Until next time, Pandora
Chapter 17
"Charles", asked Ororo Munroe in a hushed whisper, "Do you have any idea where to begin looking?"
The man in the wheelchair sighed, shaking his head slightly, his eyes looking at his hands. "Mystique won't talk, and Magneto's taught her how to block her mind. I could take the time to read it with force, but it could damage her mind permanently, and then we would never find Rielle."
"There's ways of making people talk Chuck", Logan growled from behind Ororo. A sudden sound of scraping metal was heard, and the Wolverine's claws gleamed in the light. "Give me five minutes with her."
"Logan, you know violence won't work with her", Ororo chastised. "She's looking to fight us. It keeps us distracted."
"Why we still here prof?", Remy's anxious voice called out, "Why we not be flyin' yet?"
"Where'd you expect us to fly to Gumbo", Logan cut in. "We got no idea where they're keeping yer girlfriend."
"Well, all dis standing not doin' da job is it?", Remy shot back, his demonic eyes flashing warning.
"Stop it, both of you", Jean said sharply. She brought a hand to her forehead, and winced in pain. Scott held her shoulders, and whispered in her ear. Jean smiled faintly and looked up at him with love. She turned back to Remy and Logan, her eyes tired. "All this fighting is getting us no where. We have to look at things logically."
"Vat do you mean Jean?", Kurt asked, suddenly teleporting next to the professor's wheelchair. "Vhy aren't ve leaving yet? Vat?", he asked, catching Remy's chilled glare. "Gambit, vat did I say?"
"We still don't know what we're looking for Kurt", Ororo explained gently.
"We know exactly what we lookin' for!", Remy exclaimed, his frustration fraying the edges of his suaveness. "Eighteen year old, fille, shoots big balls of electricité. Hard ta miss."
"Remy please", the Professor said, all traces of gentleness gone. "We are not the ones to blame for her disappearance, so please, keep your anger for those responsible."
"Those responsible", mused Scott when Remy said nothing. "Well, we're about 99 percent sure this is Magneto's doing, right?"
"Seems that way", Logan growled sarcastically.
"Well, what possible reason would Magneto have to want to kidnap Rielle? Honestly, think about it. What does she have that he could possibly want?", Scott continued.
"Scott makes a good point", said the professor pensively. "The last time Magneto stole one of us away was..."
"Rogue", Jean offered. Remy looked up at her questioningly. "It was before you arrived Remy,
Jean explained. "Rogue probably didn't mention it because she was trying to forget about it."
"Magneto wanted her power to work his machine", Charles continued, thinking aloud. "But he wouldn't try the same trick again, he's much too intelligent for that."
"Unless...", Kurt said slowly.
"Got a idea Elf?", Logan asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. Kurt did not usually get very involved with brainstorming sessions like this. He preferred to let the others do as they thought, and help them once they had decided a course of action. And so to speak up like this was uncommon.
"Vell, maybe Magneto has not a reason to vant Rielle", the blue man continued, "But maybe someone else had a reason to vant her gone."
"Are you saying that this is, that...this...", stumbled Logan, enraged at the idea that Kurt was suggesting.
"You think Rogue has something to do with this", Charles said, nodding. He closed his eyes for a moment, sighing. He had known all along of the coldness between the two girls, but had made sure to stay out of it. It had , after all, been their own business. Had that been a mistake? If he hadn't kept so far away, perhaps he could have stopped this. Suddenly, a frigid wave of cold energy flew through the telepath, causing Charles Xavier's eyes to open wide in shock.
"Remy, don't!", he called out.
But the Cajun had already gone.
"I hope that for her sake and his", Charles said softly, "That Rogue isn't behind this after all..."
Rogue's Requiem
Don't walk too close,
Don't breathe so soft And don't talk so sweet,
And don't sing.
Don't lay, oh, so near.
Please, don't let me fall in love with you again.
Please let me forget all those sweet smiles,
All of the passion, all of the heat,
The peace, the pain,
All those blue skies, where your words were my freedom.
