1
By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes
– MacBeth
"Well, well, well. If it ain't old scruffy."
Wolverine looked up to see a young woman hovering above him. He'd heard the voice, he'd recognized it, but the information his memory and present visuals supplied didn't compute. "Rogue?" he asked disbelieving.
Her small foot touched down on the broken concrete just a few yards away from him. "That's right sugah, you don't seem happy to see me?" Her pout was almost pretty. If only her skin weren't so pale and her eyes didn't drip with kohl.
Logan looked her over with a wary eye. She was dressed in one of those tight, black numbers he remembered the X-Men wearing. Hers looked like it had been through a few wars and her jacket hung haphazardly on her frame. There was also something about her eyes. They were dull, and sunken in. Rogue was only a shadow of the young woman he had known.
A steady drip from the ceiling above caused him to move to the side to avoid it.
Rogue noticed.
"The old place ain't what she use to be," she chuckled mirthlessly.
"What happened to this place?" Logan asked. The once glorious Mutant School Mansion sat on the countryside landscape looking like a looted grave. Gone were the stately gardens and gabled roof. What was left was a shell with whole sections missing, rooms obviously destroyed by fire and an interior that looked like it had been hit with a wrecking ball. The beautiful marbled floor he remembered looked like shattered glass and the exquisite stain glass window Xavier had specially flown in from Italy was no more.
"Ah guess that's what happens when you don't call home." Her chin started to tremble just for a moment before she caught herself.
"Where is everyone? The professor? Cyke? Jean? All the kids?"
Rogue lifted off the ground only to glide backwards towards the crumbling stairs. She moved into a sitting position on a step, one leg tucked up so she could rest her chin on her knee and the other one stretched out before her. "Dead?" she shrugged. "Who knows, they left a long time ago."
"How long?"
"What is it with you Scruffy? All these questions about everything but what you really want to know!" Her face flushed underneath her Goth style make up.
Logan took a step backwards, looking up at the gaping hole in the roof above him. Frayed wires, broken off piping and pealed sheet rock dangled precariously from the torn edges. What had happened here? He thought. What had happened to Rogue? "God, it looks like someone went nuclear in here."
She laughed again, a sound he was beginning to dislike. "Got it in one," her voice dripped with sarcasm.
She rose off the floor again and it suddenly hit him that she could fly. He'd realized it from the start actually; it was just his mind unable to take it all in at once that made him ignore it. It was much easier to concentrate on the obvious destruction around him.
Logan sniffed the air for a moment sensing a familiar yet faded odor. "Magneto?" He asked as she floated toward him.
Rogue edged her way into Logan's personal space, stopping just short of him. He could feel the warmth missing from her and her face reminded him of a cold marble mask.
"Me," she whispered, so close to him he felt her breath against his face.
Logan blinked.
She stood challenging him, eyes boring in to his, her lovely mouth set to a grim line. Rogue bent her head so that her chin was down and she stared up at him through her eyebrows. Logan was confused, bewildered and unnerved. Just when he thought he'd need to defend himself – she whispered. "Get out of here."
It took a moment for him to register what she'd said.
"Get out of here now."
Logan unconsciously took a step backward. Only it was too late. He felt as if he'd just turned into a statue, feet frozen to the floor, arms ramrod straight on either side of him. Then suddenly his claws unsheathed themselves. Logan stared at Rogue in horror, while she looked at him with such dispassion and indifference. The only other time he'd felt this way was that fateful night back in New York. Along with the X-Men he had tried to stop a mad man and save a young girl's life.
Now to his horror the madman gracefully floated out of the sky landing next to that young girl. Only she wasn't a young girl anymore. "Wolverine, it's been a very long time," Magneto said jovially. He then looked toward Rogue, nodding.
Without a word or even a change in expression Rogue pulled off her gloves and raised her bare hands up to Logan's face. Her fingertips hovered, a hairsbreadth from his face. For a moment their eyes locked and Logan could swear he saw her soften. Something inside of her was fighting, punching its way to the surface. She didn't want to do this, he could tell. Silently he screamed at her to fight it, not give in.
"Rogue, darling," Magneto sounded like a father chastising a child.
No sooner were the words out of his mouth, then the ember in Rogue's eyes faded and she snapped back into a trance.
The feel of her skin was the last thing Logan registered before pain and darkness swallowed him whole.
