Disclaimer: I Do Not Own The X-Men Or Anything Related To The X-Men.
Thank you for reading the previous chapter everyone! I appreciate you guys and gals taking time out of your busy lives to look at this new chapter. Thanks again and here is the new chapter:
Remy awoke to a sudden burst of color and sound all around him. His chest heaved up and down desperate for a full breath after surviving on small bits of oxygen for far too long. The sides of his vision line were blurry and his whole body ached as if he had been run over by a truck. Despite the lack of his normally skilled body, his mind was already racing with just one thought; Rogue.
With legs made of jelly, he stumbled and tripped his way to the door. He practically fell down as the door swung open quicker than he expected, almost scaring a middle-aged maid out of her skin. She yelled in surprise and stared at him in shock for a good minute before daring to approach the kneeling man. She timidly asked if he was all right, but Remy ignored the question and forced his legs to stand straight once again.
"Rogu-" He paused, between the fuzzy feeling in his brain and the desire to not waste time using a name the maid might not recognize, "Alex. Where's Alex?"
The maid stepped back from him, feeling that he looked a little too dangerous and/or drunk to stay close to, "Her majesty, left hours ago. She took off in the direction of the games."
How long had he been out? The kiss Rogue, or whoever that had been, had given him had been one of the most painful experiences in his life. Aside from the emotional issues it offered, there was definitely something pretty horrible about having your energy sucked out of your body. He had been zapped before, but those had been small, quick touches that left no real damage. This kiss had been strong enough to make him fear his lungs might never recover.
The woman in front of him was already babbling on about calling for help, but he pushed past her and stormed out of the mansion. He couldn't wrap his mind, fuzz or not, around what was happening, but he knew that there was going to be trouble. Anytime Rogue became that distant and different, something big always happened. He only prayed that he would make it to the field before anything could transpire.
The second part of the psychic challenges was already well under way in the main arena. Jean, Kitty, Logan, and Scott had been in the middle of their newest plan to capture the other team's weight when a dazed Remy had appeared at the sidelines. He tried to shout something at them, but the guards on duty kept pulling him away from the edge of the field. The girls stared at Logan, expecting him to have heard the yells, but even the gruff man couldn't understand what had the Cajun so worked up.
Remy reappeared at the sidelines only a few moments later, having swiftly dealt with the guards, and tried to shout even louder at the X-men. This time, Logan picked up a few words and started to wonder if there was something bigger than he realized going on. He put his hand on Scott's shoulder and waited until the young man gave him his full attention, "Something's wrong here. Gumbo wouldn't be screaming like that for no reason."
"What are we supposed to do?" Scott asked and ducked as a piece of debris from the other team flew at their heads, "I don't think we can call a time out here, Logan."
Logan snorted and figured as much as he hated quitting a challenge, there might be a far more important issue to look at, "Forfeit, I gue-"
Above their heads, a shadow suddenly appeared. The boys knew that none of the team members on the other side had flight abilities, so an instant fear began to creep into their minds. In a flash, Scott looked up and stared unblinkingly at a large glowing rock held tightly in the hands of their friend and teammate, Rogue.
"What the-" Logan grumbled and yanked Scott away as Rogue suddenly threw the charged stone at their hiding position.
The boys tumbled down the hill and landed in a mass of limbs on the floor. After pulling himself up, Logan watched the girl fly around the field like a maniac. Everything she touched began to glow with Remy's trademark shade, before blowing up and sending sharp pieces of trees and rocks throughout the arena. Although he couldn't make out what she was grumbling as she started to destroy the field, Logan quickly spotted the yellow color coating her normally green eyes.
"Rogue!" Kitty, having long since abandoned the game, grabbed hold of her competitor's guard and phased them through a large rock hurled directly at them, "What in the world are you doing?!"
As the princess flew back over to Kitty's area, the competitor grabbed Kitty and teleported them back to his home base. Within seconds, a large tree exploded only steps away from Kitty's previous location. She stared in surprise at the damage and tried to think of any possible reason her best friend could be causing such chaos.
"Jean?" Logan looked to his side as Jean appeared and hoped she would have some good news for them.
"I don't know what is going on." She admitted softly and kept her eyes closed to focus on Rogue's mind, "That is Rogue's body, but I can't reach her…"
With the field showing more signs of destruction than jungle scenery, Rogue turned her attention to a control box hidden near the edge of the arena. A sinister grin covered her lips, forcing Kitty and Scott to take a step back in fear, as she charged the item with far more power than even a careless Remy would dare.
The box exploded and sparked a fire that quickly spread across the foliage in the field and the banners along the sides. The audience screamed in terror and started to race out of the stands anyway they could. As the sky filled with flying spectators and dark smoke, Remy leaped over the side wall and raced towards the X-men. Inside their minds, they all heard the concerned voice of the Professor asking them to focus on getting the crowd to safety while Storm went after Rogue.
Remy left the crowd up to the others and refused to follow the Professor's orders to leave Rogue to someone else. Despite the strange experiences they had been going through lately, he was not going to step back when she needed help so desperately. This was not his Rogue, and he would have to be dragged kicking and screaming before he would leave her side. He was staying right beside her until she was back to her real self.
"What is going on with those yellow eyes?" Jude's voice unexpectedly joined Remy as he ducked to avoid a piece of flying rock.
The blonde man looked as lost, if not more so, than Remy as he tried to follow the Cajun's quick movements across the field. They weren't close, and as far as Remy was concerned, Jude was never going to be one of his best friends. Even the idea of being basic friends with the preppy boy was a bit of a stretch. Either way, as he tried to plan a way to get Rogue to calm down, he was glad to have another person at his side. If he couldn't reach through her muddled mind, then maybe Jude could try.
