Disclaimer: I don't own, don't sue.
A/N: I'm going strictly by the movie here, so if my backgrounds don't match up with the comic or the show backgrounds, please forgive. With the movieverse versions, I was given a lot more freedom, so I went with that. (Read: I made some stuff up.)
Thanks for all your great reviews! :)
***
I didn't have to wait long to find out Rogue's big secret. None of us did. That night, I was jolted from my sleep by a yell. "Somebody help!"
I sat bolt upright. You got surprisingly used to random screams in the middle of the night, courtesy of Siryn and her occasional nightmares. But this scream, while loud, wasn't ear-piercing, and wasn't a wail, but actual words. And the voice belonged to a guy.
I glanced over into the next bed, where Piotr was also sitting up. We raised eyebrows at each other, and heard it again, louder: "Somebody help!"
In unspoken agreement, Piotr and I clamored out of our beds and went into the hall. We turned right and darted down to the corner, where we looked around and saw a small crowd of students already gathering in front of a doorway. We joined them, and fortunately, we're two of the taller students, so seeing in wasn't a problem.
This had been one of the empty rooms, which was now being occupied by that Logan guy, the one with the claws. And Marie, who was rooming with Kitty, but who was standing at the guy's bedside.
His claws were out. They were currently going through Rogue's back, protruding out of her bare skin, leaving gashes that were slowly dripping blood. She was standing still, clearly in shock, and Logan was looking panicked, cold, sweaty. With a *snakt!* sound, he retracted the claws, and the wounds on Rogue's back were more prominent. I couldn't see her face, I couldn't see anything but her back, but I saw one trembling hand rise up, and touch the side of Logan's face. Tenderly, like a girlfriend-boyfriend sort of touch, and I wondered why that particular thought ran through my mind.
Then suddenly she dropped her hand, and as her arm fell, my view of Logan's face was unobscured. He was gray, and twitching slightly. His eyes were wide and he was clearly as confused as the rest of us, although clearly in a lot more pain.
Then the scariest thing happened, and as we looked on, Rogue's wounds closed up in a matter of seconds. Of their own accord.
I wasn't sure what had transpired, exactly, but the pieces were there. Rogue had touched Logan, healed herself, and hurt him in the process.
Dr. Grey and Mr. Summers pushed through the gaggle of students into the room, and it only took a second of scene-assessing to figure out who was in need of help.
Rogue, looking terrified, turned and bolted from the room. The students all but jumped out of her way, and she went right past me, almost brushing me but not quite. "Rogue..?" I said questioningly, but she didn't turn. I wasn't sure I'd even said it aloud.
Miss Munroe cleared us out of the way, pressing us against the walls while Dr. Grey and Mr. Summers carried out Logan. Mr. Summers was holding him in his arms while Dr. Grey used her telekinesis. "Kids, get back to bed," Miss Munroe said in that soothing tone of hers. She started ushering the younger kids to their rooms, leaving the rest of us to go on our own. Like we'd really stay; there was no more action.
We started back to our room, Piotr and me, when Jubilee stopped us. "You're not gonna leave Kitty like this, are you?" she asked us accusingly. I was confused for a second, until I realized that Rogue was Kitty's new roommate, and the poor girl was probably confused and terrified.
Of the X-Kids, as we called ourselves, the five of us were the oldest; me, Piotr, Kitty, Jubilee, and Allerdyce. And Rogue now, she was the same age, making it an even three to three. Jubilee and Kitty were best friends, but Jubes was rooming with Rahne because she was the youngest by several months, and the Professor had some system. Me and Piotr were roommates, and up until yesterday, both Allerdyce and Kitty had singles. Kitty because she was the oldest girl, and Allerdyce because neither Piotr or I wanted to room with him.
It was no secret that Allerdyce and I dind't get along. It was a cosmic joke, in a way, us being fire and ice...literally. He was the troublemaker, the wisecracker, the goof-off. I was the one who always ended up cleaning up his mess, because I was the responsible one, the trustworthy one, the mini-Scott, as he liked to call me. Cyke Two.
While we didn't always get along so well, the five us were now bonding, for Kitty's sake. She was huddling in the common room, half-phased through the couch, looking scared.
