A/N: Wow, I wrote this in an hour! SkyRogue, you are a fantastic author and I'm going to keep bugging you to finish your story! :) Anyway, a huge huge thanks for the reviews for the last chapter. They were so great. They made the week infinitely better for me. So thanks again!
You know the drill. Please read and review!
Disclaimer: Yes, I understand that I don't own ANY of'em. Doesn't stop me from wishing I did, though!
Watching.Living.Being: Chapter 10
2 months later
"I'm getting it," Jamie Madrox yelled when the doorbell rang. But Jubilation Lee beat him to it. She skidded to a stop at the front of the door and aimed a smug smile at Jamie before yanking the door open, coming face to face with a beautiful brunette whose clothes and thin frame had seen better days.
"Hi," Jubilee said brightly. "Can I help you?"
"Hi," the woman said softly, staring at Jubilee. "I need to see the Professor."
"Sure," Jubilee said, stepping aside to let her in. "I'll get him." She started to wonder off, then stopped and turned. "What's your name?"
"Angela Logan."
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Professor Xavier's head whipped around in shock. "Who did you say it was?" he asked Jubilee.
"Angela Logan."
"I see. Could you please escort her to my study and inform her that I'll join her shortly?" After Jubilee left, he pasted a smile on his face and looked back at Gambit. "I understand your need to leave, Remy. But perhaps we can continue this discussion tomorrow morning?" At Gambit's scowl, he elaborated, "Angela Logan is someone I haven't seen in a long time and she's in trouble. I would like to see if I can offer any assistance."
The Cajun nodded wearily and left. Charles looked at his retreating back thoughtfully. Remy hadn't been the same since Rogue had left. At first, he had been wilder than ever, but his jokes and drinking had had a bitter edge to it. Eventually, the wildness disappeared and he had retreated into himself. He kept to himself, and had begun to invoke the same sort of fear the Wolverine inspired in the students when he was in a bad mood. The only people Remy would talk to were Storm, Piotr and Kitty. Probably because they had been the closest to Rogue. Now he had decided to return to New Orleans. Though he was still exiled for Julien's death, he needed to see his family. He needed to do something that would take him away from memories of the woman he had loved and lost.
Sighing, Charles wheeled himself out of the room, heading towards his study. He wondered how she looked now and what had brought her here after so many years. He shut his mind from the waves of anxiety, despair and anger coming from the room and instead focused on the person in the room. The brunette had her back to him. She was much thinner than the last time he had seen her, and his eyebrows creased in a worried frown.
"Hello Angela."
Her eyes filled with tears when she heard the voice. "Professor…Charles. I didn't know where else to go." She looked at him sorrowfully. "I hope you can help me. I really do."
Charles stiffened. "You're not Angela."
The woman smiled bitterly. "Unfortunately for the both of us, I am."
"What happened? What have you done to Rogue?" he demanded.
"I did nothing to her! The bitch absorbed me. Now my body is lying in a coma in the hospital."
Charles opened his mouth, but he was cut off by the change in her expression. The blue eyes flashed to emerald. "Professor, ya have ta help. She's tryin' ta lock meh up."
"Rogue?" he asked, shocked. Then, "Rogue!" when her eyes rolled back into her head and she slid limply to the floor. Logan, I require your assistance immediately.
The Wolverine burst into the room, claws extended, a growl in his throat. When he saw the unconscious Angela on the floor and an obviously unharmed Professor X staring at him, he relaxed and took a deep breath. Then he stiffened all over again. "Stripes. She was here."
"Logan, what I'm about to tell you must be kept in confidence," Charles told him urgently. When Wolverine only growled and continued looking around, he sighed. "The woman on the floor is Rogue. But something has happened and she's not fully herself."
At his words, Logan leaped to the fallen woman and lifted her up. Sniffing the air in front of her, he said, "Smells like Stripes all right. But there's something different."
Her eyes snapped open, burning blue. "That's because she's got me in there with her," the woman said, slamming her fist in Logan's face. He yowled and dropped her, more from shock than pain. She landed lightly on her feet and smirked at him.
"What the hell did you do to Stripes?" he demanded, his claws coming out with a loud snikt.
She sighed irritably before leaning on the professor's table. "As I was explaining to Charles here," she gestured, "your 'Stripes' sucked the life out of me. And I mean that literally." She turned to Charles. "I want my body back. I want my life back."
"If I promise to help you, will you let her go?"
"Sure. But you'd better make it quick. I've almost got her in the cage. So-," She bent over the desk, eyes squeezed shut. "Professor, she ain't gonna let meh go," it was undeniably Rogue's voice this time, and she raised her pleading green eyes to his. "Ah've been fighting her but she wants meh dead. So ya can't help her. Ya have ta help meh lock her away. It's tha only way." She groaned, pressing her hand against her temple. "She's fighting meh. She can't hear mah thoughts, I've managed ta block her. But ah don't know how long that will last." Her eyes met the Professor's. "She's crazy. She wants ta kill us all. If ya can't get her out of mah mind, if ya can't lock her up…" she took a deep breath. "Ya'll have ta kill meh. It's tha only way ta stop her. She's superstrong and she can fly." Her face contorted, and when her eyes opened, they were blue, and, Charles noted, just a little mad.
"What did that bitch say to you?" she demanded, stalking towards him. Logan was suddenly there, blocking her. She laughed. "Do you honestly think you and your adamantium bones will stop me?" she asked before giving him a negligent push which sent him crashing into the opposite wall. "Oops," she said, smiling. "I guess I don't know my own strength. Now old man," she turned back to Charles. "What did she say?"
"I'd appreciate it if you tried not to break any furniture or bones while you're here," Charles said mildly, hiding his shock and horror and what Rogue had told him. "She wants the same thing you want. You out of her body. And control over it again."
"Then what's the problem?" Carol pouted. "I want out, she wants me out. So do it."
"I can promise to try, Miss…?"
"Danvers. Carol Danvers. And I don't want you to try. I want you to do it. I've arranged to have my body sent here. From what I managed to get off Angela-Rogue-whatever the bitch's name is before she managed to block me out, you have a huge ass Bat Cave with the works. We can put me there and we can work on getting me back in me there. Now, Charles," she lowered her voice and leaned toward him, "you have two weeks to get me out of this body and back into mine. Or I'm keeping this body and," she tapped the side of her head, "putting your precious Rogue in a cage."