One Wild Night

Chapter 6

Accidental Tragedy

The end of his cigar glowed as Logan took another drag off of it. He was the only person his age that he knew of that smoked cigars regularly. Cigars were usually for old men and poker nights, but there was just something in him that made him smoke them like some fifty year old bum. Maybe it was that constant sneaking suspicion that he really was some fifty year old bum with amnesia problems. Logan shook those thoughts off, labeling them as ridiculous. After all, what fifty-year-old who smoked cigars constantly looked as good as he did?

He stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets as he walked down the street, even though it wasn't anywhere near cold out. Bayville was warming up, the spring slowly sliding into early summer. Soon it'd be hell to stay in that apartment above Harry's with no air conditioning. He'd been telling that dirty Cajun to fix it, but did he? No. Goddamned lazy kid. Logan knew cars and anything with an internal combustion engine in it and that was it. He knew if he were to take a whack at fixing the damn thing, he'd probably get Freon all over the place and then they'd really be screwed. Because Harry would kick them out finally and despite how much he grumbled about it, the Cajun was a good roommate; always managed to come up with his half of the rent . . . somehow.

Logan stopped at the corner, leaning against the traffic pole and waiting for the light to change so traffic would stop. He looked like some punk juvenile delinquent from the days of greasers and socs in his jeans, white tee and leather jacket. He took a final drag on his cigar and threw the stub away into the street. The light changed and Logan crossed the street, headed for the convenience store a few doors down that sold beer. People were always in and out of the place, it sold nearly every damn thing made under the sun. Candy, beer, toilet paper, cereal, whatever, the damn place sold it.

Logan entered the store, the bell placed above the door tinkling as he did so. The fluorescent lights shown everything and everyone in the worst light, almost as if it ripped away the layers people put up everyday and displayed just how harsh life was on everyone. With a sigh that came out more like a soft growl, Logan went towards the glass refrigerators that held cases of frosty beer in their chilled compartments. He'd only been browsing for a few moments when his senses picked up on something happening at the front of the store, which he had his back faced to. Two heartbeats entered the store, racing a mile a minute. They moved around to the cashier's desk and at the sound of something begin taken out from under a jacket, the cashier's heart rate shot up as well. She was behind bulletproof glass, the store having been robbed a few times before, so whatever was going on at the front of the store served only to pique his interest more. He turned his head to the side, able to peek at what was going on out of the corner of one eye.

"Give me the money, bitch."

"Who the hell --"

There was the rustle of fabric, the sounds of something being taken out of a jacket or pocket.

"Ohmigod, please don't hurt me!"

"Give us the money, now."

It was all whispers, but Logan heard everything as if it was said right next to him. The store was being held up. What was worse, the girl behind the counter couldn't be more than 18. His forearms tingled with the want to release his claws. As he slowly turned around, there were two thwacks against the glass before it shattered.

"No please–!" She's cut off by two stabs of a knife to the chest while the other grabbed as much money as he could from the open register. Damn, she was pretty too, was probably gonna go somewhere with her life.

"Quick, let's get out of here before the cops come!" One said to the other, holding fistfuls of cash in his bloody hands.

Logan was in front of the door, blocking their way out. He hadn't even known he moved. "Just where do ya think yer goin' bub?"

The music was loud, just as it had been for everyone else as Rogue and Remy arrived and the house was still just as trashed. There was the sound of glass breaking and two male voices yelling and knocking into things somewhere in a different part of the house, upstairs.

"Sounds like a hell of a party, non?" Remy said as they mingled among the different partying teens.

"Yeah" Rogue agreed, secretly keeping an eye out for a particular person.

"Wanna see if we can scare up some shots?"

"Sure."

It didn't take long to find some shot glasses and a couple of bottles of tequila and vodka. They set up camp out side at one of the tables by the pool. At first Rogue just watched Remy take on people, not wanted to be too blasted too soon; she needed to stay sharp for just a little bit to keep from being caught by Scott or anyone else. After she was here for a while, she wouldn't care. Remy kept knocking them down, watching as the kids that took him on surrendered or ran off to go throw up some where. Rogue started taking bets on the matches and joining in with Remy's victory beers. She had no idea how he was managing to keep it all down or not even start acting a little drunk.

