MAGNETIC ATTRACTION

Part Twenty-Eight

* Authors Note * - I'm taking a moment here to make sure that anyone who reads past this warning should be fully aware that this chapter will contain triggers which those sensitive to the subject of rape (regardless of gender of victim) may find offensive or distressing. As I was taken over the coals by a few readers in private discussion and in reviews over a previous chapter's lack of trigger warning, I thought it important to put this here so readers shall be aware of what they're about to read (even if it's probably going to give away some of the contents of part twenty-eight). I'm sorry for any distress or unhappiness that may occur from the contents of the chapter.

Rogue couldn't concentrate during any of her classes that next day. Each time she tried to focus on her subjects, her mind simply kept wandering to her troubles. Home life was complicated, and spending time at the warehouse had already become absolutely agonizing. That morning, there'd been a brief training session and even being in the woodlands within ten feet of the 'happy couple' had left Rogue with the same desolate emptiness that had once been reserved for being around Scott Summers and Jean Grey.

Only now, it felt worse.

Although Remy and Wanda made nothing obvious about their relationship at all when they werne't alone, Rogue could see the angry possessiveness Wanda had for him, and any time she would catch Rogue glancing towards the boy, her expression would become horribly dark and mean.

Why did Ah let him close? Why did Ah have to be his friend...? she asked of herself miserably at least several times every hour. When it all came down to it, Rogue supposed she couldn't blame Remy for deciding to pursue a relationship with Wanda. After all, as far as Rogue was aware it was the longest he'd ever stayed around one girl and continued to have any kind of relationship even if it was sexual. It must have seemed almost natural to slip into something with more meaning.

If there was any meaning to it.

Part of her told herself to just accept this situation and be happy for him. She can give him things Ah'll never be able to, Rogue reminded absorbed his thoughts before, she understood that one of his flaws included something akin to an addiction to sex, and like any afflicted addict, he was always going to be inclined to turn towards it if it was offered. Determination, the boy had, intelligence, passion, strength, agility, personality. He had so many good qualities.

Unfortunately willpower when sex is concerned isn't one of them, Rogue thought unhappily as she left her final . Willpower was what it ultimately came down to. He'd tried to fight an urge and it won, it pulled him into a trap he'd obviously only been half-heartedly trying to climb out of to begin with.

Ah suppose if a sex addict is going to commit to someone it should at least be another sex addict. Him and Wanda might as well have been made for each other, Rogue had thought to herself on and off all day. What's the point of feeling miserable about it? It's not like Ah ever had a chance in hell...why would Ah even think Ah did? Why think about it now when it never even occurred to me before? Maybe Ah just want him because someone else has him? Would Ah have wanted him before?

Hoping that her whirling thoughts would leave her alone, she went to the Bayville Bean Box to study for a little bit, still feeling quite reluctant to go straight home. She tried to eat a sandwich from the place, but found it hard to even force herself to devour half. She just wasn't hungry enough.

When was the last time Ah ate? She wondered unhappily, thinking it might have been at Kitty's party. She gave up on her studying, still finding it incredibly hard to focus with so much going on in her head, and so, after a quick trip to the library to return some books and get a few more to read in her limited free time, she went home.

The place was as noisy as ever. It was dinner time and even from the front doors, she could hear yelling going on from the mess hall. It sounded like Wanda was arguing with her brother. Rogue decided to avoid the mess hall entirely. She wasn't in the mood for drama tonight.

"Rogue?"

She turned her attention to Magneto who was standing at the open doorway of his office room, looking almost dapper in a grey sweater and dark grey pants. His hair was growing slightly long and one fine silky curl of white fell across his eyes. She thought the look quite suited him, seemed to give him an almost careless and youthful elegance.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"May I see you? Only for a moment."

She dropped her backpack upon the floor near the door and followed into his room. He closed the door. Being in the room with him alone felt horribly awkward.

"Your stitches need removing," Magneto moved to retrieve some latex gloves from the box on his desk against the wall. "Take off your shirt please."

Feeling horribly insecure, she hugged herself and stood there, looking at him.

"Rogue, nothing you have will shock me, I assure you," Magneto sighed at her. He spoke the way only a doctor could.

With a trembling breath, she shrugged out of her jacket and took her mesh blouse off, then the tanktop to follow.

"Sit here..." Magneto gestured to a chair, and he held his other hand to bend the metal backrest with his powers so that it slanted further back, "and lean back against it."

