Disclaimer: I do not own any X-Men characters appearing in this story, they are the property of: Marvel Comics, 20th Century Fox, Stan Lee and a whole bunch of other people none of which include myself. This has been written for purely recreational purposes, I make no money from this so please don't sue.
"A good memory is often a great help; but knowing when to forget things sometimes counts for more."
-Philander C. Johnson
"In plucking the fruit of memory one runs the risk of spoiling its bloom."
-Joseph Conrad
"Ah tell me not that memory
Sheds gladness o'er the past;
What is recalled by faded flowers
Save that they did not last?"
-Letitia Landon
Rogue clutched her head as she rested it on her knees trying, in vain, to stave off the onslaught of memories from the mutant she had absorbed.
Neither the X-Men nor the Brotherhood could claim a decisive victory, both sides retreated with their wounded already preparing themselves for their next encounter.
The unexpected addition of a powerful mutant called Mesmero tipped the fight on the Brotherhood's side and had Rogue not knocked him out by absorbing his powers they could have been a lot worse off.
Still Mesmero had tricked Cyclops into blasting Iceman into unconsciousness before Beast had taken him out.
Storm and Logan had congratulated Rogue on a job well done but the platitudes did little to ease Rogue's emotional upheaval.
Mesmero's powers had already been lost to her and now only his memories remained imprinted in her psyche.
Arriving back at the Institute Scott and Bobby were both left in the med bay under the watchful eye of Hank McCoy to sleep off their injuries.
Rogue slipped away to the inner sanctum that was her room. After the attack on the school she had brought up the dangers of sharing a room with others and after little thought was given a room off the teacher's wing complete with a bathroom.
Peeling off her filthy uniform Rogue stepped into the shower and gave a low moan as the hot water caressed and soothed her bruised body. Pulling on a pair of sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt Rogue wrapped herself in her comforter and welcomed the sweet oblivion of sleep.
"She can…remember nothing…High risk…threat." A woman's voice; dim and foggy as if she were a great distance away.
"5,000 dollars…affects permanent?" Same woman again, she sounded vaguely distressed.
"Of course, I do good work…New memories…foster family in Mississippi paid as well? …What should I call her?" A man's voice, much clearer than the first. My voice?
"…Marie…"
Rogue sat up suddenly, panting and covered in a clammy sweat. The woman's voice still echoed in her mind. "Marie".
Trembling slightly Rogue made her way back to the bathroom. A glance at her alarm clock told her she only had slept three hours. The time was now four-thirty in the morning.
A half an hour and another shower found Rogue in the gym as she stretched and prepared for her morning exercises before she had to commute to class.
"Why are you up so early, Marie?"
Startled, Rogue jumped even as she realized who had snuck up on her.
"Couldn't sleep, Logan. Besides I have class at ten anyway so I didn't see the point in wasting time. The professahs probably gonna want ta talk to us about last night and it'll take me a little ova an hour to git ta school."
"You wouldn't need to travel so far if you would've just taken classes at WCC." Logan growled, pleased that he could rehash an old argument.
Rogue sighed. She had been accepted to NYU and had enrolled despite the numerous protests Logan made. Ororo and Charles had supported her decision but Logan never seemed to get tired of arguing the same point over and over.
"Logan we've had this discussion before and my position is tha same as its always been. Ah'm studying at NYU and that's final."
Logan seemed to go temporarily deaf as he loudly changed the subject.
"As long as you've got so much time to kill, kid, show me what one-eye's been teaching ya."
Rogue smiled broadly, for all his posturing she knew that Logan was very proud of her fighting skills. It was just another of their daily rituals to start the morning with a spar.
Logan stood patiently waiting for Rogue to make her move. He never had to wait long as she was prone to being impatient. A fast high kick to Logan's face set him in motion, he grabbed her leg and twisted it sharply to the right.
Unfazed Rogue did exactly as taught and rolled with the twist and when released aimed a crushing blow to Logan's right kneecap. For anyone else this would have meant a dislocated knee and weeks of rehab, for Logan it was little more than an annoyance that slowed him down and gave Rogue the opportunity to try and end the battle early.
Unfortunately Rogue underestimated Logan's recovery time and took the full force of a blow to her solar-plexus.
Reeling and short of breath Rogue backed up a small distance to prepare for an offensive attack.
Sure enough Logan pressed his advantage and threw a cross punch that, if it had connected, would have ended the fight.
