Author's Notes: I'd like to take this opportunity to thank gambitgirl and Anime addicted for their reviews. I will try to keep my story interesting. More will come soon. In this chapter Andre will be doing a lot of explaining, but I will try my best to keep the story interesting.
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Rogue Learns Her Past
Rogue woke up the next morning in the infirmary. She remembered every thing that had occurred last night. She looked to her side and saw Hank standing near by.
"Ah you're awake," he said and walked to the Goth's side.
Rogue sat up and asked, "what am Ah doing here?"
"You blacked out last night," said Hank. "Nothing serious, but we wanted to bring you down here just to be on the safe side."
Rogue sighed and put her head back on the pillow. She turned and saw Jean in a bed beside her.
This was the first time Rogue had seen her since she was attacked. The red head was asleep right now. Her face had three long scratches on it. One near her left eye, one that started near her ear and went down her cheek, and the third went right across her face diagonally. Each scratch was stitched up tightly.
There was another wound on her neck that led down to the wounds on her chest, which Rogue couldn't see. Jean was very pale on the count of all the blood she had lost. She looked so weak and helpless.
It was true that Rogue didn't like her, but seeing her like this made the Goth feel sorry for perfect little Jean.
The red head began to stir and then woke up. She turned to the girl in the bed beside her. "Hey, Rogue, are you ok," she asked in a weak voice.
"You're worried about me," asked Rogue, "you're the one who's all cut up."
"I know," said Jean, "but I was awake when Logan and Hank brought you down here last night. They told me what happened."
Rogue looked away from Jean and down at her covered knees. "So you know about Andre?"
Jean nodded. She was about to sit up when Hank stopped her, "Jean don't move around to much. You lost a lot of blood last night and you must relax."
Jean put her head back down. Rogue turned to Hank and asked, "where's Andre."
"He's right over there," Hank pointed across the room.
There was young Toulon. He was asleep in a chair across the room. His cane was leaning against the wall and his puppets stood near by. Rogue couldn't tell whether they were awake or asleep.
Soon he opened one eye and looked at the two girls. Jean had fallen back to sleep so she didn't know about Andre's presence in the infirmary.
The boy picked up his cane and walked over to the side of Rogue's bed. He dragged the chair along with him and sat in it. He looked directly into the girl's eyes. "How you feeling Rogue?"
"How should Ah feel right now," she asked. "Here Ah've been wondering about mah past and mah family, thinking if Ah even want to know who they are, and now it's all out in the open."
"Well you were suppose to have been told about this at age five," said Andre.
"Ah'm just really confused right now," Rogue said, "right now Ah don't know whether to like you or hate you." She began to ask many questions all at once. "If your are mah brother where have you been for all these years? Who were our parents? Why did they abandon me?"
"Rogue," Andre stopped her, "they abandoned me to, but they did it to protect us. I'll explain every thing right now."
Rogue looked even more confused. Andre looked over and saw Hank listening to them talk. He turned back to Rogue and said, "why don't we go somewhere more privet? This whole thing is a little personal."
Rogue nodded. She grabbed her cloths that had been left next to the bed and changed in a separate room. The puppets followed the two out of the infirmary leave Hank alone with the sleeping Jean.
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Rogue led Andre and the puppets into her room. She was glad Kitty wasn't there, now she would not have to order her to leave.
Rogue sat down on her bed and Andre pulled up the chair from her desk. The puppets made themselves comfortable on different pieces of furniture in the room.
Rogue watched Andre lean his cane against her desk. "What's with that cane anyway," she asked.
Andre said, "I have a little problem with my right leg. It's partially paralyzed. The cane helps me get around easily."
He moved his right leg into a comfortable position with his hands and said, "so, what do you want to know?"
"What ever you can tell me," said Rogue.
"I'll start from the beginning," Andre took a deep breath and began the tail. "It all started with Our Grandfather Andre Toulon the first when he lived in Germany during World War two. There he lived with his wife Elsa Toulon and the Puppets. They tried their best to hide the puppets from the Nazis but it wasn't very easy.
Near the end of the war Elsa gave birth to our father, I don't really know his name. Any way, Our grand parents were worried about having our dad live with them. They didn't know how much longer the war would last and they didn't want their son to grow up in all the chaos. So they smuggled him to America where he lived with some friends that Toulon the first had here."
Andre gave a sad sigh and said, "two weeks later Elsa was killed by the Gestapo. Some how they had discovered Toulon's secret. After Elsa's death he was devastated. He used his Puppets to kill every person who was involved with the death of our grand mother. They killed every one of them."