"Cajun, Ah think you're cheatin'." She whispered in his ear as she poured him another shot-ful of vodka in the middle of a match with someone she vaguely recognized as one of Scott's friends.

"Aw chere, you insult an honest man like me." He quietly replied, adding on a wink.

"Then how come ya ain't fallin' over drunk?"

"Magic." He shortly replied before downing yet another shot.

"Ah don't believe ya. What's your secret?"

"Uh-uh, chere." He said warningly, waving a finger at her. "A magician never reveals his secrets." He downed another shot. "Though, dere's plenty other t'ings Remy can 'reveal' t' ya later if ya want him to."

Rogue gave him a shove as Remy's contender paled suddenly before barely making it over to the pool to hurl. She spared a look of disgust before returning to their conversation. "You're a pig, Remy LeBeau."

"If I be a pig, den you be a skunk, Rogue." He said, pointing to the white stripes in her hair. He realized his error a second later. He didn't have time to apologize before she shoved him harder, knocking him off of his chair.

"Fuck you!" Rogue shouted at him, storming off back towards the house. She wasn't really insulted by Remy's comment; people had been calling her 'skunk-head' and the like for ages now. Neither was she really going to storm off, at least, that was part of her plan. But as she stomped back towards the house, she saw the person she was looking for, Lance. She needed to get a fix and Lance would probably give her something cheap, if he was in the mood.

"Chere, come back! Y'know I didn't mean it!" she heard Remy call after her. She could tell he was following her, was probably going to apologize up and down when he caught her. Shit, she didn't want him to see her buying some sticks. Not even looking over her shoulder, she flipped him off and set a faster pace for herself, trying to catch up to Lance.

After walking around in intricate paths through various parts of Duncan's house, Rogue finally lost Remy. She had also lost Lance too. Fuck. It took another ten minutes before she caught him near the front of the house, making another deal with someone else. She waited until they were finished before approaching Lance.

"Don't'cha have ta meet your probation officer tonight?" she said by way of greeting.

Lance smiled wickedly. "Not tonight." He continued counting his money. "So you just makin' conversation or do ya need something?"

"Ah left mah sticks at home, can ya cover me for the party?"

"Ya got the money?"

"Sure" Rogue said, pulling a small wad of crumpled up bills out of her bra.

"Alright then." Lance started fishing around in his pockets for a couple of wet sticks.

"Know what?" Rogue said suddenly. "Ya got any coke?"

"Sure, but it'll cost ya."

"Aw c'mon Lance, Ah thought we were friends." Rogue whined, giving him a cute pout.

"Alright fine, but only because it gives me the creeps when you try to act cute." Lance relented, pulling a little baggie of white powder out of a pocket in his vest.

Rogue smiled brilliantly. "Thank ya sugah."

They traded off, cash for coke, and Rogue went off to search for an empty bathroom. She found one in short time and locked herself inside of it, turning on the vent to get rid of the smell of the last person that had been in there. She dumped the baggie's contents out onto the smooth marble around the sink. She then pulled out a razor blade that was hidden behind one of the straps of her boot and divided up the white powder. Her mouth was almost watering with anticipation, eager to recall that high from the night before with Risty. When it was ready Rogue pinched one nostril shut and put her face close to the sink counter, taking a deep breath and inhaling the white powder. She did three lines before the high hit her like a freight train.

"Oh god damn. . !" she managed to choke out.

She was able to catch a glance of herself in the mirror, mouth wide and eyes glazed over before her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed on the floor.

"Oh don't look so horrified Kurt. I've like, had alcohol before." Kitty said at the look on Kurt's face.

"When?"

"At my bat mitzvah. My cousin Johnny snuck in some booze towards the end of the party and I figured what the hell, I'm an adult now." Kitty said, spreading her arms wide. "One drink lead to another and I went home just as drunk as my mom and dad."

