"Last scene of all, that ends this strange eventful history, is second childishness and mere oblivion, sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything." Rogue's, well Norbert's, voice trailed off in the silence of the room as everyone processed the bomb dropped by the professor.
Logan wasn't the least bit surprised that Jubilee was the first to break the silence. "You mean her blue rabbit stuffed animal has somehow grown a personality and taken over her body?" Well, you couldn't discount the kid's ability to state things eloquently.
Xavier's eyebrows crinkled. "She has a stuffed animal by this name? I wasn't aware of that. I thought that maybe someone she had absorbed was currently holding the reigns." He formed a steeple with his fingers under his chin, looking more perplexed than Logan had ever seen him. "Does she ever talk to this stuffed animal? Show it affection or treat it like it has feelings?"
Logan nodded in response, wondering where this was going. Was the professor just trying to figure out the boundaries to Rogue's craziness or was there a point to all his questions? He sat a little straighter in the chair and focused on the professor's face, trying to read intent from the old man. He didn't want anyone making fun of Rogue for something that she couldn't control especially right now when she didn't have the ability to defend herself. After a minute of study, his shoulders relaxed back. The professor was still thinking hard and Logan could only find signs of goodwill.
"And you said she quotes as defense mechanism? Like, when she doesn't know what else to say? Is she always aware of this?"
Logan leaned forward again. "She doesn't always know, thought she had only quoted a few times to us when it was really a lot more than that. It just pops in sometimes when she's trying to express herself. Don't know if I'd call it a defense mechanism, more like a replacement sentence for when she doesn't know how to say what she wants." He let Xavier sit in silence for another minute. "You have a theory? Spit it out."
The professor sighed. "Okay, I am in no way positive that this is correct because I cannot get past the surface of her mind to either locate Rogue's psyche or be able to glean a better understanding of the Norbert persona but I may have a handle on what is happening. I think that maybe the quoting, when she isn't aware of it, really isn't Rogue trying to talk. I believe that, over the time stuck alone in the attic, sheer loneliness caused her to actually create a personality for this stuffed animal, using portions of her own self. But I think that Norbert is also a combination of other people that she has absorbed over time. He seems to assert his presence when Rogue cannot come up with an appropriate reaction to an experience before resuming his place in the background of her mind as a passenger who occasionally has input on a situation. So, anytime she is quoting without being aware, it is actually Norbert voicing feelings and ideas that Rogue cannot."
Logan held up his hand. "Why would she use parts of the people she's absorbed to create this 'Norbert' character? She isn't really buddy-buddy with any of them that I've seen."
Kitty also threw a question into the room. "And why can he only speak in quotes?"
Xavier cracked a bittersweet smile. "Why would you create a carbon copy of yourself when the whole reason for the other personality was to stem loneliness? She already had herself to talk to. She needed some input that seemed to be coming from another source. And Kitty, she probably fed all of the Shakespeare that she has read over the years into Norbert's personality to give him a different voice than her own, separating the two of them even further in her head."
"But, once again, this is all theory that is mostly based on my dealings with other people over my lifetime. Until we can get Rogue back to herself, I don't believe that we will know anything for sure."
Logan ran his fingers through his hair, trying to settle all the information into his brain, and looked up at Rogue. She had silent tears running down her cheeks, red tracks trailing down until the drops fell from her chin to darken the front of her shirt. He shook his head to clear the image, knowing that it would be imprinted on his brain for a few days at least.
She shouldn't have to be dealing with this. She should be a normal 20 year old girl, going to college or hanging out at the beach, worrying about her next midterm or if her POS car was going to get her and her friends to the movies later. She should've spent the last 4 years in a safe place with people to take care of her and friends, real friends, to talk to. Logan found himself making a silent vow to her, himself and anyone who ever had the chance to read his thoughts; that was how the next part of her life was going to go. He and his girls were going to be there for her and were going to get her to a place where she had control of her own life. Nothing would stop them.
Jubilee stood up and walked a few steps forward, stopping slightly behind and to the right of Rogue. Kitty followed a few seconds later, mirroring her best friend. Logan knew that, as scary as it was, they had been thinking the same thing and that the three of them were going to take this thing head-on. He eased himself to his feet in front of Rogue and took a step towards the big desk, dwarfing the professor. "What do we do to bring her back?"
"Are we sure this is gonna help at all?" Jubilee asked him as she marched Rogue out the door onto the front steps. She was holding onto the scarf they had used to tie the girl's hands together behind her back. It hadn't been in the original plan but Rogue had started to struggle horribly the second she saw the door leading outside, trying to get her hands around to grasp onto someone's skin. He figured it was because she, well Norbert, associated the outside with the awful images of tortured children.
