Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 8
Chapter 5: Two plus Two makes Four
Rogue and Bobby entered the Bayville movie theatre, "so…" Rogue began, she walked alongside Bobby, "what movie are we seeing, anyway?" she asked curiously.
"Well, there's this new comedy out…Jennifer Aniston is in it. I've heard it's really funny," Bobby admitted.
Rogue smirked, "You only want to see it because she's in it – and everything she's in, she always has her nipples showing through her top," she stated, matter-of-factly.
"That's not true," Bobby made a face, "I think she's a great actress – that's why I want to see the movie."
"And her having perfect breasts has nothing to do with it?" Rogue grinned.
"And so what if she does? I don't mind that too much…"
"I'm sure you don't," Rogue smirked, "I'm sure you have no problem with it at all," she added, folding her arms, suppressing a laugh.
Bobby grinned too, he glanced at her, "By the way, you look great," he said, "much better than Jennifer Aniston."
"I wish I was her…she gets to sleep with Brad Pitt…" Rogue joked.
"Look if you don't wanna see the movie, we don't have to?" Bobby asked.
"It's fine, Bobby," Rogue assured, she glanced across the large foyer, queues of people were building up to buy tickets for a movie. "Hey, look! There's Piotr and Illyana!" she gestured to the very back of one of the cues, Piotr and Illyana were standing waiting to buy tickets.
Bobby glanced and his expression became rather confused, then disappointed, "oh…yeah…"
Rogue grabbed Bobby's sleeve, "c'mon, lets go say hi…"
"Alright…"
Rogue and Bobby approached, Piotr and Illyana seemed pleasantly surprised and delighted to see both of them, "Hey you guys," Rogue said brightly.
"Hello," Piotr smiled, "I take it you are also seeing a movie?"
"The new Jennifer Aniston one," Rogue admitted.
"Us too!" Illyana said excitedly.
Piotr nodded, "yes, I have heard it is very funny."
Rogue grinned, "yeah, that's what Bobby said," she winked at Bobby, "hey, you guys should hang out with us…" she said brightly.
Piotr looked at her, "are you not on a date?" he asked.
"Pity date, its hardly the same thing," she said, keeping a low voice, trying to leave Illyana out of earshot of it, "we're just friends," she assured, then turned to Bobby, "its okay if they hang with us, right?"
"Uh…erm, of course," Bobby forced a smile, "glad to have them along," he added.
"Great," Rogue smiled, "lets go get the tickets."
Kitty Pryde led Remy LeBeau into her bedroom, and she closed the door after he'd stepped in. He looked perplexed and perhaps a little nervous, untidy as ever, unshaven, eyes tired.
"It's probably too soon to tell you all this stuff," Kitty began as she walked over to her dresser, she pulled the top drawer open and began to rummage through it, bringing out an envelope, "But…you haven't remembered anything, and I know its driving you crazy…its driving me crazy," Kitty sighed, she walked over to the bed and sat down primly, "sit here," she commanded softly.
Remy walked over slowly, taking a seat beside her, careful not to harm his wound as he did so, "What is it?" he asked.
Kitty opened the envelope and removed a small pile of photographs, "see for yourself."
Remy took the photographs from her, and began to sift through them carefully, eyes intensely placed upon each picture. Kitty glanced to the photos, the pictures of Remy and Rogue showed an obvious closeness he'd somehow erased from his mind.
"You…and Rogue," Kitty said tenderly, "Were…really close."
"How…close," Remy raised his eyes finally from the photos to look at Kitty with a desperate inquisitiveness.
"Very," Kitty kept eye contact, hoping to keep him calm just by giving him a sympathetic expression, keeping her voice gentle and soothing. "You loved each other…a hell of a lot..."
Remy looked to the pictures again, ran the tips of his fingers over the photographs of himself and Rogue together in embrace, "I…I don't remember…god, I don't remember and yet I feel like I should…"
Kitty looked at him, "you guys had been interested in each other ever since you came to the mansion when you were nineteen," she explained, "Rogue was only fifteen at first, so nothing much happened, and then, somehow, overnight it seemed, suddenly you guys were in love…"
Remy looked into space distantly, listening to every word, as if he were trying to conjure a picture of the story in his head.
"The longer you stayed with us, the closer you guys got…though, there were always complications…Rogue's powers didn't really help," Kitty watched him closely, she couldn't imagine how torn he was right now trying to remember these things and only coming up with blankness. "You couldn't touch her, and it bothered her a lot…" Kitty continued, "and you had secrets, you were always keeping secrets..."
"What…secrets."
