Learning to Deal
I don't own X-Men Evolution (or X-Men for that matter) characters or anything concerning the show, comics, ect. No suing! Be civil in reviews (if there are any).
Ten seconds left. Now five. Now one…BRING! Yes, the bell finally rang, ending the school day and announcing Kurt's freedom. Taking no extra time to leave the classroom, not even to speak to Amanda, he needed to talk to someone.
Outside the school Remy waited, crushing what had remained of his cigarette under his boot. He could not quite place his reason for wasting his one day off by lurking around Bayville High School, just watching the students leave. No, he couldn't completely lie on that account, he was waiting for someone. To be more precise he was in fact waiting for Rogue, much like how he would when he had the time.
The girl was the saddest girl that Remy had ever come across and although he had tried to cheer her up by taking her to New Orleans, while also acquiring her assistance in the search for his father, Remy doubted that Rogue had fully recovered.
The smell hit him first, the awful smell of brimstone alerted Remy of the presence of Rogue's younger brother, Kurt Wagner.
"Vhere is she?" Kurt hissed before trying to attack Remy from behind. However, much to Kurt's dismay, Remy stepped aside easily, avoiding the attack, but before Remy could react to Kurt's attack the Elf vanished.
Remy knew that with the cloud of blue smoke clouding around him, he could not pinpoint where Kurt had bamfed to.
"Vhere is she?" Kurt repeated pushing Remy from behind and into the ground.
"Hey now, I don' know who you mean," Remy grumbled as he got back to his feet and dusted himself off.
"Rogue, vhere is she?" Kurt clarified, glaring at the Cajun in front of him.
Remy shook his head a bit, he already knew the question. "You lost me, Rogue was wit you all last time I checked."
"Vell, now she's not. She ran avay last night and you know vhere," accused Kurt, poking Remy in the chest. Although Remy knew that the Elf was angry and trying to be intimidating, Remy couldn't see it; maybe it was because Kurt still had that hologram on.
"I know no such t'ing, you are barkin' up de wrong tree," Remy claimed, holding up his hands in a sign of innocence. She's run away?
Apparently, Kurt did not believe him and he was not about to let the Cajun off the hook. "Vhat did you do with her?!" Kurt persisted.
Letting out a frustrated sigh Remy pleaded his case with a patient voice, even though he did not feel as though he had the patience anymore. "I did not'ing to her. If Rogue has run away, like you say, den she had done it on her own, and without my intervention." This was just dandy, he kidnapped the girl once and suddenly anytime she goes missing he is to blame.
Kurt seemed to have gotten the hint now and his expression fell into one of defeat. "You didn't know about it either?"
"Not until you jus' told me," confirmed Remy. Now dat dat is all cleared up let's find some information about her whereabouts.
Kurt groaned in disappointment, he was counting on Remy knowing where Rogue was so much.
"When did she leave?" the Cajun inquired off handedly. There was no reason to give the Elf any notation that Remy was actually interested in Rogue's whereabouts, right? After all, the number one and two objections would end up being, 'it's none of your business?' if Remy gave any sign of interest.
Starring at the ground Kurt just shrugged, "Sometime last night. She only left a note."
Cherie leaving in de night does not help much, but perhaps dis note might, Gambit thought. "What did dis note say exactly?" Playing off of loved one's emotional times is one of the keys to information, and one of the most effective, or so Remy had proved in the past.
The Elf began to back up slowly as he glared at Remy in suspicions. Okay, maybe playing off of people's emotions did not always work, but it had in the past.
"Zank you for…" Kurt searched for the word "confirming Rogue's lack of communication." With that said the German teenager bamfed away, leaving Remy in the dust, literally.
Mmh, it seems that I need to find another source of information, but whom…? Remy wondered, glancing around at the late leaving students. Who among dese…charmin' students would have any information about Rogue…
As though an answer to Remy's thoughts, Kitty had exited the building with Amara at her side. The Cajun could not help but grin at his good fortune, Lady Luck was most definitely smiling upon him that day.
Dat friend of hers might know somet'ing more, he shrugged. Placing his best confused expression on his face, Remy approached the two girls. Kitty had seen him though and was trying to make a run for it, but Amara was not having it, leaving an opportunity for Remy to cut in front of the girls.
"Ladies, bonjuer," he greeted, the French always made women weak.
"What do you, like, want?" Kitty inquired, not falling for the French, she had heard enough about the Cajun from Rogue to know that was only one of his ploys.
Stilling pretending to be baffled, Remy continued, "I was jus' wonderin' if you had seen Rogue at all t'day." It was a simple enough statement, but Remy knew that he had to think up an excuse quickly for that answer would not satisfy anyone.
"No, why?" Kitty questioned while Amara stood off to the side looking more or less down at her shoes or at the sky.
"I kind o' wanted to…talk to the Cherie t'day." It was a lie, but Remy was getting used to lying, although his talent for lying was rather limited.
"You mean kidnap her again," the girl spat out pointedly.
Is dat what everyone assumes I'm goin' do to de Cherie if I'm left even one second alone wit her?! sighed Remy as he shook his head a bit. "Non, is dat all I'll ever be known for? Kidnappin' de Cherie?"
