Hey everyone :)
I'm on break and had some time to write :) yay!
Kind of an intense chapter but I'm not going to give anything away
Anyways enjoy :) and R&R!
Explosions of Every Kind Chapter 17: Is This The End?
"Y'r what?" Rogue stammered out, still pacing through Xavier's office.
"I'm sorry," Xavier said calmly, "but you heard me right."
"Bannin' meh from the danger room!" Rogue exploded, "What the hell Professor? If anyone should be bann'd it's Scott! His leg is broken, only mah wrist is!"
"Training will be off limits to all three of you."
"What am Ah supposed t'do all day?" Rogue asked, not relaxing at all.
"For starters," Xavier said wheeling from behind his desk to be closer to her, "I would like you to see me daily so we can figure out what is happening in your head."
"In mah— that damn Cajun talk'd t'you didn' he?" She threw her hands up, forgetting the extra weight of the plaster cast on her wrist, "Ah'm goin' t'kill him."
"I take it he expressed his concerns to you too then."
Rogue fell silent while she began to wander about the room raising trinkets up to her eyes and pretending to examine them so as to not answer Xavier. "He might have mentioned it," she spoke softly through an old dusty book.
Xavier nodded. "Be back her sometime today and we will begin."
This time Rogue nodded, her white tresses falling gracefully into her pale face.
She didn't have to know where the kitchen was to find it, not with the smell of Gambit's cooking filling the corridors of the mansion. Rogue made a sharp turn through an ivory doorway and found Gambit, his arm half in a pot, stirring away.
"Gumbo?" she asked leaning cutely against the entryway.
He turned away from his pot and Rogue noticed his face was flushed with a red color from, what she guessed, was the high temperature of his food.
"Is it spicy?" She smiled, knowing that the answer was yes.
He dipped a gleaming, silver spoon into the pot then, making sure it was sufficiently filled with burgundy liquid, chivalrously tipped it into Rogue's open mouth.
"Spicy enough, darlin'?" he said at last.
"Pour me a bowl, Cajun."
He didn't hesitate to fulfill her request and within a matter of minutes they were seated around the peach granite island sucking down gumbo.
"Where'd y'go?"
"Don' worry 'bout meh," she responded hoping he wouldn't press the issue.
"Because I don' do that ev'ryday already," he tried to laugh even though he knew she wouldn't find that funny.
"Ah never asked y'to care 'bout me," Rogue plopped her spoon in the gumbo.
"Never asked me t'love y'either."
Both froze. Neither took another spoonful, neither said another word, neither were used to that word yet.
"Sorry Gambit Ah have t'go," Rogue began to walk away when Gambit called out to her.
"Wait," hearing his voice she turned to face him, "Is it what I said?"
A sincere smile crossed her thin lips, "No."
Before she could get to far away, Gambit swerved around the island and took hold of her gloved hand, "Promise, chere?"
"Promise."
With that, he raised her hand up to his lips and gave it a tender kiss then let her walk away.
Strolling through Xavier's mahogany door she stated, "Okay, Ah think Ah'm ready."
He motioned for her to take up residence in the empty lounger adjacent to him. She slumped into the surprisingly yielding plum cushion. Allowing Rogue to regain her composure Xavier said, "Now I don't know what I'll find in there."
"Ah don' care. Let's just do this."
He nodded once again; raising his hands close to her temples he closed his eyes.
When he reopened his aged eyes he saw anarchy. The city he appeared to be in was painted with a bloody hue of crimson and mutants ran rapid all around. Many of the mutants he could distinguish as certain personalities. Xavier saw Magneto fighting Wolverine and Kurt fighting Bobby, Gambit fighting Tabby and Pyro fighting Colossus, Sabertooth fighting Cyclops and Jean fighting Amara. Behind all the discernible mutants was ebony shadows locked in conflict as well. Friends fought friends and no one seemed to have a reason why, they were just angry and violent and full of unbridled rage.
"No wonder she collapsed, she's supporting a war zone in here!" His sudden speech drew a few of the livid mutants towards him and Xavier had no choice but to leave.
Pulling out of her mind he peered into a worried Rogue's face. Not knowing why she was so concerned until he realized he was hyperventilating dreadfully.
"Professor?" Rogue breathed, attempting to reach her hand out to him for comfort. "What happened in there?"
Recapturing a normal breathing pattern he answered, "Chaos. Pure chaos. People are tearing each other apart which in turn is tearing your mind apart."
Rogue made no reply. She had no words suitable.
"Rogue?" he continued.
"Yeah?"
Xavier leaned forward as a thought dawned on him. "The most aggressive mutants in your mind were Kurt, Gambit, Pyro, and Magneto. Does that mean anything to you?"
She slumped back into the plum armchair trying to find a connection between those four mutants. "Kurt, Gambit, Pyro, and Magneto," she whispered over and over to herself. "Kurt, Gambit, Pyro, and Magneto."
