Runaway Rogue
Chapter 5
Screw This

Whoa...Oh…shit. Rogue sat up with a groan, the cot beneath her creaking under the shifting of her weight. She supposed that this wasn't a good thing, waking up in a jail cell. What did she do this time? And why were her muscles so sore? Slowly, it came back to her; the bathroom, the yelling and fighting, the questions. After the yelling, things got blurry, distorted. Fuck. Shit, damn it, fuck, she was so screwed! Ororo was probably going to tie her to a lightening rod on the roof the next time she felt like thoroughly watering the flowers by virtue of a thunderstorm. Why did it have to be the bag full of sticks? Didn't she lose them or leave them somewhere? Apparently not. Rogue lie back down in the creaky, scratchy cot and saw that outside the barred window it was still dark. Meaning Ororo was probably letting her spend the night here to have her "think about" what she did. Did that ever work for anybody?

"Alright sleeping beauty, rise and shine. Someone's paid your bail."

Rogue groaned and opened her eyes, seeing that it was daylight now from the strips of sunlight cast on the concrete floor. She sat up in her "bed" and rubbed at her eyes before swinging her legs over the edge and standing.

"C'mon. I ain't got all day." The guard groused, tapping the bars with his nightstick. Rogue ignored him while he unlocked the cell, instead stretching, reaching over her head so far that she rose up off her heels and onto her tiptoes. She held the pose for a few seconds before dropping it quickly with a satisfied grunt. The guard then waved her out of the cell and she followed him out of the cell block.

They gave her back her stuff after making her sign some papers and promising to appear at a later court date. Then came Ororo. She was standing in the middle of the waiting room in all her regal glory. The dirt and relative grime of the place seemed to shy away from her, even the light didn't seem worthy enough to shine on her; instead she emitted her own. And, Rogue thought, on some level, she was. Because she wasn't exuding her natural beauty like she always did; it was power. Angry power. On the outside, the weather goddess looked calm, collected. But Rogue knew better. She could see Ororo's anger in the thin line of her lips, the tenseness of the muscles under her skin. Ororo was royally pissed off, but was keeping herself in check. She had to be or else there would be some kind of end-of-days storm going on outside. Right?

"Hi." Rogue said, her voice sounding small as the officer that escorted her out of the jail left them.

Ororo just sort of…looked at Rogue. Like she was staring at a stranger on the street. "Come on." She said, in a tone that bespoke of no anger. It was completely neutral. Which gave Rogue the tiny glimmer of hope that, however improbable it was, maybe she wasn't in that much trouble after all. Maybe she had only imagined the anger bubbling beneath the neutral face and stance.

. . . Nope. Not even close.

Ororo had just been saving it all up only to explode at Rogue inside the confines of the Professor's office.

"How could you be so stupid?! At the police station! About to be questioned by the police!" Ororo railed at her while Rogue slouched in one of the cushioned chairs across from the Professor's desk. "We have tried again and again and again and again. Yet you throw our help right back in our faces and then disgrace us with this! Do you realize how lucky you are that they didn't find whatever you happened to be on? Do you? ...Answer me!"

"Yeah, Ah guess." Rogue mumbled, flinching at the volume of Ororo's voice. She glanced up at Charles from under her fringe of bangs to see him watching the proceedings before him. It looked like he was allowing Ororo to have this rant before speaking himself.

Ororo sighed in frustration at Rogue's less-than-enthusiastic answer. "What happened, child? You are a bright beautiful young woman and yet you insist upon carrying on like this."

"Ah dunno." Rogue murmured, shrugging her shoulders.

Ororo sighed again, this time in defeat and collapsed into the chair next to Rogue. "I'm done. Your turn Professor."

The Professor steepled his fingers and regarded Rogue for a moment before speaking. His hands fell from the position near his face to fold themselves neatly on his desk in front of him.