Doing as she told, feeling very insecure, she sat down, hugging her chest as he used his powers to bring over a tray with the instruments he needed to remove the stitches. Gently, he pried her arms away, his face calm, his eyes focused on the area her wound had last been.

"This has healed up splendidly," he ran his gloved fingers across the skin, "flawlessly."

"Logan gave me one last dose of his powers yesterday," Rogue explained nervously, flinching as the touch tickled, "Now it's gone. That's the only real perk of my powers...no scars when Ah get hurt if Logan's around."

"You may feel a slight tugging sensation," Magneto explained as he went about snipping the stitches and removing them gently.

She stared at the ceiling, there were metal tiles up there too. The whole room was practically a steel cocoon, and she could see a slightly hazy version of her own reflection staring back down at her. If this place was ever gonna explode, I bet this room would act like a bomb shelter. Nothin' would happen to anyone in here as long as he kept his powers focused on all this metal, Rogue realised.

"I've had a little time to study the DNA you supplied me with," Magneto announced casually whilst removing the stitches.

"Oh?" she asked with a shaky breath.

"Nothing I could see suggests that you would experience any advanced ageing or physical appearance changes," Magneto explained, "in fact you are a perfect specimen for the process."

Rogue nodded, eager to get this done. She could smell the faintest scent of cologne on him, and found it utterly bizarre that he would even wear that. Just another thing that made her more human to her. She spent a moment looking at him, admiring his focus on the removal of the last stitch, and he dropped into the tray that was still floating by his side.

"Turn around," he instructed, after he wiped the area off with antiseptic.

Doing as she was told, she was glad that least her chest was no longer on display. She'd chosen the wrong day to wear the push up bra, she realised. Had he noticed? She hadn't been able to tell.

He's a doctor, he's used to seeing body parts, she reminded herself with a roll of her eyes at herself, she felt the tugging sensation at her back. He already probably looked at me anyway when he stitched me, she thought, remembering the towel that had been thrown across her bare bust when she'd gained consciousness following the accident.

"Keep still," he instructed, steadying her, "these scissors are sharp."

"Sorry," she listened to him work, the relaxed breath, the tiny snipping sound of the scissors, and the sound of the fine pointed tweezers being dropped onto the tray after each removal. "So..." she said, trying break the tension. "How much longer will it be before the machine is finished?"

"It won't be this week, there's far too much to be done," he wiped the former wound with antiseptic. "All the stitches are gone," he moved away and removed the gloves as Rogue turned around.

"How much longer though?"

"I'm uncertain. These things cannot be given an exact estimate..."

"Ah see," she sighed as she reached for her tanktop.

"Patience is a virtue you must practice right now, Rogue. I know you are eager for personal reasons, but we must not rush this."

Why she felt tears brimming her eyes, she wasn't sure, but his request that she wait even longer than she had hoped to seemed to have this odd effect.

"Rogue?" he asked, seeing the pained expression upon her eyes as she struggled to keep from sobbing.

Why am Ah doin' this? She demanded angrily of herself, her face ached with the strain as she tried to remain calm.

"What is it?" he asked. "Are you alright?" he knelt before her and looked at her with his clear blue eyes, showing her that vague hint of warmth he seemed to keep reserved from the others. He was older...much, much older, and yet, he seemed so unbelievably young at that moment, and some strange part of her even wanted him. The feeling came suddenly, just as it had before, and so strongly that surely something that felt this right couldn't be that wrong, could it?

"Ah'm fine..." she whispered to him, the tears trickling down her face.

"You are strong, Rogue. Whatever it is you are feeling, you can survive it," he promised tenderly.

She tilted her head, staring at him, seeing him as a person, and not as a terrorist, not as a mad scientist, not as a master manipulator, not as evil, and not as her employer. But as a man.

He would probably be kind, she thought. Gentle...careful...concise. It's his way. He wouldn't hurt me the way some other guy might, she thought as she gazed at him, thinking of possibilities and scenarios.

Wait...are you crazy, this is Magneto you're thinking of, she told herself sternly, as she stared at him through teary eyes.

Although the words mistake flashed before her in big bright letters, she could not stop herself, and she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, a much harder, almost desperate kiss that she hadn't been able to prevent from happening. It was the second time she'd done this terribly inappropriate thing, and the second time he gently pushed her away.