Both her and Xavier thought of every possible connection those four could have to one another, and then it dawned upon Rogue. "Ah've got it!"
"A connection?"
"Yes, it's meh! They're not connected in any special way. It's meh! Those are the four Ah've used the most since y'taught meh t'apply others' powers. Professor, it's meh."
"Of course, every time you use a psyche it becomes more dominant over the others in your mind. I guess after a while any one certain psyche could have became too dominant to the point of violence."
"What do Ah do now?" her voice was unsteady and Rogue's concern showed clearly on her face as she didn't try to contain it, "There's a freikin' battlefield in mah head!" She clutched either side of the amethyst couch and took several deep breaths. "Help meh."
"Rogue, calm down. You must calm down. I have a theory."
She gazed into his eyes with burning tears filling her own.
"Maybe if you don't use any of their powers their psyches will calm down and in time order will be restored."
"Worth'a shot," she acknowledged.
Every week for three months Rogue would stop by the Professor's office and he would take a look inside her head. In the end, he proved to be right. All the psyches had calmed down and the warfare had stopped. Rogue hadn't collapsed since her encounter with Magneto and she and Gambit's relationship had very slowly progressed since they both said I love you.
By now, all three were free of their casts and things had returned to what one could only hope would be normal… except things were never normal.
It was about 4 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon and Rogue and Gambit were lying by the pool. Rogue, being persuaded by Gambit to sun her actual skin instead of her clothes, was in shorts, a taut charcoal t-shirt, and gloved hands dangling over the edge of her lawn chair to hold Gambit's. Each wore a satisfied grin, until they heard the emergency alarm go reeling through the hot summer air.
"Meet in living room NOW. Meet in living room NOW. Meet in living room NOW."
They scurried up from their dingy white lawn chairs and darted into the mansion. "What's goin' on Kit?" Rogue asked seeing her already sitting at attention on the sofa.
"Like I don't know! But it's gotta be important."
"That's what Ah'm afraid of," Rogue whispered to herself.
Xavier came into the living room with a sullen look on his face, "Flip on the TV someone."
Jean did so.
An attractive news anchor sat on a high-top stool with a look of panic on her face as she reported, "the power plant attacks we all thought ended months ago have commenced once again. This time at Bayville's last remaining electrical plant. If this energy source falls so does the light in Bayville. Cameras on scene have gotten footage of five teenagers blockading the power plant as it appears others, what are now being called terrorists, work within the plant. More on the story later."
"No," Rogue breathed.
"We must send everyone," Xavier stated, "It appears he's employed the brotherhood and we'll need everyone to stop Magneto from plunging Bayville into darkness."
"This seems like a bad idea, Professor," Jean put forth.
"We have no other choice," he offered grimly, "Now suit up."
The hum of the X-jet unnerved everyone on board. They were frightened, their stomachs in knots, their throats seeming to run dry. None of them had a good feeling about this, and everyone knew it. The pressure in the air shifted as the cloaked jet landed on the roof of the power plant. Everyone, brotherhood included, knew it had begun…
Kurt was the first to attack. He ported from the imperceptible aircraft right behind Avalanche. Suspended in midair, Kurt kicked Lance's back with all his might, forcing him to face plant onto the rigid cement then swiftly ported away. After that, Kurt ported down with Bobby at the rear of Toad. Bobby, stifling a laugh, froze Toad's feet to the ground then grabbed Kurt and disappeared.
"Be ready! It's begun."
One last time, Kurt ported down with Cyclops. However, they were taken by surprise when Blob launched out his big belly and the two went flying into a building wall.
A faint "Now!" could be heard in the distance and without warning X-men began plummeting downward encircling the brotherhood. Quicksilver swiftly broke through the line of X-men and began running circles around Amara until she began to float in the air, blinded by the excess of wind he had created.
Kitty launched herself at Lance and tackled him to the ground. Lying on his back, Kitty fazed half of his horizontal body into the pavement with a winking smirk. He returned her smile and shook the ground until his body was free of its cement prison. He continued to quake the earth as Kitty uneasily moved about and endeavored to become close enough to land a hit on him.
Kurt and Scott, having recovered from their collision with the wall, decided to focus on Wanda who was situated at the crook of the building silently observing. Seeing Scott running at her, Wanda caught him in her energy and began flying him like a kite as a wicked smile warped her lips from corner to corner. Kurt ported behind her and attempted to sweep his leg under hers as he had once done to Pyro. However Wanda anticipated this move and caught him in her restraining, sapphire energy as well.
Jean, distinguishing her boyfriend being flown ungraciously in the air, attempted to enter Wanda's mind and disable her. The two females pushed and pulled at each others mentality with no clear winner in sight.
With most of the brotherhood occupied, the remaining X-men penetrated into the structure expecting a demanding battle. Storm, Gambit, Beast, and Rogue stood facing Colossus and Pyro.
"Let's play," Pyro commanded.
