Title: The Blood of Roses

by: Satine16

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters! They all belong to Marvel. The song is Fallen,

by Sarah McLachlan. I am not doing any of this for money, so please don't sue me.

Rogue's existence for the past month was a whirlwind of rings, lace, organza and cake.

Her entire life quickly began to revolve around the wedding. The more involved she became, the

more detached she felt. She was in her glassy world again, and this time there was no escape to a

desirable reality. No breath of oxygen to relieve the suffocation. But she loved Joseph, and he

was offering her everything she had ever wanted on a silver platter, with a Tiffany wedding band

and Vera Wang gown. She knew she was heading in the right direction. She had started to run

every morning. Her wedding gown would be a size eight if it killed her. That meant she had two

more sizes to drop in the chest and butt, and she was going to do it. Joseph had left her to work

on the wedding for awhile so he could go to Dallas with Hank. She was lonely, but had decided

that she would be perfect upon his return.

Remy watched her closely. She was falling apart. She wanted to be perfect to be with

Joseph. And it was destroying him. She had lost too much weight in an attempt to strengthen

this facade. This magnificent woman she'd created for Joseph. He watched the woman he loved

waste away into someone else, and knew that he had to try and stop her. He had attempted to let

go. Had screwed everything in a skirt for weeks on end, and the sex got wilder and louder each

time. But it was no distraction. Remy could have a strictly physical relationship whenever he

pleased, and had relished in them for his entire life. Yet he had tasted the love of a woman now,

and was not eager to let it slip from his grasp that quickly.

He cornered her after her run one morning and pinned her up against a bookcase in the

study.

"What's happenin' to ya Chere?"

"Remy..."

"Non," he pressed a finger to her lips. "You're not yourself, Chere. You're not real

anymore."

"Remy, Ah don't know what ya mean."

"Chere, ya know very well..." she slipped out from in-between the bookshelf and his

frame.

"No Remy, Ah don't!" She began to holler, the anguish and pain that had built up all this

time escaped and she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Get it through ya thick skull, Swamp

Rat! Ah love Joe and he loves me and we're gettin' married. You're not in the picture."

He crossed the room in a swift motion and pulled her close to him. He held her as tight

as he could without hurting her.

"This is real, Chere. Ah know that you can eat an entire bucket of chicken without a

second thought, and that your thighs look great in that old pair of jeans ya never seem to get rid

of, and that you sweat during sex and cry at night when the dreams get to be too much." He

leaned in and kissed her, tasting the tears that streamed down her face. "Ah know that ya taste

like honey and strawberries, and that your skin is soft as silk, and that you'll die fighting. This,

this is real, Chere," he pulled her even closer to him. "Ah love you. Every inch. That man

you're marryin' don' understand you and never will. But this is real, and Ah'm not goin'

anywhere soon."

Heaven bend to take my hand

And lead me through the fire

Be the long awaited answer

To a long and painful fight

The warm spray of the shower drowned out her thoughts and suffocated her mind. That

bubble was returning again. Yet this time it wouldn't go away. Happiness had seems to elude

her all too many times. She no longer even recognized its face and form. It was impossible to

distinguish her desires and her contemplations. Her mind had grown. Yet as her thought process

had begun to evolve it swallowed her heart, and simple contentment.

Truth be told I tried my best

But somewhere long the way

I got caught up in all there was to offer

But the cost was so much more than I could bear

She let her fingers trace the lines that were sketched in her torso. Her newly showing

bones. She knew that she had lost too much weight, she couldn't take a decent hit from Logan

anymore. She had become to fragile. It wasn't as if she wasn't trying. She wanted to be that

girl. If she could simply be that girl, then she could obtain everything she'd ever wanted. Joseph

was offering it all with open arms. But she had to be that girl. Jean was that girl, and she did it

so effortlessly. Rogue was drowning in a sea of failed attempts, and had begun to lose the girl

she once was.

Though I've tried I've fallen

I have sunk so low

I messed up

Better I should know

So don't come round here and

Tell me I told you so

And now Remy had come back. Claiming that he adored the girl that she had been. He

loved her for her flaws. They apparently made her unique. She didn't understand it. He had left

her here to rot, but then returned as if he had never left. Maybe it couldn't be that easy. Maybe

simple emotions couldn't dictate her existence. Remy offered zero stability or reliability. What

would lead her to believe that he wouldn't ditch her again? What was different now? Why did

he deserve her trust? He had already broken her heart once before. Joseph had never hurt her,

and never could. She fell down onto the bed and shut her eyes. Absorbed the silence.

