Logan settled himself onto the front of the Focus, so intent on tracking Marie's frantic sprint that he didn't notice the creaking complaint from the hood as it dented under his weight. He yanked out a cigar and started chomping the end in agitation, finally lighting it as she rounded a tree and started heading back his way. It was no struggle to understand her need to run from the shit they had just dragged up. He had enough memories of his own that made him want to just move. Sometimes things happened that just couldn't be dealt with rationally. And her story was utterly shitacular (in Jubese). Christ, she had been through way too much to only be twenty. And it was obvious he hadn't even heard the worst of it yet.
He was trying to understand where she was coming from, but had no starting point. She'd had a perfect life with loved ones that turned on her. He'd had no one until the wonder twins adopted him. Thinking what it would feel like if both of them suddenly dropped him from their lives almost threw him into a panic. They had become his family and he didn't know what he would do if they had suddenly turned their backs. Marie's parents had done that to her and, worse then just ignoring her, went out of the way to lock her up. He shook his head in disbelief. It was a wonder that she was anywhere close to sane. Sure, she was weird as fuck and had some issues but, based on her situation, she wasn't really that bad off. She'd survived. She had to be one tough cookie. And he was damn sure that Xavier could help her with her issues once they got her back to the freakshow.
Speaking of freakshow, he thought after watching her complete her fifteenth lap at breakneck speed, singing at the top of her lungs while her face poured sweat and her legs threatened to collapse under her; It was time to use one to stop the other. He turned to the back door and pried it open, poking Jubilee in the arm. She swatted her hand in his direction, nowhere close to conscious. Well, she was just gonna have to give up some of that beauty sleep. Marie needed help and he was pretty sure she wouldn't want to talk to him because he knew what pumped the fuel to her feet. He suppressed a growl and reached both hands into the back seat, grabbed Jubilee by her shoulders and pulled her off of Kitty's lap, setting her on her feet. She folded when he released her and he smirked at her when she glared at him from the dirt. He nodded towards Marie, who had evidently given in to her exhaustion and was leaning against a weeping willow, and raised an eyebrow at the jellybean.
Jubilee used the door handle to drag herself to her feet and leaned into the backseat. "Wake up Kit. Logan pulled the usual and socially tanked. We're damage control." He tracked her as she got back out of the car and stretched while waiting for her partner in crime. As Kitty was rounding the trunk he snagged Jubilee's arm. He'd be damned if the kid didn't get Xavier's help because they didn't know how to handle her delicately.
"Her history's fucked. That's why she's a little... off." He grumbled, shocking himself by trying to justify Marie's behavior.
"You mean batshit crazy?" Leave it to her to make things colorful. "I figured that out already, Wolvie. You don't live through the shit I did without being able to pick up signs. We'll be back in a jif. Comon Kit."
He watched, with no little worry, as the two of them made their way toward the weeping willow to bring Marie back from the edge.
Jubilee linked arms with Kitty and starting ping ponging ideas around in her head, hoping to land on something that could eat through the wall of anguish that had Rogue trapped. Something that would rebury that emotion and smother it with others. She glanced at Kit out of the corner of her eye as her brain struck gold. "Hey Kit. How much do you remember from 11th grade English?"
She watched as the look of confusion on her friend's face melted into understanding then morphed into enthusiasm. "Better than you I'm sure since I never skipped class." Jubes grinned in remembrance and saw Kitty's eyes roll. "I'll find the sticks. Try not to trip over your brilliance."
About a minute later Kitty was back, clutching three sticks about three and a half feet long. Jubilee took one and they smiled at each other before letting their faces go slack and screwing up their eyes until they looked grotesque. Jubes gave Kitty some mental extra credit for the drool she developed as they limped the rest of the way to Rogue. Ms. Grey would be so proud she snorted mentally as they stopped just behind the tree trunk that Rogue was leaning on, headphones securely attached.
She leaned forward and used the cord to pull one of the plugs out of Rogue's ear then snapped back into a hunched position as the girl spun towards her. Kitty's voice stopped Rogue dead in her tracks.
"Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd." She crooned, holding the stick perpendicular to the ground like she was stirring something.
"Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined." Jubilee picked up the chant, copying Kitty's stance. They both turned and looked expectantly at the flabbergasted Rogue who was holding onto the tree trunk like it was a lifeline keeping her afloat. Her mouth flapped a couple of times before Jubilee heard a quietly mumbled. "Harpier cried 'Tis time, 'tis time." She did a mental victory dance as Kitty picked up the next verse, starting a clockwise circle around the "cauldron" which Jubilee followed, leaving one spot for the third witch should she choose to take it.
"Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot."
