In the Rain by Yui
Author's Note: I'm so happy that everyone likes the story so far! I feel so loved! ^.^ I forgot to mention it in the last chapter but I only have a vague idea what Rogue's childhood was like. So, I'm sorry if her childhood tale was a little off! BTW, I don't know much about how the Acolytes live and how they got to be on Magneto's side so I'll improvise (meaning I'll write what I want to write). But I think it makes my story so much more interesting! ^___^
Disclaimer: I don't won X-men
~*~*~*~
Chapter 5
A Meeting of Stories
For several stagnant seconds, Rogue couldn't make herself move. Her shock made her stand like a startled deer caught in headlights as she gaped at the group of X-men staking out at her locker. She knew she was in trouble by the furious look on Jean and Scott's faces. No doubt, she was in trouble but did they know she skipped school? How could they know? Before she could gather enough reason to dive out of view, Kitty looked up and spotted her at the end of the hall.
Kitty's face immediately brightened with a wide smile. She called out, "Hey, Rogue! Over here!" But a stern look from Scott silenced the younger girl immediately and Kitty looked down, sheepish and disgruntled.
Rogue frowned at the curious interaction and glared at Scott when he got her eye. They had seen her so she couldn't run away now. Ignoring the nervousness in her stomach, she squared her shoulders and marched towards the group.
"Hey, Kitty," she murmured to the girl as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. She promptly ignored the deadly death glare Scott and Jean were shooting in her direction. "Could you guys move away from my locker? I gotta go to detention."
If she thought Jean and Scott were angry from far away, she really needed glasses. Up close, she could tell that they were livid. Rouge thought that if they were teakettles they would have been spurring out scorching steam already.
"Gee, I wish that you would be more eager to attend you after lunch classes instead of detention, Rogue," Jean muttered angrily under her breathe as Rogue unlocked her locker and got out her bag.
Rogue stiffened, her high defenses kicking into gear as she spun around to face the stuck up bitch. "What did ya say? Do you wanna start something with me, Grey?"
Scott moved in front of Jean and placed his hands on his hips as though he was ready to do battle in Jean's place. In turn, Kitty and Kurt stood behind Rogue like they were her allies.
"We know you skipped school, Rogue," Scott told her. He scowled darkly at her. "I saw you so there is no need to lie to us."
"That was really stupid, Rogue," Jean quipped, mimicking Scott's nasty frown. "Everyone else seems to work their butts off trying to prove to the school at we mutants are just like every other kid; and here you go skipping school like some miscreant! You could have damaged our good image if you got caught! What in the world were you thinking? Scott had to make up a story of how sick you got during lunch and was forced to take you home."
"Well good for you!" Rogue told her. "Why should I even be at this stupid school when I hate it here?"
"I'm going straight to the professor when I get home," Scott interrupted, "and tell him the truth about your shady activities. You shouldn't be hanging out with such a questionable characters as Gambit."
"Oh just shut up, Scott!" Rogue shot back angrily. "We've already been through this same shit before! Remember? I'm so sick of hearing ya bitch about it over and over! So just drop it because it ain't none of your business!"
"Yea, I remember talking about it with you. But before I didn't tell the professor on you then, did I? I'm telling him today. He should know that you are seeing the enemy."
Rogue rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Fine! Go ahead! I ain't gonna stop you or anything. Besides the professor already knows and even if he didn't, I'd still see Gambit because he treats me like I'm a normal girl and not the fucking untouchable that I am!"
Seething, she glared at Scott as if challenging him to reply but it was Kitty who spoke up timidly from behind Rogue.
"Scott, I think you should really stay out of this if the professor already knows."
"Yay, whatever goes on between Rogue and Gambit is between them and maybe the professor," Kurt put in. "Even though Rogue is our friend, we ought to respect her wishes and stay out of it, like Kitty said."
Rogue looked over her shoulder at the two younger X-men, too shocked to speak. Kurt met her stare, blushed, and looked away. Kitty smiled and said, "Don't worry, Rogue, we got you're back. We're a little concerned but we know that if you know that we were totally opposed to you seeing Gambit you'd put us before him. We know that you are totally loyal and wouldn't ditch your friendship with us for a guy even if he is that hot piece of hunk known as Gambit."
"Kitty!" Kurt looked to shocked for words. "Gambit is Rogue's. Back off, will ya?"
Kitty just laughed and said, "I was just saying how cute he is! Gee, Kurt don't get all, like, jealous on me!"
