Ch6: running

Rogue held Remy tighter as he turned the corner. She welcomed the loud sounds of the motorbike because it blocked out the thoughts of anyone nearby. They'd seen the movie and Rogue couldn't wait to get back to the mansion to show off her new look. As they waited at the traffic lights, the motorbike let out a low hum.

"You look beautiful, Cherie!" Remy complimented. Because the bike helmet was padded, Rogue couldn't hear what he said.

"What?" Rogue yelled over the sounds of the motorbike.

Remy turned his head around so he could look at Rogue. "You look beautiful, Cherie!" He repeated. Rogue smiled. Before she could reply, she saw Remy's eyes widen. "Hold on!" He yelled as he revved the bike. Rogue did as he told and held on to him tighter. As Remy ran the red light, Rogue turned her head around to see what he saw. Close behind them was Lance's jeep. Toad was sitting on the hood of the car, as if he was ready to jump off it towards the motorbike. Lance was behind the wheel with an evil grin on his face.

Rogue tapped Remy's helmet. "Remy! Faster!" She yelled. But Remy was already going dangerously fast. "Just keep holding on, Cherie!" Remy yelled back. They were only 5 minutes away from the mansion, and if they could make it back, then they would be safe. Lance's jeep began to slow down. "They're slowing down! Maybe they gave up!" Rogue told Remy.

Suddenly, Quicksilver appeared in the middle of the road. Remy tried to swerve around him, but as they sped around Pietro, he pushed the couple off their bike with lightning speed. Remy's bike fell sideways and scraped down the road. Rogue and Remy were sent flying into the forest on the side of the road. Rogue's body felt sore all over. She managed to stand up and began to assess the damage to her body. Her clothes were all dirty, and she had scratches, scrapes and bruises all over her body. Her right shoulder was dislocated, but she was more worried about Remy. "Remy!" She called out. "Remy! Where are ya, swamp rat!?" She called out again. But there was no response.

She limped around the dark forest, unable to find her boyfriend. "Remy!" she called out again. Her attention turned to the sounds of someone coming towards her. At first, she hoped it was Remy, but when they came closer, she could see that it was Toad and Lance.

"T'Sup yo!" Toad greeted. Rogue glared at the two that stood in front of her.

"What do ya want!" She yelled.

"Just a bit of fun," Lance explained. "We heard something very interesting about you, Rogue."

Rogue's eyes widened. She had no idea how the brotherhood could possibly know that it was her in Jean's body. "How?" She grumbled. Suddenly, someone behind her knocked her down to the ground. She was pinned to the ground by someone's foot on her back.

"That's not important." It was Quicksilver who had her pinned down.

"Let me GO!" she screamed. The boys just laughed when they saw her try to squirm free. Rogue felt anger boiling up inside her. She wanted to kick their asses, but she couldn't get free. She wanted Pietro to get off her, and she was surprised when he did. She stood up and saw that Pietro didn't get off her; rather, she'd lifted him up off the ground with her telekinetic powers. She looked up to see that Pietro was still in the air.

"Hey! Letmego!" He squealed, kicking his legs around. Rogue imagined Pietro being thrown into the tree next to him, and then he really did fly into the tree, knocking him unconscious.

'So that's how this power works!' Rogue thought to herself. She'd finally figured out how to control Jean's telekinesis.

Rogue turned around to face Lance and Toad. Toad backed up a little. "Well, Lance, you said you wanted to know if she had control of her powers.. Well, I think we just found out! I'm outa here!" Toad squealed as he hopped away.

Lance glared at Rogue. "We'll get you next time," He growled before following Toad out of the forest. Rogue took this opportunity to look for Remy. She retraced her steps, and found Remy out cold at the base of a tree right on the side of the road.

"Remy," Rogue said as she shook his shoulder. 'How am I going to get him to the mansion?' Rogue thought to herself. Just as she figured to try contact the professor telepathically, she heard a bamph.

"Rogue!" Kurt called out. Kurt and Hank had teleported from the mansion. Beast ran straight to Remy and checked his pulse.

"He's alive but we must get him back to the mansion," Beast explained.

"How did you know where we were?" Rogue asked as she watched Beast lift Remy off the ground.

"Ze professor said that Cerebro detected the brotherhood using their powers right outside ze mansion. He sent Beast and I to check it out," Kurt explained.