Please, don't let me fall in love with you again.
Too many times I've cared too much.
I stood on the edge.
And saw that you held my hand,
And knowing too well I couldn't hide from those eyes Please, don't let me fall please.
Don't let me fall in love in love with you again...
Rogue's shoulders shook as she sobbed into her pillow. She cried silently, her long auburn hair fanned out over her pillow pitifully, and the dark enveloped her in cold. She had closed her blinds and burrowed into her blankets, too ashamed to face the light and the sun. What had she done? How could she have given Rielle into Magneto's grasp, knowing full well what he was capable of? How would the others forgive if they found out? Bobby, Remy, and especially, how would she forgive herself?
She could remember perfectly how terrified she had been in the old man's custody. How could she have inflicted that kind of pain on another human being? She hated Rielle, of course she did, that she could understand, but enough to do what she had done?
She tried to take Remy from you, you did the right thing.
"Did Ah? How could letting that madman steal her away be the best solution?", said Rogue aloud to the voice in her head.
It's not like Magneto will hurt her.
"Ah don' know that for sure."
It's not like the bitch can feel anyway.
"Ah, Ah just... Please, just stop it!"
"Can Remy come in chère?", the Cajun's voice called from behind her door.
"Remy?", Rogue said softly. The stinging tears sent out a fresh wave, and Rogue suppressed the guttural sob in her throat. "Go away, Ah... Ah'm sick sugah."
"Really chère?" Remy asked her from the hall. "Den, should Remy send Jean or Ororo in dere ta check on ya?"
"Remy, I'll be fine, so go away, please!", Rogue pleaded as the sob finally burst from her chest.
She threw herself back down, hiding her wet face in her pillowcase. Her hands shook as she clutched another pillow to her chest. She brought up her knees and lay on her side, trying to become as small as possible. She no longer tried to restrain her cries, and she lay sobbing, praying the silence from beyond her door meant the Remy had moved on. The humming sound was so faint that she could barely hear it at first. She quieted down,
listening. The noise grew steadily louder, until it sounded like a swarm of bees, trying to squeeze under her door. It took only a moment longer to realize what it was.
"Shit Remy!", she cried out, taking a pillow and shielding herself from the bits of wood that flew towards her.
Remy stepped into her dark room, turning on the light as he did so. Rogue flinched in the sudden brightness, and could only imagine how she looked. She turned her face and caught sight of herself in her mirror that lay hanging across the room. Red, puffy eyes, matted hair and blotchy skin, well, that was attractive.
Rogue shivered as Remy stepped over the remains of her wooden door that lay in splinters on her floor. His boots crunched on the wood, snapping her soul along with every fragment. He crossed the room to her bedside slowly, taking large but unhurried steps. He was at her side in as little as three strides, but it seemed as though he had taken forever to get to her. The viciousness and the hurt in his demonic eyes felt like a dagger through her already destroyed heart. She felt like flinging herself to his feet to beg for his forgiveness. She wouldn't play innocent. Both she and Remy knew that Remy had figured out what had happened to Rielle. She should have done something, anything, and yet as Remy's eyes bored down on her, she could only smile weakly as her eyes misted once more.
"Remy don't want to know how ya did it Rogue", he said suddenly, and the cold use of her name tore through Rogue like a blade. "All he wants to know is why."
"What do you mean Remy?", she pretended weakly.
"Don't lie ta Remy fille", he said stonily, not facing her. "Just tell him where she is."
"Remy, I swear, I don't..."
"Stop it Rogue!", he yelled, suddenly jumping and grabbing her wrists. "Stop all de lies! Why are you doin' dis? Why? Dis isn't you! Rogue is strong, she's a good person and I loved her more than my life. What have ya done ta yourself?"
"Remy, please, you're hurting me...", Rogue whimpered.
"Your hurting yourself!", he cried out, holding her tighter. "Your hurting you, you're hurting her and your hurting me!"