Blushing and rolling his eyes, Kurt addressed Rogue. "Anyway, we don't care if you want to see Gambit. We just want you to be careful."
"Thanks, guys" Rogue said, touched by their words, as she smiled at the younger X-men.
"It's, like, no problem at all!"
"Now Scott and Jean are the ones that want to take this issue to the professor, Storm, and Logan," Kurt told her. "They just don't understand how to stay out of someone's business."
"Totally! It's like they don't trust you or something which is totally ridiculous because you are, like, a great X-men, a good friend, and a totally dependable, and independent person," Kitty said, high enough for Scott and Jean to hear. "I don't know how they could possibly think that you would let yourself be, like, brainwashed by Gambit and join Magneto. It's totally stupid!"
"Is that want they think?" Rogue asked, stunned, and Kurt and Kitty nodded. Rogue looked over at Jean and Scott and both seemed a little embarrassed and frowned at them. "Then they must've never really known that I love being an X-men, fighting the good fight, or enjoyed having such honest and loyal friends like you guys, or a place that I can finally call home."
Jean sighed and caught Rogue's eye. "Look, I'm really sorry about this," she said. "I never meant to question you."
"Me, too," Scott replied. "I'm sorry. If the professor already knows that you've been seeing Gambit then I'm fine with it. Just don't skip school again, all right?"
"Gee, I'm so relieved that I have your approval," Rogue murmured with a roll of her eyes. "Besides, Gambit ain't that bad. I'll see you guys later." She placed her bag on her back and smiled at Kitty and Kurt. "Gotta go to detention."
"I'll wait for you," Kitty told her, winking a baby blue eye at Rogue. "I want to hear about everything that happened to you today!"
~*~*~*~
"Damn Mrs. McPherson is such a bitch!" Rogue exclaimed as she walked out of the English teacher's office. For the past three hours, the evil old hag had made Rogue grade boring reports, tests, pop quizzes, and everything else that was handed to her. Her right hand was cramped up and she was starving but she had been lucky to only stay until 6 although she had showed up to detention 10 minutes late. She only had to endure a meaningless but insulting lecture on how teenagers no longer respect anyone anymore.
Yawning, Rouge thought she was alone in the large school since in was late in the evening. So, when Kitty jumped up in front of her and screamed 'BOO!' at the top of her lungs, Rogue thought she might just have a heart attack and died in the middle of the hallway.
"Sweet Lord Almighty, Kitty!" Rogue gasped out, holding her chest. "You're fucking crazy! Do ya want to kill me or something?!"
Amidst her hysterical giggles, Kitty managed to say, "I'm sorry, Rogue! But I had too! Your face was priceless! Ha ha ha!"
Rogue frowned. After a moment, her heart stopped racing and her adrenaline lowered to make room for her wounded pride. "Well your face could scare a vampire away," she huffed out before walking away from Kitty. However, the younger girl quickly caught up with Rogue and wrapped her arm around Rogue's.
"Don't tell me you forgot that I was going to wait for you!" Kitty exclaimed.
"You stayed at school all this time?"
"Yep! I totally want to hear what happened to you today with Gambit before anyone else hears! So tell me what that guy has been up to lately already!"
Rouge shook her head and rolled her gray eyes. "What in the world did you do for three hours?"
Kitty shrugged nonchalantly. "I did my homework and met up with Lance. He was, like, serving detention in Mr. Ellsworth office for totally acting up in Biology! Which made me mad because I know he's totally awesome at science but he just doesn't want to, like, have his macho-ness, like, deteriorate because of that fact. Typical boy for you! We talked for a bit and I got around asking him about my locker. He said he totally didn't touch it this morning. I think he's just lying and that it was a total, like, accident."
"Probably was," Rogue murmured.
"So, like, tell me about what you and Gambit did!" Kitty said in a high-pitched, giggly voice. She poked Rogue in the side. "Don't be a grouch! Tell me already!"
"It wasn't anything, Kitty! Really!" Rogue hoped that the younger girl wouldn't see her vibrant blush. "Just leave me alone."
"You big lair!" Kitty shot back. "Tell me what happened! I wanna know!"
"If you want a mushy love story about secret romances watch the T.V," Rouge snapped. "I ain't telling!"
"Come on, Rogue! I know you want to tell me!"
She sighed and didn't fight to hide her wide grin. "All right."
Kitty jumped up and down with excitement and clapped her hands with difficulty since her left arm was wrapped round Rogue's right. "Oh goody!"
