Persistence of Memory
folder
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
57
Views:
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Reviews:
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Category:
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
57
Views:
7,443
Reviews:
68
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own X-Men Evolution, or any of the characters from it. I make no money from from the writing of this story.
22
Persistence of Memory Chapter Twenty Two (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta…*happy dance * for
Skydsl! The Tims and the werewolf are
doing a happy dance even as I type, I’m sure.
;) InterNutter, TC and Maxwell
Pink are sparkley for archiving. J ProPhile is a lovely smutmuse. J Readers/Reviewers: One more day…*happy pagan dance * *ahem * In the
meantime…THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
“Quit your
squirmin’!”
“Marie,
lemme go!” Todd made a last-ditch
effort to escape Rogue’s grasp but pulled her into the tub with him
instead.
“Shit!” She
was out and on her feet before any accidental contact occurred. She glared down at Todd and said tersely,
“If you’d quit buckin’ around, I could clean you off and get you out of here!”
“I can do
this myself!” he spat. He made an
aborted attempt to get out of the tub, his legs collapsing beneath him and
sending a splash of water over the side and onto the floor. “Fuck.”
“Your
mutation includes your legs,” she sighed.
“You’re weak.”
“What about
you?” he moped. “You’re fine.”
“I’m
kickin’ myself is what I’m doin’,” she growled. “Sit down!” She
shoved him back into the water, holding him down with one hand and grabbing a
bar of soap with the other.
“Damn it!
You’re freakishly strong, you know that[1]?”
Todd shouted as he struggled.
“Todd,” she
snarled, “I’m tryin’ to help, goddamnit!”
“Why?”
“I feel
bad!”
“What?” he
slid down in the tub, glaring up at her.
“Why?”
“Because…I was
effected by whatever the Hell that was!
I…I could touch. I could touch
for probably twenty minutes and I didn’t tell you!”
Todd
blinked. “Oh.” Rogue took the soap from him and he made no
protest, letting her drag one of his arms up and start scrubbing at the dried
slime there. “Why not?”
“I was mad
at you. Now I’m just scared.”
“Scared? You?”
He made to sit up but a glare from her stopped him. “Why?”
“Todd…” she
sighed. “What happened to us this
morning? What’s going on?”
“I don’t
know.”
“There’s
your answer.”
“Are you
still mad because I got a little…jealous?”
“Yes.” She dropped his arm in the water and grabbed
for his leg. “But there’s more
important things to worry about right now.”
“I can do
this myself,” he reiterated, and this time she let him take the soap away as
she rocked back on her heels. “Um,
look…I love you and all, but can I have some privacy here?”
“Huh? Oh…sure.”
Rogue stood and pulled the shower curtain around the tub. “Aren’t you scared?” she asked through the
plastic barrier.
“Not
really.”
“What? Why not?”
“Well,” he
said prosaically, “I figure, we’ll either get through this or we won’t. Either way, I’m not gonna let some yahoo
scare me and make my last days miserable.”
“How do you
know it’s someone doing this?”
“You think
we all went kablooey at once like some mutant time bomb?” he snorted, splashing
in the tub.
“Well…”
“Look, I
was with the Brotherhood a lot longer than you and I can tell a stupid plot
when I see one. This is a huge, stupid
plot.”
Rogue could
not help it. She snickered. Peering around the edge of the curtain, she
asked, “Are you sure you’re okay? You
were really ick earlier.”
“I haven’t
puked in almost an hour. I think I’m
good.” Taking a deep breath, he slid
under the water.
Rogue
sighed. She did not know whether to
give into baser impulses that a naked boyfriend brought to the fore or to let
her fear reign. “Todd,” she began, her
only response the sound of muted splashing.
“Todd?” she asked after almost a
minute passed. Nothing. She counted to twenty and threw the curtain
back to find Todd submerged, staring up at her with wide eyes. “Todd!”
He sat up,
streaming water. “Amphibious,” he
grinned.
“Don’t do
that!” she cried, smacking his arm. “So
not funny!”
