Chapter 1: Not Falling
Rogue rolled out of the way just as a steel ball came flying out of nowhere, she gasped, and ducked another that came hurtling towards her like a silver comet, she saw it disappear into the vast distance of the very long narrow corridor. She suddenly realised the walls were starting to close in.
"Shit!" she gasped, another steel ball coming towards, her, she threw her fist out, catching it just in time, it shattered, revealing it was nothing more than a brittle substance, and not steel at all. Silvery shards fell around her, making soft chinking noises as they hit the steel floor beneath her.
The walls were coming in closer, she started to run. She lost her balance, dropping to the floor, she groaned, and pulled herself up to, running.
"There's no end…" she said to herself, she glanced back down the way she came, nothing but darkness, even the overhead lights were going off as she progressed through the hallway. Two of silver cannonballs shot from each side of the wall, she leapt out of the way, landing on the floor, hitting her elbows, she pulled herself up.
She started to run again, spikes shot up from the floor in random spurts, just barely missing her feet, she began to widen her strides, leaping over the spikes, the walls were coming closer.
Continuing to run, trying to pick up pace, flames shot from the walls, she used her arms to shield her face and run through them, she could already smell the singed fabric of her uniform.
The hallway seemed to never end, she realised she'd never make it out in time, she had to stop the walls from closing in. She stretched out and pushed a hand against each wall, and pushed back, hoping it'd stop. She felt the weight of the metal, the force of whatever was making it move towards her, push her in, her arms buckling in towards her again. "Stop damn it, stop!" she cried, she tried to use all of the strength that was in her, even her superhuman strength should have withheld the strength of the walls from going further.
She pressed her feet against one side of the wall, and pushed her hands up on the other, using her feet to give her some thrust, she pushed harder. "Stop, damn it, stop!" she screamed, she threw her whole body into pushing, nothing was happening, not even budging or slowing even slightly.
It was coming in closer, faster, it had her pinned, arms pressed against her chest, knees pressed against the wall now, legs trapped. She tried pushing back with her feet, but it was no good, it was going to crush her, she felt her arms pushing against her ribs, it begun to hurt more than she had anticipated.
"Stop the program!" she screamed frantically with her last breath, she was finding it difficult to breathe, the wall becoming so close it was almost killing her.
The walls shot down into the floor, disappearing seamlessly into the floor, and the vast hallway was now a very large metal room, the low ceiling vanishing revealing a high ceiling, the control annex hanging above. Rogue fell to the floor, exhausted, feeling weak, and defeated. She lay on the floor for some moments, trying to catch her breath.
Finally, after a moments rest, she pulled herself up, staggering in pain and fatigue, and headed towards the doors to leave the Danger Room.
The doors slid open with an audible hiss, and Kitty Pryde dashed in, "Rogue, are you alright?!" she panted, she reached out, catching Rogue just in time as Rogue fell. Kitty fell to her knees, hanging onto Rogue, "Speak to me…"
"What…the…fuck…happened?!" Rogue gasped, her voice a hoarse wheeze. Kitty Pryde had been in control of the Danger Room, something Rogue realised that after extensive training, Kitty should have had no trouble with.
"I'm sorry…" Kitty drew her breath for her teeth, "it was an accident…I accidentally shorted the control panel, everything just went into overdrive…" Kitty helped Rogue up.
"You nearly killed me," Rogue pulled away, she dropped to the floor holding her side, "ow…"
"What is it?" Kitty asked.
"Pain…" Rogue sighed.
"I'll get Hank," Kitty tried to run, Rogue grabbed her arm and hauled her back.
"Leave it," Rogue assured, "I'll live…" she drew her breath, "I need to take a shower and get changed…" she sighed, "I'll see you later…" she said, and left Kitty standing in the Danger room alone.
After a shower, and pulling in some comfortable clothes Rogue was feeling slightly better – at least mentally. However physically was another story, she was sure she'd fractured a rib, it certainly felt that way, but she'd spent enough time in the mansion's hospital wing within the last year to last a lifetime, she didn't need more time out in there.
Her intentions were to head down into the recreation room to find Kitty, to ask if it would be alright if she borrowed her laptop to email Remy – who, after three weeks, had still been working on an Island in Scotland, doing what, exactly, Rogue was unsure.