"And it's a good thing he did. We'll talk more at the mansion. We've got to get Remy to the infirmary now," Beast explained. Kurt bamphed Remy and Beast to the mansion, then he teleported back to the forest and got Rogue. Kurt had teleported Rogue straight to the infirmary where Beast was examining Remy. "

"I'll go tell everyone you're okay," Kurt smiled. He hugged his adopted sister. "I like your hair," he complimented before leaving the room.

The professor entered the room about 10 minutes later and Rogue explained what had happened. "I knew the brotherhood would find out eventually, but not so soon," The professor said to himself.

"Ah think it was Kitty that told them. Yah know how she's friends with Lance."

"I'll have a talk to Kitty soon. But for now, how are you feeling?" The professor asked.

"Not bad considering ah could've ended up like Remy. Ah dislocated ma shoulder, but ah think ah'll be okay," Rogue smiled.

"Nnnn.."

"Remy!" Rogue called out as she heard Remy groan.

"He's got a concussion but he will be okay," Hank explained. "Now, I'd like to have a look at your shoulder, Rogue."

Rogue's shoulder hurt more when Hank touched it. She screamed in pain when he suddenly pushed her shoulder back into place. "Thanks," She groaned. "Yah could'a warned me!" She complained.

Hank put her arm into a sling. "I believe it was best not to warn you. Now, I'll have to clean up your scratches. I think I better warn you that this might sting a little," Hank explained.

As Hank covered Rogue's scratches with antiseptic, the professor went to see how Remy was going.

"Dey came out of nowhere," Remy whispered. It hurt too much for him to talk.

"Rest for now," The professor hushed. "You've got a concussion, so you might feel sick for a while. Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of it."

Jean walked around the mansion trying to find something to do. It had been one month since she first switched bodies with Rogue.

Jean had emailed all her non-mutant friends saying that she had to suddenly move from Bayville, back home with her parents. She felt bad lying to them in her emails, telling them about the weather back home, or lying about playing soccer with her brother in the backyard. During the day, Jean felt it was okay to leave the mansion because all her friends were at school and she wouldn't bump into them. Being stuck at the mansion all day with Logan, the professor and Hank was getting lonely. Rogue was always hanging out with Remy, so Jean felt all alone. She looked at her watch. 3:45pm. The other students should be home soon. She decided to walk towards the front door to greet her other housemates.

Just as Jean turned the corner towards the front hallway, Kitty came running towards Jean. Kitty used her phasing powers and phased Jean and herself through the wall and into kitchen.

"Kitty! What are you doing?" Jean complained, running backwards into the kitchen.

"Taryn's here!" Kitty whispered. "She's like, doing a group assignment with Scott. I already told Rogue to stay away so Taryn doesn't see her." Taryn was Jean's best friend. Everyone knew that Taryn had a thing for Scott, but now that Jean had left the school, she worried that Taryn might try make a move on Scott.

Jean and Kitty both put their ears to the door and listened for Scott and Taryn coming up the stairs. "Do you want something to eat before we get started?"

Kitty's eyes widened. "Oh no! Like, they're coming!" Kitty squealed quietly. Jean and Kitty hid behind the kitchen counter just as they heard the kitchen door opening.

"Aaah! I'm so hungry!"

Kitty peeked over the bench top. Kurt had his head in the cupboard, searching for something to eat. "Kurt!"

Kurt jumped back, hitting his head on the shelf above his head. He withdrew his head from the cupboard and rubbed his head. "Kitty! That hurt!" He complained. He saw Jean lift her head up to look over the counter. "And vy is Jean hiding?"

"Shh!" Kitty shushed Kurt. "Taryn's here! We thought that was her coming into the kitchen!" Kitty explained.

Everyone stopped talking when Taryn's laugh could be heard just outside the door.

Suddenly, the door swung open and Jean ducked back behind the counter. Honestly she was fine with Taryn seeing her, because she now looked like Rogue. But Jean just couldn't perfect the southern accent incase anyone tried to talk to her.

"So what do ya feel like eating?" Scott asked. Jean could tell from the sounds that they were heading her way.

"I dunno. What have ya got?" Taryn replied.

'Oh shit! How am I going to get out of this one!' Jean thought to herself. Kitty had left the counter and walked on the other side of the kitchen to Kurt to make herself not look so suspicious. Kitty and Kurt tried to get Scott's attention to tell him Jean was behind the counter, but it didn't work.

