Queen of My Heart
LoverGurrl411
Chapter 5 – The Charms That Unfold Us
A.N – Hope everyone enjoys it, I am going to try to get the next chapter out as promptly as possible while not failing any of my college classes, so most likely in a month or two, you know midterms and whatnot. :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, my brain, and Serene! Don't shoot or sue!
"So, what's going on guys?" Kitty asked. Her eyes were innocent, and completely trusting that her best friend and the man she adored wouldn't lie to her. Both Lance and Rogue saw this. Read it completely and turned to look into each other's eyes but never made it, afraid of the shame that might be reflected back to the other.
They felt shame, and they had no idea why. Rogue was conflicted at the scene Kitty just interrupted, but instead of dwelling on her haywire emotions, she decided to focus on Kitty, Gambit, and all that was relevant for the fast approaching call that Lance was awaiting.
"Oh mighty one here wants meh to leave with him when he leaves." Rogue said, pointing her black painted nails at Lance. She still couldn't meet his eyes, so she kept her gaze steady at Kitty.
Kitty was no idiot. She knew something was off about the scene she came upon. Lance and Rogue were sort of using her as a shield between them. Kitty knew something was wrong. She could sense it deep into her gut, but Rogue's piercing green gaze reassured her fears, that whatever was wrong, was nothing that couldn't be handled just between Rogue and Lance. But as Kitty glanced at Lance's tense frame, she couldn't shake the intense emotion that things were going to change irrevocably and there would be nothing she could do about it when the time came.
"Wait- like, what do you mean leave with him when he leaves? It's a war zone out there. Leaving would be, like, suicidal!" Kitty whispered harshly, conscious that the door was still open behind her and that anyone could come and listen in to the conversation.
"I know," Lance spoke up for the first time. "That's why me and the Brotherhood aren't leaving right away, but when the Big Man gives me the green light we're out of here."
"Okay, but how does that have anything to do with Rogue?" Kitty demanded. Something about Lance's stance put her on edge. But the minute the next words were spoken, Kitty was filled with compassion, Lance's stiff frame forgotten.
"Gambit is meetin' up with them. He wants meh to go with them so he can see meh." Rogues voice became more skeptical the closer she got to the end of the sentence.
Kitty understood perfectly why. It was a foreign concept to both Rogue and Kitty herself that the men they want would want them back to the point of asking to see them.
"He's worried about her," Lance said softly, looking deeply at Kitty. "Not without reason considering what the fuck just happened outside school today." Lance put in toughly while looking away. Sort of counter acting the moment where he wasn't 'leader Lance' or 'strong Lance', but just Lance. It was a strange and rare moment where showing emotions besides anger or calm, wasn't a weakness.
When Lance looked at Kitty and said those first words, he wanted her to know so badly how much he was worried about her. There was no Rogue in the room anymore. There was no more confusion about what he was feeling with Rogue earlier, or what they were talking about. At that moment when the words passed his lips, there was just this startling image of Kitty screaming her lungs out in pain. There was just Kitty in battered clothes, blood pouring through countless thin cuts all over her abdomen, legs that are almost completely exposed, chest that was once milky smooth, and arms that are somewhat disjointed. Kitty with her bright nightingale eyes, being tortured.
A light breeze entered through the open door and the chilly air erased the image for the moment, but it was branded into him indefinitely and for the first time in Lance's entire life, he was terrified.
Terrified that the image could become a reality with all the goings on of this upcoming war.
"Well, thank God that nightmare is over and we all came out okay." Rogue spoke casually, her body facing the door.
"Amen, sister!" Kitty said with forced cheer, still a bit moved by the intensity that she saw in Lance's eyes, directed at her.
Rogue chose that moment to tilt her head to the side, giving view of her profile, and her eyes met Lance's for the first time since Kitty had entered the room, and his body froze. The air around Lance became electrified, not from lust, but from a deep understanding. He understood heartbreakingly that while he was trying to convey his worry to Kitty, Rogue was standing there, feeling the unimportance of her presence, and missing Gambit.
