X-men Evolution Fan Fiction ❯ Starting Today ❯ Chapter 27

O-o-o-o-O

Rogue was numb. She had never watched a person die before. And the fact that the person in question was her mother didn't help things. When did everything get so complicated? It was supposed to be so easy. She and Remy would find out what Magneto was up to and tell the Professor. Then they and the rest of the X-Men would come in and save the day, Remy would be accepted on the team and they'd be together. Maybe not happily ever after; but a happier one than she had contemplated before meeting him. It wasn't supposed to go this way. They weren't supposed to get caught, and Mystique certainly wasn't supposed to be killed trying to save her.

Dead. Mystique was dead. She felt cold and shaky, looking at the now lifeless body lying on the bed. In death Mystique didn't look nearly as menacing as she did in life, and Rogue found herself feeling a great sorrow. Not for the loss of her mother, since she hadn't really had a chance to know Raven as anything other than an enemy, but for lost opportunities. Raven's last words had been a plea for forgiveness, and now Rogue could never give it to her. No chances now to see if she had genuine in her remorse, to see if anything could be between them other than enmity. And Kurt........oh god, what was she going to tell Kurt? Despite his declarations that they didn't need Raven, she knew that he was hoping for an opportunity to talk to her, find out more about his past. There was yet another chance gone.

Rogue stood up slowly and started for the door. She couldn't fall apart now. The others were waiting outside for her, and she still had to tell the Professor what had happened. She didn't even notice the tears forming in her eyes.

O-o-o-o-O

Remy waited in the living room with Irene and Agatha, not sure what to say. He remembered Agatha as the Scarlet Witch's mentor, but he had never met Rogue's guardian before. Destiny looked awfully composed for someone whose lover and partner was dying, but then he supposed it wasn't such a shock to her. What must that be like, being able to see the future? He imagined she must not be able to do much with her visions, from fear of affecting what happens. He wasn't sure if he could stand something like that.

He went back over the evening's events, trying to figure out what went wrong. How the hell had Sabertooth found them out? The only thing he could think of was that he must not have been as careful as he thought and the other man had smelled Rogue on him and gotten suspicious. The damn man was like an animal, sniffing and snarling his way around most of the time. He wished Mystique had killed him, or that he had gotten in a few more hits himself before getting knocked out. It was okay now though; Rogue had wiped Sabertooth's mind and Essex wouldn't be able to find out what had happened. He glanced up at the closed bedroom door. No, he was wrong. It wasn't okay; Rogue's mother had died defending them and things were anything but okay. The pain he felt coming from the other room told him that the woman had to be dead. He didn't like using his empathy very often; it was difficult to deal with other people's emotions, but he was worried about Rogue and wanted to keep an eye on her, so to speak. Rogue hadn't known about her true relationship with the shapeshifter for very long and was still angry about Mystique's actions in the past, but family was family.

Remy heard the turning of the knob and gave his attention to the door as Rogue opened. She was whiter than usual, if that was possible, and looked like she was in shock. She stepped into the living room and said in a shaky voice, “She's gone.”

Irene took a step towards her but Remy was faster and gathered Rogue in his arms, holding her close as tears fell down her face. He made soothing noises as she sobbed and his heart ached, wanting to say something to take her pain away but know that words were useless in times like these.

“She's dead Remy. Why did she have to follow me? It wasn't supposed to be like this, she's not supposed to be dead.” Her words were choked and muffled, from tears and her face being buried in his trench coat.

Remy sighed. “My guess is, she wanted to look out for you. Mothers do that.” He kissed the top of her head and stroked her back slowly, trying to comfort her.

“But I never got a chance to let her be my mother, I was still angry with her. And now I never will..........” Her voice dissolved into tears and she buried her face further into his chest.

Irene approached and laid a hand on Rogue's shoulder. “I'm so sorry Rogue. I've known Raven for many years, and she wouldn't want you to cry over her. Now is not the time to grieve. The night is not getting any younger, and the two of you have places to go.”

Rogue sniffed and lifted her head. Remy took a handkerchief from one of his many coat pockets and wiped her eyes. She gave him a weak smile and turned to Irene.

“I don't know if I'm going to be able to get used to the idea of you seeing the future, Irene. Although it does explain a few things, when I was growing up. We can't go yet though. We need to tell the Professor what's happened, and Kurt.” She sighed. “Oh man, what am I going to tell him?”

The older woman shook her head. “I will call Charles and inform him. He will probably agree with me that an abbreviated form of the truth can be given out to the others. No one else needs to know of your and Remy's involvement in this. Leave Raven here; Agatha and I shall take care of things from this point, but now you need to go.”

Rogue pulled herself away from Remy's arms and gave Irene a hug. “I'm so sorry Irene. I didn't come to see you; I was so angry, I just couldn't.”

“I know dear, I know. And I'm sorry too, that things had to go the way they did.”

Remy looked at the two, and saw, and felt, that regardless of what her and Mystique's motives had been in taking in the child, that Destiny truly loved the girl. And he felt better, knowing that despite Raven's death, Rogue still had a mother to care about her.

The blind woman turned to him, and he could have sworn she was looking right at him. “I don't think I need to tell you to look after my daughter, Mr. LeBeau, but I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't. So please, take care of her. I would hate for Raven's sacrifice to be in vain.”

“J'aime la fille.(I love the girl) I'd rather die than have anything happen to her.”

Rogue dried the last of the tears from her eyes and looked at them. “You people really need to stop talking about me like I'm not here.”