“Oh, come
on!” he called after her as she stormed from the room. “It was fucking hilarious!”
“Pardon
me,” Kurt muttered, appearing out of nowhere.
“Dude,
you’re naked.”
“Ja…I
noticed.” He looked around miserably,
grabbing a towel to cover himself.
“What the
fuck?” Todd grabbed the shower curtain
and pulled it to hide his own naked state, glowering at the other teenager.
“I don’t
know,” Kurt said, sounding more panicked than he would have liked. “Which bathroom is this?”
“Mine and
Lance’s.”
Kurt nodded
determinedly. “Right.” He teleported, leaving Todd alone.
ouldould this
day get any weirder?” Todd groused, standing and sending another wave of water
over the edge of the tub.
Rogue was
not surprised when Todd came to her in her room a few minutes later. “You done scaring your girlfriend?”
“For now,”
he allowed, sliding past her into the room.
“Rogue, I know you’re scared and all, but…”
“But
nothing!” she snapped. “I hate being
scared! I don’t do scared!” She
slammed the door and stomped to her bed, sitting on the edge with grim
determination. “The Professor is all
kinds of fucked up…who’s gonna help us?”
“We don’t
know about the Professor,” he said in an uncommon show of rationality. Cautiously, he sat next to her, laying one
hand atop her damp gloved one. “I mean,
he’s like supersmart and all, right? So
maybe he’ll be fine.”
“Maybe
nothin’!” She stood up, but did not move away.
“And why’re you being a jealous twit about Pietro?”
“Whoa,” he
said agitatedly, standing to glare at her.
“Enough with the one-eighties, okay?
Forget the jealousy thing!”
“No!” she
shouted, her fear making her impetuous and seizing Todd’s jealousy as an easy
distraction from the matter at hand.
“You don’t trust me!”
“The fuck…Marie,
you’re nutty as fruitcake, you know that?” he shouted to match her own tone.
“Fuck you, Toad!”
“Blow me, Rogue!”
he snarled.
She stared
at him, her mouth open in shocked frustration.
“You…you…”
“Me what?”
They were
interrupted by Kurt. “Verdammten
mutation!” he cried before disappearing again.
Rogue and
Todd looked at the spot where their friend had been, then at each other
again. Rogue laughed first, collapsing
against the bed. She laughed so hard
she cried, Todd snickering faintly as he sat beside her. After a moment, she let the tears come, her
laughter softening but rueful. “This is
gonna be bad, isn’t it?”
“Probably,”
he sighed. “Marie, look…”
“No, wait,”
she said suddenly, sitting up. “Tomorrow
is a safe day, okay? Let’s make up
then. Let me be mad at you right now
and you can be mad at me all you want but just for today. Okay?”
Todd made a
face. “Ooooookay…” He looped his arm
around her shoulders and carefully hugged her.
“You’re weird, you know that?”
“I’m
stressed. There’s a difference.”
Everyone,
Jean’s voice boomed in their minds, dining hall. Now.
“We’ve
really got to get an intercom system,” Rogue sighed, rubbing at her temples.
“Or teach
Jean volume control…”
I
heard that!
“Oh, for
the love of…Move!” The crowd at
the gate parted before Emma’s command, through no use of her powers. She waved the cab driver off and he departed
with three times his normal rate tucked securely in his pocket. She ignored the stares, the microphones
shoved in her face and the glare of the camera lenses and stalked to the
wrought iron gate. “Well, shit.”[2] The utterance was incongruous with her
demeanor, her clog nog notwithstanding.
Despite her sad sweatsuit and makeup-less face, she had an air of
superiority that commanded attention.
Glaring once more at the media vultures, she punched the button on the
speaker box attached to the gate. “Let
me in.”
Almost a
minute passed before Logan’s voice came tinnily over the wires. “Who’s this?”
“Emma
Frost. Open the damned gate.”
