Imagination is a Powerful Weapon…For a Mutant
By AlyssaAnimeAngel
Alyssa: Well cause of the few reviews I got I will continue. Don't own X men the movie or otherwise. Though I do own the persona of Enigma and I don't own Ryou.
Oh and Aurora is Ororu, Aurora looks better.
Chapter 5 – An end to suffering, a time for peace.
Rogue listened to Professor X announce the bad news to the student body. She understood what Rogue had meant but that still didn't explain her attitude. There was something scary about her now. Something that just didn't fit. Sure the other day had been bad and Enigma had freaked out but Rogue was sure she had gotten through to her. But if she had, then Enigma would have remembered and yet she seemed to have forgotten. Connections were made and Rogue caused an outburst of, "No."
She froze in indecision and then without warning ran to the exit. Students were in her road so she jumped up and flew over them. She heard professor Xavier yell out but she ignored him. Enigma was in trouble and she knew she had to find her or something terrible was going to happen. Enigma found herself nearing the wall of the institute when she realized she had no idea where her friend was.
Rogue would have turned back when she suddenly got an idea. Enigma had made a connection with Rogue and perhaps it still lingered. Surely Rogue could find some trace of the girl?
Rogue closed her eyes and focused. She didn't look for Enigma directly; instead she tried to hear the song of the waterfall. It was a part of Enigma and surely she could trace it back to her.
A sound registered in Rogues mind and she could make out the song of the waterfall. It was slightly different, a little harsher, but it was definitely the same song. She took to the skies and flew with her eyes closed, following the song of the soul.
Eventually the song became louder and she looked down, seeing the form of a girl against the darkness. She knew it was her target so she landed.
"Hello Rogue, so nice to see you here."
"You knew I was coming?"
"Of course, it wasn't hard to feel your presence."
"Enigma, please tell me what is wrong."
"Nothing at all, I am just making a visit to a dear friend of mutant kind."
"Who?" Rogue questioned.
"Mr. Parkton of course."
"Enigma, you can't do this. It's wrong, even you said it was wrong to kill people."
And Enigma laughed, "Kill, whoever said kill. Oh no, I have something much better planned. He is going to have a sudden change of heart, actually a change of everything."
Rogue didn't understand, "What do you mean?"
"Now if I told you that then I wouldn't be true to my namesake."
"Enigma I cannot let you go through with your plan."
Enigma walked up to Rogue and grasping her hand, "You think to stop me. I may have given you power over your abilities but they are no match for mine."
Rogue lowered her head and when raising it she had a mournful expression on her face, "I thought you were a good person, an angel. But I see now that you aren't. If you do this you will regret it for the rest of your life, just like you regret the murder of your parents."
Enigma seemed to shake and she grasped her head. She seemed to be in pain and though Rogue was going to hate herself for doing this, she knew she had to. So she hit her across the face as hard as she could and with her new power of strength Enigma went flying. Enigma landed in a heap twenty metres away and she wasn't moving. Rogue was shocked and ran towards the fallen girl, "I'm so sorry, Enigma please be alright."
Rogue knelt next to her just as Enigma opened her eyes. They were clouded as though Enigma was gone and primeval instinct had taken over. She was injured and very weak but she managed one attack on the girl she had helped. She turned to look into Rogues eyes and launched her attack. The girl went flying without even so much as an eyelid battered. Rogue felt pain throughout her body and screamed as her body landed with a thud on a hard surface in a brightly lit room. She couldn't open her eyes but she heard familiar voices around her.
It had been a while since Professor Xavier had left the hall to merge with Cerebro and find Rogue. Jean had taken over the task of allaying the fears of the students with Storm, Cyclops and Logan as backup. She hoped Rogue was safe as she dismissed the students and turned to the side to leave via the stairs when someone came flying past her. She heard a thud as she turned to see Rogue crashing into the floor where Students had been standing just seconds earlier. Her scream echoed in the hall and the adults rushed to her side as the students froze from the commotion.
"Rogue, are you alright."
"What happened?"
"Rogue answer me."
Logan bent down and said, "Rogue, its Logan please tell us if you are alright."
Rogue opened her mouth, "She didn't even lift a finger, but I hope she is alright. I hit her pretty hard. I didn't mean to but I had to stop her. She is just so powerful…That's odd, I feel fine now."
And with that last comment Rogue opened her eyes and stood up.
She looked down at her body and saw it was in perfect condition; she wasn't hurt in the least.
"It hurt when I went flying and when I landed but I feel fine now. She didn't want to hurt me."
Rogue looked perplexed.