Storm lifted herself high into the air, her blue eyes shifting into electric yellow as she shot bolts of lightening at Colossus. With some apparent scarring, the electricity flowed through Colossus's body and into the ground below. As he ran spherical, scorched footprints were left in the cement flooring. He went after Beast, who had a struggle punching him as his metal skin was blistering hot.
Pyro, eyeing his old friend, screamed out, "You gonna come get me mate? Gonna punish me for what I did to her?" He almost laughed as he peered at Rogue. Gambit reached deep into his trench coat and pulled out three glowering pink cards that he let fly with intent on hitting Pyro's igniters. Unfortunately, they never struck their target because Pyro incinerated them before they had the chance.
However, this diversion gave Rogue enough time to sneak up behind Pyro and clap her hands over his ears. Shrieking in pain, Pyro didn't notice the next cluster of three cards that went soaring at his torso. While he was exploded into a nearby control panel, Rogue stole one of his igniters and smashed it to pieces.
Screams could be heard from the exterior of the edifice and no one knew who the belonged to. The searing summer sky grew thick and stale as everything seemed to stop. Arduous breathing was the only sound audible as Magneto sauntered into the focal area of the power plant where the fighting had occurred.
"How disappointing," he began gliding about the scene, "How disappointing. Mutant against mutant. Brother against brother!" He passed Scott and Kurt being held by his own daughter and smiled, "However! It would appear my mutants, my brothers are triumphing in this skirmish we seem to be waging." He soared by Avalanche looming over a bruised Kitty and only had guesses as to how it happened then continued, "To my other brothers, join me or you will be destroyed here and now. What do you say?"
Amara let out a scream as her rump hit the ground, "Never," she spat out at him.
"Do you all feel that way then?" He looked around at the nodding X-men's faces, "Pity. Then," he addressed his own team, "destroy them—" Every mutant that wasn't a part of the X-men possessed a sinful sneer as they drew up ready positions.
"Wait!" Rogue shouted out. Bringing herself to her feet she stood face to face with Magneto. "There is one other way." He cocked a suspicious eyebrow at her and she looked gravely down at the earth whispering, "It ends how it began."
"What's that my dear?"
All at once, Rogue whipped her head up, eyes gleaming a vivid crimson she blasted Magneto with the full power of Scott's mutation. Rogue followed Magneto's soaring body, not letting up on the blast. Tears could be seen escaping from the corners of her blasting eyes as she watched Magneto's clothes burn off his body, and then his flesh sear away from his scarlet, throbbing exposed muscles.
With that, Rogue brought her optic blast to a halt and as she saw his tender, smoking tissue fall to the ground, limp and lifeless, she too collapsed with a resounding thud.
Everything stopped, everyone stopped. The shock of the murder seemed to penetrate their bones and immobilize them. A shrill scream pierced the motionless air, "Father!" To everyone's surprise it was Wanda's. She and Pietro were the first to run to the aid of a lifeless corpse, and weep.
The next to break the shock-induced daze was Gambit. He sprinted to Rogue's body and cradled her in his brawny, shaking arms repeating the phrase, "Come back t'me. Come back t'me." He bent his head downward into her torso then cried into the feverous sky, "God damn it come back t'me!"
All the X-men had gathered together in the rubble outside. They took each others' hands feeling the ache of losing one of their own and let themselves weep. Tears plunged down Kitty's face as she sobbed loudly and sought comfort in Kurt's chest, who was also soiling his cobalt fur with tears.
Gambit picked up Rogue's cold body, bridal-style like he always did, except this time her head and arms hung limp instead of wrapping around his collar like usual. With tears streaming down his face, Gambit laid Rogue down adjoining the other X-men. He once again cradled her body and began to rock back and forth with her icy form enveloped tight within his warm arms. "No, y'can't leave me. I love you…I love you."
Jean had to look away as she blubbered into Scott's neckline.
Storm was the first to place a comforting hand on Gambit's shoulder, followed by Beast then Kurt then Jean then Scott and so on. By now, Gambit was clutching Rogue tighter than ever before. Hugging Rogue's unconscious body, her head rested on his shoulder and was therefore out of his sight. The back of her navy blue uniform was bathed with his salty tears.
Over his trembling shoulder, Rogue's eyelashes gradually flickered. Her thin, pallid lips gaped open, and then closed again. She attempted to speak but only a coarse heaving noise came out. Not hearing her gasping over his boisterous cries, Gambit could feel her, what he thought lifeless body, move. He jerked her back to face him with such force that her head whipped backwards before he could see the truth in her glossy, emerald eyes: she was alive!
Tears still burned the rigid flesh of his cheeks, but these tears were tears of joy, tears of ecstasy. Disregarding his own health, Gambit pulled Rogue up to his lips. Neither cared about her mutation, neither seemed to remember. Their mouths released upon contact and their lips opened and closed in perfect rhythm with the other.
Then suddenly Gambit's world grew dark as he knew it would.
Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Were you surprised?
So what do you think, is this the end?
I know... but you'll have to wait to find out!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN XMEN/XMEN EVOLUTION