Chapter One: Little Raven Sinclair
See Marie, they never really go away. They just hide until it's safe to come out. It's their way of survivin'. The words leaped unbidden into Rogue's mind as she sat alone in the common room, as did the face if the person who had said them. A sweet smile, tawny eyes, freckles, and fire-red hair, with soft hands bent over a mason jar filled with fireflies, cooing to them softly. Rogue shook her head and returned to her book as Jean and Scott entered the room. "Hey!" Jean said with a smile.
"Hey," Rouge replied. Jean and Scott moved on leaving Rogue to abandon herself to the memory of the little tawny-eyed red-haired girl again.
"Hey, forgot to ask you. A new girl showed up today, and Professor wanted me to ask if you minded sharing a room with her."
"Sure, no problem," Rogue said with a smile. "What's her name?"
"I don't know. All I know is that she's a pyro, she controls fire." Rogue shrugged.
"Cool, just as long as she doesn't set our room on fire."
"She's not all that great with her powers." Rogue shrugged again.
"I'll help her." Rouge followed Jean and Scott into the foyer and saw Storm talking to a strange young girl.
A strange young girl with very familiar red hair…
She turned around and Rouge got a look at her for the first time. She gasped as her green eyes met with tawny ones. "R-Raven?"
"Marie!" the girl squealed in the same thick southern accent that Rouge had.
"Raven? Little Raven Sinclair! Oh my God, look at you, not so little anymore!" The red-haired girl reached out to embrace her friend, instinctively avoiding skin-to-skin contact. Rogue and Raven pulled apart, Rogue holding her at arms length so she could get a good look at her. "My God, I can't believe how much you have grown up. Look, you have a figure."
"Barely," Raven said, placing her hands over her chest.
"You ladies know each other?" Storm asked.
"Oh, yeah. We lived in the same damn trailer park from the time we was kids," Raven said with a giggle.
"We used to get into so much trouble. Damn, Rae, remember when we almost burned down your grandpa's barn?" Rogue replied with a giggle.
"Oh yeah, I remember. We got in so much trouble for that," Raven said with a smile.
"Oh, I can't believe you still have this old mutt," Rogue said as she noticed the border collie sitting patiently at Raven's feet. The old dog wagged his tail as Rouge scratched his muzzle with a gloved hand. "Hey Pepper, long time no see, buddy." The dog gave a sharp bark as he sniffed her hand and brushed his muzzle affectionately across Raven's leg.
"He's still alive and well. He says he recognizes your scent." Rogue stood to face her friend. She had gotten used to her friend's ability to communicate with animals, Something she had always thought of as a special talent, though she realized now that that was part of her mutation. She had had Pepper since age six and the two had been close. Raven was extremely shy and had found it easy to talk to the dog and thought it only natural when the animal had started to talk back. It wasn't just Pepper. As far back as Rogue could remember, the girls would go running in the woods and Raven would have wild rabbits climb in her lap, deer lick her fingers, and coyotes bark greetings before leaving the girls for more exciting ventures. At first, the encounters had made Rouge uneasy, but she soon became confident in her friend's ability to soothe the savage beast.
"Well, you should recognize me, Pepper old buddy. I've known you since you was a pup." Pepper barked in response. "Raven and I have been best friends since birth."
"From hatch to dispatch, right Marie?" Raven said as Rogue hugged her again.
"Ooo, and you and I are going to be sharing a room. It'll be just like old times. The slumber parties, remember." A dark shadow flickered across Raven's face before she turned back to her friend with a smile, and Rogue, remembering the reason for the slumber parties, didn't say another word.
"Yeah, I remember," she said softly.
Rogue showed Raven to their room and Raven laid her duffel bag and guitar case on the spare bed. "You still play the guitar?" Rogue asked.
"Yeah. I've gotten pretty good." Pepper began busying himself with trying to work the door open. "He likes to get in and out on his own. He's just trying to figure out these doorknobs. They're different then the trailer." It was another minute or so before he successfully opened the door. "Remember to close it, Pepper," Raven said and the dog nodded before pushing it closed with his paw. His nails clicked on the floor as he padded to the bed and leaped up next to were Raven and Rogue were sitting.
"So, what's with the black?" Rogue asked, gesturing at Raven's black t-shirt and black jeans. Raven shrugged.
"I just feel like wearing black, is all."
"I can't believe you still have this crazy old mutt," Rogue said, ruffling Pepper's ears.
"Yeah. So, I can't believe you ended up here."
"Yeah. These guys gave me a home when I had nowhere else ta' go. How about you? You always said you would never go to one of those 'schools for the gifted'."
"We'll, I had no other choice. I couldn't stay with my dad anymore. He was drivin' me crazy, yellin' at my step mom all the time. My brother's weren't all that helpful."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot, how's the cast of Ringling Brothers?" Raven giggled.
"Skip has graduated high school."
"How old is he now?"
"Eighteen. Benji's still the only one that doesn't shove me around and Toby's started smokin'.
"Have you ever noticed that your brothers all have dog names? Come on, Skip Benji, Toby. Do you have a cousin named Spot?"
"Actually, I have an aunt named Dottie," Raven said with a giggle. Rogue giggled with her.
"How's your step momma doin' now?"
"She's dead."
"What!" Rogue gasped.
"She had pneumonia."
"Do ya' miss her?"
"I guess. She was the only mother I really ever had. My mother left when I was two and my dad remarried when I was four."
"What is your dad up to now?"
"Who knows? He didn't come home much before I left. I think he had another girlfriend, or something." Rogue shrugged as Raven put her clothes in the drawer as Pepper chewed a flee in his paw.
"So, why did you decide to runaway?"
"I hated being with my dad. You know how he is. If he can't yell at my step mom, he'll yell at me. He always hated my powers, so I left him with his three normal children. I heard about this place somewhere so I decided to give it a shot." Rogue placed her gloved hand on Raven's denim covered knee.
"Well, you're welcomed to stay here as long as you need to." Raven smiled sweetly, her face more serious then Rogue could remember seeing her. "Come on, let's go meet some kids."