Chapter 2
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Rogue stopped as Remy held out his arms to stop her and Kitty, speechless she watched as he moved to the side of the cave, certainly unnoticed by the others. As he sets a hand on a moist rock she tried to find the words to stop him or question him but nothing came. What, was he trying to kill them all? Upon further examination it wouldn't hurt Kitty or her. Just Wanda and that other chick...
Then, suddenly the cavern lit with a reddish glow.
"Okay, de fightin' stops now or Gambit'll blow de place up." He said, his eyes set and glowing, his facial expression hard and determined.
Remy turns to Rogue, "Chere, y'might want t'stand back"
Kitty was quiet, observing the events as they unfolded before her eyes. It was that strange mixture with the cold of the cave and the fire that reflected off the cavern walls from Pyro's antics.
Rogue gasped, "There are other ways to stop a fight than threatening them!" Rogue looked back at Kitty, smiled nervously. "Uh... better phase to be safe."
Kitty nodded, and was about to trigger her power. Then her team-mate let go of her hand.
"Ot'er ways p'tite? Tell dat t'Wanda!" Remy said, knowing that the Scarlet Witch had a bad temper and that nearly nothing could stop her when she was upset. He noticed too though that if he did blow the place up not only would Wanda and the other chic be killed, but he himself and Pyro would too. Pyro was hard to get to stop during a fight too, but Remy knew that this way would be most effective. Gambit shook his head. "Non, dis stops now or Gambit'll do it." He said, this time turning to glare at Wanda and Pyro.
Rogue gripped onto Remy's shirt and shut her eyes tightly, just waiting for something to blow up and kill them all.
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He was gone. Wanda shouldn't have gotten rid of that damn flame, it was her only source of light. How stupid could she be? She shouldn't make errors like that in a key battle. Wanda scolded herself.
Wanda looked about frantically, trying to find him but saw nothing but the darkness. His stupidly bright torn up orange and red suit should have been an easy target to spot. 'What I'd kill for a light.' Wanda thought bitterly.
As if on cue the entire cave began to glow an exotic pink color. 'Where was this coming from?' she thought. This wasn't that guy's power, was it? She didn't even know the stupid redhead's name and she hated him. That had to be a record for her.
"Okay, de fightin' stops now or Gambit'll blow de place up."
Wanda turned her head around quickly to see where the voice was coming from, and low and behold who was standing right there...
John jumped out from behind the rock he was hiding behind, which happened to be the very same rock Remy had chosen to charge.
"Bout Bloody time you showed up mate!" John looked over at Remy, who kept his hands plastered to the glowing rock.
John, now exposed out in the open before Wanda and the others, kept the flames burning brightly in his hands. Wanda made no move to power down, the blue aura still flowing around her.
Both the Witch and the Flame Thrower made not a single move to lower their attacks, John with his flames, Wanda with her hex bolts. Rogue groaned, muttering, "Why was Ah stuck with this stupid power can't do nothing from far away... stupid..."
"Tell here to put hers down first." John tossed the fireballs up and caught them quickly for emphasis. No way he was snuffing out when she was still ready to hex him the second he let his guard down.
So there was the little bugger. "You first." Wanda told him, glaring at him as best she could. There was no way she was letting her guard down when the other one could still blow her up. Not a snow balls chance in Hell was she going to.
John smiled as he watched Wanda stand firm, this was going to be fun. "Asked you first Sheila."
Remy growled and suddenly an area of the ceiling explodes and a few rocks come tumbling harmlessly down. "Dat was a warnin' bot' you quite it now or Gambit finish d'job!" He said threateningly
His eyes glowed a little more fierce. "John, drop de fire. Gambit'll do it and yo o' all people should know dat." He said with all honesty.
Rogue nodded, pleading with the two of them with her eyes to just put down their weapons. She looked to Callisto whom seems to be just watching with interest, not saying a thing or caring enough to plead.
Wanda watched with little amusement and a growing temper. What was he doing? Interrupting there fight like that? "Stay out of this!" Wanda growled, glaring at Gambit. She raised her fists up a bit, the charge seemed to grow brighter, and stronger.
