Of The Bonds That Bind
Abby Ebon
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Disclaimer: I do not own DNAngel or X-Men.
: Dark's Thoughts to Daisuke:
-Daisuke's Thoughts-
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Sinister Similarity
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Bobby, St. John, and Rogue spent the rest of the night wide awake – gathered together in the boys room, the only words were Rogue's as she told them all she remembered of taking a part of Dark into her – in return, she told them of how she met Wolverine.
It seemed pathetic, even then – but all they hoped for – that everything turning out "alright" - clung to the words they shared that night.
Rogue paced back and forth, uncertain for the longest time about what to do with memories that weren't her own. Yet she had felt apart of them, as if they were hers. Bobby watched her every movement, as a cat might watch a bird, worried and twitching in his seat. St. John, he'd closed his eyes, laid down on his bed, but was awake, click-click-click went his lighter, like the beat of a drum for Rogue to keep pace with.
"What will they do? With, with Dark?" Rogue finally asked into the hushed room.
"Depends on if he's dead or not, is my guess." St. John said, not turning his head from the ceiling. He didn't see Rogue's stricken look, or Bobby toss him a glare.
"He's not, he can't be!" Rogue protested, but she didn't know, not truly. She'd never killed anyone before, sent them into a coma, yes – but killed, no, never. Yet she just might have, this time, her powers might have killed to keep her alive.
"What do your powers do?" Bobby asked, for it had become obvious that there was more to them than taking, if her powers had saved her life – there was something she gained from them beyond a defense or offense.
"I, I don't really know, they seem just to, to take." Rogue paused in her pacing, looking to where St. John lay and where Bobby sat watching her.
"Take what, exactly? I saw what you touch Dark, that first time, took his wings – yeah, but also brought out Daisuke. This time, you touch Wolverine and heal – that's his power, right enough. This time there's no wings – but Daisuke isn't running about either…what's different?" St. John pressed, eyes flicking to her accusing and curious.
Bobby bit his bottom lip thoughtfully, nibbling, wondering if Rogue would answer – how she would answer.
"I don't rightly know, alright? Sometimes, it's powers, other times it's other things." Rogue didn't know how to explain it, but she would try to.
"Like what other things?" St. John pressed, determined to hear it.
"Thoughts, okay? Memories, mostly – the first time I did this, I was kissing my boyfriend, and I saw how he remembered me, thought of me…loved me. With Dark, that first time, it was just powers – so, I guess it just works different the first touch between mutants and normal people." Rogue struggled to put into words her powers, which she hadn't yet begun to understand. She hoped here she could learn, but now they might kick her out.
"What did you take?" Bobby asked softly, worriedly, still watching her. St. John glanced to him, and Bobby saw the look in his eye. It was the flicker of hate for her.
"It…it's Dark's memory, I think, but there is so much more, it's like it was buried, forgotten; a part of who he is, a part of his personality." Rogue looked to St. John and knew she might have said too much for him to ever easily forgive her.
"Can you give it back?" Bobby pressed, sounding sick.
"I, no, I don't know?" Rogue ran her fingers though her hair, tangling stray strands in her nails. There was a knock on the door, and Kitty's face pressed through the wood.
"Oh, good, I've found all three of you!" Kitty's smile was hesitant, but Rogue returned it, glad someone wasn't afraid to smile at her. Kitty phased the rest of the way through the door, stepping into the room and looking about it. It was clear enough she wasn't impressed by Bobby's and St. John's cleaning and decorating habits.
"Well, Wolverine's going to be fine, sort of sleeping it off now." Kitty told Rogue, who nodded, than looked to Bobby and St. John and back to Kitty, worried for Dark – who Kitty hadn't said anything about.
"And… Dark?" Rogue pressed, Kitty frowned, eyes flicking to the floor.
"Professor Xavier and Jean can't reach them. It's like, like they are stuck in some sort of loop, a labyrinth Jean called it, of a memory they…don't know the ending of?" Kitty shook her head, baffled by the way their teachers had explained it. Kitty only knew because she had been able to help get the both of them to the medical lab before anyone else, her phasing coming in handy.
Rogue's eyes widened.
"I…I think I do! I know that memory!" Rogue stepped toward the door, but Kitty stood in her way and shook her head.
"They won't let you see them Rogue. It's…it's just, not done, alright?" Kitty put her hands on the sleeves of Rogue's shouldered nightdress. It was white, and the blood stood out, dark and browning like something burnt.
"I can help, I have ta' help!" Rogue blinked tears from her eyes, frustrated, her accent drawling out her words. Kitty blinked back her own tears, hugging the other girl to her, heedless of any risk.
"It'll be alright, there isn't anything you can do for Dark that they can't do." Kitty promised softly in the curl of Rogue's dark hair.
"I know…I know… how the memory ends." Rogue struggled to say, gasping to words out. She couldn't let herself cry, not with Bobby and St. John watching. She felt bad enough, having two boys who she barely knew see her like this was worse – but it would be unbearable if they saw her cry. Kitty shushed her, holding her fearlessly, seeming to understand her torment.