Aurora asked, "What happ…" but then she saw the other students, "Everyone to their rooms."
The students filed out with Bobby lagging behind to check on Rogue.
"Rogue are you sure you are okay?"
"Yes Bobby, I am fine. I am sorry I scared everyone but I realized that something was seriously wrong with Enigma. She is very troubled and I had to check on her. She is going to do something when she recovers her strength and I am afraid that the consequences will be terrible."
Just then Professor Xavier rolled into the room, "Rogue are you alright?"
"Yes Professor, but Enigma isn't. She was going to do something to Mr. Parkton and what ever it was she had no qualms about it."
"This is troubling indeed, I couldn't get a lock on you or her when I was with Cerebro. The only time I sensed your presence was when you came back to the mansion."
"She is strong professor but I think she is exhausted. She will not do anything until she has the strength but I think that she will be ready soon."
"Very well, we will have to prepare for the eventuality that we may have to use force to stop her."
Rogue muttered, "If we can."
Everyone looked at her and she apologized, "I'm sorry, its just she is so powerful and I am sad that she is going to hurt people. I really thought she was pure…Excuse me I need to rest."
And with that Rogue left silently with Bobby, a word not spoken between them.
"Rogue is felling very lonely again," observed Aurora.
Professor X said, "We should all attend the conference tomorrow. If Enigma is going to try something that would be the most likely place to start. Jean you will still speak tomorrow but for now let us all get some rest."
Scott said, "We may need it."
Logan muttered leaving the room, "I knew she was trouble."
Jean stepped up to the dais to start her speech on the fact that mutants were not the enemy and were not to be feared when she was immediately asked by Mr. Parkton, "Why do you defend these mutants. They have proven themselves to be dangerous. Murdering people and causing havoc wherever they are. They are dangerous and yet there are people like you who defend them?"
Jean began to answer, "They are not the enemy, they are simply…"
Mr. Parkton interrupted again, "That is not true is it, the truth is that you are a mutant aren't you Jean Gray?"
Before she could respond he picked up a paperweight and threw it at her. Her instincts kicked in and she stopped the projectile before it could hit her and a silence grew over the audience.
She moved the object onto the podium she was standing at and was frozen with indecision.
Luckily she didn't have to do anything as a familiar voice rang out.
"Yes, Jean Gray is a mutant, but what gives you the right to try and cause harm to her."
Suddenly a girl walked up to the stage and no one knew where she had come from.
"I am a mutant as well. Now you really shouldn't have tried to hurt Jean or any other mutant like her. You see she and others like her are nice mutants. They defend human kind from mutants who would like to see harm come to you all. Granted the bad mutants may like to see human kind destroyed and mutants to rule, but who can really blame them. You hunt down mutants as though they were nothing. It makes me sick, you all treat everything you don't understand or see as less than you are as though they deserve to be injured, hunted, killed, scared, tortured and victimized. Why can't you see that you have no right? You evolved from the same sludge that everything else on this planet evolved from and yet you still cant see that everything that is alive deserves to live equally. Back to what I am doing here, well, I really cannot see why you deserve the right to live. You see everything but human kind respects life, but not you all and that makes you less in my eyes. Now, granted, the true me destroyed herself. Her life had been horrific. Even human kind would not wish that life on anyone. You see the child was born to a couple that was human. Worse that that they were bad, bad humans. The father and mother had no love for this child and did horrible things to her. When they got divorced the child was pushed back and forward between the two houses. Not because the parent wanted her but because they didn't want her. At her mothers she was locked in a closet while her mother 'entertained' friends. These friends also beat the girl and the mother didn't care. At her fathers she was used in the most horrible way and yet still the girl loved her parents. She loved everyone; all she could see was that life was beautiful and that the world was full of such wonders. She hardly got to see any but when she did she was in awe. But her parent's hatred took such a toll on her and she finally cracked, she wished that they would both die. Now I am sure that everyone in their lifetime would wish someone to die but this girl truly down into the depths of her soul wished for it and it came true. Her parents dropped dead in front of her. Strangely the girl who had been given the power of making the imaginary real had destroyed something that was real and it destroyed her. She destroyed herself and was reborn without the knowledge of the past. She could live without the burden of her past. Now she saw wonders of life that everyone else considered quaint. But still like a vicious cycle of torture she was destined to be hurt again. When people found out she was a mutant they tried to hurt her and some succeeded, as she wouldn't use her powers to hurt others. She could escape most times but sometimes her imagination failed her and she was drowned in terror. Now eventually she came to grasp with the fact that she would always be feared by people though she had never hurt them and that was when she had come to find other mutants like herself and she found that she could be herself. But something happened to awaken the memories of the day she had killed her parents and she lost it. She started to fade and become nothing, soon she was gone and all that was left was me. Now I don't care about you or saving people, all I care about is the last desire of my previous me, that you shall not hurt mutants. I was shown the light and I intend to use all in my power to protect them and if that means making you less of a threat then I will do so."