"What are you doing?" he asked, "I told you that-"

"It's appropriate, Ah know," she brushed the tears from her cheek, "But Ah don't care any more."

"Rogue..." he said, and he said her name in such a way so different from everyone else, it was far softer, far calmer, like the lulling hum of a lullaby or a the low keys of a piano. She leaned forward again, moving his firm hands from her shoulders and kissed him, she felt the conflicted apprehension, his lips seemed to almost tremble against hers, and he moved back a little to look at her in a way she was unfamiliar with. It was almost as if he saw her suddenly so differently.

"It doesn't have to mean anything..." she pleaded, she let her forehead rest against his chin and took a deep breath, hoping to god he felt the same at least for right now. If it was just lust that was fine, it was all she wanted, all she needed.

"You know how wrong that would be," he took her face within his hands and raised it so she would look into his eyes. "You know there are boundaries that should never be crossed..."

"We're two consenting adults," she reminded, "Ah'm not a child anymore...it would be...completely consensual," she tried, not quite understanding where the desperation came from. Why it had come so suddenly, she was unsure. All she knew was, at this moment in time, she wanted something. Something tangible, real and passionate and he was the only person she knew capable of providing it.

"Just because something may be consensual does not make this right..." he tried, his expression clouded. "What you're asking...is...out of the question."

"Ah'm askin' you to be the one to give me what no one else can...just...for tonight..." she felt more tears escaped. "Don't you want me?" she asked. It was a horrible question to ask. She was afraid of the answer. It would be the same answer that most likely Remy would have given her if she'd asked it of him before he'd decided to lay with Wanda instead.

"You are vulnerable...if you weren't so-" he gave a deep sigh, "you..." he moved away from her and walked to the other side of the room, he rubbed the back of his neck, "You are a beautiful girl, Rogue, whether or not you realise so. But there are many promises I have made to take care of you..."

"Ah need takin' care of right now..." she pleaded. She stood up, "Ah won't make it into anything it's not...Ah won't beg you to love me...Ah won't beg you to be there for me, Ah won't even beg you to be good to me..." she swallowed, "all Ah'm askin' is just...for this one thing..."

Magneto turned to look at her, his face paling as he looked at her standing there still almost completely topless. "It cannot be."

Rogue swept her hand frustratedly against the nearby desk, knocking over a pen holder and a phone. "Why does no one want me?!" she demanded, now sobbing. "Everyone pulls away...Ah'm only worth what my powers can do...not much else..."

"Rogue, please..."

She dropped to her knees and cried more hysterically, not sure where the grief was coming from. Maybe it had been building all day and she'd misread it as something else.

"No one wants me," she sobbed softly into her hands, "no one ever has..."

Rogue was surprised when she felt him pick her up and pull her into his arms and she pressed her cheek to his chest and sobbed as his hand combed through her hair soothingly.

"You are so young..." he murmured to her, "and so confused..." he added very carefully, "giving yourself to someone you care nothing for is not the answer. In years you would look back and regret that you lost yourself in a moment of desperation, a moment of weakness."

"Ah'm sorry..." she sobbed against his chest.

"Dad, can we have money for pizza? I'm so not cook—what the fuck?"

Rogue and Magneto both turned to the door which Wanda had just barged into the way she always did without the thought to knock. Her face was blank at the sight of Rogue standing half naked in Magneto's arms.

"Wanda..." Magneto said quickly, "I-"

"What the fuck is this?!" Wanda demanded, she spied Rogue's tank top on the floor, and hastily picked it up to throw it at the girl, "is it not enough that you tried to take Remy from me, you have to have him too?!"

Rogue gaped at the girl, unable to speak, she could move her mouth but nothing more than a little gasping sound came out. She's going to kill me. She's going to kill me!

"Wanda! Get out!" Magneto warned.

"Her? You're sleeping with her?! I always knew she was up to somethin'...the way she has to be the centre of attention with all the guys here, bein' so helpful with Lance, and bein' all friendly with Colossus and Remy...and now she's sleepin' with you? She's nothin' but a slut."

"Wanda!" he yelled.

Wanda gestured her arms out wildly, and in succession every light in the room exploding, sending a spray of sparks down from the ceiling. Each computer, which had been on, blew up one by one, and the tables collapsed beneath them.

Rogue pulled on her top quickly and wiped her tears as Magneto chased Wanda out of the room. She followed them both as Wanda began throwing her rage all over the warehouse around her, doors flying off the hinges, power tools lying around jumping to life and damaging nearby items.

