JAMIE: *gives you whiplash from her speedy updating skills* That is all.
"No." Remy said resolutely, not for the first time.
"Remy!" Storm was this close to strangling him. "Just get into the med lab!"
"Not gon' happen, Stormy." He pretended not to wince as he crossed his arms over his chest. Rogue was watching him curiously, sitting off to the side, already healed up thanks to Logan. "I ain't goin' down to any place with 'weapon', 'x' or 'lab' in de name."
"Don't make me do anything that would scare the younger students." Storm warned. A group of teens and children had crowded in the foyer, confused about who the knew man was and why exactly he had chosen to pick a fight with the Headmistress.
"Oh please." Remy scoffed. "Y' couldn' scare dem if y' took off y'r make up."
Everyone in the room gasped and giggled at the newcomer's bold move.
Storm stopped whatever snappy response and lightning blot that were about to come flying out of her and listened, really listened to what he had just said. Ororo was pretty damn sure that the word 'them' started with a 'th' not a 'd'. 'Couldn't' had a 't' on the end, didn't it? And 'you' definitely had two other letters in it that Remy was neglecting.
Remy hadn't spoken out loud with an accent so thickly since he had hunted down Ororo about three years ago, practically looming at death's doorstep and obviously haunted by some ghost. That had been the last time she had seen him.
"Remy…" Storm moved closer to him, carefully placing her hands on his shoulders so that they would avoid the quickly darkening splotches there. "Are you alright?"
Her quick change of heart must have registered in Remy's empathy and he looked at her with hurt eyes.
"I'll be fine, Stormy." His hard outer shell quickly slid on, hiding his eyes behind the signature glint they usually held. He walked out of her hands. "Remy always is." He gave her an ambiguous two-fingered wave as he limped away.
Liar. Storm watched him leave. Rogue hesitated a moment long enough for him to disappear before following after him down the hallway and Ororo felt her heart sink into her stomach.
Remy was going to hurt that girl. Intentionally or not.
Storm tried to remember the last time she had seen Remy. He had been yelling at her for medical supplies, pressing the remains of what had probably been a nice shirt over the gaping hole in his chest. Storm hadn't asked questions. Remy hadn't given her any answers.
He'd do the same with Rogue.
And not having answers could kill a person.
She shook her head and the set her attentions on shooing away the students. "There's nothing to see here." She barked playfully.
"Not anymore." One of the blond teens smirked, casting her gaze down the hall Remy had just disappeared. "Too bad Poison Touch is after him. When'd she get back?"
"Emma." Storm pointed out the blond. "Extra Danger Room session. Tomorrow morning. Five a.m. We don't insult or sneer at people's gifts."
Emma Frost rolled her eyes and muttered something about 'freaks getting all of the attention at the Institute nowadays. '
"With Logan." Storm added. Emma blanched and Ororo felt content to leave the girl there with her dread.
Rogue wandered down one of the hallways that seemed to have grown since she had last been in the place. 'Ro had let her borrow one of her sun dresses, cheerful blues, pinks, and purples were draped across her figure in an appealing swirl of loose fabric… it clashed slightly with the black leggings she had stolen from Jubilee and Logan's leather jacket, but, she'd take what she could get. She was still wearing the gloves that went with her uniform because the leathery ones that she had been wearing for the past four months had finally given their last hurrah when she'd leapt from the motorcycle Remy had been driving and collided with the gravel.
She bit her lip shyly as she wandered, the very thought of Remy causing the slightly amount of blood to pool in her cheeks. She admitted she already had a fondness for the boy. Maybe 'fondness' was too light of a word. She'd known him for almost a day she found herself in near-dependence on him. She had never met anyone like him. He had taken a girl off the streets, taken her home, and stuck around for some reason. He had saved her life more than once. And he made her feel pretty. Even after he had found out about her mutation and continued to flirt and tease her.
Isn't a shame that no matter how much he flirts with you he'll leave you high and dry for the first touchable girl that saunters his way? A voice mumbled in the back of her head.
Rogue stopped dead.
That's not true… She tried to argue with the voice.
Right, because every boy is just dying to get himself tied to an untouchable girl. The voice retorted sarcastically. So, it's not just him, it's anyone. No one is every going to want you.
Rogue gasped with the sudden pain of heartache and want piercing her breast. She stumbled into the wall and labored to breathe.
More whispers shot up in the back of her mind.
Take a deep breath, child. She singled out the calmest voice to tune into. Sit down for a moment if you don't think you are going to be able to make the journey back to your own room. It suggested.
She decided that that was a lot better for her health than trying to talk to Remy.
Curling up into a ball beside the wall, all Rogue could do to keep from breaking down into sobs was press her knees into her eyelids until the blackness of her vision started to turn into flashing techno colors.
Calm down, child. The voice that was normally reserved for forceful speeches and hate filled declarations made a wonderful fatherly voice when it wanted to. It will all be alright.
And for a moment, one, single, solitary, blissful moment, she believed him.
Then the other voices started to add their two cents.
You're just a freak, Marie. You stole my life.
Calm down, kid. Stay calm.
I still love you, Marie. What I did with Kitty, that was nothing. I can make things alright.
What the ice prick is trying to say is, you're hot. You'll make it.
Rogue, you should not be listening to simple minded man. Please be staying calm.
