Disclaimer: Okay, still don't own X-Men and I'm defiantly not making any money off of this so no one sue. You won't get nothing but a headache. And I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of it's references. Oh, but I do own Ebony and the story idea and probably any characters you don't recognize. Yay me. And I don't technically own Sakura and Eric. My friend Megan does. So let's all thank her. Everyone together, THANK YOU MEGAN.
Authors Note: Everyone, y'all need to go and read Mercury Dream's stuff. It's really, really, really, really, really good. (Did I mention really?) A Rogue's Touch and All Grown Up are my favorites but the others are all really good as well. So go read her stuff to. Now, quickly! Oh, and if any of you didn't already know, Ishandahalf has posted a fic that you all need to go read too. Okay all, hope you don't hate Madison after this chapter.
'text' internal speech
dreams
Wandering Souls
Chapter 30: Old Friends
Rogue smiled as she ran her bare hand over the sleek curves of her Mustang. "You're, like, so totally lucky Rogue," Kitty said as she watched her friend.
"Don't Ah know it," Rogue agreed as Remy picked that precise moment to walk through the door leading to the garage. He was pulling his trench coat over his new silk shirt and a pair of nice fitting jeans. Christmas had come and gone and the students of the Xavier Institute had all returned from their holiday to begin the torture that was classes the following Monday. But they still had three days of freedom ahead of them and Rogue and Remy weren't going to let it go to waste.
"So, like where are you guys going?" Kitty asked as Scott, Jean, Amara and John followed Remy into the garage.
"The mall," Scott said as he headed over towards his own sports car.
"Sure you don't want to come Kitty?" Jean asked as she slid into the car next to her boyfriend.
"I can't. I, like, promised Lance I'd go with him to some wrestling match or something," Kitty said. "I think he wants to join the WWF or something. He keeps telling me I'd be the perfect card girl." Kitty rolled her eyes at her boyfriends notions before looking back at the others. "Have fun though."
"Will do Kit," Amara said plopping into the back of Scott's car, pulling John with her.
"But I wanna ride in the new one," the pyromaniac whined as his girlfriend silenced him with a kiss on the cheek.
"I know, but no," Amara stated as Scott started up the car.
"See if you can keep up Rogue," Scott teased as he peeled out of the garage.
"Please," Rogue stated as her and Remy climbed into the vehicle. "Later Kit."
"Smoke de homme Cherie," Remy stated fastening his seatbelt as Rogue tore out of the garage, racing after Scott.
"And they say I, like, can't drive," Kitty said as she headed back into the institute to wait for her boyfriend.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I can't believe you cheated like that!" Scott complained as they entered the front doors of the Bayville Mall, an indignant look on his face.
"Oh and lahke ya didn't," Rogue challenged. "At least Ah didn't get a head start."
"It was a little low having Remy pelt us with cards as you sped by," Jean added, defending her boyfriend.
"Oh and de back of de car lifted on it's own den?" Remy asked giving Jean a knowing look, his arm wrapped around Rogue's waist as they walked.
"Okay, you lost Scott, get over it," Amara said, tired of their bickering. "So can we please just shop now?"
"Yeah, let's get going," Jean agreed.
"Okay, Remy, John and I are going to Folley's," Scott said. "I need some new pants for the semester, so where will you guys be?"
"I need ta run by hot topic and then we're goin' ovah ta Macey's right Jeannie?" Rogue asked.
"Yeah," the red haired telepath agreed.
"Well, I was going to go to Victoria Secretes, so I'll just meet you guys at Macey's then? Or do you want to come with me over there and then we'll hit the other stores?" Amara said looking at the girls.
"We'll go with you," Jean replied after looking at Rogue and noticing the girls shrug.
"Change of plans mates," John said, his eyes perking at the thought of Amara in an underwear store. "I'm going with them."
"Brother," Rogue breathed shaking her head. "Alrahgt, we'll meet y'all at Folley's," she said leaning over and kissing Remy's lips sweetly. "Be good."
"Always mon amore," Remy replied giving her a quick squeeze before letting her go. "Don't try on anythin' wit out Remy's approval hahn?"
Rogue turned as she walked with the girls giving him a look. "Pervert," she said as they all continued to the escalator.
"Well, homme, guess it jus' be y' and Remy non?" Remy said as he and Scott headed towards the opposite direction.
"At least Pyro's not here. They can worry about him burning down the whole damned building," Scott muttered as they headed to the store.
Nearby two figures emerged from the shadows, smirks playing on their faces. "Who should we follow?" one asked, her voice calm and even as she brushed her brown and red streaked hair away from her shoulder.
"Who do I always follow?" the girl asked sweetly. "The boys," her voice more emotional than the first as black and indigo hair fell about her own shoulders. Together they headed down the hall behind Scott and Remy.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Y' listenin' to dem homme?" Remy asked as he and Scott stood in the middle of Folley's browsing through the racks of pants while two stacks over, two women laughed and spoke loudly.
"Y'know, it takes a long time," the girl with the red streaks in her brown hair began, as she examined a pair of button up jeans. "But it's a lot more satisfying when you use your teeth."
Scott blushed slightly at the obscenity of the comment while Remy smirked and looked over at Scott. "Which one y' want homme?"
"What?!" Scott asked, taken aback.
"Which one? We non serious, jus' fer fun," Remy's smirk grew as he looked over at the two. "Remy be thinkin' bout de purple haired one." He watched the girl for a moment. She was tall and lean, with indigo streaked black hair down to the small of her back, half of it pulled into a bun with two elaborate chop sticks holding it in place. Her skin was pale and smooth and when he caught her eyes, two lavender gems, obviously contacts, stared back at him for the briefest instant. She looked good in a pair of black hip huggers and a metallic blue tube top that revealed a blue sapphire naval ring, that Remy's expert eyes could tell was real, and a blue dragon, wings extended across her abdomen, just beneath her belly button, it's mouth open, claws bared at the ends. She wore a ¾ length fitted black leather jacket and stiletto heeled black boots from the looks of it. Her long fingers flipped through the pants and ended in perfectly manicured nails, matching the metallic blue of her shirt. On her left hand she wore a simple sliver band on her ring finger while on her right thumb, she wore a silver band with Celtic designs etched into it and on her right middle finger, a silver band attached to a silver Celtic bracelet by three sapphire jeweled chains. She had three holes in each ear, the lowest ones being filled with large hoops that went down to her shoulders followed by two studs, the middle ones being sapphires and the top ones little skulls. Wrapped snugly around her neck was a blue velvet choker with silver spikes, sharpened to points. 'Not bad,' the Cajun thought for a moment. 'But not Rogue.'
"Not bad, but neither is the other one," Scott answered as he looked over at her companion. The other girl had brown hair flowing to the middle of her shoulder blades in long layers complete with dark red streaks. She was a little shorter than her friend was but that could have had something to do with the black doc martins she wore compared to the others stiletto heels. A pair of black slacks with metallic red stripes running vertically down the legs added a business flare to her otherwise biker aspect. The illusion was enhanced with a tight red metallic round necked shirt that ended even with her belly button revealing a red leather belly chain covered in black skulls that ended with several black loops and clasp and a black leather biker jacket with a pair of large red angel wings on the back. The entire outer shells of both ears were pierced with small garnet studs and a red leather choker clung to her neck along with a pair of dog tags hanging loosely from a ball chain. When she turned her back to them, the head and wings of a blood red dragon, matching the blue one on her friend's stomach, peeked out from behind her slacks. Two slim silver bangles dangled around her left wrist and a thick red leather banded watch clung to her right. A silver thumb band adorned each hand while the left hand had the hands, crown and heart of a claddagh tattooed on the ring finger, the heart pointing in. (AN Buffy fans you know what I'm talking about.)
"True homme, but dat one be taken," Remy replied noticing the tat.
"What do you mean?" Scott asked confused as he went back to thumbing through the pants.
"De tat. Wit de heart pointin' in it be meanin' she belong to someone," Remy replied as he looked in disgust at the pants Scott had picked up. "Jus' non homme."
"No what?" Jean asked as she and Rogue walked up to the two boys.
Suddenly the voices got louder as the black haired girl picked up a pair of black slacks, mischief glinting behind the lavender contacts. "Do you know how I can tell if a pair of pants is going to look good on Tony?" she asked her friend, who raised an eyebrow as she continued to thumb through the pants.
Remy and Scott perked their ears while Jean looked over curiously and Rogue began to pale considerably.
"I throw them on the floor," at this, she demonstrated by flinging the slacks at Remy's feet. "And see if I like them there. And if I do," she looked up, letting her eye's meet Rogues, "Then I know I'll like them on him since that's where they'll end up at the end of the night."
"The end of the night?" the girl replied skeptically raising her eyebrow farther.
The other girl laughed loudly as she bent over, making sure Remy got an eye full, and picked up the pants. "Good point. Earlier than that."
Remy watched her steadily, something about her just didn't feel right to him. Scott leaned over and jabbed him in the ribs. "I think she wants you," he stated, grinning.
Remy shook his head. "Non homme. Remy be thinkin' dat dere be more to dis," he said as he looked over to Rogue, noticing how pale she'd become. "Cherie? Y' alright?" he asked, sweeping his arms around her bare waist.
'Ah can't believe there here,' Rogue thought, not hearing Remy as her mind began to wander to a different time.
~Flashback~
"Class, class. Settle down," Ms. Donald's smooth southern voice echoed around the room causing Marie to look up from her notebook. "We have new students today and Ah think we should make em feel welcome don't you?"
Marie watched as two girls entered the room, an air of defiance about them as they stood at the front of the class. Both looked out of place in the small town of Caldecott County, Mississippi with their hair tipped in red and indigo and leather pants.
"Class this is Madison O'Brian and Sa–Koo-da," Donald's struggled with the second girls name as the first one smirked.
"Sakura," the second girl responded annoyed. "Don't even try the last name. I'm sure it's beyond your capability."
The class stared at the new girls in wonder, as a tension began to build. No one had ever mouthed off to Donald's before. Madison looked around, noting the tension before breaking out in a fit of laughter causing the other students to ease slightly.
"Well, why don't y'all say something about yer selves," the teacher continued, an annoyed tone in her voice. A mutual look of disgust passed over both girls' faces before an evil smirk appeared on Madison's. She turned and looked at Sakura.
"I told you we should have brought the gun. They wouldn't be asking us these questions if we'd brought the gun," Madison said evenly and with a straight face.
"No. It's the first day of school. No Gun," Sakura replied calmly.
"Why not? I like the gun," Madison pouted.
"I know you like the gun, but we've talked about this," Sakura continued as she inspected her nail polish.
"In LA they let me have the gun," Madison argued placing her hands on her hips and flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"That's because in LA they were packing too," Sakura stated, and added under her breath, "And I don't mean hillbillies with shot guns."
"Okay, well Ah think we know enough," Donald's broke in, smiling nervously. "Why don't you take a seat and we can get started."
Later at lunch…
"So," a mellow even voice said behind Rogue's head. "You're the only one around here not in flannel," Rogue turned to see Madison and Sakura standing next to her lunch table, where she sat alone.
"So we're going to talk to you," Madison finished as she plopped down next to Rogue, Sakura taking the seat across from her. "So what's your name anyway?"
"Marie," she replied as she looked cautiously at the two girls. "What do y'all want anyway?"
"Uh rude much," Sakura said, doing a perfect Cordelia imitation (An: If you don't know who that is, then there's no hope for you.)
"Why do we have to want something?" Madison asked, before getting a dreamy look in her eye. "Well, now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind Tony, without a shirt, oh and whipped cream, and sprinkles," Madison licked her lips slightly as she stared off into space, her lunch forgotten for the time as her eyes clouded over a bit.
