The sun was beginning to go down over the hill, and the breeze felt cooling, although I knew it was only part of the memory. Rogue was wearing her grey hoodie and purple gloves, and I was in my jean jacket and plaid shirt. Her eyes looked grey from the suns dimming light, but she wasn’t looking at me. I turned my gaze to the hill's far side where Jean was leading the others to the top where Rogue and I stood together. I didn’t quite understand what was happening, but it was obvious that there was no time to ask questions. As far as I knew, we were in a memory, in my mind. I didn’t know how or why, but I knew that my body was actually on fire, no matter how cool the breeze was.
Jean’s face had no emotion to it, and the fire she was emitting was making it difficult to see who exactly was behind her. I felt Rogues hand reach for mine, and I held it tightly. Shivers ran up my spine as the silhouettes of Jean’s army appeared through the fire, each one larger looking than the next. I felt Rogues hand squeeze mine tightly, and a small gasp escaped her. Jean stopped when she reached the far side of the hill, and her army followed her lead. They all looked as though they had crawled from the mouth of hell itself, standing as still as statues. The heat of Jean’s fire was beginning to hurt, but Rogue and I never faltered. We stood like this for a long time, just staring at each other. The more you focused, the easier it was to tell who was behind the flame. Scott, Hank, Ororo, Kitty, Jubilee, The Professor, Me, and numerous people from school and others I had never met. Every single person Rogue had ever touched was standing before us, even the ones she had suppressed. The orange glow of the sky was beginning to fade, and a deep purple was taking its place. No one moved. I could feel Rogues hand begin to fidget. I tried to think, so she might hear me with her telepathy. “Rogue?”
“Hello, Logan.” It was Jean. “Rogue no longer possesses the ability to read your mind.”
“Jean. I don’t want to fight you.”
“Oh, on the contrary, I know you want to fight me.” A revolting smile glazed over her straight face. “But I’m going to beat you to it.” Suddenly I heard a loud ringing sound. It burned the inside of my ears. I fell to my knees in pain. Rogue kneeled down next to me and started to yell something, but I couldn’t hear her for the ringing. My brain pulsated, and my eyes felt as though they were bulging from my face. Each of my teeth had sharp pain shooting through them, and my nose began to bleed. I grabbed for my ears as in impulse, and began to scratch at them. I couldn’t control myself. I felt the skin peeling away under my nails, but I couldn’t stop. The blood ran down the sides of my face, and from my nose. Rogue was pulling at my arms to try to make me stop. I wanted to stop, I wanted it all to stop, but I kept scratching. The ringing was causing so much pain in my head that I began to scream. I managed to look up from my curled up position to see Jean holding her hands to her head, smiling. Her chest was raising and lowering like she was laughing. My vision was beginning to haze, when I saw a purple hand fly in front of me. I looked up at Rogue, who seemed to be having some kind of nervous breakdown. I could barely see anymore, but I could sure as hell speak.
“TAKE OUT JEAN!” I yelled. Rogue stopped screaming and looked at me. The taste of blood in my mouth was horrid, and the pain in my head was unbearable, but I did my best to look as calm as I could for her. She was hyperventilating, but she understood. Or at least I hope she did. She got up off her knee and walked over to where Jean was standing, cracking her knuckles as she stepped. She always did that before a training session, to keep her joints from overextending. Jean stood, virtually unfazed from the obviously angry being walking towards her. There was a rock at the very middle of the top of the hill, which flattened out like an inside out valley. The rock was no higher than your ankle, but it was easy to trip over. Rogue, of course, tripped over it. She landed on the ground face first. I’m sure she screamed, but I still couldn’t hear, although my vision was returning. Rogue stood, and wiped her lip. She must be bleeding, but her back was to me, so I couldn’t be sure. Jean opened her mouth and said something, and Rogue stopped dead in her tracks. Just then a boy, who looked about 14, stepped out from the wall of fire. He wore a football jacket that had the name ‘CODY’ written down the arm, and the number 19 on the other sleeve. Rogue began to walk backwards away from him, shaking her head no the whole time. He continued to walk towards her, saying things that I couldn’t hear. She was walking faster, but the rock made its entrance yet again. She fell back and hit her head hard on the ground. She sat up and rubbed the back of her head, and I saw blood running through her fingers and hair. I tried to stand to help her, but the pain worsened and a voice pounded in my head. “This is HER fight. Not yours.” I grabbed at my ears again, but this time I was pulling at them. Blood ran down from them again. Jean was making me do this. I began to wonder if my body was doing this to itself, or if it was all locked in the memory. Either way, it hurt, and I had to stop it.
I looked back up at Rogue, who was being kicked on the ground, virtually defenceless. I lost it. I began to stand again, and the pain worsened, but I continued to push myself up. The pulsating worsened, and the blood began to pour from my nose again. I was on my knees now, half way there. The pressure behind my eyes was immense, but I had to push harder. I forced myself to look at Jean. Her face was scrunched more than it had ever been, and the veins in her arms and forehead were sticking out. All of the sudden, she opened her eyes and looked straight at me. The pressure in my head suddenly skyrocketed, and I felt a surge of pain in my eye, and I lost vision on that side. I put my hand up to it, only to find that my entire eye was gone, and was now splattered down my face.
I got to my feet. My peripheral vision was shot, and my eye goo was beginning to drip into my mouth. Jean raised her hand towards me, and suddenly I could hear again. The pressure left, but something was wrong. I didn’t tingle. I wasn’t healing. I reached up, expecting to find a partially developed eye, only to find an empty hole in my face. I could feel the blood still coming from my nose. It wouldn’t clot. I had no powers here. I could hear Rogue crying in the distance as this Cody guy continued to pummel her. She would throw a punch once in a while, but she was having trouble with it, like she really cared for the guy in real life. I heard Jean say something, but I wasn’t really listening. Rogue tried to touch Cody, and when she found that nothing happened, she just dropped to her knees. I suddenly felt a deep pain in my chest, and I flew backwards and almost rolled all the way down the hill, if it wasn’t for a tree that broke my fall. I looked to the direction of the flame, and watched in horror as Remy LeBeau walked towards me, drenched in blood, holding a glowing, blood covered piece of glass.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Ok, this chapter took me a while to figure out, but when I was writing it, it seemed to flow out of me well, so I hope you like it. Rate and Comment please!
Chapter End Notes:
I really had fun writing this chapter, and I hope you had fun reading it. Tell me what you think of everything.