't know why, but it just feels right."
Remy was singing inside at her admission. He wanted nothing more than to be with this woman. If only . . . "I know that Scott-"
She put a finger up to his lips to silence his words. "I don't want to be with Scott anymore. I just want to be with you."
He kissed her finger before moving it away from his lips. "I understand, but won't he be upset? Will our being together put you in danger?"
"I'm in no more danger than you are. We're both messing with his reputation and you have a business deal to worry about." She sighed and held him tighter. "But I don't want to think about that right now. I just want to think about us." To prove her point she met her lips with his and all thoughts of Scott drained away, for both of them.
**********
Hank stepped out of the elevator, reading over the papers in his hand. He had spent the past couple of days down in his lab trying to decipher the clues that Warren had provided him. The process was painstakingly slow but he had been able to figure some of the clues out and now trying to figure out how they were related. He figured it would be another long night and had decided to go up and grab some snacks to keep him nourished while he worked. He rounded the corner and heard soft jazz chords wafting out of the Rec Room. Thinking that everyone should have been in bed already, he went to peek in and see who was still up.
He was so stunned by what he saw that all he could do was stare, completely dumbfounded.
Rogue and Remy stood, holding each other tightly, and kissing. Not only were they touching, but they were glowing. Both were bathed in a bright orange light. Hank clamped his hand over his mouth as the professor's words rang through his head, 'Let them act out their dreams. Do not wake them unless they are in danger.' Hundreds of thoughts raced through his mind as he continued to watch. All of a sudden, the glow went out and Rogue and Remy collapsed to the ground, clutching their heads as they screamed in pain.
**********
Hi All!
It's been a while, but finals and graduation ended up getting in the way. That's okay, though. I'm finally free! I have no job yet, though. Kind of a crappy time to get out of college. :( Anyhow, I should have more time to write now. I really want to hurry up and finish this so I can start my new one. I noticed that my last chapter had a lot of grammatical errors and I apologize for that. I also saw that I spelled Magneto's real name wrong. A big 'I'm sorry' to all those who found that extremely irritating. The reviews have been great, as always. Thank you for those. Now for a bit of feedback:
Neurotic Temptress – Hmmm . . . did it turn out the way you expected?
Goldylokz – Not too much chaos, I think. Sorry if you were disappointed.
Rogue Star – I guess the confession was addressed. Not a whole lot of suspense there.
Panther Nesmith – I'm an inspiration? Wow. Thanks!
Everyone else who wanted me to update soon – I'm trying! Thanks for hanging in there!