"Okay, come back honey," Sakura said throwing a piece of bread at Madison's face. She then turned to Marie. "Don't worry, she does this all the time."
"Oh," Marie laughed. "But, who's…" she trailed off as Sakura's hand s hot up in front of her face.
"Stop right there. We don't have enough time and quite frankly, you really don't want to know," Sakura said, emphasizing the really.
"Oh, okay," Marie said confused as she watched Madison shake her head and the cloudiness clear from her eyes.
"Hey!" Madison said an excited expression coming over her face. "I just had a thought."
"Was it lonely?" Sakura asked deadpan.
"Oh bite me," Madison said before turning to Marie. "You should come over to our place tonight!"
"Ah don't know that Ah can," Marie began looking uncertainly over at Sakura.
"Well why not?" Sakura asked munching on an apple as she flipped her blood red lighter with her free hand.
"Well, Ah don't know," Marie began as Madison cut her off.
"No, it'll be great! Besides, you haven't lived until you've had the guys cooking. And after that you can show us what there is to do in this sorry ass little town of yours."
"The guys?" Marie asked, as the two girls seemed to grow more and more confusing to her.
"You'll meet them later," Sakura said.
"Oh, well, Ah guess it'll be okay. Ah'll just have ta call Irene and let her know," Marie answered.
"Great! We'll have a blast, I just know it," Madison said as she downed her grapes.
Later after school let out…
"So, why'd y'all move here anyway?" Marie asked as the three girls walked the back streets of Caldecott towards Sakura and Madison's home.
"Well, two reasons," Madison replied as she balanced a book on her head while they walked. "One, it's close to New Orleans which is like party central. And two, it's a hell of a lot cheaper."
"Oh," Marie watched as they turned up the pathway to a small two-story home with two bikes parked in the driveway along with a cherry red Camero.
"There's mamma's baby," Madison exclaimed, throwing her books down and walking over to the car, hugging it.
Sakura rolled her eyes as she walked to the front door, letting her hand run across the leather seat of her black Buell.
Marie just laughed at the two girls and followed them into the house. It smelled rich of homemade Italian food.
"Honey we're home," Madison called out, shutting the door behind Marie. "And look we brought a friend," she added as she wrapped her arm around Marie's shoulder and followed Sakura into the kitchen.
Marie entered the room with Madison and the first thing she noticed was a broad shouldered man leaning over the oven, his ass up in the air a bit in a pair of blue jeans, giving Marie a good view. When he stood, her mouth dropped open at the sight of his large arms, revealing that the man liked to work out which was accented by his tight black muscle shirt, and his clean shaven head.
"Hey, eyes to yourself," Madison stated placing a finger under Marie's chin and pushing the girls mouth closed. "He's mine," she added releasing the girl and walking over to the guy, throwing herself into his arms. "Miss me baby?"
"You wish," he answered with a gravely voice as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Oh, bad boy," Madison teased. "Now I'm gonna have to punish you."
"Ew," a deep baritone voice answered, causing Marie to turn towards the sink, where a new guy stood, leaning against the counter. He was tall and leaner but incredibly well built. The term 'Hard body' came to Marie's mind, as she looked him over. He was dressed in black slacks and a tight black tee shirt. His hair was shoulder length, dark chocolate brown and curly. Amber eyes gazed back at her underneath long dark lashes. His face was chiseled and a small smile graced his full lips. The lower half of his face was covered in a thick but short well trimmed bread, his chin resting on Sakura's head as she leaned against him, his arms wrapped around her waist.
"Wow, it seems our little Marie has a staring problem," Madison sneered as she leaned against the bald headed guy.
"At least she has taste," Sakura commented as she ran her hands absentmindedly over the taller guys.
"Well, be nice and introduce us babe," the bald guy replied, hitting Madison's ass and causing her to glare at him, a smile dancing in her eyes.
"Sure thing, Marie that's Eric, and this is God's definition of an asshole," Madison replied as she hit the guys arm.
"He also answers to Tony," Eric stated holding out a hand to her. "Nice to meet you."
"Lahkewise," Marie replied shaking it and then turning to Tony. "Pleasure."
"Nice hair," Tony commented sincerely as he shook her hand in a firm grip, indicated the white streaks framing her face as he spoke.
"Yeah, where do you have it done?" Madison asked as she looped her arm through Marie's and led her to a chair. "Do you think they could do the indigo all the way through mine like that?"
"Ah don't have it done," Marie replied as she pushed some of her snow white bangs behind her ear, self conscious about them once again. "They're natural."
"Coolness," Sakura said as Eric fed her a spoonful of the sauce he was working on.
"That is so awesome," Madison added, setting down across from her. "It's like, you were born telling the world to fuck off with their conformity."
"Well, aren't you a little Rogue then," Eric observed.
"Oh, I love it!" Madison stated before anyone could speak. "Suits her much better than Marie don't ya think?" she asked turning to the others for support.
"Whatever you say baby," Tony replied kissing the top of Madison's head as he handed her plates to set out on the table.
"Uh, don't you think it might be up to her, just a little?" Sakura asked a hint of sarcasm touching her cool tone.
"It's fahne," Marie smiled, mulling over her new nickname. "Ah kinda lahke it."
"Good, Rogue it is then," Madison said, glad to have her way as she finished setting out the dishes. "Now lets eat."
~End Flashback~
"Let's go guys. We gotta meet the others still," Rogue said as she grabbed Remy's hand and walked quickly away from the two girl.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Y' sure y' okay mon amore?" Remy whispered as they stood in the middle of the balcony overlooking the food court with Jean, Scott, John and Amara.
"Ah said Ah was fahne Swamp Rat," Rogue replied angrily crossing her arms over her chest.
"Come on luv, give it back," John pleaded drawing everyone's attention back to him and Amara.
Amara shook her head once and stared pointedly at him. "No. You already set two stores on fire."
"But they were only small fires," he pouted. "They'll never miss those mannequins."
"I said no," Amara said firmly as the group began laughing as John shoved his hands into his pockets. Everyone returned to their own private conversations when suddenly the clicking of a lighter could be heard. Everyone grew silent and looked at John who looked just as confused as everyone else did.
"Oh shit," Rogue whispered under her breath, causing everyone in the group to turn and look at her.
"What Marie, forget your manners?" an even voice cut through the silence.
Everyone spun and Remy and Scott recognized the two girls from the store.
"You know, it's not very nice to forget to say hi to old friends," the red streaked one spoke, flipping her Zippo once more and lighting it on her pants running her fingers through the flame and looking up towards John, shaking a finger at him.
"I'm so hurt," the first one said, letting out a false sob as she clutched her friends arm. "How could you?"
The X-men turned and looked at Rogue who had anger in her eyes. "Ah didn't know we were friends," she growled taking on a defensive stance. She really didn't want to talk to them here and besides it was all happening so fast. Besides, the X-Men could never know what her life was really like before her powers. They'd never trust her. Absentmindedly her hand moved to her right hip bone, just below her abdomen, her dragon tattoo feeling as if it were alive.
"Oh really?" the girl looked up from her friends shoulder, standing up straight and propping her hands on her hips, her voice drowning in innocence as hurt flashed before her eyes.
"I didn't know we weren't," the other continued, her voice reeking with the same false innocence.
"I can't believe she doesn't care," the first continued, covering her face with her hands, drawing a scene.
"How bout we go catch up?" the other continued her voice eerily calm. "So much has happened."
"Ah ain't goin' no where wit' y'all," Rogue stated as the X-men tensed around her.
"Oh I think you'll disagree very soon," the brown haired girl stated.
"I told you we should have brought the gun," the other girl added looking up at her friend, slightly perturbed. "Look she has her friends and isn't cooperating."
"No."
"Why not? I like the gun."
"I know you like the gun, but this isn't the time for it."
"Tony would have let me bring the gun," she pouted before breaking into a fresh set of sobs. "I can't believe she doesn't trust us! I'm heart broken," she stared straight into Rogue's eyes, her voice changing completely, becoming deathly serious. "Maybe I should break something else and make myself feel better."
Jean leaned over to Scott, whispering into his ear, "They're not mutants." Slight recognition on her face as she watched the black haired girl. She'd seen her somewhere before but she couldn't place it.
Remy had all he could take and took a possessive step in front of Rogue. "Remy don't think so p'tite," he pulled out a card, charging it in one motion. "Why don't y' be movin' along before y' git hurt Hahn?"
"Oh tisk tisk, you don't think we haven't done our homework do you Remy LeBeau? A.k.a. Gambit, who has the remarkable ability to charge objects with kinetic energy using any part of his body," with that thought she took a long lingering look over his body before continuing. "With some minor empathic ability. So tell me Remy, how's the thieves guild these days?"
As the black haired beauty spoke the brown haired one looked at Jean, a slight smirk in place as she leans forward, whispering to the red head. "Do it again."
"Alright enough!" Rogue yelled. "Madison, Sakura back off!"
At the mention of the name Madison the X-men took a harder look at the indigo and raven haired girl. This couldn't be the same person Rogue was always talking about in her mind could it? She didn't seem anything like how Rogue had described her.
"But it's so fun to be close," Sakura said as she leaned away from Jean.
"Yeah, what are you going to do about it, Mutant?" Madison asked sweetly.
"Oh that's right, there have been mutant attacks lately haven't there?" Sakura asked turning to Madison, feigning surprise.
"I do believe you're right. And didn't we see a Sentinel on our way in?" Madison picked up as she continued to stare at Rogue.
"What with all the dangerous mutants walking around," Sakura continued, air-quoting around the word dangerous.
"You're right," Madison looked over at a mother, frozen in fear with her three year old son. "And all these innocent bystanders," with that she reached into her jacket and pulled out a gleaming barrette. "And these mutants with their dangerous powers," she pointed the gun at the child.
Scott took a step forward to grab the gun when suddenly a 10mm was pointed at his chest, Sakura smiling sweetly at him. "We may have to defend ourselves," she added before leaning towards Jean. "Do you think you could stop it?" she asked the telepath.
"Y'all don't have to do this." Rogue stated, stepping around Remy, knowing Madison would pull the trigger if she felt she had to. Especially to prove a point.
"Oh I think I do unless you feel like changing my mind," Madison replied evenly as she watched the other X-Men call on their powers. "Oh come on," she said louder as she watched Rogue start to raise a bare hand towards her arm, knowing the Goth better than she thought she did. "You really don't think I couldn't get them both with one shot?"
"I told you that you'd disagree," Sakura replied calmly as Rogue dropped her hand and took a step towards the two girls.
"That's better," Madison said turning the gun on Remy.
"Non chere," Remy stated, ignoring the gun and reaching for Rogue's arm.
"No Remy," Rogue turned and looked at him, reaching a hand up to cup his cheek. "Ah know them and they ain't gonna hurt meh. It'll be alright." She leaned forward and kissed him softly. "Jus' trust me cher," she whispered before letting go of his cheek and pulling her arm free and slipping her car keys into his pocket.
"We can stop them Rogue," Amara stated, her hands beginning to glow slight as she called up her power when a sudden click was heard behind her head. Everyone turned to see a tall man with dark chocolate brown hair and amber eyes standing behind her with a10mm at the back of her head. Rogue immediately recognized Eric.
"You sure about that?" a deep gravely voice asked as they noticed the more muscled, man step up between the girls. His head was shaved and he had a no shit air about him. "Cause feel free to try." He pulled out a .44 and pointed it in John's direction. "Cause Red may be able to stop one bullet, but could she stop 4?"