2
We boil at different degrees. - Emerson
A million knives pierced Logan's skin, making him gasp for each breath he took. His lungs burned from the effort and when he tried to move white hot pain shot up to the back of his eyes exploding like tiny firecrackers. Then he realized he was cold, he was intensely cold. That's why he felt like he'd been stabbed. He moved slightly and the pain shifted to an even more exquisite level.
He opened his eyes, but could see nothing. It was a lonely darkness, one born of solitude and despair. Darkness so thick and heavy he knew without a doubt he was dead. And his death held a bitterness he hadn't expected to taste.
Rogue had killed him. The young girl, whom he'd left so long ago, left her with those whom he trusted. Who he knew would take good care of her - in a way he would never be able to. Or so Logan had told himself as he hoped on Scott's motorcycle and headed toward tomorrow.
"You're not dead."
The voice startled him making him jump in his skin. A loud click reverberated though the room bringing with it light and more pain. Logan blinked rapidly trying to adjust to the harsh change. He tried to bring his hand up to shield his over taxed eyes but found he couldn't move. Frustration turned him limp as he stopped his struggle. For a moment he waited, lying still till his eyes no longer burned. Slowly he opened them adjusted to the room. With a groan he turned his head to look in the direction of the voice. There, not more than four feet away, Rogue sat on a metal ledge that came out of the wall. Her knees were drawn up tight against her chest and her hair hung like a wet curtain matted against her forehead.
They stared at each other for a moment. Logan still trying to reconcile in his mind that this person before him was someone he once knew, cared about. "What's happened to me?" he asked.
At first he didn't think she'd answer, it was as if she'd shriveled back into herself. "You were running a fever so they put you in the tub."
It was then Logan realized all those knives he felt, the cold, the wet; he was lying in the middle of ice. He looked around seeing the small metal room. "Fever?" he didn't believe her. "Get me out of here Rogue."
"Can't." she whispered.
"Why the hell not?" He yelled. The vein in his forehead throbbed.
Rogue stiffened, looking like a small animal caught in the headlights of a train. Logan lowered his voice trying to calm his anger, "Why not Marie?" He tried her name, maybe that would snap her out of this, this, what ever it was she was in.
Instead she bolted. Ran out of the room like he'd slapped her.
Logan screamed in protest pulling at his restraints and then collapsed unconscious.
6 – Months earlier
Rogue was getting tired; these little trips to the danger room were getting her nowhere. Xavier said she needed to learn to work with her fellow X-Men as a team. Her reliance on them as well as theirs' on her could be crucial to survival in a battle. She needed to be in tiptop shape learning all the ins and outs. Which was fine with her only she was anxious for the professor to help her in other ways. Professor X said he'd help her learn to control her mutant powers. Everyone else could control their abilities, why couldn't she?
Enough of that she thought. Right now self-pity and annoyance were a hindrance, she need to kick some serious butt at the moment. Particularly a rather large butt that belonged to the newest 'gifted' member of the school. Miss Carol Danvers or as she was known among the masses - Ms. Marvel and what a marvel she was, her abilities were extraordinary strength and fight. Not to mention she had taken an instant dislike to Rogue and a personal quest for Bobby Drake.
Rogue dropped to her knees as a flash of ice raced past her head. Her eyes narrowed. "All right now Bobby, you're this close to ending up on mah hit list."
"Sorry about that Rogue," Bobby apologized. He was trying to perfect his ice slide.
"Think fast Rogue!" Carol shouted as she threw a large piece of concrete her way.
She almost didn't make the dodge in time. The chunk sailed by her head and clipped Jubilee.
"Damnit Carol that hurt!" Jubilee wasn't happy either.
Yes Rogue had just had enough; she looked up in the direction of the observation window. She couldn't see Scott sitting at the controls since the current simulation's backdrop concealed it. Still she knew exactly were he was. "Hey Cyke, you're killin me here! Can we switch to basic maneuvers?"
Jubilee jumped to Rogue's side. "Yeah I'm tired of this free for all."
"What's wrong Rogue can't take the pressure?" Carol asked in the bright, blonde way she had about her.
Before Rogue could come up with a decent reply Scott had changed the program to a basic training obstacle course complete with moving targets, them. Rogue smiled, she was up for this. Her powers didn't extend the way Bobby's did where he could turn something to ice or make himself his own personal tract and get away from the 'bad guys'. Nor did she have the explosive power Jubilee did, setting chargers off and creating a distraction. To top it off she didn't have the ability to lift 2-ton blocks of cement and fly around the room with it like Ms. Marvel. Instead she'd developed the power to take away from people, particularly their life force. Only she had to connect with them on a flesh-to-flesh basis. Lucky her. So she had to rely on her natural agility and strength to get her out of bad spots.
