Disclaimer: I Do Not Own The X-Men Or Anything Related To The X-Men.
Thanks for reading the last chapter everyone. It is nice of you to take time out of your busy lives to read this new chapter.
Thanks again and here is your chapter:
The moment the group arrived in the familiar forest of giant green trees, things began to turn weird. At least, they were awkward and uncomfortable for Rogue. Lenox guards dressed in full uniform were stationed on either side of their teleportation stone and saluted her the moment she appeared. It wasn't a completely unfamiliar sight since the guards always greeted her when she came home, but this was the first time the other students had seen people treat her like a real princess.
The teenagers mumbled under their breaths and seemed genuinely awed as the group walked the short distance to the castle's front gate. Only a week earlier, Rogue and Axel had practically pleaded with the head of the guards to keep everything low-key. At least, Rogue had tried to fight for a calm welcome. Axel had spent time later that same day pushing for a huge welcome since these were guests from another dimension and it would be their first impression of Lenox. So, despite Rogue's request for a modest welcome and calm greeting, the sight that greeted them was practically a parade.
The guards stationed in position along the entryway and tall towers, saluted her upon sight and one of them let loose a very loud musical tone to signify her arrival. He repeated the gesture once more and announced with great volume, "Her royal highness, Queen Lydia of Lenox."
It was against royal protocol, but as Lydia and Eleanor appeared in front of the group, Rogue gladly rushed forward and accepted her mother's open arms. They hugged tightly for a moment while Rogue tried to ignore the various whispers she heard through the crowd behind them. The only person most of them had ever seen her hug was Remy, and even then the two seemed to spend a great deal of their time picking and playfully bickering at each other, versus cuddling. After all Rogue had been through, she wasn't going to turn down a chance to hug her mother. If they wanted to tease her, well she still liked that dungeon idea Remy had.
"Welcome home, Alex." Lydia smiled at her daughter as their hug parted and let her attention drift slowly to the newcomers. She had the speech planned for their arrival and had no problem drifting into the diplomatic side of her personality. When the, surprisingly short, welcome speech was finished, Lydia turned her attention back to her daughter, "How about we let them get settled? I have a surprise for you."
Only a short time later, Rogue, Remy, and Kitty found themselves settled in the Queen's private sitting room. The idea that this was just the small room in front of her even larger bedroom still amazed each of the young mutants, despite the fact they had all been inside both rooms multiple times. Rogue and Remy couldn't fathom why anyone would need that amount of space, while Kitty had secretly tried to figure out how she could design her future bedroom to match the ornate one surrounding her. It had been Kitty who had been brave enough to venture a quick question about how the others thought the younger mutants were taking in the enormity of the place. Rogue had ignored the question with a small groan and slouched in her chair, while Remy had let out a smile and mentioned something to Kitty about Axel giving guided tours to everyone whether they wanted it or not.
"So, what is the surprise mom?" Rogue, happy to push the conversation away from the field trip, smiled at her mom and appreciated how much healthier Lydia looked after spending a year back in her home. Where her eyes had once been shallow and her skin white as a ghost, she was now moderately tan and more filled out, giving her a fit frame. She had never really lost the regal sparkle in her blue eyes, but now that she was healthy, her whole appearance seemed to stop some people in their tracks. Even some of the guards had spared her an extra look when they thought she hadn't been watching.
"Alexandria," A new voice interrupted the quiet moment and forced the group to look at the doorway. "It is so wonderful to see you again, cousin."
The young woman waltzed into the room with an air of confidence and attractiveness that practically oozed beauty queen status. She curtsied politely to both Rogue and her mother without tripping once, then stood straighter than Rogue had figured would be humanly possible. Her mature air and skilled movements were eye-catching, to say the least, but what really shocked them into silence was the young woman's physical appearance.
Slowly, Rogue rose from her chair and stepped forward to stare the newcomer in the eye. Her hair was as curly and dark reddish brown as Rogue's, though it was styled into a sweeping side hair-do to play up the curliness. Even the woman's eyes held the same emerald shade as Rogue's, minus a few strong flecks of brown that could do nothing but accentuate the boldness of the green. Unlike Rogue's ripped jeans and sneaker combo, the stylish woman before her was covered in a fitted dark blue dress and a pair of black kitten heels that accentuated her toned legs and pushed her about an inch above Rogue.
