Et Tous le Musique Arretee

Chapter 3: All You Wanted

A/N: Name that song! I'm tossing around the idea of having a contest later in the story. I already know what it would be, but the problem is, you could cheat on it, which would suck. So maybe I'll change it. Anyways, please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot and Willow.

~~~~~~~

"What did you do to her, Gumbo?" Logan growled at Remy who looked frantic.

"Not'in'!" he said. "She jus'…passed out," he muttered. Logan growled at him, but Willow intervened.

"Listen, I like the Cajun here about as much as you, Logan," she told him soothingly, then frowned oddly. "And…you hate me, so I'm probably the last person you want calming you down." She started to move away, but Logan also started to lunge forward. Despite the obvious difference in size, she managed to stop him. "Screw it," she muttered.

"Listen, I know you don't do the chores, but think of how hard it is to get blood out of the carpet. Besides, Rogue has just 'passed out' before." She pointed out. Logan growled again and sheathed his claws, which had been unleashed the second he'd seen Rogue unconscious.

Snarling again, he pointed at Remy. "This ain't over bub," he growled, then left to check on Rogue again.

~~~~~~~

When Logan reached her room, he was surprised at the lack of people crowded outside. When Red had been sick, everyone except Rogue had turned out and waited nervously, and she'd only had the flu. Now Rogue was unconscious and possibly very ill, and nobody cared? Not even the half-pint was there. As a matter of fact, the only person there was Kurt.

As that wacko new girl walked by, he heard her speaking to herself very, very quietly- it was hard for even him to hear.

"And all you wanted was somebody who cared," she said softly as she walked by. Obviously she didn't know Logan had heard her, but he frowned. Was this just a plea for attention? He doubted it- Rogue stayed in the shadows, and many times she had pointed out that Red took up the spotlight. As far as he could tell, she liked being in the shadows. She hadn't really tried to make any friends; both Mystique as Risty and Kitty had come to her.

As far as Logan could tell, she liked being ignored.

~~~~~~

Rogue's eyes fluttered and opened finally. She heard a sigh of relief and turned slightly, seeing Kurt standing there. She smiled.

"Hey, little brother," she whispered. He moved his chair closer. "How long was I out?" she asked. He looked at the clock.

"Exactly twelve hours." He replied cheerfully. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She stretched her arms, arching her back and wincing.

"My back's sore," she muttered. Kurt chuckled.

"Well you did fall when you passed out." He pointed out. She grimaced and absently rubbed her wrist. He looked at her thin arm.

"Something wrong?" he asked her, staring pointedly and her wrist. She shrugged evasively.

"Ah guess I banged it on the wall or somethin' when Ah fell," she muttered at his suspicious gaze.

He decided not to pursue the topic, convincing himself that her excuse was true.

"The Cajun's worried about you," he muttered, his German accent becoming more pronounced in his anger. She sneered suddenly, a look of anger and indescribable sorrow in her eyes. "Vhat?" eh asked her frantically, hic accent still emphasized. She shook her head.

"Nothin, sugah. He just annoys me, Ah guess," she told him.

"I'll leave you to your rest now," Kurt told her, and teleported out of her room. Her lack of honesty with him upset him. Just what had Mr. LeBeau done to his sister?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow was typing furiously on her computer again, bottles of water, cappuccinos, and soda cans in a scattered mess on her table. Papers were crumpled and covered with estimations. She robbed her eyes again, yawning and reaching blindly for her sixth cappuccino. Finally, the computer file had fully downloaded. She printed it up, rifling through it.

She then re-printed it, though it was about half as long this time. She grabbed a big, black marker and crossed out a few names. She consulted yet another list, and scratched out several names. There were about twenty left. After several hours, she had narrowed it down to three:

Marie Darkholme*

Emily Griffith

And Dawn Peterson

She sighed in relief and leaned back in her chair. Kitty came in suddenly, still dressed in her regular clothes even though it was past midnight.

"Did you like, get it?" she asked. Willow nodded.

"Down to three, but it shouldn't be too hard to look the other two up." She said, but frowned. "The last names are all common except one." She shrugged. "Does 'Darkholme' sound familiar to you?" she asked Kitty. Kitty's eyes brightened.

"Yeah! She was like, our principal before, like, Principal Kelly like, came!" she exclaimed, then frowned. "But, like, what would her relative, like, be doing in a like, small town in Mississippi?" she asked. Willow nodded.

"That's what I want to know. We can't cross her off yet, but we'll check her out last." She said. "Kitty, I want you to check out Dawn Peterson. School records, college letters, medical records, anything! I just want to know if she's still in Caldecott." She told her. Kitty nodded seriously. "I'm going to check out Emily Griffith the some way. Then, if it's a no-go, we still have to check out Marie, alright?" she continued.

"I'll go, like, start that?" Kitty said, and Willow nodded.

