Disclaimer: I own only the plot. Bummer. Wolverine would be fun...
A/N: TAke a closer look into what REALLY happened on Rouge's way up to Canada and what happens when her past comes back to haunt her, taking several of the other students with her. I haven't read the comics, just seen the movies, so forgive me if some of my info is off
Rouge woke to the sound of gunshots and shattering glass. Explosives' resonating booms echoed through the school's long, dark hallways. She jumped as more shots rang out and screaming pierced the air that was still not five minutes ago. She leaped out of bed and took the time to pull off her silk-and-lace slinky black night dress and pull on a pair on tight, form-fitting Levi's and a flare-sleeved, low cut, red shirt. She could never be too careful. She grabbed her black, elbow high gloves from her night stand and pulled her hair into a tight ponytail. Another explosion shook the floor beneath her and she let slip a little scream before shoving her feet into her shoes. She dashed to the door, yanked it open and ran out into the chaotic hallway.
Students ran helter-skelter in every direction, screaming, calling for friends, trying to escape the bullets and falling debris. A strong, muscled arm bumped into her and she almost fell, but found herself being held by the same pair of arms. "Are you okay?" It was Piotr. He pulled her to her feet and steadied her gently.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Rouge assured him. "What the hell is going on?" She shrieked as another explosion blasted huge chunks out of the wall opposite them. Piotr grabbed the arms of the only other two people in the hall, pulled them under his bent body, along with Rouge, and turned his body to steel, effectively shielding them from the falling rock and plaster. Once the pieces had fallen to the floor, he straightened and let them out from beneath the shelter of his body. He looked at Rouge seriously.
"I have no idea." He stated grimly.
"We have to get the kids out of here," Kitty said. They jumped; neither of them noticed that she was standing next to them. Rouge glared at her. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." She flashed them a grin before her brief smile faded. "No, seriously, we have to get out. The school's practically falling down around us. It isn't safe."
"You're right." Piotr agreed.
"Okay, you two go round up the students and go to the underground safe house near the school that Xavier told us about. I've gotta find Bobby and Logan." Rouge said, not waiting for an answer before racing off down the hallway in search of her boyfriend and best friend.
"Rouge wait!" Piotr called after her, but with no results. She was quickly lost from sight around the corner. "Come on," he and Kitty ran in the opposite direction, rounding up the other students.
"Bobby! Logan!" Rouge yelled as she ran in the direction of Bobby's room. She ran around the corner and saw Bobby shielding a young student, a little girl named Jamie, from a bullet that had just been fired at her by someone dressed in camouflaged pants and a black shirt. He pulled Jamie to the ground, trying to avoid the bullet himself, and, luckily for him, the small deadly piece of steel only just nicked his upper arm. He cried out in pain and clamped his hand over the bleeding wound. "Bobby!" Rouge shrieked in fear and ran to his side; she hadn't seen where the bullet had hit. She'd only seen the blood. Jamie stood and fled, eyes wide with fear as she glanced back over her shoulder at the man who was still standing there.
Bobby placed his blood covered hand on the floor and shot ice along it at the man, layering him in thick sheets of ice, turning him and his weapons into nothing more than colorful ice statues. "Rouge, get out of here." Bobby said through gritted teeth, putting his hand back over the cut in his arm. He looked around at the desecration surrounding them. Windows were shattered and bits of glass layered the floor, chunks of wall and ceiling loomed out of the shadows like rocks in the fog over a river. Dust and plaster layered everything thickly, making them cough when they tried to breathe.
"I'm not going anywhere without you." She replied stubbornly, helping him to his feet. He looked her straight in the eyes and saw the determination there. He sighed.
"Fine, let's go." He took her hand and they ran, just as an explosive hit the place where they had been standing only moments before. The explosion sent them flying up and forward several feet before they landed, winded, on the floor.
"Shit. That was close." Rouge commented, as they picked themselves up off the floor and dusted themselves off.
"Too close. Come on." He tugged at her hand. "Have you seen Scott or Storm or...well...any of the teachers? Or Piotr or Kitty?" She shook her head no.
"I haven't seen Scott, or Storm. Piotr and Kitty went to help the other kids get out of the school and to the safe house." She replied. "Have you seen Logan?"
"No."
"We've gotta find him."
"No," Bobby said sternly. "We've gotta get out of here. It's not safe. Logan'll be alright, besides, he made me swear that I wouldn't let anything happen to you."
"And nothing will. But you need to understand, Bobby. I can't leave without him. He saved my life; he took care of me when I had no one else. He was the only one who gave a damn about me after I left home."
Bobby pulled her to an abrupt stop, almost making her stumble. Emotions flashed across his face so fast that Rouge didn't have time to try and read them. He finally settled for a blank face and a sad look in his eyes. "He really means that much to you?"
Rouge sighed and raised a gloved hand to his cheek, brushing her thumb over his smooth skin, wishing, though impossibly, that she could feel his skin with nothing at all on her hands. She hated her mutation. It wasn't a gift, it was a curse. I curse that cut her off from the rest of the world, forced her to keep a distance between her and the people she loved that no on else had to. She sighed again and pushed the thoughts from her head, knowing that it was pointless to dwell on something she couldn't change. This was the best she could do and she would work with what she had. Even if it was this cursed mutation.
"Yes, he means a lot to me, but so do you. You are both important to me, just in different ways. Logan has been an amazing influence in my life, he pulled me back from the edge when I met him up north...You wouldn't believe some of the stupid things I did after I left home...," her voice trailed off and for a moment her eyes betrayed her and showed regret and fear. She hadn't meant for that last part to come out. She squeezed her eyes shut tight for a few seconds, then opened them again and continued before Bobby had a chance to ask questions.
