Chapter 07
The Mark of DeathAs far as Rogue is concerned, she never cared if she was being good company when she and Derek walked around the mall. They were now on the fourth floor, or as the mall rats would call it the Fashion Runway. Every time they were nearing a clothing store, Derek would stop, scans the mannequins and comment on the designs as Rogue looked away from the display window, thinking if Derek had nothing in his brain but textiles and smug superficiality. It went on for almost twenty minutes and climbed the escalators leading to the fifth floor of the mall, and was perhaps the least crowded area in the mall where only art galleries and some fancy restaurants and medical stores are found. Rogue welcomed the solitary feeling for a moment, relinquishing from her mind the many eyes that seem to stare right through her as she minds her own business. Sure, he's gorgeous to look at and me… She shook her head out of frustration as she turns back to keeping an eye on Derek.
Just when the peace and solitude begins to wash her over, she felt her arm being pulled towards the direction of another boutique by Derek. Shooting pain was forcing its way from the back of her head from all the fashion talk that she pulled her arm away from him.
"Listen, Derek, I'm getting sick and tired of all this clothes talk. If you keep yammering on and on about it I'm gonna ditch you right now."
Derek stared at Rogue for one full minute and studied her before looking around the less crowded floor. His eyes brightened a bit until he spots something at the end of the hallway.
"Sorry about that. But there's one more place that I want to visit before we head back. I promise you'll like it."
Whether or not Rogue believes that the place Derek wanted to go would catch her undivided attention, she nods reluctantly and followed him from behind. The trip only took about a minute as they approached the end of the hallway. Topiaries and flowers of all sorts were visible through the large automatic glass door as some young people entered and exited through the area. Rogue's heart begins to beat faster as she read the large sign over the doors and knew what this place is.
The Solarium is an open air, one thousand square foot garden that is filled with some of the world's collection of plants and other local ones that are grown throughout the country. It was a place where mostly couples could stay for hours to unwind and sit on one of the many park benches situated near the winding terra-cotta pathway. Rogue has been hearing about this place yet she never once entered. It was rumored, though, among the people in the institute that Jean and Scott frequent the place. The two walked in a more leisurely pace as they approached the closed sliding glass door. The motion detector above the doors picked up their presence as the paned glass door slid apart and the two entered.
"I heard from a friend once who moved out from Bayville that there's a fountain in the middle of the park worth checking out." Derek said as he led Rogue through the path.
Rogue scowled at Derek for a few moments. "That's why you brought me here? Because of some fancy, oversized marble sink?" Rogue scoffed.
"Well, I'm not always all fashion and glamour." Derek chuckled. "I do have my nature side all thanks to my mom."
It was almost like the same thing that Derek did when they were on the Fashion Runway, only this time he was looking at the different kinds of plants and flowers. He even surprised Rogue by knowing all kinds of plants like the nemsia, candytuft, and snapdragon and other plants she never thought they even had names. They walked for a few minutes through the path until they reached a bend leading left when Derek turns his ear at the direction towards the right and listened.
"You hear that? It sounds like running water."
It was almost like walking into a jungle. As they turned, the two lowered their pace to a casual stride, as the sound of running water becomes more audible. They walked another five feet as they arrived, now facing a breath-taking view of the hilly residential area of Bayville to the left and to the right is the highway leading to the city. The fountain facing towards the view is adorned with rose petals floating over the surface of the pool. A statue of a cherub was spouting water from the trumpet in the center and the gushing water from underneath in three-hour positions starting at twelve O'clock that gives a feeling of serenity from the gurgling water. Strangely that no one has frequented the area because the canopy of vines ended from where the fountain was and the only thing that provided shade from the sun. Three slatted benches were placed around the fountain as Derek and Rogue sat in the middle, each taking the opposite edge and facing the outside view.
The two were unusually silent, though Derek's placid expression would give anyone an impression that he was truly relaxing, Rogue, however, felt her insides slowly twisting into tight knots. Why in the world would Derek bring her in such a place?
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Derek sighed as he removed the baseball cap and hung his head upward to the sky to feel the cold air wafting though. Rogue could only mutter in return.
