Who: Rogue, Logan (borrowed with permisson in this scene), Kurt and Finn (borrowed with permission and the scene with them is this one), npc John aka Pyro, npc Erik aka Magento, npc Kitty and npc Bobby all from the films. What: Rogue doesn’t want to dream of the people she’s touched but does anyway When: Super late or early, around 2 in the morning Where: Empty cell block Warnings: Nothing gory but hurtful language
Rogue’s head snapped up as soon as she realized her eyes had closed. She was tired, god was she tired, but the last thing she wanted to do in that moment was sleep. Sleep meant dreaming and dreaming meant she’d relive Kurt’s memories again and somehow, after their brief conversation, it felt like an even worse invasion of privacy than before. Realistically, she knew she couldn’t control what she dreamed about and it wasn’t her fault anymore than it was Kurt’s but the sense of guilt was still there. The only thing that helped ease the feeling was staying awake. She couldn’t pick and choose her dreams but she sure as hell could stop herself from falling asleep. It was the only control she possessed when it came to her abilities. She just needed to stop nodding off.
Clearly lying in the bed wasn’t going to help and Rogue reluctantly pushed the blankets aside. She slipped on the nearest pair of gloves along with the coat she’d tossed on the end of her bed before quietly making her way out of the cell. It was too cold to actually go outside for a walk at this time of night but the empty cell blocks would do in a pinch and she headed in their direction. The air was brisk against her face and it helped keep her from falling asleep as she silently walked a slow circuit over and over again. It was only a temporary solution, however, and eventually her legs grew heavy and tired. It made her want to sleep but then the dreams would come and all the walking would have been for nothing. Still, she couldn’t go another few feet if she tried. Sitting down wouldn’t be too bad. It’d just be a break to rest before she circled the cell block again.
Rogue slid down, back against the cold wall, and wrapped her arms around her legs. She was sitting, that was all, was her last thought before her eyes slid shut and she fell asleep.
“Shhh, shut up, shut up,” Kitty whispered sharply at John and Bobby. The two were arguing about something or other, they were always arguing, and Rogue and Kitty shared a frustrated look. “Seriously, if you guys don’t quit it, Rogue and I will have fun and you two idiots can stay out here and chill.”
That quickly shut the pair up and Kitty nodded. “Finally. How much longer do we have to wait?”
Rogue glanced down at her watch and and frowned. “Five more minutes.” It wasn’t a long wait but all it took was someone to catch sight of them for a split second and then it would be game over. They were already risking detention by being out so late but it was the weekend and this was supposed to be a mutant friendly club. How were they supposed to pass something like that up?
They were underage. The thought came unbidden and it suspiciously sounded like the Professor’s voice but that wasn’t possible. He wouldn’t be able to hear them miles away from the school, would he? No, there was no way, not without the help of cerebro anyway and he only used that when he had to. She was totally imagining it.
“Rogue? Rogue!”
She blinked and looked up at John. He gave her his best bitch face and pointed at her wrist. Oh right, she was supposed to tell them when they could sneak in. She shook her head and glanced down at her watch again. Six minutes had gone by without her noticing. Shit. “Now.”
Kitty didn’t hesitate to take her hand and pulled her in through the wall. The stark contrast of the somewhat quiet alleyway to the ridiculously loud, thumping bass of the music inside the club made her wince. They weren’t even in the main room yet. Only seconds later she felt Bobby’s arm curl around her waist and she glanced up at him, her lips spreading into a wide grin to match the one on his face. They made it just in time, too, a group of people walked by and the four of them followed, blending in without anyone being the wiser.
If the music was loud in the other room, it was deafening in the main room. Rogue couldn’t be bothered to care, though, not when the sight that greeted them was spectacular. The rumors of the club weren’t unfounded at all. There were mutants everywhere and they were unabashedly showing off knowing that they were in a safe space. Scaly skin shimmered under the club’s lights, feathers wafted around with each dance move, wings fluttered as a few mutants flew around laughing as they pretended to dive bomb the dance crowd only to pull up seconds before contact. It was magnificent and those were just the people she could see from the stairway.
Excitedly, Rogue turned to ask Bobby for a dance but he was gone. Her face filled with confusion and she quickly turned to Kitty and John but they were gone too. What the fuck. She didn’t even have time to look around before she was shoved so hard she fell to the ground.
“Oh, Erik.” The voice was fondly exasperated yet soothing all at once.
She, no, he glanced up at his mother and gave her a sheepish grin as he held up the menorah in his right hand. “See? I didn’t drop it.” He was sprawled out on the rug in the center of their tiny living room. It wasn’t the biggest house around but he’d wager it was still the best with the way his momma kept the house clean and decorated.