Lance looked into the green turbulent ocean of Rogue's eyes and could see the image of Gambit reflected back at him, and then he came to the most horrifying conclusion of all:
The same way he was seeing Gambit and her want for him, Rogue was seeing Kitty in his eyes and his unmeasured fear for her…
And he'd never felt so vulnerable.
However the second that wall went down in Lance's eyes, Rogue wasn't the only girl in the tiny bathroom that noticed. But Kitty assumed that wall was penetrated by her.
"So, what are you going to do Rogue?" Kitty asked, trying to take the thick fog of emotion out of the room and return to the main focus, which wasn't her and Lance, but Rogue and Gambit.
"Ah guess," Rogue spoke softly for the first time since Kitty entered the room. "Ah'm going to go with Lance to see that Cajun fool." Rogue laced her voice with some annoyance, but Lance read her like the Bible, and Rogue knew it. She could cover herself with metaphors and deep intricate meanings all day long, but at the end of the day the whole point is so simple that others may find it complex. But it's not. It's just simple. And Lance is one of the few who knew it for what it was.
Oh, no one should ever misunderstand either. Kitty understood that annoyance and sarcasm was just a cover for how Rogue was really feeling, but Lance knew beyond the cover. He knew it, and all traces of whatever was happening between Rogue and Lance earlier left with a sigh of Rogues lips.
With those parted lips, the words that were never formed earlier left, replaced by unnamed longing for Gambit. And just like that Lance couldn't stand the thought of Kitty not needing him as much as Rogue seemed to need Gambit.
Rogue watched as Lance discreetly laced his hands with Kitty's, and missed Gambit with all the fire that was burning in her belly. It was cutting her like a boiling knife jerked in her gut, and she clung to the deep timber of Gambits husky voice out in the bayou moonlight.
Rogue saw the heat that came from one simple touch between Kitty and Lance, and blinked. In one simple moment where her eyes closed and reopened, she had a fleeting image of writhing underneath Gambit. Of their song playing in the background while she could touch him, and she did. She heard his voice fleetingly call her 'mon petit' while the scene was bathed in silk wine sheets, covering their unbridled passion. Wine sheets moving, silhouetting their shapes, and blanketing their untamed love.
Love.
Passion, lust, want, need, all are love in its purest form, without regulation.
But with a cough in the background, and Rogues eyes reopening, the idea along with its vivid imagery was gone, and Rogue was left with a profound ache in her stomach, and she felt her heart beat a bit harder, a bit louder.
"You guys have been in here a long time. Anything we can help with?" Jean said.
Rogue turned and faced the door, and saw Jean and Scott standing in the doorway. She tilted her head and from her peripheral vision noticed that Kitty and Lance's hands weren't intertwined anymore, and though it was a horribly petty thing, she felt an absurd satisfaction that she wasn't the only one who couldn't touch, even if it was only brief for them.
"No, thanks. Rogue was just finishing up." Lance spoke out, voice firm. His eyes never left Jeans face, but Rogue knew instinctively, just like earlier, that he wanted her to sew him up as fast as possible, and the habit of following Lance's commands without questions had never completely gotten out of Rogue's system.
And so Rogue maneuvered around Kitty and went to work, and in less than six minutes had Lance patched up.
No one spoke in those six minutes. Everyone was just content to watch Rogue in an element all too familiar to her and Lance, but completely foreign to Kitty, Jean, and Scott. The ease with which she controlled every movement astounded them, and the steadiness of her eyes, fixed on the wound, yelled of someone who has patched up this same body before, and for the first time ever Jean wondered just what was Rogue's relationship with her former fearless leader.
Jean felt the heat of Scott's hand on her waist, comforting her from the strange moment, in which they were participating.
"Ahem" Scott coughed, trying to find his footing in this twilight while Rogue finished putting the bandage on Lance. "So, Rogue, you've never mentioned you were good with a needle before. How come?"