Jean finally broke free of the spell held over everyone and stepped up to the girl, "Enigma do not do this. You are better than this."
"Did you not hear my story, the person you knew no longer exists. I really cannot be persuaded from this course of action, because there is nothing left to reason with."
Jean was afraid because she knew that what this thing said was true, Enigma no longer existed, she was gone, destroyed by her own memories. And Jean was heartbroken, the girl's soul had forever been injured, but now Jean knew that the girl she had first met would not have wanted this to continue, she would have stopped this thing herself if she had the power.
"I am thinking ants, ants work so well together to build a life together, human kind could learn from their example."
Rogue had finally broken free of the spell as well and flew down to the stage, "Enigma, I am your friend, and please I beg you don't do this, if you do you will be hurting mutant kind far more that you realize. To know that we prospered from the destruction of our brothers and sisters would destroy us. Yes they may have hurt us but that doesn't mean they deserve to be forcefully changed. They do not deserve it just like you didn't deserve what happened to you as a child. I beg you to please listen to me."
Enigma turned and laughed at Rogue but Rogue received something else, a whisper on the wind and it told her exactly what to do.
Rogue grabbed Enigma and kissed her. The two minds met and what was left of the true enigma surfaced. Jean saw the effect that Rogue was having; she was taking Enigma's power. The blue veins were visible on both the girl's faces and Jean was worried as was everyone else. The spell had been broken and the other mutants in the audience were joining Jean on the stage whereas the humans were frozen from the day's events.
Finally the girls separated and while Enigma disappeared Rogue fell to the floor unconscious. The room around them seemed to melt and they found themselves back at the mansion.
Rogue was immediately rushed to the infirmary while the others were left to ponder what had occurred. The answer was given when the television turned on and the television presenter reported that Mr. Parkton had taken back decided to cancel his motion that Mutants be controlled.
Professor Xavier said, "It would seem that Enigma erased the memories of today and somehow caused Mr. Parkton to drop his case."
Aurora said, "I wish that Enigma could forget again and start her life over."
The Professor replied, "I do not believe that is possible, she had a burden that she would never be able to carry even if she could not remember she carried it. I just hope she finds peace."
A frail girl with golden hair appeared under the wise old tree, which had given her strength at the school. She remembered everything and was sad. She could remember how easily the shape shifter manipulated her. Coming to her when she was weak after sending Rogue away and telling her that she should save mutants by destroying mankind. Enigma had been fading and the instinctual side of her lapped it up. The shape shifter had been so convincing and Enigma was almost gone that is was so easy to make the girl do anything. Enigma knew that she was almost gone, and yet she wanted something to live on, a part of her to survive so that she could make amends to her wrongs. In her last flare of hope her imagination worked a miracle. In the angel's fading arms a tiny baby sparked into existence. A wide-eyed boy with snow-white hair and pure innocent brown eyes looked up at his mother and smiled. She couldn't help but smile back and knew that this child, her child would live a beautiful life and would one day help to reunite mankind with mutant kind. She was about ready to leave but she had one task left, to deliver the child to his family. She stood up and walked across the lawn and knocked on the back door. Aurora answered and looked at the child in the nearly invisible arms of Enigma. Her eyes widened and she looked at Enigma's face. It was radiant with a smile that spoke of joy.
She spoke, "Please this is my child Ryou, take care of him, he is a part of the future. Aurora picked up the boy who only smiled at her. His little pudgy arms reached for his mother and the motion said goodbye. Enigma cried as she disappeared, "Take care Ryou and Aurora tell everyone I am sorry."
Enigma would never be able to deal with her past but Ryou would live on without that knowledge and be given the life that enigma had deserved. Enigma was not sad as she departed life and knew that she would be able to watch her son live his life and through his happiness and grief she would be able to find some fragment of peace. Her imagination did not fail her this last time, she would continue existence as the being that Rogue had called her.
And an angel was reborn.
The end, tell me what you think. I am happy with this and I hope it departs some wisdom to those who read it. For in this world, mutants are not the ones discriminated against. And when brothers and sisters oppress each other and think they are more deserving of life than others it lowers humanity. For only by respecting life can we prosper.