The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
She felt like she was swimming in a river of voices, each one sliding over her, pulling her farther and farther into the depths of her mind. If she tried to focus she could almost make out figures in the shadows. Faces she vaguely remembered. A girl, one of the first forced absorptions.
She had been a telekinetic, lower level, expendable. A test run to see what exactly Rogue’s powers could do. It hadn’t even taken five minutes to drain her dry. She was only 7 years old and wanted to be a veterinarian when she grew up. She was just starting to take horseback riding lessons. A fall off a horse that caused a knock to the head had kick started her mutation early. The owner of the stables wasn’t mutant friendly. The lab kidnapped her that night. They had given her candy during the blood tests and a new dress. She liked the lab people and blamed Rogue for taking it all away.
You ruin everything!
The ones who didn’t survive always shouted the loudest. As if she had any choice about killing them, as if she could control her skin. She’d tried, lord knows she tried. Hours and hours of sitting there through tests, trying to figure out what muscle to twitch, what thought, what feeling would be the magic switch that stopped it all and gave her back control. But after the first dozen or so absorptions her mind was such a mess she couldn’t tell which thought was hers or someone else’s anymore.
Should have tried harder you filthy fucking mutant.
One of the guards who had fallen asleep at his post after a long night of drinking and lose women. Nearly let a whole block of mutants go when he accidently turned over onto the open cell button. Took the death of forty soldiers and half the mutants to get it all back in order again. His punishment was being the first human test subject. Death had been quick, barely a minute, but not very painless. The only thing he hated worse then the fact that he was dead, was that he was having to share that death with a mind full of the mutant scum he so dearly detested.
Pathetic. Weak. Stupid. Monster.
The moment she had decided to fight against them, the voices had swarmed and she didn’t stand a chance. She was too weak here. There were too many of them. Though only a handful had actually died by her touch, there were hundreds more who had touched long enough to get a healthy dose of their mind and memories now stuck inside her head, and not at all happy about it. They weren’t as powerful, but this new one. This last one. HE was powerful and somehow leading the rest of them, telling them to pull her down, down, down into the cold dark.
And how peaceful it is here. How quietly peaceful.
The sound of her own voice alone in her head bought her to full attention. So that’s what she sounded like.
Years and years of a headful of crazy and now the crazies finally taken over and there you find your peace. What a mess we are sugar.
The blackness was soothing, like water. It reminded her of the time when she was younger and some kids were chasing her, cornered on a bridge running over the lake near her house. She hadn’t even questioned, just turned and jumped and suddenly she was falling. The pain that came when she hit the water knocked her out for a moment before she came to and found herself just floating. Just like she was doing now, floating along with no thoughts, no feeling, no sound. Just floating in blissful quiet alone.
Rogue let the darkness take her where it willed. She hadn’t felt this normal since her mutation had first kicked in when she snuck a kiss from Cody. Put the boy in a coma for months. His memories were still knocking about with the rest of them, but he tended to stay quiet. She didn’t know what to make of that. Out of everyone in her head he had the most reason to be angry with her. She had been the one to kiss him after all. It was her fault.
All your fault. Everything’s your fault! Pathetic. Stupid.
Couldn’t they leave her be just for five minutes!
Monster. Stupid, All your fault. Kid’s not here anymore Wolverine.
Wolverine? The word brought back the face of the man with the claws and the scent. She could smell him now. He was nearby. She used the smell to guide her, back up the river of voices. Fighting and kicking.
No. You’re ours now Rogue. Ours. We own you. We’ll eat you up, crush your bones. You can’t fight us. Weak. Pathetic.
I’m not anybody’s but my own!
She let the rage that rushed thru her carry her farther up the stream of voices, slowly gaining ground.
Maybe this will help you remember.
The sudden pain dragged her straight out of the voices and back into the main cavern of her mind. She felt herself grabbing at her face, screaming soundlessly into the vast landscape as her left eye disappeared, leaving only a gaping black hole.
Cyber.
That’s what his name had been. The last absorption, to see how long her skin would take to destroy a feral mutant, a healer. For her, it seemed to take a lifetime before he finally took that last breath. Only he wasn’t dead, he was very much alive here, the last plane of his existence, her mind and all the clawing and ripping finally had given him what he wanted most of all. Control.
Rogue felt the land beneath her feet start shaking, a feeling of dizziness came over her. Her face burned. What the hell was going on out there?
I see you’ve gotten away from the others.
The voice came from behind and she turned around fast but found no one.
Over here Rogue.
She turned again towards the sound of the voice.
No over here. Over here!
This was ridiculous.
Stop fooling around and face me like a man!
Suddenly he was right there, his face two inches from her own. The left bionic eye twitching sporadically.
Can’t do that now little girl. A bit busy at the moment, but I’ll deal with you later.
She gave a gasp as she felt something stab in her chest. Three things to be exact. It was the Wolverine’s claws.
Oh, well you really only have yourself to blame for that, distracting me as you are. Don’t worry. Once you start stumbling they’ll turn the collar off and then I’ll have him and I won’t let go. I’ll suck him dry, every last drop, just like you did to ME. He’ll be in here with us and when he is, I’ll destroy him, rip him limb from limb, and then, pretty girl, I’ll lock you away, so deep, where you’ll never get out. I rather like this body of yours. So many wonderful things I could do with it.
This couldn’t be happening. Rogue grabbed for him, but her hands caught on nothing but air. He was gone again, using her body to attack the Wolverine and his plan would work too. She could already feel the loss of blood weakening her body, she felt slow, lethargic. It wouldn’t be long before the people who watched the cameras in the cell noticed and turned the collar off. If the clawed guy was touching her when that happened, Cyber would win. Unless she could stop him first.