"What you have done is unacceptable, Rogue. With this latest stunt, you have embarrassed me, Ororo, your friends, this school and yourself, though you do not seem to realize it."

Oh boy. Here it comes. Ah'm kicked out for sure. Rogue thought, her heart quickening slightly as panic began to seep into her.

"We have tried many times before to help you, to cope with your problems as a unified front. And yet almost every time you have refused and continued down the path you are on now. I have seen the end of that path, Rogue, and I will not allow one of my students to reach it." He paused and Rogue could feel the tension in the room skyrocket. "This is why tomorrow, Tuesday morning, you will be enrolled at Changing Valley Rehabilitation Center for Mutants."

"WHAT?!" Rogue exploded. "You're sendin' me ta rehab?!"

"Please let me finish" Charles spoke over her. "And since that you have proven that you can not be left up to your own devices even for short periods of time, I shall be monitoring your whereabouts through telepathy—"

"What the fuck is that?! You can't invade my head like that, readin' every thought—"

"I will not pry into your thoughts, Rogue, just your location—"

"Bull-fuckin'-shit!" Rogue screamed, getting to her feet so forcefully that the chair she had been sitting in fell backwards. "You're gonna try ta mind control me and make me go there. You can't do that, it's against the law. Ah don't need no goddamn rehab! You can't make me go!"

"Rogue, you are going to go—"

"Fuck you! Nobody tells me what ta do! And Ah'm not goin' ta rehab!" With that final declaration, Rogue stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

"…That went better than expected." Ororo said in the heavy silence that hung about afterward.

"Indeed." Charles said, rubbing at his temples.

Kitty, ve need to talk. I lied after ze movie. I really like you. Want to go out? . . . Nein, to forvard. . .Kitty, about ze movie...nein, nein. Kitty, zhat's a really nice shirt your vearing…Ach, vhat am I zhinking, she vears ze same pink sveater almost everyday! Kurt stopped pacing in front of his bed and threw himself back on it. How did he get into this mess? Why couldn't he have just opened up his mouth for once and actually say what he felt? No, he had to wimp out like he always did. Kurt sighed and took comfort in the fact that he wasn't the only one with girl trouble. He felt bad for Scott, really he did. Poor guy had to sit there and watch his dream girl tear herself to shreds over another guy while she leaned heavily on him for "friendly" support. Though, he didn't feel bad enough to want to take his friend's place. He had to admire Scott's integrity though, Kurt himself wasn't sure if he'd be able to do the same if Kitty was in the same situation as Jean.

Vhat am I talking about? Of course I vould. He chastised himself, knowing that he would probably shut up and take it like he always did.

Maybe he was tied of not getting what he wanted.

What if he got up right now, found Kitty, and told her exactly how he felt? What was the worst that could happen? She told him that she didn't feel the same way but that he was still a really great guy and that they should still be friends? That wasn't so bad (despite what the sudden block of ice in his stomach told him).He'd live. He'd get over it. He'd mope for a few days, maybe eat one to many Gut Bomb burgers and play too many video games but he'd get over it…right?

Well, there was only one real way to find out.

Kitty 'eep'ed as she saw a huge chunk of metal flying towards her. A split second's concentration and it sailed right through her. That's right, through her. She was currently running a Danger Room sim with Storm, who seemed to be just as distracted as she was.

Hopefully, it's, like, not about the same thing. Kitty thought as she dodged a laser beam. Because a romance between Kurt and Ororo just struck her as weird.

Focus Pryde! Kitty scolded herself as a laser singed the very spot she had been standing in less than a millisecond ago. The focus of this sim was for her to get down the alley/ obstacle course as fast as she could while lasers would intermittently shoot at her and make stuff near her explode. She leaped up onto the chain-link fence in front of her and scrambled up it. This would be so much easier if she could just phase through everything, but Ororo had said no. As she jumped down, a laser grazed her arm and burned a hole through her uniform, leaving a minor burn on her skin. Kitty looked up at the observation deck, expecting Ororo to end the sim as per usual when a student was injured. Great, she's like not even paying attention! She mentally shouted in irritation while taking cover behind a Dumpster. She waited a few more seconds, maybe Ororo had seen it and was just being slow to react, however doubtful that was. Kitty looked up again and saw that the weather goddess was still apparently lost in thought, a slight scowl on her features.