Scott's question came out with a friendly lilt, none of the macho leader crap he'd been pulling in the living room, but even so Jean was acutely aware of how Rogue tensed, and how Lance squeezed Rogue's covered arm warningly.
'What the heck is that about?' Jean thought.
"Ah s'pose it just never came up. Ya'll always have the Doc patch everything up so ah've never needed to show my talent." Rogue finished with a friendly smile and a wink, and Scott bought it hook, line, and sinker. But Jean wasn't fooled. Not one bit, and she vouched to watch Rogue like a hawk from now on, but she couldn't help what she did next. Jean, compelled, drifted for the slightest second into Lance's mind.
But all she heard was 'time to go,' a split second before she noticed there was a shadow looming behind her, and that everyone's eyes had shifted to behind her.
Jean turned around and saw the Professor and Logan behind her with serious eyes. Eyes that screamed of granite and fire, and warned Jean that whatever reason they have for standing behind her and Scott, in the doorway, was going to shed some light on all the confusion surrounding the day.
"You've got a phone call mutt" Logan spoke. His fists unclenched from around the phone that was hidden by the wheelchair that was slightly in front of him.
Everyone's eyes turned to Lance. His stance didn't tense at the derogatory name given to him. Instead, he just took a step forward and reached out his calloused hand for the phone. He grabbed it and what passed through the eyes of Logan and Lance, in which they engaged in a heated glare of wills, will forever remain unknown to everyone but those two, but everyone felt the after effects as Logan "hmph'd" and turned his back to everyone. He didn't walk away, but leaned against the cramped doorway, though no one felt the tight space squeeze the air.
"Lance" he said, his voice authoritative, but the surprise on Lance's face couldn't be masked in time and everyone watching saw it as if it were lights from moths being too close to a flame in the dark.
"Okay…yea…sounds suspect…on our way, stay put…don't be a jack ass!" and then he shoved the phone into Rogue's hand, not bothering to look at her.
"Hello?" Rogue's voice rang out in the tiny bathroom, and the timidity that was heard in her voice sent a wave of unease through Scott. This was a Rogue that was unsure of herself, and somehow, he knew innately that if that were the truth that would come to light on this disastrous day, not many would be able to handle it.
"Hey, mon petit..." Rogue heard Gambit over the line, exhaling. She didn't respond. Didn't say anything at all, but he knew she hadn't hung up, and she knew he understood that she wasn't prepared to speak just yet.
"See you soon" His gruff voice spoke and then …Dial tone.
That was it. No, 'I miss you' or 'how have you been?'
Six tiny words and then a 'click', but Rogue would know that voice anywhere. And it wasn't Magneto.
'Wait- I didn't tell him Ah was goin!' Rogue screamed indignantly in her mind.
At that moment she whirled around only to see Lance facing Professor Xavier, and the words "It's time for us to go" leaving his mouth. But Rogue was furious. Leave it to him to know just how to rile her up, and just like that, rational thought ran out the room with a whoosh from her lungs as her voice filled the space.
"What the hell was that?"
The second the words finished passing her lips, Lance's hand was gripping her forearm with one hand while the other went straight to her hip, as a lover would, but this was no loving touch. This was a warning to calm herself down before she started any fireworks, and the electricity shooting from his fingertips to her body over the clothes was enough to ground her for now. But in a last ditch effort of rebellion her eyes met Lance's in a glare of molting emerald…but she had forgotten about…well, everything. Everything to do with them and the people they care about…about how confusing everything was between them, and Rogue was officially overwhelmed. 'I want to see him' Rogues mind yelled, and her need was so loud that she didn't notice that she'd whispered it out loud. It was the voice of someone who had been longing for something for so long they'd lost all hope…and everyone heard it, but only Lance knew who exactly she sounded like.
"Maybe we should take this outside to the living room?" Professor Xavier spoke, snapping Lance and Rogue out of their silent thoughts.
"No need, we're leaving" Lance responded, simultaneously letting Rogue go.
Logan had turned around and noticed how both Kitty's and Lance's eyes had flickered to Rogue's when he made that comment.