Once the four of them were set outside, and he was sure the area was clear of any of the other mansion residents, he looked to Kitty and nodded, indicating that she should use the remote to start the simulation. Immediately, the cage was reformed now with Jubilee and Rogue standing in the middle amongst the children. His felt a strange tightening in his chest when he heard Rogue whimper slightly, blanch and start to sway backwards into Jellybean.
Kitty looked at him and raised the remote slightly, asking if it was time to turn it back off. He nodded his assent and watched the gory scene vanish once again. They turned it on and off a few more times before he approached the cage area and stepped into the bars, standing stationary in the middle of a few of them. Kitty brought it up and down twice more before he started to recite a passage that he had wearily let Xavier plant in his mind, not having a gift for remembering language but also not liking Xavier rooting around in his brain.
"Our revels now are ended. These our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits, and are melted into air, into thin air: and like the baseless fabric of this vision, the cloud-capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, the great globe itself, yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,_ and, like this insubstantial pageant faded. Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep."
Rogue's eyes dug into him the second he started talking and her head cocked to the side slightly, as if trying to figure out the trick this funny man was playing. Kitty kept bringing the sim to life and killing it again and again, hoping that it would sink in that it was all an illusion. It was obvious the Norbert wasn't buying it.
"They have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things; and to conclude, they are lying knaves."
Jubilee snorted, a sound that he had never heard with a tone of sadness in it until now. "I think he told you what he thinks." He glared her into silence and started over. Maybe if he said it a few times, it would drive the point home.
This time he was met with silence.
He heard Kitty sigh behind him and set the remote down, before she entered his sightline starting to trudge up the steps. He guessed she was going to find the professor but some stray thought was floating around his brain, a glimpse of an idea that just wouldn't let him be.
"Kit, wait," he called out, half of him seeing her stop and turn around while the other half was concentrating on his thought process. If only they could get Marie herself to see what was going on. He didn't think Norbert could be swayed, but he knew she could reassert herself if she knew that everything was okay. They needed a different angle. Different angle...
"Grab the remote again Kitty. I'll tell you when to turn the sim back off." He stalked the short distance between him and Rogue to stand toe to toe with her, seeing Jubes' eyes widen behind her head. Both girls held their ground. He grabbed a section of Rogue's hair, drew it under her chin and used it to tip her head back, forcing her to meet his eyes,
"Wolverine. I know you're in there. I need you to help us all out, including yourself. Find the room that I'm in. Open the door. Then you need to drag Rogue outta hiding and up to the section of the brain that lets you guys see the world. Make her see what's real and what's not."
He didn't know if Wolverine could even hear him or would listen, hoped that the aggressive behavior would bring him to the forefront. Either way, it was a shot.
The outside Logan had an idea. Wolverine didn't know if he could trust it or not, but his gut was saying that something had to change soon or this set-up could become permanent. He stopped in front of door five. He could smell himself, something he'd never get used to, on the other side of the door. Figuring another person being around, one that wasn't going to fight him, wouldn't be bad, he flicked the lock and turned the handle, meeting his own eyes as the wood swung away.
Logan stepped out and looked back to the shadowy corner, evidently he had also heard the instructions, starting to head that way. Wolverine dashed around in front of him, back to the girl and drew his lips over his teeth, stopping Logan in his tracks. He didn't want the girl scared and she was gonna be if she saw just anyone walking around the brain like that.
"Go. Tell Fuzzy to come take over. I'll get her ready. Then, you come help me bring her." Logan looked like he was about to object. Wolverine let lose a little snarl and Logan backed away, hands held up, slight smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth. Wolverine watched him shake his head and turn to walk down the hallway, disappearing into the distance. He circled the hallway again, hitting all the locks, before going to crouch in front of the curled up girl. He shook her shoulder, waking her, and watched her blink sleepily up at him. He tried to smile knowing that for some reason people found the showing of teeth reassuring instead of intimidating.
"We're gonna help you. Get you back where you belong." He reached out and laid a hand on her arm, trying to make her feel better.
"I don't want to go back. I'm in a lab. Or a concentration camp. They can have my body. They can't have me. I want to stay here. Here, I'm safe." Her bottom lip stuck out a little on the last sentence and he watched her cross her arms over her chest. Girl did have backbone.
"Outside's not that. It's good. Logan is there. He will keep you safe." He almost gagged on the words, not knowing the last time he had said something good about his counterpart.
