MAGNETIC ATTRACTION
Part Thirty
** Authors note ** I should give a warning that this chapter may have triggers that people sensitive to violence or domestic violence may find offensive/disturbing/upsetting. Trying to be sure that everyone is prepared for what they may find, as I don't want to be the cause of anyone's distress. 3
When Rogue's phone alarm went off at six thirty am, she had almost completely forgotten where she was. When she awoke in the motel room with Remy LeBeau sleeping next to her, momentarily she was completely perplexed by the badly mismatched furniture and the horrible pattern of the drapes. Quickly, she hit the off button the alarm and lay there for a moment trying to properly awaken.
They'd broken apart during their sleep, and Remy was curled up on one side of the bed in the foetal position, his head half beneath the pillow. Rogue sat up and stared down at him, still trying to process the events of the night before.
Did that all really happen? Did Remy really tell me he thought he might be in love with me? Did Ah really say it back? She wondered. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and got up from the bed.
She'd wanted to speak to him this morning, but he was sound asleep, and had even stayed asleep through the alarm. After all he'd gone through in the past few days, she wasn't about to wake him, he'd had enough sleeplessness as it was. She left him there, and went to the en-suite and turned the water on.
As she undressed, she studied the clothes she'd have to wear for a second day, wondering if there would be any way she would be able to alter the look of them so it wouldn't be obvious it was her second day wearing them. She didn't want her classmates thinking she wore her clothes several days in a row. They already mocked her enough for various things as it was.
She washed with the complimentary bar of soap, but had pinned her hair up to keep it from getting wet, she didn't have a hair brush nor a hair dryer and straightening iron with her so she supposed she'd have to make do. As she was showering, the sound of water splashing into water broke through the sound of the shower water running, and she heard a slight groan from the other side of the curtain.
With a gasp, she grabbed the white curtain and peered around, finding Remy's back facing her as he aimed for the toilet, one hand against the tiles, the other on himself. "Remy!"
"I gotta pee," he grumbled tiredly, the urination still occurring in a rather loud fashion. Rogue hadn't timed it, but her judgement told her that it'd been nearly fifty seconds of constant urination. "Sorry if this is a mood breaker, but I couldn't hold it."
Boy must have the bladder of a camel, or somethin', she thought. She wondered if the shower curtain was remotely transparent. Can he see me?
"Don't worry, I didn't see anythin'," he responded as he flushed.
Rogue screamed as the water turned instantly ice cold as the toilet flushed and it began pelting her like icy wet bullets at an alarming rate.
"Fuck, sorry...still half asleep..." he apologised, "Really not used to sharin' a bathroom..." he admitted as he moved to the sink nearby the shower stall to wash his hands. "Where's the soap?" he asked.
"Here," she shivered as she reached out with a soapy arm and dropped the soap into the sink quickly before pulling her arm back in and closing the curtain as much as possible.
"I slept like a baby last night," Remy said tiredly.
Rogue stepped back from the shower-head just in case the water would blast hot the minute the faucet was turned, but it remained merely luke warm, and so she tentatively stepped back under. "Probably from those vodkas," she commented.
"Weren't enough to really do it for me," Remy answered, "Where's the towel?"
"There's only one. The other one smelled a bit damp," Rogue responded, she reached over the shower rail gesturing to the other side of the bathroom, "When you're done, pass it over, could you?" she asked, feeling very self conscious of being extremely naked only a shower curtain away. Her whole body flushed with embarrassment. She had definitely not thought this through, but in all fairness, she hadn't expected him to wake up during her shower.
"You sound a bit off this morning," Remy admitted as he dried his hands.
Ah'm naked, what'd he expect? Rogue wondered, she turned the water off, and waited for the towel, standing there dripping wet and shivering, hoping to God he couldn't even see her silhouette in the shower let alone anything else.
"You don't have any toothpaste on your or anything do you?" Rogue asked, changing the subject.
"I'm not a drug store, chere," He reminded. "If you like I can go across the street to the market and-"
"No, it's fine. Ah'll just buy one of those chewable toothbrushes from a dispenser in the ladies room at school," she answered, "towel?"
He passed it through, and she noted as she glanced out a little that he even had his head turned so he wouldn't see her. Probably the most gentlemanly thing he could have done considering the situation. She heard him leaving the bathroom and going back to the bedroom, and she quickly dried off in the stall and wrapped the towel around herself to get her clothes which she'd left on the towel rail at the other side of the bathroom.
