Disclaimer – I do not own X-Men: Evolution in any way, shape or form. They all belong to their most respected owners who have my full appreciation. Any quotes that you recognise are not mine; they belong to their respected owners.
A/N – Thanks for the patience. You are all very kind.
Chapter Nine
Rogue couldn't remember how long she sat on the chair next to her bed; all she knew was that she couldn't leave her alone for a minute. She was part of her family, the only family she had and if she ever lost any of them she would die. Her eyes stayed focused on the still figure lying in the bed and she sighed with relief.
There were still moments when she thought that this was all a dream and that she would wake up and realise that Kitty wasn't back. She knew that Kurt felt the same way. He was constantly teleporting into the room just to make sure she was still there.
Moving around in the chair trying to get comfortable she winced as a sharp pain flared up in her side. Curious as to why her side was hurting she looked down and saw a knife sticking out of her side. She didn't feel alarmed just concerned that she might drip blood on the carpet.
She frowned as she looked down at the knife knowing that she should be alarmed but she felt nothing, only a dull pain that flared when she moved.
"I didn't mean too" a voice startled her and she looked up to she Kitty sitting up in bed.
"Didn't mean to what?" Rogue asked feeling confused.
"I've gone and got blood all over my hands" Kitty replied, holding out her hands for Rogue to see.
"Oh so this is yours?" Rogue indicated the knife.
"Oh no that's not mine. It was never mine. It was his" Kitty said pointing to the doorway.
Rogue turned slowly and looked at the doorway. A darkened figure stood there leaning on the wall.
"Who is that?" Rogue asked.
"That's Kale. You remember him? He sure remembers you" Kitty let out a high pitched giggle.
Rogue began to feel terror building up inside her and she wanted to scream.
"Rogue, how you have changed in the year since we met" his voice invaded her thoughts.
"You bastard. Look what you've done" Rogue yelled but it came out sounding hysterical.
"Well you knew that it was time. The clock always tells me when the time comes" he intoned holding out a small clock for her to see.
She stared at it feeling horror well up inside of her. Instead of the normal two hands there were several and all of hem had familiar names. One for Kitty. One for Jean. One for Kurt and so on. There were no numbers either. There were words like dead, alive, sick and captured.
Her hand lay on dead. (1)
Rogue woke with a start feeling the sweat cool immediately in the night air. She had fallen asleep on the armchair next to Kitty's bed. She touched her side expecting to find a knife or something worse but there was nothing there.
She stood up and looked at Kitty who was fast asleep. Knowing that she was safe there Rogue left her and wandered downstairs. She was trembling from the dream and she needed to talk to someone but she didn't want to wake anyone.
She reached the kitchen and saw that there was a light on. She walked in and found Lorna sitting at the table looking half asleep.
"Hey" Rogue said softly, not wanting to scare the girl.
Lorna jumped anyway.
"Rogue, god you scared me," Lorna exhaled, "Can't sleep?"
"No. Every time I close my eyes I have nightmares" Rogue admitted.
"What about?" Lorna inquired calmly.
Rogue sat down and began to explain.
~*~
The world was like a glass orb, he had decided and he was stuck right in the middle while everyone else was on the outside breathing in nice air. They were the lucky ones, surrounded by friendly faces and loved ones. They weren't stuck in here with hostile people and pain.
The minute that thought occurred to him another thought bounced into his mind and he didn't know where it had come from.
Who am I?
"Curious" he mumbled to himself, the words seeming strange on his lips.
"What's curious?" someone asked.
"For a moment I forgot who I was" he admitted sheepishly.
"That's not curious, that's just silly. You are Joshua Kale, my brother" the voice laughed.
"I know that, its just that…"
"What?" the voice asked in an almost pressing tone.
"Well for a moment I remembered something that I couldn't have. I almost remembered a girl. A pretty dark haired girl" he said more to himself than to Aidan, who was leaning over him now.
"I think we have to cut down on your meds" Aidan laughed.
For a moment Joshua stared at him but then he began to laugh as well.
Josh lay propped up in bed with one legs wrapped in a cast and a swab of bandages around his chest where he had been shot. He prodded the bandage feeling a slight pain. He found it strange that he didn't remember being shot. In fact he didn't remember much about his life in general. There were no memories of high school, or primary school for that matter but he knew that he had to have gone to both. He didn't recall his name or age but everyone kept calling him Josh so he accepted that as his real name.
"What's wrong now, little brother?" Aidan asked in a cheerful tone.
