Chapter 3:
The pain is indescribable. The best Ah can do is compare it to a feeling lahke your head is gonna explode unless you relieve some of the pressure. All common sense goes rahght aht the window and you resort to animal instincts. Clawing, grabbing, tryin' to get at whatever it is that's causing the pain to make it go away. But the pain's insahde mah head where Ah can't get at it. All Ah can do is wait for the release and hope that it will come eventually.
The silence of an empty alleyway near the cafe was suddenly broken by the "bamphf" of Rogue reappearing. With her hands still holding her head in pain, she staggered against the rough brick wall at her side for support. She remained leaning against it for a while, quiet tears streaming down her cheeks, her mind silent. Eventually, the pains in her head began to fade and her tears calmed until they were both gone.
"Remy?" Rogue's mind whispered weakly.
"Remy still here chere." His voice replied softly.
"What happened to me?" She asked as she lowered her hands from her head and hugged herself.
"Yo' needed to ge' away, so Remy brought down dhe barriors dhat keep dhe ot'ers comin' t'rough so yo' could use dheir borrowed powers." He explained, a strange soothing sensation sweeping through her as he spoke. "Dhe chargin' of dhe beads so dhey exploded was anot'er one of Remy's powers."
"Ah teleported." Rogue murmured. "Hah is that possible? It's been hours since Ah last touched Kurt and even longer since Ah last touched you. Whah do Ah still have both your powers?"
"Yo' keep all dhe powers from dhe ones yo' absorb jus' as yo' keep dheir memories. Dhey're harder to draw out dhough and get pushed back into the subconcious very quickly." Remy told her as her vision cleared and she was once again able to get her bearings.
"Good, then Ah can use Logan's healing powers so that not so much of me hurts." Rogue muttered.
"Remy don' t'ink dhat be a good idea chere." He warned her. "You don' have enough control yet."
"Look, who is whose head?" She snapped back at him. "Now are ya gonna help me or do Ah have to do it on mah own?"
"Okay. Remy will help yo', but jus' remember dhat he warned yo'."
"Fahne. Whatever." She replied irritably. She heard Remy give a sigh and then nothing. Then everything was pain. Her entire world suddenly became white hot pain. She fell to her knees with an agonising scream and clutched her head which, by pure instinct, she knew was where the pain was coming from. "Remy! Make it stop!" She screamed silently as she just screamed outside. In a flash, the pain was gone. "What...What the Hell was that?" Rogue gasped as she shakily got back to her feet
"Dhat was wha' Remy was tryin' to warn yo' 'bout chere. Unless dhe person be near dhe front, it takes more effor' and control to ge' dhem to come forward. Dhe more effor' and control dhat needs to be put in, dhe more it hurts." He explained gently. "Dhe Wolverine be pretty far back in your mind chere and even wit' yo' wanting to bring him forward, it's gon' take a lot of effort and even more control to safely brin' him forward enough to use his abilities. But, wit' practice, you can learn dhe control and brin' dhem forward wit'out hurtin' yourself and dhen use dhem at your will."
"If it's gonna hurt that bad, Ah'm not sure Ah wanna bother." Rogue groaned, her head still resting in her hand. "Anyway, Ah don't wanna think abaht it nah. All Ah want is to lay down somewhere warm and soft and sleep for the next six months. But don't think this is getting ya off the hook Remy LeBeau! The moment Ah'm feeling better, Ah want answers abaht what just happened and Ah mean everything, not just the stuff abaht me."
Rogue reached the end of the alley and glanced to her sides to make sure everything was safe. Satisfied that she wouldn't be jumped or anything, she stepped out of the shadows of the alley and began to make her way back to the school on uncertain legs.
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At The School:
The afternoon lessons at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters were cancelled and the majority of the students were sent out to search for Rogue. The Professor was still in Cerebro and the only contact he'd made was to instruct the teachers to send out search parties to all of Rogue's known favourite places. Logan, impatient as ever, had gone back out to scour the neighbourhood for any sign of her. After hours of having no luck, he gave up and went back to the school, only to find all the teachers, now also joined by Kurt and Hank, were still waiting outside of Cerebro.
"Still nothing?" Logan asked as he approached them. Jean shook her head in reply.
"I don't understand why it's taking him so long." Ororo sighed, staring down at her shoes.
"It took so long because I wasn't able to find her." The Professor said as the doors of Cerebro opened and he came out.
"What do you mean you weren't able to find her?" Logan asked in an overly controlled voice.
"I can't trace her. She just doesn't seem to be anywhere." The Professor sighed.