"I forgot my money for lunch but I didn't want to ask any of you for some during our lunch period. So I just went outside and read. But Gambit showed up instead and he took me out to eat."
"Really? Where? Did he pay?"
Rogue nodded. "It was some southern restaurant on the other side of town. We rode there on his motorcycle. And, yea, he paid."
"Ooooh! What are total gentleman!" Kitty giggled with delight. "Did he, like, hold doors open for you?"
"You bet! He even…he even held my hand," Rogue whispered to Kitty, blushing a bit and feeling all warm and girlie inside. "He didn't seem to care about my powers."
"That's so sweet!" Kitty cooed softly as they made they way from the school. "What else happened?"
Rogue shrugged. "We got our food, ate it, and talked for a bit."
"About what?"
"Things. Did you know he's enrolling here at Bayville along with two other Acolytes? They're starting here tomorrow."
"Really?! Oh, that's going to be so weird!" Kitty smiled and poked Rogue's ribs again with her elbow. "But I bet you're happy about it, right?"
"I guess so."
"Oh, whatever!" Kitty replied in disbelief.
Rogue just shrugged and smiled.
"Hey, Rogue, what was Scott talking about before?"
"What do ya mean?"
"He said that he didn't tell the professor then. What would he tell him? When did that happen?"
"Remember yesterday when I was sick?"
"Yea," Kitty replied with a nod.
"You feel asleep during the day and when you woke up and found me still in bed? We'll when you were sleeping I went to the store for some tissue and some medicine. Gambit saw me and gave me a lift. He even went in himself and got want I needed."
"That's so sweet!"
"I guess so. Afterwards, he dropped back at the mansion and Scott saw him."
Kitty gasped. "Did he see Scott?"
"No. I really didn't care if Scott saw. The professor already knows that I kinda like Gambit."
"Oh, do you think he's your boyfriend?"
Rogue blushed and looked away. "No guy in their right mind would want me as a girlfriend. What's the point?"
"Gambit doesn't seem like your regular, everyday guy to me, Rogue," Kitty said.
"Yea, he doesn't," Rogue interrupted. "I wonder if he was dropped on the head as a baby."
Kitty laughed and said, "Maybe he doesn't care if he can't touch you."
"Whatever. No guy would think about dating a girl he can't touch. He's not that different from guys."
The other girl just rolled her eyes. "Do you think he likes you?"
"I dunno," Rogue replied, forcing to sound as if she didn't care.
"Then why do you keep running into each other if he doesn't like you?"
"Um…dumb luck?"
"It's not just luck, Rogue. Have you, like, ever heard of fate?"
"When Romeo met Juliet he called their love fate and look what happened to them!"
"You guys aren't even lovers yet!" Kitty said. "Besides you still got plenty time before you, like, kill yourselves."
"Oh, thanks, Kitty. That makes me so much happier."
"No problem. So, what else did the professor, like, tell you?"
"Umm…He said he wouldn't tell me what to do but to follow what I believe is right."
"Do you think seeing the enemy is right?"
"I dunno. After talking to Gambit, he doesn't seem like the enemy at all, really. It's more like he doesn't have much choice, like Magneto is forcing him to fight on his side."
"Maybe Magneto is, like, using some form of blackmail or something," Kitty replied.
Rogue frowned. "Didn't Logan meet up with one of the Acolytes? The one that could change himself into metal?"
"Yea. He said that it seemed like Magneto has some hold over him somehow," Kitty said. "That really would totally suck."
"Well I hope that's the case," Rogue murmured. "Gambit's too good to be on Magneto side willingly."
"You think so?"
"Yea. I just hope I'm right."
The two girls walked home together in silence, each absorbed in their own thoughts. When they finally made it to the Institution, it was late in the evening and dinner was about ready to be served to the hungry mutants in the dinning hall.
"Hey, Kitty?" Rogue asked, as the walked through the main hall of the mansion towards the noisy hall. "Will you go on ahead? I wanna talk with the professor before I eat."
"Oh, sure think. I'll save you a seat by me if you want."
"Thanks," she replied, waving to the younger girl before running up the stairs to the professor's room. When she got there, she knocked quickly, hoping that she didn't miss him.
"Come in, Rogue," came a familiar voice from inside.
She flung open the door and hurried inside. "Professor," she quickly stated, "I just want to say that I skipped school with Gambit today and that I'm not sorry for it."
