A/N: Okay, I admit I usually want to scream when I read stuff like this,
but I'm about to switch tenses. Yeah, yeah, I'm anal about stuff like that.
I know a lot of people don't care. But since I do, I wanted the disclaimer
first. This chapter just begged to be written in first person as opposed to
the previous narrative chapters. I'll probably switch back and forth as the
story goes along. Oh, and I'm taking a little bit of liberty with Xavier's
telepathy, too. At least I think I am. ;) I just wanted to add that to keep
any purists from freaking out on me. :D
Also, please forgive the problems I'm having in formatting. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong so that there are large spaces or lines of asterisk between different sections of a chapter. Hopefully I'll get it together soon. In the meantime, please R&R! As most of us do, I live for reviews!!!!
Revelations
Logan:
Time seemed to stop at the Iceman's words. In fact, for that heart-stoppin' moment, I thought he'd frozen me for some dipshit reason. It was actually kind of a surreal moment, the way part of my brain seemed to detach itself from reality and function when the rest of me was frozen. Did I do somethin' I didn't realize? Lookin' around the room, I saw dawning looks of horror on the faces around me. In fact, Slim looked like he was going to toss up the coffee he'd just scarfed. In the twisted reality of the moment, it was almost funny.
And then reality set in like a bitch. It was like a paused movie where instead of hittin' play, someone hits the fast forward button. Stopped to super speed. The weird thing was that I felt still. Utterly still inside. I would have thought that I'd tear the room up, howl, anything, but I was utterly fuckin' calm. Still frozen inside from my own fear, but my brain was altogether and workin' again. I knew without a doubt who was in the coffin. It was just like that bastard to send her home like that. What kept my heart from beatin' was not knowing if she were dead or alive. I could see him playin' the game either way. With animals, the worst thing one alpha could do to another is mark or kill his rival's mate. And don't ever mistake that I ain't an animal at heart. But somehow that fucker knew what Marie did-does-mean to me and upped the ante.
I managed to get a breath into my lungs and looked over to the professor, waiting for some signal from him. It was weird 'cause I'm not usually the type to wait for someone to give me instructions, but that cold fear was still keepin' me where I was. When he opened his eyes, I couldn't read him at first, which scared me worse than anything else-
Scott:
I could tell when Bobby came skidding in like he was seventeen again that something was terribly, horribly wrong. Part of me wanted to scream in that moment, wondering how we could take more. Physically, emotionally, mutation- wise, we had all given to the point of no return. I didn't want to admit it, but in my heart of hearts, I was steeling myself for word of Rogue's death. And God, it burned like acid. Without every trying, that girl had wormed her way into my heart. Not like Jean, by any means, but from the first time I laid eyes on her, Rogue had gotten to my protective instincts. All those walls she'd built to protect herself, not to mention the crap with Logan, broke my heart for her. She was my little sister, blood notwithstanding. And I don't mean in that playful, kidding around way, either. I'd kill to protect her. The only people that truly meant more to me are Jean and Charles. Together, they're my family. Wife, father, sister.
Then there was Bobby with his news. For a minute, I thought I was going to vomit right there on the floor in the war room. My body felt cold, then hot, then numb. Rogue. I closed my eyes behind my visor, trying to talk myself out of leveling every installment of Magneto's I could find. Just myself and the Blackbird. Instruments of death and vengeance. Sanity reasserted itself a moment later and I opened my eyes to see Charles in deep concentration. I wanted to turn my head to gauge Logan's reaction, ready to stop him if he went crazy, but at the same time, I couldn't do it. If Rogue was in that box, I couldn't begrudge the man his grief. I knew what I would do if it were Jean. I knew what I'd do if it were Rogue. It was then I realized it had been a long time since I'd taken a breath. Maybe since Bobby interrupted the meeting. As I allowed myself a slow, deep breath, Charles opened his eyes and turned towards us-
Charles:
Despite the power of my gifts, when I'm deeply in concentration on a subject, I'm not necessarily keeping a 'finger' on the psionic pulse around me. Such was the case during the meeting in the war room. I 'heard' Robert a split second before he charged into the room, but it was too late to stop him. Part of me cringed inside at the anguish in his thoughts, but as always, I respected him enough to let him deliver his news instead of plucking it from his mind. The temptation was strong, though.
