Choices Chapter 2, a x-men: evolution fanfic

Again thank you to my Beta Wanda W, for her wonderful work.

Also, thank you to everyone who has posted a review so far, its really encouraging to get positive feed back ^.^

Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men.

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At the Xavier Institute, the X-Men were enduring a gruelling danger room session battling simulated Acolytes. Originally, they had split themselves into two groups; one consisting of Cyclops, Jean, Iceman and Jamie and the second consisting of Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Rogue and Magma. After the two groups had gone their separate ways, Rogue's team had quickly run into problems. They had come face-to-face with Colossus and Pyro in a grubby run-down warehouse. Their plan had been for Magma and Nightcrawler to go after Pyro whilst Shadowcat and Rogue dealt with Colossus.

Things had gone well at first. Pyro had been so busy trying to barbeque Magma that he hadn't noticed when Nightcrawler snuck up behind him to disconnect his gas pack, resulting in the immediate loss of his fire. Rogue and Shadowcat made Colossus chase them through so many walls that he had grown tired quickly. When he stopped to catch his breath Shadowcat had swiftly pulled him half way through a particularly thick wall, leaving him immobilised and so giving Rogue time to absorb his powers, consequently knocking him out.

However, this is where things hadn't gone to plan. When Magma transformed into her lava self she had accidentally set fire to a stack of crates as she passed them, thus giving Pyro a new origin for his fire. He surprised Nightcrawler with a fresh blast of flames that sent him flying straight into Shadowcat, causing her to scream just loud enough to distract Rogue from her task. While Rogues attention was diverted Colossus broke himself free from the wall and seized her upper arm, lifting her off her feet. Despite her struggling against him he then swung her round and threw her clear across the warehouse, aiming for the larger windows on the far side of the room. Her body painfully crashed through one of the dirty window panes, the broken glass cutting and grazing her body as she fell. She landed with a heavy thud onto a pile of garbage in the alley besides the warehouse.

Slightly dazed she pulled her sore body to a sitting position and attempted to catch the breath that had been knocked out of her chest. She could feel the sting from the tiny cuts that were dotted all over her body. Groaning, she shuffled off the garbage, heaving herself up onto her feet. She quickly scanned the little alley for a way back into the warehouse but there were no doors and no low windows for her to climb through. She decided to look for a side entrance around the next corner but as soon as she started walking she felt a sharp pain shoot through her leg. She looked down to see a rather impressive gash stretching across her thigh, a steady stream of blood seeping out and running down her leg.

Pre-occupied with inspecting her injury, Rogue didn't see the silent figure approaching her from behind. Only when he swooped in to attack did she notice a slight movement out of the corner of her eye, but by then it was too late. The figure swiftly pushed her flat against the wall, his metal staff stretching diagonally across her body. One of her hands was pinned against her shoulder while the other was trapped against her thigh, which was being held up at an awkward angle by the bottom of the staff pressing into the back of her knee.

Rogue looked up to her assailant ready to fight her way free but as her eyes met his unique red on blacks her heart skipped a beat and her lips parted slightly as a gasp caught in her throat.

"Bonjour petit did y' miss me?" With Gambit's face only inches away from her own, she suddenly became very aware of where his hands were holding the staff against her body. One was pressing into her ribs, just below her breast armour. The other was resting against her inner thigh, helping to hold her leg up. Rogues cheeks flushed red and her heart suddenly went into over drive. Gambit, holding her gaze with his burning eyes, slowly leaned in closing the gap between them so that his body was now pressed firmly against hers. Rogue automatically tried to move backwards but she was already flat against the wall with no way to escape. His face was so close now she breathed in each of his clove-tinged exhalations as they breezed across her lips. His gaze captured her, eliminating her ability to move or even think, the heat in his eyes holding her captive.

He moved his hand between them, sliding it along her inner thigh, smoothing the fabric of her uniform as it moved up her leg and over her hip leaving a burning sensation in its wake. Her breath was coming in shallow gasps and she thought her heart would burst from her chest any second. Continuing its scorching quest over her stomach, his hand caressed its way up her side stopping just below her breast plate. His hand curving around her ribs as his fingertips brushed the lower-edge of the armour, the warmth of his hand seeped through her uniform leaving her feeling almost branded by his touch. He dropped his gaze for a second to appraise her, his crooked grin made her cheeks flush anew. He then gradually peeled himself away from her, leaving his hand at her side until he had taken a few steps back.

"Au revoir, chéri" the words rolled of his tongue suggestively; his sly grin returned to his face as he waved his goodbye before turning and disappearing into the shadows. Rogue sighed silently and let her shoulders relax as she watched him disappear. Still slightly dazed, she smiled to herself looking down at her leg where she could still feel the tingle left by his touch but as she did she noticed that her breast armour had strange pink glow to it, her eyebrows knitted together in a frown. Suddenly she came back to her senses and her hands flew to the clips that held her armour in place. Clumsily she snapped them open and yanked the breast plate over her head throwing it to the floor seconds before it exploded sending Rogue flying backwards into the same garbage pile she had landed in previously.