"But that isn't possible unless she's..." Jean left the sentence hanging. A heavy blanket of dread suddenly filled the atmosphere as they each realised what Jean hadn't said.
"I'm going back out there." Logan grunted, turning to stalk off down the corridor.
"I was wondering Professor." Hank spoke up causing Logan to stop out of curiosity. "Could your attempts to locate Rogue be hindered because of the presence of a mental illness?"
"I don't know, but it may be a possibility. Why do you ask Hank?" The Professor inquired.
"Well, from the events which were described to me by those who were there, Rogue seems to be displaying some of the early syptoms of schizophrenia." Hank answered.
"That's impossible." Logan dismissed. "Rogue isn't going mad."
"I'm not saying she is. I am merely saying that it's a likely possibility that we must consider..." Hank started to say but was cut off by Logan's claws suddenly springing out a little too close to his face.
"Marie is not turning into a nut case." Logan growled angrily. "And if I want your opinion, I'll ask for it 'Hank'."
"Logan, that's enough..." Scott said stepping towards him but stopped dead when Logan glared at him.
"Keep out of this Scooter." He warned darkly as his eyes moved back onto Hank. Before anything else could happen though, the sound of the lowering lift reached their ears. The three men quickly got into natural positions before a girl came into view. They all watched her as she approached them, making her feel a little self-concious.
"Sorry to interrupt." She said politely as she reached them.
"That's quite all right Amara." The Professor assured her.
"I just thought you might want to know that Rogue's back."
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Back With Rouge:
Rogue had half listened to Remy explain things as she had walked back to the school. He told her that using the powers of others in her mind needed a great deal of control which she didn't have at the moment. The reason it had hurt so much when she teleported was because her mind wasn't used to bringing such large chunks of people forward so quickly. She'd need to develop her control a lot more so when she did want to use another's powers, she could bring them forward more slowly, thusly dispelling the pain. He also said something about being able to keep the blocks up while she slept but only being able to do it for a few hours at a time. From what Rogue picked up, it was too great a strain on her mind to support Remy for a whole night since the sub-concious is so much more active while you sleep. She'd only be able to sleep for four hours at the most before having to wake up to give her mind time to rest. She didn't really care about that part though. She was just so thankful for the hope of getting some sleep for any number of hours.
When Rogue reached the front gates of the school, she had, every intention of simply sneaking back in and heading straight to her room and crawling into bed. However, her intentions obviously didn't count for anything because the moment Kitty and Jubilee saw her they started hovering around her like over-protective mothers. They had instantly ushered her into the sitting room and began "taking care of her" as they liked to put it. Rogue liked to call it "poking her in tender spots and dabbing at her with cotton wool balls", which was what they were doing now. Jubilee was cleaning the cut she had got when she hit the corner of the table while Kitty was trying to examine her without actually touching her.
"Ugh, I can't believe some people! I mean, so what if you're a mutant? Doesn't mean you've got some contageous disease which is gonna wipe out the entire human population." Jubilee muttered, refering to the lie Rogue had told them. Instead of telling the truth she had simply said she was attacked by a group of mutant haters. The truth was too complicated to explain and she didn't have the energy right at that moment. "I mean, what kind of world do we live in where it isn't even safe for a normal looking mutant to walk along the street without getting jumped?" She continued to rant as she got a fresh cotton ball from the bag beside her and dipped it into the large bowl of lukewarm water that was resting on Rogue's lap.
"Someone did go and get the Professor right?" Kitty checked in order to stop Jubilee from going into a human rights speech. As if taking cue from Kitty's words, Kurt suddenly teleported into the room. Unfortunately, the sudden appearance startled Jubilee who jumped back a little and bumped into Rogue, upsetting the bowl of water and also knocking into her tender side.
"Jubilee!" Rogue hissed with a gasp of pain and dismay as the bowl overturned and completely soaked her from the stomach downwards.
"Oh, I'm sorry Rogue! Let me get you a towel." Jubilee insisted before quickly running out of the room. Rogue wrinkled her nose in distaste at her now soaked lower body. She was still looking down at her wet clothes when she felt someones eyes on her. Slowly, she shifted her gaze up to meet that of Kurt's.
"Vhat happened?" He gasped, a concerned and horrified expression on his face. Rogue dropped her eyes to her lap, her hair falling around her to cover her face as she did, and didn't answer. She felt so guilty about what had happened that morning still and she couldn't being herself to continue looking at him when he was so concerned about her. It made her feel too bad.