~~~~~~~~

Kurt flinched as he walked into Rogue's room. She'd insisted on playing her music, so when Marilyn Manson's voice hit his ears, he felt like committing suicide. He would have willingly suffered through the screaming of Finch or the unintelligible wailing of A.F.I., but Marilyn Manson was too much for him. He knew that Rogue adored his music, though, and trying to get her to change would be impossible. He could only hope that it would be enough to drive away the Cajun.

Rogue was absently flipping through a book she'd probably read a thousand times. She looked up as he entered, smiling as much as she usually did. Which wasn't much, but Kurt knew that's just how she was.

She leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes.

"Rogue?" he said. "Rogue?!" he repeated frantically.

She had fainted again.

~~~~~~~~~

"Why is this happening?" Logan yelled as he slammed his fist into a wall. The Professor winched as he saw the hole Logan had formed.

"I cannot tell at this point." He said reluctantly. Logan growled, and Professor X continued. "It seems that certain words are triggering something in her mind- memories or thoughts –but she doesn't know what or why." He explained. Logan growled slightly again, but calmed down.

"So are you sayin' that if she figures out what's being triggered than she'll stop collapsing?" Logan asked skeptically. Professor X inhaled deeply and leaned back in his wheelchair.

"This last collapse was actually caused by malnutrition," he confessed. "She hadn't eaten in a while." He added.

"You saying that nobody cared enough to bring her some food?" he snarled. Professor X sighed again.

"I am simply saying that she should eat as soon as possible." He responded, and Logan knew it was the end of the conversation.

"I'll have the elf bring her something to eat," he muttered.

"Logan, Kurt is out," Professor Xavier called after him. Logan snorted then said,

"Then I'll make Gumbo do it." The Professor smiled as he exited the room.

~~~~~~~

"Lunchtime, chere!" Remy said to her cheerfully as he opened the door. At Kurt's request, she had put on headphones. She glared at him.

"Fuck you." She stated coldly. He winked at her.

"Later, chere," he replied. She took in a deep breath and turned off her music.

"You do know that Ah could kill you if Ah touched you, right?" she asked. He shrugged.

"I t'ink dere be a way t' control yo' powers. Y' jus' haven't found it yet," he responded. She glared at him.

"Even if I could touch, I wouldn't want to touch you," she responded icily. He chuckled.

"Ten more minutes wit' me and I t'ink y' change yo' mind," he answered evenly. "What y' listenin' to, chere?" he asked her.

"OK Go," she snapped. He looked offended.

"All I asked y' was what y' were listenin' to," he muttered. She rolled her eyes.

"The name of the band is OK Go," she all but snarled. He shoved a plate with pizza on it towards her. She promptly gave it back.

"Not hungry," she said quietly. He looked more than mildly surprised.

"Chere, I know you have hardly eaten in three days. Eat." He told her. She shook her head again.

"Ah ate enough," she responded, still refusing the food. "Ah'm not hungry." She stated firmly. He shrugged and shoved the food away.

"Can ya leave now?" Rogue asked him. He shrugged.

"If y' really wan' me to," he told her. She sneered.

"Ah do." She snapped. He winked again, and she wanted to slap him. She stared defiantly into his brown eyes as he replied:

"If I leave now, will y' give me a kiss later, chere?" he asked. She rolled her eyes, then imitated Willow by batting her long eyelashes and letting her words drip sweetly from her mouth.