Rogue put her hand on her chest. "That's terrible," she said. "Why did the Gestapo kill Elsa? She had nothing to do with the Puppet's, did she?"
"That I don't know Rogue," said Andre, then he continued. "Anyway long story short Andre the first came here to America, and you know the rest of the story."
"But that still doesn't tell me about you and mah parents," said Rogue. She then quickly changed her last few words. "Ah mean our parents."
"I'm getting to that," said Andre. "A few years after our Grandfather killed himself the Puppets had been in the Bodega Bay Inn for a long time. They had been discovered and miss guided by other people who have been the Puppet Master before me. After many years our father found them. He spent a long time trying his best to learn about the Puppets and the magic. He was guided by our grandfather."
"Wait," Rogue interrupted, "hold on a second. I thought Toulon shot himself."
"He did," said Andre, "but it was his spirit that directed our father." He stood up and sat near Rogue on her bed. "He helped our father through many difficult times. Finally he learned to take care of the puppets himself, and after that he met our mother. Her name was Starling Hammond."
Rogue slid a little closer to Andre as the boy continued. "They got married and spent many happy years together. But sadly things took a turn for the worst Vonce and the Hanzain Cult discovered our father had the Puppets. Our parents had to move from town to town in order to stay hidden from them. And to make matters worse, Suetek was looking for them as well.
They had to remain hiding from them. They would only go out of the house at night because it was difficult to be seen then. And soon after a while Starling became pregnant with us."
"So they had us when they were hiding from that cult," asked Rogue.
Andre only nodded. "They did love us Rogue, and so did the spirit of Andre Toulon the first. They cared about us very much."
"Oh really," said Rogue sounding a little harsh. "Then why did they abandon us? Face it Andre they didn't want us."
"Yes they did," said Andre. "As we grew up we became very close to the Puppets, and our parents used to watch us play around with them. Some times they could never even put us down, they wanted to hold us all the time."
Rogue gave a little smile, but quickly shook it of and replaced it with her harsh look again. "How do you know all this? We were both to young to remember anything," she said coldly.
Andre said, "because the spirit of our grandfather has been guiding me too. Plus I was told about my past by my foster parents just like Misteik was suppose to tell you."
Rogue's harshness went away, but she still didn't smile, "you still didn't answer me," she said, "why did they abandon us?"
Andre's face became sad. "One day Vonce and his followers found out where we were. He captured all of us and prepared to execute us all. Luckily he didn't find the puppets. They saved us from them and we all tried to get away, but the Hanzain cult followed close behind our parents. Our father, though a mutant, knew he couldn't protect us from them all." He gave another sad sigh.
"So to make sure that they wouldn't catch us, he used himself as a decoy and led them away from our mother and us. The spirit of Toulon and the puppets tried to stop him, but they couldn't The cult captured him and killed him with out mercy."
Rogue sat in shock. "He sacrificed himself for us," she asked. Andre only nodded.
Rogue began to think about all the cruel things that she used to think about her parents. She used to believe that her parents were heartless people that didn't want her because they knew she was a mutant, but now she found out that her thoughts were all wrong.
"Anyway," Andre continued, "our mother began to believe that she couldn't protect us from the Hanzain cult, or from Suetek, even with the help of the puppets. And our grandfather felt the same way. Even though it hurt them so much, they had to hide us somewhere, so our enemies couldn't find us. The plan was for us to be put in separate foster homes and when we were old enough and the search for us died down we would meet up again and Andre would teach us all his secrets."
"Why were we separated in the first place," asked Rogue, "why weren't we left with the same foster family?"
"Because Toulon thought that if we were separated it would make it more difficult for our enemies to find us. That and if one of us was found another would be able to protect the secret. That doesn't' mean that Toulon cared about the secret more then us, he just knew he had to protect it no matter what."
Rogue asked another question. That was all she really had to say. She had so many questions and they were slowly being answered. "Well what happened? Why didn't we reunite like we were suppose to do?"
"I'm getting to that Rogue," said Andre. "Shortly after our father's death our mother took you to live with one of our fathers best friend, Mystique. You were given to her and she was told every thing. She was told about the puppets, Vonce, Suetek, everything, but she was not told about the formula. Even though she was a friend of the family, our grandfather didn't trust her with the formula, or the puppets. He was afraid she would abuse the magic for her own advantages."
"And she was suppose to tell me about mah past," Rogue asked.