She looked at her clothes, her mesh top was going to be far too obvious as a second wear. "Remy?" she called out softly.
"Hmm?"
"You wearing a t-shirt under that button down?" she asked.
"Uh..." he glanced into the bathroom, and she caught him drinking her image up and down before he responded, "yeah..."
"Does it have long sleeves?"
"Uh...yeah, it does."
"Can Ah have it?"
He blinked. His eyes moved up and down her frame again and she hugged the small towel to her chest insecurely, feeling very exposed. The thing just barely covered the top of her thighs and she was afraid one false move might reveal far more of her body to him than she'd have ever liked to.
"Ah can't wear the same top twice in two days, the jerks at school already make fun of me enough," she held up the light mesh top with her free hand to show him. "It's gonna be too obvious..."
"I see," he responded, and began unbuttoning his shirt. She couldn't help but watch him because there was very little else to look at or pay attention to in this hideous bedroom or en-suite. He tossed the plaid shirt to the bed and yanked off the light grey long-sleeved t-shirt he had on, the band logo was old and cracked, but Rogue couldn't determine if it was meant to look vintage or simply just was.
He tossed her the t-shirt, standing shirtless in her room, his jeans still half unbuttoned from when he'd been to the bathroom. He gave a slight stretch and rubbed the back of his neck, rolling his head around a little. She admired his bare torso as he stood distracted, still trying to wake himself up. Her eyes drank in the sight of him; he wasn't exceptionally well built, but he was tall, lithe and toned. She felt he might have the most beautiful body she'd ever seen.
He's beautiful, but Ah can't touch him, she reminded herself. But if last night still counts...Ah guess no other girl can for the moment either...
"Turn your back," she instructed, coming to her senses.
With a shrug, he did as he was told, grabbing his button down shirt and putting it back on, taking time with the buttons as Rogue very quickly dressed. She was unhappy that she would have to go to school with day old underwear but there was very little choice for it. She returned to the bedroom, and Remy glanced over his shoulder at her briefly unsure if she were dressed or not.
"It's a little big," Remy admitted, turning to examine her as she rolled the sleeves up, them being far too long on her.
"Ah don't care..." she raised her arm to smell beneath, "smells fresh enough. Ah can't go to school lookin' like Ah slept in my clothes."
"You won't. You'll go to school lookin' like you slept in my clothes," he forced a smirk, although it was an empty one.
"This is gonna suck, Ah don't even have any clean underwear," she sat down upon the bed and pulled her boots on. She wished she hadn't mentioned this. Why did Ah say that? Now he's gonna be disgusted, thinkin' about how Ah'm gonna be stuck at college all day in gross underwear...
"My advice would be to always carry a few extra pairs in your bag. You never know when you might need to take off," Remy admitted, and he sat upon the edge of the bed too.
"That what you do?" she asked.
"Always pack a few extra pairs in the saddle bag of my bike, that way if I need to take off I got all I need."
"But not toothpaste," she pointed out.
"I didn't say I was completely prepared," he remarked. "If you like you can borrow a pair?"
"No thanks," she responded. "It's probably a bit early in the relationship to be wearin' each other's underwear," she pointed out.
"So...it's...definitely...a relationship?" he asked, turning to look at her.
She examined his expression, tried to read it like one of her books. Hope? Sadness? It was all there. "Ah thought that's what you wanted?"
"It is."
"Then...that's what it is," she tightened the straps of her boots. "You okay?" she asked, noting how quiet he'd gotten.
"Yeah, I'm fine..." he responded, he reached for the remote and tried to turn the television on.
"It doesn't work without money," Rogue reminded.
"This motel sucks. Next time we decide to shack up, I get to pick," he cracked, but his smile faded.
Rogue moved to sit beside him, "what is it?"
"I...don't know how this is going to work," he turned to look at her.
"Us?"
"Yeah..." he admitted.
"If it's about the touchin' thing...Ah wouldn't blame you if you changed your mind-" she began gently, starting to feel a little heartbroken already.
"No...it's not that," Remy spoke up, "it's...it's Wanda...I don't want her getting crazy over this and hurting you again. I don't want to really send her over the edge either..." he stood up and moved over to the window to push aside the curtains and stare out at the foggy morning. "I know she's a bitch, I know what she did is wrong..."
