Chapter Twelve:


"I don't know how you did it, mate," St. John grumbled darkly. "But I know you did it. Gambit, quit cheating!"

Remy snickered. "Moi? Remy t'ink you need t' get yo' head examined, non?" He glanced sideways, a smirk on his handsome face. "De only cheatin' gon' on here is dat our petite belle is cheatin' us out o' de pleasure o' teachin' her t' play poker, non?"

Behind her book, Rogue rolled her eyes slightly. "An' who says Ah can't play already, swamp rat?" she drawled.

"Maybe you can play, p'tite," Remy conceded smugly. "But dere nobody who can beat Remy. Remy de master o' cards."

"So you keep telling us, mate," St. John muttered.

"An' don' you fo'get it, mon ami."

They were all gathered in the living room, just relaxing and hanging out together. Remy and St. John were playing poker, seated on the floor at the coffee table, their cards and chips scattered across the wooden surface. Fred and Evan were sprawled out in front of the television, watching music videos on MTV.

Rogue was curled up in one of the large armchairs reading, though her attention was being divided between the book and listening to Remy and St. John's lighthearted bickering. She spared a glance over at Piotr, who was seated on the windowseat, reading from a large, leather-bound book with gold writing on the front. She had no idea what it said, though, since it was in Russian, and the silent strongman had not offered any information.

Sabertooth was off somewhere, and Rogue had absolutely no desire to know where. As far as she was concerned, the less she had to do with the feline mutant, the better. Looking at him made her think of Logan, and her chest ached with the ferocity of how much she missed him. Hank was in the kitchen, having a discussion with Harmony over tea, and it seemed to Rogue that the two of them had taken quite an interest in one another.

Then again, she was a teenager, and not that great of a judge at adult relationships. After all, during one particular meeting she'd had the impression that there was a past between Logan and Mystique, and the likelihood of that was practically nonexistent.

As for Pietro...she had seen very little of him over the past week. It was obvious he was avoiding her, Evan and Fred, because every time one of them entered the room, he darted out before anything could come of his presence. In a way she was glad he was avoiding her, it meant she didn't have to work so hard to avoid him, but it made her sad, too. When she'd lived at the boarding house, ahe and Pietro had been close, and having him avoid her sort of hurt.

But not as much as his betrayal.

She wondered if that was why he was avoiding her, because in some way it hurt him, too, to know that they were no longer friends. That they couldn't be friends anymore. Not after what he had done. That was probably a little of it, but she had a feeling the main reason for avoiding her was simply that he didn't feel like having her kick his ass again.

Which was probably for the best, since she didn't really feel like having to kick his ass again, either.

As for Magneto, the Master of Magnetism had been shut away in his underground lab for days, and though she was curious as to what he was doing down there, Rogue figured it was better for him to be focused on something, since it kept him from focusing on her or Evan and Hank. Sure, he'd been polite enough to them so far, but she knew better than to let her guard down. Even if he really wanted nothing from them, it was hard to relax in his presence. She found she just couldn't trust him, a byproduct of living under Charles Xavier's roof for so long.

"Someday, Cajun," Rogue warned dryly. "Someone is gonna knock that cocky li'l smile right off o' ya face."

Remy grinned at her, that charming smile that made her head spin. "Dat someone gon' be you, chere?" he asked, his tone somewhere between coy and challenging.

"If it is," St. John said. "My money is on the girl, mate."

"Hey!" Remy protested with a look of mock insult. "Whose side you on, anyway?"

"Bloody well not yours," St. John replied with a snicker.

Remy opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Evan's angry cry. "Man!" the X-man growled. "I'm so sick of this crap!"

Rogue and the others turned to see him glaring daggers at the television. Rogue was about to ask what was wrong, but she didn't have to. The scene unfolding live on the screen was more than enough to give her the answer to that question.

Protesters were gathered in front of the White House, bearing signs with anti-mutant slurs, chanting a vulgar jeer that made Rogue's stomach turn. It wasn't just a few people, not even a few dozen. It was hundreds of people. Hundreds of angry, hate-filled people, snarling and demanding that the President take action against the newly exposed mutant race.

A CNN reporter was interviewing one of the protesters, and the screaming insults of the other protesters could be heard in the background, filling in the pauses where the reporter and the man she was interviewing took a breath.

"-should all be locked up in containment camps!"

"-vile mutie creeps don't belong-"

"Mr. Kemble, what course of action would you like to see the President take on this matter?"

