Replay: Slow Motion

Installment 12

All it had taken was one second for Remy's world to turn upside down - literally. He felt himself losing control of the bike when it began to swerve. The sudden movement startled Rogue, who was now attempting to stay on the motorcycle. She could feel herself slipping off of the left side and Ohmahgawd! Ohmygawd!was all that her brain seemed to be registering. Remy was quick to realize that by the way she was falling, Rogue would most likely end up banging her head on the asphalt. He moved his arm down to try and cover her head and had succeeded in protecting her when they first hit the ground, however, when they began to skid his arm was pulled out from underneath her and the side of her face dragged along the pavement. Remy managed to keep most of his upper body from dragging along the pavement but his leg was completely trapped underneath the dragging motorcycle. He bit his lip and cried out, while Rogue remained eerily silent. Deciding he needed to stop the momentum of the vehicle as soon as possible, Remy grabbed at one of the handles with his right arm and turned it hard to the right. The vehicle skidded to a halt.

Remy winced at the pain shooting up his leg and tried to wiggle it out from underneath the bike. He quickly realized that it was useless and turned his attention to Rogue.

"Rogue?" he called out to her but there was no answer. Panic filled his voice the next time he called out her name. "Rogue? Chere?" There was a soft moan that came from her lips. "Rogue can you hear me?" she moved slightly from when she had landed but was still facing away from him.

"Remy?" she called back with some strain. Remy saw her attempt to get up and then slump back to the ground and cry out in pain. "Oh mah gawd" she whimpered, looking at the blood covering her body and on the road. "Remy? Are….ya…o…kay?" she asked, hyperventilating.

"My leg is stuck. But Remy be okay. Just calm down chere." he said trying to calm her. He struggled to reach out and place his hand on her shoulder in reassurance. Salty tears stung the scrapes on her face as she tried to regulate her breathing. She was so scared it was hard to focus on anything. She couldn't even remember what had happened. It was all just one big blur. Rogue shut her eyes to try and stop the tears which were only causing her more pain when she heard a vehicle heading their way. She opened her eyes but had to shut them again when the headlights fell on her. Rogue could hear the car stop and then someone call out her name.

A pair of hands were delicately placed on her legs. She thought they felt very warm. "Roguey?" the voice choked out. She blinked a few times only to see Pietro looking down at her. She was so happy that someone had found them that she began to cry even harder and couldn't breath properly.

"Oh my god Rogue!" came Kitty's voice. She was soon standing over the Southern Belle as well, followed by Lance.

"Oh man. This isn't good." Gasping for air Rogue pleaded with them to help Remy. She saw a bit of reluctance from Pietro, but she soon heard both him and Lance attempting to lift the heavy motorcycle off of him. Remy took a large breath and gritted his teeth together as the weight was lifted from his leg.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaa…" he cried out. Before Rogue could even blink, Pietro was back by her side. He grabbed her hand in his even though her gloves had been horribly torn along with the rest of her clothing. Kitty watched in wide-eyed horror as the two made skin to skin contact. Lance, who was currently aiding Remy, noticed the look of fear on his girlfriend's face. Quickly helping the Cajun man up, he made his way over to her.

"What is it?" he asked. Kitty looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"Like, Rogue's touching Pietro and nothings happening." she said quietly. Remy glared at the boy, but Pietro didn't pay it any attention. "I think she's dying." and she leaned into Lance, crying on his shoulder.

"Non." Remy gasped and tried to limp his way over to her.

"Its okay Kitty." Rogue choked out. "Speedy here's just not affected…" she took a deep intake of breath, causing all to eye her nervously "..by mah powers." Everyone looked at the two with shock.

"What?" Kitty asked.

"I can touch Roguey and nothing happens." he said rather mechanically, never taking his eyes off of Rogue. She gave him a slight smile and then went limp in his arms. "Rogue!" he cried out in panic.

"Oh my god!" Kitty ran over to her. "We need to get her to the Professor!" she blurted out.

"I'lltakeher." Pietro said, lifting her limp body into his arms. He turned towards the mansion to find Gambit standing in his way.

"I don' t'ink so." he said to the boy. Pietro looked up at the man with complete defiance but knew it wouldn't do any good to get the guy mad. He needed to get Rogue to the mansion right away.

"Like, let him go! He can get her there the fastest!" Kitty pleaded.

"Dis ain't done homme." Remy said, moving out of his way reluctantly. Pietro didn't even bother to reply and ran for the institute as fast as he could.

"JustholdonRogue."

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Wolverine was on patrol that night so Xavier sent him a telepathic message first. "Whaddya want Charles?"

"Rogue has been in an accident Logan." Logan's eyes went wide. "Kitty has relayed to me that Pietro…he's here." Logan, not fully grasping what it was Quicksilver was doing there, ran to meet him. He came up from behind as Pietro was banging on the front door.

"Maximoff!" he growled, unsheathing his claws. Pietro quickly turned around to reveal Rogue unconscious in his arms. Wolverine pulled the claws back in and ran towards them. "Let's get her inside." Logan took Rogue from Pietro and entered the school. Xavier was waiting for them at the foot of the stairs along with Ororo and Beast.

"Take her to the infirmary." Logan nodded and headed downstairs. Pietro went to follow when Ororo stopped him.