A long two
minutes passed while she knew she was being scanned by the security system,
then the gates creaked open. Turning to
face the reporters, she snarled. “Stop where you are!” Satisfied by their stunned, glazed eyes, she
slipped through the opening in the gate and smiled as it clanked shut behind
her. She smoothed her hair behind her
ears and straightened her top before walking smoothly towards the house.
“I wouldn’t
have let you in, normally,” Logan growled, stalking towards her from the side
of the mansion.
“I wouldn’t
have come, normally,” she rejoined. “Where
is he?”
Logan
stared hard at her, taking in every aspect of her appearance before
answering. “You look like Hell.”
“You’re no
great shakes, either.”
“How’d you
get out?”
“Is that
important?” She straightened, trying to
look Cured.[3]
“Under the
circumstances…” he glanced behind him and over his shoulder, Emma could see
Storm and Warren peering at her from under the portico. “No.”
Emma
assumed he meant for her to follow him as he turned and trudged back to the
house. “Nice to be here,” she muttered
dryly.
“We’ve got
the kids in the dining hall,” he said by way of conversation as they entered
the house, Storm and Warren falling in behind her as if they were in some sort
of formation. “We wanted to make sure
they were all in one place so no one could get to ‘em, ask ‘em questions.”
“I see,”
Emma murmured politely.
“Beast is
trying to get the sheriff’s department out here to clear them off,” Warren
said, a shade more friendly than Logan.
“But since the street isn’t private land…”
“They can’t e the them leave,” Emma finished.
They drew
even with a dark wood door, slowing to a halt.
Storm laid a heavy hand on Emma’s elbow, forcing the woman to turn and
face her. “I will kill you if
you so much as give him a headache.”
Emma smiled
falsely. “My, doesn’t the goddess have
anger issues?”
Warren
shook his head slightly. “Emma…”
“Right,”
the telepath said. “Go tend to your
horde. I’ll see to Charles.” Reluctantly, Logan let her into the dark
room. She knew he was waiting outside
the door, listening, but she did not actually care at that point. Charles Xavier, the one person in the world
she felt she might actually respect, was bent over, his head in his hands, in
the middle of the room. A book lay at
his feet as if he had dropped it while he tried to read it. Picking it up, she glanced at the
title. “Psychology text? A little light reading, Charles?”
He looked
up sharply. “Emma.”
“Correct.”
“You
visited me in the hospital.”
“Again…correct.”
“You know
me.”
Glancing at
the door, she smiled. Bending low to
whisper in his ear, she said, “I know you very well.”
Professor
Xavier blinked, remembering. “Oh…you
do, don’t you?”
“Mmmm. We’re old friends, the two of us.”
“Friends?”
“I was
being polite.”
“Don’t.”
Becoming
grimly serious, Emma stood straight again.
“You’re in quite a predicament, Charles. You’re memories are muddled, to put it in not very scientific
terms. I don’t do this often but I’m
going to help.”
“Hmmm.”
“Don’t hmmm
me, Charles. I’ve known you too long to
believe that’s a thoughtful noise. You’re
ignoring me.” She forced him to face
her, taking his chin between her fingers.
“You know. Deep down inside, you
know.”
“I know
what?”
“Dumb is
not cute, Charles.”
“Emma…I
honestly…”
“Nothing. You honestly nothing. We’ve got a long day and night ahead of us
and you’re not leaving this room until you admit to yourself what you are.”
“What I am,”
he said loudly, “is angry. You come
into my home, my school…”
“Which is
full of scared children and surrounded by media.” A flash of a memory crossed her mind. “You saw the pictures.
You already know a little. You just
have to let your mind open again.”
“I don’t
know what you’re talking about,” he said stiffly.
With a
sigh, she strode to the door and flung it open. Sure enough, Logan stood there, waiting. “We’re going to be a while,” she said
tersely.
“I figured
as much.”
“Send
dinner in five hours.” She slammed the
door on his startled face. “Now, where
to begin?”
[1] On Friends,
Chandler or Ross accused Monica of being “freakishly strong” when she pinned
them. I forget exact details.
