Whisperings travelled along the corridor, seeming to follow Rogue as she walked alone during the lunch hour. Whilst she was in a school of mutants, it seemed that she still stood out as an oddity, even amongst her own kind. Rogue knew that the others were aware that she could hear them and see them looking, for they never tried to disguise their blatant glares and fierce mutters that was still loud enough to carry on down the corridor after her.
Being so new to the situation, it upset Rogue quite easily, and she quickly headed into her dormitory, which since had been moved from her own private from to a shared room with another female mutant, Kitty Pryde. As she made her way in, she found her roommate inside, brushing her hair in front of the wall mirror.
“Hey,” said Kitty cheerfully, looking round at Rogue entered.
Rogue made a glum sort of sound and moved over to sit on the bed, dropping her bag to the floor.
“What’s up?” Kitty placed her hairbrush down on the dresser and turned to the other mutant.
“Am I really that different?” asked Rogue aloud with a grieved sigh.
“Well, you are quite unique,” admitted Kitty quietly, “Why?”
Rogue gestured hopelessly to the bedroom door, “I’m jus’ gettin’ talked about, a lot.”
Kitty made a small noise of agreement, but did not sound surprised. Perhaps she had heard it herself, “There’s some new mutant who takes a while to get used to. Sometimes their powers are just quite frightening.. like yours I guess.” Kitty quickly continued on, “Don’t worry about it, in a few weeks they’ll have forgotten all about your powers and treat you just the same as everyone else. You just need to settle in.”
“Yeah,” Rogue sighed quietly, looking down at her lap, “But until then..” she drifted off.
“Until then, just watch yourself, alright? Fear can lead to hostility, and.. well, I don’t want you getting hurt. Just keep your head down and your nose clean.” Rogue merely nodded solemnly. “Now, you had anything to eat, girl? You look starving!”
“No.. I came straight up here.”
“Now that won’t do,” said Kitty, flourishing her arms to the door, “Come on, let’s go raid the kitchens.”
Rogue chuckled quietly at the girl’s actions. She nodded slowly, standing to her feet, “Alright. It’s not so bad going around with someone with me.”
“Don’t worry, Rogue. You got Kitty looking after you now! No one messes with her!” Kitty folded her arms and nodded imperiously. The pair broke into giggles as they exited the dormitories, making their way back down into the corridors.
They hadn’t gone far when Kitty quickly grabbed Rogue’s clothed arm and tried to steer her hurriedly towards the staircase. “Hey, what is it?” asked Rogue, looking quickly confused.
“Just go on, don’t look back.”
“Hey!” someone called behind then.
Rogue stopped at the top of the staircase and glanced over her shoulder slowly and heard Kitty mutter an expletive besides her. “What?” she replied, turning to see a male stood a short distance away, giving Rogue a displeased look. Besides him were a few other mutants, who seemed to be merely tailing the male for reputation purposes.
“Kitty, what you doin?” groaned the male, as though Kitty had done something that severely disappointed him, “Get away from her, she’ll hurt you.”
“Shut up, John!” snapped Kitty, defensively standing a little in front of Rogue. “She’s done nothing wrong, why don’t you just leave her alone!”
“She’s dangerous!” growled John angrily, his eyes nastily glancing at Rogue as though she was something most unpleasant.
“A lot of us are, if you haven’t noticed, dumb-ass. This is a school for mutants. You’re hardly safe.”
John moved his hostile glare upon Kitty, clicking a lighter slowly in one of his hands, “I’m only dangerous when I have to be. But her! She’s a freak amongst mutants! She could kill all of us!”
“Oh for God’s sake!” cried Kitty, gesticulating her hands irritatedly, “You could kill all of us, I could kill all of us. Professor Xavier could kill all of us! But guess what? He won’t! And neither will Rogue!”
The bell rung over the mansion to signal the end of lunch break, but no one took notice.
“Kitty!” John strode forwards towards her, “There’s some bad mutants out there.. not all of them use their powers for good.”
Rogue slowly fastened her eyes upon John, “Like Magneto?”
John spun his head round, “She even knows his name! And she’s a stranger to this school!”
“I know his name ‘cause the X-Men told me,” snarled Rogue.
“I don’t see why the X-Men would tell you things like that!” John snapped, turning to face her.
Rogue had quickly grown angry. “Just shut up!” she cried, her gloved hand shoving at John’s chest and pushing him away from her.
“Get away from me!” he yelled, swiping hand out to smack her arms away from him. The harsh force of his hit knocked Rogue off balance, causing her to stumble backwards. A look of horrified shock came upon Rogue’s face as her heel slipped off the top step and with a frightened cry she tumbled backwards, crashing down the wooden staircase that curved down towards the main entrance. Kitty had tried to grab her, but had missed and cried out her name as she sprinted on down after the falling one.
John stood dumbstruck, staring as the girl rolled out onto the wooden surface on the ground floor. She wasn’t moving. He looked round at his friends nervously. “Come on..” together the group turned, quickly disappearing down the corridor.
Kitty jumped down the last few steps, reaching Rogue’s side, “Rogue! Are you all right! That was a nasty tumble!” she pulled Rogue onto her back, “Rogue? .. Rogue!” Kitty stayed in silence, staring in horror, before suddenly, she leapt to her feet, running towards the nearest wall and disappearing through it. She stumbled to a halt as she arrived in the history classroom. At the front of the full class, Storm raised her head.
“Kitty, you’re late.”
“No, Miss. Munroe, it’s Rogue!”
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“Where is she?” Logan strode through the opening doors of the infirmary, passing through the circular entrance and into the metallic room. His eyes scanned the X-Men before they landed upon Rogue who was laid in a bed. His fierce expression briefly relaxed in worry before a snarl quickly crossed it. He span at the X-Men, “What happened!” he snapped, eyes fixating on the Professor, “You said she would be safe here!” He turned upon Scott, striding up to him, “You said you would take her care of her!” His fists grabbed Scott by the neck of his shirt, “Huh!”
“Logan! Release him at once!” said Charles Xavier suddenly.
“What happened!”
“I said release him!” Charles has raised his voice sharply, his tone stilling Logan, who threw his hands back from Scott. “I was informed that Rogue fell down a flight of stairs, we know nothing more than that.”
Logan turned slowly to the bed, walking towards the edge quietly. Charles watched him in silence for a moment before he bowed his head slowly, “She will be alright, Logan. A bad hit to the head can knock anyone unconscious. Dr. Grey has been taking supreme care of her, and I can assure you she is in no safer hands.”
“She is stable now, if you would like to sit with her for a while.”
Without a word, Logan moved closer to the bed, turning his back on the X-Men. Charles slowly looked up at his X-Men, nodding his head mutely. As one, the X-Men made their way through the circular doorway, behind their leave, the automatic doors closed shut to silence their footsteps.
“I’m sorry, kid,” sighed Logan quietly, closing his eyes and shaking his head slowly, “I promised I’d take care or ya, and then you end up falling down a god damn staircase. Why didn’t ya look where you wer’ goin’, huh?”
“John..” Rogue stirred slowly, her eyes squinting before they peered open slowly.
“What?” asked Logan hurriedly, leaning over her, “John?”
“Pyro…” Rogue winced quietly as she lifted a hand to her head, “He said.. dangerous.”
She turned her eyes slowly, trying to see Logan, but he had gone.
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