"It's funny, I guess, when my colleagues would ask how I managed to make my life totally stress-free, I never told them that I maintain a huge garden in the penthouse instead of hiring a gardener. I grew most of the plants back at my place, and it gives me a feeling of satisfaction to watch something I planted grow beautifully. Must have gotten my green thumb from my mom."
Rogue kept her sights towards the ground as her eyes followed what seemed to be a long twisting trail of black ants headed to and from its nest. She never knew that Derek could be such a tree hugger. When she turned to ask him about something, Rogue sucks in breath and her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she saw Derek with a lit cigarette between his lips and taking small drags at the end of the filter. A long trail of smoke billowed in the air.
"Give me that!" Rogue scolded as she snatched the cancer stick off Derek's mouth and threw it to the ground. She extinguished the cigarette with the heel of her right boot.
"Sorry about that. It's a habit whenever I'm in my garden. I doubt it'll harm the plants that much." Derek sighed a bit.
Rogue shot Derek with one of her piercing stares. "Well, you better not do that again." Rogue scolded as she folded her arms under her chest.
Derek smiled as he dug his hands inside the right pants pocket and pulling out a near full pack of cigarettes. He tightens his grip; crushing the pack of cigarettes with all the strength he could muster and tossed it out over the edge of the building.
"I hope no one's standing out there or someone's gonna get hurt if it falls on their head."
She shook her head a bit. "It proves that cigarettes kill." Rogue quotes in return and the two laughed silently.
Some of the rays of the late morning sun pierce through the small gaps of clouds and tickling both Derek and Rogue's arms with warmth. It was a pleasant kind of warmth that penetrates through the skin and to the bones as Rogue slowly moved her eyes until she could see the faint image of Derek.
"I always wanted to ask you something. Though you don't have to if it's too personal." Rogue said.
"Shoot."
"Since when did you find out that you were also a mutant?"
Derek raised his eyebrows and faced Rogue, smiling slightly. "That's a really personal question. It's a long story, though."
"Try me." Rogue said as she rested her head over her closed hand and placing her elbow over the armrest.
Clearing his throat, Derek began.
"I was probably around nine or ten years old when I felt some sort of change happening in my body. It was summer back in Queens and the sun was really roasting us crispy when I went out on the roof of the apartment that me and my mom used to live. She keeps a small garden there and we both take care of it.
"One day, I felt my hands slowly grow numb, so numb that it was almost as cold as ice. I ran to my mother and when she also felt my hands she immediately rushed me to the hospital. By the time we arrived, the numbing cold vanished and the doctors never did find out. When we returned I felt it again. For almost a week my mother was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, thinking that something is wrong yet we never had the money to take me to some medical research lab."
Derek paused for a whole minute until Rogue asked, "What happened next?"
"It was some sort of curse or something yet it felt like it was nothing to me once I got used to it after a few days. It was until later when we were watering the plants that I found out I was special. The watering can I was holding suddenly felt heavier than usual and when I looked inside, the water was already frozen solid. Mom kinda freaked out at first but I somehow got over that ordeal and we ended up keeping it a secret. The numbness in my hands disappeared about a year later. And that's that."
It was a well-told story as Rogue thought. Somewhere deep in her mind she has found at least one thing in Derek she can truly respect, and to her surprise is his humility.
"That's quite a story." Rogue nodded slowly to herself.
Derek smiled, thanking Rogue in his mind for listening to the story of his life. Then Derek lifts his left arm over the backrest of the bench and transferred his weight over the arm to face her.
"How about you? What's your story?"
Rogue's eyes widened for a moment as she looked at Derek. "Nah. My life story isn't all that much to look at. And it's short." She stuttered.
"Try me." Derek smiled.
Rogue slouched over her back with her elbows resting on her legs and twiddled her hands as she began.
"Well, I guess it started when I was about fourteen, back when I was staying with one of my step-mothers Irene Adler and our enemy Mystique in Caldecott County, Mississippi. I had a crush with a boy who lived next door to me and he invited me in. We kissed and…"
Derek urged her to continue when she turned away from Derek. Somehow he understood what happened to that boy that he never pressed on the issue anymore.