Everything had changed. Nothing was easy anymore. Not simply boy and girl fall in love. She

was once untouchable by any man, and now had been touched so deeply that she could not let go.



We all begin out with good intent

When love is raw and young

We believe that we can change ourselves

The past can be undone

But we carry on our back the burdens of time always reveals

Her past was not bright. Not the simple story of a coveted southern belle. Her life had

been hard, just as hard as the others if not worse. The boys tortured her before she left. For what

she had done to Jack. But it hadn't been her fault. She didn't mean to hurt him. It was an

accident. Yet he was still inside her head. Was he reason she knew how to throw a ball as well

as she did. He was the star pitcher for Wilson High School's Varsity baseball team. He told her

that she was pretty, and then that she was a malignant slut. Only just trashy enough to think

about while jacking off. They had attacked her that night in the alley. Were never convicted

though. She still had the scars to prove it. Like the one on her chin.

In the lonely light of morning

In the wound that would not heal

It's the bitter taste of losing everything

I've held so dear

But she had grown since then. Had changed. She was someone knew now. She had a

Vera Wang wedding gown. People that were beaten by their fathers didn't get Vera Wang

wedding gowns. They stayed freaks their whole lives. They never escaped. She was so close.

Had almost been redeemed. Joseph tried to rescue her. Yet, Remy wanted to save her another

way. Save her by not saving her. Letting her simply be. And this world she'd built up around

her, this world of glass, seemed all too tangible now. Too real. She had tried so hard. The

words echoed in her skull. Remy was real.

Though I've tried I've fallen

I have sunk so low

I messed up

Better I should know

So don't come round here and

Tell me I told you so

She was once the flirtatious girl in love with Remy, then the sophisticate who had

ensnared Joe. She was below both now. Had slipped off the precipice that she so dearly held

onto. Joe was logical. But she wasn't much for logic. Remy was as real as her blood and sweat.

He tasted her tears. Yet there seemed to be nowhere left to turn. She wasn't the same girl that

was captivated by Remy's flirtatious remarks. But Joe wasn't keeping her attention. She was

trying too hard. It was destroying her. Killing her from the inside.

Heaven bend to take my hand

I've nowhere left to turn

I'm lost to these I thought were friends

To everyone I know

Logan had once told her that Remy was her other half. The only one that would ever

return after her temper flared. He did always come back. Until that one night. They had argued

for two hours over something silly. Her had flirted with a twenty year old bartender with perky

breasts and tacky blonde hair. She had stormed out on him. She had told him that maybe she

couldn't handle it anymore. That she couldn't be with him and not touch him. That it had gotten

too hard. It had always been too hard.

Oh they turn their heads embarrassed

Pretend that they don't see

That it's one wrong step one slip before you know it

And there doesn't seem a way to be revealed

Yet the others pretended to go deaf during their quarrels. They exited the room with great

speed when they heard them coming. It was almost laughable. Until the day he left, and the

mansion went silent. She had cried, in the shower, for days on end. Wouldn't let anyone else

know that she had cried. Logan knew. She knew that he figured it out ut never said anything.

They both kept silent. Then Joe came onto the scene. Logan seemed happy. Then she was able

to touch. Joseph had helped her, and loved her. She mumbled small nothings as she drifted into

a black sleep.

Though I've tried I've fallen

I have sunk so low

I messed up

Better I should know

So don't come round here and

Tell me I told you so

She awoke two hours later curled in the fetal position with tears running down her

cheeks. She couldn't breathe. The mansion was black but she knew the way. The tears still fell

down her cheeks and her pace quickened. Her feet stuck to the hard wood floors and the soft,

clammy sound kept rhythm with the Grandfather clock in the main hall. She slipped into the

pitch dark room and approached the bed, face still damp.

I messed up

Better I should know

So don't come round here and

Tell me I told you so

Remy opened up the sheets and she slipped in.

"Ah'm sorry Ah woke ya up."

He held her tighter.

"An' Remy?"

"Oui, Chere?"

"Ah'm sorry I cried in your mouth," she began to sob again.

He held her head to his chest and shushed her tears. He felt her sob until she went limp in

his arms. He brushed the matted hair off her wet cheeks and touched her silky skin. He

eventually dozed off but kept one ear open, just in case the nightmares came back for her in the

night. He wouldn't let anything get to her. He couldn't.