"I hate not having my memory. It's like I feel lost and weak and I don't like feeling weak."
"Don't worry, the docs say it will come back in time" Aidan explained.
Josh knew that they looked alike, which proved that they could be brothers but there was something in the back of his mind that kept niggling him. Sometimes his brother would seem entirely different. At the moment he was laughing and joking but that could change in an instant.
"How did this happen again?" he asked Aidan in a small voice.
"I've told you this" Aidan chided.
"Please, I can't remember all of it" Josh pleaded, sounding more like a young child than a young adult.
"Okay. You have always been sick, it's called the X Gene, it makes you do dangerous things that hurt people, and I have been trying to find a cure. You have lived here most of your life and one day one of the patients we were trying to help escaped and you got caught in the cross fire" he explained.
It was the same story but Josh always thought that there was something missing in the story. He never said anything though.
"Oh" he muttered.
He was feeling tired again and felt his eyelids droop. He smiled sleepily as he brother said goodbye and walked out of the room.
~*~
Aidan's smile turned quickly into a scowl as he walked out of the room. He was sick of playing the mutant's brother but he had to admit that it was an interesting plan. Still the thought of that scum carrying the Kale name often made him want to yell in disgust.
Dressed as sharply as ever, he made his way into one of the smaller labs in their underground facility. Inside he found technicians walking about in scientific dazes looking more than slightly confused.
"Mr. Kale, sir" one of them stuttered when they noticed he was there.
He watched with a degree of amusement as every person in the room became aware of him. Their faces going pale very quickly. A few of them had splints on their noses where he had vented his anger on them.
"Any progress in getting my Katherine back?" he asked in a sweet tone.
"Um…yes and no" one brave person spoke up.
Kale directed his stare to him.
"Well, they have quite strong defence systems over this place and…well unless one comes out by themselves we can't get them. If you give us some more time we might be able to hack into their computers and shut them down that way. Or we could lay a trap?" he suggested meekly.
Kale resisted the urge to laugh, he loved the fear that he saw in their faces. He gave him power and he loved power above all things.
"Very well" he said in a soft tone before walking back out the door.
He smiled thinly when he heard the sighs of relief.
~*~
Kitty threw another strong punch at the punching bag.
"Hey Kitty, calm down" a voice exclaimed from behind the bag.
Scott was there, holding the bag still for her while she practised.
"Sorry Scott" she apologised but he knew that she wasn't really sorry. She was scared.
He didn't know how to help her and that made him feel weak. As the leader, he didn't believe he was allowed to feel weak. He was supposed to be strong and now that Kitty was back he thought he could relax but that wasn't an option any more. More and more demonstrations had been going on. The majority of which were anti-mutant.
Every time they turned on the news now a days there were people debating whether mutants were people or animals. It made him feel sick in the stomach but he couldn't do anything to stop it. People were entitled to their own opinions as the professor would always tell them.
"Scott? Hello? Are you in there?" a sharp tap on the forehead brought Scott back to reality.
Kitty was standing in front of him, dressed entirely in black and a frown on her face.
Kitty had changed. Everyone had noticed it.
She no longer spoke with the valley girl accent, in fact when she did speak her voice was either soft and quiet or angry and harsh. There was no in between. She looked as if she had been clothes shopping with Rogue as well, dressing in dark colours. She didn't smile much anymore, either.
"I'm here" he muttered.
"Good, lets get back to practising" she said and swung a punch in his direction and he blocked it.
~*~
Lorna sat back in the lab and rubbed her eyes wearily. Ever since Kitty had been back she had spent most of her time in the lab. She felt like an outsider here sometimes and that feeling was reinforced when Kitty had been found.
"How are you today, Lorna?" Dr. McCoy asked as he entered.
"Tired. I spent the night talking to Rogue. She's having disturbing dreams" she told him.
"Ah, I thought that Kitty would be the one with the disturbing dreams. Now that I think of it, though, Rogue did meet this guy first" he mused.
Lorna was surprised by this gentle giant and she was in awe of him as well.
"I was trying to make a dream suppressant but I don't know if that is a good idea" she explained.
Dr. McCoy leaned in over her work and added a few helpful comments and Lorna went back to work. She was worried though, something about Kitty's escape seemed wrong, as if it were too easy. She frowned as she went over the formula again.
To Be Continued…
Notes: (1) I stole this idea from J. K. Rowling. The Weasley clock has no numbers, it just points out where every member of the family is. I.e. Mortal peril, travelling etc