"But...?" Rogue asked.
"I don't want her getting hurt either."
"Are you shitting me? The girl raped you. You said it yourself."
"The girl has problems...and I know part of what's...happened...might not be her fault..." Remy sighed. "Maybe it's my fault, for not nipping it in the bud, maybe it's my fault for-"
"Remy, you're being-" Rogue stopped herself, "At the beginnin' of the college year we all had to go to this seminar about sexual harassment and rape, and we were told that sometimes the people it happens to try to blame themselves...as if it's their fault or-"
"Rogue, I led her on. I let her keep taking liberties until she just assumed they were always hers to take..." he explained, turning to look at her seriously. "How can you say it's not my fault? At least part of my fault? I kept avoiding things and they stacked up...eventually it all had to fall to pieces, right?"
"But..." Rogue began, she stood up slowly and moved nearer.
"Rogue...I'm not very well educated, I get that, but...I'm smart enough to know when I've done stupid things...and from the minute I first let her just...do what she wanted with me...that there was gonna eventually be complications. I should have expected something like this to happen. And I should have just gotten her straight that I didn't want her..."
"Don't you dare blame yourself," Rogue folded her arms, "that girl hurt you. I see it all over your face."
"I'm not fragile, Rogue. I'm not hurt. I'm pissed, but I'm not hurt."
"How can you say you're not hurt? Last night you were so...Ah dunno...so lost..." Rogue reminded, "the things you tried to do..."
"I was...I just wanted some...closeness. But seems these days the only closeness I get is when it's sex..."
"Not with me," Rogue frowned, "it's never been like that with me. You've been close with me and it's never been sexual...you've lain with me in bed...you've rubbed my back, we've held hands...how can you say any of that was sexual?"
He snorted, "But after what Wanda said she seen with her dad...I don't know...I just thought maybe that wasn't the kind of closeness you was lookin' for any more..." he looked down at her. "Then I asked you if you'd sleep with that old gas bag..." he shook his head at her, "and you said maybe...you'd maybe sleep with him."
"He's not an old gas bag," Rogue responded.
"You know how old he is?"
"Yes, but he doesn't look that old...Maybe his mutation is like Logan's and his ageing is slower...Ah don't know...but it isn't as...disgustin'...as you're makin' it sound."
Remy sighed, "look, the point is...you wanted this...experience. Somethin' deeper, somethin' much more intimate...and in my head all I could think was if I wanted to be close to you...I had to-" he began.
"Ah don't want you thinkin' you have to pay me favours for anythin'..." she admitted. Nervously and carefully she took his face in both of her gloved hands and sighed, "you don't owe me anythin'. You don't owe me a touch...a kiss...sex..." she brushed his cheeks with her thumbs, "Ah don't want to own you, Remy. Ah just want to be with you."
He gave a half smile, but it was very empty and sad.
"But we probably have to take it slow," Rogue continued softly, "we have to walk on egg shells...Ah nearly got killed because Wanda is obsessed with you and she's not going to be happy about...this..." she explained.
He put his hands on her hips gently, "I guess that means we can't be together."
"Not until things at home have simmered a bit. And we should maybe just...keep our distance, at least in the warehouse...until somethin' is done about Wanda."
Remy looked at her suddenly and was about to say something, but Rogue interrupted him.
"Ah have to get to class soon, Remy, and you should get home, before everyone starts wonderin' where you've been all night...before Wanda finds out..."
He drew his breath, "Rogue, we really...really have to talk about something..."
"We'll talk later, Ah promise..." she assured.
"But it's important," he tried.
"No...not right now...Ah have a lot to think, a lot of subjects to get through today, you know, and my head is already spinnin'. Every time somethin' goes wrong or somethin' gets said, my school work starts sufferin' and Ah need to be focused today. Ah have a test at eleven, and Ah don't want to screw it up..." she explained. "Come on, lets go get somethin' quick to eat, and you can drop me off at school."
"Want me to pick you up too?" he asked.
"Actually...that'd be a bad idea. We probably need to try and keep our distance at home...if Wanda sees us together comin' home, she'll freak and Ah don't need another pole through my ribs. So maybe if you can get someone else to pick me up?"
