With every step she laboured to take, Rogue dug her feet deeply into the ground, anchoring herself securely so she wouldn't be blown away like everything else on Alcatraz. She supposed she could drop to all fours and use her bone claws to pull herself along, but she couldn't bring herself to crawl before Phoenix; her fierce pride wouldn't allow it.
The closer she got to the glowing figure dressed in red, the more excruciating the pain became. Her leather uniform melted onto her skin, bonding with her flesh before ripping away in chunks. Rogue wasn't sure what hurt more: the feeling of her skin being flayed to the bone all over her body, or Logan's regenerative power making it grow back almost instantaneously. It was irrelevant anyway; the constant cycle of damage and healing continued unceasingly.
Still Rogue marched on.
When she was only a few feet from her target, Phoenix finally turned her full attention on the young woman approaching her, watching Rogue the way a person might observe a particularly interesting insect. Jean's face was now gone, completely hidden beneath the wraithlike visage of the dark Phoenix. Her eyes were ghastly black pits of madness, and as Rogue stared deep into their inky depths, she felt her own eyeballs vaporize tortuously in their sockets, reforming within seconds as her mind struggled to comprehend what was happening.
Fear gripped Rogue as she realized that if this pain didn't end soon, her mind would snap completely. Already her thoughts were swirling away from her, gibbering senselessly in panic, making it difficult to focus on anything but the torment being heaped upon her. The multitude of different personalities stored in her brain capered about wildly, threatening to overwhelm her if she let them. Snarling, she bared her teeth but soon felt them crumble to dust in her mouth, replaced by more agony as new ones grew lightening fast, pushing their way brutally past her gums.
This could have been Logan havin' this done to him.
The thought zinged through her brain suddenly, and Rogue clutched at it, desperately holding onto the thought of Logan to pull her through this madness.
At last she stood face to face with Phoenix, feeling her healing factor kick even further into over-drive at the proximity. "Jean," Rogue ground out between clenched teeth. "You have to stop." It was a last ditch effort to reach her, but Rogue already knew that it was pointless. Even if some part of Jean was still in there somewhere, things had gone too far for her to simply 'stop'.
Phoenix was watching her with mild interest, her eyes roving curiously over Rogue's nude form as it mended itself over and over again. "You're in so much pain," she said, her voice both dreadful and powerful at the same time. "Why? Why put yourself through this agony willingly?"
Rogue couldn't answer; all of her concentration was focused on just standing upright against the constant assaults on her over-taxed body. Summoning all her strength, she managed to raise one fist from which three razor sharp bone claws extruded, then watched in agony as they disintegrated in the rising wind. The pain was exquisite, racing up her arm and all the way down to her toes before reaching a fever pitch as they grew back inch by inch.
"For them?" Phoenix continued, sounding genuinely curious. "For the humans who would sooner kill you then acknowledge your existence?"
Panting heavily against the burning in her lungs, Rogue met the black stare and shook her head almost imperceptively. "Not for them," she wheezed. "For him."
Phoenix cocked her head to one side, her face blank for an instant before she began to laugh. "Oh, but it's too much!" she roared, a horrible parody of amusement covering her dark features. "The untouchable girl, in love! Tell me, has the mighty Wolverine returned your feelings?"
Before Rogue could form a reply, Phoenix was suddenly shoving her way into her mind, presenting Rogue with a series of images and words, bringing more pain than anything she had done before.
"I think she's a little taken with you."
"Well, you can tell her my heart belongs to someone else."
"I could be the good guy."
Every caress, every passion-filled look, every stolen kiss that Logan and Jean had ever shared; all were cruelly rammed into Rogue's head as she writhed with the agony of it. Her resolve faltering as her heart splintered, Rogue felt her legs buckle at last and she fell to her knees at Phoenix's feet, feeling utterly broken inside.
"Stupid little girl," the creature hissed savagely, glaring down at Rogue in disgust. "He doesn't love you. You're nothing but a stray he picked up off the street. And you're about to die for a man who cares nothing for you."
Rogue shut her eyes as the hurtful words rang in her ears, believing them to be true. Yet still the spark within her that refused to die suddenly flared, giving her mind a moment of clarity.
No.
Reaching deep into the part of her psyche that the Phoenix couldn't touch, Rogue pushed aside aside all the images of Logan and Jean's embraces. Instead she concentrated on her own memories; remembering the man who fought in a cage at a nowhere bar in Northern Canada, who looked up and saw HER, and accepted her as she was. The man who cradled her lifeless body atop a destroyed statue and prayed to a God he didn't even believe in that she breathe again. Logan, who had one year planted a magnolia tree for her in the garden on the anniversary of the day they met, and never said a word. Rogue clung to it all, remembering every moment they spent together, the tenderness he showed her after her frequent nightmares and most of all, the affectionate smile that he reserved just for her.
"You're wrong."
Phoenix recoiled from these soft words spoken by Rogue, who raised her head the meet the unearthly black eyes. Rising to her feet stalwartly, she held her chin high and said clearly, "He does."
Uncertainty entered Phoenix's eyes at that moment, and she took a small but significant step backwards, repelled by the confidence blazing from the young mutant's fiery green eyes. In that small moment of hesitation, Rogue's hand shot out to wrap itself around the exposed throat of the Phoenix in an unbreakable grip.
"He does," she repeated, and as she felt the awesome power begin to flow into her, she now thrust her precious memories into the other woman's mind, using her own trick against her to show her the strength of Logan's love. Simultaneously, Rogue turned the destructive force that had been battering her body onto her adversary, so it was now Phoenix's skin which burned to ash and flew from her body like so much dust. The only difference was that she didn't possess the ability to regenerate herself.
And for the first time, the Phoenix knew fear.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: I have no legal rights to anything relating to the x-men. i wish i did...
well, here goes. hope you all like this one. if anyone has read the X3 book (which is a great way to chase the horrid taste of the movie out of your mouth) i borrowed a few ideas from it. please review! this chapter is inspired by the song "Season Song" by Blue States. if you can, look up the lyrics. it's a great song, found at the end of the movie 28 Days Later. and a small warning: some stuff may be gory, but i'm not sure what other people's idea of gore are so... just in case, be ready.
well, here goes. hope you all like this one. if anyone has read the X3 book (which is a great way to chase the horrid taste of the movie out of your mouth) i borrowed a few ideas from it. please review! this chapter is inspired by the song "Season Song" by Blue States. if you can, look up the lyrics. it's a great song, found at the end of the movie 28 Days Later. and a small warning: some stuff may be gory, but i'm not sure what other people's idea of gore are so... just in case, be ready.