Okay guys I TOTALLY FORGOT that Rogue (SPOILER ALERT!) gives up her powers in the last movie, and going back and changing everything would be wildly painful, sooo let's all just pretend she didn't? For me? :)
Also I do some martial arts, so the training will be drawn from that.
"Careful, you're smearing the toe," muttered Marie as Sabine carefully smoothed another thin sheen of polish over her friend's nail. Sabine laughed dryly and dabbed off the extra red drops from the side of Marie's foot. They had just finished studying for Physics, and were winding down with a little female bonding. At least, that was how Marie always put it.
"So is Bobby dating that new girl yet?" asked Sabine, mirroring Marie's scathing huff. "What's her name? Allison? Slut..." Marie shrugged and threw up her hands, a spatter of orange polish flinging over her shoulder and hitting a magazine.
"I don't know. It doesn't matter to me, anyways." They were quiet for a few minutes, and Marie grabbed the magazine she had accidentally dropped polish on. Sabine chewed one of her nails.
"Hey, Marie...you were part of that team from a few years back, right? The one fighting against Magneto?" she asked, trying to keep her tone light and nonchalant. Marie gave her an odd look, but nodded. "What was he like?"
"Horrible," grumbled Marie, flipping angrily through the magazine. "He didn't care at all about human life, and he was all 'for the mutant cause,' but if you were a mutant who got in the way of his cause, god help you. He nearly killed me once." Sabine chewed her lip and shakily applied an overcoat to her orange toes.
"I heard about that," she mumbled quietly. "And...and he was really powerful?"
"Powerful? He was practically unstoppable," said Marie, forgetting about the magazine she held in her moment of rage. Unthinkingly she had begun rolling it up in a right tube. "I've never seen power like that, besides Professor Xavier's. I've never even gotten close enough to fight him hand to hand, there's always something metal around."
Sabine didn't respond, and Marie unfurled the magazine in a huff of remembered resentment. But, after a few minutes, she put it down again.
"So how about that new professor?"
Sabine's hand slipped horrible, and she smeared overcoat across the tops of all of her toes. Her eyes flew up, panicked, to Marie's face, but her friend was all smiles. She tried to smile back, but it felt twitchier than usual. "Hm? Wh-what about him?"
"Well, he's awfully good looking, isn't he? Even though he's, you know, normal. And I've seen you talking with him more than once," Marie hinted, her eyes coquettish. Clearly, Marie just wanted to change the subject, but she needed a few seconds for her heart to stop pounding so hard. Sabine managed a laugh, and felt her nerves ease a little bit. "So? Does he have a thing for you? Not going to lie, if I had to pick someone for a little teacher-student fantasizing, he'd probably be in my top five at least."
"Not top two? Right under Logan?" shot back Sabine, and Marie blushed brightly as she reached out and whacked Sabine's arm. But Marie was not to be deterred.
"Well? What's going on with him?" she begged, her eyes huge and pleading. Sabine shook her head, but she couldn't stop the smile playing around her mouth. What is wrong with me? She wanted to deny anything, mostly to herself, but she also enjoyed being the center of attention on something boy-related, for once. More man-related, really, you could hardly call him a boy. Not with those wide shoulders, the patterns of the veins across his forearms...
"Not to insinuate anything," she said slowly, her smile tiny and self-conscious, "but, well, he is tutoring me on close combat." Marie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, and Sabine couldn't help blushing very, very hard.
"Oh? Is that all? That's not so bad," said Marie, going back to her nails. As predicted, Sabine bristled and rose to her bait.
"Yeah? He also said he likes my tongue ring," said Sabine, sticking out her tongue. The metallic stud glinted devilishly, and Marie giggled, then resumed her serenity. She could have been deaf; her toenails were suddenly very important to her. She was very good at wheedling information from people; Sabine had completely forgotten that subtlety was kind of important. She inched forward, snatching the bottle from Marie. "Maybe he kissed me already..."
"Sabine!" gasped Marie, her jaw dropping. Suddenly remembering that he was a professor now, she flinched and backtracked a little bit.
"Well, I mean, before he was a professor!" she corrected, wishing she hadn't said anything. "Before his interview, even! It doesn't count then!" Marie's expression moved from gleeful and horrified to thoughtful.
"I guess you're right...but if he's still got a thing for you, you have to be careful! You could get in so much trouble!" Sabine nodded, and Marie clapped a hand on her shoulder, smiling reassuringly. "Don't worry. I won't tell."