"There, now that we all understand each other," Madison continued as she took Rogue's hand and pulled her away from Remy and flung her into Tony's arms. "Come dear, it's time to go home." She then reached into her jacket and pulled out a smoke bomb, dropping it on the ground causing it to detonate and a gray haze to fill the area. By the time the X-Men could see again, Rogue and the others were gone.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Remy punched the wall hard as the others all waited outside of Cerebro while the Professor searched for Rogue inside the powerful device.
"Cool it Gumbo," Logan growled. The entire team was there save for Kitty who wasn't answering her cell phone and the newbies.
"There was nothing you guys could have done from the sounds of it," Meranda agreed. "They could have started shooting innocent people,"
"Il a dû y avoir eu plus que je pourrais avoir faits. Ils ne devraient pas avoir pu la toucher tandis que j'étais là." Remy spit out angrily, glaring at them. "Je l'ai échouée." (Translation: It's supposed to be, "There had to have been more that I could have done. They shouldn't have been able to touch her while I was there. I failed her.")
"Uh, translations please," Jubilee said from her place against the wall, next to Piotr. "My subtitle machine's in the shop."
"Est-ce que c'est comment Rogue voudrait que vous vous sentiez?" Meranda asked evenly. (Translation: "Is this how Rogue would want you to feel?")
Remy looked at her for a moment before hanging his head. "Non." He clenched his fists at his sides and met her gaze evenly. "Je ne vais pas la perdre encore." (Translations: I'm not going to lose her yet.)
"That makes two of us," Meranda replied as the doors opened and Charles emerged with Jean at his side.
"We've found her," Jean said grimly. She had used some of the information she'd gotten from the girls minds to help Charles in his search.
"Where are they Chuck?" Logan asked, his claws popping in anticipation.
"Could you please all join me in the conference room?" Charles asked. "There is a lot we must discuss first."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rogue sat in the back of Madison's Camero as it speed down the freeway towards the warehouse district just outside of New York City. (AN: I've never been to New York and don't know that there is such a place, but I'm figuring every town has that one area full of old buildings and such, so let's just pretend shall we?) Tony and Madison sat in the front, Madison expertly weaving in and out of traffic as she gained speed. Behind them, Rogue could hear the sound's of the two motorcycles, keeping a close proximity to the car. The silence in the car was defining as Rogue watched the two people before her, hardened with time. "Where are we goin?" she finally asked, the silence overwhelming her.
"Home," Madison stated simply as she drove. Finally a annoyed expression washed over her place and she slammed her hand on the cd player, as Rev 22:20 by Puscifer blared out of the speakers. (AN: Check out the Underworld Soundtrack. It's a really good song.) "It's too fucking quiet in here, damn."
They drove the rest of the way, the music the only thing cutting thru the silence. Fortunately, thanks to Madison's heavy foot, it didn't take long before they pulled into a run down warehouse, the doors shutting automatically behind the two bikes. "We're here," Madison said curtly as she exited the vehicle, slamming the door behind her.
Rogue exited on her own behind Tony, taking in the room around her. An assortment of bikes and sports cars met her eye, making the garage of the Mansion look like a pitiful used car lot. "Yo, ya comin?" Tony asked as he followed Madison thru a doorway. Rogue looked behind her to see Eric and Sakura watching her with interest before following him, their fingers interlaced.
"Some things nevah change it seems," Rogue muttered choosing to follow them as well, and get some answers.
Rogue entered the room behind them, shocked by how homey and comfortable it looked. It had been converted with a large living and kitchen area in the front and two sets of stairs leading up to separate lofts. A doorway led into another room deeper in the warehouse and one into a bathroom. The room was filled with overstuffed leather furniture in deep reds, blues and greens with purple and black thrown in. On one wall hung a blown up portrait of the picture that had always hung on their fridge back in Caldecott of the five of them. Rich rugs and expensive pieces of art were placed tastefully around the room. In the far corner sat a computer terminal area with a complete up-to-date system as well as every hackers dream toy lying about. 'Kitty would love that,' Rogue thought for a moment as she took in every detail of the room, including where everyone stood. Eric leaned against a nearby wall, his face all business as he held his hands behind his back. Madison was leaning near the doorway to the other room, cleaning her nails with a large hunting knife. Sakura had walked into the kitchen area, grabbing a bottle of water while Tony threw himself into an over stuffed armchair lazily.
"Why the hell am Ah here?" Rogue asked finally, her gaze settling on Madison, expecting her to respond.
"We need you for a job," Eric stated, surprising Rogue greatly, since he vary rarely spoke at all. She watched as Sakura walked over to him and he snaked his hand around her waist. Both her and Madison were being extremely quiet and that worried Rogue.
"Since when have ya needed meh?" Rogue asked coolly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh, I thought that was the other way around," Tony stated, anger in his voice. He'd seen the hurt look in Madison's eyes when Rogue had shunned them in the mall, and nobody hurt his girl.
"What the hell is that supposed ta mean?" Rogue growled lowly, shooting her best death glare at him.
"You tell us," Madison spoke quietly, her voice devoid of all emotion. "You're the one who left."
"Dude take a walk," Sakura said calmly to Madison, speaking for the first time since they'd left the mall.
"I don't need to fucking take…" Madison began, rage filling her voice as Sakura cut her off.
"No. Take a walk," she stated sternly, meeting Madison's angry glare.
Madison let out a low growl before flinging the knife in her hand to the ground, lodging it into the hard wood at least a half inch. She then spun on her heel and marched into the other room, slamming the door behind her.
Tony watched in awe as Madison left the room, making no move to follow her. After a moment he turned to Sakura, hero-worship on his face. "You're the only one who can make her do that."
"Yeah well, I don't worry about not getting any," Sakura replied calmly.
"True," Tony stated with a smug smirk before turning his attention back to Rogue who stood silently watching the door Madison had just disappeared through. "Last time she got that quiet wasn't pretty," Tony explained looking over at the knife standing straight up in the floor. "She threw that thing thru the guys brain that caused it. Came clear out the other side."
Rogue raised an eyebrow and looked back at the others. "Guess Ah made her mad then," she let out a long breath before continuing quieter. "Ah didn't know about mah powers back then though," she began before Sakura cut her off.
"This doesn't have anything to do with your powers," she said calmly. "It has to do with you treating us like shit this afternoon."
"What are ya talkin' about?" Rogue asked looking at the other girl. "Ah wasn't tryin' ta treat ya lahke that," her voice grew smaller. "It's jus'.." it trailed off after a moment.
"They're fucking goody goodies?" Tony filled in as he rose and walked over to Rogue, staring at her levelly.
"Exactly," Rogue let out a long sigh sinking onto the couch. "Ya don't know how hard it is tryin' ta live up ta live up ta that."
"Why would you want to live up to that?" Tony asked sitting next to her.
"Cause there mah family now," Rogue began looking at her hands. "Ah need them to accept me cause they're all Ah've got."
"You know Rogue, accepting you means accepting everything about you," Sakura said, "That includes your, air quote, dark past." She rose and began walking to the other room. "And for the record, you've always had us. You're the one that walked away." She turned to Eric, "I have to get out of here. I'm going to go find Madison." She started towards the door Madison had escaped through earlier, stopping and turning to Rogue. "Now you know what it feels like," and with that she walked out the door.
Rogue watched in silence as Sakura slammed the door, a tear slid down her cheek before she turned back to the boys, looking lost. "Ah don't know how ta fix this, she whispered quietly.
"You could always take them shopping," Tony suggested.
"Weapons are always good gifts," Eric added.
Rogue smirked slightly, wiping her eyes. "They could nevah say no to ammunition."
Eric let out a deep breath and looked at Rogue seriously, "You just need to talk to them Rogue. They never understood why you left. Family's always been an important part of their lives and that's what you are to them. And when you walked away, it hurt them deeper than any other betrayal could have."
"They're not like us Rogue," Tony added, indicating Eric and himself. "They can't just forgive and forget," he stopped for a moment and smirked. "Mostly forget. You broke something sacred when you left and it's hard for them to look past that."
Rogue thought for a bit, letting they're advice sink in. They were right. She had to explain herself to the girls and just hope they understood. "Y'all are right," she stated rising and heading towards the door. "Ah jus' wish they were as good hearted as y'all," she said, emphasizing the word good.
Tony clutched his chest, falling over on the couch. "Now that's hitting a little below the belt there isn't it. I mean, good?"
"Ouch," Eric added with a smirk.
Rogue just smiled and headed into the back room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once again Remy LeBeau found himself leaning against the wall of the conference room. And once again, the topic at hand was Rogue only this time he couldn't just see her in class the next day. Remy shuffled a deck of cards soaking in every detail of the Professors words.
"I'm sure you already knew that Rogue had a rather, colorful past," Charles began looking out at his students. "But I'm afraid that colorful may have been an understatement."
At this Jean tapped a few keys on the consol bringing up a holographic image of the four people who had kidnapped her that very afternoon.
"This would be your attackers at the mall yes?" Charles asked as Scott, Jean, Amara and Pyro nodded and Remy growled low. Jean clicked a few more keys and the picture changed to the taller, leaner man from the afternoon. "Eric Mitchell," Charles began, steepeling his hands under his chin. "Twenty three and highly trained former SHIELD agent," at the mention of SHIELD, Logan and Meranda's ears perked. He served four years before he was released and then chose not to reenlist. There wasn't a lot I could find out about the particular missions he served on but let's just say, not anyone could accomplish what was asked and he was always very successful." Logan and Meranda looked at each other. They both knew, Logan from personal experience, that the missions with SHIELD were never clean. "He's well trained in just about every weapon imaginable and very dangerous." Charles paused and Jean tapped a few more keys, the more muscular male appearing on the screen. "This is Tony Deluca, also twenty three, with much of the same past as Mr. Mitchell and was his partner in crime if you will," Charles continued. Also highly trained and incredibly dangerous. Not a lot is known about their pasts prior to joining SHIELD and even less after their removal from the military other than their connections to the girls.
"Do either of them have criminal records?" Ororo asked concerned.
"No," Charles said seriously as Jean pulled up the picture of Sakura. "They've been linked to several different crimes, but never convicted."
"They're too good to get caught," Jean spoke up as the holograph of the red streaked girl began to spin slowly.
"Ah, this is Ms. Sakura Davis, an expert hacker as well as a trained fighter. From the records, she prefers firearms," Charles nodded his head and the final image of Madison popped up. "Madison O'Brian, a trained street fighter. Both her and Sakura dropped out of high school in Los Angeles before moving to Mississippi where they met Rogue. According to the files I found on them, they've both lived by each other their entire lives. Sakura's mother died in a car crash right before they enrolled in Caldecott."
"What else do we know about them?" Logan asked, his arms crossed across his chest as he leaned against the wall near the door.
"Not a lot," Jean began as the group turned to look at her. "I couldn't get a lot from their minds when we were at the mall. They have some surprisingly strong mental shields for normal humans. But from what I got," Jean paused for a moment, trying to find the best way to break it to the group before her. "There isn't much they won't do."
"What do you mean?" Jubilee asked concerned.
"They're professional criminals," Jean said seriously.
"Do any of them have records?" Scott asked concerned.
"From what we can tell, the girls have only been arrested once," Charles said. "In New Orleans, for auto theft."
"Let me guess, around the same time Rogue was?" Wanda filled in, remember some of the confessions Rogue made during the party.
"Yes, we did stumble upon an file for Rogue as well," Charles said. "The only other thing we could find out was they all seem to have one common trait," at this point the group appeared on the holograph and Jean proceeded to target a specific part of each ones body, zooming in on it. "They all have the same dragon tattoo. From what we could ascertain on the go by, Alito Dei Draghi , or loosely, Breath of the Dragon. And they're one of the more sought after criminal teams."
