X-men Evolution Fan Fiction ❯ Starting Today ❯ Chapter 26

O-o-o-o-O

Tuesday morning dawned bright and sunny. Rogue figured it was probably very nice, but that she'd appreciate it a lot better if it occurred at a different time of day. After all this time of 6am Danger Room sessions, she still wasn't a morning person. She lay in bed trying to avoid the inevitable and contemplated her day. First off, Danger Room. More telepathy practice with Jean. Joy. She would give Miss Perfect credit; she was helping Rogue fine-tune her TK. That didn't mean that Rogue had to like it. Then a birthday party this afternoon. Even though turning 18 didn't mean anything to her, apparently it meant something to everyone else and so she had to suffer through cake, candles and all the rest. She'd like to blow it off, but Kitty and Kurt had put it together and were so excited about it that she hated to hurt their feelings. And a little part of her inside liked the fact that they had gone to so much trouble for her.

Tonight had her nervous though. Remy had developed the pictures he had taken last week (where, she didn't ask), so they had blueprints and a map of Magneto's lab. With his and Essex's return two days ago they could now visit it without fear of getting caught. Professor Xavier was covering for her by backing up Rogue's story that she was visiting Irene for the night. The Professor's word made it easier for her to get past Logan's watchful eye. The older mutant hadn't accused her of anything, but he seemed to keep an eye on her more than ever and she had the feeling that he was suspicious of her. Hopefully though she and Remy would get the answers they needed tonight.

The Danger Room session was going as normal. Rogue's mission today was to protect several Jamies from Bobby's snowballs by deflecting them with her mind. She was doing quite well too; she had gotten good at multi-tasking with her TK and could perform several tasks at once. Jean was standing next to her, more to observe now than to advise. Everything was going fine until the paintball session on the other side of the room got out of hand and Sam collided with one of the Jamies, creating two more and sending one of them into Jean and Rogue's direction. He hit them hard and too startled to react in time, the two girls fell on top of each other and Jean's hand landed directly on Rogue's face. Rogue screamed as she broke away and a fiery aura surrounded her body for a moment.

She's awake

I'll never be cold again

I am the fire and the resurrection

She shuddered and collapsed, having received a taste of a power that shocked and overwhelmed her. Oh my god Jean, what's going on?

The other girl lay nearby, panic in her eyes. You can't tell anyone. Not the Professor, not Remy, not ANYBODY. I've kept your secret, now you have to keep mine.

Rogue was shocked. She didn't think anyone else had known. Too numb mentally to do anything else, she nodded her agreement.

Not good enough Rogue; PROMISE me.

I, I promise Jean. I won't tell anyone. But what, what's going on? What's happening to you?

I can't explain right now. I don't quite understand it fully myself. Everything will be clear soon. You just have to trust me. Keep my secret and I will keep yours.

You don't have any problem with what I'm doing? With my seeing Remy?

He's a good man Rogue. It's obvious that he loves you. Things have changed for me Rogue; I can't see things in the same way I did before.

I can see that. No one will hear it from me. How are you keeping this from the Professor though?

I am much stronger than I used to be, he will not know.

"Jean? Rogue? You girls okay?" Their conversation was broken by Logan kneeling by them, a concerned look on his face.

Rogue groaned and rolled over. "Yeah, I'll be okay. What about you Jean?"

Jean didn't bother opening her eyes. "I'll live. Wanna take a nap though."

Logan didn't look convinced. "What was with that light show you put on a minute ago Rogue?"

"I don't know Logan."

"Hmph. Jean, why are you still awake?"

"It must have been just a light touch. Can I go now? I'm pretty worn out."

He looked like he wanted to question her further but apparently decided not to push it. Instead he sighed and stood up. "Okay, why don't you two get out of here and go get some rest. You've had enough for today." He then turned to Sam, who looked like he wanted to fade into the wall. "You though, I want fifteen laps, starting now." The boy nodded fearfully and raced off.

In a rare moment of cooperation, Jean and Rogue helped each other up and headed out of the Danger Room towards their respective rooms.

