Author's Note: Now I'm getting more into the movie's themes...here we have the cure introduced...and more character development.
Summary: My initial take on what X3: The Last Stand would be like. Centered around Scott, Logan,and Storm's grief for Jean...they quickly learn that Jean has grown far stronger than ever imagined.. Magneto is drawn to Jean's sudden growth in power, and is also alarmed by the human's decision to create the "cure"...
Rating: Between T-M. There is a fair amount of language, semi-frequent mildadult-type-themes, and violence.
Main Characters (most main to lesser): Scott Summers, Jean Grey/Phoenix, Logan (Wolverine), Ororo (Storm), Gambit, Rogue, Beast, Magneto, Xavier, Bobby, Kitty...more in other chapters
Pairings: major Scott/Jean, minor Logan/Ororo, moderate Logan/Jean,moderate Rogue/Remy, minor Bobby/Kitty
X-men is in no way owned by me...because otherwise I would have changed the way X3: The Last Stand was written. This fan fiction is also completely movie-verse, aside from introducing Gambit.
Chapter 9 - Choices
She bit her lip as she stared out the window that stood ajar. Her eyes, calm yet frustrated; her heart still yet doing back-flips uncontrollably. She blinked furiously and looked away, pretending the image outside was just a figment of her imagination. She thenexhaled heavily before she was able to bring herself to gaze out the window once more.
'It's no joke,' she thought.
Bobby and a younger girl, Rogue recalled her name to be Kitty, were outside. It was after hours, and the sun had long been long gone. The students of the school were supposed to be in bed, or at least in their dorms at 10 pm. Rogue gazed at her watch.
"Breaking the rules now, Bobby?" she whispered.
She then lifted her figure onto the windowsill, and then she drew her knees to her chest and laid her head over them.
"I knew it was going to happen…I'd seen them together…why didn't it register?" she questioned herself, while denial still blinded her.
Her eyes followed the two. Bobby had turned the small pond into an icy arena; he'd even doused the majestic fountain with his ice-magic. Moonlight filtered over the two mutants below, and there were a few lights lit on the porch not too far away. The icy setting caused the area to become a perfect ice-skating rink.
"Hey…watch this…" Kitty smiled, breaking her grip on Bobby's hand. She strode off a ways from the man, and then leapt into the air and did two tight spins in the air before hitting the ice. As she did, she lost her balance and slid towards Bobby, and she caused him to lose his balance as well.
Kitty chuckled nervously as he held out his hand to help her up. She took his icy grip, and he hoisted her up with a relative ease, but she nearly slipped again. Bobby caught her around the waist and chuckled, "Hey…be careful…"
It was at that moment the two realized how close they were. Kitty wasn't exactly looking up either, and her eyes drifted to see his arm around her. She felt herself blush, and she couldn't get her eyes to raise to his again… But finally she forced herself to look at him, out of courtesy, and she mumbled, "Thanks.."
Rogue closed her eyes and felt her brow draw together. Her lips parted only to the slightest degree as she hissed, "How could he…?" She might have been jumping to conclusions, but she knew Bobby too well to mistake the look.
Although a sharp knock at her door sent her heart racing. Her eyes snapped open and she called weakly, "Who…who is it?"
"'s me, Roguie," a deep voice said from behind the layer of wood.
She smiled, wider than she actually intended, and she could tell from his tone of voice that he was as well. She pushed herself off the window, leaving her troubles out in the courtyard with her so called "boyfriend." And despite the fact that she was already dressed in her nightwear - a tank top and old flannel pants - she answered the door anyway.
She gave a sigh of relief, as if when she opened the door he chased all her worries away. She was even more relieved to see that he was wearing a leather jacket. Because of this, she threw her arms around him.
"…Rogue? 's there some reason fer dis?" he questioned hesitantly.
She drew away quickly and bit her lip before answering quickly, "No…just happy to see you."
"Never been dis happy…" he chuckled, looking her over. "Heck…you're even wearin' your pajamas and you still answer the damn door…"
For the briefest moment her mind flashed back to reality. 'Would this really work?' she thought desperately. 'Surely he feels something towards me…' She stopped herself. 'But it's only been a week… Am I jumping in over my head?'
Her face had fallen. Gambit was now waving his hand in front of her eyes, as if he was trying to pull her out of a stare, and he was calling gently, "Roguie…Roguieee…"
When she snapped back into the real reality, her eyes widened at his actions. "Sorry…must of drifted of there…" she murmured, rubbing her head.
"What's wrong, Roguie?" he questioned, his hand falling on her shoulder.
"It's…nothing," she was a horrible liar.
"Mmm, righ'. Why don' you tell me?" he insisted. "Wait…I bet it's dat kid…Bobby, righ'?"
