Savage Discovery

Savage Discovery – The Shi'ar Connection

Based on the 1990's X-Men cartoon and takes place during and after the second 'Reunion' episode. A discovery in the Savage Lands changes Rouge's life forever.

I am intentionally mixing up the timelines a bit for my purposes. In the animated series, the Reunion episodes occur in season 2, while the Phoenix Saga takes up a third of the 3 season.

Rogue flew through the mansion frustrated. Six months had passed since leaving the Savage Lands the first time. Beast, bless him, has worked the whole time, when he could, on a way to make it possible for her to touch. In that time they had been back to the valley, giving Rogue and Remy a respite from not being able to touch. And that made the failures that much harder to bear.

"Rogue!" Xavier called after her, but it was no use.

"I – I gotta clear mah head." She shook her head, tears spilling over at the feeling of hopelessness inside her. "I'll be back in a while."

Everyone knew that she had always been working with the professor to control her powers, each of them knowing how it hurt the southern woman to be isolated in her own skin. Rogue had made them promise that they would not tell anyone of the experiments Beast was conducting concerning her mutation. She didn't want to deal with the others when a device didn't work now that they were using ASL-225. The power suppressing metal.

Restlessly, she came to perch herself high in the branches of one of the trees that guarded the lake inland of the mansion. The breeze helped cool her heated face and dry her tears. Why was she cursed? Why was it that she was the ultimate in loners? Why couldn't she get rid of the people in her head?

"Why me?" She whispered to the wind.

"Chere?" Came the call from below, gentle and soft. "Why don't ya come down from dere and talk to Gambit?" Even from far away, his eyes glimmered with love and concern.

"Why am I like this Remy?" Rogue floated down slowly, wondering, not for the first time, how it was she could actually fly. What were the physics involved. Storm used the wind to fly, but Rogue didn't. It was instinctual, natural, and a power not truly her own.

"Remy wished he could tell you, but he don know." His trench coat was draped over his arm. "But Remy tinks dat sittin unda a full moon might clear you're head."

Smiling softly Rogue let him lead her to the grass near the shore, watching him lay out his coat as a makeshift blanket. Once Gambit sat down she cuddled herself into his embrace, comfortable in his arms now that they were exploring their feelings for each other. She was still afraid that she would hurt him, but she also knew that he would do everything in his power to keep and accident from happening.

"Tell Gambit everythin love." He whispered into her hair, holding her close, warmth seeping into her.

It hurt Remy to see his belle in pain and there was nothing he could do to make it better. He also knew that in the end the fight she was fighting would make her stronger and appreciate everything even more.

"Sometimes …" Her voice was so soft, he almost didn't catch what she was saying. Her gloved hands were rubbing up and down her thighs nervously and she wouldn't look him in the eye. "Sometimes I wish we could run away to the Savage Lands and live happily ever afta."

So did he, more than she could ever know.

"But sadly chere, that's not reality." He sighed, wrapping his arms around her small waist. "You wouldn't wanna live there foreva; you'd me missin de family too much."

"I know." Here eyes were somber and jade in the cool light of the moon. "But I do wish we could live without all tha fightin."

"So do I Marie." Remy laid his chin on her shoulder, letting her name slip out lovingly. "So do I."

Back at the mansion, sad eyes watched the scene play out. Charles knew there had to be a way to help his children, he just didn't know how. Each mutant in his home came to represent a child figure to him, filling his heart with the love he never bore of himself. Up until recently Rogue had been the youngest, innocent and jaded all at the same time. She was also the only mutant who came to rely on him in a way the others hadn't.

Everyone else mastered their powers over a given time. Even Scott had to learn how to adjust his eyes to keep from destroying his eyewear, having found a way to mute his powers along the way. But Rogue, she had no control over her birth powers other than covering herself from head to toe. Add to that the powers and psyches of all the other people and mutants she had touched, and she quickly became to rely upon Charles more than any of his other students.

It made his heart and his mind hurt just to think on it.

"Charles?" A soft alien voice drifted through his mind, soothing some of his pain. "Your mind is in turmoil. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I am not sure Lilandra." He replied wearily. He was always happy to hear from the other part of his psyche, his soul. Theirs was a unique connection, more deep and complex than anything a normal human and most mutants could understand. But for them, it worked.