"Child, why don't you wait up here with me?" Pietro still maintained his forward momentum and would not consider her request. Storm placed her hand on his shoulder and he turned to look at her. "There's nothing you can do right now. You'd only be getting in the way." she told him regretfully. Quicksilver's entire body slumped when he realized that she was right. "I'm sure she'll be fine and if you'd like, you can wait here with me." he simply nodded his head as she led him into the living room. "Would you like anything to drink? Or perhaps eat?" Pietro shook his head at first. He was more concerned about Rogue than anything else. When Storm asked again however he relented and said he could probably use something to eat. She smiled and headed for the kitchen. He felt bad for thinking so much about food but his mutation required he eat a lot. Running roughly four or five miles in less than twenty seconds could take a lot out of the guy. Just then Gambit came through the door with Lance and Kitty not far behind.

"Where is she?" he called out to no one in particular before spotting Pietro sitting on the couch. "Where's Rogue?"

"Theytookherdowntothemedlab." A response that seemed to piss Remy off. A lot.

"Stop messin' around homme and tell me where she be at." Pietro rolled his eyes in annoyance and shook his head.

Ofcourse!HisbrainstooslowtofollowwhatI'msaying. He went to say it a little slower, when Remy grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Guys stop!" Kitty yelled. "Pietro, where's Rogue?"

"She's in the med lab." he said very slowly, looking down at Remy. He put Pietro down and then headed for the med lab.

"Hey!" Pietro yelled after him. "You can't go down there!"

"Watch me." Remy said, but didn't get very far.

"Youaren'tgoinganywhere!" Pietro said with his eyes full of rage.

"Jus cuz you be jealous…" Remy began and spat back. Pietro took a swing at Remy who then swept his legs from under him. It was incredibly hard to do with his injury and Pietro could see that. Remy raised his leg to bring his boot down at his throat, but Pietro had already gotten up from underneath him. Snikt Both of the boys turned around to see to a pair of adamantium claws, one pointing at each of them.

"Get out." Wolverine snarled.

"Who you tink' you are?" Gambit asked back. Logan approached him, placing a set of claws underneath his chin.

"Well I know who YOU are bub. You're the piece a shit that took that girl on a motorcycle without a helmet on." he flared his nostrils and added. "So I suggest you leave, before I get REALLY mad." Remy continued to stare down the short man for several seconds before he realized it was useless. He was too beat up to fight.

"Fine." he said, limping over to the door and slamming it on the way out. Pietro had a half-satisfied smirk on his face when Logan turned to him.

"You too."

"But.."

"Look, I appreciate what ya did for Stripes but I don't like you. Neither does he." He pointed to Evan who had just entered the hallway, along with a few others. Evan took in a deep breath before several bone spikes appeared from his body. Iknowwellenoughtoknowwhensomethingspointless.He turned and made his way to the door where Lance and Kitty were, both with sympathetic looks on their faces.

"I guess I should go too." Lance said turning to Kitty and giving her a small kiss on the cheek, then patting Pietro on the back. Kitty smiled and whispered to him.

" I'll call you as soon as she wakes up."

"Thanks." he said, giving her a weak smile and walking out the door.

"No problem." she said, closing the door behind them.

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Logan was walking past the Professor's office when he heard Beast talking. Maybe it's about Stripes he thought and slowed down to hear.

"But will she be all right?" Xavier asked.

"She appears to be quite unharmed. And I believe her collapsing may have been due to shock."

"But?" the Professor pushed further at seeing his hesitation. Beast looked down and pretended to clean his glasses.

"However, the scrapes she got from the crash are more like cuts. Some of them, very deep. When she asked about her condition, I informed her of this and the possibility that some of them may not heal. She got rather upset." he replied sadly.

"Well that is understandable. What with her mutat…." Wolverine pulled away from the door. He felt bad for her. Although he'd never openly admit it, he favored some of the students over others. He'd come to think of Rogue as more of a daughter then anything else. He knew something like this would be hard on her. I just wish I could do sumthin'he thought, when an idea suddenly came to him and he sprinted towards the elevator.

He entered the med. lab to see Rogue lying on her side, facing the blank white wall. "Hiya darlin'." At first, she showed no sign of moving but then she slowly rolled over to face him. He had to bite his lip. Not because he thought she was hideous or anything like that, but he could see how much it was eating her up inside. Her face was covered in dry blood, lotions and bandages.

"H-hey Wolvie." she said casting her eyes downwards.

"How ya doin?" but she didn't even answer. He walked slowly towards her and placed a hand on her arm, causing her to wince. He gently lifted up her sleeve to see that most of it was covered in blood.

"Not so good." she suddenly admitted. He just nodded his head in understanding and held her bandaged hand.

"Now Stripes…I been thinkin'….that is…." Even in her condition Rogue couldn't help but find amusement in the fact the Wolverine was having trouble saying anything. Logan smiled at her laughter. "Do you trust me?" She looked up at him, confusion evident on her face.

"Well ya, but…"

"Okay then. It's settled."

"O-okay." she stuttered still unsure of what had just been settled but too tired to argue.

"Why don't you try and get some sleep Stripes."

"Alraght." the goth girl replied, closing her eyelids with Logan's hand still in a firm grip.

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Rogue woke up with wide eyes and her mouth open to let out a silent scream. She felt the pull of energy as soon as he put his hand to her forehead. She wanted to protest when she felt Logan's healing ability kick in and the cuts on her body begin to heal. Oh.she thought, looking down at the Wolverine who had a smile on his face. His hand went limp and fell off her forehead as he slumped in the chair beside her bed. She quickly put a hand to his chest to make sure that he was still breathing and laughed when he began to snore.

"Thank ya." she whispered before drifting back to sleep.

TBC>