Slipping into a coma. So that's why I suddenly said those words when we met once again. He watched her slip away into her cold, hardened shell that he could almost feel in his bones.
"In some ways we're not all that different, at least in some angle." Derek finally said that made Rogue face him squarely in the eyes. The ease that flooded her mind drained away and replaced with her usual heated demeanor. She sprang on her feet and faced Derek in a confrontational manner.
"What? You think that putting that boy into a coma was my fault?" Rogue said coldly.
"I never said that." Derek answered and this time his composure started to fade away as he also stood up from his seat.
"Well don't! You have no idea how it feels like for me to touch someone and taking everything that he or she has inside my head." She raised her gloved hands as she stares at them with disgust. "I've been having nightmares ever since then, watching the pain through someone's eyes that I could feel it in me." Rogue's voice slowly rose to a yell as she glared at Derek.
Though Derek may not notice it he was starting to breathe sharply through his flared nostrils and summoning every ounce of patience he could muster.
"At least you have a choice." Derek gave a hard stare to Rogue, which made her eyes tremble slightly as he scowled. His usual drawling voice vanished, only to be replaced with something cold, dark and filled with hate and anger. "Everyday, for nine years since it happened, I have met a lot of people, not knowing if one of them could be a mutant or not, but I could feel every one of their powers coursing through my body. I have experienced every kind of power: electricity, magnetism, ice, psychic, morphing, having superhuman strength, fire and I never wanted any one of them. But I can't stop myself from absorbing those powers without transforming into some sort of freak that can destroy everything he sees. You think you had it bad because you can't touch anyone anymore, well that's where you're wrong."
It was the same menacing hate that shook her to the core as she trembled and unable to move.
"Hating yourself is something you chose to go through because a boy died in your arms, but I have more reasons to hate every mutant who comes near me and trying to ruin the life I have worked so hard to get. But I didn't, I couldn't hate every one of you. Because I believe that one of these days I could learn how to control my powers."
Rogue felt a hollow sensation forming in her gut as she looks in Derek's eyes. He sank back on the bench as he held the sides of his head and applied a bit of pressure as if wanting to steady himself.
"I'm just a bomb waiting to explode." Derek shook his head.
In the back of her mind, Rogue remembered having to feel the exact pain and anger that courses through Derek's body when she touched him.
"I'm so sorry." Rogue's voice cracked after listening to Derek and sat down next to him, this time a bit closer.
Derek shook his head at her and Rogue noticed that his eyes glowed not with hatred, but with the kind of clarity coming of a man who accepts his fate with open arms.
"Never apologize, Rogue. Not to me, nor to anyone, especially not to yourself. Sometimes it's easier to hate and feel sorry for something that you just can't control. But it takes so much courage to accept the fact that there'll always be something out there to take away your pain."
The two were locked in a deep stare as Rogue watched Derek's lips crease into a smile. The same thing also came to Rogue and after a few seconds they were both laughing quietly. Derek stretched out his arms and hums and lolls his head over the backrest of the bench.
"Maybe it's time I do something about it. Meeting the professor was indeed the change I was looking for. Meeting you is the perk."
Derek raised his upper body in the upright position and faced Rogue.
"I want you to do me a favor but I don't know if you want to do it or not." Derek said in a serious tone that gave Rogue's heart a somersault.
"What is it?" Rogue stuttered.
"I want you to touch my hand, without your gloves."
Rogue's heartbeat continues to rise rapidly that almost made her jaw drop.
"I don't know, Derek…" Rogue turned her head away as she thought of walking out of the gardens.
"I'm sure that nothing will happen to me, I promise. Please?"
It was the last thing that Rogue wanted to do unless it was the only resort or in a combat situation. As she gazed into Derek's eyes that clearly glows with determination, Rogue slowly peels off the Velcro strap of her right glove with her left hand then pulled out the leather glove. She raised the exposed palm of her hand in front of him. Derek raised his left hand as well, watching Derek's hand inching closer towards hers. A torrent of fear and confusion begins to rage inside her mind like a tiny ship in the middle of a storm and the image of the boy who she got her first kiss flashed sharply across the eyes in her mind. She shuts her eyes and waited for what seems like eternity. Her breathing turns shallow and feverish when a sudden glow of warmth begins to spread all over Rogue's open hand that she had to bite her lower lip to keep herself from gasping. As she slowly opened her eyes she could see Derek's hand now pressed evenly from the saddle of his hand to the tip of her fingers. It was a strange sensation indeed, having to hold a man's hand for the first time without the barrier of her gloves and noticed that her own fingers only occupied two thirds of Derek's finger length.