But what Rogue lacked in raw strength she more than made up for with agility. Ducking, Rogue twisted her body in under Logan's still outstretched arm and used his momentum against him as she slammed him into the metal walls with a sickening clang.
Slightly stunned Logan was too slow to dodge the ungloved hand that briefly pressed to his face. The whole maneuvers had taken less than 15 seconds.
Shaking and slightly nauseous from the energy transfer Logan looked at Rogue, eyes comically wide.
Rogue was equally shocked. She had, on occasion, beaten Logan during a sparring session but her execution of the takedown had been flawless and as natural to her as breathing; an automatic reflex.
"That new mutant you absorbed sticking 'round to show you some things, kid?"
"Apparently." Still winded her southern drawl came out a bit thicker than usual. Logan grinned wolfishly, Rogue sighed. Sometimes she wondered if Logan actually enjoyed losing to her.
"Well Rogue you've still got half an hour 'till practice starts and since you beat me so quick you have more than enough time to give me three miles on the treadmill."
And sometimes she didn't.
27 minutes, 3.1 miles later and Rogue was impatiently waiting for practice to start.
She didn't have long to wait though because at that moment Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Storm entered the room soon followed by Beast, Colossus, and Iceman. Bobby and Piotr seemed to share the same ridiculously horrible case of bed head.
Scott really didn't look all that much better, his usual clean-shaven well -organized appearance was forgone for a man with a weeks worth of stubble and uncombed hair.
Rogue sighed internally. Although Scott was doing much better than he had been in the four months following Jean's death he still was only a shadow of the man he had been with her.
Storm's voice sapped Rogue out of her inner musings. 'Ro had been given Scott's position as team leader after a simple recruitment mission had taken a decidedly nasty turn when Scott had failed to perform adequately.
"Today we are going to run the standard obstacle course. Beast you're teamed with Colossus. Cyclops with Iceman, Nightcrawler you're with Rogue and Wolverine is with me. Keep in mind we are all going for our personal best times. The pair who finishes last will head the training of the other students today."
Storm paused as a shudder rattled the group. They all hated teaching gym.
"Kurt you are restricted to 'ports with a 7 foot radius. Logan, Scott please try to limit your destructive tendencies."
Rogue sidled up to Kurt.
"'Morning, Kurt."
"Guten tag, Rogue."
"I've got class all day, so Ah don't really want to be a gym teacher today. What d'ya say we show these ol' folk how much faster and more agile we are?"
Kurt grinned, he enjoyed working with Rogue, she was a good compliment for his acrobatics- quick on her feat and fearless.
"Ja, I am thinking dat ze Volverine vud make a very gut gym teacher."
He and Rogue shared a brief smile before Storm gave the voice command for the simulation to begin.
"Remember, the last pair to finish gets to teach gym!"
Immediately all eight mutants found themselves under attack.
Nightcrawler leapt up the wall and teleported to the nearest turret ripping wires from its' base as he kept moving. Rogue stayed on the ground keeping the attention of the lasers away from her partner. Quickly disabling the three most immediate laser canons in the same fashion Nightcrawler rejoined Rogue on the floor sparing a second to glance at the competition.
Storm and Cyclops had evidently fried most of the remaining turrets while Beast and Colossus physically dismantled the rest.
Any other observations were cut off when he felt a body collide with his own. Rogue smirked at him.
"Keep yoah head in the game, blue. We've still got a ways ta go."
Nightcrawler teleported both he and Rogue 7 feet closer to their goal. The place where they had been sprawled now a pile of smoldering metal.
"Zame to you , Fraeulein."
Sprinting closer to their goal Rogue and Kurt shared a groan as they entered the part of the course that Bobby had dubbed 'the-pyschotic-spinny-poles-of-spikey-sharp-death'. The bladed poles made a faint 'whooshing sound as they all spun with different speeds at different heights.
Kurt was in his element; bobbing and weaving between the blades 'porting away from the ones he couldn't dodge. Rogue performed admirably using every last move she had ever gotten Nightcrawler to teach her combined with several years of gymnastics classes. She dove over a blade aimed at her kneecaps rolling head-over-heels into a crouching position that she easily began running from.
Almost caught up with Nightcrawler Rogue failed to register the presence of another blade until it was almost at her waist. Caught unaware Rogue reacted on instinct leaping up into what she instinctively knew to be a 'tiger crouch' Rogue landed on the still spinning blade in a crouch before flipping off the blade and moving out of the danger zone.