"Where are dey?" Gambit asked, anger in his eyes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rogue walked into the large training room, the walls and floor padded with wrestling mats. Various weapons lined the walls as well as different work out gear and punching bags hanging from the ceiling. In the middle of the room, Sakura and Madison circled each other slowly. Each one had since pulled their hair up and exhaustion was written on their faces as they sparred.
Suddenly Sakura jumped, launching into a roundhouse, intending it to connect with Madison's jaw. Years of training with the other girl led Madison to anticipate the mood, quickly raising her left leg to meet Sakura's, blocking the kick while simultaneously delivering a right jab towards the other girls face. Sakura grabbed Madison's fist, blocking the punch. The two continued the exchange until Rogue cleared her throat loudly.
The three girls looked at each other for a long moment, Rogue fiddling with her fingers, missing her gloves. Finally Madison let out a long sigh. "Well are you just going to fucking stand there all day or what?"
"Well maybe Ah'd feel a little better if Ah had a gun," Rogue barked out sarcastically.
"Wow, simmer down," Sakura said grabbing a towel. "Why doesn't everyone just sit down and talk, since that's what we're here to do."
"Fine by me," Madison replied dropping to the ground gracefully.
Rogue took a few cautioned steps forward before sitting across from Madison. Sakura took her place off towards the side in the middle, acting as mediator.
"So, why'd you walk out on us?" Madison asked angrily glaring over at Rogue.
"It's not that simple," Rogue began before Madison cut her off.
"Well I'm making it that fucking simple," Madison seethed anger growing in her eyes. "You left us."
"Yes cause everything's always so black and white with you isn't it Madison," Rogue growled back. "Cause nothing in life evah gets complicated."
"No, but you don't fucking run away when things do. Not from family," Madison barked back.
"Yeah some family," Rogue muttered.
Anger and hurt flashed across Madison's face when a knife appeared out of no where, hurtling towards Rogue's head and stopping inches before it. Rogue looked wide eyed over at Sakura who held the knife handle perfectly in mid air.
"Hey, didn't we talk about throwing knives during discussion time," Sakura asked shooting Madison a look.
"Oh like it matters," Madison rolled her eyes. "She's invulnerable anyway."
"How the hell did ya know that?" Rogue asked narrowing her eyes at Madison.
"We've been watching you Rogue," Madison replied. "I mean come on look around this place? Do you think we just moved in yesterday?"
"That's what family's do," Sakura added. "They look out for each other."
Rogue looked down at the floor, shame flashing over her features. "Ah wasn't tryin' ta run away," she said quietly after a beat, looking up. "Ah didn't think y'all would understand."
"You never even gave us a chance though," Madison said looking hard at her.
"Why don't you try now?" Sakura suggested, throwing Madison another look.
"Ah didn't really have a choice leavin," Rogue stated. "Mystique sent fer meh and Ah had ta go."
"You turned your back on us long before that," Madison stated plainly, pulling one knee close to her chest and resting her arm on it. "So let's just cut the shit and you explain everything to us already. I'm getting bored."
Rogue took in a deep breath looking at her hands for a moment, closing her eyes, and exhaling before continuing. "Ya know yer in mah head right?" she asked Madison, opening her eyes and staring down the other girl. "That night ya touched meh, ya jumped inta mah head thru mah skin."
"I know that. I read your file," Madison began but Rogue quickly cut her off.
"Let meh finish," Rogue held up her hand. "Ah know more then mah file evah could. Yer in mah head, and so's Cody and so's everyone else Ah've evah touched since mah powers came into effect. They're all up there in mah head screamin' and fightin' fer control. And there's this house in mah head where Ah can control everthang. And there's this one psyche in there that Ah kinda put in control of keeping it safe," at this point she looked directly at Madison, letting the information sink in. "Ah may have run away, and it may seem lahke Ah turned mah back on ya, but Ah've always known who mah family was."
Madison looked at her hard for a moment before breaking into a grin. "Ah we love you too!" Madison threw herself at Rogue, wrapping her in a hug. "You too," Madison grabbed Sakura and pulled her in as well.
"I blame you for this," Sakura glared at Rogue, mischief in her eyes.
"Ya know ya love it," Rogue laughed as the three sat on the floor hugging.
"Now that's hot," Tony's voice stated causing the girls to turn to look at him and Eric standing in the doorway. Eric took a step back as the knives flew towards Tony's head.
Author's Note: And there you have them. Hope you don't hate them all too much and if you do tough cause I love them all. Well onto the shout outs. Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. Enjoy all and please review.
Aro ~ Yay your back! And forgiven since you used the word superb to describe one of my chapters. That makes your review like triple special or something. (I really suck at math but I digress.) I'm all on board for cloning Remy. Now we just need to find a cloning device and a device that makes cartoon/comic characters real. Sadly I have neither, how bout you? Review again please? It makes my day.
Mercury Dream ~ Ah here we are again and fortunately it didn't take me very long to get to this point. Yay me. Now to your review, Cody will get his. Hehehe, believe me. I have big plans, that sadly, I don't know that poor little Cody will live thru. What a pity. (Massive sarcasm). And if he does live, he'll at least have permanent physical damage or worse. I'm thinking maybe a to the pain thing like from Princess Bride. (I loved Wesley and his little speech to Prince Humperdink. Sorry, more randomness from me. Pay it no mind.) I think that whatever deity's up there has heard that plea from too many Romy fans. Now if They'd just invent a cloning machine and make Remy an actual person, we'd all be happy. But NO, can't have that. Sorry, vent/ramble over. (I guess that would be a rant then huh? Or a vemble.) Pacifism can be underrated at times. I like the friends we created for her. They're a little crazy and far from the good little kids you'd expect, but they care. That's love. I do the same thing when my favorites are updated. Even when I have to wait two months for it to happen.
Just more Romy cuteness and fluff to add to the pile. And there is more to come. I can't wait for it myself either. How sad. Anyway, expect more in the next chapter. I wish someone would get me a new car for Christmas. (Especially a mustang. That would be so sweet.) I have my own computer thank god. It just wasn't working trying to share with my dad although it's hard enough trying to share the same internet connection. It bugs when ever I want to get online, he's already there. Makes it hard as hell to update and such.
Logan has been threatened to be de-clawed if he tries to kill Remy. At this point it's not really trusting everyone. She knows why she couldn't touch. She didn't want to be touched and that was where the trusting of Remy not to hurt her came in. Now that she trusts him, and wants to be touched and trusts into herself that she can control it, she'll be able to touch anyone.
I know we need more fluff and here I go adding more angst. Damn me! It's okay though, there will be fluff. FLUFF WILL PROVAIL! It has to because I ordain it.
Don't worry. It's not ending anytime soon.
My insanity likes having your insanity running around with it. Gives it more friends. I cry every time I watch Becoming 2. When she has to kill him and she knows it's him. It's just so sad.
Confuddled isn't a word? It should be. It's a great word. Well it is one now since I just added it to my spell check list.
Don't worry there will be more kissage. I have to live vicariously thru something right? And all I have is this story right now so that's what it's going to have to be. And now that your threatening me with boy bands! ::shudder:: You're just too cruel. That's just plain mean. I have no idea what bands are out there. Except for the rock ones and a few others, but no boy bands. Ew! It was bad enough all my friends were back door toy fans and nsuck. It was horrible. They were all insane. Back to the review.
Evanescence is awesome! I love the fallen cd.
The gods of Romy are awesome. If it weren't for them there would be no fanfic. And that is just to disastrous to think about.
Congrats on Ish wanting to use your Barman. He is pretty frikin awesome. I love him anyway.
And there are worse people you could sound like then Kitty. Britney Spears comes to mind. Rogue was wearing Orange in that episode? The only time I remember her wearing orange is on her pajamas? I hate Orange! Sorry, but it's up there with pink and lime green. ::shudder::
Yay, the possibility of updates! Happy day. And I'm happy with any idea you choose. Since I love all your ideas.
Morning's suck. I like Earl Gray tea to get my caffeine fix first thing in the morning. I only drink Coffee when it's espresso, and cappuccino and other versions with sugar. (Mochas? Yes please!)
My sisters older and lives in another state so it's easier to avoid her. How sad she's afraid to walk across the street at night.
I just choose not to answer reviews that piss me off. It makes my life easier.
I won't change my RoLo here. That way I can have both. The Logan/Meranda pairing in the movie section and the Logan/Ororo pairing over here. It all works out for the greater good in the end. (At least I'm pretending it does anyway.)
Patrick Stewart is so awesome! I love him. (Not in a sexual way or anything cause he's like 64 and eww) but in the he'd be an awesome grandfather or something kinda way. And that was a completely other tangent there all together.
I'd love to be able to delete people. Especially those who come into my work and bitch to me trying to get a free meal. Bastards. Well, from what I can gather, he comes back as a ghost and I don't know after that. I only saw one episode and Fred was trying to make him corporeal through the whole thing. (Which is why that has been my favorite word as of late.)
Oh, I just ordered the Phoenix Saga the other day! Happy dance! Hopefully it'll be here sooner rather than later since they said it could take like three weeks to get here and that just sucks. Damned postal service. But I digress.
I can't believe you own pink. But since it's just one outfit I can forgive it. I own some lighter colors but they very rarely grace my skin. And they're still like Lavender and well…I think that's about it. And of course white and gray, but it's mostly the black and red. (Wonder why I like Remy so much…hmm?)
Chain mails are the stupidest pieces of shit ever to grace the internet next to spam. I only get so much of that cause I have AOL and it's famous for that. Bastards. And if they don't like your emails than there's something wrong with them. I think they're great.
Star-of-Chaos ~ Thank you. I laughed so hard when I got that "red-hot-poker up his ass" review. Thank you so much.
Ishandahalf ~ And here we have another semi fast update. (Less than a week I'd say is pretty damned good.) I don't have to go back to school till Wednesday but it's looming ahead like a giant demon waiting to devour my soul. (And I'm in college, imagine how I talked about it in high school.) You need to give yourself more gold stars. I'm all out of Nobel prizes right now, but they're on order. I should have more by the time you get up your next chapter. Hey, I threw in your favorite thing and didn't even know it! I think I deserve a gold star for that. Or maybe a cookie. And now here you have the terrorists and they'll be around for a bit so enjoy them while you can. (Just don't hate them too bad cause Madison's based on me so yeah.) Anyway enjoy and review soon.
HPFANATIC-21 ~ Hey Lisa! So what'd ya think? At least I didn't take forever to update. There will be more with the new group in the next few chapters. I miss writing with you. It was always fun at least when it was just the two of us and others didn't decide to be all bitchy. We came up with some great ideas that were just plain silly and fun and no pressure. It was great. We'll have to do it again sometime. Well, that's all I have for now. Got to get this thing posted. Let me know what ya think.
Gothic Cajun ~ Thank you for your compliments. I always thought my lines were just insane byproducts of my medication. I'm glad someone else enjoys them too though. Now if only that genius seeped over into my schooling but no matter. At least I have it where the important things are concerned. (My beautiful baby here for instance.) I'll go put that one with my lists of things to read. Thanks for the recommendation.
Danielle Britton ~ Thanks for the review. It's always nice to see a new face. I personally prefer the Rogue from the old cartoons cause she's not so damned moody. She's still got the attitude, but she's not all depressed. And since I'm not a depressed person it's hard to write like that all the time. Don't get me wrong I love the Evo Rogue, I just like the other one a little better. I am a little concerned with you think I may "Fuck" up Rogue and Remy? And more than a bit insulted. They're not going to stop trusting and loving each other just because the past comes back to bite them in the ass cause quiet frankly that's what the past does period. It will give them some new stuff to work thru and make their relationship stronger in the end but it's not going to fuck anything up.