She started running, looking around the corners of her mind for something, anything that could lead her to where Cyber was, or to let her grasp back control of her own body. Like she had done so many times laying there strapped to that cold steel table, while the essence of some poor soul poured into her and just like then she felt everything was there, but just out of her grasp. Her breath was coming in small gasps now and she felt weak, so weak. There just wasn’t enough time. She couldn’t stop Cyber. She couldn’t save Wolverine.
When the collar went off it was like a wave of energy exploded through her entire being. The darkened edges cleared out into sharp focus and continued getting clearer with every second. She felt like her whole body was glowing from the inside out. What was happening?
Grrrrrrrrrrrr. What the fuck is this?
It was him. The Wolverine. Was this his healing mutation she was absorbing? This burning light? It was nothing like she had ever felt before, nothing at all like her own healing factor that she had acquired from Cyber’s absorption. This was something so much more powerful and it was tearing away all the black spots in her mind. She felt alive, more alive than she had ever been in her entire life, she felt her lost eye knitting itself together again and then, the memories started pouring in and the pain.
My god how had he lived through all that? She felt tears streaming down her face at the agony of it all and she couldn’t move. It was swallowing her whole. She had to stop it or she’d be lost, lost in all that destruction and torture. She reached, grasped, like she had done so many times before, a dying reflex, and she waited for the disappointment and the end, but this time, something caught and she could feel it and pull it and everything slowed down.
It had never been there before. The place she was grabbing now had been nothing but blackness and broken before…before Wolverine’s healing power had fixed it. They had done something, something to her to stop her from being able to, to take away her control, something her new healing power couldn’t fix, but Wolverine’s had! Focusing harder, her body felt like it was tearing apart, but she felt it, she was slowing it down. The memories were coming in less and less, the bright light dimming. She could stop it!
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!
She felt the body crash into her side, knocking the breath out of her and pressing her hard into the ground. Cyber glared down at her, left eye twisting madly around. The other voices in her head gathered around him, dark shadows pressing in, trying to drown her and she felt her grip slip and she was falling again under all the memories and the voices. Then a noise, Shinkt!
All right, you freaks! If you really want to tangle with someone, why not try your luck against the Wolverine!
And then there he was. Lord help her, he smelled just the same in her mind as he did in real life. Then a bolt of fear shot thru her, had she killed him?
Wolverine, how nice of you to join us.
She felt Cyber release his grip on her and stand up, the others following him, like a black wave.
Cyber, didn’t think I’d ever get the chance to kick your ass again, but can’t say I’m disappointed. I owed you another one anyways.
Shall we dance then?
Rogue watched as the two mutants charged each other, the force creating a sonic boom throughout her mind, shaking everything. It was like watching two wild dogs attack each other, clawing and biting and growling and blood soon covered the floor making it slick. She found herself becoming entranced by the display, watching the muscles ripple as Wolverine attacked and twisted and moved around her mind. His scent getting stronger and stronger. So deliciously addicting, like it had been when he had her pinned to the ground. That’s when it clicked. He was still on top of her and she was still draining his life away.
Immediately she grasped for the place she had found before, pulling with all the force she could muster, her teeth rattling, bones aching, pain tearing through her. She had to stop it NOW and then, just like that, it did. She felt the light fade and the smell slowly start to drift away.
NOOOOOO!
She felt before she saw Cyber’s fist crash across her face, knocking her across the floor. She quickly got to her feet, crouching down, a growl coming from her chest, but then Wolverine was in front of her.
Touch her again bub and you’ll answer to me.
Always with the threats Wolverine. I own Rogue’s mind and I can do anything I want!
Rogue reached down deep within herself, into the dark places that now were open to her, into the power that lurked there and found the one she was looking for.
Not anymore!
The telekinetic blast crashed into Cyber’s chest, tearing a gaping hole and knocking him to the floor in a bloody heap. The use of the power though exhausted her and she felt herself fall to her knees. Wolverine was quickly at her side, but she could feel the other voices sense the sudden weakness.
Pathetic. Weak. Monster. You’re ours!
The Wolverine growled at the shadows closing in.
She’s MINE.
She shook her head, forcing herself to her feet.
I’m no one’s!
He turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow and for a moment she thought he was going to argue with her. Instead, he took a few steps back so he was standing behind her.
Then prove it! Fight!
She closed her eyes and concentrated, searching and pulling together every shattered little piece she could feel inside her mind, pieces the lab had torn apart, that Cyber had taken over, bringing them all together, drawing them inside her body, using their energy to strengthen herself.
That’s it, you can do it Rogue. Now build a wall. Cage them all in.
She focused on the image of large blocks, building one by one, strong stone, no adamantium. Adamantium blocks, building taller and taller and circling around Cyber’s still regenerating body, surrounding the swirling shadows.
You can try to lock me up, but I’ll still be here always, scratching and clawing and when you fail, when you’re weak and broken again I will be back. You can’t hide me here forever.
And she knew that was true, but for now, she was strong enough. She could lock him away until she found a cure, until she found a way to burn the memory of him and all the others to ash within her mental cage. She could do this. And with the last block, Cyber’s control was finally broken and her mind was again her own.
Never doubted you for a second kid.
The proud tone in the voice made her smile. It had really been him that had done all the work. He had given her something to fight for, had healed her mind from whatever the lab had done that was blocking her ability to control her powers. She wanted to thank him, but realized she didn’t even know his real name.
Name’s Logan.
How strange to be having a conversation with a voice in her head that wasn’t trying to destroy her. If only they had all been like him, life would have been so much different.
I’m Marie.
It’s time to wake up now Marie.