Ch. 8: Fight or Flight?
As Rogue fled from Xavier’s office, she scattered terrified students in her wake like a cat through pigeons. The ‘flight’ reaction was so strong she didn’t even notice some of them brushing against her body; the only thought in her head was to reach open skies where no one could catch her. A few seconds of sprinting had brought Rogue to the end of the corridor with stairs going up and down on the left and right sides and the chrome elevator in front of her. God damned, why hadn’t she taken the tour with the chattering girl when she had the chance? She had no idea where the stairs going downwards went but the elevator was not an option: being trapped in a box and then being underground with an unknown cache of weapons and instruments was not an ideal escape route.
Half a second to decide on left or right and she was running again, crashing through the door to the left side stairwell and using one hand to vault herself over the railing to drop through the open centre, getting brief glimpses of shocked children’s faces on the encircling stairs. Two floors, 3 seconds and she hit the marble floor of the ground floor, already in her usual posture; crouched with one hand on the floor to balance, one leg stretched straight, the other hand ripped free of cover with her teeth and held out ready to attack. Gasping a little as adrenalin rushed through her veins, Rogue glanced around at the main entrance hall she had landed in. There! Two huge doors lay invitingly open 50 yards away, blue skies visible beyond. She sprang to her feet, using the momentum to gain air as she flew towards freedom. Closer and closer, almost free, then a crash and surprised shrieks from the stairways behind her; Logan had taken the same exit she had, barely taking a moment to recover from his less than graceful landing before rolling to his feet and taking a running leap at Rogue.
The time it took her to look behind and realise how close the Wolverine was gave him the opportunity to leap on her back, tackling her to the ground. Rogue screamed in frustration, rolling over and over, trying to shake Logan off and simultaneously reach behind her head to find his bare skin.
Determined not to let her win this time, Logan had wrapped his arms and legs around Rogue’s body, tucking his face into her damp hair that had unravelled from its hasty knot to protect his bare face. Using the sheer weight of his adamantium-enhanced body, he managed to wrangle her face down to the floor, her cheek pressed to the cold marble, his nose still tucked into the back of her neck. Logan took a few deep breaths, trying to figure out what his next move was going to be, then froze. That scent, so fresh and clear from her shower and far away from the overwhelming mix of smells from bar cages, reached something deep inside him. He took another deep breath, drawing as much of her scent as he could; it tore through his conscious mind, kicking a visceral reaction to life that had long lain dormant. Not understanding why or even caring why, Logan knew that scent as the most important thing he had ever breathed in. It was something to protect at all costs; to defend against all and to know it belonged to him like nothing and no one else ever could. In a split second Rogue had turned from a stranger that he mistrusted to his eternal mate; someone to protect, love, who made him feel so secure and safe that he could let his guards down finally. A burning, shocking pain at his temple startled him out of the newly discovered knowledge; Rogue’s groping hand had reached bare skin at last.
With her bare fingers pressed lightly to the Wolverine’s temple, she closed her eyes and kept contact until she felt his grip loosen and scrambled out from underneath his limp body. The new memories she had drawn from him were so different and confusing and yet so powerful she stumbled to the wall and slid down, hands over her eyes trying to assimilate all the information. She felt the animal-like reaction he had experienced to her scent, ran through the same gauntlet of overwhelming protective instincts and knew how he would be feeling when he came around: turned on, confused and angry.
Logan groaned and lifted his forehead, recognising the bone-deep ache as yet another defeat at the delicate hands of Rogue. The memory of that fragrance still lingered in his mind and fuelled the confusion of emotions; a fierce need to protect warred with unbridled lust, overridden with anger. He rolled onto his back, sitting up to stare at her.
“What the fuck was that? Who the hell are you?”
Before Rogue could answer, the elevator gave a soft ding and the door slid open. Jean stormed into the hallway looking furious with a calm Xavier following behind.
“Just who do you think you are Rogue?! There are dozens of children here that are now absolutely terrified and worked up into a state, losing control of their powers all over each other just because you can’t control yourself! Do you think just because you’re the big, bad Rogue that you can charge through a school without regard for their safety? You don’t even have both gloves on!”
At this last furious exclamation, Rogue got to her feet in one smooth motion and reached threateningly towards Jean with her bare hand. All of the Wolverine’s emotions were mixing with her own, making it hard to concentrate, especially over the scent of Logan’s lust and anger creating a potent cocktail in the air.