"Yes," said Andre. "She was given specific instructions to tell you everything as soon as you turned five. Around the time of your fifth birthday the spirit of our grandfather came looking for you and Mystique, but she had left her old home and took you with her. Toulon spent years looking for you, but he couldn't find you."
Rogue began to fill up with anger. She knew Mystique had lied to her before, but now that she knew her old foster mother was suppose to tell her about her past made the young Goth feel so much rage, but she held it back for the sack of Andre. "So what happened with you and our mother," she asked trying to hold back her rage.
Andre said, "our mother took the puppets and me to close friends of hers called Henry and Joan Anderson. She did the same thing that she did with Mystique, she told them everything and left the Puppets there with me. However she didn't tell them the formula as well, hell she didn't even know the formula really She didn't even make it out of town after that. Vonce found her, and like our father, he killed her without mercy."
It was then that Rogue began to cry. Now she knew both her parents were gone. She couldn't help, but let the tears fall. Andre put his arm around her shoulder and tried to comfort her. Rogue took a few deep breaths and asked, "wh-why was she killed? If she didn't now the magic behind the puppets then what was the point in killing her?"
"Because Vonce didn't care if she knew anything," said Andre. "As far as he was concerned our mother was family to Andre Toulon the first, and that meant she had to die. I know it doesn't seem fair, but that's the way Vonce saw it."
Rogue whipped away her tears, but they were only replaced with more. Young Andre did his best to comfort her. This news must have been devastating for her.
The puppets moved next to her and their master. They tried to help Andre in consoling her.
Andre took her arm off of Rogue when he heard a sound coming from the other side of the door. The boys stood up and grabbed his cane. He walked over to the door and put his ear against it. Then he quickly opened the door and slammed it shut again.
Rogue and the puppets heard two short yelps of both shock and pain. Andre opened the door again and saw Kitty, and Kurt kneeling near the door with their hands on their head where the door had hit them.
"Get in here," Andre said angrily.
The two mutants entered the room. Andre slammed the door angrily and said, "what the hell were you two doing? Were you listening to what I was telling Rogue?"
The two mutants stood quietly. The Puppets left Rogue's side and stood in front of the two waiting for an explanation.
"Well, yeah," said Kitty in a shaky voice.
Rogue stood up and said, "why were you listening? Can't any body in this institute give me a little privacy. This was very personal." Her voice was hard and furious.
"I'm sorry Rogue," said Kurt, "but after we fund out that Andre here was your brother we had to know what was going on. You're my sister too Rogue. I just wanted to make sure that you would be alright after hearing what Andre told you."
"What do you mean by 'you're my sister too," asked Andre.
Rogue looked at him and said, "he was Misteak's son. Ah'm his adopted sister."
Andre nodded and stepped closer to the two mutants. Rogue did as well and saw that Kitty was crying. "What's wrong with you," she asked the prep.
Kitty whipped her tears and said, "it's just that, I like, heard what Andre said happened to your parents. It sounded so terrible."
Rogue tried to hold back her tears with no success. Hot tears ran down her face as she said, "Ah know. Ah just can't believe it."
She put her face in her hands and sat back on her bed. Andre stepped over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. Kurt did the same.
Andre looked over at Kurt and said, "you care about her don't you?" Kurt nodded.
Andre looked at Kitty and then back at Kurt. "Ok you two sit on the bed over there if you want to."
Rogue looked up at him. "You're letting them stay?"
"Yes," said Andre, "there is know point in hiding this from them now. But if you want them to leave then I will tell them to."
Rogue shook her head and said, "no. You're right. There's no point in having them leave since they know everything now."
The young Goth didn't want to admit it, but she felt more comfortable having Kurt and kitty there with her.
"I guess I'll start answering any other questions that you have," Andre said as he sat back into the chair.
"There's no point," said Rogue, "you already answered them all. Ah only have one more. Where were you all these years? Ah mean Ah know that Misteak took me away, but still you have been looking for me all this time, and why didn't your foster parents help you?"
Once again Andre's face turned to sadness. "Because they're gone," he said. "When I was five they told me every thing about my past. I thought that soon we would all look for you, but when I turned six Vonce found me. The Andersons did their best to protect me, but they paid with their own lives. They were dragged out of the house and burned alive."
He put his face in his hands, but did not cry. Rogue moved a little closer to him and said, "Vonce killed them too?" Andre nodded. "Ah'm sorry," Rogue said sympathetically.