"Who's we?" Logan asked. He was tense, and his eyes fierce. Scott took his cue, blocking the door for an exit while not blocking anyone's view.
"The brotherhood…and Rogue" Lance replied. He hesitated not sure of the reaction the statement would receive.
The second the words left his mouth Wolverine replaced Logan, and his claws made a sharp sound of metal scratching against each other.
Scott and Jean moved into battle position.
Everyone thought they were protecting Rogue from being kidnapped a second time, regardless of the aforementioned words she had spoken not two minutes ago.
Rogue didn't move or speak, assessing the situation and coming to the same conclusion as Kitty and Lance.
Rogue and Kitty shared a glance, trying with their eyes to discuss what decision Rogue was going to make.
"She's not going anywhere with you!" Scott spoke up, all amiability that was once in his face ten minutes ago was gone. Now, it was all hard angles and vicious stares.
"Try and stop me" Lance said, as he shook the ground just slightly, only enough to warn the others in the living room that trouble was brewing.
A moment later the entire brother hood and X-men had settled outside of the bathroom, each guarding on someone, and everything felt so wrong. Not an hour ago they were all fighting side by side against one common enemy, defending each other, and now with others out to kill them, they were going to start killing each other. It felt dirty and every one of the teenagers felt it since they were the ones in battle earlier.
Just then, Rogue saw the choice she had to make, and Kitty was begging her to just let Lance handle it. Kitty was begging Rogue in the nerve-racking bathroom to not make waves; to let everyone think she was being kidnapped, but Rogue couldn't lie again. She had lied once, and she slept fitfully for it.
It was her life she decided. 'Ah'm taking control!' She thought with intense Jade eyes, and with that she took a step forward, placing herself in front of Lance. She never realized, so engrossed in her thoughts she was, that Wolverine had barreled toward Lance, now her, claws at the ready.
A little bit earlier, Gambit was limping a little bit, walking on the highway. His shirt was tattered from the explosion. All those dead bodies were running through his mind. He didn't mean to.
He fell to the ground. His knees scrapped and Gambit felt the sting in his heart, and he clutched at his chest like a dying men.
"Ahhhhh" he screamed out into the morning sun. His tears ran free as if they were riding an ocean, completely at home on his face.
"I didn't mean to kill them, God. I swear I didn't…" His voice trailed off, but his hand stayed clutched at his chest. He'd lost control of his powers for a split second, while he was charging the floor to blast everyone away from him, he'd charged his hands to dissolve the rope binding him, and someone had lunged at him from behind. He couldn't see them, for he had been facing the larger group that was ready to attack, but he'd felt the presence closing in on him. Like the atoms' in the air were changing to warn him, and to dodge the attack he'd forgotten he was still charging the floor.
For one second Gambit felt relief that they were all dead, but it was gone with the speed he needed to outrun the blast and in one full sweep snatched the shades that were by the door. No one made it but him.
The sun wasn't heating his skin anymore, and he felt droplets fall from the heavens on to his cheek, and his face upturned towards the sky that was darkening with every second. It was darkening to dark grey, and Gambit got to his feet. He started running. Running nowhere and everywhere all at once trying to get to the nearest phone.
His body was being pierced with dread and fear. Twice in one day, Gambits mind drifted to Rogue in fear. He just had to hear her voice.
He finally found an inn and remembered to shield his eyes with his glasses that were hanging loosely in his fingertips.
"Is there a phone ah can use madam?" He asked an old lady at the desk. She had salt and pepper hair and a round belly that showed of years of cooking. Her stout figure was welcoming but once she looked up at him her entire demeanor changed.
"You a mutant boy?" her voice sharp.
Gambit's shoulders tensed, ready to spring into action any second, but then his gaze landed on her eyes, which were a hazelnut emerald, just likes Rogues when she was uncomfortable.