Rogue let out a growl, releasing her hold on the Cajun.
Wanda gave a small smile as she returned her attention to the redhead, it was more of a grim smirk but hey, who was paying attention? This reminded her of when she and Pietro would argue like this. And she knew just what to say.
"You asked him to tell me." She nodded to Gambit, whom had yet to release his charge on the rock. "But you never asked me. So technically I asked you first." Wanda just loved the way her twisted mind worked.
John's face twisted in thought.
"But... I mean..." He took a deep breath to calm himself, and actually felt his temperature go down a degree or two, despite the flames in his hands. He needed to take his time and form a logical argument.
Rogue rolled her eyes, "Ah swear..."
"Did not!" John barked.
"Did so!" Wanda shot back before she knew what was coming out of her mouth.
"Honestly! Yeh'd think ya'll were children! How about yeh do it at the same time? So Swamprat won't blow up any more and then we can all get out of this stupid cave and go our separate ways!" Rogue marched forward taking a stance between the two, crossing her arms, 'Calm yerself Rogue, it's just like separating Bobby and Jamie when their fighting for the last breakfast bar... they won't fight with you in the middle...' Rogue thought, as another voice piped up inside of her '...you're talking about two of your greatest and most powerful foes! What's stopping them? YOU?' Rogue smacked her head with the palm of her hand, 'Idiot...'
John watched Rogue walk between him and Wanda. No way was he going to let her talk to him like a kid. John stamped his foot and pointed behind Rogue to Wanda. "But she started it!"
Why was he pointing at her? Wanda thought for a moment. Wanda's mouth slightly opened. How dare he pin this on her. Her temper flared, and her Hex bolts mirrored her temper.
Rogue let out another moan, "Doesn't matter who started it, ever heard that ending is makes you the better person? Huh? Did ya?"
Wanda gritted her teeth, and tried to do what Fred had told her to do when she was mad. Count to ten. One, two...
"If one of yeh tries ta hurt the other one Ah'll jump in the way, all right?" Rogue groaned as she realized what she just offered. Logan would shoot her.
Ten... Fred never was that bright anyway. "No! Not all right! I'm sick of all these stupid interruptions." Wanda's powers and temper flared, and her eyes became enraged.
Rogue looked to Wanda, almost fearfully as Wanda was obviously more infuriated with the Aussie and her.
"Now let me kill him already! Or at least beat him up a bit!" She shouted as she prepared to fire a Hex bolt at John.
As Wanda prepped a hex bolt, Rogue smacked her hands against her face, rubbing at her temples 'Great, this is really good in the morning'
"Move, or I'll move you myself." She threatened to Rogue, bringing her brightly glowing blue charged hands up, hovering them slightly above Rogue.
Rogue thought on this, 'If Ah did move, maybe they'd finish each other off?' growled the little Logan present in the depths of her mind 'No!' cried the little Xavier 'Peace is always the way to go! Stand your ground!'
Rogue moaned, "Listen You!" She shouted at Wanda. "Can't you settle this another time when were not in a cold freakin cave?" Realizing her reason probably didn't even reach the Witch's ears, she looked to Remy, though probably not the best to dish out advice she threw up her arms in defeat.
For a moment Wanda thought that the other Goth was going to stand up to her maybe even fight her, and in her eyes she saw that took guts. But in the Pyromaniacs case it was just pure stupidity. But then Rogue said...
"A little help here Swamprat?" Rogue glanced nervously at Wanda, then at John, then back to Remy.
With those words Rogue lost what little respect she had just earned from Wanda by just saying that. But it was gone now and Rogue was going to ask the pathetic Cajun for help. 'Like that was going to do any good', Wanda thought bitterly. She brought her arms down folding them over her chest, partly because she was cold, all she had on was a black tank top. Once Rogue had stopped looking at her she relaxed a bit. Though one thing still bugged her, and she couldn't let it go to save her life. She side stepped around Rogue towards John while Rogue was paying attention to Gambit and not her and the misfit.