"Ah don't think so, sugah," she finally said. "Much as Ah'd like t' see ya in a coma, Ah can' kiss ya." She added. Her tone surprised both of them, and he shrugged and slipped out.

~~~~~~~~

"Ah just don't know, Will," she sighed. "Most of mah past Ah can't even remember, and Ah don't think it's worth it to try and remember. Ah guess with everyone else's memories in mah head, Ah lost mine." Rogue sighed as she and her friend sat talking at the kitchen table. It was late, but neither of them really cared.

"Wouldn't you like to know if someone wants to know where you are? Your biological family, I mean?" she asked. Rogue sighed again.

"Well, Irene told me that they knew who adopted me, but… Ah don't know if Ah can trust her. After all, she lied to me, too…" Rogue sighed again and buried her face in her hands. "It's hard to tell who to trust now… Ah don't know who lied to me or who told the truth…" she trailed off again.

"It must be hard," Willow comforted. "And if you ever had a boyfriend, you could never live without knowing the slight possibility that it was really Mystique playing tricks on you again. If you could touch, do you think you'd want a boyfriend?" she asked her. Rogue shrugged.

"Well, Ah don't think mah powers developed at that dance. Ah think they developed before, but Irene had kept me covered up, so Ah hadn't touched anyone since they formed," she said. "But Ah haven't really touched anyone without drainin' them. Just Irene, really. So Ah don't know what it's like. Touchin' someone because you really care about them and they care about you." She laughed bitterly. "But who would want me?" she said softly.

"Me." A familiar voice said from the doorway. Rogue groaned and Willow heaved a sigh.

"We were tryin' ta talk," Rogue snapped, her accent pronouncing itself as it sometimes did. Remy sat himself down next to her.

"I know dat." He responded.

"Then go fuck a tree or whatever it is you like to do in your spare time," Rogue snapped at him. Willow giggled and both of their heads snapped around to look at her.

"Sorry," she said quickly. "I just had another disturbing and yet highly amusing mental image of Remy and the tree outside his window." She snickered again. Rogue smacked her forehead three times then sighed and quirked her eyebrow.

"Will, I think there's a game tonight," she said. Willow jumped out of her chair.

"That's right!" she yelled. "Angels versus the Bluejays!" she ran out of the room and both Remy and Rogue heard distant shouts of "Hey! We were watching the Yankees game!" or "At least watch the Tampa Bay game!" Willow responded "Yankees deserve to die!" and "Tampa Bay Devil Rays are the worst baseball team right now. Why would you want to watch them?" Rogue shook her head.

"Ah'm in a house filled with maniacs." She muttered.

"What music d'y' listen to?" he asked her absently. She glared at him.

"What do you care, Cajun?" she asked. He smiled cheekily.

"I want t' get t' know y'." He answered clearly. She rolled her eyes.

"Well, Ah don't want ta know you," she snapped. He shrugged.

"Then don' ask any questions," he responded, "Jus' answer," She groaned but nodded finally.

"Marilyn Manson, Garbage, KoRn, Evanescence, Finch, and the Alkaline Trio." She said angrily. He quirked an eyebrow.

"I had y' up t' Evanescence and the Alkaline trio, chere," he told her. She sneered at him.

"Not my fault ya don't listen ta good music, Cajun," she snapped.

"Can y' sing anyt'ing?" he asked her. She nodded hesitantly.

"'Tourniquet' by Evanescence," she muttered.

"Will y' sing it fo' me?" he asked her.

"Fine," she snapped.

"My God, my Tourniquet, return to me salvation

My god, my Tourniquet, return to me salvation

My wounds cry for the grave

My soul cries for deliverance

Will I be denied?

Christ

Tourniquet

My suicide,"

He shook his head. "Y' listen to anything happy, chere?" he asked her. She glared at him.

"Not usually by mah own free will." She responded sharply. She then stood up. "If you'll excuse me, Ah have homework. Ah'm goin' back to school tomorrow."

And with that, she swept out of the room, words ringing in her head.

Listentohappymusicwhydon'tI,anyways…whyissorrowsofamiliarwhycan'tIremeberwhydoeshemakemewanttoremember?

~~~~~~~~

Woah, that was long. I'm still working on trying to appropriately characterize everyone. Tell me if it's working.

Oh, and for those uninformed people, pretend it's August 1st, 2003. Angel's kicked Toronto's blue ass. And then we were effectively whomped on. Ah, well, can't be World Series Champions every year.

If you couldn't tell, I'm a rabid Angels fan. Sorry if you like the Bluejays or the Devil Rays or the Yankees. That's my personal opinion so I can make my characters agree with me if I want.

I am very happy right now. Donnelly has a sub-zero ERA!

Please review. It would be appreciated greatly. Any suggestions would be seriously considered, but I am not promising they will appear. Constructive criticism is welcome. Flames will be made fun of in my bio.

ishandahalf: e.e No Romy goodness til…chapter five. Craptacular. Anyways, yes that was a quick update! And now that I'm back from Mexico, I'm updating quickly again! Don't you just love the fact that I have no life?

Passionate Crow Rat: No, I don't realize how good this is because of the lack of reviews. Sorry if that sounded like I was blaming you…But I'm glad you like it enough to review.

No one else to respond to. Dammit.

-The Tourniquet