"-freaks! They're not even human-"

"Mon Dieu," Remy cursed. "What de hell is wrong wit does people?! Dey actin' like animals!"

"No," Pyro growled through gritted teeth, his hair bristling. "They're acting like we're the bloody animals, mate!"

Rogue's mouth was as dry, her throat burning as if someone had just rubbed it raw with sandpaper. Her blood had run cold, her lungs aching as she struggled to breath. How could they hate them this much? How could people hate them for what they were? For what they had no choice but to be?

"I would like for him to do the smart thing, the wise thing. The right thing. I would like for him to pass a law that would require all mutants to be-"

"Mutants are freaks!"

"-abominations! They're abanormal!"

"I'll show you abnormal, you ugly, bald little jerk!" Fred snarled angrily, the vein in his neck bulging furiously.

"Man, I'd like to shove his ass in a cage and see how he likes it!" Evan growled.

"Mutants don't belong! They're nothing but freaks!"

"-registered and tested. We need to know who they are, where they are, and what they can do. They are too dangerous to be allowed to live among us."

"Mutant equals monster! Mutant equals monster! Mutant equals-"

Lord, they're the monsters, Carol thought in Rogue's head, her voice strained, partly from anger, partly from fear. They're nothing but monsters. Maybe Magneto has the right idea after all.

No! Rogue thought sharply.

"Then you believe that mutants are a threat to this country, Mr. Kemble?"

"Exterminate the mutie freaks! Wipe 'em off the face off the earth!"

"Let him try!" St. John sneered, and Rogue could ahve sworn she saw flames flickering to life in his eyes. "I'll kick his bloody ass from here to China!"

Rogue was shaking. She couldn't help it. The hatred those people felt for them, for any of their kind, was so thick it was smothering. She could almost feel it, even though she was hundreds of miles away from Washington, D.C. at the moment. These people truly believed what they were saying. They truly wanted to see her and everyone like her destroyed.

Or worse, she thought darkly, remembering Trask's base. Operation: Wideawake haunted her dreams at night, and now it seemed it was going to haunt her very existence itself.

"Madam, I believe that they are a threat to mankind itself. They are unnatural, uncontrollable! I think we need to handle them as we would any other threat. We need to isolate them, we need to study them, and we need to neutralize them."

"They are a plague, and we cannot allow them to spread!"

"Fuck dat!" Remy snarled, his dark eyes blazing with a wild fury. "Bring it on, you lâches! Remy, he show you what we do t' bigots down in N'awlins!"

"Mr. Kemble, if I may say so, it seems you have quite a festering hatred for mutants. Why exactly, may I ask, is that?"

"Kill the muties!"

"Out with the freaks! Out with the freaks!"

"-cleansing must begin! Mutants are a contamination!"

"Merde!" Remy scowled, the card in his hand glowing red with explosive energy. Rogue wondered if he even noticed, or if it was merely an unconscious reaction to the display of horrifying bigotry they were witnessing on television.

"They exist, Madam, that in itself is more than enough reason. They are a disease, a pestilence. As long as they are allowed to exist, none of us are safe. Sooner or later, they'll destroy the human race, unless we destroy them first."

Furious, Rogue darted out of the chair and snatched the remote away from Evan. "Why are we watchin' this?" she spat, snapping off the television and hurling the remote across the room. "We don't need t' be listenin' t' crap like this. We got better things t' be doin'."

The boys all look at her in surprise, startled.

"Evan, Fred, leave the television off for now. Now all o' ya go find somethin' else t' do. Ah don't care what, just do it! It's nice out, lots o' sun an' all. Go outside for a while," she snapped heatedly. "An' Remy? Put that card out for ya blow us all t' hell."

Remy blinked at the card in his hand, then sheepishly extinguished it, the red energy being sucked back into his hand. "Sorry, chere," he said with that disarming smile of his. "Guess I got carried away dere, me."

"S'alright," Rogue replied with a curt nod. "Just watch y'self. Now everyone o' ya get outta the house, will ya? Go play football out on the beach o' somethin'."

When none of them made a move to leave, she scowled.

"Now," she said menacingly.

Evan and St. John bounded out of the room in a hurry, and Fred followed at a slower pace more appropriate for someone of his size. Remy smiled sheepishly, then ducked out of the room, as well. Only Piotr didn't react to her demands.

"Piotr?" Rogue asked evenly, keeping her voice calm as she offered him a deadly glare. "That means ya, too, sugar."

Piotr stared at her for a long moment in silence, then stood, placing his book down on the windowsill gently, and walked out of the room, heading in the direction that the other boys had gone.