Jubilee was getting into the act now, remembering when the two of them had performed this for the school's talent show with Alison (aka Dazzler). They had been totally awesome because Kitty'd phased them up through the floor of the stage, making the witches appear from nothingness, and Dazzler had lit up the area around them with flashes of light to add to the creepiness. Combined with her own ability to make their caldron spit sparks and eventually blow up, flinging green goop everywhere, they had had the first place prize in the bag. She concentrated and screwed up her face more, hoping that it would draw Rogue farther into their little game.
"Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."
She could swear that Rogue had joined in, quietly yes, but her voice had still been there. She picked up her next lines, channeling as much nasty witch crazy as she could grasp.
"Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing.
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."
YES! About halfway through that verse, Rogue had bent down and grabbed the final stick, taking her place as the third witch and throwing a bunch of leaves into the cauldron on 'wool of bat'. The three of them crackled together, "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble," scaring a couple of squirrels out of the willow and to an adjacent tree, scolding the whole time. Jubilee was also pretty sure she had just seen Logan join their little party, eyebrow cocked and lazy half-smile firmly in place. Suddenly, her thoughts were stopped by Rogue's haunting voice.
"Scale of dragon, tooth of wold,
Witches' mumm, maw and fulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gal of goat, and slips of yew
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab
Make the gruel think and slab;
Add thereto a tiger's caudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron."
Jubilee didn't know how they had done it, but they had to have found one of the best actresses in the world. Rogue had somehow completely dropped her accent and had morphed her voice into that of an old hag. Her face seemed to have aged a good thirty years from expression alone and her half limp seemed so real that it took considerable effort on not to ask if something was wrong. You could tell that the girl was totally absorbed by her actions and had traded in her crazy look.
"Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble." The three of them chanted together on last time, throwing their sticks over their shoulders to hear them clank to the ground as she finished the scene. "Cool it with a baboon's blood. Then the charm is firm and good." They all looked to the center of the circle, staring into the ground and Jubes found she was strangely reluctant to let the moment go. Something had snapped into being while they were participating in this random act of crazy and she was afraid it would vanish with the ending words.
She felt someone staring at her and picked up her head to meet Rogue's eyes across the circle just in time to see the birth of a radiating smile. She couldn't help smiling back and watched it grow as the girl turned to include Kitty in her joy. Jubes caught Logan's eye and he shook his head in seeming disbelief mouthing "trouble indeed" before walking to Rogue and leaning down to speak to her quietly. Hey now!
"Secrets secrets are no fun! Secrets secrets cause me to potentially maim someone."
She grinned at Logan's 'shut up' look and linked arms with Kitty. "We'll just be in the car. At the rate we're going, it's gonna be time to pick Remy back up before we even get home."
Rogue leaned into the tree and watched the two girls (dare she say her friends?) meander back to the Focus. Once they were safely inside, she had nothing to look at besides Logan, making her a coward if she didn't. She talked herself into turning to him and saw him studying her, but he didn't seem to be judging. It looked to her like he was working out a puzzle and just trying to fit the next piece into place. She snorted mentally. Maybe he could show her the picture when it was done. Someone needed to put her together.
"You okay now, kid?" he asked, looking uncomfortable. She kind of felt sorry for him. It was obvious that he wasn't used to dealing with other people's feelings, but he was making an effort because she had dumped all that emotional crap on him and he felt obligated. Well she was doing better now that Kitty and Jubilee had found her so he didn't need to worry.
"Just peachy sugar." She started walking to the car and could feel Logan's eyes on the back of her head before he took a few long strides to catch up. She breathed out an internal sigh of relief. No way could she go through any more emotional strain right now without stepping out in front of a semi.
"They don't know anything, do they?" she asked before they opened the doors. His response was in look form and, if translated, would have been "Do I look like that fucking stupid?" She shook her head and flopped into the front seat, turning to look at the two in the back as she flipped CD's to Styx.
"Why Shakespeare?"
The- what had Logan called them? Oh yeah- wonder twins met eyes and, surprisingly, it was Kitty who spoke first. "Honey, you quote Shakespeare all the time," she frowned. "We just took your cue."
Marie was shocked speechless for a minute and felt the car rock into gear. "You sure you aren't both physic? I sometimes use Shakespeare to calm myself down or to just make myself laugh if I need it, but the only time I've ever quoted Shakespeare around you three was before we went to the hotel. And then it wasn't even on purpose cause part of my brain hijacked my body."
She felt the car rock into gear as Logan spoke up. "Rogue, you've quoted at least six times when I could hear you." He sounded slightly worried and she felt the car jolt as the gas stopped flowing. She forced cheeriness into her voice. "Keep going, it's fine. I just didn't know that about myself. Aren't we always learning?"
