Disclaimer: I don't own no character, no singer, no song used in this fic.
RockStarChapter 16: Haunted
"Uh!" Bobby winced in disgust as he packed his electric guitar inside its case. "I can't believe more protesters showed up than actual audiences.
"Let's face it. Without Scarlett, we're just another band trying to break through," Kitty sighed.
"Just another mutant band, you mean," Kurt corrected as he tucked his drumsticks inside his back pocket before gesturing outside where the police were trying to control the crowd.
Bobby smirked. "But I heard people saying that Jaime might be the next biggest thing since the Hansons,"
Jaime grimaced as he stood up from where he was sitting on the stage. "I hate the Hansons,"
That night was a night of confusing emotions.
It was supposed to be his big break. Bobby's band had chosen him to replace Scarlett as their singer. Scarlett, whom he was told as no other than his friend and mentor, Rogue?
But that thought which brought him so much excitement also brought him sadness.
"Sounds just like something Rogue would say," Kurt said wistfully. And everybody fell silent.
How could Jaime ever replace Rogue?
No one ever could.
"Alright. Everyone out through the backdoor." Logan appeared, herding them out, away from the cold, harsh reality of the real world.
Kurt rubbed his eyes as he walked down the stairs after waking up from his afternoon nap. He made a beeline to the kitchen to get something to drink.
Pausing outside the kitchen door, he heard cupboards opening and closing, along with a few thumping sounds. He opened the door. "What are you doing?" He asked with a frown.
"Hiding the spices. It's the Cajun's turn to make dinner and I'm not in the mood for anything chili tonight. Wanna help?"
Kurt nodded with a manic grin. How could he say no to the girl they almost lost to Apocalypse.
"Hey, Bobby wanted me to ask you something," Kurt said as more containers were given to him.
"If it's about the band, I'll think about it,"
Kurt's tail wagged sideways, glad that he was finally having a decent conversation with his sister. "Why won't you go back?"
Rogue shrugged. "After everything that's happened, I guess I just want to stop and smell the flowers, I guess."
"Fair enough," Kurt admitted. "Jaime's good, though. And if it took you too long to decide, then don't be surprised if we won't let you back,"
Rogue grinned as she tossed him a couple of containers.
Kurt was just glad that he had his sister back and he couldn't help but remember that day when he almost lost her.
Through the combined powers of Jean and Magneto, the door shut for the final time.
I'll be back! The threat echoed in their minds.
"NOOOO!"
Gambit fell to his knees. "Roguey," he whispered weakly.
Scott swallowed painfully as he placed a hand on Gambit's shoulders, a hand that was meant to comfort.
With a fierce shout Wolverine lunged at the wall and buried his claws through it.
"I am sorry for your loss," Mageto told Xavier softly after a moment of awkward silence. Xavier merely nodded.
Jean and Kitty were openly crying, hugging each other.
Kurt, who had screamed earlier, was fighting a loosing battle against his emotions.
Mystique faced him. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "My son," and together, they grieved for their fallen family.
With a sob, Kurt stepped forward to bury his face into his mother's neck.
It was true. Tragedy does bring people together.
But even this was too high a price to pay.
Warren hovered above them, like an avenging angel who came to redeem the brokenhearted. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw something move.
"Aw, man." A distinctively familiar voice groaned. "Did anyone got the number on that bus?"
Kurt's head popped up. "Sister?"
"Kurt?" A voice from a different location asked. "That you?"
"Wait. What's going on here?" Again, it was the same voice, but yet again, it came from a different part of the room.
The previously grieving members of their tiny group, looked around in confusion.
From different corners of the shadowy room, three Rogues stepped into the light.
"Roguey!"
It was as confusing as it was funny.
Gambit rushed forward and hugged one Rogue, Mystique and Kurt the other, Kitty and Jean the last one.
Then, two other Rogues appeared, one supporting the other.
"Man," Kurt laughed weakly as he hastily wiped the tears from his face, yet not letting go of his sister. "How many of you are there?"
"Hey,"
Kurt jumped as another Rogue went into the room. He sighed. He was never going to get used to the fact that there was now five Rogues running around the mansion.
