Can't escape Destiny
Chapter Two
"I wanna join your team." Remy leaned casually against the doorway, watching them, and Rogue glanced back to flash him a small smile before turning to face Magneto again. The other two Acolytes were far behind him in the warehouse, having had been working on something until she came in with Remy and they stopped to see the show. The master of magnetism observed the exchange between them and had an idea of just why the girl wanted to join, but didn't care. She'd be a powerful addition, an ideal weapon to use in his never-ending quest- no matter her previous alliance. "What about the X-men?" Magneto asked coolly, one brow raised. Rogue felt a small flash of sadness but shrugged. "What about them? I never fit in that well; and since I didn't like the rules there, or that many people, in fact, it didn't make much sense to stay."
Rogue sighed mentally. 'Then there was this odd, compelling force that drove her. Destiny, maybe.' The others sensed it, but its' unworldly hand was strongest on her, she who had the capacity to truly do anything, to change the world. Remy and her had talked for an hour this morning before she stepped through these doors and he'd asked her a million times if she was sure, but she only realized how sure she really was, just became so sure, in that instant. "But will you be prepared to fight them if necessary?" Magneto questioned next. Biting her lip, Rogue thought of Kitty, Kurt, and Logan again. She admired the Wolverine above all, but even he had seemed to fade into the same color palette as the others. If they hadn't changed, it had to be her.
Everything just appeared so clear to her, like this so-called craziness had become her sanity- like this chaos had become her peace and the darkness her light. And now these days when she looked at those three she saw the same thing she did in everyone else. Not to mention the times when she looked at them and all she saw were angry, hating faces over the grayness that had just recently covered them- different, older, faces, but still them. And she couldn't help what she saw and felt. Something told her, though, that this was the way it had to be for a while. So, thinking of Scott and Jean with the rest of her former teammates, she nodded in response to his question.
Magneto smiled and she felt uneasy for a moment as he studied her, but he must've seen what he needed/wanted to because he nodded with a satisfied expression on his face. "Good. Welcome to the team, Rogue." Welcome. She nodded with a slight smile, containing the odd (almost disturbing) sense of elation that she felt, and turned, walking back to Remy. The rest of the world fading out, narrowing to just the two of them. She stopped just in front of him and they simply stared at each other for a while, her eyes shimmering with something almost indescribable. The emotion in his hypnotic red-on-black eyes made her burn with the same until it stormed between them- a living, breathing thing. And then she couldn't help it anymore, her face burst into a grin- silent, joyous laughter on her face. They were oblivious to the people still watching them.
"Welcome to the team, chére," he whispered, looking for all the world like he'd kiss her if the others weren't around. His welcome, the second welcome she ever remembered getting (from any team she's been on), far outshone the first. Heart speeding up, Rogue cleared her throat and glanced back to remind him (and herself) that they weren't alone. Then, speaking softly so the others wouldn't hear, she asked, "Wanna make a trip to the institute with me to get my stuff?" She didn't want to bring the fact to Magneto's attention that she didn't officially clear out of the mansion yet and have her first act on the team to be stealing information from her old group- or hurting/kidnapping one of them. She still had that much loyalty/obligation to them- Xavier was still a good guy (though a bit overly optimistic and having a bit too much faith in humanity). Remy grinned, "Sounds like fun."
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Not a moment later they were racing down the road on the back of his motorcycle, Rogue pressed tightly to him, breathing in the warm scent of spices and cigarette smoke he always wore (with a hint of bourbon too). She was almost glad that she made the choice she did- even if she wasn't sure yet exactly whose choice it was (though she was very sure about the choice itself). Maybe she thought she was saving her friends by leaving, not wanting to leave with what she feared (knew) she was going to turn into; maybe she was saving herself, with Remy's help, from that future- or maybe she just didn't want to admit that she was starting to think Magneto's ideas about them and human-kind were more real, more true, than Xavier's was… than what she'd been trying to convince herself of before she looked into her own heart and left the X-men. Though, truth be told, she'd given up her attempts to convince herself of Xavier's beliefs even before she really got serious about Remy and before she thought of joining the Acolytes.
And Remy… he made the voices in her head quiet down, shoved them back behind that wall, every time she got close to him while they had only grown wilder at the institute. That breakdown she had had so many months ago at the institute, when he'd been on a mission somewhere else for Magneto and hadn't been there to set her head right, that breakdown had nearly killed her. And when he had returned to find her in that damned hospital bed, so very weak, she knew had almost killed him. But he'd given her the strength to heal, to get out of that bed and fight (not literally). Rogue smiled and hugged him tighter, blinking back tears, while she remembered all the risks he'd taken to visit her there every day that she'd lain there.
"Ready chére?" Remy asked as the motorcycle came to a stop just outside the mansion's gates. She cleared her throat, "Yeah, I'm ready." He grinned back at her (God, she loved that grin!) and turned the motor off, helping her carefully off the big red and black bike. 'He loves his motorcycles just as much as Logan loves his,' she thought, suppressing a smile. 'It's too bad they couldn't get along, they actually have a lot in common." Then she sobered, recalling what she came here to do. "Logan and the Professor are gone, so it shouldn't be too hard to get to my room and back without trouble or detection. I think I create a psychic shield around us both so Miss Perfect Jean Grey won't notice us there- she's not as powerful as she thinks she is," she said as they went up to the gates. His lips twitched a bit at that last part, like he was fighting his own smile, and he nodded, "D'accord, let's go den."