Quietly Wanda said to the redhead, "How could you say that I started it, when it was clearly you that started it?"
Kitty smacked her own forehead, mentally calling Rogue stupid. She decided to act quick and try to bum rush Wanda amidst Rogue's mild distraction.
If John had decided to answer her, or even if he had mumbled something for an answer Wanda didn't even hear it. She had said it to just push his buttons, for some reason she felt like a little kid again when she argued with him. 'Maybe because he acted like such a little kid'. She thought. Wanda sighed, and turned her attention back to Rogue. It was weird, not having people pay attention to her. At the Brother Hood house she was always being followed, someone was always paying attention to her, and believe it or not she missed it.
Again she sighed, but the sound of someone other then who she saw at the moment walking about the cave shook her head clear of memory lane and back to the present. Wanda turned her head up at the sight of Kitty, 'Now what was she doing?' Wanda had almost forgotten about her. Almost, she wasn't that careless, not again. Was she actually going to attack her? Wanda thought as the girl came towards her.
Remy saw that the young brunette teen was about to attack Wanda, that Wanda was moving once again toward Pyro. Only one thing made him hesitate.
The thought that the pint size kitten was going to try and attack Wanda was a baffling thing for the power house known as the Scarlet Witch. It amazed her more then anything, what was she going to do phase through her? Like that would work.
John was watching Wanda, waiting to see her reaction when the charging brunette got closer when...
"Rogue." Remy muttered. Remy's brows furrowed in determination. "Enough!"
'Him again.' Wanda thought bitterly.
John turned to Remy, but not before the cave began shaking. "Are you Crazy!" John yelled at Remy when he noticed the kinetic energy filling the cave.
Just then the ground beneath her feet began to shake, and the Shadowcat had stopped coming towards Wanda. What was going on?
Suddenly everything begins to explode. The roof off the cave, and the side walls. The instant it began though Remy ran to Rogue, knocking her over and attempting to shield her as the mountains of rock debris began falling in on them.
Rocks began to fall from the ceiling as she charge traveled up the walls and across the roof of the cave. At first it was small rocks, leading to large ones, until finally a human sized boulder crashed right next to John.
The flames in his hands disappeared as he danced and twisted to avoid being squashed. Looking up to the roof of the cave to judge the oncoming projectiles, Johns eyes somehow connected with a basketball sized rock as it broke lose from the ceiling.
Wanda was still facing Shadowcat, oblivious to the rock descending above her. For some reason unknown to him, Pyro began to run.
Kitty was about to tackle Wanda, then the roof started to crumble around her and just about everyone. She hesitated.
'What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing?' John thought as he scrambled through the falling rocks. The Shadowcat had it easy, just phase and let the rocks pass through her, but the unsuspecting Wanda... His thoughts trailed off as he watched the rocks plummet towards her.
A few rocks fell a few feet away from her, and Wanda knew then it was a cave in, thanks to the no good Cajun.
The tremors began to grow stronger as more of the larger rocks and boulders began to break free and collapse onto the ground, trying to maim them as best they could. But Wanda didn't move. Why wasn't she moving? She was going to be killed if she didn't move? They all were going to be killed. What was that? Did she actually care? Nah, she couldn't, could she? She had known the Brotherhood longer and she questioned whether Wanda would ever save them? Well one thing was for sure, she wasn't going to die in here, Wanda thought as she prepared the energy to charge her Hex bolts. No way was her life going to end like this. Not when she had unfinished business to attend to.
Just then Wanda heard another voice call out, with all the rocks crashing down around her, she couldn't tell who it was.
John jumped. "Get Down!"
"Huh?" Wanda said. She turned to face him just as they collided full force, his body weight pushing her out from under the falling rock.
She turned her head toward where Rogue and Gambit had been after the threat had been made. She glanced back to notice Wanda get covered by John as the cave roof started to crumble around them.
John felt a dulling pain on the back of his head, but not much after that, including their tumble to the ground.