Kurt would have laughed at the mental picture of a drunken Kitty, but was too concerned with the fact that he got her drunk here and now, when they had to return to the Institute later. Ororo is going to have mein head, he thought to himself.

"Oh stop worrying Kurt." Kitty's voice interjected into his thoughts. "Really, I'm not even all that drunk, just a little tipsy."

"Ja, but vhat about Ororo?"

"I'm pretty sure she's not going to be standing at the door and inspecting everyone when we come back." Kitty said. Her face then lit up with what Kurt liked to call her "gossip face". "So, did you ever find out who Amanda cheated on you with?"

"Uh. . ." It took Kurt a second to remember the lie he had told her. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"She didn't leave you for another woman, did she?"

Kurt was too confused at how Kitty was gathering all this information form him when he hadn't even said a further word on the matter other than 'there was another person'. He never even mentioned anything about the sex of this fake person.

"Ohmigod, she did, didn't she!" Kitty gasped, covering her agape mouth with a hand. "I knew it!"

"Was!" Kurt yelped, scared that this was going to get out of control and somehow come back to Amanda. "Kitty, vait, slow down a minute. You didn't let me finish before. Zhere vas another voman but--"

"Ohmigod, was that Rogue?"

"Was?" Kurt asked, looking around.

"Ohmigod, it was!" Kitty was a growl of annoyance. "I am like so gonna kill her!"

Kitty started to storm off but was stopped by Kurt's hand on her arm. He was seizing his opportunity to keep Kitty distracted from the Amanda issue. "Vait a minute, Katzchen. Are you sure it's Rogue and not just some other Goth?"

"Okay first off, what other Goth is there in Bayville besides those little punk nine-year-olds who hang out at the arcade? And two, I'd recognize the Rocky Horror Picture knockoff outfit she was wearing anywhere!"

She was about to walk off again, and again she was halted by Kurt's grip on her arm. "Ok, so it is Rogue. Shouldn't you know by now not to go und bitch her out?"

"I don't care! I'm like so tired of her crap, you know?"

Kurt made a suspicious face; clearly something was going on between the two of them that he did not know about. "Vhat's going on here Kitty? Vhy are you so upset about zhis?"

Kitty sighed, closing her eyes for a brief moment. For a moment she was going to tell him, tell him everything. That his half sister was a drug addict, that she snuck out most nights, that she'd been arrested more times than just the times everyone knew about and that happened because she was hanging around this older guy, Renny or whatever his name was, who would bail her out sometimes. She was going to tell him that she was scared for Rogue; scared she was going to kill herself or get herself kicked out and die on the street alone. But she didn't because in the end her loyalty to Rogue won out. When she first caught Rogue smoking, Rogue had made her promise not to tell anyone. Rogue made her keep that same promise after she started sneaking out and after Kitty found pot in Rogue's school bag. It was that promise that bound Kitty to silence, even if it hurt Rogue more.

"It's between me and her." Kitty finally said. "Maybe I'll tell ya about it sometime but for right now, I need to go find her myself."

Kurt let go of her arm. "Okay . . . just yell if you need help or anyzhing."

Kitty smiled. "I'll do that."

She walked away form Kurt, her eyes scanning the crowd. When she walked through the kitchen, she bumped into a tall dark and handsome guy that she vaguely recognized and not more than five minutes later recognized as that guy Rogue was hanging around with. She turned back to ask him if he'd seen Rogue but he was already gone. Continuing on her search, she caught a flash of auburn and white and followed it. She lost her after a few fleeting moments, but found someone much more interesting instead: Lance.

"Lance, what are you doing here?"

Lance looked up from un-crumpling crumpled money. "Hey Pretty Kitty" he smiled. "What's a girl like you doin' here?"

"Shut up Lance." Kitty spat at him. Somewhere inside of her still lingered hurt from their break up but nothing more. "All I wanna know is if you seen Rogue."

"Can't say that I have." He shrugged and started counting out his money. "Can't say that I haven't either."