According to the professor, Rogue had received a power boost from Apocalypse, enabling her to maintain a number of her copies for so long.
Everyone in the Institute reacted differently. The New Mutants were confused. Most of the original team was dismayed at the thought of handling more than one Rogue. Kitty was complaining about the lack of room space. Kurt was enjoying his suddenly large family. Logan and professor X kept pushing Rogue, testing her limits. Beast was in scientific heaven, performing a number of tests.
But the Cajun…
"Remy's coming back," Rogue said to her copy.
"Hurry, Kurt, port out of here with those stuff," the original Rogue Kurt was talking to told him.
Kurt nodded as he ported.
Just as the fuzzy elf disappeared, Remy entered the kitchen with his arm around Rogue, the third one in the room.
"Dieu," he grinned suggestively. "It's like a dream come true."
All three Rogues glared at him.
He gulped. "Or maybe not."
"Remy!"
Remy shot out of bed, surprised at the sudden invasion of the Rogues of his room in the middle of the night. Not that he was complaining, but…
"Roguey?" He asked, suddenly alert. "What's going on? And where's the other one?"
The four Rogues positioned themselves in his bed. At any other time, Remy would've enjoyed the situation immensely. But not now, something's quite not right.
"She disappeared," one of them said.
"The clones are beginning to fade." Another whispered.
Fear entered Remy's eyes.
Although like Jaime, Rogue has the ability to pull back the clones to the original. Only she refused, afraid that the original was the one imprisoned with Apocalypse. So the clones stayed. But the professor warned them that the time would come when even Rogue's powers would not anymore maintain the copies.
All Rogues clung to Remy.
And another one of the four begun to fade. "I guess I'm not the real thing either," she whispered before she disappeared.
"We gotta tell the professor," Remy said as he began to disentagle himself from the bed sheets.
"No!" All three remaining Rogues shouted as they clung to him, careful not to let their flesh touch Remy's.
"Just stay here, please," one beseeched.
"I need you tonight, Remy." Another said.
Remy nodded as he pulled the three closer. And that's how they spent the rest of the night.
The second one faded around sunrise, and Remy found himself holding on tightly to the last one.
"Remy,"
"Hmm?"
"If I'm not the—"
"Shh, chere, don't talk like that,"
A moment of silence passed between them.
"I love you, Rem," she finally broke the silence.
Remy felt as if he had been punched on the gut. "I know. Love you, too, cher." He buried his face in her hair.
He couldn't loose her. He just couldn't!
"Morning, Logan," a familiar voice greeted him just as he was about to head back to the Institute from his morning exercises.
Logan snarled as he was once again face to face with none other than Nick Fury.
"I have something that might be of interest to you,"
Logan didn't say anything. He merely sniffed around, trying to figure out if the man before him came alone.
"We have been maintaining the containment unit of Apocalypse."
Logan looked at anything but Fury.
"There were two mutant signatures inside. But this morning, one of the signatures disappeared."
Logan blinked in surprise.
"Not that we'd open the unit and find out for ourselves,"
"Stripes," with that, Logan stood up and walked away.
Rogue sniffed and looked at the clock on Remy's nightstand. "Spongebob Squarepants?" She asked incredulously.
Remy shifted. "Borrowed it from Jaime," he mumbled. "So how are you feeling?"
"Weird." She admitted. "And I gotta go into the bathroom," she tried to get up but found out that Remy had a death grip on her.
"Non," he insisted. "Maybe later."
Rogue sighed. "But I really gotta go," she almost whined a moment later.
"Then Remy's gotta go with you,"
Rogue snorted. "You've got to be kidding me, Cajun,"
"It's just that," he began. Never mind."
Rogue turned around to face him. "I promise I won't disappear without saying goodbye," she said.
"I don't want you to say goodbye, petite," he whispered.
But by then, Rogue was halfway across the room to the door.
But before she can turn the knob, the door burst open.
"Stripes!"
"Logan!" Rogue cried out.
