"Look Kitty, believe it or not we've actually get formed a close bond." Rogue said. "And god knows how but we're actually friends."
Rogue attempted to explain, though there was really no way of explaining the whole truth of her relationship with Erik to Kitty without either freaking her out, or Kitty thinking it was a joke, or Kitty being horrified and disgusted.
"Jubilee said you guys had your arms around each other." Kitty pointed out.
"We were hugging Kitty, so what?" Rogue snapped defensively.
Kitty put her hands up defensively. "Hey try and keep it cool Rogue, I'm only asking because it seems a bit odd."
"He's my friend, friends sometimes touch each other." Rogue pointed out. "I know the idea of someone touching the Reaper is difficult to imagine, but rest assured Kitty it happens."
"No, no-" Kitty tried to protest. "That's honestly not what I meant Rogue, I just thought it was odd because it was Magneto doing the hugging, not because it was you being hugged."
Rogue's eyes narrowed angrily. "So what?" The comment was nearly shouted. "Who cares Kitty? We happen like each other!"
"You've done nothing wrong my dear." Erik's psyche assured her. "But Miss Pryde won't understand, try and be patient."
A wave of smoothness washed over Rogue as she listened to his voice.
Kitty took a step back. "Rogue really there's no reason to get so ticked, I was just curious really."
Rogue blinked, slowly becoming aware of what this looked like to Kitty. A friend that was getting worked up over something she didn't understand because she didn't have the whole picture.
'And I am sure as hell not going to give the whole picture to her so I might as well calm down, getting worked up is only going to make her more suspicions.'
Slowly Rogue in-haled and ex-haled a number of times. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to shout Kit-Kat, that's just me being defensive and insecure."
Kitty hesitantly took a step forward, and it vaguely reminded Rogue of a scared child taking baby steps toward a dark scary room.
"That-that's OK Rogue. It happens to us all, especially us teenagers." Kitty sat back on the bed.
"But, you really have grown close to him haven't you?" She asked. "I'm mean from the way you got all defensive."
Rogue nodded. "Yeah, I have." She stared her friend in the eye, searching for the right words. "I don't know how to explain it exactly, but I like him, I really do. Sure he infuriates me plenty, and I kind of irritate him, but I admire him, and enjoy his company."
'A lot.' She added in her mind.
"Well that's a little bit weird I'll admit, I'm just surprised you found a friend in him." Kitty got off the bed and made her way to the door.
"But I'm probably making a big deal over nothing." Kitty said hesitantly. "It was just a hug, and Jubilee's gossip, who cares? I mean it's not like anything else happened."
Rogue tried her best to smile. 'Oh, lord Kitty if only you knew, and I'm certainly not going to tell you. I want my business to stay my business.'
Even after Kitty left Rogue's mind still lingered on their conversation. Why on Earth had she gotten so worked up? She didn't feel guilty, certainly not. She didn't feel any anxiety either. She was just angry, and why had Kitty's questions seemed so much like accusations? Damned if she knew.
Rogue didn't go to dinner last night, she was much too lost in thought, and by the time dinner occurred to her it was nearly 10:00 at night.
She sighed and sat up. "It's not like I need dinner anyway." She reasoned. "Why do I feel this way?" Rogue asked herself out loud. "So empty." She mumbled.
"You are acting this way because you are not very accustomed to caring deeply for someone else after your recent experiences. Perhaps that is because you've never found anything you like this much to become defensive over." Magneto's psyche attempted to give some insight.
"And by "experiences" you mean the Apocalypse incidents?" Rogue asked aloud.
"Actually I was referring to your mother's betrayal."
"Which time?!" Rogue hissed as her attitude suddenly changed at the mention of Mystique. "And the blue bitch of the west is not my mother."
A light chuckle echoed through Rogue's mind. "Your choice of words is amusing dear, but has it ever crossed your mind that Mystique genuinely cares for you?"
"Bullshit!" Rogue hissed angrily. "Genuinely cares for my powers maybe."
"Perhaps you should search her memories, then you would know for certain her feelings towards you."