Kitty didn't know what was wrong with her, but she felt very angry at Lance right then. Maybe it was the alcohol or maybe it was months of frustration finally reaching the breaking point, but whatever it was, it fueled her to shove the lanky youth up against a wall and hold him here, a wad of his t-shirt clenched in her fist.

"Cut the bullshit Lance, I know you're her dealer and I know that's Rogue's money right there. Where is she?"

Lance, instead of being scared as she had expected, just smiled in a lukewarm way that made the hair on the back of Kitty's neck stand up. "Look, I don't know where she is. I gave her a baggie and she went off somewhere. I'm not her keeper, what more do ya want from me?"

"I want you to stop dealing to her. Cut her off, whatever, just stop giving her stuff."

Before she knew it, Lance had flipped their positions and Kitty was up against the wall, Lance's grip surprisingly tight on her arms. He smiled ferally. "If I do something for you, you gotta do something for me in return, Pretty Kitty."

His lips were on her neck and moving higher, the squirming and pulling away Kitty was doing did nothing to deter Lance. She tried to kick him in the groin, but he was crushing her to the wall too hard, it was getting difficult to breathe and became even more difficult when his lips mashed to hers. The smell of cigarettes and marijuana and just plain filth overwhelmed her nose and made her want to gag. She screamed but it was muffled by Lance's mouth over hers.

"Get off of her!"

Rogue's eyes opened slowly only to squint close again at the harsh bathroom light just above her. She sat up, knowing that she had only been out for only a minute or two. The high was still there, she still felt wonderful.

There was banging on the door, someone was yelling at her to get out of the bathroom already.

"Hold yer goddamned horses!" Rogue shouted at the door.

"Hurry up you fuckin' bitch, I gotta fuckin' piss!" the person, a girl, on the other side shouted back.

"Fuck off, cunt!" Rogue shot back, checking to make sure there was no coke left by the sink.

"Get out here you fucking whore so I can rip your goddamn face off!"

Rogue kicked open the door and tackled the girl, slamming her into a wall. "Bitch!" she shouted at her.

"Whore!" the other shouted at her, grabbing a handful of Rogue's hair and pulling hard.

Rogue countered by hitting her square in the face, her nose exploding in a spray of blood. The other girl screamed and pulled away from Rogue, cupping her hands over her bleeding nose. Rogue stood there, breathing hard and glaring daggers and for a moment it looked as if the fight was over. But the other girl, a blonde skinny, Paris Hilton wannabe, gingerly wiped her nose and with a shriek, ran at Rogue and jumped on her, taking them both down to the ground.

Rogue managed to get herself on top and stood. "C'mon bitch, stand up and fight me!"

Paris Hilton wannabe stood and went for Rogue throat, Rogue stopping her with a firm grip on the other girl's upper arms. They were pushing against each other with equal force, the only thing happening was that the other girl nails were scratching at Rogue's chin and cheeks. They moved through the kitchen like this, shouting stream after stream of expletives and threats until they reached the edge of the kitchen, just before the living room and Rogue was able to throw the other girl off of her. The girl went flying into the living room and crashed down on top of a coffee table. Normally Rogue would have let things end there but Rogue was not in her right mind. The drugs in her system incensed her further, making her jump on top of the other, holding her down and hitting her over and over. Had Rogue looked up she would have seen Jean's shocked face as one of the first in a gathering crowd.

It was at this point that Remy finally found Rogue. He had heard the yelling from up stairs were he had just about to begin a poker game with a few other guys. Deciding that checking out a good cat fight would have been better, he abandoned the game and followed the sounds of yelling voices. He went past a room where two guys were fighting each other and a girl in a purple shirt was yelling at them to stop it, but that wasn't what he was looking for. Seconds later he watched Rogue throw a girl into another room and them proceed to leap on her.

"Merde!" he cursed, pushing his way through the forming crowd. He noticed a tall red head trying to break up the fight, but not wanting to get hurt herself, wasn't really doing anything other than pushing the fighting girls' shoulders. Remy however, knew how to break up a cat fight. One just had to reach in, just grab something, and pull. Which is what he did. He grabbed Rogue around the waist and pulled her off the other girl, who had gone limp and passed out probably when Rogue threw her onto the coffee table. She was screaming and yelling and kicking and flailing her arms all about, claiming that she wasn't done yet. Remy managed to get her away with out too much incident, but she did manage to kick him in the shin pretty hard.