'I just want to see her,' Gambit thought to himself. He drew in a strong breath into his lungs. His shoulders expanded in his tattered shirt and frayed leather trench coat, and he could see her looking at him. He could feel everything around him, as if everything were Rogue around him as his voice filled the small space as he took his glasses off and met the old lady's stare head on.
"I just want to speak to her." Gambit said, strong and determined. He towered over the old lady with power circulating through his veins. Power from eyes that was not there, and strength from longing that was squeezing his chest tightly. He would speak to her, and he will get to see her, no matter how many bodies he has to pile up on the way. He was an Acolyte, and he firmly lived by the rules, by any means necessary, though his conscious rebelled and he felt another tug about what had occurred earlier.
The feeling of determination passed through him with impunity, because he knew Rogue wanted him that day just as much as he wanted her…and nothing else matters.
"Hmph. You one of Magneto's boys huh?" She spoke as she turned around and picked up the cordless phone and put it on the counter in front of Gambit.
Gambit distrusted anyone who spoke of Magneto so openly. He never answered her question. Just picked up the phone and dialed the Xavier Institute, never taking his unhidden eyes off her. Considering what had happened to him today, he had no doubt that something terrible probably happened to Rogue considering the massacre that had started it all had happened in New York.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
"C'mon, pick up!" Gambit spoke to himself. Getting more anxious the more the phone rang and no one answered.
"Xavier Institute, this is –" Storm started, but was cut off.
"Is Lance there, l'amour?" Gambit stopped her. His voice was smooth as molasses, and sounded cocky, but inside he was a volcano wound to its peek of disaster.
"Who's calling?" Storm asked, though his voice was so familiar that she felt she already knew.
"A friend." And that was enough of an answer. At the end of the day Storm, and Professor Xavier were always trying to make the Institute a safe haven for all mutants, and anyone that called for Lance had to be a fellow mutant, so Storm had to respect their privacy.
"One second," She spoke, her voice tight with curiosity.
Storm walked down the hallway, in the direction of the bathroom, where Lance was being patched up by Rogue. She only took a few steps when was stopped by Logan.
His eyes pierced hers, and his claws were itching to be let loose on someone, anyone. This whole day had him on edge, and if he was honest to himself, he'd been on edge since he went to rescue Rogue, and noted that she hadn't looked all that kidnapped.
"Who is it for?" Logan's voice spoke interrupting a ridiculous moment where words hadn't surfaced.
"Lance" Storm responded. Monosyllable hanging off her tongue like a whip. There was an unsettling tension between Strom and Wolverine that they never acknowledged, but was there nonetheless.
"Who is it?" The surprise on Logan's voice couldn't be masked in time for the words to slip past his thin lips.
"I don't know. His voice sounds familiar, but I can't completely place it" Storm spoke, but her eyes were trained on Professor Xavier who was fast approaching on his wheelchair.
In the few moments that it took the Professor to reach them, Logan had a sudden image flash through his head. He was back at the bayou, the moonlight engulfing Rogue and Gambit. Rogue's hands being drowned in the sea of Gambits strong gloved palm. This image was a brief flash of something that was nagging at the back of Logan's mind.
His brows drew further together, trying to see something that was shouting out to him in the salted air, in Rogues eyes, but just like that the image drew out of focus and he was yanked back to the present where Professor Xavier was sitting next to him, power coming from within his next words.
"Why, don't Logan and I pass the phone along to Lance. You should stay in the living room, and make sure the kids don't kill each other." Xavier spoke, and the finality in his voice and face brook no argument, so Strom handed the phone to Logan, their fingers brushing slightly.
The sun was covered for a few seconds by storm clouds, but no one noticed, and everyone continued to their destination, unaware that Gambit had heard every tense silence, and nonchalantly said words.
While these interactions were happening, Gambit stood over the counter, eyes fixed on the old lady, body tense, waiting with baited breath to hear Rogue's voice. His body was almost curling in on itself, an entity of life waiting on Rogue's breath to live.