Storm flew over the boys, still trying to navigate the field and get a high enough position to talk to Rogue. She felt the familiar pangs of sadness, as she watched the girl lose all control once again. The last thing she or any of the X-men wanted, was to hurt Rogue. She was still their dear friend, but as the crowds below began to scream from wounds and fear she knew there was no other choice. Quickly, Storm whipped up a rainstorm that seemed to help curb the rapidly spreading fire. Despite having to use her abilities to help others, she kept her eyes on Rogue as the girl continued her sporadic attacks on the people.
"Stop this, Rogue!" Storm yelled out to her confused friend and sent a threatening lightning bolt near the girl, "Give up now so we can help you. This is not you, Rogue."
"Let them burn!" Rogue suddenly stopped in mid-air and started screaming out threats that sounded far too cruel to be from her own mind, "There will never be peace between the Lenox and the Morphs!"
The boys stopped their race to the top of a large rock structure on the field and stared in shock at Rogue's face. The softness of her warm lips and sparkly eyes had been replaced by a twisted scowl and even brighter yellow light. She waved her arms into the air and kept trying to start fights by shouting out various remarks that only some of the people heard. Even with her overly loud shouts, the screams of the people below her, easily started to overshadow her words.
"We will overtake the Lenox monsters! The Morph revolution will come back!"
The ground began to shake as Rogue's wild hand movements stopped and her hands pointed down to the ground. Remy grunted in surprise as his body lost its hold on the rock they had perched on and he started to fall off the edge. Jude reached out a quick hand and tried to pull the boy up to his side of the non-crumbled part of the rock. Rogue's tremors increased to a new level and even Jude was taken aback by the shakes. As he let go of Remy's hand and started to tumble down the rock, he made a split-second decision.
The boy's hand shot out and forced one of the jagged pieces of broken rock to move swiftly upwards. With one lightning quick flick of his wrist, he sent the rock sailing towards Rogue. Due to her preoccupation with Storm's attacks and yelling various threats to the crowd , Rogue never saw the thing coming. The rock struck her squarely on her right temple with enough pent up force that it knocked her out cold.
"Rogue!" Remy yelled in a mix of fear and hidden relief that she was no longer on the rampage.
Since Storm slowed the woman's descent with a strong breeze, Remy was able to catch Rogue before she hit the ground. He cradled her in his arms and couldn't tear his eyes away from her exhausted face. A deep gash decorated her right temple and blood was already streaming down her pale face. The normally soft tan color that covered her cheeks had been reduced to a grayish, white color that gave her a more sickly appearance than he had seen before.
"Chere…" He hugged her close to his chest and kissed the top of her head, "Don't worry," He had no way of knowing if she could hear him, but he remained grave as he cradled her to his chest, "I promise we will fix this. I will stay right beside you, and we will fix this."
Remy carried her the entire way to the hospital and only let go briefly when the doctor firmly reminded him that they couldn't help her if she stayed in his arms. Even when they promised him that she would be safe with them, the crimson-eyed man had been reluctant to let go of her. Now, as he stood beside Jude in front of Rogue's hospital room, his eyes had yet to leave the window offering him a clear view of the unconscious woman.
The doctors had been concerned with her well being, as they were with all of their patients, but they had also been fearful of what would happen when the princess woke up. News of the destruction she had caused at the games was already being discussed with lightning fast speed through the entire dimension. Thankfully, the influx of patients from the stands had mainly come in with minor burns and simple wounds generally acquired from running in panic from the princess rather than directly by her hands.
Since they couldn't be certain Rogue would wake up with a clear mind, the idea of restraining her with straps had been raised immediately. Due to Professor Xavier and Lydia's attempts to remind the doctors that tying her down, could possibly push her back into another episode when she awoke, they had created a compromise. The doctors would be allowed to restrain Rogue while they worked on her wounds, but once they were done she would be placed in a secure room built to handle people with her level of strength.
As the two men stood side by side and watched Rogue sleep in her hospital bed, the silence between them grew into something so heavy it was hard to breathe. Jude knew that Rogue had been using Remy's power on the field, but he didn't know what had happened to give her such a strong dose. Without a boost from someone, Rogue was not skilled enough to bust out a power that strong.
If she had drained Remy as deeply as Jude figured she had, then something was even more wrong with the situation. Rogue was proud of her ability to control herself long enough to touch someone without hurting them. She wouldn't have risked all that without a cause. Jude just wasn't sure if some mysterious force in her head had fueled that cause alone, or if it had been helped along by something Remy could have done.
"Is there any change?" the gentle voice of Lydia greeted them softly, and forced both boys to stifle their internal fears about each other.
As Jude turned to face Lydia, he felt his chest tighten at the sight of her red eyes, still damp from shimmering tears. She had been hurt badly in her lifetime, but watching her daughter go through such a trauma had been one of the worst experiences the queen had witnessed. She had wanted to convince herself that all of the dangers her little Alex could ever face had been vanquished, but she was no longer able to live with such luxuries.
"Lydia," Jude spoke softly and offered her a comforting hug, while Remy just stared unblinkingly at Rogue's body, "She will be okay. Alex is a strong woman. She will get through this."
The woman nodded solemnly and spared only a quick glance at Remy's quiet frame before responding, "I pray that you are right, Jude. I can't lose my little girl…"
The words of Rogue's mother forced Remy's brow to dip down further. His promise was as strong as it could be already, but hearing the heartbreaking tone in Lydia's voice made his resolve even firmer. Rogue would get through this. They had been through so much in their short lives and he would not rest until he helped her recover from this attack.