"It's alright, I'm not really worried anymore. I mean, he knows the rules. He knows I've got boundaries."
"Spread your feet a little more, that stance has no balance whatsoever."
Sabine panted, a drop of sweat working its way down the side of her face. She wasn't bruised; Erik was as gentle as a kitten with her when it came to the sparring. But he was by no means a gentle teacher. He demanded her absolute and entire effort, and it was hard to stay focused sometimes, the way his white shirt clung to his hard frame.
"Okay...now do that block set I showed you," he said, raising his fists. Sabine took a deep breath and readied herself. He stepped towards her and feigned a punch; she knocked it aside with her forearm and stepped forward, not back, and feigned a punch to his jaw. She would have slid back to position but he reached out and stopped her.
"No, see, your body needs to parallel mine exactly for the best angle of attack. It's all about the angle, trust me. And don't aim for the jaw so much, that will only take you so far; aim for the neck, the temple, the sternum, stomach, all of the tender points." He pointed them out on himself, drawing her attention with his hand. Sabine held her breath as he dragged his finger from his neck to his navel, pointing out all of his own points of weakness.
She caught herself staring a moment too long, and checked upwards to make sure he hadn't noticed; she was met with his own cool gaze, filled with something dark and unbearably knowing. He was much too close; their bodies were still parallel, perhaps a foot apart. It definitely wasn't enough space.
She drew back and reset her stance. He smiled, an alluring baring of his white teeth.
"Now, to throw a good punch; make sure you tuck your thumb across your first two fingers, so you don't break it. The right amount of recoil, and then a quick spring forward. Always be ready to hit again, don't wait and see if it worked." He took a step towards her and suddenly snapped his fist forward; it stopped half an inch from her face. She flinched, but didn't step back.
The hand in front of her face curled, and suddenly he flicked her rather hard between the eyes. Sabine gasped a little, blinking against the force of it.
"Way to block," he laughed, and she gave him a dirty scowl. He relaxed and stepped back, letting her wipe the sheen of sweat on her forehead away. "Come on, let's practice something else."
His eyes zoned out for a moment, and his hand twitched a little bit. There was a sudden crashing, a scratching sound, and a dog was dragged into the clearing by the tags on his collar. Confused, it was still a friendly dog; it ran up to Sabine and licked her hand.
"Handy, that," she laughed, petting the dog. "Will his owners be missing him?" Erik shrugged carelessly, and Sabine saw a little of what Marie had meant. He clearly thought very little of the feelings and personal lives of others.
"Doesn't matter. They'll get him back. Now, here's what we're going to do," he said, his tone a little more serious. "Sit." The dog looked at him and then sat obediently. He smiled and took its collar. "You're going to see if you can make him forget how to sit."
"Wh-I don't think I can!" exclaimed Sabine, surprised. "I thought it was a fluke! It's only ever happened once!"
"Our powers don't have flukes," said Erik firmly, "any inconsistency is merely another facet of it that you've never uncovered. I've never had a 'fluke.' It's all metals, and entirely based on my own concentration and control. Yours is, too, and I have a feeling that your ability has more facets than you, or even Charles, had predicted."
Sabine nodded and looked at the dog. It was a lovely chocolate lab, his brown eyes so filled with trust that she felt terrible experimenting on it. But she wouldn't hurt it. Kneeling, she blew a gentle breath at the dog, the years of age crusting away from it. The coating was much more thin; the dog was four years old, and she knocked it down to three months. There was no way a dog could be taught to sit within the first three months of its life.
A few years wasn't much. The coating came away in thick, easy flakes, and a tiny puppy exploded from the debris. It wagged its tail eagerly, waiting for somebody to play with it. Erik knelt and touched its head.
"Sit."
The little puppy sat, and Sabine sighed. It hadn't worked.
"Alright, now age him and try again." She blew another breath, and it was back to four years. The coating chipped off easily again, melting into vapor once it hit the ground.
She tried over and over, trying to separate the factor that would make him forget. Again and again he sat, throwing her fluke in her face. She tried everything; short bursts, holding it in her mouth before expelling, very light and slow breathing, but no matter what she did the damn dog remembered how to sit.
Finally, Sabine fell back onto the ground, feeling unbelievably frustrated. The young dog sat staring at her, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. She was breathing hard, and trying not to look at Erik. He must be so disappointed in her...