Bobby maneuvered easily around a swinging, metal bridge jumping over the next level bar as a swinging pendulum tried to knock him over. Next it was Carol's turn with Rogue following close behind. Rogue had dodged the swinging pendulum with minimal effort, sliding between its strokes. Confident she could make it the rest of the way she jumped up on the rope netting and scrambled her way to the top. Once there she dropped to the other side. Rogue would have ducked if she had realized she needed to, but Carol's body obstructed her view of the stun bolt that was headed her way. She watched – a split second in time, Carol ducked to the right and before Rogue could react she felt the heat of the shot enter her right shoulder. It threw her backwards off the platform and skidded her across the floor until she came to rest in a corner.
Disdain dripped from Ms. Marvel's eyes. She had a way of making Rogue feel like a little girl playing dress up with her mommy's clothes.
"What's the matter Rogues did the big bad machine hurt you?" Ms. Marvel asked as she waited for Rogue to pick herself off the floor of the danger room.
"Rogue, are you all right?" Bobby asked as he ran toward her.
She let him wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth. "Ahm fine," she answered
"You really should have tried harder to duck," Ms. Marvel's voice took on the irritating quality of static feedback over an intercom -high pitched and squealing like a stuck pig.
"Ah would've if your big 'ol ass hadn't gotten in mah way!"
3
Words not only affect us temporarily; they change us, they socialize or unsocialize us. - David Riesman
Present Day
Hours, maybe days later Logan finally regained consciousness enough to fully awaken. He'd been removed from the tub of ice and laid out on a medical bed. One thing was an improvement - he could move, slightly. He raised his hands and saw they were mottled with black and blue marks. His knuckles ached as if he'd just punched through marble. He tested the claws; they flew out of him like warm butter. Only when he tried to retract them did he find resistance. For a few moments Logan struggled trying to sheath the metal. It was a struggle but then he'd finally managed to do it.
"You've been to see him haven't you?" Magneto's voice boomed in the moderately sized room. "I'm disappointed in you Rogue," he made a disapproving noise. "What did you hope to accomplish?"
She looked at him trying to beat down the feeling of dread, hating the power he seemed to have on her; it wasn't natural. Still it was all she had, all she deserved after everything she'd done. "Ah wanted to see if he'd die," her casual reply felt hollow.
The answer seemed to mollify the man before her. "Wolverine seems to be a very resilient fellow." Magneto moved across the room, closing the space between them. "It was a pity the experiment didn't work. But I guess separating the man from the metal was just too much to hope for. Now we'll have to kill him."
"No!" Rogue said a little too quickly. "You could always use him to find Xavier," the other half of her offered.
Rogue bit her tongue hard in an effort to keep herself straight. Her other consciousness was trying to push her way to the forefront. Rogue alone would never have said that, not in a million years.
"Now Rogue." He tilted her chin with his finger. "Dear sweet Rogue. Or was that Ms. Marvel who suggested that?"
She hated the way he talked to her; she hated being near the man. His voice, his smell, everything about him made her want to retch.
"They haven't come for you, have they?" He asked.
Magneto had her there. Rogue felt the tears prick her eyes. She blinked refusing to let them fall. "That's different," she whispered.
"Ahh yes, I guess Xavier did take it rather personally when you single handedly destroyed his life's work." Magneto looked down at her with the disdain one has when they've just stepped in something unpleasant. "He was always such a stickler that way." The older man stared at her, weighing her soul in his balance. "If not for me you'd be dead," he hissed. Magneto brought his gloved hand to rest on her head.
"I am the only one who wants you."
"Stay, stay over there," Rogue commanded.
Logan grunted before he did as she asked. The room he'd been placed in resembled a lunch box, both in size and in appearance. At least they'd given him a sturdy little piece of cloth stretch out on a few sticks and called it home. He watched her knowing she felt safe as long as he remained on his cot.
"Are you going to tell me what happened?" he asked.
She was arranging his meal on the ledge designed to act as a table.
"I asked you a question," his voice took on an edge to it. What he wanted most in the world was to go up to her and shake her till the old Marie showed her lovely face again. "Am I speaking English?"