"Wanda, control yourself!" Magneto yelled at her.

"Oh I'm in total control!" she yelled at him angrily, "can't say the same about you!"

"It wasn't what it looked like," Rogue called out.

"I'm sure it wasn't," Wanda growled. "Just keep away from me, the pair of you! Fuck you both," she warned, and as she went into her bedroom, she slammed the door. It was the only door left that hadn't come off the hinges.

"I...will talk with her, when she has calmed down..." Magneto stated quietly.

Rogue stared at him, wondering why he wasn't going to immediately deal with the problem. "But...she's so-"

"Trust me...if I go in there now, she may bring down the entire warehouse. It is better if I wait."

Shaking her head, Rogue grabbed her backpack from where she'd left it and headed towards her room. Ah can't believe he's avoidin' takin' care of his own daughter. He was so nice to me...why isn't he bein' like that with her? She could have killed both of us just now the way she acted, and he didn't even attempt to sedate her this time!

"Rogue?" Magneto called to her.

"Hmm?"

"I'd like it very much if we could forget any of this happened."

Rogue shrugged because it was all she was capable of responding with. Silently, shewent to her room, trying to put the door in place as best she could to shut the rest of the world out. She was too mad to cry now, but too much frustrated to do anything else but throw herself onto her bed and pull the pillow over her head in the hopes she could shut out everything.

Remy had been in the kitchen arguing with Pietro about the cooking rota he'd drawn up when the chaos had ensued. They'd heard the doors flying off and the shrill buzzing of power tools. By the time they'd managed to weave their way through the numerous boxes with gymnasium equipment and building supplies that were currently being stored in the mess hall, it had all ended.

Remy stood in the open doorway, watching as Magneto used his powers to pick up the door to his office by the hinges and move it back to where it had been, gently swirling his fingers to put the screws back into where they had fallen out.

"What happened?" Remy asked curiously, glancing around at all the doors and the mess.

"An altercation is all. Don't concern yourself," Magneto responded.

"Wanda did this?" Remy asked, picking up the mess hall door from the floor and placing it against the wall. The last he'd seen Wanda she'd been heading upstairs to go ask for pizza money from her father. He noted she wasn't even around at the moment and must have gone to her room. I guess they had an argument. Not unusual, Remy thought dully.

"I'd rather not talk about it, if it's all the same..." Magneto responded, "leave the doors. I shall fix them."

"Okay..." Remy gave a shrug. He glanced up to the third floor catwalk and Rogue's light was on, he could see her door too had been taken from the hinges and she'd done a poor job of placing it so that her room was mostly closed off. "If you're sure you don't need help."

Trying to push whatever the incident was out of his mind, he went to his basement room for a while and tried to try and rest. He was relieved to find at least his door had remained in tact.

Whatever the issue had been, he was positive it had been Wanda's doing. He'd seen the damage her powers could do. As he'd been heading to his room, he'd seen signs that the angle grinder had left a gash in the cement floors and it only spoke of the kind of chaos Wanda's abilities brought.

He pushed the thoughts out of his mind and tried to relax. It was a short while before he fell asleep, dreaming strange dark dreams of being caught in a horrible, dismal world. There was a strange barrier of light up between the dark world and a beautiful lush floral field thick with trees, and shrubs and fruit. No matter how hard he'd pushed against the barrier, he'd been unable to break through.

The dream then suddenly just changed to the familiar Romeo and Juliet dream. There had been no transition that he'd noticed, only that suddenly he was on the four poster bed and being ridden like there was no tomorrow. Rogue's hair was longer, in curls and her neck was dripping with pearls that would brush against his chest as she leaned down to kiss him deeply. Such pleasure, and warmth, and the strangest sense of bliss like he'd never known before.

It was the only feeling of love he had ever known, and it was strong; a new and exciting feeling that enveloped him and left him feeling almost high as if he were on potent drugs. Being with Rogue in his dream was the closest he had felt to touching heaven.

And then he awakened.

Awakening to find Wanda writhing on top of him already having sex with him was possibly one of the most surprising and almost disturbing things he'd ever experienced. He gave a slight gasp and grabbed her thighs, "Wanda!"

She rocked her hips furiously, hands pinning his shoulders, the bed creaking loudly at the strain. Remy wasn't sure his bed was going to take much more punishment by the sounds of it. The way the headboard was smacking against the brick wall was surely going to attract unwanted attention.