Thanks to everyone else who reviewed that I didn't get a chance to respond to. I love you all and you're great. In the next chapter the X-Men are going to get proper introductions to Alito Dei Draghi so look out for that. Laters all!
Authors Note: Everyone, y'all need to go and read Mercury Dream's stuff. It's really, really, really, really, really good. (Did I mention really?) A Rogue's Touch and All Grown Up are my favorites but the others are all really good as well. So go read her stuff to. Now, quickly! Oh, and if any of you didn't already know, Ishandahalf has posted a fic that you all need to go read too. Okay all, hope you don't hate Madison after this chapter.
'text' internal speech
dreams
Wandering Souls
Chapter 30: Old Friends
Rogue smiled as she ran her bare hand over the sleek curves of her Mustang. "You're, like, so totally lucky Rogue," Kitty said as she watched her friend.
"Don't Ah know it," Rogue agreed as Remy picked that precise moment to walk through the door leading to the garage. He was pulling his trench coat over his new silk shirt and a pair of nice fitting jeans. Christmas had come and gone and the students of the Xavier Institute had all returned from their holiday to begin the torture that was classes the following Monday. But they still had three days of freedom ahead of them and Rogue and Remy weren't going to let it go to waste.
"So, like where are you guys going?" Kitty asked as Scott, Jean, Amara and John followed Remy into the garage.
"The mall," Scott said as he headed over towards his own sports car.
"Sure you don't want to come Kitty?" Jean asked as she slid into the car next to her boyfriend.
"I can't. I, like, promised Lance I'd go with him to some wrestling match or something," Kitty said. "I think he wants to join the WWF or something. He keeps telling me I'd be the perfect card girl." Kitty rolled her eyes at her boyfriends notions before looking back at the others. "Have fun though."
"Will do Kit," Amara said plopping into the back of Scott's car, pulling John with her.
"But I wanna ride in the new one," the pyromaniac whined as his girlfriend silenced him with a kiss on the cheek.
"I know, but no," Amara stated as Scott started up the car.
"See if you can keep up Rogue," Scott teased as he peeled out of the garage.
"Please," Rogue stated as her and Remy climbed into the vehicle. "Later Kit."
"Smoke de homme Cherie," Remy stated fastening his seatbelt as Rogue tore out of the garage, racing after Scott.
"And they say I, like, can't drive," Kitty said as she headed back into the institute to wait for her boyfriend.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I can't believe you cheated like that!" Scott complained as they entered the front doors of the Bayville Mall, an indignant look on his face.
"Oh and lahke ya didn't," Rogue challenged. "At least Ah didn't get a head start."
"It was a little low having Remy pelt us with cards as you sped by," Jean added, defending her boyfriend.
"Oh and de back of de car lifted on it's own den?" Remy asked giving Jean a knowing look, his arm wrapped around Rogue's waist as they walked.
"Okay, you lost Scott, get over it," Amara said, tired of their bickering. "So can we please just shop now?"
"Yeah, let's get going," Jean agreed.
"Okay, Remy, John and I are going to Folley's," Scott said. "I need some new pants for the semester, so where will you guys be?"
"I need ta run by hot topic and then we're goin' ovah ta Macey's right Jeannie?" Rogue asked.
"Yeah," the red haired telepath agreed.
"Well, I was going to go to Victoria Secretes, so I'll just meet you guys at Macey's then? Or do you want to come with me over there and then we'll hit the other stores?" Amara said looking at the girls.
"We'll go with you," Jean replied after looking at Rogue and noticing the girls shrug.
"Change of plans mates," John said, his eyes perking at the thought of Amara in an underwear store. "I'm going with them."
"Brother," Rogue breathed shaking her head. "Alrahgt, we'll meet y'all at Folley's," she said leaning over and kissing Remy's lips sweetly. "Be good."
"Always mon amore," Remy replied giving her a quick squeeze before letting her go. "Don't try on anythin' wit out Remy's approval hahn?"
Rogue turned as she walked with the girls giving him a look. "Pervert," she said as they all continued to the escalator.
"Well, homme, guess it jus' be y' and Remy non?" Remy said as he and Scott headed towards the opposite direction.
"At least Pyro's not here. They can worry about him burning down the whole damned building," Scott muttered as they headed to the store.
Nearby two figures emerged from the shadows, smirks playing on their faces. "Who should we follow?" one asked, her voice calm and even as she brushed her brown and red streaked hair away from her shoulder.
"Who do I always follow?" the girl asked sweetly. "The boys," her voice more emotional than the first as black and indigo hair fell about her own shoulders. Together they headed down the hall behind Scott and Remy.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Y' listenin' to dem homme?" Remy asked as he and Scott stood in the middle of Folley's browsing through the racks of pants while two stacks over, two women laughed and spoke loudly.
"Y'know, it takes a long time," the girl with the red streaks in her brown hair began, as she examined a pair of button up jeans. "But it's a lot more satisfying when you use your teeth."
Scott blushed slightly at the obscenity of the comment while Remy smirked and looked over at Scott. "Which one y' want homme?"
"What?!" Scott asked, taken aback.
"Which one? We non serious, jus' fer fun," Remy's smirk grew as he looked over at the two. "Remy be thinkin' bout de purple haired one." He watched the girl for a moment. She was tall and lean, with indigo streaked black hair down to the small of her back, half of it pulled into a bun with two elaborate chop sticks holding it in place. Her skin was pale and smooth and when he caught her eyes, two lavender gems, obviously contacts, stared back at him for the briefest instant. She looked good in a pair of black hip huggers and a metallic blue tube top that revealed a blue sapphire naval ring, that Remy's expert eyes could tell was real, and a blue dragon, wings extended across her abdomen, just beneath her belly button, it's mouth open, claws bared at the ends. She wore a ¾ length fitted black leather jacket and stiletto heeled black boots from the looks of it. Her long fingers flipped through the pants and ended in perfectly manicured nails, matching the metallic blue of her shirt. On her left hand she wore a simple sliver band on her ring finger while on her right thumb, she wore a silver band with Celtic designs etched into it and on her right middle finger, a silver band attached to a silver Celtic bracelet by three sapphire jeweled chains. She had three holes in each ear, the lowest ones being filled with large hoops that went down to her shoulders followed by two studs, the middle ones being sapphires and the top ones little skulls. Wrapped snugly around her neck was a blue velvet choker with silver spikes, sharpened to points. 'Not bad,' the Cajun thought for a moment. 'But not Rogue.'
"Not bad, but neither is the other one," Scott answered as he looked over at her companion. The other girl had brown hair flowing to the middle of her shoulder blades in long layers complete with dark red streaks. She was a little shorter than her friend was but that could have had something to do with the black doc martins she wore compared to the others stiletto heels. A pair of black slacks with metallic red stripes running vertically down the legs added a business flare to her otherwise biker aspect. The illusion was enhanced with a tight red metallic round necked shirt that ended even with her belly button revealing a red leather belly chain covered in black skulls that ended with several black loops and clasp and a black leather biker jacket with a pair of large red angel wings on the back. The entire outer shells of both ears were pierced with small garnet studs and a red leather choker clung to her neck along with a pair of dog tags hanging loosely from a ball chain. When she turned her back to them, the head and wings of a blood red dragon, matching the blue one on her friend's stomach, peeked out from behind her slacks. Two slim silver bangles dangled around her left wrist and a thick red leather banded watch clung to her right. A silver thumb band adorned each hand while the left hand had the hands, crown and heart of a claddagh tattooed on the ring finger, the heart pointing in. (AN Buffy fans you know what I'm talking about.)
"True homme, but dat one be taken," Remy replied noticing the tat.
"What do you mean?" Scott asked confused as he went back to thumbing through the pants.
"De tat. Wit de heart pointin' in it be meanin' she belong to someone," Remy replied as he looked in disgust at the pants Scott had picked up. "Jus' non homme."
"No what?" Jean asked as she and Rogue walked up to the two boys.
Suddenly the voices got louder as the black haired girl picked up a pair of black slacks, mischief glinting behind the lavender contacts. "Do you know how I can tell if a pair of pants is going to look good on Tony?" she asked her friend, who raised an eyebrow as she continued to thumb through the pants.
Remy and Scott perked their ears while Jean looked over curiously and Rogue began to pale considerably.
"I throw them on the floor," at this, she demonstrated by flinging the slacks at Remy's feet. "And see if I like them there. And if I do," she looked up, letting her eye's meet Rogues, "Then I know I'll like them on him since that's where they'll end up at the end of the night."
"The end of the night?" the girl replied skeptically raising her eyebrow farther.
The other girl laughed loudly as she bent over, making sure Remy got an eye full, and picked up the pants. "Good point. Earlier than that."
Remy watched her steadily, something about her just didn't feel right to him. Scott leaned over and jabbed him in the ribs. "I think she wants you," he stated, grinning.
Remy shook his head. "Non homme. Remy be thinkin' dat dere be more to dis," he said as he looked over to Rogue, noticing how pale she'd become. "Cherie? Y' alright?" he asked, sweeping his arms around her bare waist.
'Ah can't believe there here,' Rogue thought, not hearing Remy as her mind began to wander to a different time.
~Flashback~
"Class, class. Settle down," Ms. Donald's smooth southern voice echoed around the room causing Marie to look up from her notebook. "We have new students today and Ah think we should make em feel welcome don't you?"
Marie watched as two girls entered the room, an air of defiance about them as they stood at the front of the class. Both looked out of place in the small town of Caldecott County, Mississippi with their hair tipped in red and indigo and leather pants.
"Class this is Madison O'Brian and Sa–Koo-da," Donald's struggled with the second girls name as the first one smirked.
"Sakura," the second girl responded annoyed. "Don't even try the last name. I'm sure it's beyond your capability."
The class stared at the new girls in wonder, as a tension began to build. No one had ever mouthed off to Donald's before. Madison looked around, noting the tension before breaking out in a fit of laughter causing the other students to ease slightly.
"Well, why don't y'all say something about yer selves," the teacher continued, an annoyed tone in her voice. A mutual look of disgust passed over both girls' faces before an evil smirk appeared on Madison's. She turned and looked at Sakura.
"I told you we should have brought the gun. They wouldn't be asking us these questions if we'd brought the gun," Madison said evenly and with a straight face.
"No. It's the first day of school. No Gun," Sakura replied calmly.
"Why not? I like the gun," Madison pouted.
"I know you like the gun, but we've talked about this," Sakura continued as she inspected her nail polish.
"In LA they let me have the gun," Madison argued placing her hands on her hips and flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"That's because in LA they were packing too," Sakura stated, and added under her breath, "And I don't mean hillbillies with shot guns."
"Okay, well Ah think we know enough," Donald's broke in, smiling nervously. "Why don't you take a seat and we can get started."
Later at lunch…
"So," a mellow even voice said behind Rogue's head. "You're the only one around here not in flannel," Rogue turned to see Madison and Sakura standing next to her lunch table, where she sat alone.
"So we're going to talk to you," Madison finished as she plopped down next to Rogue, Sakura taking the seat across from her. "So what's your name anyway?"
"Marie," she replied as she looked cautiously at the two girls. "What do y'all want anyway?"
"Uh rude much," Sakura said, doing a perfect Cordelia imitation (An: If you don't know who that is, then there's no hope for you.)
"Why do we have to want something?" Madison asked, before getting a dreamy look in her eye. "Well, now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind Tony, without a shirt, oh and whipped cream, and sprinkles," Madison licked her lips slightly as she stared off into space, her lunch forgotten for the time as her eyes clouded over a bit.
"Okay, come back honey," Sakura said throwing a piece of bread at Madison's face. She then turned to Marie. "Don't worry, she does this all the time."
