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 – Yay I have my computer back so hopefully I can get my 'a' into 'g' and get more chapters up. Thanks for all your reviews…they are all so helpful. Just a side note…italics indicate dreams.
Chapter Fourteen
Kitty looked at each one of her friends with an almost helpless look into her eyes. She was angry, that was the one constant thing in her mind and she didn't want to lose that because if she did then she would just sink into guilt and despair. Once the anger was gone she to would have to come to grips with Lance being dead.
She felt Rogue's, Scott's and Jean's eyes all one her. All she needed now was Kurt to be there and the group would be complete…with the obvious exception of Evan.
"Stop it," she said softly, surprised by how calm her voice sounded even in her own ears.
"We only want to help you, Kitty. We can't unless you help us though," Jean, ever the peacemaker, said.
"You can't erase what he did to me. You can't erase the fact that Lance is dead because of me. You can't erase the memories that are with me all the time, day and night. The memories of the others that he had trapped in there and the memories of what he was trying to do and what he was doing. He had control of me and he was making me do things that…" her voice started to tremble and she blinked a few stray tears out of her eyes.
"No we can't," Scott told her, his voice strong and calm," but we can help you. That's what we are here for."
"Scott's right, ya know that, don't ya Kitty," Rogue drawled.
"I get it but I have to deal with it first and I can't with you always there trying to stop me from hurting myself. I can't live like that. I have changed and not all for the good. I can't help it that I feel guilty but for now I need that because I know that if I come up against that…" she broke off into a string of curses that surprised Scott and Jean but only made Rogue smile wryly.
"Okay, okay," Scott, said in a calm tone, trying to stop her swearing.
"Just let me get over it in my own way," she told them and not in a harsh tone. In fact, she sounded more like the old Kitty than she had in ages. She watched as Scott and Jean nodded before leaving with Jean reaching out and taking Scott's hand.
"You ain't fooling me, Miss Kitty," Rogue drawled.
"Bite me," Kitty retorted.
She watched as Rogue stared at her from under her locks of white hair.
"Good come back…well not really but you were a valley girl so ah guess that it is very good for you," Rogue said.
Kitty ran a hand through her newly short hair feeling a slight moment of regret before the anger came back.
"I don't care. I will do what I have to do," she said hotly before turning on her heel and storming down the hall, away from Rogue and away from her commonsense.
~*~
Rogue watched as she walked away, a slight frown on her face. She hadn't really realised that Kitty was suffering so much. All of them had been stressed recently and they had been so wrapped up in finding Kitty that after she had been found they had thought that she would slip back into the role she had formally occupied. It hadn't occurred to them that she would have changed so dramatically.
"Damn it," Rogue muttered under her breath as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Petite, you are awake," a voice said behind her, distracting her from her thoughts.
Turning she saw Gambit and she didn't know whether to frown or smile. He looked slightly forlorn and she was sure that she could see some signs of worry in his strangely coloured eyes.
"What do ya want?" she said in a slightly aggravated tone but she couldn't stop the smile that reached her lips.
She watched as he walked round till he was facing her.
"Gambit was just wanting to make sure that you was awake."
"I'm alive and well, thanks I guess."
Gambit just smiled and left as quietly as he had entered.
Rogue watched him leave before returning to her thoughts. Things were getting more and more complicated at a time that complication was a bad thing.
Stretching she got of the couch and shook her head. She needed to rest some more but she also needed to keep fit so she headed towards the normal gym area and jumped on a treadmill.
She wasn't in there for long when the door opened and a couple of other students came in. One of them was a reasonably new recruit but the other was a familiar face.
"Kurt, how are you?"
"You better come with me. The professor wants to see us," he told her in quiet voice.
Rogue looked at him curiously but stopped the treadmill and grabbed a towel as she followed him out of the room.
They made their way quickly to the study only to find that they were the last ones there.
"Sorry, professor," they both apologised.
"That's quite all right."
Rogue looked around and saw Scott, Jean, Dr. McCoy, Bobby and, surprisingly, Lorna.
"I've asked you here because of our mutual concern for Kitty. I haven't been able to read her mind because there are still some residual drugs in her system that seem to be interfering with my ability," the professor explained.
Rogue looked at him then cast a quick glance around the room to read the other's expressions.
"That's not all, is it?" Kurt said.
Rogue watched as the professor smiled softly.
"You are right, Kurt. I was able to quickly glance into Kale's mind and what I read was good."
"Well…?" Scott asked letting impatience slip into his voice.
"Lance is not dead. The shot did not kill him but it did give him amnesia. I got the impression that Kale was using this to his advantage."
~*~
Lance nodded numbly as Kale continued to speak to him but he was tuning things out. He knew what Kale wanted him to do and he didn't know whether to be excited or worried. On one hand he might be able to get away from Kale but on the other hand he would be leading his enemy to his friends…and to Kitty. With his memory restored all he could think about was Kitty.
"Did you hear what I said?" he heard Kale ask in a gruff tone.
"Sorry, brother. I am still a bit tired," he admitted truthfully. He was still tired from the bullet wound but also he was thinking about his chance to escape.
He looked at Kale's face as he frowned then smiled somewhat evilly.
"That's okay. I'll let you get some rest then we will leave in a couple of days.
Lance nodded and made a pretence of yawning loudly before crawling into bed. He was tired and he fell asleep rather quickly sinking into a deep, dreamless world.
~*~
"Please don't make me do that. Please don't make me hurt him," she pleaded with all her heart.
She felt hot tears spill down her face and her nose began to run.
"Do it," the faceless people told her in stern tones.
"I can't. He hasn't done anything wrong. We haven't done anything wrong. Why do you hate us so much?"
"You aren't human. You are a mistake. You and everyone like you. We are the warriors who will keep your breed at bay."
"Our breed? We were born the same as you…most of us," she tried to explain.
"I don't care. Now cut him open. We want to see how he works. We want to see what is inside of him."
She looked down and saw a large knife in her hands and then she saw him lying on a table. He was awake and his eyes were staring at her, full of trust.
"I love you," he whispered to her.
"I love you too. I don't want to hurt you."
"But you have to, don't you," it wasn't a question.
"He's making me do it. They are making me do it," she sobbed.
"I know. They are afraid and what people fear they also hate."
"But why should they fear us. We are still human," she demanded.
"Are we?"
"Of course we are. We just have special abilities," she said stubbornly.
"And that is was makes us different. They feel as if they are falling down a rabbit hole and they have no control over that. That is one of the things that they fear, lack of control and change. As Magneto says, we are the future," he told her.
"That doesn't mean that we are evil, that we should be killed. They hate us."
"Of course they do. What else can they do?"
"They could try and be friendly?" she said softly.
"Many will be friendly but there are always going to be those who will hate us, fear us and want to hurt us."
"I wish that didn't have to be like that."
"Me too. You better get a move on. They don't look to happy," he said
indicating the faceless people.
"I am so sorry," she told him as she began to plunge the knife deeply into his body.
"I love you, Kitty."