Rogue's eyebrows crinkled together angrily. "Screw that Erik, I'm going to bed. I don't want to fish around in the crayon bitch's memories."
"I wonder if you will feel that way once she's made contact with you again."
"I hope I never find out." Rogue sighed as she pulled the covers over her head.
The week passed by the X-Men with surprising speed as students got grumpier and arguments in court seemed to be coming to an end. Professor Xavier did reveal information to the congress as planned, who had no choice but to expel Senator Creed and shut down his factory, shortly after that the former Senator disappeared. Magneto and Wolverine seemed convinced Creed was buying his time and creating more mutant hunting devices. Rogue would have been inclined to disagree, if not for Bolivar Task's sudden disappearance as well. It seemed too much to hope that they were killed by one of their many enemies.
As for the students, tempers were heating up. Everyone seemed to be at each others throats despite their win in court. Sunfire and Berzerker tore apart half of the eastern gate over what was described as a "KFC Drumstick Theft". Tabitha had thrown one of her mini bombs at Rahne, who shifted into a wolf and very nearly ripped Tabitha's arm off. And last but not least, all of the New Mutants were involved in a morning riot that caused the destruction of the dining room table. Luckily Magneto and Beast broke up the fight, and when asked for and explanation the New Mutants boldly replied that there wasn't nearly enough bacon. Magneto's comment of how "irrationally idiotic" that was didn't help the situation when several of the male students proclaimed "You don't shit around about your bacon Magsy."
Also Jubilee's gossip had reached the majority of the institute. Apparently the idea of their field leader hugging Magneto of all the people was worth talking about for days on end. Jamie had even came to Rogue in distress about how he hoped Magneto wasn't trying to sway her to his side.
All together it had been a stressful week all around.
Unfortunately for Rogue stress had moved out of her mind and something much worse took residence.
"OOOhhhhh my god I have a date!" Rogue groaned as she opened her wardrobe and tried to desperately search for something. She glanced at the clock. 6:15, she had forty five minutes.
"And I have absolutely no idea what to wear." Rogue said as she started pulling outfits out. "Red?" Rogue hung up the sweater shirt in front of the mirror.
"No, no. Red is an extreme color, and this bright color makes me look like a hooker." She carelessly tossed the shirt onto the bed. Rogue continued tossing things aside until she came across a black top.
It was made of a very thin leather material with four metal buttons and metal buckles on the straps; it also had a semi-deep v in the middle of it that exposed a small bit of her cleavage. Rogue chewed on her lip.
"I'll bet if a curl my hair slightly and wore my sparkle jeans this would work." Rogue put the shirt on her dresser before retrieving her jeans that had a small bit of glitter made in, nothing to extreme.
"Perfect-o!" Rogue exclaimed as she found long opera style gloves. They were made of the same thin leather material as her shirt. This would cover most of her arms, and would match her shirt.
Rogue grinned. "Ladies and gentlemen we have a winning outfit!"
'Okay, hair curled and then tossed for semi curls, check. My purse and ID card check. I'm not nervous. Absolutely not I'm just excited.' Rogue told herself. 'I'm excited. I can't believe I'm excited.'
Rogue smiled as she made her way into the foyer. Magneto was already there. Rogue took a moment to admire his attire. Black slacks a light blue button down dress shirt with a black vest over it. The blue matched his eyes perfectly, and the black aided him in setting off his pale eyes and hair.
"I didn't know you had fashion sense." Rogue said as she came up from behind him. Magneto turned around and chuckled.
"I could say the same about you." Magneto said as he ran his finger across her gloved arm. "The darker colors look rather exquisite compared to your fair skin."
"You really can be the sweet talker when you want to." Rogue commented.
Magneto smirked. "You're not wearing nearly as much make-up; I do believe that suits you better in any case." It was true, Rogue was only wearing eye liner and a small bit of mascara.
Rogue blushed slightly at the compliment. "Thank you, Erik."
"You quite welcome, dear." Magneto stared her down for a minute. "Rogue this is a date, would you mind if I referred to you by your real name?"
Rogue blinked, clearly taken back. "I wouldn't mind I guess, if you want to. I would have thought you preferred to call people by their mutant names."