"Oh," Marie laughed. "But, who's…" she trailed off as Sakura's hand s hot up in front of her face.
"Stop right there. We don't have enough time and quite frankly, you really don't want to know," Sakura said, emphasizing the really.
"Oh, okay," Marie said confused as she watched Madison shake her head and the cloudiness clear from her eyes.
"Hey!" Madison said an excited expression coming over her face. "I just had a thought."
"Was it lonely?" Sakura asked deadpan.
"Oh bite me," Madison said before turning to Marie. "You should come over to our place tonight!"
"Ah don't know that Ah can," Marie began looking uncertainly over at Sakura.
"Well why not?" Sakura asked munching on an apple as she flipped her blood red lighter with her free hand.
"Well, Ah don't know," Marie began as Madison cut her off.
"No, it'll be great! Besides, you haven't lived until you've had the guys cooking. And after that you can show us what there is to do in this sorry ass little town of yours."
"The guys?" Marie asked, as the two girls seemed to grow more and more confusing to her.
"You'll meet them later," Sakura said.
"Oh, well, Ah guess it'll be okay. Ah'll just have ta call Irene and let her know," Marie answered.
"Great! We'll have a blast, I just know it," Madison said as she downed her grapes.
Later after school let out…
"So, why'd y'all move here anyway?" Marie asked as the three girls walked the back streets of Caldecott towards Sakura and Madison's home.
"Well, two reasons," Madison replied as she balanced a book on her head while they walked. "One, it's close to New Orleans which is like party central. And two, it's a hell of a lot cheaper."
"Oh," Marie watched as they turned up the pathway to a small two-story home with two bikes parked in the driveway along with a cherry red Camero.
"There's mamma's baby," Madison exclaimed, throwing her books down and walking over to the car, hugging it.
Sakura rolled her eyes as she walked to the front door, letting her hand run across the leather seat of her black Buell.
Marie just laughed at the two girls and followed them into the house. It smelled rich of homemade Italian food.
"Honey we're home," Madison called out, shutting the door behind Marie. "And look we brought a friend," she added as she wrapped her arm around Marie's shoulder and followed Sakura into the kitchen.
Marie entered the room with Madison and the first thing she noticed was a broad shouldered man leaning over the oven, his ass up in the air a bit in a pair of blue jeans, giving Marie a good view. When he stood, her mouth dropped open at the sight of his large arms, revealing that the man liked to work out which was accented by his tight black muscle shirt, and his clean shaven head.
"Hey, eyes to yourself," Madison stated placing a finger under Marie's chin and pushing the girls mouth closed. "He's mine," she added releasing the girl and walking over to the guy, throwing herself into his arms. "Miss me baby?"
"You wish," he answered with a gravely voice as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Oh, bad boy," Madison teased. "Now I'm gonna have to punish you."
"Ew," a deep baritone voice answered, causing Marie to turn towards the sink, where a new guy stood, leaning against the counter. He was tall and leaner but incredibly well built. The term 'Hard body' came to Marie's mind, as she looked him over. He was dressed in black slacks and a tight black tee shirt. His hair was shoulder length, dark chocolate brown and curly. Amber eyes gazed back at her underneath long dark lashes. His face was chiseled and a small smile graced his full lips. The lower half of his face was covered in a thick but short well trimmed bread, his chin resting on Sakura's head as she leaned against him, his arms wrapped around her waist.
"Wow, it seems our little Marie has a staring problem," Madison sneered as she leaned against the bald headed guy.
"At least she has taste," Sakura commented as she ran her hands absentmindedly over the taller guys.
"Well, be nice and introduce us babe," the bald guy replied, hitting Madison's ass and causing her to glare at him, a smile dancing in her eyes.
"Sure thing, Marie that's Eric, and this is God's definition of an asshole," Madison replied as she hit the guys arm.
"He also answers to Tony," Eric stated holding out a hand to her. "Nice to meet you."
"Lahkewise," Marie replied shaking it and then turning to Tony. "Pleasure."
"Nice hair," Tony commented sincerely as he shook her hand in a firm grip, indicated the white streaks framing her face as he spoke.
"Yeah, where do you have it done?" Madison asked as she looped her arm through Marie's and led her to a chair. "Do you think they could do the indigo all the way through mine like that?"
"Ah don't have it done," Marie replied as she pushed some of her snow white bangs behind her ear, self conscious about them once again. "They're natural."
"Coolness," Sakura said as Eric fed her a spoonful of the sauce he was working on.
"That is so awesome," Madison added, setting down across from her. "It's like, you were born telling the world to fuck off with their conformity."
"Well, aren't you a little Rogue then," Eric observed.
"Oh, I love it!" Madison stated before anyone could speak. "Suits her much better than Marie don't ya think?" she asked turning to the others for support.
"Whatever you say baby," Tony replied kissing the top of Madison's head as he handed her plates to set out on the table.
"Uh, don't you think it might be up to her, just a little?" Sakura asked a hint of sarcasm touching her cool tone.
"It's fahne," Marie smiled, mulling over her new nickname. "Ah kinda lahke it."
"Good, Rogue it is then," Madison said, glad to have her way as she finished setting out the dishes. "Now lets eat."
~End Flashback~
"Let's go guys. We gotta meet the others still," Rogue said as she grabbed Remy's hand and walked quickly away from the two girl.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Y' sure y' okay mon amore?" Remy whispered as they stood in the middle of the balcony overlooking the food court with Jean, Scott, John and Amara.
"Ah said Ah was fahne Swamp Rat," Rogue replied angrily crossing her arms over her chest.
"Come on luv, give it back," John pleaded drawing everyone's attention back to him and Amara.
Amara shook her head once and stared pointedly at him. "No. You already set two stores on fire."
"But they were only small fires," he pouted. "They'll never miss those mannequins."
"I said no," Amara said firmly as the group began laughing as John shoved his hands into his pockets. Everyone returned to their own private conversations when suddenly the clicking of a lighter could be heard. Everyone grew silent and looked at John who looked just as confused as everyone else did.
"Oh shit," Rogue whispered under her breath, causing everyone in the group to turn and look at her.
"What Marie, forget your manners?" an even voice cut through the silence.
Everyone spun and Remy and Scott recognized the two girls from the store.
"You know, it's not very nice to forget to say hi to old friends," the red streaked one spoke, flipping her Zippo once more and lighting it on her pants running her fingers through the flame and looking up towards John, shaking a finger at him.
"I'm so hurt," the first one said, letting out a false sob as she clutched her friends arm. "How could you?"
The X-men turned and looked at Rogue who had anger in her eyes. "Ah didn't know we were friends," she growled taking on a defensive stance. She really didn't want to talk to them here and besides it was all happening so fast. Besides, the X-Men could never know what her life was really like before her powers. They'd never trust her. Absentmindedly her hand moved to her right hip bone, just below her abdomen, her dragon tattoo feeling as if it were alive.
"Oh really?" the girl looked up from her friends shoulder, standing up straight and propping her hands on her hips, her voice drowning in innocence as hurt flashed before her eyes.
"I didn't know we weren't," the other continued, her voice reeking with the same false innocence.
"I can't believe she doesn't care," the first continued, covering her face with her hands, drawing a scene.
"How bout we go catch up?" the other continued her voice eerily calm. "So much has happened."
"Ah ain't goin' no where wit' y'all," Rogue stated as the X-men tensed around her.
"Oh I think you'll disagree very soon," the brown haired girl stated.
"I told you we should have brought the gun," the other girl added looking up at her friend, slightly perturbed. "Look she has her friends and isn't cooperating."
"No."
"Why not? I like the gun."
"I know you like the gun, but this isn't the time for it."
"Tony would have let me bring the gun," she pouted before breaking into a fresh set of sobs. "I can't believe she doesn't trust us! I'm heart broken," she stared straight into Rogue's eyes, her voice changing completely, becoming deathly serious. "Maybe I should break something else and make myself feel better."
Jean leaned over to Scott, whispering into his ear, "They're not mutants." Slight recognition on her face as she watched the black haired girl. She'd seen her somewhere before but she couldn't place it.
Remy had all he could take and took a possessive step in front of Rogue. "Remy don't think so p'tite," he pulled out a card, charging it in one motion. "Why don't y' be movin' along before y' git hurt Hahn?"
"Oh tisk tisk, you don't think we haven't done our homework do you Remy LeBeau? A.k.a. Gambit, who has the remarkable ability to charge objects with kinetic energy using any part of his body," with that thought she took a long lingering look over his body before continuing. "With some minor empathic ability. So tell me Remy, how's the thieves guild these days?"
As the black haired beauty spoke the brown haired one looked at Jean, a slight smirk in place as she leans forward, whispering to the red head. "Do it again."
"Alright enough!" Rogue yelled. "Madison, Sakura back off!"
At the mention of the name Madison the X-men took a harder look at the indigo and raven haired girl. This couldn't be the same person Rogue was always talking about in her mind could it? She didn't seem anything like how Rogue had described her.
"But it's so fun to be close," Sakura said as she leaned away from Jean.
"Yeah, what are you going to do about it, Mutant?" Madison asked sweetly.
"Oh that's right, there have been mutant attacks lately haven't there?" Sakura asked turning to Madison, feigning surprise.
"I do believe you're right. And didn't we see a Sentinel on our way in?" Madison picked up as she continued to stare at Rogue.
"What with all the dangerous mutants walking around," Sakura continued, air-quoting around the word dangerous.
"You're right," Madison looked over at a mother, frozen in fear with her three year old son. "And all these innocent bystanders," with that she reached into her jacket and pulled out a gleaming barrette. "And these mutants with their dangerous powers," she pointed the gun at the child.
Scott took a step forward to grab the gun when suddenly a 10mm was pointed at his chest, Sakura smiling sweetly at him. "We may have to defend ourselves," she added before leaning towards Jean. "Do you think you could stop it?" she asked the telepath.
"Y'all don't have to do this." Rogue stated, stepping around Remy, knowing Madison would pull the trigger if she felt she had to. Especially to prove a point.
"Oh I think I do unless you feel like changing my mind," Madison replied evenly as she watched the other X-Men call on their powers. "Oh come on," she said louder as she watched Rogue start to raise a bare hand towards her arm, knowing the Goth better than she thought she did. "You really don't think I couldn't get them both with one shot?"
"I told you that you'd disagree," Sakura replied calmly as Rogue dropped her hand and took a step towards the two girls.
"That's better," Madison said turning the gun on Remy.
"Non chere," Remy stated, ignoring the gun and reaching for Rogue's arm.
"No Remy," Rogue turned and looked at him, reaching a hand up to cup his cheek. "Ah know them and they ain't gonna hurt meh. It'll be alright." She leaned forward and kissed him softly. "Jus' trust me cher," she whispered before letting go of his cheek and pulling her arm free and slipping her car keys into his pocket.
"We can stop them Rogue," Amara stated, her hands beginning to glow slight as she called up her power when a sudden click was heard behind her head. Everyone turned to see a tall man with dark chocolate brown hair and amber eyes standing behind her with a10mm at the back of her head. Rogue immediately recognized Eric.
"You sure about that?" a deep gravely voice asked as they noticed the more muscled, man step up between the girls. His head was shaved and he had a no shit air about him. "Cause feel free to try." He pulled out a .44 and pointed it in John's direction. "Cause Red may be able to stop one bullet, but could she stop 4?"
"There, now that we all understand each other," Madison continued as she took Rogue's hand and pulled her away from Remy and flung her into Tony's arms. "Come dear, it's time to go home." She then reached into her jacket and pulled out a smoke bomb, dropping it on the ground causing it to detonate and a gray haze to fill the area. By the time the X-Men could see again, Rogue and the others were gone.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Remy punched the wall hard as the others all waited outside of Cerebro while the Professor searched for Rogue inside the powerful device.