Wanda's eyes were closed, her moans escaped unbelievably loud and almost obvious as she continued with the act. Was she trying to get them caught?

Remy was able to do little but gape in absolute shock, dazed with the whole bizarre event. Had she just taken him with no permission? Not even so much as even bothering to wake him to see if perhaps he wanted her at that moment?

"Wanda...Wanda...stop," he commanded, trying to suppress a moan. Regardless of mood, his body was reacting just how she wanted it to. He wondered how long she'd been at this? How long had he been dreaming and thinking he'd been with Rogue? Had he perhaps even called Rogue's name in his sleep? "For fucks sake! Stop!" he cried at her.

And Wanda didn't stop. She rocked harder, more determined, her eyes on his now, expression so intense and dark, her nails digging into his flesh hard. He moaned as the climax came far more quickly than he had expected it to, and the waves of pleasure erupted and spilled, leaving him shaking physically, and spent.

Coming to his senses, he pushed her away from him with brutal force, breaking himself away from her in the process and moving from the bed. "Wanda, what the fuck?!" he demanded.

Lying half naked on the bed, she stared up at him, as if she were confused why he'd broken away from her at all. Was she really this much in denial, he wondered?

"You don't even ask now? You just take?" he screamed in rage.

"You weren't objecting when I started," Wanda responded, she knelt up, sweeping her hair back from her eyes. Remy spotted his seed upon the inside of her thigh and in horror he glanced down at himself.

"You didn't even...use a condom..." he whispered.

"You didn't insist..."

He had to clench his shaking fists to keep himself from slapping her. Would it be extreme of him? Promised you would never hit a girl. Don't you dare hit her, as much as she deserves it, you know it'd be wrong...

"Iwas asleep! You knew that!" Remy yelled, he grabbed a handful of tissues from the box by his bed and cleaned himself off before putting himself away, "why the fuck would you do this?! Are you trying to get pregnant?!"

"No," she responded quietly, she reached to grab her panties from where she'd tossed them and she pulled them on swiftly before pulling her leggings on.

"This is it, I'm done! I'm just fucking done!" he screamed at her, now no longer caring who might hear. "We're going to the drug store to get the morning after pill. Again. And after that, we're done. I've had enough."

Wanda rolled her eyes, "you enjoyed it."

"You fucking raped me, you crazy bitch!" he had to hold himself back, the urge to hit her was becoming very strong. Keep calm, don't do anything you'll regret. "I was asleep, and you knew it...and you didn't care! Because what Wanda wants, Wanda takes."

Her eyes seemed almost misty for a second.

"You need serious help," he pointed to her before heading for the door, he opened it and headed up the staircase.

"Where are you going!?" Wanda chased after him.

"To talk to your father. He needs to know that you have just lost it."

"He won't care," Wanda stood on the stairs, looking up at him. "He can't say shit about what I do or who with after what he's been doing."

Remy stopped. Why is why she sounded so sure of this now? What did she mean by it? He turned to look at her, and there was a strange look on her face that he wasn't familiar with.

"He's fucking Rogue, you know that, right?" Wanda asked, she leaned against the rail of the stairs, her expression almost...triumphant.

"Huh?" Remy asked, feeling his stomach flip a little, almost the same way it would feel coming down a huge drop on a rollercoaster, or going down a steep hill in a car. "What are you talking about...?"

"He can touch her...I saw it...with my own eyes. Walked in on them...she was naked...and he was touching her...his hands were all over her..." yes, there was definitely a triumphant gleam in her eye. And the fact that she knew it was hurting him to hear these things only seemed to make the feeling more powerful for her. He saw it in her eyes, how it gave her power.

"You're lying. Rogue would never-" Remy shook his head. Trying to process this information was more than he could handle. He felt sick to his stomach, it almost seemed to be rising in his throat.

"She has. But if you don't believe me, ask her. Or better yet, ask my father," Wanda dared.

And there was truth in her eyes, he could read her face as if it were a book. She was being truthful about it, and not only that, but she was hurt by it too. As triumphant as she was that she was hurting Remy, she was hurt by the things her father had done as well. "So...you see...he can't stop us from being together. We don't have to sneak around any more."

"Wanda...there is no us. You've crossed the line, it's over!"

"It's not over!" Wanda fumed.

