"Honor and Consequences"
By The Sphinx Minx
Chapter 18: Hell Hath No Fury
Carol opened her eyes again and saw all the members of the X-Men standing around her. Ha! She had won! She was dominant again, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. She stood up and moved a piece of hair behind her ear, but it fell forward again. "For fu-what the?" Carol looked at the hair, it was blonde. She looked down and discovered she was in her old costume again. Shocked, she jumped when someone behind her spoke, "Can't say ah was expectin this, but can't say ah won't enjoy it." Rogue was standing there, in her green and gold X-Men costume, one hand on her hip, green eyes narrowed.
Carol realized what was happening. This was the psychic plane, but why were the X-Men here?
Rogue answered her unasked question "They're here cuz of Remy n Logan; remnants of their psyches since all the X-Men were linked when you absorbed them. They're here to support me, but they'll fade."
"Oh yeah? and when will you fade? I'm fed up of the bitchin' n complainin'"
"I ain't gona fade sugah, this is mah head, n you've overstayed your welcome."
Carol exploded, fists clenched, she shouted, "I don't want to be here, you leeched me! Sucked me up and I was trapped. I've been here for years trying to find a way out; I hate you! And I hate being in your head! How dare you treat me like an intruder, you ruined my life! Now I'm taking it back, Carol Danvers is back!"
"Wrong sugah, Carol D's been back for a few years now, we were split by the Siege Perilous and ah wouldn't say we're the best of friends, but we get by. So you see, Carol's alive n well, so that makes you what the Professor calls a whisper psyche. You're a scrap of when Carol was here, you're her angry part, or a part of it she left behind…remind me to thank her for that… anyway we can do one of two things. The Professor can try n move you to Danvers head, or we settle this once and for all."
Carol glared back "You're lying. If I got out of your head, I would have killed you for what you've done to me."
Rogue laughed, "You did, but ah had a little help. That's not the point, you aren't really Carol, just a little angry scrap that couldn't let go so ah don't feel guilty about gettin' rid of you. Ah always suspected she was never entirely gone, could feel that little piece in the back of my head. Ah'm glad ta get rid of you, duno if Carol's too keen to get you back though. Girl's finally got her life back on track.
"You're lying! There is no other Carol Danvers! There's just me!"
The X-Men looked down at Rogue's body on the ground. She had shown no signs of reawakening, but her breathing was steady. Gambit was kneeling next to her, stroking the side of her face with his gloved finger. What color would her eyes be when she awoke? Cold blue? Mischievous green? He couldn't stand not knowing what was going on, "Isn't dere anything you can do Jean?"
"I'm afraid not Remy, Rogue's mind is unstable, it's not worth the risk trying to barge in. We may lose her forever."
Storm felt tears come to her eyes, but she quickly blinked them away. She was one of the eldest members of the team; she had a responsibility to the younger ones, Kitty…Kurt...Remy, not to break down. It wouldn't do to have the calm collected Ororo lose control. She felt someone nudge her arm and she looked down. Wolverine looked up at the six foot weather witch and gave a little wink. "Don't worry darlin' she'll be fine, Rogue's tough, she won't give up without a fight." Storm gave a little smile of thanks and turned her attention back to Rogue.
Carol launched herself at Rogue who grabbed her am and swung her sideways. She sailed through the air toward Wolverine who didn't move, and suddenly Carol realized she was on the ground past him. She blinked and remembered. The X-Men weren't real, they were projections that couldn't harm her but they gave her an idea. Carol stood and walked forward to the silent X-Men sauntering past each one before reaching her target.
"What I don't understand…" she drawled, "is what you're so eager to get back to, Gambit here," she ran her fingers down his imaginary chest, "didn't even care I was ignoring him! The only one who pursued me was this man," she crossed the circle and laced her arm through Joseph's. But you don't love him. And your best friends?" She waved her arm at the rest of the team "didn't even notice you were different. In fact, I'm willing to bet they prefer me. I can control your powers, and who wants a leech, a potential murderer on the team? Plus, it's obvious Gambit is tired of waiting. He had needs, a gorgeous man like that, needs that you can't fulfill. He's just waiting for the right time to let you down gently. It was all very cute in the beginning, but really….grow up! The fairytale is over Rogue; there is no prince. There is no happy ending."
"Then I'll settle for killing the witch." Rogue snarled.
The women attacked, super strength verse super strength, invulnerability verse invulnerability. The scene they were fighting in changed according to who was dominating the fight. As the women fought, slowly one by one, the images of the X-Men flickered and faded, looking sad.
Carol punched Rogue who doubled over, Carol prepared to hit Rogue on the back when Rogue laced her fingers together and swung them into Carol's stomach who's turn it was to fall to her knees.
The women stopped, gasping. They felt like they had been fighting for hours, and both were exhausted. Rogue looked up first and saw there was only two X-Man left, the last two absorbed. Logan faded and was gone leaving only Gambit. "Come on Rogue." He flickered "come back to me." And he was gone. Rogue felt a shattering blow to the back of her skull and fell forward. Carol stood behind her, rubbing her fists.
"Tut tut, letting your mind wander! What were you thinking, I've got you Rogue-"
Who's got Rogue? Who d'ya t'ink?!
"-this is the end."
But Rogue wasn't listening to Carol, she was listening to the other echo, the last thing she had heard all those months ago before being pushed into the recesses of her own mind.