"End Simulation!" Logan all but growled into the control room microphone. Almost immediately the alley and the warehouses surrounding Rogue disappeared leaving her sitting on the hard metal floor of the danger room. The others were dotted about, most of them looked like they'd also had a nightmare of a session; Rogue couldn't see a single uniform that was still intact. The automatic door slid open and Logan stormed into the room.

"Okay... Team One. Not too bad you did manage to take down Sabertooth thanks mainly to Iceman and Jean but Magneto practically wiped out the entire team. Cyclops, your plan was good in theory but you need to deliver faster. You won't get five minutes in real life." Logan surmised to the sulking team members before turning on Rogue and her team mates.

"Right, Team Two. You failed to take out Pyro and Colossus but your plan was good and you acted quickly. However, you need to keep an eye on your surroundings at ALL times. Pyro can take hold of ANY flame in the area Magma so you need to be careful not to start a fire when fighting him. Shadowcat, you need to be aware of your team-mates positioning so you can react if they are in trouble. Rogue, do not let yourself get distracted in the middle of a battle. You had a mission to complete and team mates who needed you." Logan paused glaring at her meaningfully. Rogue dropped her gaze feeling the warmth returning to her cheeks for the third time in less than an hour. - Oh mah gawd! Logan waswatching! Ah can't believe Ah forgot, Ah can't believe ah just stood there. Gawd wats the mattah with meh? Oh man ... -"I know Kitty's screaming is distracting but you could have taken out Colossus easily." Logan continued, distracting Rogue from her self-reprimanding thoughts. Confused, she looked up at him. A telling raise of his stern brow was his only visible response while giving her a 'you-know-what-you-did' look. She was both surprised and relieved that he didn't seem angry and he didn't move to speak to her privately either. He turned and walked back out the way he came. He'd deliberately not mentioned Gambit so the others wouldn't ask questions. - Logan ya big sweet heart –Rogue smiled to herself, she had never been gladder of Logan's protectiveness

"Rogue, are you hurt?" Kurt moved to kneel down by his sister's side, studying her for serious injury.

"Yeah, Colossus, like, threw you clear through that window. I thought you were dead when you didn't come back!" Kitty ranted, her head appearing above Kurt's shoulder. She was nervously chewing on her bottom lip as she too gave Rogue the once over, checking for any life threatening injuries.

"Kitty ya' know they would have stopped the simulation if Ah had been seriously hurt. It's the Danger Room not the DeathRoom." Rogue replied, rolling her eyes at her friend's foolish worries. She swatted her brother's concerned hands away from her and hoisted herself to her feet. Wincing slightly as she put weight on her injured leg, she began to make her way out of the Danger Room following the others headed for the changing rooms.

"Oh my God, Rogue your leg is, like, bleeding!" Rogue half turned to see her friend's horrified face as she spotted the gash on Rogues leg. "You have to go to the med bay. Like, right now!"

"Kitty, stop over-reacting. It's just a lil' cut ok? It can wait till Ah've had a shower at least."

"Rogue that really isn't a little cut. Kitty's right, you should go to med bay and get Dr McCoy to look at it."

"I will, as soon as Ah've had a shower." Rogue was growing increasingly tired of Kurt and Kitty's concerns. The cut wasn't that bad in her opinion, she had seen worse and it was barely even bleeding now. A quick shower would be fine; Dr McCoy would need to wash the damn thing before he could do anything anyway.

"Bitte schwester, for your brother?" ("Please sister,...) Rogue stared at Kurt for a minute, studying his face. Finally she let out her breath in a sigh, he wasn't going to leave her be till she agreed to go.

"Fine, you win. Ah'll go." Though she would never fully show it, she really did care a lot for Kurt. Even if he was only her foster brother, he was still the closest thing to family she had apart from Logan, but that was different.

"Okay, hold tight," a beaming Kurt placed his hands on her shoulders ready to teleport her to med bay.

"No Kurt, wait! Ah..." She felt the familiar tugging sensation of Kurt's power as he ported them both into the med bay, the stench of the smoke he created on re-entry wafted around them. Swatting the air in front of her Rogue turned on Kurt.

"Ya know that was completely unnecessary. Ah am perfectly capable of walking!" Kurt only offered her a sheepish smile as an apology before disappearing in another puff of smoke which left Rogue coughing and swatting the new smoke with renewed vigour. In an attempt to escape the smell of rotten eggs, Rogue shuffled backwards a few feet bumping into a large blue figure, also known as Dr Henry McCoy. He was carrying a tray filled with bandages, plasters and disinfectants, among other medical things.

"Ah, Rogue. Logan told me to expect you down here. Just take a seat on the bed and we'll get you sorted out now." He pointed to the nearest bed and put the tray down on the little table next to it. Rogue lifted herself onto the soft mattress while Dr McCoy wheeled a chair over for him to sit on as he worked.

"Now, which leg is it?" he asked wielding cotton wool and the disinfectant bottle. Rogue groaned before turn on the bed slightly to give the doctor better access to her injury.

Ok next chapter should be up next week but I am getting ready to go back to college now so it might be late.

Aza x