"It is for me..." he made his way through the warehouse, glad that Wanda had given up on chasing him. Sickness welled up inside of him, and tension held the back of his neck and head like a tight vice trying to snap the bones beneath. He had barely made it to Magneto's door before the sickness overwhelmed him and he vomited. He simply couldn't help it.

The door opened, Magneto having clearly heard the retching sound from the other side. After the waves of nausea left him several moments later, Magneto took him by the arm and led him into the office room, closed the door, not seeming to care about the mess at the door for the moment. He sat Remy down on a chair, then went to retrieve a bottle of water from his private fridge.

Remy accepted the bottle of water and held it against head, which right now was sweating profusely. Can stress really do this to a person? Christ I feel like shit, he thought with his head swimming. He glanced around the room, noting that the place was lit up by LED lanterns, and his eyes moved up to the ceiling to see all the lights had completely blown. The computers were all blown too, and Remy could still smell the smoke from some of them.

Now I get it. Wanda caught Magneto and Rogue together and went batshit like she always does...she did all this.

"I'll get my thermometer," Magneto went to look for his medical equipment.

"Don't bother. It's not illness," Remy responded weakly.

"Then...?" Magneto stopped, staring at him.

"I think it's stress," Remy explained, swallowing back the unpleasant bitter taste in his mouth, "it's happened before."

"Oh?"

"Your daughter just-"

"What has she done now?" Magneto asked, his head falling back a little, his expression showing how helpless he seemed to be feeling and how very sick of this he was becoming.

"She..." Remy wondered how he was going to word this? How could he tell a man her daughter had just climbed on top of him and practically violated him? It wouldn't sound believable coming from someone like him. "She's lost it..." was all he could find to say.

"I'm aware of the problem."

"No...no you're not,"Remy swallowed hard, "this ain't about what happened on Saturday night...this is on goin. Has been for ages...and it's gettin' worse. You need to get her help."

"I'm working on it, Gambit. Believe me," Magneto sighed.

"She just..." Remy tried, he put the bottle against the back of his tense neck. "Look...can we speak honestly without you tryin' to kill me?"

"Why does this question make me apprehensive?" Magneto asked, suddenly looking almost angry.

"Wanda has been..." Remy began, trying to think of a way to word this politely.

"Let me guess..." Magneto folded his arms, "she's been making advances...and you've been idiotic enough...weak enough to give in."

Remy blinked.

"You think you're the first?"

"I..."

"Doctors, therapists, counsellors, psychiatrists, male nurses...security staff at the institution..." Magneto shook his head in disgust, "all of them...and all of them allowed it too...and I take it you're no different."

"It's always been her...she's always been the one to—"

Magneto slammed his fist against the desk nearby, it caused several things to fall off, including a broken laptop. "And you allowed it!"

Remy stammered, "I...didn't know what to...I don't know how to stop her...she just..."

"She just what? Threatened to tell me if you didn't do as she said? Threatened to hurt Rogue?" Magneto asked coldly.

"She..." Remy's mouth moved but he couldn't find the words. "I tried to make it into a relationship...I tried to be nice to her...tried to show her affection...but...she..."

"Will you just come out with it?!" Magneto slammed his fist against the desk again. "I am tired of your nonsense and excuses!"

Remy noticed how the paperclips on the desk were sliding around frantically at Magneto's frustration, and how the stapler there seemed to jump and twitch. He swallowed back the words he wanted to say, he swallowed up his fear, his stress, his anguish, and everything he hated right now and decided to be direct. It was the only thing Magneto respected. "She needs help. Serious help."

"And I have told you I am seeing to it," Magneto warned, his face going quite red with fury.

"What?" Remy demanded, he stood up and tried to make himself seem taller by straightening his back, "what have you done? You spend no time with her, not even alone. You ignore her...you yell at her. The only time I've seen you spend time with her this past week is to fucking sedate her. What is it that you're doing to help?! 'Cause all I see is a fucking failure to take responsibility for your kid!"

Magneto threw his hand up to the air and a steel letter opener from the desk shot across at Remy, spinning in the air and grazed his shoulder and stabbing into the wooden coat hook block behind him, pinning him by the t-shirt. "You will not speak to me that way."

"I just did," Remy winced at the pain from the cut on his shoulder, he reached and tried to yank the letter opener out of the door but it was embedded too deeply. Either that or Magneto was holding it there firmly with his powers. "So tell me, boss. What magic do you intend to work to fix your daughter? Because so far, I see nothin' but avoidance."