"Screw this." Kitty muttered under her breath, getting up and making herself intangible. She walked through the rest of the sim, lasers and debris going right through her. At the end of the alley was a dead end with a flag stuck in the ground, cordoned off by another chain-link fence. She walked through it and yanked the flag out of the ground, an alarm bell going off. A few seconds later all activity stopped in the alley and faded away into nothingness, along with the flag and the alarm.

"Finished already, Kitty?" She heard Ororo's voice float over the intercom.

"No, I like totally got singed and ended things my way." She said, pointing to her arm.

"Come on up and I'll take a look at it."

Kitty did as she was told and took the access stairs up to the observation deck. "I'm guessing you missed my totally cool back flip too." She said upon entering the room.

"I'm sorry Kitty; I should have been paying more attention." Ororo apologized, gently taking Kitty's arm and examining it.

"I guess its okay." Kitty shrugged. "I wasn't exactly on my game either." She explained. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

Storm smiled briefly before sighing. "The Professor, Dr. McCoy, and myself have decided to send Rogue to a rehabilitation center."

Kitty gasped. "Really?" At Ororo's nod she added, "She didn't take it to well, did she?"

"No, it put it lightly." She smiled ruefully. "I can't help but wonder if it's the right decision for her. She looked so betrayed…"

"It's okay Ms. Munroe. "Kitty comforted. "Like, the stuff you guys were trying with her here obviously wasn't working."

"No, it wasn't."

". . . When does she leave?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Wow, you guys are serious aren't you?"

"This will sound horrible of me, and of Charles and Hank, but it was so she would have minimal chance to escape."

Kitty giggled sarcastically. "I wouldn't put it past Rogue. It's probably a good idea." She said. "If there's anything I can do, to like help or anything, 'cause, you know, I like wanna see her better too."

"Thank you Kitty." Ororo said. "If you could keep an eye on her?"

"No prob." Kitty said. "Well, I better get down to the med lab and have Dr. McCoy put burn cream on this or whatever, right?"

"Ah-ah. Not so fast." Ororo tittered. "You haven't completed your part of the deal." She sat down near the control console and patted the seat next to her.

Kitty sighed and her shoulders slumped. "This close, I was this close." She sat in the chair that Ororo had offered.

"Is it about a boy?" The older woman asked, somewhat knowingly.

"Ugh, I'm not like all about boys you know." The Valley Girl replied, offended. "But yeah, it kinda is about a boy." She dropped her head down and picked at her sleeve. "Actually, it's about Kurt."

"Did something happen between you two?"

"Yeah…but you have to promise not to tell anyone! I mean it, not even like, the Professor or Dr. McCoy."

"My lips are sealed." Ororo smiled, making a zipping motion across her lips.

"Okay. So like, the other day I kinda…kissed Kurt," she said. "But it was totally meant as like a thank-you kiss. At least, that's what I thought before I did it. Now I'm not so sure."

"Have you spoken to Kurt about this?"

"No…well, kinda. I went by his room that same night to talk to him and he was watching this movie and invited me in, so I went in. And yeah, I totally know about the no-other-people-in-rooms-after-eight but we just watched the movie, I swear." Kitty explained. "After it was over, we were talking about the questioning and stuff 'cause I was kinda nervous and then we got back to the kiss and then it didn't really look like he wanted to be something else either, so I lied and told him it really was just a thank-you kiss."

Ororo was quiet in thought for a moment. "It seems you have gotten yourself into quite a predicament."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Kitty replied, rolling her eyes.