Andre continued. "The puppets and the spirit of Toulon tried to save them, but they did not succeed. While my foster parents were dying they had no choice but to get me and take me away.
I spent a good deal of my life hiding. Our grandfather's spirit had to teach me the magic and how to care for the puppets when I was very young. They stole a cane for me and taught me how to walk with it. It was a difficult life.
I didn't start searching for you until I was ten. That was around the same time that my mutant abilities started to evolve. After many years I was finally led here to Bayeville where I finally found you."
He stood up and walked over to the window. "The Hanzain cult and Suetek are still looking for me, and you too. But now that I found you, I can teach you the magic, and maybe we will be able to protect ourselves from them," he turned back to Rogue. "But I am not worried about that right now. I have finally found you, and I am very happy that my search for my sister is finally over."
Rogue was silent, as were Kitty and Kurt. She was stunned by all this information. She looked down at the puppets and back at Andre. "So, you and the puppets are mah family?" Andre nodded.
Roue couldn't hold back any more. She walked right over and unexpectedly hugged the young Puppet Master. Tears of joy ran down her cheeks. She didn't care if Kurt and Kitty saw her. She had finally found her family.
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Within the city of Bayeville a homeless man walked through the streets. He had spent most of the day picking up cans and paper to trade in for some money. He headed into the small ally that he called his home.
The homeless man stopped at the entrance of the ally. Deep in the darkness he could see the outline of a small creature. He walked closer to it.
The creature stood facing a wall and was holding his hands out in front of him. It looked like it was in deep concentration.
In a few minutes a volt of light came out of it's fingers opening the gate to Suetek's prison deep below the Earth.
The homeless beggar watched as two other creatures that looked just like the first came out of the gate. The gate closed and the three creatures faced the beggar.
"What the hell are you," he asked in an old shaky voice.
The creatures said nothing. They just let out their screeching roar and lunged at the man. They were soon upon him.
Two of the creatures grabbed the man's feet and made him fall backwards. The third leapt onto his face and began to claw at his flesh.
The man screamed in agony, but no body came to help him. His face was scratched to a bloody mess and then he was silent.
The creature stood on the man's chest and put both of it's hands on the side of the man's head. The creature began to glow a golden color.
The homeless man's life force began to leave his body in the form of a mist.
Suetek watched in his prison below the Earth. "Yes," he said, "take his energy. Steal his life force and bring it down to us."
The creature did as he was told. In no time all of the man's energy was gone and sent down to Suetek. "Good," the demon said, "now you must get the two grand children of Andre Toulon. You may kill all the others around them, but the two children must be destroyed. Be very cautious, the puppets of the old master are with the boy. You must kill them as well."
All three of the creatures nodded and head out of the ally, leaving the corps of a poor beggar behind them.
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Kitty, Kurt and Rogue sat in the bedroom with the Puppet Master. Even though Rogue's past was now some what known she still had questions for her brother. She wanted to know more about him, as did Kitty and Kurt.
"So how did you find out Ah was in Bayeville," Rogue asked sitting beside the Puppet called Blade.
"That was just a stroke of luck on our grandfathers part," the boy said, "he had been searching for you when I slept every now and the. Of course I didn't really sleep much, but whenever I did he would look for you. One day as his specter was going around he saw a news report about mutants in Bayeville. Since he knew you were a mutant he figure it wouldn't hurt to check this place out."
"Aren't you a mutant too," asked Kurt.
"Yes," said Andre. He looked down at the puppet called Jester and began to gently stroke his head.
"So, what's your mutant ability," asked Kitty.
Andre sighed. "You really don't want to know."
"Yeah, we do," Rogue said. She wanted to know her brother's powers ever since he arrived.
Andre sat down and said, "I can see peoples fears."
Kitty leaned forward and said, "so you can read minds."
"No," said Andre, "I can only see what a person is afraid of. I can see what happened to them that caused their fear And I can also show them their fear."
"Show them," asked Rogue. "You mean you could make some on believe that what their afraid of is right in front of them?"
"It's more than that," said Andre, "the things I show people can be very realistic. Even other people can see what I'm showing one person. I can also show other people someone else's fear."
"Wow," said Kitty, "that sound so cool."
Andre turned to the young prep. "Do you think your fear of snakes is cool Kitty," he asked.
He held out his arm and then the form of a snake came slithering out of his sleeve. It looked directly at Kitty.
The girl leaned backward in terror. She said in a voice full of fear, "no it's not cool."