"Your hand is pretty big for someone with tiny wrists. Girlish but big." Rogue said as she slowly curled her fingers in between Derek's as he also did the same. For the first time in Rogue's life, she felt something that no man could ever give to her no matter how much she wanted or tried to run away from it. Maybe the answer to also be free from her own pain is already holding her by the hand. The two continued to hold onto each other's hand for ten minutes.
"Strange isn't it?" Derek said to break the silence, yet the tone of his voice sounded peaceful. "Nothing actually happened between us." Then he paused when something from Rogue caught his attention. "Are you okay?"
Derek tried to pull his hand away the moment he watched Rogue's eyes well up with tears but she curled her fingers in between his to prevent him from letting go. Derek returned the favor by curling his fingers as well to complete the link of two hands.
"I could almost feel your pain. I don't know why I'm feeling it. But it's not as intense when I touched you back at the mansion or last night at the club." Rogue choked slightly.
He lowered his eyes a bit and answered. "I guess I'm ready to let go of my pain. But it'll take some time."
To Derek, it must been painful to forever absorb mutant powers that he never wanted while Rogue could only think of herself as the Untouchable One, never to experience the warmth of another human being without the consequences of her powers. The two were locked in a very familiar gaze as they moved themselves closer to each other, their heads taking up every inch of the gap until they could both see their own reflection in each other's eyes. Just when they were beginning to be far away from it all, Rogue's heart gave a horrible jolt as she watched Derek's face suddenly twisting in pain. She noticed that his right hand was clasped firmly against the side of his neck. Derek fell off the bench and onto the ground as Rogue knelt beside him.
"What happened? Derek!" Rogue's voice turns frantic as she tries to pry the rigid hand covering part of his neck before Derek passed out. When she pulled the limp hand away from his neck, she saw a thin piece of wood about an inch long buried halfway through the flesh. Realizing that it was some sort of dart, she scans the area to find out where it came from until she spots a man in a tan leather jacket standing at the ledge of the building who was not there on the first sweep. His right hand was holding a small wooden object similar to the dart that was buried into Derek's neck. But one thing that kept her sights shifting away from the object in the man's hand was the scar-like symbol on his forehead that resembled the crosshairs in a sniper rifle's scope. Before she could jump onto her feet the man swings his arm in an outward direction and Rogue also felt something just above her collarbones. The same wooden dart found its mark and Rogue immediately begins to feel the strange substance that was laced in the dart now circulating in her bloodstream. Her vision turns blurry and her body felt as heavy as lead. She fought with all her might to resist the poison until she lost control of her senses and collapsed to the ground.
Their assailant jumped off the ledge in a slight hop and approached the two: a wicked grin was warping both sides of his lips with pure satisfaction. The man scoops Drake over his shoulders and heads back to the edge of the building. A large metallic sphere with an opening cut across halfway hovered ominously just below the ledge as he jumped right into it.
"Bull's eye." The man said aloud before the gap closes with a familiar humming of magnetism.
Author's Note:
In celebration of over 600 hits (is that inpressive?) I give you three extra chapters since I'm just too excited to just post one every other day. I know you all deserve of what happens to the lovebirds.
For now, here are today's sponsors:
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Nettlez: You're damn right that Derek is too narcissistic for his own good! Glad you took notice of that little trait. Yeah I know the feeling of not getting too many reviews after working so hard that you feel like giving up on the whole idea of finishing the story. But even I have to learn a lesson after finishing a chapter, which is I love my work : )
See you in a few days, readers and please leave a little something to be remembered by! RnR, please with a cherry on top and a billion, gajillion, blpblpblpbppbpbpbplbllbpb... yen? Throw me a friggin' bone here!
Sorry I just watched Austin Powers: Goldmember last night on DVD!
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