"Months before you came to the mansion, Rogue and Nightcrawler had an incident with two mutants who infiltrated the mansions, destroyed our security systems, and claimed they were there to take Rogue…" Kitty chewed her lip, she tried to remain calm, although remembering all this so vividly when she knew Remy couldn't was bound to set off some kind of reaction sooner or later. She'd seen the reaction earlier that day and wasn't something she wanted to have to see him go through again. He wasn't strong enough for that kind of emotion yet.
"And?" Remy demanded.
"One of those mutants was you, Remy," Kitty sighed.
Remy looked positively horrified, "Me?"
"And Rogue beat you both. But at a price…her powers…to absorb the powers of others upon touch – caused her to permanently absorb the powers of Miss Marvel – the other mutant with you. She went into a coma for like a month after that…and then she came out of it – thank god," Kitty closed her eyes and tried to remember, "Anyway, somehow…you ended up wounded on our grounds months later – he weren't sure why at first and you wouldn't tell us…but Rogue wouldn't let it drop…she kept pushing…"
"And?" Remy asked desperately.
"One night…you had an accident on your motorbike, and you and Rogue both crashed into water, she saved your live with mouth to mouth, but absorbed your powers – and memories – in the process. She found out that you had known it was all a plan that she was supposed to get Miss Marvel's powers…that you'd pretended to be in love with Miss Marvel to get her into your little gang of mutant miscreants, with one of our worst enemies," Kitty frowned.
"This is confusing…"
"Okay, well, look at it this way, that's just ONE of the many mistakes you made with her…you started out as not such a nice guy…" Kitty explained, "but then you fell in love with Rogue and things changed…but you still had secrets, you kept a secret that you were married…that nearly cost Rogue her life thanks to you…and then of course…your ex-girlfriend shows up on the doorstep saying she's pregnant…that really messes your relationship up with Rogue…and then later on Bella Donna – your girlfriend – had a miscarriage…you were devastated," Kitty sighed.
"What then?" Remy asked.
"You and Rogue were still sort of trying to work things out around then, and this guy came to the Mansion – a student. Around seventeen, blue hair, a goth – like Rogue," Kitty looked away, "they hit it off, and Jared – that was his name – started trying to get Rogue to go out with him. You never found out 'til later, and it caused you and Rogue to split up – again. Rogue started dating Jared, and you weren't too happy about it. Then one night, me and Jared got into a fight, the bastard nearly killed me – and he took off, no one knew where he went, and not many of us cared."
"What does this have to do with me?" Remy frowned.
"I'm getting there," Kitty promised, "Anyway…you and Rogue were finally sorting things out, everything seemed fine, you'd gotten together…and then one night…we all woke up to this massive crashing sound…you'd gone, and Jared was dead in your room, crushed to death by an explosion that had so obviously been caused by your powers…"
Remy stood up quickly, his expression full of panic, "what are you saying?!"
"You accidentally killed Jared," Kitty said softly.
Remy looked on the verge of tears, "I'm a murderer?! A thief AND a murderer!?" he demanded, "why the fuck do you want me to remember all this?!" he demanded, "I was…"
"You were still a good man, Remy," Kitty stood up, "and what you did in the past…the things that happened…weren't always your fault…and even Rogue realised that."
Remy headed for the door, "I need to get out of here…"
Kitty stood up, "Wait!"
"Leave me alone, you've just told me I'm a fucking murderer, how do you expect me to deal with this?!" he demanded, "just leave me the fuck alone."
Rogue, Bobby Drake, Piotr and Illyana Rasputin left the movie theatre after having seen the movie, Bobby had been extremely quiet, and Rogue couldn't understand why, she'd barely even seen him laugh through the movie despite its hilarity. He seemed preoccupied.
"Are you okay?" Rogue asked as she walked beside him, they were a few feet ahead from Piotr and Illyana.
"Of course," he said brightly, "why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know, you just seem…I don't know…preoccupied or something," Rogue shoved her hands in the pockets of her jackets, "what's up?"
"Nothing," Bobby shrugged.
Piotr and Illyana caught up with them, Piotr spoke first, "I am starving…why don't we all go out for Pizza?"
"Well…me and Rogue have reservations at nine-thirty," Bobby stopped walking, he looked at Piotr then to Rogue.
Rogue glanced to Bobby, "It's just reservations…you can break them, no big deal," she shrugged.
"But…"
"Hey, Pizza would be so much better than all that fancy food right now," Rogue admitted, she smiled.
Bobby looked at her pleadingly for one moment, then sighed, "Y'know, you're right, y'know…we could just…cancel," he shrugged. "Pizza does sound good…and if that's what you want to do…"
"Great," Rogue grinned, "looks like we're all going to Pizza Hut!"