[2] Dr. Evil in
the Austin Powers movies comes to mind…
[3] Again with
Bujold’s capital C.
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta…*happy dance * for
Skydsl! The Tims and the werewolf are
doing a happy dance even as I type, I’m sure.
;) InterNutter, TC and Maxwell
Pink are sparkley for archiving. J ProPhile is a lovely smutmuse. J Readers/Reviewers: One more day…*happy pagan dance * *ahem * In the
meantime…THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
“Quit your
squirmin’!”
“Marie,
lemme go!” Todd made a last-ditch
effort to escape Rogue’s grasp but pulled her into the tub with him
instead.
“Shit!” She
was out and on her feet before any accidental contact occurred. She glared down at Todd and said tersely,
“If you’d quit buckin’ around, I could clean you off and get you out of here!”
“I can do
this myself!” he spat. He made an
aborted attempt to get out of the tub, his legs collapsing beneath him and
sending a splash of water over the side and onto the floor. “Fuck.”
“Your
mutation includes your legs,” she sighed.
“You’re weak.”
“What about
you?” he moped. “You’re fine.”
“I’m
kickin’ myself is what I’m doin’,” she growled. “Sit down!” She
shoved him back into the water, holding him down with one hand and grabbing a
bar of soap with the other.
“Damn it!
You’re freakishly strong, you know that[1]?”
Todd shouted as he struggled.
“Todd,” she
snarled, “I’m tryin’ to help, goddamnit!”
“Why?”
“I feel
bad!”
“What?” he
slid down in the tub, glaring up at her.
“Why?”
“Because…I was
effected by whatever the Hell that was!
I…I could touch. I could touch
for probably twenty minutes and I didn’t tell you!”
Todd
blinked. “Oh.” Rogue took the soap from him and he made no
protest, letting her drag one of his arms up and start scrubbing at the dried
slime there. “Why not?”
“I was mad
at you. Now I’m just scared.”
“Scared? You?”
He made to sit up but a glare from her stopped him. “Why?”
“Todd…” she
sighed. “What happened to us this
morning? What’s going on?”
“I don’t
know.”
“There’s
your answer.”
“Are you
still mad because I got a little…jealous?”
“Yes.” She dropped his arm in the water and grabbed
for his leg. “But there’s more
important things to worry about right now.”
“I can do
this myself,” he reiterated, and this time she let him take the soap away as
she rocked back on her heels. “Um,
look…I love you and all, but can I have some privacy here?”
“Huh? Oh…sure.”
Rogue stood and pulled the shower curtain around the tub. “Aren’t you scared?” she asked through the
plastic barrier.
“Not
really.”
“What? Why not?”
“Well,” he
said prosaically, “I figure, we’ll either get through this or we won’t. Either way, I’m not gonna let some yahoo
scare me and make my last days miserable.”
“How do you
know it’s someone doing this?”
“You think
we all went kablooey at once like some mutant time bomb?” he snorted, splashing
in the tub.
“Well…”
“Look, I
was with the Brotherhood a lot longer than you and I can tell a stupid plot
when I see one. This is a huge, stupid
plot.”
Rogue could
not help it. She snickered. Peering around the edge of the curtain, she
asked, “Are you sure you’re okay? You
were really ick earlier.”
“I haven’t
puked in almost an hour. I think I’m
good.” Taking a deep breath, he slid
under the water.
Rogue
sighed. She did not know whether to
give into baser impulses that a naked boyfriend brought to the fore or to let
her fear reign. “Todd,” she began, her
only response the sound of muted splashing.
“Todd?” she asked after almost a
minute passed. Nothing. She counted to twenty and threw the curtain
back to find Todd submerged, staring up at her with wide eyes. “Todd!”
He sat up,
streaming water. “Amphibious,” he
grinned.
“Don’t do
that!” she cried, smacking his arm. “So
not funny!”
“Oh, come
on!” he called after her as she stormed from the room. “It was fucking hilarious!”