Wanda turned to face John just as they collided full force, his bodyweight pushing her out from under the falling rock, knocking the wind out of her.
They both hit the ground rather hard and rolled a few feet once they hit the ground, somehow avoiding most of the larger falling rocks.
On her back Wanda looked up to see nothing but a thick cloud of dust surrounding her, the cave was still collapsing, but it seemed that she was safe for the moment. She slowly sat up and realized there was an extra weight on her for the first time. It was John, he had pushed her out of the way. Because she was careless. That stung, she was never careless. She was always on top of things, she never let anyone get hurt on her account.
She growled. It wasn't like Wanda asked him to play hero and save her, she could have saved herself... somehow.
Just then another explosion sounded in the cave causing a second wave of rocks to collapsed about them. Wanda looked down at the Aussie. He wasn't moving, and she knew that wasn't a good sign. And she always repaid her debts. So in a last minute decision Wanda decided to shield him from the final wave of rocks...
Kitty shrieked loudly, as most teenage girls do during horror films. She covered her face then instinctively triggered her mutant ability to phase through the falling debris. She thought to herself, 'Almost lost your head about the situation there, Pryde. Gotta pay attention better.'
Rogue gasped as the cave begins to explode around her, and before she could act or do anything to help herself or the people around her, she fell to the ground by some force. Gazing up into a sea of red...
Rogue let out a scream shielding her head just in case. He let go! Remy had actually let go! Rogue screams again, as she begins to feel everything around her just disintegrates.
She'd die. She'd die confused, in a wet now crumbling cave. She'd die with her teammate and three of her enemies. She'd die without finishing high school, going to college... She'd die like this?
Kitty thought for a second who may need help more, Rogue and Remy, or John and Wanda. She decided to move toward John and Wanda, and hope that they were unconscious so she wouldn't have to deal with angry people any longer. Kitty approached them, who are somewhat under rubble. The rocks still falling gradually around them. She asked, "Anyone alive over here?!" Keeping herself in check and phased so she wouldn't get hurt.
Live or die. This was not the situation Wanda thought she would have been put through this morning. Then again it was most likely still morning.
Her head hurt like hell, from a rock that managed to hit her while she was shielding Pyro. Luckily she stayed awake to suffer with the pain with out any Advil relieve her pain. Life sucked.
This sucked.
Rogue reached up pulling the Cajuns form down, shutting her eyes tightly, burrowing her head against Remy.
Remy had successfully knocked Rogue to the ground. She had helped him in following her down by grabbing onto his shirt. He didn't mind though. He had wanted to shield her anyway.
Why? Remy asked himself in his head wondering why he wanted to save the girl. He didn't have time to think though as he covered his head in hopes to protect it. He hoped he was either shielding Rogue's or she was shielding her own.
Quickly, without even thinking she pressed her bare fingers against Remy's face, absorbing some of his sweet energy. Rogue reached up and touched him before he could react and immediately he went limp, but not unconscious, though it probably looked as if he was. But what to do with it? This stupid kinetic energy got them into this? Would it get them out? The cave was closing in! What would they...
Something seemed to hit either her or Remy as she felt her body pushing even harsher against the cave floor, her eyes flicker shut, she tightening her hold on the Gambler, sliding her hands up his back and doing as Logan... or Ororo would teach her to do. Protect the head, the worst thing that could be damaged was the head right?
She hoped... she prayed that this would just be another tight squeeze...
! Remy cursed mentally. A few things went running through his head then. First he was worried because now he had no control over what happened next. He could not protect himself from the rocks let alone Rogue. Which was his reason for running to her in the first place. Then he hoped she knew what she was doing and had a reason for taking his power other then to make him unable to do anything. His next feeling was one of disappointment. In the chaos of the falling rocks he hadn't gotten a chance to enjoy the touch of the untouchable.
Rogue had his power now but she wasn't doing anything. Remy was going to attempt to say something when a rock hit his back. He was about to let out a cry of pain when a smaller one met the back of his head and everything was engulfed in soundless black.