And just like that he heard Lance's voice, and his body only grew more taut, knowing that soon he would hear Rogues voice. Soon…
"Mon Ami, how is everything so far?" Gambit spoke, he attempted at light hearted but he knew Lance understood perfectly that he didn't care about anyone else but Rogue. Lance would know that Gambit was really asking 'how is Rogue so far?'
"Okay" Lance responded. He didn't expand, and Gambit had a nagging suspicion of why.
"The X-men are right next to ya?" He asked, waiting for confirmation, so he knew how to proceed.
"Yea" Lance said. Lance endeavored to sound blasé, but Gambit read the undertone like the colors on a famous canvas, and knew he was itching to leave.
Gambit made a decision right there and then, caution was not his forte, and he prayed that the queen of hearts would bring them all luck.
"I'm at an Inn in Tennessee by I-75 North. The owner knows Magneto." Gambit spoke, speaking on different levels. One level to Lance, and the other level to the owner, letting her know in unspoken terms, that there are others who know exactly where he is at if anything suspicious happens to him.
"Sounds suspect" Lance responded, voice guarded. Gambit didn't care. He just needed for Lance to bring Rogue and then everything will be fine. All the problems of the day will have been worth it.
"Oui. Ah also got attacked on the way, had tah stop here, for some shelter" Gambit replied, noting the old lady's tiny smirk.
"On our way, stay put" Lance spoke, breaking through the light haze of suspicion that clouded over Gambit.
"Bon, now, get off the phone!" Gambit said, a dry laugh escaping to mask his deep need to hear Rogue…but Lance heard what Gambit didn't say. 'He's dying to talk to her' Lance thought, and he felt an ache for his aloof friends.
"Don't be a jack ass!" Lance grunted out, trying to conceal the milli-second where the silence heard the broken hearts of those around, only no one fancied themselves in love.
He thrust the phone into Rogue's hands, and looked away, not wanting to bear witness to a vulnerable Rogue.
The moment Gambit heard Rogue's timid voice over the phone, he felt his knees buckle, jus a bit. His heart accelerated, and he gripped the counter like a dying man to his lifeline. Gambit exhaled, and spoke from deep within himself, and somehow the only words that his soul found were "hey, mon petit".
Gambit, for the first time since he entered the establishment, closed his eyes and pictured Rogue's face in the silence. The wind within the room created a picture and lust flew inside him, and he bit back a groan. He wanted to touch her so bad he felt physical pain, like the atoms within him charged at full power at the thought of touching the smooth skin.
She didn't speak, but Gambit didn't care. Her breath over the phone was a lullaby to him, and soothed his nerves. He relaxed completely at the sound of Rogue breathing, safe and sound.
"See you soon" Gambit told her and hung up rapidly. His voice was husky with idea of holding her in a few hours. He opened his eyes and met the inquisitive stare of the old lady.
"Ah'm ganna need a room for the night" Gambit spoke, but his voice wasn't harsh to her as his eyes had been earlier. Instead his eyes were looking through her, his voice soft.
The moment his atoms had charged at the sound of Rogue's southern drawl, the animal inside Gambit told him he'd find a way to take her to bed and make her body his…and he will.
Fuck the people trying to kill him.
Screw the war that's fast approaching.
Forget about any other mission Magneto will need from him.
His new mission was a reality where Rogue was writhing beneath him, shouting his name.
And he smirked, not noticing the old lady cowering behind the counter, scared of the predator glint in his eyes.
'Game on,' Gambit thought.
TBC
A.N. Heeeelloooooo! I know it has been FOREVER since I've updated, but I soo wanted to make this chapter perfect for all of you who take the time to read this story! I do worry however, was it too much in one chapter? Too long for one chapter? Too short? Too little in one chapter? Please let me know, because half the reason it takes me so long to get a chapter out is because I don't know if I'm writing too little in a chap etc. Also, VERY SERIOUS QUESTION, do I put too much description? Should I cut down?
Anyway, sorry for the rant of questions, the song I was listening to that inspired me to get over my writers block was "Hear Me" by Kelly Clarkson.
Well, hoped you enjoyed it, and don't forget to Review! :)