Irene gave a sad smile. “I'm sorry Rogue. Now please, you really should go now. Agatha and I will take care of Raven.”

Rogue sighed and gave Irene one last hug before turning to go. As she left, Remy took Irene's hand and kissed it, murmuring softly, “Merci d'elever une fille si merveilleuse. (Thank you for raising such a wonderful girl)”

Irene's lips twitched in a smile. “You're most welcome Mr. LeBeau. Now off with you.” He gave a little bow of respect to Agatha and went out the door.

O-o-o-o-O

Professor Xavier was in his bed reading, when the phone rang. He never in a million years would have expected a call from the person on the other end of the line.

“Charles Xavier, this is Irene Adler. I have some disturbing news. Rogue is alright, but there has been an incident tonight...........”

He saw the images flooding Irene's mind and gasped. “Oh dear god.”

O-o-o-o-O

They took Rogue's Jeep to the lab, Remy driving as Rogue didn't feel quite up to taking the wheel. She closed her eyes and rested her head against the seat, allowing the night wind to send her hair in every direction and cool her tearstained cheeks. It seemed like forever since she had had her birthday party, had received her presents. Well this was one birthday she certainly would not forget any time soon.

She looked at Remy. “How's your head feeling?”

“Like I lost a fight with a brick wall. I'll be okay though. What about you?”

“Thankfully I was able to use Sabertooth's healing power. I think he had cracked a couple of ribs.”

Remy snarled. “That bastard. I'll get him Cherie, I promise.”

“WE'LL get him, Remy. That was my mother he killed.”

“We'll get him then. He will pay for this though.”

According to the blueprints Remy had photographed back in Magneto's office, there were guard posts at each of the entrances to the lab. They parked the Jeep out of sight at the nearby industrial complex and moved silently back their destination. The guards looked like soldiers, and wanting to go as unnoticed as possible, the two went around to a shadowy side of the building, where Rogue phased them through the wall. They were now in what looked like an examining room; there were a couple of beds set up, along with various pieces of unknown equipment scattered throughout the room.

“How did Magneto ever get humans to work for him?”, Rogue asked in a low voice.

“He doesn't always go around in that cape and bucket. He can look quite normal when he wants to. I doubt those guards know what this place is for or who they're really working for.” Remy took out the copy of the blueprints. “Okay, looks like the office we want is down here.” He pointed to a room on the paper.

“Let's go then.” Rogue phased her head through the door and checked out the hallway. “Coast is clear.” She pulled Remy the rest of the way through the door with her.

He shook his head. “I don't think I'll ever get used to that”, he whispered. Rogue gave him a little smirk and they went down the hall.

They found the office they wanted easily and Remy picked the lock. Looking around for a few minutes, they found some papers in a drawer of the desk and Rogue skimmed through them.

“Remy, it looks like Essex wants to take the Morlocks and experiment on them, play with their powers and make them stronger. At the same time, he'd wipe their minds and Magneto could use them for whatever he wanted.”

“Who are the Morlocks?”

“They're this group of mutants that live in the sewers. They have outward mutations that make it hard for them to get along in `normal' society, and so they prefer to stay below ground. Evan joined them a while back because his mutation was getting out of control and he didn't feel comfortable staying at the Institute any longer. Oh god, Storm's going to flip out if anything happens to him. He's her nephew.”

“That's why we're here Rogue, to make sure nothing does happen.” He took pictures of the files and put them back where they were. They then shut the office door and went back the way they came. Once outside the building, Rogue teleported them back to the Jeep and they headed for Remy's place.

She had a feeling of foreboding now, ever since they had been caught by Sabertooth. She couldn't say things were going too well, not with what had happened earlier that night, but it had been quite easy to get in and out of that place. She had thought things were going well before, too, and look what had happened.

“Call me paranoid Remy, but wasn't that almost too easy?”

“Maybe you're right, but then Mags doesn't have any guests staying there yet. Not much we can do about it now though. I'll get these developed in the morning, then you can take them to Xavier and we'll go from there. We'll be okay.”

She wanted to snap at him, to ask him how he could promise that when Mystique was lying dead back at Irene's house, but it wasn't his fault. No one forced her mother to follow her to Remy's place. Instead she just sighed and looked out the window, watching the night pass them by.

“Do you think I should go back? I mean everyone thinks I'm at Irene's and they'll think it strange if I don't come straight back when she calls the Professor about Mystique.”

“Do you want to go back?”

“No. I don't think I could face anyone right now, having to lie to them. Please can I still stay with you? I don't think I can stand to sleep alone tonight.”

Remy took one gloved hand off the wheel and ran it across her cheek. “You'll stay with me then. You can tell everyone you were upset and wanted to stay with Destiny, I'm sure she'll back you up.”

Rogue nodded and closed her eyes, remaining quiet for the rest of the trip.

They went upstairs to his apartment silently, the happy mood that the evening had started with gone. After she had washed her face and changed into pajamas, he covered her with the cotton sheet on his bed then laid on top of the sheet next to her, wrapping her up in his arms.

“This is nice”, he whispered in the dark.

“Yeah.”

“I wish I could fall asleep with you every night.”

“Me too.”

“Will you be okay, Cherie?”

“I don't know yet Remy. I'm still a little in shock I think.” She rested her head against his chest, his skin protected from her powers by the sheet. “Thank you for being my pillow.”

“Je t'aime Rogue. I'll be whatever you need. Sleep now.”

And they both did.