"Sorry about touching you like that Jean."

"Don't be ridiculous Rogue; I'm the one who touched you. Besides, it was Sam who caused the whole thing."

"Well, thanks for not telling anyone about, you know..."

"No problem. I couldn't really give your secret away without giving up mine anyway."

"This doesn't mean I like you, you know." Rogue said, but with no malice in it.

Jean smirked. "Ditto."

Rogue napped the rest of the morning and woke up around lunchtime feeling much better. The power she had absorbed from Jean allowed her to strengthen her mental shields and so the fiery visions from earlier were but a faint memory. As much as she and Miss Perfect didn't get along, she couldn't help but be concerned. Something was not right. She had absorbed Jean before but never had she had power like this. And how long had she known about her and Remy? The old Jean wouldn't have hesitated to give a lecture about the dangers of dating the enemy. She wasn't sure if she liked this new Jean yet, but as long as she held up her end of the bargain Rogue would hold up hers.

She went downstairs to find preparations for the party underway. Rogue had to laugh as she saw black balloons floating all over the Rec room. Kitty stood in the corner, filling a bowl with chips.

"Check it out Rogue. It's like, a Goth birthday party!"

"I can see that Kitty. I never thought I'd see the day when you'd willingly buy anything black."

"Well hey, it's your birthday. I can make an exception."

The others gradually trickled in and the party got under way. Bobby had made an ice cream cake that was actually pretty tasty, if a little lopsided. The girls had all pooled together to get her a gift certificate to Hot Topic. Kurt gave her a beautiful photo album with a picture inside of him after the unfortunate Nair incident.

"Our first family album", he said with a smile. Rogue didn't know what to say so she just hugged him tightly.

"Please liebes", he joked, "You're messing the fur!"

Rogue's gift from the adults was the keys to a brand new Jeep, which she found parked outside. She surprised everyone by laughing happily and giving each of them a hug. She was rarely so physically demonstrative.

Rogue was overjoyed. She hadn't expected such thought to be put into her gifts. That and the joy of having her first car. She ate cake and partied with the others, then at Kitty's request took her and the other girls out for a spin in her new vehicle.

As it grew towards evening Rogue got her stuff together for her supposed sleepover at Irene's. In actuality, the Professor had agreed to allow her to stay over with Remy after they returned from investigating Magneto's lab. She was excited at finally being able to spend an entire night in Remy's arms. To spend every night in those arms would be a dream come true. Remy had given some hints that he'd like her to move in with him after he has been at the Institute for a little while but she wasn't sure if the Professor would go for that. It made sense to her though. She knew his mind and neither of them had any intention of ever leaving the other. They also slept better together than apart so they would most likely end up in each other's rooms most nights anyway. She could just imagine the discussion with Logan though. Even if the Professor did agree he'd probably want to schedule all-night Danger Room sessions with Remy so he wouldn't be able to go to bed anyway.

Rolling her eyes at the thought, she parked the Jeep at Remy's apartment and got out, locking the doors carefully. She looked around for a second, swearing she had heard something, but she saw nothing in the twilight. Shrugging it off as nothing more than maybe a stray cat or dog, she grabbed her overnight bag and went into the building. Unbeknownst to her, two pairs of eyes appeared from opposite ends of the street; one black, the other one yellow.

He scowled as he watched her go inside. He knew the thief had been sneaking around, he could just tell, but he hadn't said anything. The sleazy rat was the boss's favorite and he didn't have proof. Now though... The runt favored this little one. It would be a distinct pleasure to rip her to shreds, maybe leave a piece or two as a gift. Then he'd bring the body back to his boss as proof of the thief's guilt and he'd get the pleasure of disposing of him. He couldn't wait.

O-o-o-o-O

Remy kissed the top of her head as she came in the door. "Happy Birthday Chere."

Rogue gave him a hug and grinned. "Why thank you Remy. Wait until you see what I got for a present." She pulled him over to the window and pointed to the Jeep parked outside. He whistled.

