He woke groggily, disorientated with the drugs fading from his system. He opened his eyes to a blindingly bright room; he had to blink a few times to focus through the glare. It was so white and clean in the room he instantly recognised as a cell, cleaner and more comfortable, but still a prison. His mind instantly began strategising escapes, of ways to break out even before he had sat up.
Slowly pushing himself off the floor he noticed the new, clean shirt they had dressed him in, the bed made up in the corner and a plate of food that lay on the floor near the door. The door itself was clear, so he could see out into the corridor, he smiled at their stupidity,
They under estimated him. But then he saw her.
She was curled up on the hard floor outside the door, her hands tucked under her chin. He cautiously edged closer to her, concentrating on the rise and fall of her chest. He studied her, still confused by who she was and what she meant to him.
From memories being lost in the uncountable amount of tests and quashing of others to prevent them from being used against him by his many captors, Wolverine had lost most of his memories to prevent himself from breaking, to protect what little of his humanity was left. And something in him told him that she fit in there somewhere, that she was a memory that he had given up to save himself. The frustration of not knowing who he was to her or what had happened between them to make her look at him like she had nothing to fear was grating on his mind.
He studied her while she slept, hoping that something would remind him. He was concentrating so hard on her that he didn’t hear the door down the corridor opening or the footsteps getting closer until two feet obscured his view of the girl.
He jumped back, the furthest he could get from the door, snarling more at himself for being so careless than at the intruder.
He watched as the girl stirred at the intrusion, and he was overcome with irrational anger at the new comer for disturbing her when she looked so peaceful.
“You shouldn’t be down here. If Scott catches you he’ll chew you a new one.” As the big man that had entered talked to the waking girl anger flashed across her delicate features.
“He really needs to stay away from me right now or I’ll give him another black eye to match the other one.” She sat up, fight running through her voice.
Wolverine couldn’t help but watch her every movement, every expression, he was drawn to her in a way he found quite disturbing.
“That shiner you gave him is very pretty.” The big guy laughed quietly and it was then Wolverine recognised him as the other one who had fought and captured him. Another growl erupted from him gaining the attention of both of the people outside his cell. “He’s awake”
The girl turned to him, and despite his bared teeth she smiled warmly at him. She turned to the other man, worry covering her features “I think you’d better go. He has a very good memory for people who have hurt him.”
“I think you’re right. You should go as well.” Wolverine baulked at his words, he didn’t want her to go, and he needed her to stay, to never leave his sight. “You can’t sleep here.”
“I’m staying. He shouldn’t be left alone. He doesn’t know where he is, or who we are.” She looked back at him, sadness in her eyes. “I can’t leave him again.”
As he left Wolverine relaxed against the back wall, watching as she edged closer to the door, her eyes fixed on him.
A smile pulled at her lips, but as he watched the corners of her mouth turn up a tear slid down her cheek, quivering at her chin before dropping to the cold floor.
Before he even realised it himself, he had lunged at the door, blades drawn, trying to cut through the clear barrier between them to get to her.
But even though his blades pierced through the door he pulled his hands back, his blades retracting as a surge of electricity licked at his nerves. He jumped away from the door, fists still balled, glaring at the obstruction that separated him from her.
So they weren’t as stupid as they looked.
Turning back to her, the pain on her face was, her realised, in response to his.
“I’m so sorry.” More tears began to fall and he wished he could do something to stop it, to make her smile like she had done before.
Shaking off the last remnants of the shock he had received he grabbed some of the bedding they had given him and dragged it to the door.
He settled in front of her, smirking quickly as she smiled sweetly at him through the last of her tears. As he watched her his mind raced with thoughts of how to escape, his plans changing with new information. It didn’t surprise him that every scenario for his escape ended with her leaving with him.
Again they sat there staring at each other like a silent contest. Both trying to work out what the other was thinking, who the other was.
He smirked as her eyelids began to droop. She had sat uncomfortably on the hard floor studying him for hours and he watched as she became more and more tired, slumping against the wall, her head lolling every so often until she curled up on the floor, tucking her hands under her chin again, falling into an easy sleep.
He mimicked her, laying on the bedding listening to her easy breaths until the large man returned and ignoring Wolverine’s snarls, growls and angry pacing, lifted her into his arms and took her away.
He was used to long periods of time being by himself, but without her he left so desolately alone. He could handle the cage, being imprisoned, he could handle the torture, but being without her seemed to affect him more than he wanted to admit, even to himself. She was a link to what he had forgotten and he wasn’t going to loose her again, not now that he had found her.
He continued to pace, a flurry of escape plans fell through his head as the night passed.
*-*-*-*-*
She woke, like always, sweat covering her skin and images of Wolverine cut and bleeding fading with the growing light. Sitting up abruptly she was surprised by waking up in her bed. For a brief second she thought that it had been a cruel dream, her mind fabricating his rescue to ease her pain over leaving him. But the second passed and she broke out in a fit of giggles as she pulled off the day old clothes and pulled on the first ones her fingers touched. She was only half dressed as she ran into the hallway, getting a few puzzled looks as she tugged on a jumper and made her way back down to the lower levels.
Sliding into the cell on the smooth floor she saw him, pacing the floor of his cell. At her interruption he paused and turned violently toward her, frustration and anger pulling his features into a sneer, but as he recognised her, his face softened and she almost saw a smile.
“Hi.” She sheepishly waved, blushing at her lame greeting. “I’m sorry I left, someone must have taken me up to bed.” Rage flashed across his face and she guessed someone he didn’t like had come and got her. She mad a note to bring her quilt down later so she could sleep down there with him. She thought about what Scott would say to that, but quickly changed off that train of thought as anger began to rise in her.