"Cool it Gumbo," Logan growled. The entire team was there save for Kitty who wasn't answering her cell phone and the newbies.
"There was nothing you guys could have done from the sounds of it," Meranda agreed. "They could have started shooting innocent people,"
"Il a dû y avoir eu plus que je pourrais avoir faits. Ils ne devraient pas avoir pu la toucher tandis que j'étais là." Remy spit out angrily, glaring at them. "Je l'ai échouée." (Translation: It's supposed to be, "There had to have been more that I could have done. They shouldn't have been able to touch her while I was there. I failed her.")
"Uh, translations please," Jubilee said from her place against the wall, next to Piotr. "My subtitle machine's in the shop."
"Est-ce que c'est comment Rogue voudrait que vous vous sentiez?" Meranda asked evenly. (Translation: "Is this how Rogue would want you to feel?")
Remy looked at her for a moment before hanging his head. "Non." He clenched his fists at his sides and met her gaze evenly. "Je ne vais pas la perdre encore." (Translations: I'm not going to lose her yet.)
"That makes two of us," Meranda replied as the doors opened and Charles emerged with Jean at his side.
"We've found her," Jean said grimly. She had used some of the information she'd gotten from the girls minds to help Charles in his search.
"Where are they Chuck?" Logan asked, his claws popping in anticipation.
"Could you please all join me in the conference room?" Charles asked. "There is a lot we must discuss first."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rogue sat in the back of Madison's Camero as it speed down the freeway towards the warehouse district just outside of New York City. (AN: I've never been to New York and don't know that there is such a place, but I'm figuring every town has that one area full of old buildings and such, so let's just pretend shall we?) Tony and Madison sat in the front, Madison expertly weaving in and out of traffic as she gained speed. Behind them, Rogue could hear the sound's of the two motorcycles, keeping a close proximity to the car. The silence in the car was defining as Rogue watched the two people before her, hardened with time. "Where are we goin?" she finally asked, the silence overwhelming her.
"Home," Madison stated simply as she drove. Finally a annoyed expression washed over her place and she slammed her hand on the cd player, as Rev 22:20 by Puscifer blared out of the speakers. (AN: Check out the Underworld Soundtrack. It's a really good song.) "It's too fucking quiet in here, damn."
They drove the rest of the way, the music the only thing cutting thru the silence. Fortunately, thanks to Madison's heavy foot, it didn't take long before they pulled into a run down warehouse, the doors shutting automatically behind the two bikes. "We're here," Madison said curtly as she exited the vehicle, slamming the door behind her.
Rogue exited on her own behind Tony, taking in the room around her. An assortment of bikes and sports cars met her eye, making the garage of the Mansion look like a pitiful used car lot. "Yo, ya comin?" Tony asked as he followed Madison thru a doorway. Rogue looked behind her to see Eric and Sakura watching her with interest before following him, their fingers interlaced.
"Some things nevah change it seems," Rogue muttered choosing to follow them as well, and get some answers.
Rogue entered the room behind them, shocked by how homey and comfortable it looked. It had been converted with a large living and kitchen area in the front and two sets of stairs leading up to separate lofts. A doorway led into another room deeper in the warehouse and one into a bathroom. The room was filled with overstuffed leather furniture in deep reds, blues and greens with purple and black thrown in. On one wall hung a blown up portrait of the picture that had always hung on their fridge back in Caldecott of the five of them. Rich rugs and expensive pieces of art were placed tastefully around the room. In the far corner sat a computer terminal area with a complete up-to-date system as well as every hackers dream toy lying about. 'Kitty would love that,' Rogue thought for a moment as she took in every detail of the room, including where everyone stood. Eric leaned against a nearby wall, his face all business as he held his hands behind his back. Madison was leaning near the doorway to the other room, cleaning her nails with a large hunting knife. Sakura had walked into the kitchen area, grabbing a bottle of water while Tony threw himself into an over stuffed armchair lazily.
"Why the hell am Ah here?" Rogue asked finally, her gaze settling on Madison, expecting her to respond.
"We need you for a job," Eric stated, surprising Rogue greatly, since he vary rarely spoke at all. She watched as Sakura walked over to him and he snaked his hand around her waist. Both her and Madison were being extremely quiet and that worried Rogue.
"Since when have ya needed meh?" Rogue asked coolly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh, I thought that was the other way around," Tony stated, anger in his voice. He'd seen the hurt look in Madison's eyes when Rogue had shunned them in the mall, and nobody hurt his girl.
"What the hell is that supposed ta mean?" Rogue growled lowly, shooting her best death glare at him.
"You tell us," Madison spoke quietly, her voice devoid of all emotion. "You're the one who left."
"Dude take a walk," Sakura said calmly to Madison, speaking for the first time since they'd left the mall.
"I don't need to fucking take…" Madison began, rage filling her voice as Sakura cut her off.
"No. Take a walk," she stated sternly, meeting Madison's angry glare.
Madison let out a low growl before flinging the knife in her hand to the ground, lodging it into the hard wood at least a half inch. She then spun on her heel and marched into the other room, slamming the door behind her.
Tony watched in awe as Madison left the room, making no move to follow her. After a moment he turned to Sakura, hero-worship on his face. "You're the only one who can make her do that."
"Yeah well, I don't worry about not getting any," Sakura replied calmly.
"True," Tony stated with a smug smirk before turning his attention back to Rogue who stood silently watching the door Madison had just disappeared through. "Last time she got that quiet wasn't pretty," Tony explained looking over at the knife standing straight up in the floor. "She threw that thing thru the guys brain that caused it. Came clear out the other side."
Rogue raised an eyebrow and looked back at the others. "Guess Ah made her mad then," she let out a long breath before continuing quieter. "Ah didn't know about mah powers back then though," she began before Sakura cut her off.
"This doesn't have anything to do with your powers," she said calmly. "It has to do with you treating us like shit this afternoon."
"What are ya talkin' about?" Rogue asked looking at the other girl. "Ah wasn't tryin' ta treat ya lahke that," her voice grew smaller. "It's jus'.." it trailed off after a moment.
"They're fucking goody goodies?" Tony filled in as he rose and walked over to Rogue, staring at her levelly.
"Exactly," Rogue let out a long sigh sinking onto the couch. "Ya don't know how hard it is tryin' ta live up ta live up ta that."
"Why would you want to live up to that?" Tony asked sitting next to her.
"Cause there mah family now," Rogue began looking at her hands. "Ah need them to accept me cause they're all Ah've got."
"You know Rogue, accepting you means accepting everything about you," Sakura said, "That includes your, air quote, dark past." She rose and began walking to the other room. "And for the record, you've always had us. You're the one that walked away." She turned to Eric, "I have to get out of here. I'm going to go find Madison." She started towards the door Madison had escaped through earlier, stopping and turning to Rogue. "Now you know what it feels like," and with that she walked out the door.
Rogue watched in silence as Sakura slammed the door, a tear slid down her cheek before she turned back to the boys, looking lost. "Ah don't know how ta fix this, she whispered quietly.
"You could always take them shopping," Tony suggested.
"Weapons are always good gifts," Eric added.
Rogue smirked slightly, wiping her eyes. "They could nevah say no to ammunition."
Eric let out a deep breath and looked at Rogue seriously, "You just need to talk to them Rogue. They never understood why you left. Family's always been an important part of their lives and that's what you are to them. And when you walked away, it hurt them deeper than any other betrayal could have."
"They're not like us Rogue," Tony added, indicating Eric and himself. "They can't just forgive and forget," he stopped for a moment and smirked. "Mostly forget. You broke something sacred when you left and it's hard for them to look past that."
Rogue thought for a bit, letting they're advice sink in. They were right. She had to explain herself to the girls and just hope they understood. "Y'all are right," she stated rising and heading towards the door. "Ah jus' wish they were as good hearted as y'all," she said, emphasizing the word good.
Tony clutched his chest, falling over on the couch. "Now that's hitting a little below the belt there isn't it. I mean, good?"
"Ouch," Eric added with a smirk.
Rogue just smiled and headed into the back room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once again Remy LeBeau found himself leaning against the wall of the conference room. And once again, the topic at hand was Rogue only this time he couldn't just see her in class the next day. Remy shuffled a deck of cards soaking in every detail of the Professors words.
"I'm sure you already knew that Rogue had a rather, colorful past," Charles began looking out at his students. "But I'm afraid that colorful may have been an understatement."
At this Jean tapped a few keys on the consol bringing up a holographic image of the four people who had kidnapped her that very afternoon.
"This would be your attackers at the mall yes?" Charles asked as Scott, Jean, Amara and Pyro nodded and Remy growled low. Jean clicked a few more keys and the picture changed to the taller, leaner man from the afternoon. "Eric Mitchell," Charles began, steepeling his hands under his chin. "Twenty three and highly trained former SHIELD agent," at the mention of SHIELD, Logan and Meranda's ears perked. He served four years before he was released and then chose not to reenlist. There wasn't a lot I could find out about the particular missions he served on but let's just say, not anyone could accomplish what was asked and he was always very successful." Logan and Meranda looked at each other. They both knew, Logan from personal experience, that the missions with SHIELD were never clean. "He's well trained in just about every weapon imaginable and very dangerous." Charles paused and Jean tapped a few more keys, the more muscular male appearing on the screen. "This is Tony Deluca, also twenty three, with much of the same past as Mr. Mitchell and was his partner in crime if you will," Charles continued. Also highly trained and incredibly dangerous. Not a lot is known about their pasts prior to joining SHIELD and even less after their removal from the military other than their connections to the girls.
"Do either of them have criminal records?" Ororo asked concerned.
"No," Charles said seriously as Jean pulled up the picture of Sakura. "They've been linked to several different crimes, but never convicted."
"They're too good to get caught," Jean spoke up as the holograph of the red streaked girl began to spin slowly.
"Ah, this is Ms. Sakura Davis, an expert hacker as well as a trained fighter. From the records, she prefers firearms," Charles nodded his head and the final image of Madison popped up. "Madison O'Brian, a trained street fighter. Both her and Sakura dropped out of high school in Los Angeles before moving to Mississippi where they met Rogue. According to the files I found on them, they've both lived by each other their entire lives. Sakura's mother died in a car crash right before they enrolled in Caldecott."
"What else do we know about them?" Logan asked, his arms crossed across his chest as he leaned against the wall near the door.
"Not a lot," Jean began as the group turned to look at her. "I couldn't get a lot from their minds when we were at the mall. They have some surprisingly strong mental shields for normal humans. But from what I got," Jean paused for a moment, trying to find the best way to break it to the group before her. "There isn't much they won't do."
"What do you mean?" Jubilee asked concerned.
"They're professional criminals," Jean said seriously.
"Do any of them have records?" Scott asked concerned.
"From what we can tell, the girls have only been arrested once," Charles said. "In New Orleans, for auto theft."
"Let me guess, around the same time Rogue was?" Wanda filled in, remember some of the confessions Rogue made during the party.
"Yes, we did stumble upon an file for Rogue as well," Charles said. "The only other thing we could find out was they all seem to have one common trait," at this point the group appeared on the holograph and Jean proceeded to target a specific part of each ones body, zooming in on it. "They all have the same dragon tattoo. From what we could ascertain on the go by, Alito Dei Draghi , or loosely, Breath of the Dragon. And they're one of the more sought after criminal teams."
"Where are dey?" Gambit asked, anger in his eyes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rogue walked into the large training room, the walls and floor padded with wrestling mats. Various weapons lined the walls as well as different work out gear and punching bags hanging from the ceiling. In the middle of the room, Sakura and Madison circled each other slowly. Each one had since pulled their hair up and exhaustion was written on their faces as they sparred.