Rogue gave him a look, one eyebrow raised, but ignored his amusement as she entered the access code for the gates- making a mental note to write a message to the Professor about changing the codes, to protect them. She may be on the 'enemy' team now, but it wasn't because she was against the X-men (or Xavier at least). "Good, Kitty's not here," she observed when they reached her room, peeking inside. It would have been really awkward if she had been there. Rogue might've been forced in that situation to break her newfound control to knock the girl out. They went in, opening the door the rest of the way, and Remy closed it behind them so any potential passerby's didn't see them. Well, him. As far as they knew she was still on their team and had just gone on a two hour walk. "So we're alone?" he asked with a smirk. "Remy…" she started on a sigh, half eager and half exasperated. He roped both arms around her waist and jerked her to him, until she could feel his heart beat against her own and his lips touched hers, setting off sparks.
She slipped her arms around Remy's neck, shivering simply as, at first, his lips did nothing more than mold hers, enjoying their taste. Then he suckled and nibbled and drew back, leaving her so bereft that she leaned up to bring their mouths together again. And Rogue forgot that they shouldn't be doing this in the mansion now, forgot their real purpose there, forgot everything but his touch. She felt him sigh and murmur something unintelligible before his barely leashed control evaporated and his kiss turned fiercely demanding. If he had intended on just a brief, teasing kiss before, that plan was shot. But Rogue didn't mind at all. She pressed herself closer to him, colors flashing in front of her closed eyelids again in bright, triumphant rainbow bursts. But they dulled once more a second before she heard the click of the doorknob turning. "Rogue!" came the exclamation. She winced slightly. Kitty was back.
Rogue sighed and slowly disengaged from Remy, or him from her, facing the younger girl with a sad smile. Though it had been revealed to the X-men that she'd unexplainably been able to touch after that fall, what seemed ages ago, she knew it must still be a huge shock- even before Kitty managed to see just who she was kissing. Her former roommates' eyes widened when she did notice and her mouth opened to scream, only Rogue got to her first. Pressing her gloveless hand to Kitty's face, she allowed it to linger a full thirty seconds until the other girl registered the action. Kitty slid to the floor, temporarily unconscious, and Remy helped her lift the girl onto her bed. She kissed Remy as she took a card from inside his trenchcoat and got a black pen from the dresser. In small but neat print, she wrote:
'Kitty,
Nothing has changed but the game.
P.S. Tell Logan that the world is a whole
new shade of gray and I was tired of not
painting with all the colors.
Rogue'
She recapped the pen and laid the card, the Queen of Hearts, by Kitty's head then turned back to Remy. "Let's start packing, I don't know how long she'll be out and we haveta get out of here." He nodded and got her bags from the closet.
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After she phased them through the floor and outside to Remy's motorcycle, Rogue found herself wondering more about what her new life would be like and about the events she'd set into place today than her old life. She knew that Kitty would pass the messages she left with the card onto Kurt and eventually Logan, if not the rest of the team. And hopefully they'd understand what she was trying to say… all of what she was trying to say. She didn't care whether or not everyone got it now, though she doubted they'd understand anything other than her being with Remy for whatever reason, because everyone would hopefully see it sometime. She just wanted to change the anger and the hatred that she had seen, as if in a dream, on her friends' faces. They were important to her future, to her. They were the only factors she cared about now.
When the engine beneath her slowed, she knew she had reached their destination. They entered the base together and she felt the weirdest sense of déjà vu; phantom sights and sounds brushing against her mind. Further in, she stopped in front of a door as Remy pointed out another on the short tour. "An' dis is yo' room, petite, right next to Remy's," the Cajun grinned, opening the door. 'Right next to his,' Rogue thought, flushing. 'Only three doors away.' Dropping her bags on the floor, she examined the room curiously, trying to imagine what it would look like with all her stuff in it. "Comfy," she quipped, sitting on the bed and bouncing slightly. "Only de best for mon chére," Remy laughed. Rolling her eyes, Rogue sighed then glanced around the room, silently wondering what she was going to do next- bored already. "So what do you want to do?" she asked Remy brightly, watching him where he casually leaned against the door with his arms folded. Eyebrow raised, he just looked at the bed she was on and smirked.
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Yeah, longer chapter! What did y'all think? I had lots of time to work on it, since I was home sick for two days and up all night. That's what you get for kissin' a Cajun with a cold. I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again though, so I hope you liked it- I think it was a pretty good chapter anyway, not to be arrogant or anything. Next chapter I'm probably going to place a month or so in the future, Rogue trying to adjust to life with the Acolytes and gets a small vacation.
**Just think of the beginning of Cajun Spice if you seen it (too bad if you didn't), when Rogue was talking about leaving Bayville and Gambit came to spirit her away. Only in this story she was just thinking of leaving the X-men for Magneto's team and Gambit takes a willing Rogue to New Orleans to get away from it all for a while (for real this time). The confused X-men still follow them out later too (maybe not believing or wanting to believe her note and trying to rescue her).The events are otherwise pretty much the same, they just occur a little farther apart than they did. Anyways, later. Cajunbelle.
