The next few weeks went by as if nothing had occurred, the school still had classes, tempers flared and food was eaten in vast amounts by the staff and students. The only clue that not everything was happy in the mutant paradise known as Xaviers School for the Gifted was the tension that pervaded the air whenever Rogue left Logan's room.
It drifted with her quietening hallways, making eyes drop to the floor as she passed as if looking at her would incur some wrath that would drop on them from above. Which knowing her room mate would be forthcoming if anyone hurt her, it was the way they all held their
breath around her while she moved like a ghost through the rest of the living bodies around her.
It came to a head in the library of all places, she'd gone there to relax, to hide in reality from the quiet that followed her. Here at least it was normal to be quiet; in here you were meant to study but the young voices she heard were something she never thought to hear.
She didn't know the kids, they were a new addition to the school and as such didn't know the history between the two people they were talking about. But she listened anyway.
"I'm tellin you, Mr Logan is a killer! He was the one that killed Doctor Grey." The kids were encouraged to call Jean by her title, not by the one that the rest of the world knew her as 'Phoenix' the one who'd nearly killed them all. A younger girl who had bright blue
hair running down her back and onto her arms shook her head as she listened to her friends take on the story.
"Nah you got that backwards, the way I heard it, it was the only way Mr Logan could have saved us all. She was crazy, mad, cuckoo you know? She was dangerous and I'm glad she died." Even though Jean was resting just outside in the garden Marie couldn't help but feel a glow in her heart when she heard that come out of the young girls
mouth. What came next froze her rigid with rage, "Although I have no idea why Mr Logan puts us through the wringer so much, I mean its not as if we'll ever need to do what Rogue did. I mean after they found out the cure doesn't work and Professor Xavier died trying to save us from Dr Grey we're fine. I mean sure I'll train to defend others sure but I'd not cross over the line you know. I'd not take the cure no matter how much they tell me I'm a freak." The first kid snorted through his nose as he listened to her, answering her jibe
at someone she knew nothing about.
"Yeah sure Chrys, like you'd ever look normal with your feet anyway. Bet if you'd been taken for the cure your daddy would have used your shoes as extra boats for fishin'."
This made a smatter of laughter go around the rest of the kids but it had been the calm voice of someone she knew that had made her come out of hiding and into the circle of kids. She knew his tone, the eveness of it, the controlled way he could form every word; crafting it so it did the maximum damage.
"You don't know the pain Rogue went through with her mutation, she was cut off from the world entirely. Even a small touch could kill the person she touched, the only one who will be safe with her is Mr Logan, when her mutation returns..." she could even see the blond
hair and the way he'd be turning his head to scope every single face as he said this to them, making sure he reached them. "She's been through a lot but then so has every one of us here." The girl with the blue hair spoke up again and Marie moved closer.
"But she didn't fight did she? She left and took the cure when she could have been helping, fighting by everyones side. She was trained you said, just like everyone else but she chose herself over others like her." Bobby's voice was cultured and smooth when he answered her and Marie could feel herself crumbling in the assault on her
from the one person she'd given herself to.
"Yes that's true but Rogue's talent wasn't very useful when we were up against human's with guns. They were armed with the cure and Rogue wouldn't have been much use if she'd been hit, even Magneto was brought down by them and you've seen how powerful he was." She chose that moment to come out of the shadows into the sunlight, her
eyes burning brightly as she heard the gasps and movements of the kids. Finally Bobby's head turned to look at her, there was nothing in his gaze but honesty. He'd told the truth according to him, the kids around him were silent but they caught the air of anger around her and kept their mouths shut.
"Why don't you tell them why I wasn't there Bobby? Why don't you tell them about the three months you pestered me for sex, the times you tried to force me into things I wasn't ready for? Bobby?" She knew her voice was breaking, her emotions were running riot and her skin was tingling. Angry tears were spilling over her face as she
walked toward him, pushing all her anger forward into her skin, into her hands she reached out to Bobby. He didn't move and that was all him, thinking she was still safe, it was only when he began to shudder and a feral light shone in Marie's eye that one of the kids bolted screaming for Ororo. She didn't let go until Logan tore her hand away from his skin, the red mark she'd left on his face looking like a burn. Bobby just faded out as the link broke, Logan tore her round his hands covered with his bike gloves. The smile on her face on he knew well enough, it was his own when he'd found someone he'd
been 'looking' for on his trips out. Dragging her away as Bobby began fitting again, Hank flying to the aid of Bobby the rumours already building around her as he led her away.
Inside she was lost in the madness of revenge, she'd pushed out, she'd made him feel everything he'd made her feel. She was still alive and so was Bobby, Logan wasn't talking to her but he knew she wasn't right. He locked the door with both of them behind it and they didn't come out for three days, when she did things had changed again, they were leaving, maybe for good.
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