"Kit, relax, it's okay," I said soothingly, taking a seat next to her. Piotr sort of had a thing for her, but she'd known me longer and trusted me better. Jubes said she had a crush on me, but I chose not to believe it.
"No, Bobby, it's *not* okay. All this time, we thought that Logan guy was the scary one, but it was *her* the whole time! Did you see what happened? Did you? She sucked the life out of him!"
"You're overreacting," I said patiently, rubbing her shoulder. "It's late. Just get some sleep, and the teachers will have answers for us in the morning. You're perfectly safe, you know, the Professor would never let a real threat into the institute."
"Dude, did you see that guy's claws?" Allerdyce piped up. "Unreal. Wicked."
I glared at him as Kitty squealed softly and buried her face in her arms. "Not helping," I mouthed, and tugged on Kitty's hand. "C'mon, up, up." She un-phased and rose to her feet. "If you don't wanna go back to your room, it's okay, you can stay with us tonight."
"Um, hi, like the Prof is ever gonna allow that," Jubes said. "And *I'm* her best friend, Bobby, so shouldn't she stay with *me*?" She tossed Kitty a kind smile. "Rahne won't mind."
Kitty was still hanging to my arm slightly. "Can't Bobby stay, too?" she whispered, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Piotr frowning and Allerdyce rolling his eyes.
"Listen, how about we stay in here?" I asked. "All of us."
Kitty was nodding, but Allerdyce grunted. "Yeah, *that's* a good idea. Group us all together, out in the open. Line us up like cattle for slaughter."
Any effort I made to calm Kitty down kept getting thwarted by this jerk. "Look," I said, as patiently as I could, "the big guy is in no state to be walking around at *all*, much less 'slaughtering' the students. And did you see Rogue's face? She clearly didn't know she could do that. She was just as scared of it as we were. So my best guess is that she's not going to be going near any other person for some time, human or mutant."
And I realized that was why she wouldn't let me brush away her hair that afternoon. She didn't know what might happen.
So the five of us set up camp in the common room to wait out the night.
A/N: I'm going strictly by the movie here, so if my backgrounds don't match up with the comic or the show backgrounds, please forgive. With the movieverse versions, I was given a lot more freedom, so I went with that. (Read: I made some stuff up.)
Thanks for all your great reviews! :)
***
I didn't have to wait long to find out Rogue's big secret. None of us did. That night, I was jolted from my sleep by a yell. "Somebody help!"
I sat bolt upright. You got surprisingly used to random screams in the middle of the night, courtesy of Siryn and her occasional nightmares. But this scream, while loud, wasn't ear-piercing, and wasn't a wail, but actual words. And the voice belonged to a guy.
I glanced over into the next bed, where Piotr was also sitting up. We raised eyebrows at each other, and heard it again, louder: "Somebody help!"
In unspoken agreement, Piotr and I clamored out of our beds and went into the hall. We turned right and darted down to the corner, where we looked around and saw a small crowd of students already gathering in front of a doorway. We joined them, and fortunately, we're two of the taller students, so seeing in wasn't a problem.
This had been one of the empty rooms, which was now being occupied by that Logan guy, the one with the claws. And Marie, who was rooming with Kitty, but who was standing at the guy's bedside.
His claws were out. They were currently going through Rogue's back, protruding out of her bare skin, leaving gashes that were slowly dripping blood. She was standing still, clearly in shock, and Logan was looking panicked, cold, sweaty. With a *snakt!* sound, he retracted the claws, and the wounds on Rogue's back were more prominent. I couldn't see her face, I couldn't see anything but her back, but I saw one trembling hand rise up, and touch the side of Logan's face. Tenderly, like a girlfriend-boyfriend sort of touch, and I wondered why that particular thought ran through my mind.
Then suddenly she dropped her hand, and as her arm fell, my view of Logan's face was unobscured. He was gray, and twitching slightly. His eyes were wide and he was clearly as confused as the rest of us, although clearly in a lot more pain.
Then the scariest thing happened, and as we looked on, Rogue's wounds closed up in a matter of seconds. Of their own accord.