"Okay," he sighed, slightly disappointed.
"It's just for a while. This should be cake for you anyway. You're good at keepin' secrets."
"That I am, chere. That I am."
Remy couldn't explain why he suddenly felt even so much more miserable than before the moment he dropped Rogue off at school. The night had gone better than he'd expected it to. In fact, the night had gone spectacularly well considering that Rogue had admitted to feeling what he felt for her.
But he still felt empty.
At the coffee shop as he and Rogue had drank their lattes and ate their bagels, he'd found it hard to focus on anything she was saying about her classes or her day previous. He'd nodded, forced a smile and pretended to find everything fascinating, but he was still far too preoccupied with feeling sad to really be happy now that things seemed they might get better.
Maybe it's that you got turned down for sex, he wondered. That's never happened before. But then again, it's not like it was really gonna be sex. What the hell did you think was gonna happen with a floppy dick and your clothes still on? Did you think you were really going to rock her world?
Parking the bike in the yard, he sighed to himself. You know what's really bothering you? It's that you didn't tell her about Magneto's plans to use her as the test subject. You should have. You should have also told her about the deal with Wolverine. She's gonna kill you. She's given you yet another chance and you already practically blown it.
"Where the hell have you been?"
He gasped, as standing at the door with a cigarette in her hand was Wanda, looking agitated, and tired, as if she hadn't slept all night. She was dressed in another one of her red corsets, the thing was covered in an impressive array of zips, chains and buckles. She was definitely dressing to be noticed today, he realised. It wasn't a good sign.
"Out," he responded after quickly recomposing himself.
"All night?" she snorted.
"Yes. Problem?" he shot her a look, climbed off the bike and moved to pass by her.
"Rogue hasn't been home either," Wanda flicked the ash from her cigarette, "I suppose you'd know all about that, though, wouldn't you?"
"Fuck off," Remy stepped into the warehouse. He heard her heavy boots as she moved behind him.
"Excuse me?" she demanded almost shrilly.
"You heard," he remarked. He suddenly didn't really care about being discrete, Wanda's attitude was already getting to him far too much for that and he wasn't in the mood to walk on eggshells after what she'd done to him. She hurt you, now it's your turn to hurt her. "I told you, bitch. I'm fucking done with you. I don't want anything more to do with you. I can't stand the fucking sight of you. We're through."
"We're not through."
"Yes we are, even told your father."
"Don't care what he says. You think he can stop me?" she gave an ironic laugh.
"Yeah, that's you all over, isn't it, Wanda?" Remy threw her a disgusted look, "You don't care what anyone says. You're just gonna do what you're gonna do. Well not with me, and not any longer. I'm done, we're through. And if you can't get it into your head, too bad," he turned his back on her and began to walk away once again.
He was surprised when she caught him, tackling him using one of the very tricks he'd taught her. His legs were kicked out from beneath him, and in an instant, she had his arm behind his back and pinned him down to the floor face first, twisting herself round to push her knee against his back. Something grasped around his legs and he realised it was some loose cabling from the building project that she'd manipulated with her powers, he could hear the sound of the plastic scraping against his rough jeans as it wound it's way around his legs.
"You gonna fuck me against my will again, you crazy bitch?" he asked, one side of his face pressed into the dirty cement floor so much that his voice was half muffled.
"You know you want it," she remarked thickly, "the pleasure...the pain..."
Something hot grazed his ear and he gave a cry of pain. She'd taken the lit cigarette and run it against the tip of his ear quickly. He struggled and felt his wrist nearly break with the strain.
Had to show her this move, didn't you? You fucking idiot, he thought angrily at himself as he struggled.
"Stop!" he cried at her, his ear throbbing hot with the pain.
He felt the cigarette tip brush the back of his neck, and even smelt the strong smell of burning hair.
"Let me go you crazy bitch!"
"You think this hurts?" she asked, "You'll know what real pain is if I ever catch you with her. You're mine!"
"I've never been yours and I never will be!" he yelled loudly. This time, as he felt her push the lit end of her cigarette directly into the nape of his neck, he let out a blood curdling howl he'd have never expected to have come from his own lungs. The sound carried through out the otherwise quiet warehouse. Where was everyone? Why had no one come to his aid?
"What will it take, Remy?" she demanded, "what do I have to do? Get rid of her?"
