Tabula Rasa Risty
by Princess Alexandria
Risty hated sleeping. She absolutely loathed it now. The nightmares made little sense most of the time but the fear, the terror, seemed to creep into every pore. That was why she was sitting on the couch alone staring at the late show rather than going to bed. That and the fact that Rogue really needed a good nights sleep. Her friend had a history test tomorrow and didn't need Risty keeping her awake.
"Hey kid. It's way past curfew." A male voice called into the room. Risty glanced over at the doorway to see the dark haired man. He looked familiar, but she couldn't really place him. Probably saw his picture around here somewhere.
"And I'm home aren't I? That's what a curfew is for." She turned back to her show, dismissing him. This was home now, but it still felt so wrong. She shouldn't be staying here. If it weren't for Rogue she wouldn't be. Living on the streets must be better than dealing with Summers self righteous attitude. She hated that boy. He'd tried to send her to bed an hour ago, like he was in charge or something. Risty wasn't part of their little hero brigade, and therefore wasn't going to take orders from that boy. What Rogue saw in him was a mystery. Risty got the impression that Mr. Self-Righteous Summers would stab Risty in the back if given a chance.
"Yeah, and students are supposed to be sleeping long before midnight." He pressed as he came into the room.
"Sleeps overrated." She sighed heavily as he moved to stand in front of her with his hand held out for the remote. Risty narrowed her eyes, not at all liking the tendency of these goodie goodies to order her about. She was just watching t.v. not trying to take over the world. They should save their bossy attitudes for battle.
"Ah, Logan." The Professor's voice reached out to great the man stopping the staring contest over the remote. "I'm glad you could make it." The Professor smiled at Risty and then motioned for Logan to follow him. She smiled a fake sweet smile at him and turned the volume up just a little before wiggling back into her seat and making it clear that she wasn't leaving.
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"Get rather lax on the bedtimes Chuck?" Logan glanced back at Risty when he said that.
"That is a special… situation; the one that inspired my call." The Professor lead Logan to his office while trying to think of a way to tell him about Risty. "Risty doesn't attend classes at the High School anymore so I don't enforce a bedtime." It was more than that. He was really at a loss as to how to deal with the young girl. His scans came up with nothing. He couldn't read her. She was still prone to panic attacks, lashing out, and other behaviors that would get her kicked out of the local high school. Her nightmares meant that her sleeping habits were eradict at best. On top of all of this she couldn't remember how the people that did those horrible things to her captured her so they had no idea whether it was safe to let her be seen too often in town, or at the high school.
"So what's up with the kid?" Logan pressed for details, but Charles waited until they were in his office before answering. Most of the students around here didn't know all the details and he planned to keep it that way.
"Risty is…" He sighed as he looked at the man he'd called. "She was captured and experimented on. She's still recovering from it and I suspect if she didn't have a healing factor she wouldn't have lived." Logan's body tensed. Charles had anticipated that. His own history or lack of it was the result of the government experiments on him. "Her memories seem spotty. She can tell us what music she and Rogue used to listen to. She can talk in great length about her favorite movie, but the address she gave us for her apartment turned up a used car lot. Her memory of her parents names turned up a twelve year old ballerina and a seventy five year old retired teacher neither of whom have ever heard of her. She stays here and doesn't socialize with anyone but Rogue. She can barely sleep because of the nightmares, but she can't remember what they did to her." He paused and let Logan absorb all of that. Charles' voice was softer when he spoke again. "I am working with her, trying to unlock some of her memories but not too surprisingly she doesn't seem to want to remember it. I called you, hoping that you could help us track down where they did this to her. We need to know what they did, what they were trying to do. Hank could only make some guesses, but he couldn't be sure. We can't identify some of the drugs used on her. They used enough to kill most people and the experiments they did were rather horrific from the physical evidence Hank found."
Logan looked stunned. "Sure, you give me a few leads and I'll find those bastards." His claws came out in his silent threat. Charles didn't even bother to tell him not to consider hurting those men if it wasn't necessary. He wouldn't tell him that either. It was the closest to permission he could bring himself to give.
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Rogue rolled over in her bed and cracked open an eye when she heard the door open and the light turned on. Risty was just now going to bed. She didn't say anything as she glanced at the time. It was amazing Risty could function the way she slept in short shifts like that. Rogue knew the girl would still wake up to have breakfast with her, have her meeting with the Professor and then take another nap before Rogue got home from school.
Rogue should have closed her eyes before Risty started to change. Risty didn't even know Rogue was awake. Still she watched as the shirt fell onto the floor exposing a back with thin white scars, but when the bra started to become unfastened Rogue closed her eyes. Her heart was pounding a bit faster, worried that Risty could have caught her. She listened as Risty finished changing and could hear the rustle of sheets as her friend got into bed. She wouldn't have looked but Risty never let her see what they'd done to her. She kept covered up.
"No. Don't leave me here." Risty's cry sent a wave of terror through Rogue's sleeping body and she leapt out of bed ready to fight before she even consciously registered what happened. Her heart was pounding. It took a second to realize they weren't under attack as she watched Risty thrashing in her bed. Rogue put her arms back down to her side and moved to grab her gloves off her nightstand so that she could touch Risty. They had a room away from the others just because of this. The first time Risty had a nightmare like this the whole team came running when they heard it thinking something was wrong. Risty had been so painfully embarrassed she didn't want to sleep when anyone else was home. Rogue pulled on her second glove as she moved to Risty's bed. That was how Rogue ended up moving out of her and Kitty's bedroom to share with Risty. They didn't want her alone.
"Risty." She spoke softly as she reached out to gently shake a shoulder. "Risty wake up." Risty jerked away from her with a small whimpered cry. God this hurt every time it happened. Risty looked like a frightened animal cowering in the corner of the bed for a moment and Rogue felt helpless to do anything. "Risty honey." She spoke softly, trying squat down on the floor so that her arms rested even with the bed to look less threatening until Risty woke up completely. "It's okay."
"Rogue?" The hoarse voice of her friend indicated that Risty was now aware of her surroundings. Rogue looked into her best friend's tear stained face and felt an ache that she couldn't reach out and hold her. Couldn't comfort anyone like that without getting dressed first. Risty glanced at the clock and then back at Rogue with an apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry."
"Gawd, you don't need to be." Rogue felt tears starting to pool in her own eyes. "I wish I could…" Rogue held her arms towards Risty for just a moment, almost unable to not pull the girl into a hug, but she knew her limitations and her arms fell back to her side helplessly.
Risty stared at her a moment before pulling and tugging on her sheet until it came loose from the bed. Rogue was surprised when Risty wrapped that sheet around her and pulled her close, resting her head on Rogue's now covered shoulder. "There's always a way luv." Risty whispered. Hesitantly Rogue wrapped her arms around Risty and made sure they didn't touch anything but the t-shirt Risty was sleeping in. Rogue's eyes closed as a few tears made their way down her own cheeks. Her heart felt full and she pulled Risty closer to comfort them both. The hug went on longer than was socially acceptable, but Rogue wasn't pulling away.
After that they quietly got back into their own beds. Rogue stayed on her side and could see Risty just staring at the ceiling.