Suddenly Sakura jumped, launching into a roundhouse, intending it to connect with Madison's jaw. Years of training with the other girl led Madison to anticipate the mood, quickly raising her left leg to meet Sakura's, blocking the kick while simultaneously delivering a right jab towards the other girls face. Sakura grabbed Madison's fist, blocking the punch. The two continued the exchange until Rogue cleared her throat loudly.
The three girls looked at each other for a long moment, Rogue fiddling with her fingers, missing her gloves. Finally Madison let out a long sigh. "Well are you just going to fucking stand there all day or what?"
"Well maybe Ah'd feel a little better if Ah had a gun," Rogue barked out sarcastically.
"Wow, simmer down," Sakura said grabbing a towel. "Why doesn't everyone just sit down and talk, since that's what we're here to do."
"Fine by me," Madison replied dropping to the ground gracefully.
Rogue took a few cautioned steps forward before sitting across from Madison. Sakura took her place off towards the side in the middle, acting as mediator.
"So, why'd you walk out on us?" Madison asked angrily glaring over at Rogue.
"It's not that simple," Rogue began before Madison cut her off.
"Well I'm making it that fucking simple," Madison seethed anger growing in her eyes. "You left us."
"Yes cause everything's always so black and white with you isn't it Madison," Rogue growled back. "Cause nothing in life evah gets complicated."
"No, but you don't fucking run away when things do. Not from family," Madison barked back.
"Yeah some family," Rogue muttered.
Anger and hurt flashed across Madison's face when a knife appeared out of no where, hurtling towards Rogue's head and stopping inches before it. Rogue looked wide eyed over at Sakura who held the knife handle perfectly in mid air.
"Hey, didn't we talk about throwing knives during discussion time," Sakura asked shooting Madison a look.
"Oh like it matters," Madison rolled her eyes. "She's invulnerable anyway."
"How the hell did ya know that?" Rogue asked narrowing her eyes at Madison.
"We've been watching you Rogue," Madison replied. "I mean come on look around this place? Do you think we just moved in yesterday?"
"That's what family's do," Sakura added. "They look out for each other."
Rogue looked down at the floor, shame flashing over her features. "Ah wasn't tryin' ta run away," she said quietly after a beat, looking up. "Ah didn't think y'all would understand."
"You never even gave us a chance though," Madison said looking hard at her.
"Why don't you try now?" Sakura suggested, throwing Madison another look.
"Ah didn't really have a choice leavin," Rogue stated. "Mystique sent fer meh and Ah had ta go."
"You turned your back on us long before that," Madison stated plainly, pulling one knee close to her chest and resting her arm on it. "So let's just cut the shit and you explain everything to us already. I'm getting bored."
Rogue took in a deep breath looking at her hands for a moment, closing her eyes, and exhaling before continuing. "Ya know yer in mah head right?" she asked Madison, opening her eyes and staring down the other girl. "That night ya touched meh, ya jumped inta mah head thru mah skin."
"I know that. I read your file," Madison began but Rogue quickly cut her off.
"Let meh finish," Rogue held up her hand. "Ah know more then mah file evah could. Yer in mah head, and so's Cody and so's everyone else Ah've evah touched since mah powers came into effect. They're all up there in mah head screamin' and fightin' fer control. And there's this house in mah head where Ah can control everthang. And there's this one psyche in there that Ah kinda put in control of keeping it safe," at this point she looked directly at Madison, letting the information sink in. "Ah may have run away, and it may seem lahke Ah turned mah back on ya, but Ah've always known who mah family was."
Madison looked at her hard for a moment before breaking into a grin. "Ah we love you too!" Madison threw herself at Rogue, wrapping her in a hug. "You too," Madison grabbed Sakura and pulled her in as well.
"I blame you for this," Sakura glared at Rogue, mischief in her eyes.
"Ya know ya love it," Rogue laughed as the three sat on the floor hugging.
"Now that's hot," Tony's voice stated causing the girls to turn to look at him and Eric standing in the doorway. Eric took a step back as the knives flew towards Tony's head.
Author's Note: And there you have them. Hope you don't hate them all too much and if you do tough cause I love them all. Well onto the shout outs. Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. Enjoy all and please review.
Aro ~ Yay your back! And forgiven since you used the word superb to describe one of my chapters. That makes your review like triple special or something. (I really suck at math but I digress.) I'm all on board for cloning Remy. Now we just need to find a cloning device and a device that makes cartoon/comic characters real. Sadly I have neither, how bout you? Review again please? It makes my day.
Mercury Dream ~ Ah here we are again and fortunately it didn't take me very long to get to this point. Yay me. Now to your review, Cody will get his. Hehehe, believe me. I have big plans, that sadly, I don't know that poor little Cody will live thru. What a pity. (Massive sarcasm). And if he does live, he'll at least have permanent physical damage or worse. I'm thinking maybe a to the pain thing like from Princess Bride. (I loved Wesley and his little speech to Prince Humperdink. Sorry, more randomness from me. Pay it no mind.) I think that whatever deity's up there has heard that plea from too many Romy fans. Now if They'd just invent a cloning machine and make Remy an actual person, we'd all be happy. But NO, can't have that. Sorry, vent/ramble over. (I guess that would be a rant then huh? Or a vemble.) Pacifism can be underrated at times. I like the friends we created for her. They're a little crazy and far from the good little kids you'd expect, but they care. That's love. I do the same thing when my favorites are updated. Even when I have to wait two months for it to happen.
Just more Romy cuteness and fluff to add to the pile. And there is more to come. I can't wait for it myself either. How sad. Anyway, expect more in the next chapter. I wish someone would get me a new car for Christmas. (Especially a mustang. That would be so sweet.) I have my own computer thank god. It just wasn't working trying to share with my dad although it's hard enough trying to share the same internet connection. It bugs when ever I want to get online, he's already there. Makes it hard as hell to update and such.
Logan has been threatened to be de-clawed if he tries to kill Remy. At this point it's not really trusting everyone. She knows why she couldn't touch. She didn't want to be touched and that was where the trusting of Remy not to hurt her came in. Now that she trusts him, and wants to be touched and trusts into herself that she can control it, she'll be able to touch anyone.
I know we need more fluff and here I go adding more angst. Damn me! It's okay though, there will be fluff. FLUFF WILL PROVAIL! It has to because I ordain it.
Don't worry. It's not ending anytime soon.
My insanity likes having your insanity running around with it. Gives it more friends. I cry every time I watch Becoming 2. When she has to kill him and she knows it's him. It's just so sad.
Confuddled isn't a word? It should be. It's a great word. Well it is one now since I just added it to my spell check list.
Don't worry there will be more kissage. I have to live vicariously thru something right? And all I have is this story right now so that's what it's going to have to be. And now that your threatening me with boy bands! ::shudder:: You're just too cruel. That's just plain mean. I have no idea what bands are out there. Except for the rock ones and a few others, but no boy bands. Ew! It was bad enough all my friends were back door toy fans and nsuck. It was horrible. They were all insane. Back to the review.
Evanescence is awesome! I love the fallen cd.
The gods of Romy are awesome. If it weren't for them there would be no fanfic. And that is just to disastrous to think about.
Congrats on Ish wanting to use your Barman. He is pretty frikin awesome. I love him anyway.
And there are worse people you could sound like then Kitty. Britney Spears comes to mind. Rogue was wearing Orange in that episode? The only time I remember her wearing orange is on her pajamas? I hate Orange! Sorry, but it's up there with pink and lime green. ::shudder::
Yay, the possibility of updates! Happy day. And I'm happy with any idea you choose. Since I love all your ideas.
Morning's suck. I like Earl Gray tea to get my caffeine fix first thing in the morning. I only drink Coffee when it's espresso, and cappuccino and other versions with sugar. (Mochas? Yes please!)
My sisters older and lives in another state so it's easier to avoid her. How sad she's afraid to walk across the street at night.
I just choose not to answer reviews that piss me off. It makes my life easier.
I won't change my RoLo here. That way I can have both. The Logan/Meranda pairing in the movie section and the Logan/Ororo pairing over here. It all works out for the greater good in the end. (At least I'm pretending it does anyway.)
Patrick Stewart is so awesome! I love him. (Not in a sexual way or anything cause he's like 64 and eww) but in the he'd be an awesome grandfather or something kinda way. And that was a completely other tangent there all together.
I'd love to be able to delete people. Especially those who come into my work and bitch to me trying to get a free meal. Bastards. Well, from what I can gather, he comes back as a ghost and I don't know after that. I only saw one episode and Fred was trying to make him corporeal through the whole thing. (Which is why that has been my favorite word as of late.)
Oh, I just ordered the Phoenix Saga the other day! Happy dance! Hopefully it'll be here sooner rather than later since they said it could take like three weeks to get here and that just sucks. Damned postal service. But I digress.
I can't believe you own pink. But since it's just one outfit I can forgive it. I own some lighter colors but they very rarely grace my skin. And they're still like Lavender and well…I think that's about it. And of course white and gray, but it's mostly the black and red. (Wonder why I like Remy so much…hmm?)
Chain mails are the stupidest pieces of shit ever to grace the internet next to spam. I only get so much of that cause I have AOL and it's famous for that. Bastards. And if they don't like your emails than there's something wrong with them. I think they're great.
Star-of-Chaos ~ Thank you. I laughed so hard when I got that "red-hot-poker up his ass" review. Thank you so much.
Ishandahalf ~ And here we have another semi fast update. (Less than a week I'd say is pretty damned good.) I don't have to go back to school till Wednesday but it's looming ahead like a giant demon waiting to devour my soul. (And I'm in college, imagine how I talked about it in high school.) You need to give yourself more gold stars. I'm all out of Nobel prizes right now, but they're on order. I should have more by the time you get up your next chapter. Hey, I threw in your favorite thing and didn't even know it! I think I deserve a gold star for that. Or maybe a cookie. And now here you have the terrorists and they'll be around for a bit so enjoy them while you can. (Just don't hate them too bad cause Madison's based on me so yeah.) Anyway enjoy and review soon.
HPFANATIC-21 ~ Hey Lisa! So what'd ya think? At least I didn't take forever to update. There will be more with the new group in the next few chapters. I miss writing with you. It was always fun at least when it was just the two of us and others didn't decide to be all bitchy. We came up with some great ideas that were just plain silly and fun and no pressure. It was great. We'll have to do it again sometime. Well, that's all I have for now. Got to get this thing posted. Let me know what ya think.
Gothic Cajun ~ Thank you for your compliments. I always thought my lines were just insane byproducts of my medication. I'm glad someone else enjoys them too though. Now if only that genius seeped over into my schooling but no matter. At least I have it where the important things are concerned. (My beautiful baby here for instance.) I'll go put that one with my lists of things to read. Thanks for the recommendation.
Danielle Britton ~ Thanks for the review. It's always nice to see a new face. I personally prefer the Rogue from the old cartoons cause she's not so damned moody. She's still got the attitude, but she's not all depressed. And since I'm not a depressed person it's hard to write like that all the time. Don't get me wrong I love the Evo Rogue, I just like the other one a little better. I am a little concerned with you think I may "Fuck" up Rogue and Remy? And more than a bit insulted. They're not going to stop trusting and loving each other just because the past comes back to bite them in the ass cause quiet frankly that's what the past does period. It will give them some new stuff to work thru and make their relationship stronger in the end but it's not going to fuck anything up.
Thanks to everyone else who reviewed that I didn't get a chance to respond to. I love you all and you're great. In the next chapter the X-Men are going to get proper introductions to Alito Dei Draghi so look out for that. Laters all!