"I ache for one of my children. I long to ease the hurt and burden in her life, but I don't know how."

A phantom pair of hands rested on his shoulders and began to massage as Lilandra projected her mind into his.

"I sense it is the one who cannot touch. Rogue, correct?"

"Yes, but there has been a development …"

Charles went on to tell the Shi'ar empress about the Savage Lands as their astral spirits walked through the lush imperial gardens of the Shi'ar palace. He spoke of the life Rogue had led and of how she feared her own body. By the time he was done, Lilandra was crying, her beautiful eyes bright.

"Poor child." She brushed her tears away as Charles held her close. "But I think there is a way I can help her."

"Really?" Xavier was curious and hopeful at the same time.

"We have a mineral, a gemstone that I think with the aid of your metal can help her control her powers. Dr. McCoy will have to experiment, but it may work." Lilandra pulled away, smiling regretfully.

"I am sorry Charles, but I am needed. I will arrange for a shipment of Vui'lanae to be sent to you in the next week." Charles kissed her forehead and the illusion dispersed. Opening his eyes and feeling slightly wistful, Charles glanced out the window. Rogue and Gambit were strolling slowly back to the mansion, hands held tight. He prayed Lilandra's mineral would work.

"Be well love and thank you."

Two weeks later, Rogue was again in Hank's lab with Gambit by her side. Slightly off to the side was Xavier, which made Rogue curious.

"What's goin on?" She hopped up onto one of the stainless steel tables. "Will it be injection, cream or pill?"

"None of the above my dear." Hank picked up a small box from beside one of his ongoing chemical tests from where he hung upside down from the ceiling. It took her a while to get used to that when she first was taken under Xavier's wing.

"What be it den dat you call all tree of us down here?" Gambit asked from where he leaned against the table beside her.

"Patience is a virtue, my Cajun friend." Beast flipped and landed at Rogue's feet.

"Gambit neva did like dat sayin." He crossed his arms over his chest with a feigned huff.

"In a few moments we will know if this remedy will work or not." Xavier said coolly, eyes fixed unnervingly upon the southern woman. It felt like she was a child all over again and was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Beast held out the box to her.

"Open it and put it on." The psychic instructed, hovering closer.

Rogue's hands were shaking so bad from nerves and fear that she fumbled the box. Remy, always the thief, snagged it out of midair. With a flourish only a Cajun could pull off, he opened the box, facing it towards her. Around her the world froze.

Inside the box, nestled on a velvet cushion, was the most beautiful pendant Rogue had ever seen. There was nothing overly ornate about the piece, but a power radiated off of it that drew her gaze. Framed in adamantium and ASL-225 was the most unique stone she had ever seen. One could compare it to the finest of canary yellow diamonds and the comparison would fall flat. The emerald cut baguette style stone was so pure and pristine that flashes of silver could be seen in it's sunny, buttery depths. Rogue felt as if she could fall into the beauty of it and never return.

"It's Shi'ar isn't it?" She asked reaching out and lifting the necklace with it's deceptively delicate chain from the box.

"How did you know?" Xavier asked, eyes keen.

"It reminds me of how I felt looking at the Emcron Crystal, only not." Rogue struggled to explain as she held the gemstone closer to her eyes. "There is something peaceful and pure about this."

"Try it on." Beast urged. Gambit slid the chain from her hands and reached around her to clasp it. As soon as he did, a slight charge slid through Rogue's body, similar to the one she felt when Remy first kissed her in the Savage Lands.

For a few moments everything was silent, and then Rogue sensed something. Something new. She looked the professor for an answer.

"Turn the switch off Rogue, just like you would a light."

In her minds eye she was herself reach out and turn off the phantom switch, and the coiled energy of Carol Danvers powers disappeared. Does that mean? With shaking hands she stripped off her gloves, surprised to see Remy following suit. Almost as one they reached out and clasped hands, more in sync than she had ever realized. Rogue was basking in the feel of Gambit's palms so strong against hers when everything clicked.

"Ah, ah can touch?" Her accent thick as tears sprang up to run down her face.