"It would seem the wise thing to do would be to tell Kurt how you really feel."

"I knew you were going to say something like that!" She exclaimed, dropping her head into her hands. "Can't I like just get Jean to plant the idea into his head or something?"

"While easier, I don't think Kurt would appreciate it." Ororo said a slight smile on her face. "Besides, you know that you're not allowed to use yours, or your friend's powers for that matter, for personal gain."

"Yeah, I know, I know. I read the school brochure too." Kitty said, getting up.

"Why don't you go see Hank about your arm and I'll speak to the Professor about rescheduling our session?"

"Deal." Kitty smiled and turned to leave. As soon as she had left, she turned around and poked her head back into the room. "Ms. Munroe?"

"Yes Kitty?"

"Thank you."

Ororo smiled. "Not a problem. You know we're always here for you."

"I know."

Jubilee was in the kitchen seeing if she could get away with sneaking a mid-afternoon snack. There was so much gossip worthy stuff that was flying around this house; it took extra energy to keep up with it all. That, and she was bored after having been stuck at the Institute all day. School had been cancelled because of what happened at the party over the weekend.

Man, I so wish I could have been there. I bet it was killer. She thought, climbing up onto the counter to look in the dark recesses of the top cabinets for the various stashes of the "good" snacks that Kitty, Kurt and Jean and some other members of the house kept hidden away from every one else. The Milanos that were usually back there were gone, coming at no surprise to Jubilee. They were usually Jean's and the young girl figured that Jean needed them for comfort food.

The phone rang and Jubilee nearly jumped a mile out of her skin and nearly fell off the counter.

After steadying herself, the phone kept ringing and Jubilee climbed down and answered it. "Xavier Institute. Whaddya want?"

"This is Mrs. Matthews; may I speak with Jean Grey please?"

"Sure thing, lemme get her." Jubilee put the phone to her chest to muffle it and then screamed out, "JEAN!"

When there was no reply, Jubilee counted to ten in English and then again in Spanish, figuring it could be her Spanish homework for the night. "JEAN! Telefono por favor!"

"Oh my God, like Jubes, shut half your mouth." Kitty said, walking into the kitchen, light bandage on her arm. She saw the phone in Jubilee's possession. "Oh, please tell me you're not yelling like that and someone important is on the phone."

"Nah, just Mrs. Matthews. She wants to talk to Jean about something."

Kitty felt her eyes widen. "Jubes! Gimme that! She probably thinks were all a bunch of crazy hooligans now thanks to you!" She said, lunging for the phone.

Jubilee danced away, tangling herself in the cord a bit. (They had had a cordless phone but it had gotten lost somewhere after one of Kitty's three hour conversations with Lance). "Nuh-uh. I answered it, so I get to keep it. And she does not think we're a bunch of loonies." She stuck her tongue out at Kitty. "JEAN!"

"That's not going to work!" Kitty pleaded.

At that moment, Jean walked in looking very tired.

"Ha!" Jubilee crowed in triumph. "It totally does work."

"No, it doesn't." Jean cut off whatever snarky remark Kitty was about to make. "You just happen to project very loudly when you yell. I couldn't help but hear you." She grabbed the phone from Jubilee, who marched over to the fridge and retrieved a can of soda before returning to her TV watching in the rec room. "Hello?" She said upon putting the phone to her ear.

Kitty watched with mild curiosity as Jean nodded and spoke with Mrs. Matthews about something. Whatever it was, it probably had something to do with Duncan because when Jean hung up she looked even more tired and strained that she had been upon walking into the kitchen.

"What is it?" she asked.

Jean sighed. "Mrs. Matthews wanted to make sure that I knew that I was welcome to come to the funeral. She said that from some of the things she's heard, that I might think otherwise."

"You mean like someone starting rumors that you or Scott did it?"

Jean nodded.

"So are you gonna go?"