"That's right, darlin'," Logan's voice rang out behind him, making him jump and spin around. Really not liking this same scent thing. "I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you. Me, Kitty and the Jellybean. We'll be in your corner. So lets go." She shook her head again. Wolverine met Logan's eyes and together they walked to either side of Marie, grabbing her by the upper arms and hauling her to her feet. They started walking her down the hallway, even though her feet were scraping at the floor trying to stop their forward process. They passed Norbert, nodding to him as he did the rounds down the hallway.
"Guys, let me go! Look, you don't have to stay in your room anymore. You can come and go as you please. I just can't go back. I planned an escape once and it took so much out of me. I can't go to a place that's even worse than that one was. I won't survive it!"
"Relax," Logan soothed. "You'll see."
Wolverine just watched the struggle on her face, saw despair cause her features to sag before she closed her eyes and started putting one foot in front of the other, giving up in a way that, strangely, made him angry. He should be happy that she was now cooperating with them, not gripping her arm tighter because this was a weakness that she shouldn't have. Was she really this broken?
They pulled her onto the observation deck. Logan let go of her arm and stepped to the side, pulling the cord to open the curtain to the outside world. Wolverine stepped behind her and loosely used his arms, braced on the glass, to stop her from trying to escape. He looked out, met outside Logan's eyes through the glass, and clearly said "Now." Then he leaned his head into Marie's hair, took in her scent and whispered "Watch." He settled his head on her shoulder and followed his own command, knowing she would soon be back in her rightful place.
Logan knew something was happening. He had talked, clearly, to the Wolverine in Rogue's head and was waiting for a sign that he had done what he was told. Of course, knowing him, he might take his sweet fucking time about it.
He didn't know exactly how long he'd been standing here, staring into Rogue's eyes and trying to will Wolverine's signal into existence. It had to have been a good five minutes with him and the three girls standing statue still, like an absurd exhibit at the museum. He saw Rogue's eyes close and her body fell limp into Jubes' arms, just escaping getting dumped to the ground by the startled Asian. He grabbed Rogue from Jubilee and swung her up into his arms, looking down into her face and seeing it completely expressionless. Jubes and Kitty came up on either side of him, each putting a hand on Rogue's arm, trying to connect her to them.
Then, unspoken relief rushed through his body when he heard a gruff "Now" from Rogue's lips and saw her eyelids slowly rise, seeming to be dragged open by some unseen force. Kitty, not needing the nod of command, started to bring the sim up and turn it off again as Logan tried, one last time to convince Rogue that it was all an illusion. Here's hoping that Xavier knows his Bard he thought, starting the phrase.
Every word he spoke seemed to hit home with her. With each line, he felt her take more control of her body, becoming less dead weight in his arms, and saw her eyes clear. Finally, by the end, she was looking around them, eyes wide while she took it all in.
She started squirming his arms, craning her head away from his and obviously trying to avoid skin contact. He set her on her feet and watched her take a step back from them. His arms, now hanging loosely at his sides, felt useless and cumbersome. He scrubbed a hand over his face and looked at Rogue.
"Rogue? That you, chica?" Jubes asked, hope taking her voice up an octave too high in Logan's opinion.
Rogue studied the three of them for a minute, eyes shooting from person to person, and started smiling. "Yeah. It's me. Thanks for being so stubborn." She looked down and scuffed her right foot across the cement. "I'm sorry I went away like that. I thought... Well, I guess you know what I thought. It takes some time for me to build up trust in people, always has really. I'm guessing it's going to be even worse for me now that my parents did what they did. I'll try though."
Jubes and Kitty both looked at each other before booking it at Rogue, flinging their arms around her and crushing her to them. He watched her face tighten in shock before a small smile crept into being. She met his eyes over the top of Kitty's head and he grinned at her, glad that she was back to some semblance of normal. He also shrugged, indicating that he had no control over the two girls and, no, he couldn't explain their behavior either.
Rogue's head tipped back and she laughed, a fully belly, joyous sound that made the two girls release her and take a step back. She cocked a hip out to the side and pouted at Jubilee.
"Think ya'll can take this thing off my hands how? I'm kinda losing circulation."
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Here we go! This one's kinda convoluted but I think it got the point across. Let me know if I didn't. Also, I think the timeline will start picking up a little. I feel like so much had to happen in these first chapters that I couldn't have it go any faster than it did. Now though, it should pick up pace. Thanks for reading. And thanks for reviewing! Kiss Kiss
Chapter End Notes:
Holy cow, ten chapters! So exciting. What did you think?
Quotes:
"Our revels now are ended. These, our actors..."~ The Tempest
"They have committed false report; moreover, they have..."~ Much Ado About Nothing
Quotes:
"Our revels now are ended. These, our actors..."~ The Tempest
"They have committed false report; moreover, they have..."~ Much Ado About Nothing