"You leave her alone!" He struggled harder, tears of agony trickling down his nose. His wrist felt like it was nearly going to break in his attempt to get away from her. His free arm was not free but trapped beneath him and it was already starting to tingle with the loss of circulation. He could feel nothing with the hand behind his back that was hanging loose from her, nothing that he could grab and charge and let go to give a decent enough explosion and impact to get her off of him.
She's gonna kill you. She's a fucking psychopath and she's gonna kill you. This is why you shouldn't fuck with crazy people.
"You tell her to leave you alone, and if I ever see her around you I'll-"
"Let him go!"
Remy heard Magneto's loud voice booming across the entire warehouse, it seemed to echo from every wall, and nearly shake every metal item in the vicinity.
"This doesn't concern you!" Wanda yelled at her father.
There was an impact, and he felt Wanda being knocked off him with some kind of mighty rush like the push of a magnet, but one thousand times more powerful; the force caused him to roll over several times across the floor.
The metal on her corset, Remy realised as saw Wanda being thrown twelve feet in the direction he was facing until she slammed hard into the brick wall and was pinned there, there was an expression of pain as she made impact, and then one of fury as she tried to get away, her legs kicking viciously out, her arms swinging left and right.
"Do not make me sedate you again!" Magneto warned.
Why hasn't he? Doesn't he see she's completely lost it? Remy wondered in dismay as he slowly pushed himself up, his ear and neck felt as if they might be on fire, even as they grazed the collar of his leather coat. He almost tripped in the tangle of wires around his legs and barely caught himself on the table in time to prevent a fall. He was shaking. He couldn't believe he was physically shaking from such an attack. His heart was pounding so horrendously that he could hear it in his own ears.
Kicking off the wires, Remy moved slowly towards his boss, who was standing at his office door, holding it open.
Why aren't you doing anything? Remy wanted to demand, but he could see some kind of quiet unsaid battle was going on between Magneto and his daughter, judging by the looks they were giving each other.
Remy slipped into the office and dropped down onto the nearest chair, he looked down and saw his hands were violently shaking, especially the left hand, which had been the one that she'd had behind his back. Quickly, he wiped the tears from his face, wondering momentarily if perhaps if they were a mix of pain and terror.
"You're going to go to your room and you're going to take your medication," said Magneto to Wanda, Remy could only hear a little of Wanda's response, but it sounded as if she were going to disobey. Magneto's response was, "if you want to go back to the asylum...all it will take is one phone call. They have been building a room for you on my instructions, Wanda, and they are just waiting for that call. This time, you would not escape."
Nothing else was said between them. Magneto came in and closed the door, and moved to Remy slowly.
"Are you alright?" he asked, and he reached to check the burn on Remy's ear but Remy quickly recoiled, slightly shaken.
"She burned me," Remy responded, he tried to get a hold of himself.
Magneto gently examined the areas, but even his touch was far too much to bear and Remy flinched away again.
Magneto went and retrieved a bottle of water from his private fridge and brought it to him, "put this against your neck," he said.
Pressing the almost ice cold bottle to his neck was very little relief, the burn stung at the slightest touch and the pain throbbed through the back of his neck as if the wound were the size of a tennis ball. Remy watched as Magneto moved to find something to treat the burns with.
Remy was waiting for some kind of apology but received none. He expected Magneto to at least account for his responsibility in this but nothing happened. The girl should have been sedated and taken away. She was dangerous!
"You gotta do something," Remy finally spoke up after minutes of silence, and becoming quite annoyed with Magneto's disregard for the situation.
Magneto came out with the supplies and laid them out on the nearby desk, then pulled on a pair of latex gloves from the box he kept there.
"Are you listening?" Remy snapped. "Your fucking daughter was close to killing me out there!" he hissed, pain seething through him, his body still trembling. Ironically, even after being burned with the lit end of a cigarette, he wanted a cigarette right at this moment all the same.
"You are upset," said Magneto, "try to calm down."
"Calm down? What kind of parenting is this?! You just let her walk away from that! Smack on the back of the hand, boo hoo, go to your room?! She burned me with a fucking cigarette! She threatened to do worse! What part of bitch ass crazy do you not understand about her?!"
"I am very close to being able to help her," Magneto responded, he seemed to be fighting the urge to reprimand Remy for his back-chat.