But then he sat next to her, his elbows on his knees. He, too, stared at the dog, but more as though he were analyzing it. Then he turned and stared at her, as though he were analyzing her. She scowled at him.
"Stop looking at me like that," she growled, turning away. "I'm sorry, I tried. It's not working." She stood up and sent the dog another breath, aging it back to its appropriate time. Then, she began to walk away towards the direction of the school. A warm hand closed around her wrist though, and she couldn't stop a flutter of excitement beneath her bitter disappointment.
"Sabine, do you remember the person you fluked on? Do you remember the exact event?" he asked her, and she turned back to face him. This time, her eyes filled with tears, but she had lost her fear of him. She moved very, very close.
"Yes, I remember, Erik," she hissed, a wet streak running down the side of her nose. "I remember him attacking me on my way home from school. I remember he dragged me into an alley and punched me. He said he was going to kill me because I was so weird, he was going to dump me in the river when he was done with me. He k-kissed me, and I...I...I couldn't h-help it," she began to hiccup, trying to regain control of herself. Erik didn't move to comfort her; he stood silently at a distance.
"So...you did the breath inside of his mouth?" he asked her quietly, and she nodded rather than dared speak again. Only after a few moments did he move forward and put his arms around her. She laid her head against his chest, trying to steady her breathing. "It's alright. He deserved that; these homo sapiens are uncivilized, their species is on the downfall. You're not weird; you're beautiful, perfect."
He waited until she had calmed, then took her hand and drew her back to the dog.
"Here, just blow into the nose then," he instructed, the teacher once more. Sabine complied quietly, leaning forward and breathing into the beast's brown snout. It shared her breath and then changed, but to Sabine's surprise it still sat when Erik instructed it to.
"That's strange," she said, but Erik had an odd look on his face. His hand raised and some rusted bits of barbed wire flew towards him from the underbrush. Taking them, he molded it into something smoother and then began to tie it around the dog's torso. Confused, Sabine moved to stop him. "What are you-"
Erik moved forward and punched her.
It was a straight shot to the stomach. Choking, Sabine stumbled backwards, but he did not slow his advance. His foot shot out and she screamed when it connected to her thigh. He swung again and this time she managed to block it, but his other fist came from nowhere and powerfully knocked her arm aside. Sabine tried a punch at him, but he caught her arm and twisted it. She could feel her joint straining, so close to breaking.
Then, suddenly, she was on the ground; he had swept her feet from under her and the breath flew from her lungs as her back hit the ground. Terrified, she struggled as he clenched her wrists in his hand and the other drew back for another strike.
Sabine managed to free her hands and pushed him off of her. Stumbling to her feet, she began to run.
It was hard running with her leg still throbbing from his vicious kick, but she could hear him advancing and it terrified her. She gasped for breath, wishing she was close enough to the school for someone to hear if she screamed.
His hand closed on her again, but this time it was on the back of her neck. He turned her, forced her head down, and brought his knee up into her stomach. Sabine groaned silently, tears dripping down her cheeks. He let her slide off of his knee and drop to the ground, curled around her injured stomach and unable to take breath. But then he straddled her on the ground, tangling his hand in her hair.
"Are...you...insane?" she whispered hoarsely, hardly able to take in air. She felt as though she was going to throw up. But his eyes were ice cold as they surveyed her, and the hand in her hair pulled her head back.
The other drew a knife.
She tried to struggle, but she was still reeling from his attack. She could only cry a little, she didn't have the breath to beg for her life. But she did have a little breath, and that was all she needed.
It wasn't enough to kill him, she knew. Though she'd never killed a man before, she knew what it would take. This breath hardly existed, it tasted like novocaine on her tongue, but it was there. She breathed it out in a steady stream.
And then Erik was gone, and it was the dog on top of her, held just above the ground by its makeshaft metal harness.
"Sit."
The dog stared blankly at the two of them and then walked away.
Erik returned and dropped to her side. "I'm sorry, are you alright? Can you breathe yet?" His hands touched her wounded areas almost tenderly. "I tried not to break anything. And you should be able to heal them yourself, since they're under your neck." Sabine stared up at him, incredulous. If she could speak she would be yelling.
"You...asshole," she gasped, trying anyways. She tried to move away from him, but she was hurting everywhere. The bruise on her leg was the worst; it felt as though he had broken her femur, though she knew he hadn't. "What...the fuck...is wrong...with you?" He smiled regretfully and stroked her hair.