For a moment, the nervous princess wondered if she had been placed in front of a mirror that showed alternate realities. No one in the room, minus Lydia who seemed blissfully happy that her daughter was meeting more of her family, could pretend they weren't able to see the creepy similarities. If Sunil and the Morph attack had never happened, Rogue would have most likely become a mirror image of the poised, well-mannered girly girl standing before her. Momentarily, she felt her hand twitch as if the desire to touch the girl's face and make sure she was real was uncontrollable. All the real princess could imagine was how many people in Lenox expected that she would have behaved and appeared just like this girl when she stumbled back into the dimension.
"You do remember your cousin Victoria don't you, Alex?"
Rogue merely slowly nodded in response to her mother's question and pushed one of her white bangs out of the way of her left eye. It was impossible to wrap her mind around the idea that even the tone of their voices had similar qualities, despite the way Victoria seemed to make smoother sounds come out of her mouth. The only thing Rogue could find to outwardly distinguish herself from Victoria was her white bangs and a small heart-shaped birthmark on the lower left side of her back. At this rate, though, she wouldn't have been surprised to find out Victoria had a matching freckle.
"It has been a long time since we last saw each other." Victoria, unlike her unmoving cousin, remained calm and collected, "I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to visit you. I have been very busy helping my father take care of the new Morph guidelines in Meridan."
The way Victoria said 'Morph guidelines'didn't sit well with Rogue. She was willing to admit that she knew not everyone was thrilled with her new plans to welcome the Morphs into Lenox cities, but it almost seemed like Victoria had purposefully dipped her voice at the name to show some kind of distaste. Truthfully, Rogue knew better than to think Victoria would just outrightly belittle and rant about her cousin's programs. But it still didn't seem normal that someone as composed as Victoria would just slip up like that.
"I remember you." Rogue finally spoke up and tried to pull any information she had stored in her head about Victoria to the front of her mind. She remembered not being too fond of the girl. Actually, as she skimmed through the dusty memories of her youth, she could also remember the last conversation she had with Jude before the attack, was about being upset Victoria was coming to her party. She wouldn't think to mention those memories in the middle of the room, so instead she took the safe route and chose to talk about her father's brother, "You're uncle William's only child."
"Very good." Victoria complimented her cheerily, but the way she said it sent Rogue's temper flying.
"Who is William?" Kitty, used to her roommate's signs of impending anger, spoke up from her seat and tried to distract Victoria from saying anything that would set Rogue off.
"He is King Thomas' younger brother." Victoria answered, her tone seemingly lighter when she spoke to Kitty. Though, the observation might have been biased since Rogue was not too happy at that particular moment. "He is officially known as the Duke of Meridan to the people."
He is known as the duke of blah blah, Rogue mocked Victoria's prideful speech in her mind a little, despite how childish it seemed and probably was. There was just something about Victoria that didn't sit well with Rogue. Add in the memories of being unmercifully bossed around by her cousin as a child, and the simple distaste began to grow into something surprisingly very bitter.
"Wow," Kitty kept Victoria's attention as Remy tried to discreetly motion for Rogue to take a step back before she did something she would regret. "So you are a Duchess, right?"
"Correct." Victoria took her own seat beside Lydia's chair and continued to hold an air of calmness as she meekly crossed her ankles and rested her gloved hands in her lap. "Now that my father is stepping down from the public eye, I will be taking over his duties. In fact, my district of Lenox is hosting the Interdimensional games this year."
"There isn't an election?" Rogue suddenly spoke up and the two Earthlings in the room waited in suspense to see if she would lose her temper or, more likely, stick her foot in her mouth. "You just take his place and the people don't have a vote?"
"It is tradition." She responded and locked eyes with her cousin, "Just as it is tradition for the ruler of Lenox to be a mimic. The people have to wait and see who will be the next to try to rule depending on what children the royal couple has."
How they made it through the rest of the reunion visit without having a full-fledged fight between the cousins was something Remy and Kitty couldn't understand, but were extremely grateful for. They both knew that Rogue was internally seething by the time she had been able to escape the queen's sitting room, but she had surprisingly kept herself together. It almost appeared that her small amounts of royal training and etiquette classes had been of some use besides just giving her a chance to zone out and rest her weary mind.
Once the two Earthlings and frustrated princess made it to the empty hallway, Rogue's anger reached its boiling point. She grumbled for a good ten minutes about how snobbish and arrogant her cousin acted, stopping only for brief air breaks when they passed people in the hall. After seeing her normal day-to-day mood swings in full action during her visits to Lenox, most of the guards had long-since lost their initial shocked responses when they saw Rogue huff angrily to the kitchen or her bedroom. They merely offered her a polite salute, as was custom, and went back to their own projects.
"She doesn't seem that bad," Kitty ventured bravely, or possibly foolishly, as they entered the large kitchen. "I mean, maybe she just seems rude because of how she was raised. They probably drilled manners and stuff into her from like birth."