"Yeah sugah, you're speakin just fine."
There was something strange about the way she answered him. It was Marie's voice, and her southern drawl, but there was an undercurrent he couldn't place. Rogue finished laying out his food and turned to him. He watched the way her hips moved as she came toward him. Since when did Rogue walk like that? She leaned over him, one hand splayed on either side of him, pushing down on the cot. The wood squeaked in protest as she brought herself closer to him, face to face just an eyelash away.
"She likes you yah know," Rogue seemed to giggle.
Logan quirked an eyebrow, Rogue never giggled. "Does she?" he asked hating the way his voice caught in his throat.
"Yes, she does. Ah can kinda see why. Although hairy men have never done a thing for me."
Rogue leaned in closer to Logan. He could feel her warm breath brush his lips. "Why can't I use my claws?" he asked trying to take his mind off the distraction in front of him.
"You sure do know how to kill a mood scruffy," Rogue laughed bitterly. She stood up and walked back toward the table. "Mags has you under lock and key. Can't have you running around ripping up the place. Or us."
"What does he want with me?" Logan asked.
Rogue smiled tightly and shrugged. "Who knows, maybe he's tired of 'ol Sabertooth and wants a new do-boy."
Logan growled. "I thought that's where you come in."
She wasn't happy with that dig. "I suggest Wolvie, if you want to live you'll do just as Magneto asks. Or I'll kill you myself," she wiggled her gloved fingers for emphasis.
Logan was speechless, he searched the face of the woman before him realizing the Rogue he once knew was no more.
6 Months Ago
"Rogue! Hey wait up, Rogue!"
Rogue turned around on her heal almost tilting off balance due to the ton of books she carried in her arms. "Hey Bobby."
The young man flashed her a bright smile. "Kurt and I are going to the movies. Jubes and Kitty are going to meet us there, wanna come?"
"Sure ah'd love too," Rogue said. Just then Carol slid in between the two of them knocked Rogue's books out of her arms.
"Bobby, our lab experiment went bust its exploded all over homeroom. We've got to go now and fix it." It wasn't until Carol finished her damsel-in-distress act did she acknowledge that fact that she'd knocked Rogue's books to the floor. "Oh Rogue, be more careful you could hurt yourself."
Bobby rolled his eyes and reached down to pick up a few books. "You okay Rogue?"
"Yeah, ahm fine."
"Bobby," Carol whined impatiently. "Storm is going to have a fit if we don't get down there now, and I intended to ace this assignment."
To Bobby's credit he looked annoyed at Carol and her catty behavior. He also looked torn; Rogue knew he needed to get the mess cleaned up. "Go on Bobby ah'll be fine," she said letting him off the hook.
Present Day
"Rogue?" Remy Labeau stepped out of the shadows.
"She's not here Cajun," Carol answered from Rogue's body. She was perched on the rim of the high wall that surrounded Magneto's lair.
"Why don you let her go? Rogue didn't mean for all this badness to happen. She belongs back with the others, not here with Mags."
Carol laughed bitterly. "It's always about Rogue, Rogue this, Rogue that. What about me? I'm the one that lost the ability to live my own life, trapped in this body."
"From where Remy be sittin da body don look half bad."
Carol reached out with one hand, grabbing the scruff of Gambit's collar. "Don't patronize me." Her teeth grinded against each other. "She's getting what she deserves."
"And Wolverine, does he deserve this too?"
Carol looked at Gambit for a moment. A sly smile colored her face as she let go of him and walked away.
5 months ago
Rogue sat on her bed carefully composing a letter. It was addressed to Logan and for the hundredth time she begged him to come home. For the hundredth time she told him she missed him and for the hundredth time she sealed the letter in an envelope and carefully filed it with the other letters she'd written him through the years.
"Watcha up to Rogue?" Jubilee asked as she dragged herself into the room they shared.
"Jus finishing up a letter."
Jubilee shook her head and smiled at Rogue. "The ever vigilant-hopeless-romantic, I see."
Rogue smiled back at her friend. "Girls gotta do something ta keep her mind busy."
Jubilee gave a very unladylike snort. "Girl what you've got to do is keep ahead of Ms. "I-am-a-goddess-worship-me" Marvel." Jubilee sunk down beside Rogue. "Like I just don't understand why you put up with that chick."
"Jubes what do you suggest I do, take of my gloves and fight her barehanded?"
"It's a start," Jubilee said hopefully.
