Mail Call:
PsycheX – actually several people have given me multiple reviews. I was sincere when I meant I was honored by that too. Getting positive reviews is so fantastic!! But getting multiple positive reviews from individuals is gravy on them taters!!
Roguechere – hahaha, ROMYness is NOT a bad thing. It's a good thing…a very good thing…a very VERY good thing. Yep, I caught myself trying to be funny, but I realized a few days later that it was more like the 3 or 4 glasses of wine I had that night that warped my judgment (can we all say lush?). I corrected it in the last update, because like I said ROMY is a very, VERY good thing :D
Mrs LeBeau – don't worry, I didn't forget about Rogue & Gambit. I would have had the rest of the story up with the last update, but my phone line decided to bite the dust as Queen would say. Since cable's not available to people way out in the sticks, and satellite is just way too expensive, I was forced to wait until the phone co. came today.
xXrogue-demonXx, T., Lupine Draconis, Sammi-Jo, ishandahalf – thanks so much for reviewing!!
Oh LAWD, y'all are killing me with the short chapter chides (yes, we do say y'all down here in the south.......and so? :P ). I was hoping to find a 'Story Detailing for Dummies' book, but I'm out of luck so far. But, I think I'm learning with some of the other fics I'm reading. Right now I'm in the middle of an awesome one elsewhere on the site that's 66 chapters long. I mean, that's like 200 something single spaced pages in MS Word. Daaamn that's long.
Translations:
Taters – slang for potatoes
Lawd – that's southern drawl for lord, for you non-hickified people
Hickified – made up slang variation of word hick
Hick – someone who lives way out in the sticks
Sticks – so damn far out in the country that cable is not available and satellite is way too expensive. But, you can see all the stars that are big and bright – well, except in the north horizon where they are obscured by the faint glow of the super Walmart.
And, yes, in case you didn't pick up on it, I'm on like my 3rd glass of wine. Long live Riunite Lambrusco and all inexpensive screw-cap wines everywhere.
Enjoy!! :-)
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"You remember de day we met? You were running from dat assassin girl's family and decided to hide out in my cemetery?" She continued tracing her fingers along the muscular definitions of his chest, admiring his toned body. His eyes never left hers as he searched for something to say, anything to convince her to let him go.
"When our eyes met and I saw you were like me, I just knew we were meant to be together. I let you stay for a few days until t'ings quieted down a little. And, remember when you finally left dat last day…" her voice trailed off and her eyes looked up as she reflected on the day in her head. "I tried to charm you to stay, but you resist. It impressed me dat someone could resist me."
Gambit blinked a few times as he desperately tried to recall the memory. It was obvious to him that it wasn't nearly as grand a thing as she was recalling, and in fact was fairly inconsequential to him. "I don' know what you're talking 'bout, Cassandra. Not'ing happen ot'er dan I left to go back to my pere's home." His brow furrowed in confusion as he watched the expressions on her face.
She looked down at him and frowned slightly when he said this. "Oh, mon ange. Why you teasing me so? You know what you did, de connection we made." When she saw that he was still confused, she rolled her eyes in exasperation. "You kissed me on de cheek and told me you'd always be grateful to me. I knew right den you would come back to me one day, dat I'd make you mine."
She moved her eyes over his body appreciatively and then brought her gaze back to his face. She leaned in and brushed her lips lightly against his before rising back up with a twisted smile.
"Now, this may hurt just a little, cher" she said as she placed a cloth in his mouth and gagged him.
She still sat on top of him, his chest exposed to her. She reached to the table on her left and grasped the bowl containing the potion she had mixed together, bringing it to rest on his stomach. She picked up the knife and held it high in the air above him and started chanting. His eyes widened as he watched her bring the knife down to his chest. She began slicing patterns into his skin. "mmmmpppphhhhh" was the only noise he could make. He shut his eyes and his face was full of pain. He struggled under her, his head thrashing left to right. She held firm her position and stared at him with an evil grin as she watched him writhe in pain.
"And now, for the final touch." She raised the bowl in the air and continued chanting. He stopped struggling and breathed heavily. Beads of sweat had formed all over him. He looked up at the witch waiting for whatever she was about to put him through, blood running down the sides of his chest.
Suddenly, the door to the tomb flew open and Wolverine leaped in with claws extended. He was followed closely by Kitty and Sara. Wolverine glanced around quickly to assess the situation. He saw Rogue standing in the corner with no sign of life in her completely white eyes. Then, he turned to see Gambit strapped to some concrete table and a woman on top of him holding some kind of bowl in her hands.
Wolverine could smell the blood. He gritted his teeth and brought both sets of blades to each side of him, clenching his fists. "What is it with you and crazy chicks, Gumbo? You attract 'em like flies." Crouching in attack mode, he snarled "Get off him bitch."
"How dare you interrupt this ceremony!" She leapt off the altar and reached for some darts on her table. She shot one at Wolverine, but he swiped it away with his blades before it reached him.
"You'll have to do better than that sister" he snarled at her.
Cassandra saw she was outnumbered three to one. She closed her eyes and mumbled something under her breath. Suddenly, Rogue came to life and flew at Wolverine, knocking him to the side. Kitty shouted "NO" and ran towards Cassandra to tackle her. Cassandra looked at Kitty and began chanting even louder. Kitty stopped cold and grabbed her head. She fell to her knees and screamed. Sara stood by helplessly, not knowing what to do and scared out of her wits.
Wolverine got up from where Rogue had beaten him down. She was directly in front of him. He could see that she wasn't in control of herself.