"Very nice. I think I'm jealous."

"Well if you're nice to me I just might take you for a ride in it some time."

He smirked and whispered in her ear. "What if that's not the kind of ride I want?"

She smacked his arm and moved into the kitchen to get a glass of water. "You perv. Can't you ever get your mind out of the gutter?" She did keep a little smile on her face though to let him know that she wasn't really mad.

"Why would I want to do that when I have such lovely company there?"

"Hey, I'm not a perv like some people around here, Cajun."

Remy leaned against the kitchen entryway and smirked. "Could have fooled me."

Rogue rolled her eyes as she sat down at the table. "So how far away is this lab, anyway?"

"About ten miles outside of town. Quiet location, from the map it seems to be near an industrial complex."

"Nice place if you don't want anyone to know what you're up to."

"That's what I was thinking too. Magneto still hasn't said what we're doing, just that it's happening this weekend, so we've got to move fast."

"So we get in, dig up what we can, get out, come back here, then go to the Professor with what we find out in the morning."

"Right. And have an entire night to ourselves in the meantime." This was said with a little smile on Remy's face.

"Well we don't get to have that until we get our work done so we might as well get going, eh Swamp Rat?"

"You have a point. I want plenty of time to have you to myself. Let's get out of here." Remy grabbed his trench coat and nearly yanked her out the door. Rogue laughed as she followed with the blueprints.

"Let's take the bike. We can go faster."

"You just want an excuse for me to hold onto you."

"Oui, that too."

Rogue laughed as they left the apartment building. She decided not to put up a fight, since she loved riding behind him on the motorcycle with her arms wrapped around him. Any excuse to hold him was a good excuse in her book.

They were just passing an alley on the way to where the bike was parked when Remy pushed her out of the way just in time to avoid the large hairy figure that came charging out of the alley. Snarling in annoyance, he turned and faced Remy.

"You're dead, Cajun."

Remy had his staff out in an instant. "What you doing Sabby? Mags send you here?"

The feral mutant grinned evilly and stalked towards Remy. "No. He doesn't know you've gone and turned on him yet. But I do. And as soon as I bring him your little girlfriend's body then he'll know too." He lunged at the thief but was repelled. "I've been wanting to do this for a long time."

"The feeling's mutual, homme. Usually I don't believe in cruelty to animals, but in this case I'll make an exception." He dodged another attack then threw several charged cards at Sabertooth, which dazed him for a moment but didn't do any serious damage.

Rogue assisted by firing optic blasts at him but they didn't do much better than Remy's cards. Sabertooth's healing factor worked fast enough to keep him going. He turned to Rogue and grinned.

"Hang on frail. I'll get to you in a minute."

Remy eventually ran out of cards and resorted to fighting with his staff, which didn't do much good against the powerful mutant. Sabertooth grabbed the staff away from Remy and slammed him against a wall, knocking him unconscious.

"NO!!" Rogue screamed. She ripped a glove off her hand and was going to jump Sabertooth when he turned and grabbed her by the arm, lifting her into the air. She swung helplessly, punching and kicking at him.

He laughed. "Not so dangerous now, are you little girl? This is gonna be fun. I wonder what the runt will say when he finds pieces of you on the doorstep in the morning?" He slapped the side of her head with his free hand and she saw stars. He dropped her to the ground and gave her a vicious kick to the side, laughing when she screamed. Rogue swore she felt at least one or two ribs crack.

"Get the FUCK away from my daughter."

It was the coldest voice she had ever heard her mother speak in. It caused a little chill down her spine and through her pain, she vaguely found herself thinking that she was glad it wasn't her that was being spoken to that way.

Mystique stood on the sidewalk near Remy's comatose body, a deadly look in her eyes.

Sabertooth looked up and smirked. "Fuck off Raven; I don't play with Magneto's used toys."

"Well maybe you'll play with this." With that she changed into the form of Wolverine, claws extended. "Come and get it, bub."