Rogue laughed a mixture of dark delight and disbelief. "Jubes, she's not worth the effort it would take ta reach out and grab her."
At that moment Kitty appeared in their room. "Hey kids. I'll be outta your hair in a minute, just stopped by to get something."
The door opened and Carol stepped inside. "Yah know Kitty, not all of us can walk through walls," Carol said with a huff. She had a large cup of cola in her hand and drank greedily from it.
"Oh my gawd," Jubilee feigned surprise. "There is something Ms. Marvel can't do. Who'd a thought?"
"Ha, ha very funny," Carol pouted.
Rogue shook her head suddenly developing a headache. She carefully put the lid on her letterbox.
"What's that Rogues?" Carol asked, grabbing the box away from Rogue.
Rogue reached for it only to have Carol hold it up over her head. "Awe come on Rogue, I just want to have a look."
"It's none of your business," Rogue insisted. She reached up and grabbed the box away from the other girl. Only to have Carol reach for it again and knock it out of Rogue's hand. The envelopes fell to the floor and scattered.
Jubilee bent down to help. "Look skank can't you see it's private?"
Carol had over stepped herself countless times before why should she care about it now? She dodged Rogue's attempt to push her to the side instead bending downward to pick up a letter and read the envelope. 'Logan'. "Who's Logan, Rogues? You been stepping out on Bobby?"
"That's none of your business," Rogue repeated, ripping the letter from Carol's hand and placing back in her box. She replaced the box to its spot on her shelf before she turned around and walked out the door.
The next morning all eyes were on Rogue as she entered fourth period physics. The professor hadn't yet arrived in class, allowing to Rogue slide quietly into her seat beside Bobby. He was giving her sidelong glances seemingly unable to look at her directly. She was about to ask what was wrong when the professor arrived.
"Today we will go over a brief introduction to cosmological principals and models. Please open your books to page 57."
The sound of books slapping against the table and pages rustling signaled it was time to pay attention. Rogue did as the professor asked, skimming over the first few paragraphs. Somewhere in the background she vaguely registered the familiar click that meant the professor was using a device to turn the standing chalkboard over to the other side. It wasn't till the room erupted in laughter that Rogue looked up, to see what was so funny. To her horror, someone had drawn a caricature of her, down on bended knees begging a crude drawing of Wolverine, claws and all to stay. The caption read, "Stay Wolvie stay – I need your claws on me."
In that moment Rogue knew what it meant to hit a brick wall without really hitting a brick wall.
The professor quickly turned the blackboard around and demanded to know who had done such a thing. A part of her was grateful to the professor; the other part was too busy wanting to die. She reluctantly glanced at Bobby and to her continued horror he held one of the letter's she'd written to Logan. There was hurt in his eyes and disappointment too. It was more then Rogue could take, she ran from the room and didn't look back.
What she felt for Logan and what he meant in her life was deep and at times the only thread that kept her inner demons at bay. That thread was now frayed, sullied by Carol's actions.
It wasn't until she got halfway to her room that she decided to change course, rage had taken the place of mortification. She made a B-line for shop class where she knew Carol would be.
Scott had been hunched over a car showing two boys how to install a carburetor, when Rogue stormed in. She grabbed the unsuspecting Carol by her hair and yanked her up against the wall. Carol retaliated by shoving her away. Rogue sat sprawled on the floor her chest heaving and her face red. She'd never hated anyone so much in her life.
Scott rushed to stand in between the girls.
"You had no right ta do that Carol! No right at ta'll!" Rogue pulled off one of her gloves with her teeth and made a lunge for Carol. She'd almost reached her target when Scott yanked her backward and held on to her by the waist. Rogue kicked and screamed for her release but he wasn't about to comply.
Carol laughed nervously, "Rogue you're acting like a baby. It was only a joke."
That was the straw that broke Rogue's back. Carol had touched and exposed a very private part of Rogue's life.
Anger rolled through her like a thunderhead, its thick blackness darkened her heart and clouded her brain. Everyone, everything around her dissolved till only Carol remained.
Rogue no longer thought, she acted.
She reached out, lightly touching the back of Scott's hand. It was a small touch she reasoned but enough to give her a split second of his power. The bolt missed Carol's face by centimeters.
"Do that again Bitch and I'll drain every last drop out of yah!"
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Author's Chapter Notes:
Great liberties have been taken regarding Ms. Marvel to fit this story. More comments at the end.