Logan stalked over to her and with one arm, pulled the young girl to his chest. "Good news, darling," he said gruffly, but both Rogue and Remy felt the underlying emotions in the elder man. "There's only one mutant left in the chamber." Logan, too, had been scared that the real Stripes was the one who had kept Apocalypse in the chamber. "You're the last one,"
Rogue felt the tears fall down her cheek. "Logan," her voice was muffled by Logan's chest.
"Cher,"
Logan let Rogue go, knowing that there are other people who had to hear the news. "I'll go tell the others."
After Logan left, Remy took Rogue in his arms. "Shh. It's alright, chere," he soothed her.
"I'm alright," she nodded.
And after that, Remy had only one regret left. That he couldn't press his lips on Rogue's to make her feel just how happy he was. But right now, that didn't matter. All that mattered was that she was in his arms. Safe, happy, and for her to stay there and in that way for a long, long time.
Hank McCoy ventured out of his lab, intent on hunting down one of the students. "Oh, Rogue, there you are. Can you spare a moment of time so I can have a word with you?"
Rogue, who was in the kitchen talking to Kitty while the younger girl was cooking something that resembled a pot of chili, grinned. "Sure, Mister McCoy."
Hank beamed at her. It had been two weeks since the Apocalypse incident. A week since the clone scare. And lately, Rogue had been smiling a lot. She had slowly come out of her shell. Hank believes that she was more at peace with herself now. And he was also sure that the smooth-talking Cajun had something to do with that. "If you would follow me to my lab, I have some theory that might be of interest to you,"
Rogue and Kitty exchanged glances.
"Didn't know you like science and theories and stuff," Kitty whispered when Mr. McCoy turned his back to walk back to his lab.
"I don't."
"Rogue!" Hank called out from just outside the kitchen.
"Coming!"
"Ladies and gentlemen, 1 of X!" The emcee announced as Bobby, Kurt, Kitty, and Jaime ran onstage.
All four took their instruments, with Jaime on bass, the same one that Rogue had given him.
Suddenly, smoke filled the stage. Rogue, using her brother's power ported in.
The crowd went wild. It was the first time she appeared since she took leave.
Rogue, as Scarlett, grinned. She took the mike. "You know," she said to the crowd. "I went through a lot this past month. That's why I had to step back and re-evaluate my life. But that's OK. I'm back now. And that's all that matters." She grinned as Kurt cued the beat. Taking center stage, she took a deep breath and started to sing.
Ba da pa pa ba da pa pa...
Come here
Pretty please
Can you tell me where I am
You won't you say something
I need to get my bearings
I'm lost
And the shadows keep on changing
And I'm haunted
By the lives that I have loved
And actions I have hated
I'm haunted
By the lives that wove the web
Inside my haunted head
Ba da pa pa ba da pa pa...
Don't cry,
There's always a way
Here in November in this house of leaves
We'll pray
Please, I know it's hard to believe
To see a perfect forest
Through so many splintered trees
You and me
And these shadows keep on changing
And I'm haunted
By the lives that I have loved
And actions I have hated
I'm haunted
By the promises I've made
And others I have broken
I'm haunted
By the lives that wove the web
Inside my haunted head
I'll always... always
I'll always want you
I'll always need you
I'll always love you
And I will always miss you
Ba da pa pa ba da pa pa...
Come here
No I won't say please
One more look at the ghost
Before I'm gonna make it leave
Come here
I've got the pieces here
Time to gather up the splinters
Build a casket for my tears
I'm haunted
(By the lives that I have loved)
I'm haunted
(By the promises I've made)
I'm haunted
By the hallways in this tiny room
The echos there of me and you
The voices that are carrying this tune
Ba da pa pa...
"You were great, chere," Remy grinned as she saw Rogue, who was now back in her original form.
"Thanks," she grinned as he stood up and helped her to her seat.
"Care to tell me why it was Scarlett I saw on stage and not my Roguey?"
Rogue shrugged. "Well, Scarlett's the star. She's the one who goes on stage and sing and becomes popular and has fans. And Rogue. She sings because it's fun. I think that becoming famous and having fun would put pressure on Rogue, then she's not going to have fun anymore." Then she groaned. "Great. You've got me talking in the third person, too, Cajun."