Sitting at his desk, the professor looked up from his newspaper and smiled. "I know you did, Rogue. I'll just ask you not to do it again."
"Thanks. I promise I won't. Anyway that's not what I wanted to talk to you about." Rogue walked across the room and sat down. "I don't think Gambit is on Magneto's side willingly, professor."
Frowning in contemplation, the professor sat down his paper quietly and looked over at her. His aged face was dead serious and lined in thought. "Really, Rogue? What makes you think so?"
"Well, he's really nice to me and I don't think he's trying to get to know me because I'm an X-man," Rogue replied. "It's just the way he acts and talks. It doesn't make any sense that he's with Magneto. So I think Magneto is using some sort of blackmail against him and forcing him to fight on his side."
"That is very interesting," the professor murmured. "Logan just told me about his encounter with Colossus and said the same thing. If a foul means of blackmail is the case, then the Acolytes are fighting us against their will. Storm, Logan, and I will look into it, Rogue. Don't worry. We will get to the bottom of this."
Rogue stood up. "Thanks a lot, professor."
~*~*~*~
Gambit didn't want to think much as he rode home. It helped that the wind and the roaring engine were so loud that it hurt to form a thought but somehow the image of the beautiful, vulnerable Rogue keeping popping into his mind. Still cursing his own rotten luck, there was no way he could forget her. He hadn't meant to get close to her but it just happened. Whenever she flashed her big gray eyes in his direction, he would just turned into a love-struck little boy. Thankfully he could keep his cool but it was all he could dot not to turn into a babbling moron.
But seeing her would soon get dangerous. Although Magneto and Sabertooth were away on business, they would return soon and find out about his relationship with Rogue if he didn't put a stop to it. If Magneto found out, he would probably use that to his twisted advantage and Gambit couldn't do anything about it because he had to do what Magneto asked of him or else. That was the downside of being some guy's helpless pawn. Gambit just hoped that they wouldn't return for another month or two.
Muttering dark curses under his breath, he turned of the main street and onto a dark side one. Riding the full length of the narrow rode, he made it to the secluded house he shared with the other two Acolytes and the gone and occupied Sabertooth, who served as their barbarous warden.
The house was large, expensive brick building with many rooms. That was one of the few good things about being in the Acolytes. They were paid good money by Magneto and had a safe – as safe as one could be with a guardian like Sabertooth around – home, which was more than the 3 Acolytes had in a long time. But that didn't make their coerced employment any easier.
He pulled up into the driveway, turned off his motorcycle and walked it in to the garage.
"You're late, Remy," the Russian Piotr, also known as Colossus, spoke up from the extra refrigerator in the corner of the garage. "We already ate." He was wearing a silly pick apron and was busy putting the leftovers of the dinner into it. Gambit cracked a smile at the site. However, Piotr was far too serious to see how ridiculous he looked in that stupid getup.
"It's all right. Gambit had a big lunch," Gambit told him. "I take it that it was your turn to make dinner tonight."
"Yes, it was." Piotr was finished packing the refrigerator and headed inside the house without saying anything more. Still smiling, Gambit followed him.
"Do we get any word from Magneto or Sabertooth, yet?" he asked as Piotr puttered around the large kitchen, cleaning here and there.
"Yes. They called from France. Their business over there is taking a longer time than previously thought. They will be gone another 2 to 3 weeks."
Gambit nodded. "Good. Did he give us any assignments?"
"No."
"That's even better so why are you moping around in the kitchen like this, Piotr? It ain't right. It is because we start school tomorrow?"
Piotr sighed heavily and threw off the pink apron. "I got a call from my mother's doctor in Russia. They told me that she's not doing any better."
Gambit's mood immediately darkened. "Shit, man. Even with the expensive doctors Magneto sends them?"
"Yes," Piotr muttered sadly. "Nothing seems to help her anymore."
Gambit frowned. The reason why Piotr was in the Acolytes was because of the contract he signed when Magneto promised to take care of Piotr's ailing mother. Magneto paid for the doctor bills and sent the best doctors to take care of her and it worked for a while but she ended up relapsing and was sicker than ever. The doctors didn't know what to do. And if Piotr ever thought of leaving Magneto and breaking their contract, he would simply kill Piotr's mother before he killed Piotr. It was like that for the rest of the Acolytes, too.