-It's …it's alright Rogue…- Rogue stiffened in Kitty's arms, tense and listening.
"Dai'?" This too had happened before, she recalled as she sniffled, and took a step back from Kitty who looked at her in confusion. Rogue wiped her eyes and nose, now smiling.
"Before, when I touched Dark, I could hear them – Dark and Daisuke, could hear them talking to each other and I could talk to them too." Rogue met the eyes of each of them, determined that they know she spoke the truth. Slowly, St. John nodded acceptance of her words, the last to do so, and the last to look hopeful.
"You hear him, you hear Dark?" Bobby asked her, frowning only a little.
"No, Dai' – Daisuke." Rogue thought of the little red haired boy, and a flash of memory came to her – not her memory, his.
"C-can he live with us, like in my dreams?"
"Indeed."
"What is your name?"
"Daisuke…"
"What, what was that?" Rogue demanded, of Daisuke – but none of the three who now stared at her knew what to make of her words.
"What was what?" Kitty asked, worried and frowning. Rogue touched her ears.
"I heard…I heard voices?" Rogue shook her head, as if those voices from Daisuke's past could be gotten rid of like flies.
-I…I am sorry, I need to know more. – Rogue understood that Daisuke thought this the only way to find Dark, yet his mind was like a spear, driving into her, seeking to find its target and heedless of what barriers might mean.
Rogue cried out, falling to her knees, hands on her eyes and ears, as she recalled memories that were not hers.
"Rogue, Rogue, can you hear me?" Bobby demanded, touching her and trying to reach her.
"Get help!" St. John demanded of Kitty, and Rogue knew Kitty had gone, the sight of her fleeing the last bit of vision that truly belonged to her, to the here and now.
Krad was silver and gold, and cold. Daisuke looked at him and knew he couldn't be surprised at life; he'd lived it all before, over and over. All that kept it from being a bore was Satoshi. Who had the Sight, and could prophesy.
The future was not set in stone and none knew that better than Krad. Satoshi kept things from getting old, Krad could change time, could take things – but he could not make them. So her sought protection from what was what could be, and found it all…wanting. He lost little pieces of his soul in seeking perfection, and so grew cold though he did not grow old.
He told them about his time, his lives, as if it were a fairy tale bedtime story.
Daisuke remembered those bedtime stories now.
Krad had what most people took for granted would make him happy, wealth and money and a mansion at the edge of a city. He had a family he had chosen, his little brother Satoshi whose hair was off silver that made it the shade of the sky in the right light. Krad had Daisuke too.
They would be a family, Krad had told Daisuke and Dark, the greatest and most powerful family in the world. It was destiny; this was to be their dynasty.
Krad, of course, had hired people working in the mansion that was their home, and one of them was a red and black eyed man named Remy. It was not that Remy was to be trusted, Krad told them (but they did trust Remy). It was simply better to keep Remy close.
Daisuke never quite understood why, until it was too late.
It was a word, over and over; a word that became a name and the name was…
-…Sinister. – Daisuke hissed, reaching deeper, and Rogue saw it.
Remy – no, Sinister, looked into Daisuke's eyes, and changed the world as Krad knew it, as it could be. He took away Daisuke …and Satoshi who had already bonded to the boy, Satoshi being alike a ship who needed Daisuke like a anchor in a storm, the bond being as brother and friend and more, screamed and cried until he fell asleep and did not awake.
He could not wake to a world without Daisuke to live in it.
Sinister made certain that there would never be a Daisuke in Satoshi's world. He took away Daisuke, and took away the winged boys memories. He'd only remember Remy, thief and friend, in the years between streets and Xavier's sheets.
Sinister tucked him into them, certain that Daisuke would never know a world with Satoshi in it. He'd never know where to look.
-Dark….- Rogue blinked, wiping memories from her eyes. She knew Daisuke had seen everything as she had.
-Dark, why, why did you never tell me? - Daisuke demanded, but within the memories there was no answer.
"Maybe, maybe he was trying to protect you Dai'…" Rogue spoke softly, looking about herself. There was Wolverine sitting by her bedside, in a stiff metal chair, and she was in the lab.
"Like he tried to protect me…." Memories lapped between Daisuke and Rogue, like the waves washing upon unknown shores. Rogue knew what she had to do; she had to find Satoshi and Krad. Dark might never wake without their help. Dark was protecting Daisuke, even now – it was why Daisuke could not take his body back, why neither Jean nor Xavier could call to him. Why only she heard Daisuke.
She'd taken a bit of Dark into her, and she had to give them back something to replace what he'd lost in trying to save her. So he'd know that Daisuke would be safe.
She had to face who Wolverine had tried to protect her from. That man with long cat teeth and a dirty yellow mane of hair.
Rogue got up, and crept away like a shadow in the dark.