Only a freak would listen to the voices in her head. No wonder they rejected you.
Child, calm down.
Whatever-his-name-is doesn't want you. Who would?
"Rogue?"
No one.
Shut up.
"Rogue?"
Freak!
Be quiet!"Rogue!"
Leech.
Rogue's eyes snapped open.
Remy stripped off his coat and took one long, good look at the mass of bruises that used to qualify as his chest.
"Well…" He looked himself over and mopped up a small percentage of the blood that had smeared down from his shoulder. Taking a deep, manly breath, he tore a bone spike out of his shoulder.
"MothermurphSonofagoddamnarr!" He clenched his teeth against the pain. "Merde!" The spike clattered to the ground, coated with a good amount of blood. "If I ever see that batard again, I'm going to break his neck." He swore, panting heavily.
Tearing apart a pack of gauze with his teeth and still muttering curses in his own special brand of gutter French, He barely registered the waves of emotions coming from the hallway right outside of the bedroom he was occupying.
Until, said set of emotions roared out of control.
Remy crumpled to his knees, crying out in pain.
Want, Longing, Realization.
They slammed into him with such strength that he had to bite his tongue to keep from screaming. Unconsciously, his fingers groped around for a deck of cards. Something solid he could channel all of the overwhelming waves enveloping him. Before his fingers could find something to release energy into, the emotions calmed enough that he could not only recognize the origin but react accordingly.
Rogue.
He tore out of the room, forgetting his bloody bandages and pain next to the bloody spike.
There was a huddled bundle of shivering girl at the other edge of the hallway. She seemed to be calming down from whatever episode she had just had. Her breathing became slowly more steady.
Hate. Concern. Hate. Rejection. Mockery. Rationality. Pain. Hate.
Remy collapsed to the ground again, screaming. How could she be feeling so many overpowering emotions all at once? It was almost as if there was more than one person in the inside of her head.
He crawled forward slowly until he was face to face with her. He grabbed her gloved hands in his and squeezed them reassuringly.
Wolverine and Storm tore around the corner, probably hearing his screams.
"What happened?" Logan yelled, all at once it sounded like a concerned question and an accusation. His fists already had claws protruding out of them and his eyes were filled with such concern when he saw Rogue, Remy expected him to pick her up and run as quickly as he could down to the med lab. "What did you do?" He snarled at Remy.
Loathing.
Remy and Rogue cried out in pain at the same exact instance, clawing at their ears like there were invisible pests trying to disturb the sanctity of their thoughts.
"Dere are too many feelings!" Remy writhed. "Make dem stop!"
Logan was just driven farther into confusion, but Ororo understood immediately. She knelt down by Rogue's side and gently put her hand on the younger woman's shoulder.
"Rogue?"
Her eyes were shut. Lights around the house started dimming.
"Rogue?"
Her body was shaking violently. The window next to her started cracking.
Then, everything stopped. Rogue stopped moving, breathing, shaking, feeling.
"Rogue!"
Rogue's eyes snapped open. Pitch black.
The lights blew out and the windows shattered.
"Darlin'," Logan put his hand on the back of her head in a comforting gesture. "Whatever it is, it will be okay. I need ya' to calm down, kid."
Rogue's finger's twitched slightly and Logan went crashing into the wall.
"Rogue, honey," Storm tried to make eye contact with the disturbed girl. "Please-."
Another twitch, another crash.
Rogue's bundled body started to lift off the floor, odd waves of energy contorting around her. Her unique hair lifted off of her neck and swirled around in the new paths the air was taking around her.
"Chere," Remy said calmly. "Chere, please come back to Remy. I don' know what's wrong, but I ain't gon' figure it out by myself. You have to tell me, chere."
He could hear the strain of the stitches in her gloves as she clenched her fists.
"Leave." She gritted out in a voice that didn't sound like her own.
"I ain't goin' anywhere." He ground back.
"Do you promise?" Her hair started to settle back on her shoulders.
"Y'r gonna havta work harder than this t' get rid of me." Remy assured her, still working to get a handle on her emotions.
She made contact with the ground again, but her eyes were still black.
"Do you trust me?" He put his gloved hand on her bare face.
She blinked and Remy discovered that they eyes he had initially thought were black were just layers of colors. Blues, browns and the odds in between.
Slowly, she blinked her way out of all of them.
"W-what did Ah do?" She looked around, nearly driving herself to hysterics again. Remy snuffed out any emotion that wasn't under control with his empathy as he quickly folded her into his arms and let her cry herself to sleep there.
"Shh," He soothed, running his hand along her beautiful two-toned hair. "I promise y', chere, I won' let anythin' hurt y'."
Riptide smirked, looking on the scene with a twisted smile from one of the surrounding walls of the Institute, successfully hidden from prying eyes and security cameras alike.
He smoothly drew out his cellphone and punched in a number he knew by heart.
"I found him." He affirmed to the voice on the other end. "But there's something else here that I think might interest you."
The strange girl with the brown and white hair cried into Gambit's shoulder under his gaze.
"No, I don't think I can take her without his help." Riptide said to whatever the voice had responded. "He seems to be able to control her pretty well. Better than anyone else in that house, anyway."
Riptide winced at whatever the voice had to say. "I don't know…" Riptide drawled, looking over the broken glass and shorted out lights. Every single one in the entire mansion was gone. "I think she'd be worth it."