“Apart from being a bit sassier and gigglier than usually all of sudden, I think she's fine,” I told the Professor, amusedly watching the slightest blush creep onto Marie's face.
He gave her what looked like a knowing smile – he always knew about everything that was going on in his school after all – and nodded.
“I took the liberty of making this decision for you while you were unconscious, but I want you to know that I can always reverse the procedure if you want me to. I certainly wouldn't recommend it and see no need to do so, but it is entirely up to you, of course,” he explained calmly.
“I like things the way are now. Thank you for tidying up the mess in there,” she replied,tapping her head and smiling politely.
“Of course.”
“But there is one thing...”
Marie peeked at me from the corner of her eye, but turned her regard back to Chuck before I could meet it. She was fidgeting on her chair and seemed nervous.
“Yes,” came the reply and they exchanged a long, concentrated look, leaving me completely oblivious to what was going on.
Maybe there was something wrong with Marie that she didn't want me to know about...but she wouldn't keep anything from me now, would she? I suppressed an irritated growl. How could anyone not work up a certain degree of dislike for telepathy in a moment like this one?
I watched Marie close her eyes, lids fluttering and twitching every now and then, while the Professor's eyes locked on her face. Both remained perfectly silent for a couple of extremely frustrating minutes, until Marie's eyes snapped back open and she turned to me with a serious expression on her face.
“What happened?” I asked her, giving Chuck a dose of his own medicine and entirely ignoring his presence for the time being.
“There is something in Sabretooth's memories that I think you should know about. That's why I asked Professor Xavier to show me how to access the information in my head.”
“Oh.” I nodded my understanding and was interrupted by the noise of Professor X clearing his throat before I could ask what exactly Sabretooth knew that might be important to me.
“Before you two discuss that matter, I would like to talk to you about something else. I might be able to provide you with answers to a few questions that I suspect have been on both your minds.”
Marie and I both turned our attention back to him.
“I assume you have noticed that, especially since the night that Rogue left the Mansion, there is a special bond between the two of you. Similar to nothing you have ever experienced before.”
He gave us both a meaningful look before he carried on.
“This is not an uncommon thing to occur between two mutants whose abilities complement each other in the way that yours do. Logan, you are probably the only one who can touch Rogue's skin relatively safely. You, in turn, Rogue, are the only person who could end his life – hypothetically speaking. You see, your powers are opposites, in a way. And whoever came up with the theory that opposites attract was not far off the mark. Relationships based on complementary mutations are always intense and long-lasting ones, thought they do not always result in love, like yours has.”
We exchanged a somewhat nervous look, both knowing that what we had was unmistakably love, but neither of us quite ready to talk about it as openly as the Professor just had. Not only was there a certain amount of bitterness hindering both of us from believing in love at all, there were also some commitment issues on my part and very little experience on hers.
Until now, we had been fine with acknowledging that thing between us as just that: an undefined thing, that had suddenly become the center of our universe.
I took Marie's hand in mine and softly massaged it with my glove-covered thumb.
I would not let her doubt my devotion to her for one second, regardless of the issues I would have to work through or the novelty of all the emotions that we were experiencing.
If there was one thing that she should be able to be sure of, one constant in her life, I wanted that to be me. I wasn't sure I had enough to offer to her to be just that; but I would give her all that was there, even if it left me with nothing. It was a bit scary to think that she probably felt the same way, because I didn't want her to sacrifice anything for me. She already gave me more than anyone ever had by just being there, by just caring about me in a way that I wouldn't have thought possible, especially since she had second-hand memories of me being at my worst.
We both had zoned out for a minute and Chuck had had the decency to give us our moment and wait until he had our attention before he continued to speak.
“I have never experienced this special bond myself, but I imagine it is easy to get lost in the moment every now and then,” he smiled at us with mild amusement, but swiftly went serious again.
“However, not everyone approves of your relationship the way I do, as you have probably noticed. The same way I trust Scott to treat you with more respect in the future, I trust you two to handle this situation...responsibly; especially seeing how Rogue is still very young.”
We nodded in unison, tightly holding on to each other's hands. Surprisingly enough, his thoughts were wandering into a direction that I hadn't fully explored yet. Of course looking at Marie and thinking about sex were two things that inevitably went together, but most of the time I was so overwhelmed with all the more noble emotions that she stirred up in me that I didn't give the matter a second thought. Her innocent purity wrapped around me like a bundle of light, turning me into a better person when I was around her. There were more important aspects to our relationship than just the physical part of it and I was prepared to wait for her as long as she needed me to.
Professor Xavier seemed satisfied with our reactions – and probably the thoughts he had picked up in our heads – and carried on.