Sabertooth snarled and charged at Mystique; apparently he couldn't resist fighting even the illusion of his nemesis. The battle was ugly. Mystique didn't have Logan's adamantium claws but she still packed a punch. The two mutants punched, slashed, bit, clawed, and kicked every body part they could reach. Blood oozed from all over their bodies. Panting, they circled each other, grinning, then leaped at each other again.

Remy slowly came to and found himself lying with his head in Rogue's lap. She had by then accessed her healing power absorbed from Sabertooth in the past but was tired from the multiple power use and so sat resting.

"Um, Rogue, I'm thinking maybe we should get out of here?"

"No, I need to make sure she'll be okay."

"She?"

"That's Mystique posing as Logan."

"Oh. I thought you didn't like her."

"I don't, but she's still mine and Kurt's mother, and if anything happened to her it would break Kurt's heart."

"What about your heart, Rogue"

"I, I don't know. I'm still pretty angry with her. I haven't had a chance to get past that yet."

The battle was getting grim. Mystique had gotten in several good hits but she just was no match for Sabertooth's combined strength and healing factor. Severely weakened, she could do nothing when he sunk his claws into her chest. Clutching herself in shock, she shifted back to her natural form and sunk to the ground, blood pouring out of the wounds. He grinned and started to leave, needing to rest and heal from his own wounds.

Remy saw this and panicked. "Rogue, he knows! Wipe his mind, quickly!"

She saw him leaving and froze him with her mind just long enough to clear his memories of what he knew of her and Remy. All Sabertooth knew now was that he had gotten into a fight with Logan tonight for some unknown reason; not that he ever needed a reason to fight with Logan.

After he left, she got up and raced to her mother's prone body on the ground. Blood still flowed freely from the stab wounds in her chest and the various other wounds from the fight. She was getting weaker by the moment and Rogue didn't know what to do. She knew she couldn't take Raven to a hospital; doctors hadn't been known to treat mutants very well lately. She sighed inwardly. There was no other choice. She'd have to take her to the Institute.

"Remy, we have to take her to the mansion."

Raven stirred. "No...take me...Irene..."

"What? No, you need help, you're bleeding."

"Trust me, Rogue...she'll help..."

Rogue sighed. "Alright. Where do we go?"

Raven gave them an address and Remy drove them there as fast as he could in Rogue's Jeep, breaking several traffic laws in the process. The address turned out to be a small, comfortable-looking house not too far from the Brotherhood house, with a picket fence and pretty yard. The front door opened when they pulled up and Irene stepped out, a frantic look on her face.

"Bring her in, quickly!"

Rogue was surprised. "How did you...oh, never mind, I forgot..."

Remy carried Raven inside and they were surprised to find Agatha Harkness inside with Irene. She took charge and directed Remy to lay Raven on a bed on the first floor. She immediately started trying to stop the blood flow and clean the wounds, but it soon became obvious that Raven had lost too much blood and she wasn't going too make it. Mystique had a rare blood type and there were no supplies nearby. All Agatha could do now was make her comfortable and ease her pain.

Agatha made the others leave the room and closed the door behind her, leaving Rogue and Raven alone. Irene had shared a few whispered words with her partner just before leaving. Rogue sat in a chair next to her mother's bed, not sure what to say. She had been betrayed by this woman repeatedly, had just found out that she was her mother; she hadn't even had a chance to finish being angry with her and now she was being taken away from her. She wasn't sure if she loved her, wasn't sure if she even liked her. She was sorry though. Sorry that they wouldn't be given a chance to forgive and forget, and see if they could be mother and daughter.

"Rogue..." Raven's whisper was weak, nothing like her normally strong voice.

"What is it?" She tried not to be pitying, but not to be hateful either.

"I'm so sorry...you and Kurt...such beautiful children...deserved better...tell him...I'm sorry..."

"I'll tell him, I promise. His parents love him though; he had a good life with them. Just as I did with Irene."

"Forgive me, please...didn't want to hurt you...love you...my little Rogue..."

Raven closed her eyes and didn't open them again