Sugar? Carol echoed incredulously, laughing.

What's so funny? Rogue demanded, annoyed.

Sorry, Carol replied, though she made no effort to sound so. You just didn't strike me as a 'sugar' kind of girl.

Ah used t' call people that, Rogue replied wistfully. A long time ago. Back before mah powers came into play. She smiled sadly. Ah was a different person back then.

Carol snickered. Did you see the look on that boy's face? He looked like he either wanted to hit you or smile at you.

Both o' which would have been a shock, Rogue replied.

"Where are the boys?"

Rogue turned to smile weakly at Harmony, who stood in the doorway with a cup of tea in hand and an inquisitive look on her face. "There was more o' that upsetin' mutant rubbish on the television. Ah sent 'em outside t' cool off an' take their minds off o' that whole mess."

Harmony sighed, shaking her head. "It's a shame that the public can't accept us for who and what we are, isn't it? Lord Magneto was right about that." When Rogue didn't answer, Harmony smiled faintly and changed the subject. "Why aren't you outside with them?"

Nosy woman, isn't she? Carol rolled her eyes.

"Ah don't belong with the others," Rogue answered quietly.

"Oh?" Harmony sad, raising an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

Because if she touches anyone, they end up like me, duh, Carol spat, a bitter edge to her tone.

"Because Ah ain't like them," Rogue replied, averting her eyes from the older woman's patient face. "Ah can't ever get close t' anyone, or Ah'll suck 'em dry. It ain't a pleasant experience, that's for sure."

I can vouch for that, Carol muttered.

"You can get close to people without touching them, Rogue," Harmony said gently. "Just because you can't touch doesn't mean you have to be alone."

"Yeah, it does," Rogue responded sharply. "Ah already took the life o' one person, Ah ain't gonna let it happen again. No matter what. An' if that means Ah gotta be on my lonesome, then so be it. Ah'm a big girl, Ah can handle bein' alone."

Ah've always been alone, she added silently.

"I'm sure you can," Harmony replied. "But you don't have to."

"Ah don't fit in here," Rogue muttered. "Ah don't fit in anywhere, really."

"Ah, but that's the beauty of this place, Rogue," Harmony said. "Of Lord Magneto's dream, even of your Professor Xavier's dream. Mutants who don't fit in anywhere else, fitting in among one another."

Rogue pursed her lips stubbornly. "Ah can't touch anyone," she repeated again, as if that should explain everything.

"That doesn't seem to bother young Gambit," Harmony said with a knowing smile.

Rogue blushed, but didn't reply.

"Just remember, Rogue," Harmony said softly. "We're all different. None of us is normal. That's why Lord Magneto is doing all of this. Why Charles Xavier founded that Institute of his. So that those of us who don't belong anywhere else, can belong together."

With that, she slipped out of the room, leaving Rogue to contemplate her words.

Sighing, Rogue turned to look out the window at the beach, where the boys were tossing around a football that they had found somewhere, probably something Magneto had allowed them to bring to keep the teenage boys from driving him crazy with their boredom.

Maybe Harmony was right. Maybe she could fit in here, or at least try to. But at the same time she felt like she was betraying the Professor if she did so. Magneto was her enemy, the Professor's enemy. If she made friends with the Acolytes, was she betraying the Professor? The man who had taken her in, cared for her, given her a home and a family?

For the love of God, Carol snapped. You're stuck here, whether you admit it or not. Even if Magneto says it's your choice to come or go, he's not likely to let you leave now that you know where his base is. This Professor of yours seems like a good enough guy. He would want you to make the best of it. And if that means making friends with the freaking Acolytes, then that's what you should do already!

Rogue blinked, startled. Ya think?

Carol rolled her eyes. No, duh. Besides, the X-men didn't rescue you, Rogue. The Acolytes did. The least you could do to repay them would be not to act like a frigid bitch all the time.

An' ya would know how one acts, wouldn't ya? Rogue retorted sharply.

Damn right, I would, Carol replied, choosing not to take the bait. Now quit your complaining and stop feeling sorry for yourself already, and go outside and join the rest of those morons, will you? I'm bored and I've already read Interview with a Vampire, so if you don't, I'll ruin the whole book for you by telling you what happens.

Alright, already, Rogue cried in surrender. Geez. Chill out, will ya?

Carol's only reply as Rogue headed for the door was to smile smugly.


Translations:

merde- shit
Mon Dieu- My God
lâches- cowards