What had she done? Why had she done it? What in the world had motivated her to take his energy? She didn't know how to use it to help them or get them out of this situating... and worst of all, in taking his power he had gone unconscious. Now she had a heavy man on top of her, protecting any of her bare poison skin would be hell.
With her arms still wrapped around him, she could feel the large rock and still crumbled debris come on top of him...
Why hadn't she gone over those files on Cerebro with the Professor? Why hadn't she taken the chance to get some idea of what Remy could do? She could take a chance, but if she did it wrong she could kill the both of them... But she had to do it, she just had to. With each passing second he began heavier. Soon she herself would be in danger.
She couldn't think about it, she just couldn't. If she was going to do anything she'd have to do it now.
With all the strength she could muster, hoping absorbing the Cajun's own power she could get some of his physical strength too. She leaned her head up, and over his shoulder. She pulled off a fingerless glove and pressed it against the rock, lighting it up with a kinetic glow.
"If Ah just..." Rogue started. With a push at the rock she attempted to knock it off, but with no prevail, she tried again, still she wasn't strong enough to use just one hand to push it off.
Her body shook as she pushed at it even harder, she felt it move. She felt it move! Thank God... that at least meant she could do something with it. Now she'd have to take the big chance, with a rush she removed the hand that had charged the rock and gave it the greatest push she could.
And it fell, it fell off of Remy, and it was then she realized she really should make any life or death decisions in the morning. The rock would blow any second, hurting them and possibly the others.
Rogue gripped onto the Cajun tighter and rolled herself on top of him, she gazed down at his limp form for just a second before doing it again and again.
And then the rock exploded, she brought her arms over her head and leaned down to Remy hoping it would shield him too.
The pieces of debris that blew against her, hurt bad but she wouldn't let herself give in. As the rock finally met it's doom, the cave still breaking she came to her feet and grabbed onto Remy's arms tugging him forward.
"Kitty?! W-W-W-Wanda?!" Tears slid down her cheeks, they'd have to be all right. They'd just have to. Rogue glanced down at Remy, her bottom lip trembled. As the light from the outside, that seeped in through the caves mouth hit her back she let out a sigh of pained relief gripping Remy even tighter and running out into the clearing.
She collapsed to her knees, hovering over Remy
"Ah'm going to go for the.." She sniffled, "others, Remy. Yeh stay here." Rogue brought a finger to his temple and took a small dose of his power. "You'll be all right" she whispered, leaning down to him, wishing she could just hug him or touch him.
Remy barely understood the last words that went into his ears with a Southern accent. It was Rogue's.. and she was going to leave him there. His eyes snapped open, which wasn't good for him at all. His vision was black, then it blurred into life and with unfocused eyes he saw her. He reached out and grabbed her wrist, his whole body screaming not to move. He ignored it and pulled her a little toward him, but with barely any effect for he was weak. The blow to the head had broken skin and his head was bleeding freely now.
His eyes focused on the girl and he could see the worry in her eyes as she looked at him. That was all he could make out at the moment.. or comprehend. He felt bad now though for he knew that at least one of her friends had been caught in the cave in and it was his fault... not even an accident.. so he let go of her wrist and laid his head back which he realized now had snapped up when he had grabbed onto her.
Hopefully his actions hadn't been a complete failure. If everyone made it out... maybe... just maybe they would be at least willing to cooperate long enough to have a civilized conversation instead of a fight.
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To be continued..
This piece of fanfiction is a collection of several months of roleplay in a Yahoo Group based environment. Certain characters were handed to people to control the actions of, to tell their part of the story which sums up the overall feel of this. Over time we've had eight fantastic writers come in and direct the story one way or another, and it is my pleasure to have been (and still be) part of this ever growing story. We all started writing this story around October 9th, 2003.
Authors Notes:
-- Characters/Authors --
Casakitten: Rogue
Eixid: St. John "Pyro" Allerdyce
Alice Storm: Callisto
KiyoneKatz: Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde
Sarah Crysala: Remy "Gambit" LeBeau
Roguestar1: Wanda "Scarlet Witch" Maximoff