"She got jumped by a bunch of anti-mutant jerks." Kitty answered for Rogue thinking her friend wasn't answering herself out of embarrassment. "I'm gonna get another bowl of water." She informed them both as she took the bowl from beside Rogue and left the room. Rogue discreetly watched Kitty go before tilting her head up a little and looking up at Kurt from behind her hair.
"Ah'm sahrry." Rogue murmured, her gaze falling back down to her lap.
"For vhat?" Kurt asked gently.
"This mornin'. Ah'm sahrry Ah knocked you aht."
"Oh, it's quite all right. It vas as much my fault. I misjudged vhere I entered. Plus, I vas just being nosey. You know vhat a snoop I can be." He replied with a smile. Rogue peeked up at him and gave a small smile in return and for that moment, everything was fine. And then:
"Marie!" Logan's voice came as he and the other teachers came in and that was the pleasant moment over. Rogue gave a silent groan and got to her feet, wincing a little as her side ached. Unfortunately, the wince didn't escape the teachers and the scent of her blood didn't escape Logan.
"Oh Rogue...!" Ororo gushed as she and Jean moved up to the younger girl and took over Kitty's and Jubilee's previous job of fussing over her.
"What happened to you?" Scott asked while Jean inspected the cut on the side of her head.
"Attacked by some mutant haters." Rogue answered, keeping her head down.
"You're lying." Logan instantly accused causing everyone except Rogue to turn to him in surprise.
"What makes you say that?" Jean questioned.
"I can smell it all over her." He stated bluntly, causing Rogue to blush behind her hair. All eyes went back to her in anticipation of her reply.
"Rogue?" Ororo prompted her. Rogue scrunched her eyes shut as a dull throb began to ache in her head and took in a deep breath before speaking.
"Ah ain't lyin'." She insisted though her voice sounded nervous and uncertain.
"You are Marie. Now, tell us what really happened." Logan ordered. He moved up so that he stood right in front of Rogue, but then she did something which shocked them all, including herself; She flinched away from him. Rogue felt the several pairs of staring eyes on her and the painful throb in her head increased, as did her uneasiness at Logan's proximity.
"Chere, try an' calm down. Blocks are harder to maintain when yo' panic and dhere be some homme in here who be scared of dhe Wolverine." Remy told her.
"Who is it?" Rogue asked out of curiosity.
"Dunno, but if you don' chill, yo' gon' feel a lot like him in a minute." He informed her.
"Ugh, Ah can't deal with all this at the moment." She groaned silently, only too aware of everyone's eyes still on her. "Ain't there any way to get out of it?"
"Don' worry chere. Remy go' jus' de t'ing. Whatever you feel in dhe next few seconds, jus' go wit' it, kay?" He instructed. A couple of seconds later, Rogue felt the undeniable urge to cry. Of course! For a young girl to get out of any awkward situation, play the sympathy card and turn on the water works. So, following Remy's instruction, Rogue went with the feeling and promptly burst into tears. Then, just to add effect to the poor little girl routine, she threw herself forward into Logan's arms.
Everyone continued to stare at her, still completely stunned. Such a sudden display of emotion was definately not normal for Rogue, especially one so unprovoked and intense. Plus, the fact she had gone straight to Logan conflicted with her flinching away from him only a moment ago. Logan was probably the most shocked of them all. He knew Rogue had genuingly been afraid of him. He had smelt the fear on her. He could still smell it. Yet he was the one who she'd gone to for comfort. Rogue was indeed still feeling anxious about being around Logan but she had gone to him for two reasons. Reason one: To spite herself, she couldn't deny she had missed him while he had been gone. Reason two: It was an extra kick in the teeth for the guy who was trying to weedle his way into her conciousness. Rogue also found that the crying was actually a good release for all the stress and tension in her system and was making her feel a little better.
"I think any further questions should be kept for another time. One when we're all feeling a lot calmer." The Professor eventually suggested to which Rogue gave a mental cheer.
"Dhere you go chere. One awkward situation avoided." Remy grinned.
"How'd you know that'd work?" She queried.
"Remy got a younger sister." He told her. "If anyone gon' know 'bout dhese t'ings it's Remy. Dhey been used on him of'en enough."
Rogue held back a mental laugh at the thought of Remy being manipulated so easily by a little girl but continued to cry on the outside. She became aware of someone gently pulling her away from Logan's chest and she backed away semi-willingly. She then felt a pair of arms come around her the and the shape of the pressure from the hands on her hips told her she was now in the arms on Kurt. Then, all there was, was the familiar nothingness of teleporting.