“If you didn’t run like I told you to, you wouldn’t have had to worry about that.”
“Sorry, momma.” The words fell from his lips, words in a language Rogue would have never normally understood but were perfectly familiar to Erik. He stood up carefully on his long legs, he was still getting used to their length after the summer growth spurt, as he made sure not to let the menorah touch the ground.
“What have I told you about saying sorry,” she reminded him gently.
“Don’t just say it, show that you mean it as well.”
“Exactly.” She walked up to Erik and gently tousled his hair with a smile that never failed to set him at ease. “Come then, set it down, without running, and I’ll let you put in the candles.”
“Yes, momma.”
Erik slowly walked over to the fireplace, he wouldn’t fall twice in one night, and gingerly set the menorah down on the beautiful cloth his mom had placed there when he’d insisted on helping her decorate for the holiday. With an approving nod, she handed Erik the candles one by one until they were all in place.
“Beautiful.”
She dropped a kiss on top of his head and placed her hands on his shoulders. He felt a sense of peace fill him, a feeling that always overcame him during this time of year. His mom squeezed his shoulders, the touch gentle and comforting. Well it was until the hold tightened and the fingers painfully dug into his shoulders.
“What did you do?!”
“You’re fucking hurting me, old man!” John shoved his father away from him with a wince and took a step back before the dickhead could put hands on him again. He could feel the heat from the house at his back, the flames out of control and engulfing the entirety of it.
“Jesus, John, you set the house on fire!”
“It was an accident!”
“Like hell it was! You knew exactly what you were doing, how many times did I tell you not to play with that damned lighter? Is that why you did it? Because I told you not to?”
He hadn’t meant to set the house on fire, it was an accident no matter what his dad said. “I didn’t do it on purpose, get that through your damn skull. Not everything I do is about you, you know! I told you, I told you a hundred fucking times, I need to practice! That is what happens when I don’t practice,” he yelled and gestured behind him.
His mutation had manifested only three months ago and unlike his father, he was excited to have it. If he could, he’d have a fireball in his hand at all hours of the day so he could toy with it and improve his control. Something his dad didn’t understand and tried to hide from everyone they knew by stealing every lighter he managed to get his hands on. It wasn’t fair. He was special, better than every stupid ass human on the block. His powers were meant to be used, not stifled.
“You’re not putting this on me, kid. This was all you and your freakshow mutation. If I thought for one second you’d be like your mother-”
It was a kneejerk reaction and before he knew it, the flames behind him rose and intensified. The windows shattered as the flames crawled along the lawn and up the wooden fence, flanking him on either side.
“Don’t,” he started between gritted teeth, “don’t you ever talk about my mom.” Unlike his dad, she actually had given a shit about him before she had passed away.
By then, a crowd of their neighbors had gathered near the house and even with his anger fueling him, he was starting to feel the urgent need to get away. Most of the faces were full of fear but there were also faces that were angry and disgusted, just waiting for the right moment to get to him. The odds weren’t on his side but he had his mutation and that’s all he needed. He could set them on fire, he could set them all on fire and that would give him the chance to run away.
You don’t have to do that, John
“What the fuck? Who is that?” John kept the flames behind him burning but he jerked his head from side to side, desperately looking for the owner of the voice in his own goddamn head.
You don’t need to be afraid, we’re here to help. Put the fire out. You don’t need it right now.
“Yeah right, they’ll kill me if I do!”
No, they won’t. Look.
John looked out into the crowd and he had to blink. Whoa. They were all still, like freaking statues. Were they even breathing?
They are but I can only hold them for so long. Please. Put the fire out and come to the jet when you’re done.
John had no idea who the fuck that was but it had to be better than facing the jerks in front of his house. He closed his eyes and focused on smothering the flames. It was harder than making them burn hot but he managed to put them out with some time all the same. As soon as he was done, he ran for it. The voice could be as reassuring as it wanted to but he wasn’t going to trust it to hold off the neighbors for long. He ran as fast as he could to, huh, he had no clue where he was going but his feet seemed to know the way just fine. Weird. They led him to a jet, just like that voice said. As soon as he was close enough, the jet opened up and a staircase slowly lowered down to the ground.
Still better than an angry mob. With a shrug, he climbed the stairs and his hand reached out for a switch, turning the light on in the room.
“But I think you’re really going to like it.”
Kurt had worked long and hard to make the room comfortable yet chic but not too chic. The main point of redecorating the room was to please Finn and his sense of style was, unfortunately, lacking. It was something they were going to have to work on and now that they lived together, he had all the time in the world to get that done. First things, first, however.