“You stay the hell away from me, both of you. You think just because you’re telepaths that you know everythin’ about me? Back the fuck off!”
Whilst Jean and Rogue were yelling at each other, Logan got to his feet staggering a little as he moved in between them. Without even thinking about his motives, he stood with his back to Rogue and glowered at Jean, one arm held out to the side as if to shield Rogue from the two telepaths.
Xavier used the stunned silence to move forward and attempt to control the situation.
“Please, if everybody could just calm down for a moment, I’m sure we can sort out the misunderstanding. Jean, I know you’re very protective of the children but I’m afraid I did rather provoke Rogue’s reaction, she is not to blame for trying to escape a perceived attack.”
The professor turned to Logan, ignoring look of Jean’s outrage.
“Logan please move away from Rogue; no one is going to be fighting now.”
Although he remained where he was, Logan dropped his arm and relaxed minutely. His brow furrowed, he stared at Jean, as if trying to decide if she was friend or enemy.
Rogue took a step back, still staying behind Logan and glancing at the exit. Now that the rush of adrenalin-fuelled escape had started to fade and Logan’s new influx of memories was still swirling in her mind, she seemed undecided about her next course of action.
Xavier saw the indecision on her face and used to opportunity to regain the advantage.
“Rogue, you have my deepest apologies, this was by no means an attempt to trick you into trusting us. I have your best interests at heart; I truly want to help you. I also apologise on Logan’s behalf, I’m afraid your running away merely triggered an instinct to chase in the Wolverine.”
At this the Professor gave her a small smile, attempting calm her and make light of the desperate escape attempt.
“Perhaps we should leave further conversation for the day, allow you to settle in properly and explore the mansion. I’m sure you would feel safer if you knew your way around and it would also allow the students to see that we trust you to be in our home.”
Rogue finally took her gaze away from Jean to look into Xavier’s face, trying to judge his sincerity. The unsaid hint that she was forgiven for scaring the students was not lost on her, despite Jean’s eyes narrowing at the Professor for letting her off so lightly; she could not let it lie. Jean’s anger at Rogue’s dash through the school and then Logan suddenly turning against her to protect a stranger made her speak without thinking.
“Charles, surely you can’t be suggesting that she be able to continue scaring the children after that show, she clearly can’t be allowed to be unsupervised around them whilst she is so out of control. What if she touched one of them with a bare hand just for looking at her in the wrong way?”
Rogue went utterly still, her eyes turning cold as she stared at Jean from behind Logan. She may have been a badass who doled out punishment for the slightest infraction, but she wasn’t a monster.
“I don’t touch kids. Not now, not ever. They’re innocent; they shouldn’t be dragged into anyone’s mess.”
Without looking at Logan or acknowledging his protection, she stepped around him carefully to stand in front of Xavier’s chair.
“If you try and force your way through my head like that again, I’m outta here, got it? I ain’t sticking around for pain just for the hell of it.”
She paused, staring down at Xavier with a slight frown on her face, contemplating her next words.
“I need more information on the bastards who wiped my head clean, I don’t care who I get it from. This ain’t me agreeing to be best buddies with y’all, you got it?”
Professor Xavier gave her a genuine smile and nodded his head in acquiescence.
“I understand your feelings towards us and I will not be pressuring you to become my newest team member, you have my word. Now perhaps everyone would like to retire for a few hours to allow this charged atmosphere to dissipate? I am sure Rogue and I will have another chat tomorrow and we can arrange a satisfactory timetable.”
Seeing that she was being ignored by everyone and feeling outraged that no one was chastising Rogue for such a ridiculous show of attitude, Jean stormed off in the direction of her private lab in the proverbial huff. She gave Logan one last glare that let him know he was in the doghouse for his behaviour and disappeared down the stairwell.
A brief moment of silence followed Jean’s angry exit before Rogue nodded stone-faced at the Professor and walked away, refusing to admit to anyone that she had no idea where her room was. With the fresh hit of Logan in her head, she would simply follow her own scent back the way she had come until she found her way. His strange reaction to her was stuffed down into a box in her head to be carefully analysed later when she was far away from his own attractive scent of lust and anger.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks for your patience in the long gap between updates! I'm already half way through chapter 9 so it definitely won't be as long a wait for the next one :). At the moment, these chapters are all unbeta'd, so if anyone would like to volunteer their services or spotted any mistakes let me know. Enjoy :).
Eliza
Eliza