"Quit fussin' chere!" He bit out, shin throbbing with pain. He never realized Rogue was such a strong girl. She was moving around so much that he could barely keep a hold on her with his arms around her waist. At she had stopped yelling.

Remy set her down when they got to a relatively unpopulated part of the house. It was decorated somewhat nicely, probably the room that Duncan's mom entertained/ showed off to guests in.

"What de hell is de matter with you?" Remy asked Rogue, holding her by the shoulders.

"She started it!" the southern Goth girl started, looking ready to jump into a tirade defending herself.

"You sound like a friggin' five year old, y'know dat?" he said, letting go of her. "Ya could've killed her." Remy put a hand through his long, for a guy at least, hair as a sign of agitation. Wait a minute, why am I bein' an adult about dis? Rogue's always getting' int' scraps, why's dis any different?

"Remy?"

As soon as he turned to face her again, her lips were on his. His hands had automatically gone to her hips and they tightened, bracing for the rumored shock of her powers, the thing he had been claiming all along that he didn't care about, that he could supposedly take.

It never came.

Just the soft feel of her lips moving against his, the smell of her perfume and shampoo mixing with just the barest tinge of sweat and something that was just her. When he realized there was no pull coming, no blackout, no fainting, he pulled her flush against his body before pushing her to the wall, kissing her for all he was worth. Her gasp when he moved to her neck delighted him, made him want more.

The next thing Remy realized was that they had made it to a bedroom and his shirt was off. Rogue's was too. He took one pink peak of her breast into his mouth, her hands tightening in his hair almost to the point of pain. He kissed his way back up to her neck, taking time to linger at one particular spot that made her arch and moan beneath him. Remy pulled back and admired the mark on her pale, once untouched skin. He took a kind of pride in it, knowing that he was the only person to ever do that to Rogue. He 'mmm'ed in pleasure as Rogue slowly dragged her nails up his back, raising tingling gooseflesh. He buried his face in her neck again as she repeated her actions, much to his delight.

"Remy?"

He pulled back, looking down at her beautifully flushed form. "Oui, chere?"

"Now."

Remy blinked, knowing exactly what she was talking about. "You sho'?"

Rogue nodded. "Ah'm sure."

The two punks stood in front of him, momentarily shocked that there was another person in the store.

"Get out of our way old man, this ain't your business." The shorter of the two stepped forward, holding a knife out at him.

"I'm makin' it my business." It was then that his claws unsheathed, popping out with a dangerous 'snikt'.

"What're you? Some kinda mute freak?" The taller one scoffed, beckoning the other for the knife. The knife was handed to him and he rolled his neck, cracking it once. "Doesn't matter. I can still take your ass out.

Both men came at him then. During the fight, one of them managed to jump onto his back. Logan flipped him over his shoulder, slamming his body down onto the cashier's counter, a shard of glass that hadn't broken and sticking straight up going right through his back and coming out of his chest red with blood. The knife got lost in the fight, getting tossed to another part of the store or out a window or something. Before he knew it, the fight was over. One impaled on a large piece of glass the other with three evenly spaced, evenly sized and very deep stab wounds in his gut. Blood was all over the place, spattered on the walls and merchandise, puddled on the floor. Logan's nose was broken. He set it with a crack and a grunt, feeling it heal up already. He turned around to leave the store before the cops came and thought he tried to rob the store.

Too late.

Logan turned into the light of a bright spotlight and heard a voice boom over a loud speaker. "Bayville Police Department. Don't move."

Shit.

A/N: What? Rogue can touch? Most of this took place while Scott and Jean were talking and Jean was looking for Duncan? What? There's a possibility that more than one character will die before this is over? Did I say that out loud? I still have two weeks of break left, so the more you review, the faster I get stuff out. And for the anonymous reviewers, you can still review; it'll give me a reason to break the new review response rules!

Shockgoddess