And in the thirty-third chapter, the people said 'Let there be more Johnny'
And Jamie said 'Make it so'.
-
Rogue flexed her fingers experimentally over the white gauze that wrapped around her knuckles as she made her way to the bathroom.
Alright, no peaking. She thought as she turned on the water to the shower, and then added a very pointed: John.
What? John spluttered with mock indignation. Me? Would I try to do something like that?
Yes. Rogue grinned as she stripped off her shirt.
At least she could still be friends with the people in her head, as wrong as that sounded. Everyone else in her life plastered on smiles and lied through their teeth. The voices had no smiles. The voices couldn't tell lies. And yet, they all moved her, wooed her into different states of mind.
When she was passionate, she was a Logan.
When she was thinking, she was an Erik.
When she was gentle, she was a Piotr.
When she was relentless, she was a Bobby.
When she was blunt, she was a John.
The people in her head made Rogue. Without them she was Marie.
And she hated Marie.
I was thinking, She announced in her head as the heat of the water beat down against her back.
About what, my dear? Erik inquired.
I was thinking Boston. She said curtly.
Boston… for what? Bobby hesitated.
Well, Rogue sighed. I can't stay here any more. I don't want their smiles. I don't want their lies.
What is it they are going to do without you? Piotr demanded.
Whatever it was they were doing before. Rogue guessed bitterly.
You're being stupid, kid. Logan growled. You remember what happened last time you felt like you needed to stop dealing with the way people treated you around here.
"That's not the same!" She shouted out loud, slamming her fist into the wall, knuckles shrilling with pain as the scabs tore open, streaming blood that was quickly swept away by the currents of water spilling down her body. "I can handle being insulted now." She swore. "I can handle being kicked down! I can handle being bleeding and broken!" Every word rang true. "But, like hell am I going to stay here and be treated like a China doll for everyone to tiptoe around with cut-out smiles and damn lies! I'm not going to wait around for him to wake up and start groveling! I'm not gonna sit here and take this! I'm done with that!"
Rogue, John's voice was cool and measured. Take three deep breaths.
She breathed in and out slowly three times.
Turn down the temperature. He continued.
She turned the knob down from 'scalding' to 'warm'.
Put your hand under the water. He commanded gently.
She clenched her fist under the stream of hot water, washing away the blood.
Now, say 'John is a sexy beast'.
"John is a sexy-," She started. "Waaaaaait a second." Rogue suspected somewhere along the line she had been tricked.
Dammit. John pouted. I thought for sure that would work.
She giggled.
Rogue felt a tenseness that had been coiling inside of her for two days release slightly.
Despite what you think, Rogue. John sighed. You can't just survive on the people in your head. I haven't seen you smile for a year. Longer, if you wanna get technical about the entire 'I don't have eyes' thing. But since you came back I've heard you laugh. And cry. And sing. There's nothing for you anywhere else that's going to make you feel. You'll just be numb again out in the world.
Rogue sat down in the shower, pulling her knees up to her chest so that she could rest her chin on them.
But what about him? She wondered. I can't deal with him.
Puh-lease, girl. John gave her a sassy tone that made her giggle again. Who do you think is the one making you feel all of this?
No. She shut down on him. I refuse to believe that boy has brought me anything but pain.
But- John started.
Everything he said to me, from the beginning, was a lie.
But- John tried again.
AND, the only reason he told me anything was so that he could save his own ass.
But-
"End of discussion." Rogue growled, coil growing even tighter than it had been before in her chest, anger flaring, brooding mood set.
But-!
Whatever John was about to try and pull on her next was cut off by a sharp knock on the door of her room.
"One moment!" She called out, shutting off the water in the shower and grabbing a towel to wrap around herself as she attempted to distract herself by answering the door. Maybe Jubilee or Betsy was trying to get her outside again. Or maybe Logan wanted to have another 'heart-to-heart'. Or maybe Bobby was going to try and win her back again. A good 'go to hell' was just what she needed to perk up her day.
Whatever she had been expecting when she opened the door, it wasn't what she found.
"Hi!" The little girl with pink hair and plates of bones extending out of her skin grinned.
"Uh- hello…" Rogue was absolutely positive she had never seen this child before in her life.