Andre made the snake disappear and said, "somebody's fear is never cool Kitty. Kurt's fear of sharp objects isn't funny and neither is Rogue's fear of blood."
Both Rogue and Kurt stood up with a look of shock. They both said in unison, "how did you know that?"
Kitty looked at them. "Rogue, you're afraid of blood?"
Rogue tried to think of an answer that would lead Kitty away from the truth, but she couldn't think of one. She then gave up and said, "yes. Ah don't know what it is about it. Ah just can't stand the look of blood," she looked over at Andre angrily, "why did you have to tell them that?"
"There is no point in hiding your phobia Rogue," he said.
Kitty giggled and said, "I thought Goths didn't mind blood."
Andre said, "never make fun of a persons fear Kitty. They always have a reason to be afraid even if they don't know the reason themselves."
Kurt nodded in agreement. Kitty stopped laughing and sat back on her bed. Kurt looked back at Andre. "What about you, what are you afraid of?"
Andre said, "I think it should be obvious to you. I'm afraid of Vonce."
"Well, I can understand that," said Kitty.
There was a knock at the door. Rogue walked over and opened it. The Professor wheeled himself in followed by Ororo.
"Have you two cleared everything that you needed to," Charles asked Rogue and Andre.
"What," asked Rogue. She wondered if the Professor and Ororo were listening to the conversation between her brother and her like Kitty and Kurt were.
Ororo answered the question. "Hank told us you went up here with Andre to discuss a few things."
Rogue paused and said, "yeah. Andre is mah brother, and he was able to tell me about mah parents."
"Very good," said Charles. He turned to her newfound brother. "Andre your room has been set up just down the hall. You may go there when you wish."
It was now Andre's turn to question. "What do you mean my room has been set up? I'm not staying here tonight am I? I never stay anywhere, or have someone do me a favor unless I can repay the person who has shown me hospitality. I have nothing to repay you with."
Andre was a person with curtain values and it was very difficult to be persuaded him to go against them.
"It's no problem Andre," said Ororo. "It is our pleasure to have you here with us."
"I won't stay if I can't pay you back," the boy said.
Rogue thought for a while and said, "Andre Ah have an idea. Tomorrow we have a Danger Room lesson scheduled. You can pay the Professor back by joining us and showing him what he can do. And the puppets can join as well."
Andre looked at her and back at the Professor. "If I do this, will that be enough to pay you back for staying here?"
Xavier nodded. "Yes, of course Andre."
"Alright I'll stay," he said. Xavier nodded happily and left the room with Ororo. Andre turned back to Rogue and said, "I'll be leaving the puppets with you tonight. You need to get acquainted with them."
Rogue smiled and said, "ok."
The puppet called Blade watched, as Andre was about to leave the room. He looked out the window and saw five dark figures at the gate of the institute. He gave an alarmed gasp and jumped off of Rogue's bed. The other six puppets followed him out the door.
Rogue called after them; "hey where are you guys going?"
Andre said, "relax. They'll probably be doing stuff like this all day. They're very protective of us."
Andre opened the door with his cane and was about to leave. Before he could Rogue said, "Andre Ah just have one more question. Do Ah have a real name or is it just Rogue?"
Andre looked at her and said, "because of all the chaos they were going through our parents never thought to name us. I chose to be named after our grandfather when I turned five," and he left the room.
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Outside the gates of the Xavier Institute Vonce stood with four of his followers. Even in the daylight their faces could not be seen under their hoods.
Vonce turned to the sign and read it out loud. "The Xavier Institute For Gifted Youngsters." He laughed and said, "a very good school for those pathetic mutants."
He reached out his hand and felt the bars of the gate. "I can sense young Toulon. He is here in this institute."
One of his followers stepped forward. "What do we do from here sir," he asked.
Vonce pushed the gate. It had been fixed since Andre had Decapitron short circuit the control pad. The cloaked man stepped back. He took out a small vial of a strange red substance out of his cloak.
He pored some of it on the gate and said a few words in a strange tongue. The liquid began to glow a flaming red and Vonce was then able to push the gate open.
He went through the gate followed by his followers. When inside he said, "we will wait until the cover of darkness. Then we will make our attack on the students. We will take five of them, one by one. With them as hostages the two grand children of Toulon will have to except our demands.
The three cloaked figures hid out of view. Inside the institute Blade looked out of the window. He saw nothing. He jumped down next to the other puppets. They knew that Blade had seen something and they were ready for what ever was going to happen.