I wasn't sure what had transpired, exactly, but the pieces were there. Rogue had touched Logan, healed herself, and hurt him in the process.
Dr. Grey and Mr. Summers pushed through the gaggle of students into the room, and it only took a second of scene-assessing to figure out who was in need of help.
Rogue, looking terrified, turned and bolted from the room. The students all but jumped out of her way, and she went right past me, almost brushing me but not quite. "Rogue..?" I said questioningly, but she didn't turn. I wasn't sure I'd even said it aloud.
Miss Munroe cleared us out of the way, pressing us against the walls while Dr. Grey and Mr. Summers carried out Logan. Mr. Summers was holding him in his arms while Dr. Grey used her telekinesis. "Kids, get back to bed," Miss Munroe said in that soothing tone of hers. She started ushering the younger kids to their rooms, leaving the rest of us to go on our own. Like we'd really stay; there was no more action.
We started back to our room, Piotr and me, when Jubilee stopped us. "You're not gonna leave Kitty like this, are you?" she asked us accusingly. I was confused for a second, until I realized that Rogue was Kitty's new roommate, and the poor girl was probably confused and terrified.
Of the X-Kids, as we called ourselves, the five of us were the oldest; me, Piotr, Kitty, Jubilee, and Allerdyce. And Rogue now, she was the same age, making it an even three to three. Jubilee and Kitty were best friends, but Jubes was rooming with Rahne because she was the youngest by several months, and the Professor had some system. Me and Piotr were roommates, and up until yesterday, both Allerdyce and Kitty had singles. Kitty because she was the oldest girl, and Allerdyce because neither Piotr or I wanted to room with him.
It was no secret that Allerdyce and I dind't get along. It was a cosmic joke, in a way, us being fire and ice...literally. He was the troublemaker, the wisecracker, the goof-off. I was the one who always ended up cleaning up his mess, because I was the responsible one, the trustworthy one, the mini-Scott, as he liked to call me. Cyke Two.
While we didn't always get along so well, the five us were now bonding, for Kitty's sake. She was huddling in the common room, half-phased through the couch, looking scared.
"Kit, relax, it's okay," I said soothingly, taking a seat next to her. Piotr sort of had a thing for her, but she'd known me longer and trusted me better. Jubes said she had a crush on me, but I chose not to believe it.
"No, Bobby, it's *not* okay. All this time, we thought that Logan guy was the scary one, but it was *her* the whole time! Did you see what happened? Did you? She sucked the life out of him!"
"You're overreacting," I said patiently, rubbing her shoulder. "It's late. Just get some sleep, and the teachers will have answers for us in the morning. You're perfectly safe, you know, the Professor would never let a real threat into the institute."
"Dude, did you see that guy's claws?" Allerdyce piped up. "Unreal. Wicked."
I glared at him as Kitty squealed softly and buried her face in her arms. "Not helping," I mouthed, and tugged on Kitty's hand. "C'mon, up, up." She un-phased and rose to her feet. "If you don't wanna go back to your room, it's okay, you can stay with us tonight."
"Um, hi, like the Prof is ever gonna allow that," Jubes said. "And *I'm* her best friend, Bobby, so shouldn't she stay with *me*?" She tossed Kitty a kind smile. "Rahne won't mind."
Kitty was still hanging to my arm slightly. "Can't Bobby stay, too?" she whispered, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Piotr frowning and Allerdyce rolling his eyes.
"Listen, how about we stay in here?" I asked. "All of us."
Kitty was nodding, but Allerdyce grunted. "Yeah, *that's* a good idea. Group us all together, out in the open. Line us up like cattle for slaughter."
Any effort I made to calm Kitty down kept getting thwarted by this jerk. "Look," I said, as patiently as I could, "the big guy is in no state to be walking around at *all*, much less 'slaughtering' the students. And did you see Rogue's face? She clearly didn't know she could do that. She was just as scared of it as we were. So my best guess is that she's not going to be going near any other person for some time, human or mutant."
And I realized that was why she wouldn't let me brush away her hair that afternoon. She didn't know what might happen.
So the five of us set up camp in the common room to wait out the night.