Chapter 11: In Which Rogue is Carried by Gambit^^*

A/N: Well, um…here's the next chapter…

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An uneasy silence filled the park, stifling the sounds of the first traces of spring. It was much colder than it had been a few hours ago, and a dense fog snaked its way over the vicinity.

Suddenly, a noise was heard. Quiet at first, but growing by the moment, the sound of the gentle click of boots made its way down the path. The figure became more and more visible with each click, and soon it became apparent that the figure was a girl, her expression vacant.

She stopped walking abruptly and turned to her right much like a trained solider would. She stood still for a few minutes, her body not swaying a bit, nor her legs shifting her weight from one to the other like a normal person would. Her eyes were fixed on a faraway point, and she did not blink once.

"You have made it then? Perhaps your mind is more easily swayed than I originally thought," a voice rang out from behind her.

"Why else would you have been caught by the same person twice?" The man speaking stepped closer to the girl and reached out to touch her covered shoulder. 

His hood slid back off his head, revealing a face covered with tattoos.

There was no response from the girl; just the gentle sway of her body from his forceful hold on her shoulder.

"This is what my lord commands," the man said as he closed his eyes and lifted his other hand to his brow.

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"Professor!" Kitty reached the Professor's office out of breath and clutching the doorknob as if it were the only thing holding her up.

The Professor turned from looking out the window, his brow furrowed in anxiety.

"What is it Kitty?" he asked calmly.

"Rogue!" Kitty shouted. "Something is wrong with her! She was acting like she was under Mesmero's control again!"

The Professor nodded and bowed his head. "Just as I thought," he said, his mouth in the shape of a grim smile. He glanced over at Kitty.

"Do not be alarmed; Rogue is fine. She will be back before dinner time." And with that he closed his eyes and left Kitty wide-eyed and confused.

"But…Professor…what's the matter? Is she really going to be all right?" she asked, still not comprehending the Professor's words.

"Yes, she will be fine," he answered. "Now why don't you finish up that history project that you've been worrying about for the past week?"

Kitty nodded her head and left the room, but not before shooting a strange look at the Professor. After Kitty had left, Xavier let his weary head fall into his hands.

What had he done?

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Gambit shuffled his cards nervously. He didn't like fog…not at all. Fog represented weakness to him, something that you couldn't beat, but something that could definitely beat you.

He had developed his dislike for fog a long time ago in New Orleans on a day much like this one, and he did not wish to repeat the experience.

"Could you cut that out, mate?" John asked, his annoyance apparent from the tone in his voice. Gambit stopped his shuffling and held his cards still in his gloved hands.

 "Don't be so anxious mon ami. De job will not take long," Gambit said as he stared into the fog.

"I'm just not liking this weather. But it kind of fits for a mission like this, huh?" John answered.

"When are we starting?" Piotr asked quietly. He had not said a word since they had left the mansion, and his face betrayed his depressed mood.

"Soon, mon ami, soon," Gambit answered, his tone calm and even. Obviously his teammates were not going to be able to pull this off unless he took action and stepped forward to be the leader, like he had done so many times before.

 "How soon?" John asked. Now be as good a time as any, Gambit thought.

 "Now!" Gambit whispered harshly. All three Acolytes started running in opposite directions.

The plan had now been put into action.

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"Do you understand?" the man asked. The girl, Rogue, nodded.

The man smiled. "Good. All is going to plan. Master will be very glad to have you on his side this time."

The man took his hand off of Rogue's shoulder and pulled up his dark blue hood. He turned around and, without a glance behind him, walked away into the fog. After he had been gone for a few moments, Rogue's body began to walk down the path with a sluggish manner.

"Now!"

Her brain heard the shout and the sound of footfalls all around her, but she could not get her body to move.

She tried so hard to put herself into motion, but her body was being controlled, and her mind was not strong enough. Well, at least one thing was good about the loss of control over her body.

She hadn't heard any of psyches at all that day. Her brain felt more at ease.

Suddenly, she felt the pull of someone holding her arms against her, while someone else picked her up. She didn't care anymore.

After all, there was nothing she could do about it.

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Gambit ran as fast as he could. They had to catch her unawares or else she might pose a threat.

He could see her now; her figure looked small and fragile since she was further down the path than he was. But somehow, he did not think that distance was the reason she looked so breakable; it was something else.

He did not pause to ponder this thought. Instead he signaled to John to grab her hands and for Piotr to be the look out, just in case Mesmero decided to come back. Gambit would carry her.

That was the part of the job he was certainly not complaining about. He watched John grab Rogue's hands and watched as Piotr stood in front like a large watchdog with a single purpose: to watch for one man. Gambit ran up behind Rogue, scooped her up, and then began to run again. They had to get out of the park.

The fog was getting thicker.

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"Was is the matter, Kitty?" Kurt asked as he watched the valley girl slump down in her seat.

"Just not hungry," she mumbled.

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Since vhen are you not hungry?" he asked skeptically. Kitty sighed.

 "I'll tell you later," she whispered. She did not want to tell the entire mansion about what had happened when she spoke to the Professor. Kurt had a right to know as Rogue's brother, but if Scott heard…well, she just didn't want Scott to hear.

Kurt nodded and turned back to his dinner. Obviously, Kitty had something important to tell him, and he could understand all too well that she did not want the rest of the team to know.

Now that he thought about the rest of the team…where was Rogue? And Gambit, John, and Piotr?

Meanwhile, Kitty was thinking along the same lines.

Didn't the Professor say that Rogue would be back by dinnertime?

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Gambit looked down at Rogue. She was not struggling at all. Instead, her normally emerald green eyes were a dark, murky brown. Her pupils were almost completely camouflaged by the new color, giving her a vacant look. Her face was still and she had not blinked since he had picked her up.

 "We almost there?" Gambit asked.

John shrugged. "Don't know mate. It's hard to tell where we are in this fog."

Both of the Acolytes looked up at Piotr. "I don't know either," he said, receiving anxious looks at his answer.

Apparently things were not going according to Magneto's plan.

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A/N: there was lots of action in this chapter. Hope you could keep up!^^* okay, so it wasn't as long as it could be, but this is a good place to stop. Thank you for all your reviews, and I promise I'll update soon^^*