A few seconds later, I wished that I'd broken my own rule and pulled the information from Robert before he had a chance to speak it out loud to the team. I scanned them peripherally, steeled against the backlash of fear and rage that emanated from each of them in varying factors. Scott's featured hardened and I knew there was a glint of merciless rage in his eyes behind the rose quartz. Logan had frozen in place, an almost bemused expression coloring his features as his mind struggled with might be. Just as quickly, though, I realized that the Wolverine snapped into place. I resisted an internal shudder at what these two men could do if their pain were unleashed on the world.
Putting that thought aside, I did what needed to be done and sent my mind searching. The picture in Robert's mind was clear and I could see the wooden crate sitting in the delivery bay, its top pried open. An expensive casket-still closed--rested within, perused in confusion and concern by a group of older students and a few teachers. Once again, I steeled myself against what might be waiting for me and probed the contents of the box. Every part of my body that I could feel tightened at the site of the formerly pristine white satin lining stained with blood. The signs of a violent struggle were sickeningly obvious. My stomach turned in response. Killing in battle was one thing when unavoidable, but this-- I mentally and physically sucked in a slow breath of air. What I could 'see' in the coffin was torture, plain and simple. And the worst kind, as well. Life for my team was going to be extremely difficult over the next days and weeks.
The War Room:
A sickeningly palpable tension had settled on the room in the handful of heartbeats since Bobby's announcement. Hank and Storm looked at each other, then in trepidation at Scott and Logan. They knew that both men were on the edge, between their exhaustion and their respective feelings for Rogue. News of her death would be shattering. To everyone.
The silence deepened as Professor Xavier's powers almost visibly took him from the room on his quest for answers. Seconds passed like cold syrup through an hourglass before he opened his eyes. The sad, hollow look in his eyes caused hearts to stop, but his words caused the blood to rush again.
"It is Rogue." He paused, looking and sounding infinitely weary and heartbroken. "She is alive."
Also, please forgive the problems I'm having in formatting. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong so that there are large spaces or lines of asterisk between different sections of a chapter. Hopefully I'll get it together soon. In the meantime, please R&R! As most of us do, I live for reviews!!!!
Revelations
Logan:
Time seemed to stop at the Iceman's words. In fact, for that heart-stoppin' moment, I thought he'd frozen me for some dipshit reason. It was actually kind of a surreal moment, the way part of my brain seemed to detach itself from reality and function when the rest of me was frozen. Did I do somethin' I didn't realize? Lookin' around the room, I saw dawning looks of horror on the faces around me. In fact, Slim looked like he was going to toss up the coffee he'd just scarfed. In the twisted reality of the moment, it was almost funny.
And then reality set in like a bitch. It was like a paused movie where instead of hittin' play, someone hits the fast forward button. Stopped to super speed. The weird thing was that I felt still. Utterly still inside. I would have thought that I'd tear the room up, howl, anything, but I was utterly fuckin' calm. Still frozen inside from my own fear, but my brain was altogether and workin' again. I knew without a doubt who was in the coffin. It was just like that bastard to send her home like that. What kept my heart from beatin' was not knowing if she were dead or alive. I could see him playin' the game either way. With animals, the worst thing one alpha could do to another is mark or kill his rival's mate. And don't ever mistake that I ain't an animal at heart. But somehow that fucker knew what Marie did-does-mean to me and upped the ante.