“Pardon
me,” Kurt muttered, appearing out of nowhere.
“Dude,
you’re naked.”
“Ja…I
noticed.” He looked around miserably,
grabbing a towel to cover himself.
“What the
fuck?” Todd grabbed the shower curtain
and pulled it to hide his own naked state, glowering at the other teenager.
“I don’t
know,” Kurt said, sounding more panicked than he would have liked. “Which bathroom is this?”
“Mine and
Lance’s.”
Kurt nodded
determinedly. “Right.” He teleported, leaving Todd alone.
ouldould this
day get any weirder?” Todd groused, standing and sending another wave of water
over the edge of the tub.
Rogue was
not surprised when Todd came to her in her room a few minutes later. “You done scaring your girlfriend?”
“For now,”
he allowed, sliding past her into the room.
“Rogue, I know you’re scared and all, but…”
“But
nothing!” she snapped. “I hate being
scared! I don’t do scared!” She
slammed the door and stomped to her bed, sitting on the edge with grim
determination. “The Professor is all
kinds of fucked up…who’s gonna help us?”
“We don’t
know about the Professor,” he said in an uncommon show of rationality. Cautiously, he sat next to her, laying one
hand atop her damp gloved one. “I mean,
he’s like supersmart and all, right? So
maybe he’ll be fine.”
“Maybe
nothin’!” She stood up, but did not move away.
“And why’re you being a jealous twit about Pietro?”
“Whoa,” he
said agitatedly, standing to glare at her.
“Enough with the one-eighties, okay?
Forget the jealousy thing!”
“No!” she
shouted, her fear making her impetuous and seizing Todd’s jealousy as an easy
distraction from the matter at hand.
“You don’t trust me!”
“The fuck…Marie,
you’re nutty as fruitcake, you know that?” he shouted to match her own tone.
“Fuck you, Toad!”
“Blow me, Rogue!”
he snarled.
She stared
at him, her mouth open in shocked frustration.
“You…you…”
“Me what?”
They were
interrupted by Kurt. “Verdammten
mutation!” he cried before disappearing again.
Rogue and
Todd looked at the spot where their friend had been, then at each other
again. Rogue laughed first, collapsing
against the bed. She laughed so hard
she cried, Todd snickering faintly as he sat beside her. After a moment, she let the tears come, her
laughter softening but rueful. “This is
gonna be bad, isn’t it?”
“Probably,”
he sighed. “Marie, look…”
“No, wait,”
she said suddenly, sitting up. “Tomorrow
is a safe day, okay? Let’s make up
then. Let me be mad at you right now
and you can be mad at me all you want but just for today. Okay?”
Todd made a
face. “Ooooookay…” He looped his arm
around her shoulders and carefully hugged her.
“You’re weird, you know that?”
“I’m
stressed. There’s a difference.”
Everyone,
Jean’s voice boomed in their minds, dining hall. Now.
“We’ve
really got to get an intercom system,” Rogue sighed, rubbing at her temples.
“Or teach
Jean volume control…”
I
heard that!
“Oh, for
the love of…Move!” The crowd at
the gate parted before Emma’s command, through no use of her powers. She waved the cab driver off and he departed
with three times his normal rate tucked securely in his pocket. She ignored the stares, the microphones
shoved in her face and the glare of the camera lenses and stalked to the
wrought iron gate. “Well, shit.”[2] The utterance was incongruous with her
demeanor, her clog nog notwithstanding.
Despite her sad sweatsuit and makeup-less face, she had an air of
superiority that commanded attention.
Glaring once more at the media vultures, she punched the button on the
speaker box attached to the gate. “Let
me in.”
Almost a
minute passed before Logan’s voice came tinnily over the wires. “Who’s this?”
“Emma
Frost. Open the damned gate.”
A long two
minutes passed while she knew she was being scanned by the security system,
then the gates creaked open. Turning to
face the reporters, she snarled. “Stop where you are!” Satisfied by their stunned, glazed eyes, she
slipped through the opening in the gate and smiled as it clanked shut behind
her. She smoothed her hair behind her
ears and straightened her top before walking smoothly towards the house.