Magneto gestured to the project he had been working, the parts of the machine Remy realised was the contraption that was going to be what would possibly give Rogue the control of her powers.

"That...that's for Rogue..." Remy said after a moment.

"No," Magneto said coldly, "Wanda is who this is intended for. It has always been intended for her."

Remy stared down at what was there so far, the platform of the machine was built, many pieces and wires jutting out from various ports. "But it ain't Wanda's powers that are the issue...it's her mind. It's her mind that's fucked..."

"They are connected," Magneto said quietly, his fury bubbling just beneath the surface. "Wanda's inner turmoil and rage are being caused by her powers."

"No...she's...she's unstable...she's..." Remy tugged at the handle of the letter opener harder but it still wouldn't budge.

"I do not expect you to understand. I have done extensive testing upon her, her psychopathy is being caused by her powers. After her evolution, her mind will heal...but first, the machine must be built."

A horrible realisation came upon Remy so suddenly, "You...you're gonna use Rogue as...as a fucking test subject."

"Rogue knows the risks, and has offered herself to be part of this."

"Does she know that the project is all about Wanda?"

"She does not need to know. She knows all she needs to know, and that is that this may be what gives her what she wants."

"I thought you cared for Rogue," Remy tugged harder at the letter opener but it wouldn't release him, and so he pulled hard at his t-shirt until it ripped free of the thing.

Magneto said nothing for several seconds, he just looked Remy in the eyes, "apparently you do...while you have been encouraging a sexual relationship with my daughter."

"I never encouraged shit," Remy retorted angrily. "Your daughter never needed any encouragement, judgin' by what you just told me about her various indiscretions! And regardless, I've ended it, made it clear to her we're through. If she keeps pursuing me, it's all on her not me. And if I have to defend myself against her, I won't be gentle."

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now," Magneto suggested icily.

Taking a deep breath and exhaled it in a long sigh, Remy stated simply, "Kill me if you like. At this point, I don't really care. Really, I don't. I ain't gonna stand here and give you reasons why I deserve to live. I probably don't. God knows, I've made enough mistakes, and I've gotten myself into too many goddamn holes to get out of. You'd probably be doin' me a massive favour. But know this..." Remy warned, "no one else is ever gonna work as hard as I've worked for you to try and bring this team together and to try and make this place a home for this team. While you sat in your little office avoiding all of us, I was holding this together, not you. You kill me...you lose everythin' that was worked for."

Magneto stared at him.

"Get your daughter in check, she needs the mornin' after pill or she'll end up pregnant. Then after you do that, you should get her told to leave me the fuck alone," Remy stated as he opened the door. He glanced at Magneto, he tried to imagine how Wanda had claimed she'd seen them together, and strangely in his mind he couldn't see it. At least, not until he saw Rogue's almost transparent mesh top on the back of the chair he'd just been sitting on.

It really is true, he realised with an odd sensation of horror. He'd believed Wanda, but not as much as he believed it now that he saw Rogue's shirt there.

"I shall speak to her," Magneto said calmly. "Don't worry about the vomit. I'll clean it."

Remy could barely believe his ears. Had he really just won this argument? And had Magneto really just offered to clean up his mess? He supposed if it weren't for the horrible circumstances this might have left him feeling triumphant instead of empty.

He left the office, stepping awkwardly over his own vomit as he did so. Need to talk to Rogue, need to tell her what's going on, need to tell her why she shouldn't do this, that there might be more to it than she thought...

He went up to the third floor catwalk and glanced into the crack left between her unhinged door and the frame only to find that she was sound asleep on her bed, the pillow half hanging over her head. Judging by her makeup, she'd been crying.

Tomorrow, he thought sadly. Tomorrow, gotta suck it up and somehow get through to her, even if she rejects me again. I can't let her do this, even if she doesn't want anythin' to do with me any more. Wolverine was right...this is a huge mistake.

End of Part Twenty-Eight

Hopefully I haven't lost too many readers and am not about to be flamed for this chapter. I'm sure there's always going to be someone who doesn't like what I've written (can't seem to please everyone) but I hope that no one has been distressed or hurt by the story. That was never my intention. I never go out of my way to deliberately put these situations in my story as my stories almost seem to write themselves. I hope no one was offended.

Thanks as always for reviewing and reading this story. I hope you're all well and hope you're all having a most excellent summer. Love you all.