"Well, let's go have a look in the fridge," Scott replied. The fridge was right next to Jean.

As Scott and Taryn came around the bench to get to the fridge, Jean crawled around the other side of the bench. Jean waited until Taryn was distracted by the contents in the fridge before making a run for the door. Scott noticed Jean heading for the door and realised that she'd been hiding. He felt sorry for her because she wasn't able to say hi to her friend.

Jean quietly pushed the door to leave the room, but the door let out a loud creak. Taryn turned around.

"Oh hi Rogue," Taryn greeted.

Jean tried her best to let out a southern 'hi.'

Jean was about to step through the door and out of the kitchen, but Taryn kept talking. "We heard about you dropping out of school, Rogue. It's a shame.. Duncan's been asking about you," Taryn explained. Everyone was surprised by what Taryn just said.

Jean was so shocked that she almost forgot to put on her southern accent. "What?" So all that time that Duncan Matthews was flirting with her, he really wanted Rogue?

"Yeah. He said he never really had the guts to come out and say it to you because you can sometimes come off as a little.. aggressive." Taryn explained.

Kitty nearly chocked on her biscuit. "Duncan likes ROGUE?" Kitty repeated out loud. "Like, I thought he liked Jean?"

Taryn let out the bitchiest look she could when Jean's name was said. "Things change kitty kat," Taryn replied. Then she turned back to Jean. Through Taryn's eyes, she was looking at Rogue with light make up, freckles, her brown hair in a small pony tail, a tight skater t-shirt and baggy jeans. "I like the new look Rogue. You should call Duncan some time."

Jean was still shocked by what she just heard, and she was sure everyone else could see it on her face. She didn't know what to say, and so she didn't say anything. She just continued on her way and out of the kitchen.

'Duncan likes Rogue?'

Rogue returned to the mansion with Remy. Kitty had called her earlier and told her about Taryn's arrival, so Rogue and Remy entered the mansion through the backyard. "Mon ami," Remy whispered. "Remy know a good spot if you wanna have some fun."

Rogue put her finger on the dark spot on Remy's neck. "You mean this spot I had fun making an hour ago?"

Remy put his hand to his neck. He couldn't feel anything, so he walked to the closest bathroom and looked in the mirror. Just like Rogue said, there was a hikkie on Remy's neck. "What the!" He let out in surprise. "You must be getting good at this, Rogue. Remy didn't even know you did it!"

Rogue looked in the mirror and took the chance to fix her hair. She'd died it chestnut brown, with the bottom half died black. She'd also begun to straighten her hair, but it kept getting messed up whenever she wore the motorcycle helmet. Her eyes were surrounded by dark eyeliner and her lipstick was brown.

Remy noticed Rogue trying to fix the loose strands of her hair. "Remy t'inks your hair looks fine," He reassured her by putting an arm around her. Rogue had become more vain since she switched bodies.

'Duncan likes Rogue?'

"He what?" Rogue asked out loud. Rogue knew she was hearing Jean's voice. But she didn't know if she was accidentally hearing it or if Jean was projecting it. The professor had helped Rogue to control her telepathic powers, but sometimes she still heard random thoughts from the other mutants.

"Huh?" Remy eyed Rogue. "Remy t'ink you cracked, Petite. Remy didn't talk about anyone except you."

Rogue explained what she heard. Remy rubbed his scruffy chin. "Maybe Jean should go on a date wit' this.. Duncan. She could pretend to be you!" Remy proposed.

"Are yah mad! Duncan will try make ah move on her as soon as he can! Yah want her to kill him!?" Rogue yelled.

"Maybe he deserve it, no?" Remy joked. Rogue hit Remy on the arm and made her way to find Jean.

"Rogue!" Remy called out as he ran to catch up with Rogue. "Remy sorry, k?" He apologised. "It was a bad joke. But don'tcha t'ink Jean deserve a lil' happiness?"

Rogue remembered when she wasn't able to touch anyone, not even Remy. "Yeah. She does.. but-"

'All students report to the x-jet. Magneto's returned to Bayville,' the Professor commanded telepathically to all the students.

-author's notes: so whatcha's think so far? Review!! Next chapter in a week (I hope!)-