OMG, 14 people reviewed the last chapter!!! Wow!!! (The sad things about this are, 1. I'm not actually kidding, I think this is very impressive, and 2. I counted)
Lady MR, gillywine, isandahalf, Bumblebee Queen, kyoki-hime, starlightz6, (anonymous) ,#, Bunny Angel, Sakura Scout, Eileen Blazer, rogue star and earthling: You are all wonderful beautiful people and I'm so glad you are actually enjoying this fic! I was reading through a while ago and I realised that I'm a really wordy descriptive writer (which really annoys me when I'm trying to read a fic) so I'm really impressed that so many of you have waded through and seem to have enjoyed it! (You weird, weird people!!)
Rads: full name Radicals, Carla, klucky and linkin-spike, thank you so much for your reviews and for putting me on your favs, I am very honoured that you think that highly of this fic. (Wow that sounded pompous!) And sorry anyone else who has and it hasn't come up on my stats or whatever, the same goes!
I'm SO SORRY I haven't updated in so long, I'm one of those people who writes half then reads it, hates it, rewrites it, reads it, hates it and so-on. PLEASE forgive me, I'm a perfectionist! That and I had exams (stupid British A-Level system) and my computer died a death and had to be all re-installed.
Anyway, I've got my excuses over with, enjoy!
Chapter 5Remy opened his mind to Rogue's, feeling her emotions wash in and engulf him. It was like being underwater and feeling the currents and patterns as it ebbed and flowed around him, carrying him like so much debris.
Her mind was much more controlled than most, but that didn't mean that every emotion, every thought, was precise. It compared to the average mind as a river compares to a sea, flowing purposefully and within defined boundaries, but no less turbulent within the flow. For a second he was thankful that her emotions, although harder to read, were not blocked out by her shielding as her thoughts were, no wonder de 'paths find her so hard t' read.
But, that didn't make sense. Emotions were how the brain interpreted hormones and chemical swimming round the body, they weren't just magical auras that floated around bumping into people. They were a mental aspect, so didn't that follow that as her thoughts and mind were so well blocked he shouldn't be able to read her emotions…
Yes, it did.
So why could he?
That would need some thought; but later, when he didn't have more important things at hand.
Drifting in her emotions, he used a technique he had mastered years ago, before he had learned to shield his mind from the onslaught of surrounding thoughts and feelings. While letting most of his mind go with her and feel her emotions as she did, he kept a small part detached, almost scientific, so that even while he had no control over what he was feeling, he could still analyse and react to what was going on. It was this part that could read feelings and follow thought patterns, although not exactly what they meant, and even imprint his emotions onto other people if he needed to. That was partly how his 'charm', or low level hypnosis, worked.
At first he felt confusion and fading surprise, probably from waking up in an unexpected place and then her discovery of him, and even an edge of fear, although he had no idea what that was from. It seemed like the tail edges of it, perhaps from a dream or nightmare that had disappeared when she woke. There, a faint but persistent undercurrent of resentment, growing and swelling, then morphing into…fear again. He studied it closely, another an old fear, from a memory perhaps.
Suddenly another tide of fear and anxiety washed through her and all the streams and tributaries of Rogue's mind that ebbed and split when she wasn't thinking about it were forced back into the main flow. Remy looked on in amazement. So dat's why her mind's so contained, she always stop de spreadin' as soon as it goes so far. But why? He studied her emotions carefully, searching for the trigger of her reaction. There was still an undercurrent of fear and resentment but buried too deep to really effect her. No, it must be something else…
Remy was distracted again by a sudden wash of hopelessness and pain. Startled he examined it and realised that, once again, this was an old emotion, although this affected her much more than the previous one. He suspected that this could be memories of her imprisonment and felt a pang of guilt and regret at the part he had played in her capture by Trask.
But now there were more currents, most of them dark; reluctance, fear, a bitter humour, hopelessness, some of them old and some of them fresh. In fact they were so dark that they almost hid the stirrings deep down in her subconscious.
There was something there, moving. What de hell is dat! He withdrew a little, watching in amazement. S'like a separate being, apart from Rogue, but dats not possible… However, nobody seemed to have informed the creature lurking down in Rogue's mind of this. And now it was waking. Every movement, every feeling that…thing was projecting screamed predator.
Remy watched in horror as uncurled a little, sending slimy feelers into the currents, shielding the growing flow of fear and depression from Rogue even as it nursed and fed it. He had never seen anything like it. What on earth was something like this doing within Rogue? Was it part of her, or some kind of parasite, or something else completely? Whatever it was, it wasn't human and something about it made his instincts scream at him to get away.
But now there was something else as well, growing and swelling and morphing and writhing. Remy shivered and retreated as far as possible. Everything here was wrong, so wrong! There were monsters and demons in a river that should be a sea. And nothing like that slimy being should exist. Remy shuddered again. The urge to close himself off completely was almost unbearable but he didn't want to draw attention to himself, so he forced himself to stay still and quiet as the creatures massed.
Bit of a short one this time but chappy 6 isn't far away (honest his time, I've half written it!) so as long as I don't get another bout of perfectionism it shouldn't be too long coming! I'm actually pretty pleased with this chapter but please tell me if you think it could be improved and if so how.
Please please please please please review!!!!!! Thanks, ~v~