"Sorry, my little experiment wouldn't have worked if I'd told you," he said, shrugging. "I figured that since it wasn't physical, it had to be mental. Or emotional, but honestly anything emotional can be mimicked fairly easily in the mind. So I theorized it must be a defense mechanism, to make your attacker forget why he was attacking you in the first place. Apparently I was right."
"Fuck...science..." grumbled Sabine, still furious with him. But she was feeling a little bit better, and when she tried to sit up Erik was quick to help her.
She blew a small breath on her thigh first; the cast was almost sheer, it was so thin. She broke it away with a quick shake, and any bruising that had begun to appear already was entirely gone. Her next breath went to her poor, abused stomach, and she felt much better after that. Finally able to take a deep breath, she threw Erik a glare.
He helped her to her feet and once standing, she immediately threw his hand back at him and began storming away. He trotted after her, but in a much more apologetic manner than usual.
"I'm sorry, but you have to admit I was right!" he barked, but that didn't make her feel much better. She snorted and kept walking. "You might never have known that it wasn't a fluke if I hadn't helped you!"
"Helped me?" she snarled, whirling around. "You-I…you-aaargh!" Unable to choose one of the many choice words floating around in her head, she turned away from him again and continued walking. He didn't give up, though.
"Yes, alright, it was a little unconventional, but you needed a wakeup check! Now you know that one, your powers are entirely more complex than you had assumed and two, you can't fight worth shit! But I can help you, with both!"
"I don't want your help," she snapped, tempted to break into a run. But as he'd already proven, he was extremely fast and she didn't want him chasing her again. "Thanks, but I don't particularly enjoy having to heal myself." He jogged until he was in front of her and stopped her, his hands on her shoulders and a patient look on his face.
"When you're in a situation like that, it's better to know what to do from experience than from theory," he told her seriously. Sabine was still mad, but the way he looked at her tugged at her anyways. "I'm done showing you the strength of your mind over your powers. I won't do that to you again."
She didn't know if she could trust him, but hell, she'd trusted him with worse. She ground her teeth, viciously battling her anger against his oh-so-charming smile.
"Promise?" she asked darkly, not entirely able to give in. With a mischievous grin he stepped even closer, tipping her face up with his chin. His lips touched hers gently, once, twice, again and again in a shower of sweet, tiny kisses that made her knees a little weak. When he finally stopped and withdrew, his eyes were glittering with deep desire. It absolutely took her breath away, and she couldn't help leaning into him a little bit. Just to help her balance.
"Promise."
"I don't want to talk to you."
"Please, just listen to me. You know why I did what I did. After I lost my powers, I gave up too, I abandoned the cause." Erik sat back in the low chair in his room, one hand at his temple. The other was tight on a phone by his ear.
"You abandoned me!" hissed the voice from the phone. "I would die for the cause, but I'd have died for you first! Don't call me again, I don't want to talk to you!"
"Raven, don't lie to yourself. You've always loved me, that much is true, and you've known me better than anyone else. You of all people should have understood." A quiet sniff, and silence for a few moments. Erik waited patiently, always so patiently. A quarter hovered in his hand, spinning slowly.
"Why are you calling me, anyways?" came her voice, uncharacteristically emotional. Erik bared his teeth in a smile and closed his fingers over the quarter. He crushed the shape until it was a small, lustrous blob.
"I've found somebody very special," he said, laughing a little bit. "I think you'd really like her." He heard a scoff on the other end of the line; much more in character for her.
"Really? You called me to gush about your new romance?" came Raven's dry response. But underneath the tone was interest; she knew that he was about to tell her something else. She did know him best, after all.
"I did. You see, I've become quite fond of this girl. She really brings out the youth in me...among other things," he said lazily, enjoying drawing out his old friend's impatience. It didn't take too long; he could practically hear her drumming her fingers. He lowered his voice a little, wary of eavesdroppers. "I think you'd like to meet her. Her powers really are extraordinary. Come and see for yourself."
"I don't know, Erik," said Raven quietly. "Things aren't the same. We're not the same. I don't understand why you're talent-scouting again, we're not a part of the cause anymore. It's done, we can't go back to the way we were."
"Yes, Raven. We can."
The power behind his words made her silent again. She weighed them and found the thought, the hope, almost too much to bear. He waited for her to speak.
"When...when can I come?"
Thanks for the reviews! Next chapter soon :)