On her way down, a scent caught her attention, a sweet smell, almost like candyfloss and the smell that came from cut grass that had been lit on fire – like Remy used to do after mowing the lawns of the mansion's grounds.
Rogue sniffed at the air, she couldn't define where it was coming from, it was very faint, but detectable.
"Hey, Rogue, have you seen my book, I can't remember where I—" Kitty was coming up the stairs, she stopped suddenly, "that smell…ew…"
"I smell it too…" Rogue held onto the banister, "any idea what it is?"
Kitty paused for a moment, "I know what it reminds me off…when I was at School back in Illinois, I'd go into the girls bathrooms and this smell would be in there…" she explained, "I think girls were in there smoking weed or something…"
Rogue made a face, "You think this smell is weed? Maybe it's incense or something."
"No way, incense…like, doesn't matter what type of incense it is, always smells like burning wood," Kitty responded, "c'mon, lets find out who's puffin' the magic dragon," she headed down the hall, the smell becoming stronger towards where Remy's room was.
"This is Remy's room, right?" Kitty raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, but Remy isn't back yet," Rogue reminded.
Kitty phased half of her phase through the door and jerked back, "ewww, yes, the smell is definitely from there…"
"Huh?!" Rogue threw the door open, surprised to see Jared Rickman standing at an open window, trying to wave smoke out of the room, he gave a few short coughs, Rogue and Kitty both realised he had a joint in his other hand.
"Jared!" Kitty gaped, "You're gonna get expelled for this!"
"Shut the door!" Jared gasped.
Rogue and Kitty rushed in, shutting the door.
"What do you think you're doin' in Remy's room!?!" Rogue demanded angrily, "Are you aware this is invadin' his privacy."
"Calm down, Rogue, he isn't even home," Jared reminded, he took a quick drag of the joint, "and I couldn't use my room – I share it with Sam, remember?" Jared pointed out, smoke billowing from his mouth.
Rogue folded her arms, "Put that thing out!"
"Give me a chance to finish it, and I will," Jared responded, he sat on the windowsill.
Rogue frowned.
Kitty walked over, "Jared, you'll get us all in to trouble! Just put it out!! There are strict rules about alcohol and drugs in this place – it's a school for gods sake!"
"Okay, okay!" Jared put his hands up in defence, he took one last drag of the joint, then tossed it out the window. "There, its gone, are you happy?!"
"Oh, that's clever, throw it outside and it'll continue to burn and smell outside of the open library windows!" Kitty yelled at Jared.
"Jesus, don't freak," Jared rolled his eyes, which looked pretty red.
"Will you two just stop fighting already, y'all are givin' me a headache!" Rogue rolled her eyes now, she took to the air, and dived out of the window, locating the joint, she picked it up and flew back up to the bedroom windows, and inside, she stubbed it out into the ashtray. "Now, neither me or Kitty are gonna say anything to the instructors, but if you do it again, we will, understand?" Rogue said, "and stay out of Remy's room…you don't wanna have him come back and find out you've been messin' with his shit. I don't care if you're my friend, I won't defend you if he finds out you've touched his stuff – and if you have, he's gonna know," Rogue responded.
Kitty headed for the door, "can we just get out of here – before someone catches us? I'm already still on punishment chores from three weeks ago! I don't need more."
"Give us a minute," Jared said to Kitty, "alone."
Kitty rolled her eyes again, and left the room, closing the door again behind herself.
Rogue folded her arms again, "what is going on?" she demanded, "Are you trying to set up Remy so it looks like he's a drugs user or something?!"
"No," Jared gave a laugh, "jesus, girl, you are paranoid," he scratched the tip of his nose thoughtfully, "But what makes you think he isn't a drugs user?"
Rogue gaped, "because I've known him over a year, and I've NEVER seen any signs of him taking drugs."
"He probably does," Jared shrugged, "he's a Thief, isn't he? A lot of Thieves steal to feed drug habits."
"Don't be stupid," Rogue shook her head, "Remy would never take drugs. And anyway, if you look at it that way, then you're calling yourself a Thief," Rogue pointed out.
"Huh?"
Rogue put her hands on her hips, "well, if a Thief steals to get money for the drug habit, then a drugs user must be a thief."
"If it's Thieves you're attracted to, Honey, then I could be one," Jared wiggled his eyebrows and grinned devilishly at her.
Rogue sighed, "give it up, I'm not falling for you" she stated, "and get out of my boyfriend's room."