Rogue didn't answer. Instead, she turned her back to him and strode to the window. Gambit strode into her room, and closed the door behind him soundlessly. He then joined her at the window.
"Oh…Roguie.." he breathed, his lips mere inches from her ears as they peered out the open window.
Below, Bobby and Kitty shared a kiss.
"He don' deserve you," Gambit immediately barked, although his volume remained a whisper.
She flinched at his sudden change of tone, but her eyes fell closed nonetheless. A tear fell from her cheek to her clenched fist on the windowsill. Moments later, she felt a touch on the same set of knuckles. Her eyes blinked open, a watery film trying to blind her.
"If he won'…then I'llbe ther' foryou," he breathed, his gloved hand closed over hers.
She turned partially, and faced him sideways. Her eyes were saddened, yet hope was buried back there somewhere. "Remy…what are you…" she questioned.
He placed two fingers over her lips and smirked calmly. "It's alrigh', Cherie," he interjected.
"Is that my new pet name?" she managed to smile at the comment.
"Sure, Cherie," he smiled too.
Silence resumed after their brief exchange of words though. This gave time for curiosity to spread. He edged closer to her, but she pulled sharply back.
"I'll hurt you," she warned, her eyes flashing wildly.
"I take the chance, Cherie," he whispered. She returned to him, and he traced her arm with one hand, and her neck with the other. Their lips met briefly, just as a sample. Gambit had felt a slight tingle in the back of his neck, but he decided that it wasn't enough to hold him back.
The two joined again, dangerously testing Rogue's mutation and Remy's strength. The pain in Remy's jaws grew, and the tingling turned into a burning sensation. Rogue's eyes fluttered closed as they cautiously fought each other, Once before she'd felt a similar sensation - ice had flooded into her throat, her lungs and her veins. Now she felt a lunging surge of energy flowing into her body, and a fiery feel at her finger tips. She pushed their strengths and dove deeper for more, but Gambit began to stagger, struggling to maintain consciousness.
"Remy…?" she breathed, literally able to feel his strength escaping him. "Oh…this is not good…I cannot carry you…" she murmured quickly.
He was treading on thin ice as he leaned against her for stability, and indeed his consciousness was fading quickly. Rogue lifted his arm over her shoulder and helped him to her bed. As soon as he fell upon the sheets, he fell limp entirely.
Rogue backed away and bit her lip. Although he'd dealt with the pain much better than others in the past, she was still naturally worried for his recovery. 'Surely he'll be fine by morning…' she thought.
But deep within her, she felt some how satisfied. She smiled to herself as the new sensation jolted her to life. "I guess it is possible toget close tosomeone…with practice," she whispered, pushing a bit of Gambit's tousled hair from his forehead. "Good night, Remy," she murmured with a smile.
----
She was already awake, sitting in a chair across the room, scribbling away athomework that was due come next morning. He rolled over in the bed, and with his subconscious mind, his arm reached over the side of the bed. To his surprise, there was no one there. Rogue looked up for a brief second and smiled to herself at this amusement.
"M'Cherie…" he said in a gruff voice coated with sleep, yet to wake up.
"Yes?" she replied simply.
There was silence returned. She raised her eye brows and shrugged it off…perhaps he was still dreaming.
"Dat was one hell'of a kiss," he remarked. He then put a hand to his forehead, rubbing his temples and then proceeding to wake himself fully.
She could feel herself start to turn a shade of red. She nervously hugged her work tighter as she scratched words onto the paper faster. Yet at the same time, she felt herself smiling inside.
"I didn't mean to --" she began to object after a few minutes of silence.
He rose to a sitting position on the sheets, and he gave her a sympathetic smile. "Don'," he interrupted. "Now I'm jus' hungry…" he changed the subject quickly. He didn't want her to worry too much…after all he felt fine, or as fine as he thought he should have…
"Alright then…" she gathered up her schoolwork and dropped it to the floor as she strode to the door. She was already dressed, and Gambit looked the same as he had the night before. "Wait…!" Rogue slapped a hand to her mouth. She smiled, half laughing, half embarassed, and remarked,"Go change…they'll start assuming things…" she pointed out the door, and the two slipped out. Rogue headed to the kitchen as Gambit went off to his room, but not before kissing her hand briefly before leaving. He gave her a final smirk and then she headed off.
----
The two met up a minute later, Rogue serving herself toast, and Gambit poking around in the cabinets. No one else was in the kitchen, 'Strange,' Rogue thought, but then when she stole a glance at the clock she found it to be nearly 10 am. 'Most people would have eaten by now,' she corrected herself.
But of course, "most" did not include everybody.