“I wouldn’t
have let you in, normally,” Logan growled, stalking towards her from the side
of the mansion.
“I wouldn’t
have come, normally,” she rejoined. “Where
is he?”
Logan
stared hard at her, taking in every aspect of her appearance before
answering. “You look like Hell.”
“You’re no
great shakes, either.”
“How’d you
get out?”
“Is that
important?” She straightened, trying to
look Cured.[3]
“Under the
circumstances…” he glanced behind him and over his shoulder, Emma could see
Storm and Warren peering at her from under the portico. “No.”
Emma
assumed he meant for her to follow him as he turned and trudged back to the
house. “Nice to be here,” she muttered
dryly.
“We’ve got
the kids in the dining hall,” he said by way of conversation as they entered
the house, Storm and Warren falling in behind her as if they were in some sort
of formation. “We wanted to make sure
they were all in one place so no one could get to ‘em, ask ‘em questions.”
“I see,”
Emma murmured politely.
“Beast is
trying to get the sheriff’s department out here to clear them off,” Warren
said, a shade more friendly than Logan.
“But since the street isn’t private land…”
“They can’t e the them leave,” Emma finished.
They drew
even with a dark wood door, slowing to a halt.
Storm laid a heavy hand on Emma’s elbow, forcing the woman to turn and
face her. “I will kill you if
you so much as give him a headache.”
Emma smiled
falsely. “My, doesn’t the goddess have
anger issues?”
Warren
shook his head slightly. “Emma…”
“Right,”
the telepath said. “Go tend to your
horde. I’ll see to Charles.” Reluctantly, Logan let her into the dark
room. She knew he was waiting outside
the door, listening, but she did not actually care at that point. Charles Xavier, the one person in the world
she felt she might actually respect, was bent over, his head in his hands, in
the middle of the room. A book lay at
his feet as if he had dropped it while he tried to read it. Picking it up, she glanced at the
title. “Psychology text? A little light reading, Charles?”
He looked
up sharply. “Emma.”
“Correct.”
“You
visited me in the hospital.”
“Again…correct.”
“You know
me.”
Glancing at
the door, she smiled. Bending low to
whisper in his ear, she said, “I know you very well.”
Professor
Xavier blinked, remembering. “Oh…you
do, don’t you?”
“Mmmm. We’re old friends, the two of us.”
“Friends?”
“I was
being polite.”
“Don’t.”
Becoming
grimly serious, Emma stood straight again.
“You’re in quite a predicament, Charles. You’re memories are muddled, to put it in not very scientific
terms. I don’t do this often but I’m
going to help.”
“Hmmm.”
“Don’t hmmm
me, Charles. I’ve known you too long to
believe that’s a thoughtful noise. You’re
ignoring me.” She forced him to face
her, taking his chin between her fingers.
“You know. Deep down inside, you
know.”
“I know
what?”
“Dumb is
not cute, Charles.”
“Emma…I
honestly…”
“Nothing. You honestly nothing. We’ve got a long day and night ahead of us
and you’re not leaving this room until you admit to yourself what you are.”
“What I am,”
he said loudly, “is angry. You come
into my home, my school…”
“Which is
full of scared children and surrounded by media.” A flash of a memory crossed her mind. “You saw the pictures.
You already know a little. You just
have to let your mind open again.”
“I don’t
know what you’re talking about,” he said stiffly.
With a
sigh, she strode to the door and flung it open. Sure enough, Logan stood there, waiting. “We’re going to be a while,” she said
tersely.
“I figured
as much.”
“Send
dinner in five hours.” She slammed the
door on his startled face. “Now, where
to begin?”
[1] On Friends,
Chandler or Ross accused Monica of being “freakishly strong” when she pinned
them. I forget exact details.
[2] Dr. Evil in
the Austin Powers movies comes to mind…
[3] Again with
Bujold’s capital C.