"I don't want to hurt ya darlin'" he said as they both
started circling each other. She lurched
forward and he brought his left fist forward and hit her hard against the chin,
knocking her backwards against the wall.
"Don't mean I won't."
Rogue leaped up and flew at him, sending them both against the opposite wall. The fight ensued. Equally matched, the indestructible woman and the quick healer exchanged blow for blow. Meanwhile, Kitty was franticly fighting against herself as Cassandra attempted to take control of her mind.
Sara started crying as she watched everything unfold before her. She could see Wolverine and Rogue battling it out on the far side of the tomb. She could see her friend being tormented in her mind by the witch. And laying on a concrete structure in the center of the room was Gambit, blood flowing from all the cuts in his chest. He was staring at Sara. Unable to communicate verbally because of the gag, he desperately tried to reach her through his eyes. Gambit always knew that he had some kind of power of suggestion, but it was never anything that he worked at to develop fully. It was always something he had just taken for granted. And now, more than ever he needed to focus on it in order to help his friends. But, without his voice, he wasn't sure if he would be able to do it. He continued to stare at Sara.
She looked in his eyes from across the room and choked back her tears. She cocked her head to one side as she continued gazing in his eyes and, suddenly, she realized what she needed to do. She remembered the staff that they had found earlier. Logan had given it to Kitty, who had hung it off her belt. Sara ran over to Kitty and tried to grab the metal instrument. But, her hands went right through it. She concentrated hard and winced loudly as she managed to finally solidify her hand, allowing her to grab the staff and extend it to its full length. No sooner was it in her hands than she phased again, along with the staff.
Kitty stopped screaming. Her eyes turned solid white and she stood up to face Cassandra. "What do you want me to do, mistress" was her statement.
"Kill the girl" Cassandra ordered as she pointed to Sara. Kitty turned to face her friend and started moving toward her. Sara's eyes widened and she backed away.
Suddenly, all the things that had happened to her and all the people that had hurt her came into her mind. She stopped, and her expression changed to determination. Tears were flowing freely as she thought back over all the times she had just run away instead of facing her demons. Not this time she thought to herself. She was not going to let this witch hurt her new friends.
She let out a wail and ran forward with all her strength. She phased right through Kitty and headed for Cassandra. Cassandra's eyes widened as the little ghost approached her. Sara closed her eyes and concentrated very hard as she ran. She phased through Cassandra and let go of the staff at the same time. She came out of the other side of the witch and fell to the floor, phasing partially through it. Cassandra let out a blood curdling scream and looked down to see the staff sticking out of her chest. She grabbed the staff with both hands and fell to her knees. She turned to look in Remy's eyes as the blood flowed freely from the openings on both sides of her body where the staff entered and exited. A single tear rolled from her eye and she fell over onto her side, letting out a final gasp.
Logan was on the verge of collapsing from the pounding he had been taking. Rogue was about to hit Logan again, when she grabbed both sides of her head and screamed, sending her to one knee. She then shook her head and looked up at Wolverine, her eyes returned to normal.
"Logan…..what…..happened?" She was confused as she rubbed her temples.
"It's a long story, darlin'." Wolverine stated as he bent over putting one hand on his knee and the other across his stomach. He worked to calm his breathing as he body healed from the wounds he had received.
She looked around the room and saw Gambit laying in the middle of the room, strapped to a concrete structure. "REMY" she exclaimed as she flew to him to inspect his cuts and untie him.
From the other side of the room, Kitty had also awakened from her hypnotized state and turned to find her friend kneeling at the witch. She moved over beside Sara and kneeled with her.
"I….I killed her" Sara said almost shocked at what she had done. She started crying as the realization of what had happened sunk in. Kitty wrapped her arms around Sara's shoulders and hugged her.
"You had no choice. It was us or her. You totally saved our lives" Kitty said as she consoled her.
Sara looked up to her friend and smiled slightly, tears still flowing. "I know. And I'd do it again. But, it doesn't make me feel any better about taking her life." Kitty nodded in understanding. It would take time for Sara to get over this.
Rogue removed the gag from Gambit's mouth. He let out a gasp and coughed. He was mentally and physically exhausted from the ordeal. She reached her arm under his neck and gently lifted him up into a sitting position.
"Aw, sugah. What is it with you and crazy women?" she asked. Wolverine looked up and snarled "De ja vu."
Gambit grinned at her and looked over to Wolverine, who was moving closer to them. "Gambit can't help if he drives de femmes mad" he joked.
She rolled her eyes and helped him off the table. He could barely stand and she put his arm around her neck, making sure that her hair was a boundary between his exposed skin and hers. Remy used his free hand to gather the edges of the torn shirt and hold them together in the middle of his chest, covering the wounds. Wolverine walked over to the two girls and the dead body on the floor. He turned to Gambit and said "You could have at least helped us out, instead of just laying there taking it easy."
"Sorry, mon ami, she took my powers, but I can feel dey startin to come back" Remy replied.
Sara wiped her cheeks and looked up at him with a confused expression. "The feelings that came over me when I looked in your eyes, that was you wasn't it?" Sara commented.
"Oui. Some me, mostly you. You did well, petit." He grinned slightly at the girl in his attempts to make her feel better.
Gambit motioned over to the side table where the book containing Cassandra's notes lay. Rogue looked at him with questioning eyes. Remy flipped through the notebook and then closed it to pick it up. "We should get dis back to Hank, no?"
They retrieved Gambit's coat and pulled the staff from Cassandra's body. They sealed the tomb doors and slowly made their way out of the cemetery. The sun was starting to come up as they headed back to the motel.