Jean hesitated, biting her lip. "I…I don't know. I don't think I'll be safe there."

"Safe? Why? What happened?" Kitty asked, confused look on her face.

"Nothing." Jean said, waving off Kitty's concern. "Taryn's just giving me a hard time." She decided not to let her in on some of the threatening instant messages she had been getting while online or about the full depth of Taryn's actions.

"Want me to e-mail her a virus?" Kitty offered.

"No." Jean shook her head, running a hand through her hair. "Ugh, that just told me how bad I need to shower."

Kitty smiled. "Yeah, normally I would have like, said something, but with all this stuff, I'd figured you could be skuzzy for a while."

"Nice to know I have your approval." Jean said as she left, a slight note of laughter slipping into her voice.

There was blissful, rare quiet in the kitchen for a few moments until a bamfing noise was heard, and the smell of smoke and brimstone assaulted Kitty's senses. "Kurt, like, watch where you're 'porting!"

"Sorry Kitty." Kurt said, jumping down from the island in the center of the kitchen that he had landed on. "Vhere have you been, I've been looking all over for you."

"Well, I was in the Danger Room with Storm, but then this happened, "she pointed to her arm, "and I went to see Dr. McCoy about it and he says I should be fine and now I'm here."

"Vhat happened?" Kurt asked, voice laced with concern and eyes fixed on her arm where the bandage was.

"I got burned by a laser. Dr. McCoy says it isn't that bad and it should heal in a few days."

"Vhy didn't you just phase?" His eyes left the bandage and settled on her face.

"That's kinda a two-prater." Kitty said. "The first one was that I wasn't allowed to phase as part of the exercise. The second one is that even if I could have, I think that I would have been too distracted to realize it."

At Kurt's confused look, Kitty grabbed his hand, dragged him over to the table, and sat down.

"Kurt…about what happened after the movie the other night…"

"Ja, zhat's vhy I vas looking for you earlier."

Kitty blinked. "Really?"

"Ja. Vhat happened aftervards—vhy don't you go first?"

"No, you already started."

"Ladies first."

They both glanced somewhat sheepishly at each other. Kitty tucked a lock of brown hair behind her head while Kurt absent-mindedly drummed his fingers on the table.

Just tell her already!

Like, spit it out already Pryde!

"I really like you!" They both blurted out at the same time.

Kurt's face was fully shocked while Kitty giggled. "Wow, that was kinda freaky."

"Tell me about it." Kurt smiled.

"So about that kiss…"

"Let me guess, you lied too?"

"Totally." Kitty smiled.

Silence overtook them in which they just smiled goofily at each other, Kurt more so than Kitty. "So, uh, vhat do ve do now?" Kurt asked. "Do you vant to go to zhe movies or somezhing?"

"Yeah, I'd like that." Kitty nodded. "But we totally have to keep it a secret. There is just too much drama going on right now and I think if Jubilee get any more bits of gossip, her head's gonna explode."

Kurt laughed. "Ok, it'll be our secret."

As soon as she slammed the door behind her, Rogue cranked up Mushroomhead as loud as it would go on her stereo. Those goddamn assholes! Who the hell did they think they were? They can't send her off to some rehab clinic; she did not have a problem. They were totally overreacting. Stupid Jean got to go around to parties, get wasted, and fuck the living daylights out of whomever she wanted. But when Rogue wanted to have a little fun? Oh no, keep her locked up and away from everyone else because no one knew what the fuck was going on with her. The freak among freaks with "unlimited potential". Stupid assholes.

Rogue felt like throwing something. Her eyes lighted on Lockheed, grabbed it by the neck, and chucked it across the room. Of course, since it was stuffed, it only bounced off the mirror and didn't break it like she wanted it to.

Goddamn it!

They were going to send her away because nobody gave a fuck about her. Chuck kept promising her control of her powers, telling her that she would get it one day.