After Gambit and Rogue had settled on barstools around the island in the middle of the room, Bobby and Kitty paraded in, talking amongst themselves and laughing. They too were wearing what they'd worn the night before, Rogue took notice.
"But you know..Rogue's just getting in the way… I mean, like, if we were going to go to war, she wouldn't be able to fight well…you know? Her mutation?And I doubt she's held a gun before…" Bobby stated to Kitty.
As they finally looked up to acknowledge the others' prescience, Bobby bit the inside of his lip. Gambit was glaring venomously at the iceman, and Kitty shrunk back behind him.
"Thanks, Bobby," Rogue's voice sliced through the silence. "I just love you too."
"Rogue --" he stammered, trying to buy time for some sort of explanation.
"We're done Bobby," she spat as she rose from her seat, not having much of an appetite anymore.
Gambit gave a half-snarl and bared his teeth at Bobby as he strode behind Rogue, making a point to take her hand in his gloved one before they left the room.
----
Later that afternoon, the X-Men had been called for an important meeting in the den of the massive mansion. Beast stood just off-center of the stone fireplace, looking over a few pieces of paper. Off in the corner to his left, a young man, no older than 20 years, stood perfectly still, staring out the window.
Charles Xavier navigated to Beast's right side, and cleared his throat. The x-men fell silent as he began, "This is my good friend, and our ally, Dr. Hank McCoy. He has vital information on a very contradictory subject that I think you should all hear about."
Hank nodded, and then he stepped forward. "As you may or may not know… There is a new vaccination beingreleasedacross the country. This specific vaccine has the ability to suppress the mutant X gene in any and all mutants…" he stated, "…permanently."
Expressions began torise on several of the mutants. Rogue's eyes visibly lit, Logan's curledfiststightened, Storm's brow drew closer, Scott's jaw clenched, and Bobby shifted in his seat.
"They're calling it a cure," Beast finalized, with a feeling of defeat.
"A 'cure?' But what is there to cure?" Storm jumped in quickly. "There's nothing wrong…nothing wrong with any of us for that matter…" she added.
Rogue sank back slightly as she bit her lip. She certainly considered this cure an option, but wouldn't seriously take it up without outside opinions as well.
Scott rose abruptly and then cleared his throat before announcing, "I'd be more than willing to serve as a test to see if it really works."
"Sit down, Cyke…" Logan drawled, motioning downward.
Angel whipped around, his wings flaring partiallyopen. "How dare you…how could you even say such a thing?" he cried. "Giving in…as a test subject no less. Do you not have respect for your gift? For yourself?"
Logan turned to Scott and joined in, "Yeah…Cyke, you were the one who said some of you take pride in your mutation… What happened to that?"
"Things have changed," he replied grimly.
"She would want you just the way you've always been, Scott," Storm added quietly, reading his emotions. Tears were in the back of her eyes; she couldn't believe he was so ready to give up.
"Scott, please sit down. No one here will be receiving this cure anytime soon…" Charles finally stated, motioning to the man's chair.
"The so called 'cure' suppresses the target gene at first, but over time it begins to eat away at the gene, thus destroying it. If the gene is completely destroyed, there is no telling what will happen to said person over time…because part of the person would literally be gone… I imagine the body would begin to malfunction….and that would eventually lead to death…" Beast explained. "Or this is what I have heard thus far."
Scott reluctantly sank into his seat.
"Besides, they've already tested at least one mutant that you all know of…The one that calls herselfMystique," he added.
"Whoa…how the hell did they get her?" Logan murmured, slightly amazed that humans had managed to capture the mistress of disguise.
"They caught her off guard after she'd been in some sort of a fight…she had a deep wound in her leg when they found her. Anyways…the cure has been administered to her, but the results are unknown, for Magneto abducted her from the hospital before it had a chance to set in," Hank continued.
"This cure is certainly a future possibility, but for now we may want to wait and see what the results will turn out to be," Charles concluded. "Thank you, and you may return to your schedules now."
The X-men filed out of the room slowly. Logan and Storm went off down towards the classrooms, Beast and Xavier stayed behind to discuss further options, and Bobby escaped quickly, dodging Rogue.
Scott have a heavy sigh before he rose and started off towards his suite. Gambit caught a sideways glance of the man, whom he'd never really paid attention to before, and his brow tightened in perplexity.
"Dat is Cyclops…correct?" Gambit whispered, pointing to Scott.
She nodded, taking his arm within hers.
"Strange…" he whispered. "There is somethin' there…somethin' between us…dat I can't..figure out…" he trailed off.
"What?" Rogue replied.
He shook his head. "It's nothin'." He shot a glance at the mutant one more time, and then whispered to himself, "A connection…"