"Not always." He answered.
"Do you even know my name?" Rogue asked with a grin.
"I was hoping you'd do me the great honor of telling me. Charles once mentioned that none of the X-Men had any idea what it was."
"Anna. Anna Marie Darkholme."
Magneto gently twirled her white lock for a moment. "Anna-Marie seems to suit you so much better." He commented aloud. Yes it certainly did, it was better than Rogue, with her southern accent and deep green eyes.
"Should we be leaving then, Anna?" He asked. Rogue nodded. "I've never had a chance to see your car." Rogue mentioned as he opened the front door for her.
"Speaking of your car where is it?" Rogue asked as she scanned the empty front lawn.
"Actually dear, we'll be flying, it's much faster." Magneto replied, and with one quick motion they were both in the air, high above the mansion.
"Ahhhh!" Rogue shouted at the sudden movement. "God, Erik trying to give me a bloody heart attack!" She exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around her neck.
"We couldn't take a car to your warehouse?" Rogue asked. Magneto shook his head as he used his levitation and speed to move quickly through the night.
"We're mutants dear, why not fly? And in any case we are not going to my warehouse, Anna."
Rogue raised her eyebrow. "So then we're going to your base in the Sahara?" She asked.
"Try again." He ordered. "Use that interesting mind of yours and go through my memory, I have several bases, were going to the one made specifically for my equipment."
Rogue glared slightly, but with no real heat behind it. Slowly she closed her eyes and concentrated, first feeling for Magneto's psyche, then gently prying. He didn't offer any resistance as she entered.
The most recent memories flashed before her. He had been tempted to never allow the New Mutants bacon again, and force them run danger room courses all day, and if it wasn't for them having school he might have.
He was pleased when the government completely shut down the factory, but at the same time concerned about what Creed was up to.
Magneto had three bases in Bayville and at least one on every continent, even Antarctica. All of which contained high tech equipment, but only one was purely devoted to his creations as an engineer. Rogue kept seeing flashes of the base itself, not where it was located.
Rogue's eyes squeezed shut as she concentrated harder.
Water. The area was completely surrounded by water. Then there was the feeling a huge object singing to him. It was mad of copper and iron.
"New York City." Rogue said as she opened her eyes. "You're taking us very close to the statue of Liberty."
"Very good Anna Marie." Magneto praised. "If you look on now you can see the city lights."
"My base is underwater, but I designed it to be very easy to raise and float on water itself. It's about a mile and a half from the Statue of Liberty."
"Can we stop off there?" Rogue asked. "Not many people have every gotten to stand top of the statue."
Magneto smiled. "If you insist, we could do a bit of sightseeing."
"As long as you promise not to throw me off of it." Rogue added jokingly.
"I wouldn't as long as you don't pick a fight."
"Nahhh." Rogue said with a grin. "Our fight would probably damage the country's most valuable monument."
Magneto shook his head.
"Actually that would be kind of funny. I could aim a blow at you and accidentally take of Lady Liberty's head, or torch." Rogue giggled.
"Glad to see you find damaging a prized monument so amusing Anna."
"Well it would be funny."
Magneto shook his head once more, this time in his own amusement.
Please Review! And don't worry, I plan on finishing up the date in the next chapter, I promise I won't cut their date short.
Preview of the Next Chapter: Erik and Anna finish up their date with a special surprise at the end, and Professor Xavier and Rogue continue training her mind, while Jubilee's gossip increases through the mansion.
Angelpain07: I plan on keeping their secret a little more secret for at least another few chapters before we see some real reactions. Thanks for your review!
Christa4ever: Thanks for your support. I decided to hold back on Kitty finding out the whole truth for a while, I wanted Rogue and Erik to bond a little bit more first before the whole mansion finds out.
darksaber92: Thanks for your review!
1983Sarah: Thanks for your review, glad you liked the chapter!
Marigab: Your so right about how people react to their relationship in the comics, most writers try to avoid that. Thanks for your advice, and you are making sense. Thanks for your review!
Ophelia193: Thanks for your review!