She didn’t know what else to say. Sorry for locking you up? They don’t want to let you out because you might kill someone? Forgive me for leaving you?
She felt so guilty and couldn’t bear to look him in the eyes any longer. Her eyes settled on the food that laid untouched by door.
“Aren’t you hungry? I know the food here is bad, but it’s edible, I promise.”
She saw him glance down at the plate and then back at her. She began to get worried. It wasn’t like they fed them well whilst they were captured together and she didn’t think their hospitality skills had improved much since she had been rescued. She wondered when he had last eaten.
“Ok, ok. Food. You need food.” She flurried at the door, and she worried for a second what she looked like to Wolverine, a crazed look on her face, she wondered whether to stay or go and get him some food. She didn’t want to leave him, but she had to go and talk Jean about what they would be doing with him, how they would be helping him.
She ran from the room, but ran back again, smiling awkwardly as he looked at her confused.
“I’ll be back.” Another embarrassed half wave and she ran from the room heading to the dining hall where she knew they would all be eating breakfast.
Grabbing two plates, she filled one with everything she could think he would like and the other with only a few bits and pieces, she couldn’t think to eat when so much was going on.
“You hungry Rogue?” Pete asked with a smile as she sat down at the table near Jean.
“No, not really.” She said distractedly. The table shot confused looks to her plates then at her. “One’s for Wolverine.”
She looked up to see everyone’s concerned eyes on her. She sighed; they had never understood her connection to the mutant, that even from the prisons where he had been held, horrible rumours of what they had done to him and what he had done himself, had spread.
Everyone thought she was deranged when she first told them what happened between them, they gave her a strange look when she talked about him. They couldn’t understand that even though it had been only a short time for everyone else, it had been a lifetime for her. Every minute that had passed in that place had felt like a year. They didn’t understand that even though they had known nothing about each others lives, they had known who each other really were.
She also had his memories, feelings and personality floating around in her head. As the months had gone by without him she had grasped onto what was left of him in her head, trying to hold onto every part of him she had taken from him.
When she had first arrived back at the mansion, they had all given her a wide berth, her temperament was prone to erratic change, her personality interchanging with the Wolverines. It had become harder and harder for her to control the part of him she had absorbed the further she was from him.
As the months had passed he had calmed somewhat in her mind, but the teachers had found her on occasion burning cigars or downing beers in the gardens of the mansion, revelling in his favourite things.
It had been Jean who had helped her the most, listening, with a lot of patience, to Rogue crying and Wolverine sneering, all the time both of them wanting to go back and find the man himself.
But most of the other students just didn’t get it and now that he was here and so untrusting of any of them she didn’t think they would understand the ties between her and the Wolverine.
“He’s not eating.” She directed at Jean, hoping she would have an answer for it. “He hasn’t touched any of the food you’ve given him.”
“How about sedating him, force feeding?” Scott interjected before he could stop himself. He looked up to Marie staring evilly at him and he turned back to his plate, finding something there very interesting.
“Drugging him again will only set us back. He needs to see that we aren’t like his previous captors if we want to him trust us.” Marie relaxed at Jean’s words, at least someone was thinking about how to help Wolverine.
“Well we’ve got to do something.” Marie pushed her food around her plate, hoping for an idea to come to her.
The conversation soon changed and Marie stood, pocketing her knife and fork and picked up her plates. She tried to ignore the stares as she moved away from the table
He looked up at her as she entered, watching the plates in her hands as she moved toward the door.
“Why aren’t you eating?” She sat down in front of him and picked at her plate as he slowly moved toward her.
She just sat there for a moment, she didn’t know what to say or do. The time in the compound had joined them together in a horrible, violent way. Through a situation like that, that no one should be in, she wondered that if they reconnected, would they relive those times or just regain that closeness that had bought them both through it. She wondered if she could save him again or if they, whoever they were, had managed to push him too far to pull him back to her.
Cautiously she opened the flap at the side of the door, and pulled the plate of untouched food out of the cell.
“It’s edible.” She picked a cold sausage off the dish, broke a small bit off and popped it in her mouth. “The sausages are brilliant.” She placed the rest of the sausage back onto the plate and gave a small yelp as his hand shot through the flap, grabbed the plate and dragged it back toward him. In a few short moments he had practically swallowed the 3 sausages whole.
Marie waited for him to eat the rest, but he just sat the again, watching her.
“Is that what it is?” As the realisation dawned a slight smile, turning into a grimace crossed her face. “What did they do to you to make you so wary of even eating?” She wanted to cry for him, but she knew she couldn’t, she had to be strong for him, to bring him back.
Reaching through again, she took the plate back and tried a little bit of each before passing it back to him, then repeated the procedure with her own plates. She smiled as he sat back after finishing all 3 plates, his hand scrubbing at the vestiges of food left around his mouth.
*-*-*-*-*
She came, day after day and just sat with him. He paced back and forth his small room, waiting for her to come and sit outside his cell either talking to him, reading to him or just watching him. He grew to understand these people weren’t like his previous captors, but he couldn’t work out what they wanted. His cell was clean and well kept, no beatings; other than when they had first captured him, no testing and no drugging his food. But he was still in a cage, however much they tried not to make it look like one.
She was sitting in front of him again, this time with a book, which he wasn’t listening to, just watching her as she studied the words intently.
For some reason she kept coming back, she spoke and looked at him like she knew him. And he knew her aswell, but he just didn’t know how and with each passing day the not knowing, not remembering was infuriating him even more.
It was then he noticed that she had stopped reading and was just sitting there looking at him and he realised why she was so quite.
She sat in the open doorway of his cell watching him, trying to gage his reaction.
They both sat there, not moving, watching each other, searching for something.
“Rogue!”
They both jumped at the shout from behind her.
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