"Yeah well, like, she's gone alright so just leave us alone," Kitty retorted, grabbing Amara's wrist and dragging the other teen away. As normal though, Remy was not about to let it just drop like that, he pressed the matter.
"Where did the Cherie run to?" he asked.
"Like I would know," the girl stated.
"She doesn't want to be found," added Amara, only to receive a silencing glare from Kitty.
Ah! Progress, nodded Remy with a hint of triumph. "Ah, but I can," he pointed out, making Kitty abruptly stop and Amara nearly run into her. "That is, if I knew where to start lookin' for her though."
Kitty turned around and came right up to Gambit in what might have been an intimidating manner if Remy had not been a head, or more, taller than her. "Listen boy" poke in the chest "Rogue doesn't want any of us, including you" poke, poke "following her. So you" poke "just leave her alone!" commanded Kitty.
"Don' you want her back though?" Remy jibed.
Kitty closed her eyes for a moment and then gazed up at the Cajun with an intensity not normally found her eyes. "Yes, I want her back," she replied truthfully.
"Den why not let ole Remy find de girl an' bring her back?" he suggested that rewarded him with giggles from Amara and a snort of disbelief from Kitty. "Come on, I jus' need to know where she is."
With a sigh Kitty declared, "We don't know."
"Great," Remy sighed in irritation. How was he supposed to find the girl if he did not know where to begin?
Seeing the Cajun's defeated expression broke Kitty's resolve. "Tell you what, if we, like, find out where she is or something, I'll tell you," she promised. "Come on Amara."
The two girls left Remy starring after them with the largest, smug grin on his features. "Dank you love, dat was easier den I t'ought it would be," he muttered.
Marian pulled out the seat beside Rogue and plopped down upon it with a weary sigh; she must have been exhausted considering that the lunch hour decided to be the busiest time of the day. Rogue had just realized that most of the costumers that came into the diner were travelers looking for a place to grab a bite to eat and go to the bathroom.
"Okay hon, question time," Marian smiled.
Rogue nodded, she had been dreading this, even when she had taken that half hour nap in the booth off to the side. She was tired and so she just made herself comfortable in the booth until Timothy woke her up.
"Alright, what's your highest level of school education?" was question number one.
This surprised Rogue a bit, most of the time people ask 'what's your name kid' first, not 'what's your highest level of school education'. Either way, the question was still there and it was demanding to be answered.
"Ah dropped out this year, mah senior year," Rogue replied.
"Should I then assume that you're eighteen years of age or still underage?" grinned Marian as she assessed Rogue with a kin eye.
"Ah'm eighteen years old, so Ah'm legally an adult. Ah have mah license if ya would like proof," the girl offered playfully.
Marian laughed a bit, "Good you don't miss a beat. Now, have you ever worked as a waitress or even held a job before?"
Truth be told, Rogue never had time for a job in the past since being part of the X-Men team was a full-time job as it was. There was barely enough time for school and homework sometimes, but never time to hold a steady job or do real extra-curricular activities. Unless ya were Jean, Rogue pointed out a bit sourly.
"No, Ah never had a job before. Life at the boardin' house didn't leave much time for us students to do exactly what we wanted most of the time," she answered honestly. "If ya're worried about mah effort, Ah can guarantee ya that Ah'll be givin' a hundred percent…"
"Oh I know that hon, for I'm the one providing you a home, but I don't expect a hundred percent effort everyday for I know there will be days when you will be like 'why am I doing this? What am I doing here?' Trust me, I've been down that road many times in the past, so I know you cannot guarantee your efforts everyday," stated Marian. "Don't you worry though; Timothy and I can teach you the ropes of the trade."
"Thanks," Rogue smiled.
"No problem, but I must ask you one thing," she continued.
Rogue licked her lips for a moment. Please don't ask meh if Ah'm a mutant, please don't! "Shoot."
"What's your name hon?" Marian inquired. "I mean I kind of had you figured for an Anna or a Morgan, or even a Marie. Am I right at all?"
Chuckling a bit, Rogue just shook her head as her mind though back to the inside jokes the other X-Men would share. "You will never be able to guess mah name, Marian," laughed Rogue.
Marian raised an eyebrow. "Then do tell for it must be quite a unique name."
"It's Rogue."
Now, normally when Rogue tells people her name people will just shake their heads and laugh lamely then ask 'no really, what's your name?' But Marian didn't do that, instead she just sat back and read Rogue's face.
"You're right," she finally spoke, "I would never have guessed. How did you come across the name?"
"Actually that's the only name I've ever known for me. You see Irene, the woman I lived almost all my life with, told me that that was my name. I don't know my real name," Rogue explained.
"Wow. Well, welcome aboard Rogue, and welcome into the family," Marian grinned, clapping a hand on Rogue's protected shoulder. "It's good to have you here already."
Okay people, none of the 'new' characters were put into this story 'by accident'. I did not just pull the names out of a hat, I purposely put Lucas (yes, Xavier's son) into here, Sydney James (Morph) in because he's one of my favorite characters and I was so disappointed when he was never added into the X-Men Evolution series. Theresa Rourke (Siryn) and Tessa Niles (Sage) in because I never read or saw anything of those two in the comics, so I thought I would learn as much as possible about them as well, although Siryn was in the 2nd X-Men movie. Just thought you all would like an explanation.