She turned back to the front and tried to hide avalanch that was going on in her head. Was she a schizophrenic? She almost hit herself in the head for that stupid thought. Of course. She was pretty much a walking textbook definition. Okay, get a grip. Sing 'Lady' for a minute and regroup. Maybe she did occasionally open her mouth when her brain hadn't sanctioned it. Big deal, right? There were a lot of people who talked without intelligence behind it. And there were worse people out there that she could be quoting. Maybe this professor guy would have a cure. Though, while he was at it, maybe he could just program her brain to normal. Right after the magenta giraffes started flying out of Logan's butt singing "Luck be a Lady Tonight".
She sat quietly for a bit, letting her mind drift with the classic rock lyrics while she basked in the feeling of togetherness she got from being with other people. It was novel after years of solitude and she was pretty sure it was going to take time to readjust. She had to keep checking herself to make sure she wasn't talking to Norbert out loud. He could hear her thoughts anyway, making speaking unnecessary but it was another habit on her 'to break' list. When you had no one to speak to, you could forget speech all together if you didn't practice, so she had conversed vocally with Norbert instead of just thinking to him. Right now though, he didn't care if she was speaking or not. He was harassing her to explain the music thing before someone else got hurt. She sucked in a breath and relented.
"So, I guess you guys are wondering about my music." She looked around, seeing polite interest on everyone's faces, but not full-fledged curiosity. Ah, they were trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal. That made her feel melty. "Thanks for not pouncing on that. I'll tell you anyway though. So, there are people who aren't me in my head and no Jubilee, I don't want to explain. They live there. Each of them has a room with a lock on the door. Most of them are constantly testing that lock, trying to pick it or break it in some way so they can escape and take over, leading to badness. Anyway, long story short, the constant flow of music keeps the locks turned in the direction I want them to be. As the lyrics and melodies flow in my head, my brain attaches some energy to them. Then they constantly swarm the doors and keep me safe. I trained my brain to do it after some mishaps in the beginning with escapees. Now, I don't have to pay any attention, my brain just does it on autopilot."
She dragged her pride back around her using the unraveling edges. "What happened here, when I was christened in blood, was an attempted takeover by two people at the same time. I think you noticed that it can get ugly. Basically, I just wanted to let you guys know that I don't want to be rude with my CD player, but I can't take chances. Also, I think that I've come to rely on it more and more as the years pass. I don't really feel grounded without it now and every time silence falls (she couldn't suppress a shudder at that) it feels as if my personality is going to disintegrate into ashes, then float around my head until it's scattered into everyone's rooms and then no one will be home at all."
In the review mirror, she saw Jubilee get the reassuring look on her face that she had seen one time too many to ignore. Marie beat her to the punch. "Yes, Jubilee, I know that maybe your professor can help me. That's part of the reason I'm going with you guys. But I try not to put too much stock in maybes because typically, for me anyways, they don't work out. But I'm gonna try."
She relaxed again, holding her breath and waiting for a reaction or a question from one of them. When it came, it wasn't at all what she expected and it surprisingly came from next to her.
"What's the other part?" Logan demanded, sounding almost angry to her ears. She let her smile take root.
"I think I'm starting to like you guys. And since my only friend is Norbert, I better hold on to anyone who doesn't run screaming as soon as they see what I can do." She glanced around quickly and got answering smiles from the backseat. The driver's side was a different story. Evidently, it was back to blank face Logan. Well, two for three wasn't that bad. And she was determined to win him over because everyone, especially people with pasts like theirs, needed others around who understood. They needed each other's friendship; she just had to wake him up to the fact.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
*crouches behind a barrier to hopefully avoid any rotten fruit throwing* Don't hate me. Please have faith that a month between updates will not be the norm at all with this story. I just moved across country and life has been crazy. I'm pretty much settled in now though and can start turning out chapters at a faster rate. So, maybe I'm forgiven *Peeks out, only to duck again as a tomato flies by* You guys have some awesome aim.
Thanks to everyone who hasn't given up on this story. Also, thanks for the reviews. I would sit down and reread them whenever I was feeling overwhelmed with life and they would make me smile. I love you all!
Thanks to everyone who hasn't given up on this story. Also, thanks for the reviews. I would sit down and reread them whenever I was feeling overwhelmed with life and they would make me smile. I love you all!
Chapter End Notes:
Watch for the next chapter! It won't be a month!
"Double, double toil and trouble"- Macbeth (I know you all knew that already)
Please read and review, even if it is just to yell at me for the amount of time between chapters. Kiss Kiss.
"Double, double toil and trouble"- Macbeth (I know you all knew that already)
Please read and review, even if it is just to yell at me for the amount of time between chapters. Kiss Kiss.