“Now, I have been meaning to tell you how delighted I am to have you both back here, even though you came under the pressure of unpleasant circumstances. Rogue, I think Logan has already informed you that there have been some misunderstandings due to the infiltration of one of Eric's followers, but I just wanted to tell you again that nobody here is mad at you in any way, least of all me. And the other students know how hard it can be to come to terms with you powers at first, so they certainly don't judge you. The point I'm trying to make is that I sincerely hope you will stay here. Especially given the current situation with Eric and the security that this school has to offer to you.”
“I'll stay,” Marie quickly responded, a little embarrassed that she had fallen for Magneto's tricks to get her to leave the Mansion in the first place.
“I-if that's okay with you?” she added, looking at me shyly.
“I'll be where you are,” I simply said.
Chuck nodded contently and gave us both a warm smile.
“Uhm, Professor?” Marie asked quietly. “About that coming to terms with my powers thing...”
“You want me to help you control it,” he stated and she nodded eagerly.
“I – we tried, but I think I didn't do it the right way.”
She informed him about her attempts to make her skin stop absorbing my powers and had me describe the feeling of getting hit by the brick wall she had built with her mind.
Chuck's facial expressions went from amused over thoughtful to finally end up at something that could only be called impressed.
“That was an amazing thing you did, Rogue. The approach you chose was a little more violent than necessary, but a step in the right direction. I can help you to develop your control if you want to. Visualization, the technique you chose instinctively, is always a very useful and effective one. But just for the record: you might want to imagine a layer over your skin rather than a solid wall,” he finished with a smile.
“I'll remember that,” Marie muttered, her cheeks going slightly pink once more.
He nodded and continued talking to her while simultaneously sending me a mental message.
Logan, I need to ask you something.
Okay, I thought to myself, not sure how to answer to him directly.
We will have to come up with a way to keep Magneto from executing his plans. It will be more difficult for him without Rogue, but it will not stop him, he will find another way. That's why we need to be prepared to intervene. The UN Summit is tomorrow night. Would you be willing to join the X-Men on the mission?
Normally I would have told him how I didn't give a shit about what happened to the world leaders at the summit, or his precious X-Men, or anyone for that matter. How I didn't owe anybody a thing and thought it was utterly pointless to fight for a bunch of stuck-up politicians who were just waiting for an opportunity to make every mutant's life miserable anyway.
But I hesitated.
Looking at Marie from the corner of my eye, the initial hostility swiftly vanished. I wasn't alone in the world anymore, there was someone who cared about me now; someone I cared about, and that changed everything.
If fighting against this Magneto guy meant that I would do my share to make the world a safer place, it might actually be something I'd wanna do.
I knew it was something Marie would want to do – but hopefully never would because it was much too great a risk.
Besides, if we managed to destroy Magneto's machine, or him, it meant that Marie wouldn't be in danger of being abducted and used as a weapon in a fight she had nothing to do with anymore. So there weren't really that many arguments against helping the geeks out. I would probably also get to give Sabretooth's sorry ass a well-deserved kicking.
I'll do it.
The Professor smiled at me knowingly while saying his goodbyes to us.
There's a briefing in my office tonight, 10 pm.
He shook my hand and patted Marie's shoulder paternally, telling her he would see her for their first session the next afternoon.
~x~
I walked back to my room alone – or was it our room now? – because Marie had run into her two roommates and they had attacked her with questions and welcome-back hugs, dragging her away from me and towards the rec room, where a whole gathering of teenagers occupied the couches by the sounds of it.
She turned around and threw me a helpless but happy look.
My sweet Marie. She had been so worried about the other kids giving her a hard time, and here they were, concerned for her safety, excited she was back. As if anyone could ever not like her. I might have been a bit biased, but reality proved me right.
Her two roommates and that blond ice guy had been all over me the night we had come back, asking me all kinds of dumb questions I didn't want to hear and sitting by my bed while we had waited for Jean and the Professor to arrive and find out what was wrong with her.
I had put up with them for her sake, even though all I wanted to do was throw them right out of my room and and tell them to leave me alone. It hadn't been easy for them either, I suppose they were afraid of me or something, but they had all been brave and stayed until Chuck had assured us she would be okay after she had rested sufficiently and thrown us all out of the room to do whatever it was he had done to her head.
Those two hours of waiting on the door step had been the hardest. I could hear every change in her heart rate and breathing, every whimper she made and I could smell when she was getting scared or when she was relaxing.
My senses were so attuned to her that with a certain amount of concentration, I could still feel her heartbeat in my own body and smell her unique scent now, as I walked up the stairs to the first floor while she was chatting with her friends.
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Chapter End Notes:
soooo - that was the explanation for the whole bonding thing...somewhat lame, but hey, who cares as long as they're together and happy and all that ;)
there will no updates for the next week, as I'm going on a vacation (yay! ^^ ), but I'd love to come home to some new reviews.... *hint hint*
have a good week, you guys =)
there will no updates for the next week, as I'm going on a vacation (yay! ^^ ), but I'd love to come home to some new reviews.... *hint hint*
have a good week, you guys =)