Who's got Rogue? Who d'ya t'ink?!
Remy's voice echoed as Rogue continued to stare at Carol who looked dumbfounded. "What are you doing?!" she demanded.
"Ah'm winning. I can control the thoughts, memories, ah'm winning!"
"No you're not, I'm beating you!" To prove her point, she punched Rogue in the face again, whose head snapped to the side. Rogue picked her head up and swung her hair back, her split lip healed in front of Carol's eyes.
"Ah'm winning because ah'm in control. This is my head and ah can do whateva I want. You were strong before, cuz of the light, but ah'm tired of feeling guilty, for my past, for my powers, for the people I've hurt. I've done my penance and ah deserve my life back. You're not real, no matter how much you think you are. Carol D. lives, and so can I."
Carol shrieked and attacked Rogue, knocking her to the ground on her back. Carol wrapped her fingers around Rogue's neck, desperate to make her stop talking. "I hate you! I don't want anything except to hurt you like you've hurt me."
Rogue looked up at the blonde, and repeated "This is mah head, ah'm in control." and Carol realized her bare fingers were touching Rogue's skin, but nothing was happening.
"Now ah can make you see…" Images of Carol Danvers appeared everywhere, playing out various scenes from the past. Carol climbed off Rogue and looked at them. She was about to deny them, call Rogue a liar again but Rogue spoke first, "Ever wonder why you suddenly got so weak? It's cuz Carol left my head, you're not her, THAT'S her."
Carol watched herself laugh, fight, cry, joke, yell, and do many other things. She reached out to touch the face of the memory and she flickered.
Rogue took a step back and Carol looked down at herself. She flickered again. "NO!" She dove at Rogue again, but the Southerner caught her wrist,
"Mah head. Get out."
Carol's blue eyes widened as she looked from the images of herself to Rogue's emerald green eyes, she blinked and was gone. No last cry, or shriek. No bang, or smoke. No explosions. Just gone. Rogue was alone
(AN: was going to stop here, but I'm in a good mood, so I'll type some more :0)
"She's been out for hours! We've got to do something!"
"Alright, we're taking her back to the mansion."
Rogue tried opening her eyes but couldn't. She tried moving her arms, legs, mouth, anything, but couldn't. She cursed in her head, annoyed at still being in a coma.
I told you Rogue, I told you I'd never let you get control. But I beat you! You got strong enough to push me back but just like you were able to block me briefly, I'm going to block you for the rest of your life. You're going to be locked in your own head and slowly you'll go insane.
Oh for cryin out loud was all Rogue could say.
"What the hell did you do to her?!" Mystique roared from across the medilab as the X-Men carried in the bruised and battered body of their teammate to a spare bed. Xavier wheeled himself over.
"What did you do?"
Cyclops took responsibility, "We overloaded Danver's ability to control Rogue's absorption power. We hoped it would give Rogue a better chance."
Xavier was silent for a moment, "That….that may have been very foolish…or very smart."
"Professor, it was de only w-"
"Yes, yes I'm sure it was. There is very limited research on effects of mutant absorbing abilities, but from what I've read, there must be a dominant personality. If it is not strong enough, or if the contending psyche is too strong to be completely repressed, they will remain deadlocked. Neither one strong enough to take control, neither one weak enough to die. Although your plan may have put Rogue on equal ground with, or perhaps even slightly dominant to Carol, she will not be strong enough, we need to give her an advantage; we must create and reverse the effect of the light."
"Professor, what if Carol is still in charge, won't the light give her the advantage?"
"I don't know Kitty, I really don't."
"What if I went in and fried Danvers? Pyslocke said, teeth clenched.
"It's a thought," Pyslocke looked hopeful, so Xavier rectified quickly, "it may be worth a scan…"
But the scan turned up nothing and after a few seconds of silence, Jean spoke "Professor, why don't we try speaking to Rogue telepathically? We'd know immediately if it was Carol and it may give us an insight to her mind."
"Jean, that's risky if Rogue's shields are up, or it Carol is expecting that, she could attack you."
"But if Rogue is there, then she'll take down the shields, she knows we'll try to reach her."
"Carol knows that as well Jean," Cyclops reminded his wife.
And so they stood at a loss what to do. Mystique shrieked from the corner where her bed was stationed. "Well what the hell are you doing? Fix that freaking light!"
Xavier turned to her, "We have already begun; the plans you provided should enable us to reconstruct the light. Hank and Moira are currently attempting to create a reversal mechanism. Katherine, you make be able to assist…"
"Right, see you guys," Kitty walked through the adjacent wall and everyone was silent again. Gambit looked at the others around him, some of the most powerful mutants in the world and then down at Rogue. He tried to imagine what anyone could possibly do to help. At this point, he'd accept help from anyone.
AN: Whew! Ok, another week another chapter, but I have two exams next week that demand my full attention, so chapter 19 probably won't be up next week. I'm actually kinda stuck with this story, I can take two paths. I can add another section adding a good few chapters, but I don't know if that's dragging it out. I could also end it by Chapter 20 if I wanted to. So what do you guys think? Is it time this story came to an end? I do have another story that I would like to focus on, but because I'll be computer free all summer, it won't be posted till September, and then it will be like H&C, a chapter a week. Soooo what do you guys, my loyal and fantastic reviewers, think?