“Consider it a peace offering after all the yelling that I’ve been doing,” he told Finn and listed off a few of the designers that he had used as his inspiration. “It’s the perfect blend of the masculine and the feminine and the muted and the theatrical.” Just like the two of them were and hopefully it would help Finn take the hint for what it was. What they could be together if he just gave Kurt a shot.
He watched Finn take in the room with a hopeful look but the response he received for his efforts was not the one he had been expecting.
“Are you freaking insane? I can’t live here, I’m a dude. Wh-what the hell is that supposed to be?”
He was trying his best not to let the hurt show at Finn’s words. Finn couldn’t live there because he was a guy? Then what the heck was Kurt? He may love fashion and whatnot, but that didn’t make him any less of a man than Finn. He tried to push the thoughts away and focused on trying to make him understand that the room was great as is.
“It’s a privacy partition, it’s the only one I could find in such short notice,” he explained, “why are you getting angry about everything? I worked hard on this.”
“It’s not a privacy partition! Why is it so hard for you to understand? I don’t want to get dressed in front of you. You know that I, I put my underwear on in the shower before I come out when you’re around? I just, I don’t wanna have to worry about that kind of stuff in my own room, man.”
“And what stuff are you referring to?”
“You know! You know what I’m talking about, don’t play dumb.” Kurt couldn’t help the look of disbelief on his face. Yeah, maybe he had a crush on Finn but he wasn’t some skeeze that was going to ogle him at every given opportunity. “Why can’t you just accept that I’m not like you?”
“I have accepted that,” Kurt assured him.
“No you haven’t.” He looked away because maybe he hadn’t, not completely, but he couldn’t help his feelings on the matter. “You think I don’t see the way you stare at me? How flirty you get? You think I don’t know why you got so excited that we were going to be moving in together?”
“It’s just a room, Finn! We can redecorate it if you want to!” He had just wanted to do something nice, and maybe get a little closer to Finn but the fallout was not what he had in mind. Not by a long shot and at this point, he just wanted the arguing to stop so if giving up and changing the room made things better, then fine. So be it.
“Okay. Good. Well then the first thing that needs to go is that faggy lamp! And- and then we need to get rid of this faggy couch blanket-”
“Hey! What did you just call him?”
Kurt turned his head at the sound of his dad’s voice with a panicked look. That was the last thing he needed to deal with at the moment.
“Oh no, no I- I didn’t call him anything, I was just talking about the blanket.”
“When you use that word you’re talking about him.”
“Relax, dad, I didn’t take it that way,” he tried to calm his dad down. He loved his dad and the fact that he accepted him for who he was but he heard the wrong thing at the wrong time and out of context. His dad wasn’t having it, though.
“Yeah, that’s because you’re sixteen and you still assume the best in people. You live a few years, you start seeing the hate in people’s hearts. Even the best people.”
Kurt didn’t know what to do. His dad was cutting into Finn and there was nothing he could say to make him stop defending his own kid. He got that, he seriously got that, but he didn’t know the whole story. This was all his fault and all he could do was just stand there, stunned into silence. Before he could get more than two words out, he kicked Finn out. He stared and was quiet as his dad told him the place looked great with a gentle clap to his shoulder. He barely managed to return the touch as tears rolled down his face. How did that just happen?
He closed his eyes and tried to keep the crushing guilt at bay. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Keep calm. The painful part was over. The adamantium was already cooling and setting against his bones thanks to the frigid water in the tank. The procedure had been excruciating but well worth it to get the chance to face off against Victor one more time and slash him into bloody ribbons for what he’d done to Kayla.
“Erase his memory.”
His eyes snapped open. Going into this, he knew to expect something from Stryker. It was never straightforward with the son of a bitch and if he thought Logan was going to lie there and let the white coats screw with his head, Stryker had another thing coming. He spat out the breathing apparatus with a snarl and started pulling at the straps holding him in place. As he fought to get free, the room faded in and out of focus until a layer of haze made it difficult to see or hear anything.
There were flashes of yelling, someone shooting, his skin bleeding, but through it all there was an underlying feel of intense anger and betrayal, the need to get out now now NOW.
Once more, he found himself surrounded in ice cold water. He sunk down, body heavy. Kicking did nothing to help and he was only inches away from breaking the surface. His, no, her lungs were on fire. She couldn’t breathe and it felt like her head was gonna explode. Rogue panicked, her arms and legs desperately moved in the water but to no avail. Gradually, her arms and legs slowed. She was tired, too tired to fight. What was the point? There was no way out, no way to get air, and no one to help. There was nothing she could do but give up and let herself sink down to the bottom. She helplessly watched the light above grow fainter and fainter before finally opening her mouth and letting the water rush in.
Rogue startled and woke up from her dreams with a silent scream.