Kurt stood stock-still, stunned by the ease with which Rogue had moved. He hadn't taught her that. One second he had been preparing to port her out of harms way and the next she was standing alongside him.
Still puzzling over recent developments Kurt was vaguely aware of being dragged over the 'finish line'.
Rogue, who had just finished doing a victory dance, turned to Kurt in bemusement.
"Why tha long face Kurt, we won! An' Ah think tha' we jus' beat tha course record." Kurt's frown deepened for a moment, 'Wasn't she aware of what she had done?' before he forced a smile on his face.
"Ja Rogue, you did gut but ze horribul dhanzing scared me silent."
"Oh you're a funny man 'crawler, a reg-u-lah comedian. You an' Bobby should tour togetha' ya'll would be a riot."
Turning away from the smug German Rogue was disappointed to find that she had missed the others finish. It was always a pleasure to watch the original X-Men go through the sets; they were good at what they did. She contented herself with watching Piotr and Bobby argue over who had finished last.
"I don't know when your last check-up was Colossus but you obviously need glasses, anyone could see that me and Mr. Summers were done way before you!"
"Nyet, perhaps you crost the line before Beast and me but Cyclops didn't cross until after we did. Rules were the pairs had to complete the course."
"As Scott, Hank and I all have to teach both you and Bobby may instruct the children today, Piotr." 'Ro saw Logan smirking out of the corner of her eye and she smiled broadly. "and Logan can supervise the both of you."
Turning to face Rogue and Kurt Storm was greeted by a dissipating cloud of brimstone.
"Aww c'mon Miss Munroe! How come Rogue and Mr. Wagner get to skip out on the work?"
"Don't worry Bobby, when I catch those two they'll receive whatever unpleasant task Logan can think of."
Bobby and Piotr shared a smirk, Logan always came up with the worst tasks.
Up on the third floor of the Institute Rogue and Kurt parted ways each congratulating themselves on skipping out on the work.
After her third shower in 7 hours Rogue made her way downstairs using every ounce of God-given stealth she possessed to avoid getting caught. If she knew 'Ro, which after an unfortunate training accident she knew her very well, Ororo would leave the division of chores to Logan which was good for her and pretty sucky for Kurt.
Opting to pick up breakfast on the way to school Rogue made her way to the garage. As a congratulations-you-made-it-to-college gift the Professor had sprung for cars for the five mutants who had graduated.
Slipping behind the wheel of her 2006 Infiniti G36 Rogue gave a sigh of relief. She was home-free.
Tap. Tap.
'Aw, hell…'
" 'Lo Logan, I was just on my way ta class, is there something Ah kin help ya'll with?"
"Well kid, seeing as how you've still got almost 3 hours until your class starts I figure you and I might just have ourselves a little talk."
"What on 'arth about' Logan?" Rogue distantly noted how it was a shame that she wasn't an actress, her innocent Southern-Belle performances was academy award worthy.
"Real cute. When you get back tonight you get the honor and the pleasure of making sure all the little ones are all tucked in their beds and stay there. Any mishaps on their part are your responsibility. Oh and jus' because I'm a fair guy your partner in crime can give you a hand."
Rogue sighed, Logan was pretty much condemning her to a night of no sleep and a day of triple shot espressos.
"Sure thang Logan, am Ah free ta go now or do you have more sadistic urges to satisfy?"
"Nah, I think I'll save the rest for gym class. Oh and before I forget 'Ro packed you some breakfast and lunch."
Logan shoved the paper bag through the open windows brusquely before he awkwardly shambled away.
Rogue watched him go with a smile on her face. No one ever believed her when she called Logan sweet.
"Thanks…"
Logan merely grunted.
A/N: This is my first posting for the X-Men The Movie category. I never read the comics but I am familiar with the basics and I watched TAS and Evo religiously you can expect familiar characters and story plots but with numerous twists. Essentially I'm doing what the writers did for the movies and the TV shows—taking the basic history and throwing it into a blender.
Next Posting Date: Wednesday, February 2nd, 2005. This is subject to change.
This is my first posting for the X-Men The Movie category. I never read the comics but I am familiar with the basics and I watched TAS and Evo religiously you can expect familiar characters and story plots but with numerous twists. Essentially I'm doing what the writers did for the movies and the TV shows—taking the basic history and throwing it into a blender.Wednesday, February 2nd, 2005. This is subject to change.