"Wow," The girl looked up at her as she invited herself into Rogue's room, walking in a circle around her. "You're pretty!"
"Er… Thank you…" She didn't feel especially pretty, covered in only a towel and streaked with blood here and there.
The girl plopped herself down on Rogue's bed and looked around expectantly.
"I'm sorry-," Rogue started.
"Sarah." The girl filled in the blank.
"Sarah," Rogue nodded. "But, is there something I can help you with?"
"Mmm-hmm." Sarah nodded brightly, getting up from her spot on the bed to wander over to the closet, sifting through the contents. "Mr. Logan sent me to come get you." She started picking some things off of hangers. "He says it's a mandatory meeting. Meet him in the Danger Room."
"Well, you can tell Mr. Wolverine that he can take that mandatory meeting and shove it up his-."
"He also said that there was no cursing around the younger students." Sarah added over her shoulder, now rooting through drawers. "And, that you have no choice."
Rogue growled in her throat.
It was at this point that she realized this tornado of a child had gone through every article of clothing in her room and was laying out an outfit on top of her bed.
"I think you should wear this." Sarah commented. "You'd look pretty in it." She look up with a smile that held so much innocence it was completely impossible for her not to be up to something.
"Hmm." Rogue's lips quirked as she observed the girl. "What are you up to?"
"Up to?" Sarah made a face of mock affront. "Me? I would never!" She shot Rogue a grin that reminded her of herself as she sprinted towards the door. "You have ten minutes!" She crowed, snapping the door shut as she took flight.
Rogue cocked an eyebrow at the door, amused by the little girl.
"Cute kid." She mumbled to herself as she looked over the outfit left sprawled out on her bed. Her eyebrow went up further.
-
Twenty minutes later Rogue swaggered into the danger room wearing a pair of black jeans that seemed to enjoy her curves as much as the owner of every jaw that had dropped on her way down the halls, clinging especially well around the hips. Her pale green blouse grazed the edge of the pants, leaving the smallest sliver of taut tummy exposed. The neck line swooped dangerously low. 'Dangerously' being a deliciously appropriate description of all of the skin exposed. A pair of thin black leather gloves clung to her fingers and a pair of bulky black shit-stomping boots clunked the ground every time she took a step.
The bug eyed expressions on every X-man in the room made the initial discomfort of being so exposed worth every second before the plastered on their smiles, which made her shoot glares that could turn men to stone at them.
"Right," Logan coughed from his spot in front of the others, calling the full attention of Rogue's glare as the man who had pulled her out of her shower for a lame mandatory meeting. "Now that Rogue has decided to grace us with her presence, let's get started shall we?"
A mischievous grin that matched what had been Sarah's crossed his face.
"I'm getting concerned about the lack of one-on-one combat ability." He continued on as if everything were normal. "What do you do when your attacker has singled out you as their one and only outlet for aggression?"
Warren raised his hand.
"That was a rhetorical question." Logan scrubbed at his brow.
Warren put his hand down.
"Maybe they need a demonstration!" Sarah popped out of nowhere.
"Why, that sounds like a marvelous idea, darlin'!" Logan grinned. "Rogue," He pointed her out. "Come 'ere."
Wrinkling her brow with displeasure, Rogue stepped forward, chip on her shoulder weighing her down.
"What's going on?" She growled.
"You're just gonna demonstrate what a good and vicious one-on-one fight would look like." Logan's grinning continued.
"Oh yeah?" She snipped, crossing her arms over her chest. "And who exactly am I gonna give a thrashing? You?" She laughed. "Please. Ain't nobody's as good at one-on-one as me." She boasted.
"If I were so bold as t' volunteer my services for this particular endeavor," Dread filled the pit in her stomach as the masculine voice came across her ears. Dread and pure, unadulterated fury. Her shoulders cringed and her eyes narrowed as she turned around slowly to meet his red on black eyes. "Chere." Remy finished with a smirk.
"Boy," She growled, automatically setting her stance - not because Logan had told her to, -but simply because she wanted to kick the ever living shit out of him. "Yah're dead lucky that there's a med lab down the hall from here." She growled in her honey-thick accent.
Remy cringed, all of his aches and pains groaning in protest as he willingly walked forward into another beating.