"Anyways," she said hastily, "You are my boyfriend. But you need to understand that I care about Logan too. You are just as important to me as he is. Plus, I already know that you don't just want me for...you know...benefits...You like me for who I am and not what I can or...can't, in my case, offer you. And I love that about you." Rouge assured him. Thankfully, and to her great relief, Bobby was swayed by her flattery and forgot, at least for the moment, what she had let slip earlier, and smiled.
"Okay," He grinned. "Let's go find us a Wolverine." Rouge giggled, half out of amusement, half out of relief. They ran, finally noticing the danger in staying in that one place for so long, as their ears were met once again, with loud gunfire.
"Logan!" Rouge called, leading Bobby towards his room. "Logan, where are you?!" She shrieked and jumped backwards, losing her balance and falling into Bobby when the tousle-haired, rugged-looking, dark haired, dark eyed man dropped down in front of her from above, claws exposed.
She slapped his shoulder hard and glared at him, regaining the breath that was driven out of her chest in her surprise. "Jesus, Logan! Don't DO that!" She laid her hand over her pounding heart. "Where the hell've you been?!"
He ignored her comments and his eyes flickered all around in watchful vigilance. "Why are you still here? Why didn't you go to the safe house with the others?" He glared at her sternly.
"She wouldn't leave without you." Bobby responded for her. "She was worried about you."
"Old One-Eye and I are handling it. And I can take care of myse-," He stopped mid-sentence and his body stiffened as a bullet hit the center of his back in a swirl of flesh and blood. His eyes rolled up into his head and he fell forward at Bobby and Rouge's feet.
"LOGAN!" Rouge screamed as he fell. She and Bobby dropped to their knees beside his fallen form, "Oh my God." They watched as blood poured from the bullet wound. "Logan," tears pricked at the corners of her burning eyes.
"He'll be alright, watch." Bobby assured her. But they never got a chance to watch. He was looking down at Logan when he felt Rouge stiffen beside him and clench her hand painfully tight around his wrist. He looked up sharply and froze. In their concern for Logan they had completely forgotten about the person that had shot him.
Rouge was staring down the barrel of a gun that was pointed straight at her forehead, her eyes wide. "No false moves mu'ant, or she ge's i' righ' b'tween th'eyes." His cold voice held a heavy British accent.
"What are you talking about? This is a school. There're no mutants here." Bobby spoke hastily, trying to figure out how to get the gun away from Rouge's face without the man shooting her.
"Yeah righ' kid. 'Ow stupid d'you think oi am?"
"Pretty stupid," they heard Scott growl and a red flash temporarily blinded them as Cyclops took out their attacker from behind. They were still for a moment before reality came rushing back and Scott ran to their side. "Are you guys okay?" He asked hastily, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. Rouge swallowed hard and nodded, visibly shaking.
"Yeah," Bobby found his voice, "but I thought we were goners for a minute there."
Logan groaned and stirred beside them. He sat up slowly, shaking his fog-filled head, "bastard," he growled and scratched at the place where the bullet hole had been.
"Logan!" Rouge exclaimed, throwing her arms around him in relief, catching him off –guard, almost making them both fall backwards. He regained his balance with a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth and put his arms around her small frame, stroking her hair comfortingly.
"Hey, it's okay, I'll live. I've gotten worse." She pulled back and smirked at him.
"Like flying through the front window of your truck because you didn't have your seatbelt on? Or being shot in the forehead by the Boston police? Or-," he clapped a hand over her mouth, effectively silencing her. She giggled and flicked her tongue out, licking the palm of his hand. He pulled his hand back hastily, wiping it on his pants.
"Ugh, that was gross." He wrinkled his nose.
"No, what's gross are those nasty cigars you smoke." She quipped.
"Smartass," he grinned and the others laughed.
"You know it." She smiled cheekily. Suddenly another explosion, bigger than the others, ripped through the school and they jumped.
"Let's get going." Scott said as they got to their feet. An explosion, closer this time, shook the floor beneath their feet making Rouge shriek and grip Bobby's hand tightly as the guys jumped at the loud explosion. Bobby shot her a pained look and she loosened her grip on his hand, smiling apologetically. They ran, fleeing the mass destruction that was once, not that long ago, their sanctuary, their safe house.
"Did the others get out okay?" Rouge asked as they ran.
"Yes," Scott answered. "Storm, Piotr, and Kitty led the rest of the students out of the school and to an underground safe house nearby." They rounded a corner and Rouge shrieked again as they came face-to-face with over a dozen of their invaders.
"Stay back," Logan ordered, shoving Bobby and Rouge back around the corner. He turned to Scott. Funny how something like this can make even us work together, Logan mused. "Ready?" He asked out loud, glaring back at the men before them.
"Hell yeah," Scott replied and they jumped on the attackers with fierce growls.
Logan ripped apart three men, then severed the head off of a fourth before twisting, mid-leap, and ramming his claws deep in the chest of a fifth man. Scott kept one hand on the control of his visor, blasting two guys out a nearby window. He rounded on two more and blew them to bits, and then round-house kicked another one out of a gaping hole in the wall. Then he and Logan were back to back, fighting as one in a spinning wheel of death.
Logan had just killed the last attacker when he heard Rouge scream and Bobby cry out her name in rage and fear. The two adults ran to where the teens had been hiding. What they saw made them stop short, unable and not willing to move.
Rouge struggled against the muscled arms that held her tightly and painfully. The person holding her was in his early twenties with longish blonde-brown hair that hung loosely in his devastatingly blue eyes. He had a vicious snow-white smile playing across his face.
"Hello again, Rouge." He whispered close to her ear, lips brushing against her cheek. She froze and her eyes widened. Logan saw the change in her disposition and stepped forward. The man holding her jerked her back by her hair, raising a glinting silver blade to her throat.
TO BE CONTINUED...