"Remy, stop it!", Rogue cried out in fear as Remy's eyes flashed demonically. She had never seen him so unnerved before, and it frightened her. She knew what Remy was capable of, she had seen what he could do. Only know, this anger was directed at her, and Rogue was terrified.
"Stop what chère, stop hurting ya?", Remy asked, crazed. "I stop when you stop, when you stop hurting her!"
"Remy!", Rogue whispered again, as figures suddenly appeared at Remy's sides. She gasped as Remy's hands were wrenched from her wrists. She shook silently as Scott, Kurt and Logan wrestled Remy away from her bedside.
"Come on Remy, cut it out!", Scott yelled as Remy struggled in his grip. "Stop this before things get any worse."
"Back off Gumbo or I swear", Logan snarled, "I'll cut you into ribbons and serve you for breakfast."
Rogue tried to hide her face in shame as Ororo suddenly stepped in between Remy and Rogue. She held out her hand, her eyes white and her long hair flowing back. A wind appeared out of nowhere, and thunder heads rolled by overhead, filling the room with an ominous rumble. Remy stared at Ororo in wonder and stopped struggling.
"That's enough Remy!", she said imperiously. "Don't do somthing I know you'll regret. The Remy that I know and love would kill himself before he hurt one of his team, especially a woman."
"Ororo...", he said, the pain in his voice making her flinch.
"Are you going to hit her Remy?", she asked him softly. "Would you hit Rogue? Could you!"
Remy stopped struggling and pulled himself away from Scott and Logan. He stood silently for a moment, staring at Ororo and at Rogue, who lay hidden under her blankets. He simply looked on for a moment, and turned to leave the room. As he reached the doorframe, he paused, and turned once more.
"I loved you Rogue", he said simply. "You had me. You're da one who made me go away. I'm leaving now, and I won't be back for you. It's just..., I thought you were more den dis."
He left then, leaving quickly. His footfalls were silent on the hall floors, and Rogue did not hear him walk away. It wasn't long before those assembled in her room began to leave as well. Scott and Jean, who had stood watching in a corner, left first, closely followed by Kurt. Ororo stroked her hair absentmindedly, and got up to leave as well. Logan and the professor stayed behind.
"Tell me they're lying kid", Logan said quietly. "Just, do that for me. Please?"
"Logan Ah..." Rogue paused for breath. "Ah'm so sorrah..."
Logan left the room sharply without looking back, and Rogue wailed and flung herself once more unto her bed. She pulled on her hair and screamed into her pillow. She had apologized hadn't she? She had confessed, what more could she do for them? She had made a mistake, they'd forgive her, wouldn't they? What was left to do?
"Is she with Magneto Rogue?", the professor asked stoically.
"Yes."
"Do you know where they are?"
"Ah, Ah have an idea..."
Mystique smiled as she watched the X-Men rush about, trying to prepare everything for their departure. She laughed a little inside as she took in how unaware they were of the situation's gravity.
Didn't they have any idea what they were dealing with here? Actually, she almost felt bad for them, thinking in their pathetic way that they could rescue their friend. "Well", Mystique thought to herself as she sat tied to a chair. "I may as well warn them. It'll be fun to watch them squirm."
"You do know what will happen when Magneto even thinks you're nearby, don't you", she called out to Ororo who was walking past.
"Don't listen to her Storm", Scott said as he helped Logan check the Jet over one last time. "She's just trying to bait us."
"Are you sure Specs?", she taunted. "Maybe I've had a change of heart. I want to be one of the good guys now!" She couldn't help it. She laughed aloud.
"Maybe I shoulda gagged the bitch Charles", Logan growled.
"Then you would never have heard my warning", she answered, smiling.
"Shut-up Mystique", Logan warned.
"He'll kill her won't he", Charles said out of the blue. "If we get too close?"
Mystique only smiled. Maybe the bald one was smart after all.
Rogue's poem is actually a song by the singer Jewel. I do not claim to own it and I hope not to be shot by the copyright guys. ; )
Pandora