Remy remained quiet as he watched the little brunette risk her neck by stepping into an angry Rogue's sight. He couldn't help but find her courageous, reckless and a little naïve, but still courageous. Personally, he usually found it easier to let Rogue have her moment then distract her with something much more enjoyable. As long as she wasn't threatening to actually hurt someone or herself, the man figured it was a somewhat cathartic experience for Rogue to let out some of her emotions through grumbles and overly difficult danger room sessions.
As she bit into an apple with far more force than necessary, Remy decided it was probably time to try and cheer up his sour sweetheart. He moved closer to her and reached out a hand to gently touch her shoulder, but her eyes didn't even notice him. Instead, she focused her attention on the doorway to the kitchen as a big smile suddenly appeared on her once downcast face. He followed her line of sight and spotted the one person in Lenox who made his own annoyance level rise sharply; Judah Kingston.
"How did I know that I would find you in here?" Jude laughed softly and walked the short distance over to Rogue.
The two shared a small good-humored jab to each other's arms and easily flew into their own round of playful banter. It was a tradition that made Rogue feel like she was actually home, and made Remy feel seasick. As far as Remy and the dimension of Lenox knew, Rogue and himself were an item, to some degree. They may have been an odd, constantly arguing pair, but they were together. After their first real kiss in the middle of the silver ballroom, the word had spread like lightning to the various towns and districts around Lenox. But watching her interact with Jude in such a carefree manner every time they visited, made him wonder what was really going on in Jude and Rogue's heads. Normally, he tried to force the idea to the back of his mind until it became so faded he could hardly recall what had been thought. Unfortunately, it turned out that he wasn't too good at forgetting things.
All he knew was that she had chosen to try and start a relationship with him, and told Jude they were just going to be friends. It was all she had ever really said on the matter, and Remy hadn't pushed the topic. He wasn't sure if the lack of questions on his part had been only out of respect for Rogue or if there was also a part of him that simply didn't want to know what had gone on between her and Jude in the past.
As he watched Jude take one of her hands and offer a polite kiss, he could only halfway smile at Rogue's mock annoyance with the man. She never told Remy, but he could tell from looking into her eyes that she was hurting badly each time they kissed or touched skin-to-skin. It took so much out of her to hold the powers back for a minute, that he wondered if it was crueler to let her keep trying to touch or to tell her to stop. The easy way she could act around Jude, never showing the fear that he may be hurt by her touch or never grimacing in pain from trying to hold herself back always sent a sharp pain through Remy's heart.
"I am glad to see you," Rogue broke him from his thoughts as she started to talk to Jude in a normal voice, "I just had to sit through the longest tea party with the bossies-"
"Judah, there you are." Victoria's voice floated through the kitchen and stopped Rogue in her tracks.
She watched as Victoria practically floated through the kitchen and stood right next to Jude. Being the well-bred gentleman he was, Jude took her hand and gave the knuckles a gentle kiss while telling her how happy he was to see her again. Victoria smiled brightly at Jude and let her hand linger longer in his touch then seemed necessary.
"Victoria," Rogue stood up from the edge of the table she had been sitting on and hid the half-eaten apple at her side, "I thought you were still with my mom."
"Oh, I can't stay long." She added, in the tone that Rogue secretly thought was a dig to her, "I was just looking for Judah. Aunt Lydia said that he promised to escort me back to Meridan. It really is nice of you to take so much time to help me with the preparations for the games, Judah."
"Of course, it is my pleasure," Jude offered Victoria a bright smile in return, and then turned his attention back to Rogue. He misinterpreted her appearance as a sign of simple sadness that he was leaving instead of the true mixed emotions of uneasiness and jealousy flowing through her as Victoria played up to him. The woman stood next to him so happily, as Jude tried to appease Rogue's supposed disappointment, that it did little but make things worse, "Don't worry, Alex. We will all be together for the next two weeks. Your group is leaving for the games tomorrow. Remember?"
She mumbled out a reply so distractedly that if asked, she would never have been able to recall the words as she watched Jude and Victoria leave the kitchen arm in arm. She tried to tell herself that this was just another way Victoria was attempting to subconsciously get to her for whatever reason. Or maybe, she thought, this is just the naturally polite thing for royals to do here? Either way, she continued to try and add more stuff to her list of things she wanted to believe, with the main one being that she was not jealous that someone else was possibly showing interest in Jude. That part of her life was over.
The boy standing protectively beside her, watched her face with deeply scrutinizing eyes, and wondered to himself if Jude and Rogue really were done after all.