I managed to get a breath into my lungs and looked over to the professor, waiting for some signal from him. It was weird 'cause I'm not usually the type to wait for someone to give me instructions, but that cold fear was still keepin' me where I was. When he opened his eyes, I couldn't read him at first, which scared me worse than anything else-
Scott:
I could tell when Bobby came skidding in like he was seventeen again that something was terribly, horribly wrong. Part of me wanted to scream in that moment, wondering how we could take more. Physically, emotionally, mutation- wise, we had all given to the point of no return. I didn't want to admit it, but in my heart of hearts, I was steeling myself for word of Rogue's death. And God, it burned like acid. Without every trying, that girl had wormed her way into my heart. Not like Jean, by any means, but from the first time I laid eyes on her, Rogue had gotten to my protective instincts. All those walls she'd built to protect herself, not to mention the crap with Logan, broke my heart for her. She was my little sister, blood notwithstanding. And I don't mean in that playful, kidding around way, either. I'd kill to protect her. The only people that truly meant more to me are Jean and Charles. Together, they're my family. Wife, father, sister.
Then there was Bobby with his news. For a minute, I thought I was going to vomit right there on the floor in the war room. My body felt cold, then hot, then numb. Rogue. I closed my eyes behind my visor, trying to talk myself out of leveling every installment of Magneto's I could find. Just myself and the Blackbird. Instruments of death and vengeance. Sanity reasserted itself a moment later and I opened my eyes to see Charles in deep concentration. I wanted to turn my head to gauge Logan's reaction, ready to stop him if he went crazy, but at the same time, I couldn't do it. If Rogue was in that box, I couldn't begrudge the man his grief. I knew what I would do if it were Jean. I knew what I'd do if it were Rogue. It was then I realized it had been a long time since I'd taken a breath. Maybe since Bobby interrupted the meeting. As I allowed myself a slow, deep breath, Charles opened his eyes and turned towards us-
Charles:
Despite the power of my gifts, when I'm deeply in concentration on a subject, I'm not necessarily keeping a 'finger' on the psionic pulse around me. Such was the case during the meeting in the war room. I 'heard' Robert a split second before he charged into the room, but it was too late to stop him. Part of me cringed inside at the anguish in his thoughts, but as always, I respected him enough to let him deliver his news instead of plucking it from his mind. The temptation was strong, though.
A few seconds later, I wished that I'd broken my own rule and pulled the information from Robert before he had a chance to speak it out loud to the team. I scanned them peripherally, steeled against the backlash of fear and rage that emanated from each of them in varying factors. Scott's featured hardened and I knew there was a glint of merciless rage in his eyes behind the rose quartz. Logan had frozen in place, an almost bemused expression coloring his features as his mind struggled with might be. Just as quickly, though, I realized that the Wolverine snapped into place. I resisted an internal shudder at what these two men could do if their pain were unleashed on the world.
Putting that thought aside, I did what needed to be done and sent my mind searching. The picture in Robert's mind was clear and I could see the wooden crate sitting in the delivery bay, its top pried open. An expensive casket-still closed--rested within, perused in confusion and concern by a group of older students and a few teachers. Once again, I steeled myself against what might be waiting for me and probed the contents of the box. Every part of my body that I could feel tightened at the site of the formerly pristine white satin lining stained with blood. The signs of a violent struggle were sickeningly obvious. My stomach turned in response. Killing in battle was one thing when unavoidable, but this-- I mentally and physically sucked in a slow breath of air. What I could 'see' in the coffin was torture, plain and simple. And the worst kind, as well. Life for my team was going to be extremely difficult over the next days and weeks.
The War Room:
A sickeningly palpable tension had settled on the room in the handful of heartbeats since Bobby's announcement. Hank and Storm looked at each other, then in trepidation at Scott and Logan. They knew that both men were on the edge, between their exhaustion and their respective feelings for Rogue. News of her death would be shattering. To everyone.
The silence deepened as Professor Xavier's powers almost visibly took him from the room on his quest for answers. Seconds passed like cold syrup through an hourglass before he opened his eyes. The sad, hollow look in his eyes caused hearts to stop, but his words caused the blood to rush again.
"It is Rogue." He paused, looking and sounding infinitely weary and heartbroken. "She is alive."