"She needs to be drugged up and locked in a fucking padded room and the key needs to be thrown away!" Remy yelled, he felt Magneto put something cold on his ear and pain shot through his raw flesh like liquid sparks. "FUCK!" he yelled.
"Please refrain from using this language," Magneto responded coldly, "you've used quite enough of it since coming into my office."
"Can I at least smoke?" Remy demanded, reaching for his cigarette pack in the pocket of his leather coat. The moment he did, pain shot through his left wrist and he cried out.
"What?"
"I don't know, she hurt my wrist," Remy winced, he brought his arm back up and held it within his right. "She does damage wherever she goes."
"Bear with it, it will not be for very much longer."
"You need to put her away!"
"An institution will not help her. People will only be hurt."
"People are getting hurt now, what you think I asked to have a cigarette put out on the back of my neck!?" Remy demanded. He felt something cold and instantly soothing being applied to the burn on his ear.
"She is my daughter," Magneto responded.
"And you're not taking responsibility! She's running around doing as she pleases, and you're just letting her away with it..."
"Do not tell me how to raise my children. You are not a father, you would not understand."
"She is screaming for your attention, just screaming for you to do something, like slap her or fucking kick her ass, or something. She's looking for some kind of response. You think she's doing this just for amusement?"
"I..." Magneto began.
"She did it in the middle of the warehouse. Why not catch me alone in my room if she didn't want to be caught?" Remy hissed as Magneto moved the bottle from his neck to examine the damage.
"This will hurt quite a bit."
"Do it."
There was another cold, intense stinging sensation as Magneto began trying to clear the ash from the wound. Remy felt the tears burning his eyes and he closed them tightly, gritting his teeth to keep from crying out. He tried to think of how he wanted to word things to his boss, how he wanted to explain exactly what Wanda had threatened him with and how far she'd gone with him. But it didn't seem like Magneto would care.
The Magneto I know, and the Magneto Rogue knows seem to be two different people entirely, thought Remy bitterly.
"Can you move you wrist?" asked Magneto as he was putting ointment onto the back of Remy's neck. The pain began to numb only slightly, just enough to take the edge off of it, but not enough to remove the heat. Remy winced knowing that it was going to be a while before he could wash his hair again without feeling intense agony of warm water against the wound. He supposed that was the least of his problems right now.
Remy attempted to move his wrist and roll his hand and when he did, he felt something snap and he let out a howl. If it hadn't been broken before it was most definitely now. That final attempt to move it had been the last straw. He held up his injured wrist, sucking in his breath through his teeth.
"I heard it..." Magneto said, "it's broken."
"Terrific. Great fucking start to the day," Remy hissed through his gritted teeth.
"I did tell you to curb that language."
"And I told you to keep your daughter under control," Remy shot back quickly. "I'm startin' to really question why I'm still workin' here. 'Cause this place is more trouble than I really need."
"If you would like, then leave," said Magneto. "I am not holding you here. You may leave at any time you wish."
Remy realised this was true. Magneto wasn't holding him here. He could leave.
But what about the others? What about Piotr? What about Rogue?
I can't leave until she leaves. She won't be safe, Wanda would hurt her, Wanda would do something to her...maybe deliberately cause the machine to kill her...or ruin her life...I can't.
"Well?" asked Magneto coldly, "are you going to leave."
Remy stared down at the floor, "Perhaps," he lied. Perhaps when Rogue decides to leave with me, then I'll leave. "Perhaps."
End of Part Thirty
I'm sure you all seen something like that coming eventually. Hopefully no one was upset with the cigarette burning, Remy attack thing. I'm sure some will say that he could have gotten loose somehow (one of his specialities as always) but even Remy LeBeau can't be on his A game all the time (especially not with a psychotic person kneeling on his back and wires wrapped around his legs).
As always thanks to those who put in the time and effort to review; especially the long thoughtful reviews, it's always so interesting to read them and see people's thoughts and feelings about the situations, you all have such interesting interpretations and theories, absolutely love it. I loved that someone picked up on how easily Rogue's engine was stolen and how the cops weren't doing their job (even though there was one on the beat as Rogue was in her car). Who would steal an engine in Bayville and get away with it that easily? Strange. ;)
Hope you all enjoyed this part and I hope you all have an awesome weekend :)