"I'm really sorry to hear that, mon ami," Gambit told him. (my friend)
"Me, too." At that, Piotr turned away from him and started to wash the dishes. Gambit, sensing that he wanted some time alone, quietly walked out of the kitchen and quickly found the third Acolyte sulking in the living room.
Sighing, Gambit sat down next to the normally excitable John on the couch and asked, "Why da long face?"
The Australian frowned, idly flipping through the channels on the television. "If you've forgotten, our precious freedom is coming to an end when we start at Bayville tomorrow morning. Man, I don't know how I'm gonna do that! I haven't seen the morning in two weeks!"
"That's because you always stay up late and never wake up until noon," Gambit told him, smiling.
"Hey, I'm relishing in the fact that our lovely warden is away for a month, all right, mate," John replied. He glaring at Gambit, looking suspicious suddenly. "You seem awfully chipper to me for someone in your place."
He shrugged. "Gambit had a good day today."
"Whatever. You were pissed this morning when we met the principle of Bayville," John accused. "Where did you go afterwards? You just up and left me and Piotr"
"Gambit went out and ate."
"You didn't ask us to come along."
"He had company."
"Company? Hey, was it that mutant girl from the X-men?"
Gambit smirked and said, "Maybe."
"Man, she's one hottie. So it that other girl with the brown hair," John said with a firm nod and a lecherous grin.
"Who, Kitty-cat?"
"Is that her name?"
"No, it's just Kitty. She goes to Bayville too, ya know. Maybe you will run into her and she'll flash you a pouty little smile."
"Really?" John sunk into the couch and moped. "She probably wouldn't know who I am anyway, Remy. Man, it sucks, being the enemy! I can't get any girls because all the good looking ones are X-men."
Gambit grinned and patted John on his shoulder. "Gambit got Rogue, non?"
"Whatever. That was just blink luck," John muttered. "You're just so easy with the ladies."
"What can Gambit say? De ladies love de accent!" Gambit told him, laughing.
John just rolled his eyes and blew a raspberry. "Whatever. Are you still going to see her after Magneto comes back?"
"Probably not. Gambit doesn't want her to get hurt. If Magneto finds out that Gambit's getting close to her, he'll probably use him to find out stuff about the X-men."
"Mate, that's tough."
Gambit nodded. "Gambit just hopes that Rogue will understand."
"Are you going to tell her all that? That you don't want to hurt her? Are you going to tell them about how Magneto forced us to be on his side?"
Like Piotr, Magneto kept John on his side by using foul play. John's family in Australia was widely respected for their influence on Australia's elite and for the load money they had. However, the family was secretly full of murderers, cheats, and wealthy tycoons that made their money mostly producing cocaine and other drugs in South America and selling them on the market. Magneto knew every little dirty secret about Australia's most influential family and threatened to reveal all if John broke his contract. That's why John stayed; to protect his family.
"Dunno. Rogue might figure it out without Gambit saying anything."
"I just hope Magneto doesn't catch a whiff of this. That'd be bad."
Gambit nodded. "Did you hear about Piotr's mama?"
"Yea. That's harsh. I hope she'll make it."
"Moi aussi," Gambit replied sincerely.
"But if she does go," John whispered hesitantly, "do you think he will have his chance to leave the Acolytes?"
Gambit thought about it for a moment and then shook his head with a frown. "Magneto would find him and kill him if he left, contract or no. Besides, that man would find another way to keep Piotr here."
"I'd believe that. It's sucks that Magneto forced him to sign that contract."
"He forced us all," Gambit said with a heavy sigh. "That fucker told us that he would take care of our family's and their problems if we followed him. He just left out that he was a crazy psycho who was on the bad side of things."
John nodded and replied, "I hate being used like this."
"It settles none to well with Gambit either. But at least for now Magneto's away and we don't have to follow any orders."
"That's true, mate," John agreed. "I hope he ends up staying in France for the next month. For the first time in six months, I'm living like a normal kid again."
Gambit didn't reply. Although he was glad that Magneto was gone for awhile and that his job had come to a standstill, he owed the peace he found for the past six months to that crazy psycho, whether he wanted to or not. He didn't have to sleep in the gutter anymore, didn't have to steal money to get something to eat, and, best of all, he didn't have to kill to stay alive.
To be continued…
Author's Note: Things are getting so exciting! I hope you guys like the story as much as I do so far! ^___^ I hope you are okay with John and Piotr being OOC but I've only seen like 2 or 3 episodes with them in it so bear with me, all right? I hope you liked the chapter and review. Thanks!