Remy laughed at that. Rogue smiled at him, delighted at his laugh.
"Cher, you have no idea what your smile does to Remy's insides." He said as he sat beside her, intimately close.
Rogue reddened as she bit her lip.
Remy groaned. "Don't do that, petite,"
Rogue's eyes widened. "Sorry,"
He sighed. "Not your fault." He dismissed it. But Remy could sense that Rogue's mood had plummeted. He cursed himself. "Look, cher, it's OK. It's Remy's fault."
Rogue shook her head.
"Look those stuff, it doesn't matter anyway. All Remy needs is right here," he squeezed her gloved hand.
"You it doesn't matter that I can't kiss you and—" Rogue blushed even redder. "You know, do those other stuff with you,"
"It don't matter to Remy none." He told her, tilting her chin so he could drown himself in Rogue's emerald eyes. And he grinned slightly. "Maybe if you're older and legal, Remy could teach you other stuff. But right now, Remy's a content man."
Rogue smiled at him. "Thank ya." She said. "You're so sweet,"
Remy grinned back. "Just don't let it spread around."
Then, Rogue leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Remy's eyes widened. To say that he was surprised was an understatement. He didn't feel the pull of her powers. "Rogue," he breathed her name.
"Mr. McCoy had this theory about bio-magnetic fields and using Mag's powers," she began with a smirk, enjoying the stunned look on her boyfriend's face. "He said that by surrounding my body with a thin film of magnetic energy, it would create a barrier that would prevent my powers from leaking."
"So you can touch now?"
"Oui." Rogue said. "It took me a few days to get the hang of it. But since Apocalypse's power boost, extending my borrowed powers was a snap."
"Cher,"
"But no pressure here, right? I mean, it's OK that we don't get to kiss and stuff." Rogue smirked.
But the smile was immediately wiped from her face when Remy's lips descended into hers with a desperation that both frightened and excited her.
Moments later, they broke apart.
"Cher," Remy's forehead touched her. "You have no idea how much Remy wanted to do that since the first time he laid eyes on you,"
Rogue smiled. "You're pretty good,"
"It's you're first kiss, cher," Remy snorted as he pulled back, but kept his arms around Rogue. He had now plans of lettine her go anytime soon. "How can you tell?"
Rogue laughed. "Second, actually,"
Remy stiffened at that news.
"Remember, I kissed you when I was trying to steal your powers for the first time."
"That doesn't count. We barely even remember that incident,"
"And I've got a lot of memories of a kiss in here," Rogue tapped her temple.
"Well, Remy's just glad you enjoy kissing him." Remy said as he stole a quick kiss from Rogue's lips. "'Cause we'd be doing a lot of that from this point on."
Rogue snorted. "You sound too sure of yourself. And didn't I hear you say a while ago that it doesn't even matter?"
Remy grinned, but instead of answering, he pulled her closed. "Love you, Roguey."
"Love you too, Swamp Rat."
Once again, Remy's lips had found hers. And for the first time in a long while, Rogue felt that she had found where she belonged. In Bayville. With the X-Men. With her friends. With Remy.
~and they lived happily ever after. The end.
PS.
Once again it slipped my mind. The song last chap was Creep by Radiohead. The song in this chap is Haunted by Poe.
Alright. I'm done now. Can't believe it's finally over cries a river I had fun. Hope you did too. And I can't believe someone actually guessed the ending!
Anyways, thanks to those who reviewed chapter 15: DaughterofDeath, ishandahalf, Denial, jskullguy, Calliann, rogue4eva, epona, sage, mAd RoGue, Anime addicted, Katrina5, Yumiko, Holy-Psychic-Vulpix, RaVeN*NYC, Samm16, hush, DemonRogue13, Roguie_89, no touchies, Millenium mutant, Taineyah, icephoenix8, kyma, shyne, charice, and everstar2731.
And the grand prize goes to Black Pheonix who actually guessed what I was planning to do. Is this story that predictable?
sighs anyway, I'm just glad school's over.