"It's been over a fuckin' year!" Rogue screamed aloud, barely hearing herself over the music. They just wanted her around because of her powers. They didn't really want her to get control because they knew that as soon as she did get control, she wouldn't use her powers as much, if at all. If she had control, why would she ever want to go back to being untouchable? She wouldn't and that was why they kept feeding her lies; telling her she would get control, that she would fit in. What a load of bullshit! She got to watch all her so-called friends play with and develop their powers while Rogue was still stuck trying to get control. No one else here was like her. The only person that was remotely close to being like her was Remy.

They wanna take me away from Remy too!

The thought hit her like a ton of bricks. If she went to that rehab place, then she wouldn't be able to visit him. What if he woke up while she was gone? What if he forgot about her and the only chance for some semblance of happiness in this miserable, cursed life of hers would be gone. Then she'd be stuck here, to be used by the Professor in his little quest for a stupid dream that was never going to happen.

"You're just like everyone else!" She screamed at the closed door.

Rogue went over to her closet and grabbed a duffle bag. She threw it on her bed and began throwing clothes into it from her dresser. If they wanted to keep her here and make her be what they wanted her to be and just use her for her powers like Mystique and Destiny did, then fuck 'em. Fuck 'em all! She was called Rogue for a reason goddamnit and it wasn't because she went along with everyone else's rules.

Once Rogue's bag was packed to her liking, she stood out on the balcony. The late afternoon breeze ruffled her hair as she looked out over the grounds for probably the last time. She closed her eyes.

Ah am in my room. Ah am in my room, lying' on my bed, all pissed off about this whole thing. Ah am in my room, lying' on my bed, all pissed off but Ah can't do anythin' about it 'cause the Prof is watchin' me. Ah don't want ta be found. Don't find me, leave me the hell alone. Ah am in my room, Ah don't want ta be found. Please, just let my head do whatever it does whenever Ah really don't want ta be found.

It was a mantra in her head as she jumped down from the balcony. She kept repeating it over and over as she made it off the grounds. She hoped to whatever was out there that it was working. That the psyches were doing something good for once and making static or whatever it was that they did. Because she didn't want to be found. She was tired of the rules, tired of the people, tired of hiding. She wanted to be with people who were like her.

When she made it to Bayville General Hospital and so far no storm clouds had suddenly started brewing, Rogue figured that she was doing something right. She managed to make it up to Intensive Care room 16 without being detected by anybody. Quietly, she shut the door behind her and dropped her bag into a chair. It was still dimly lit, just the way she had left it. He would like it that way, she thought, hopping up to sit on the side of his bed. Too much light would hurt his eyes.

"Hi." She whispered.

Remy looked a bit better than the last time she saw him. Not as dead looking, he looked as if he was sleeping now.

"You're lookin' better Gumbo." She said. "The bruises that them cops gave ya are startin' ta heal."

She took his hand into her gloved on and toyed with it a little bit. She remembered the way those hands felt on her body. His touch was special; it was not like anything she had remembered from her youth, before Cody. It was tingly and warm and safe and sensual and a million other things that she couldn't describe. Was she imagining that their heated tryst at Duncan's party was special, or was that only because it was her first time? Did he think it was special?

"Ah came by ta let ya know that Ah probably won't be around as much as Ah've been the past couple of days." She said aloud. "Ah had some trouble back at ho—the Institute. They just—they just don't understand, ya know? Not like you and me."

She dropped his hand and smiled ruefully. "Now don't ya go and wake up on me when Ah'm not here. But that don't mean Ah want ya ta stay asleep forever….Just call me or somethin' before ya wake up. And you better wake up or else you're gonna wish ya ended up like that Logan friend of yours." She slid off the bed and wiped at her eyes, not caring that she smeared her mascara. She grabbed her bag off the chair where she left it and opened the door. She opened her mouth to say something just before she walked out but found she couldn't think of anything. So she left, closing the door behind her.