Deamon Lover

Both Scott and Kurt flinched at the verbalization of Rogue’s fury. Her eyes were flashing with
anger and her toxic hands waved around in the air as she bitched them out. “Do ya know what ya
jus’ did?!?” she yelled.
Scott gathered up every once of courage that he had and tried to swallow that lump in his throat.
“We caught a thief?” he suggested in a meek voice. Glancing around the group he noticed that
everyone else had the same confused look on their face so apparently he wasn’t the only one in
the dark about Rogue’s tantrum. Something about having that kid arrested had pissed her off big
time and he didn’t have a clue why. For the first time in his life Scott wished that Logan was there
to protect him. Or better yet, to have Professor Xavier there so he could just read Rogue’s mind
and tell Scott what the hell he had done wrong.
And Scott could tell by the way Rogue’s mouth tightened up that he had said something else
wrong. In a strained voice Rogue paraphrased what Scott had said, “Ya caught a thief?” The lilt
she put on the words caught and thief made Scott want to run away. Quickly. He watched as she
took a deep breath and tried to contain her rage. She closed her eyes and lowered her head for a
moment. Then, lightning fast, she stepped forward and put her face directly in front of Scott’s.
Little beads of sweat trickled down his forehead as he realized how close the cursed skin of her
nose was to his nose. And, Scott knew, that no one would dare to try and pull her back.
“What ya did,” Rogue hissed, “was send a mutant to jail.” Scott stepped back, his eyebrows
furrowed in surprise. ‘A mutant?’ he thought, ‘but how? and why? and huh?’ Rogue closed the
gap between them again and stared a best she could into his eyes. “Do ya know what they do to
mutants in jail Scott?” she asked, her voice low and dangerous. She jerked her head so that her
lips were right next to his ear, only a thin line of humid air separated her jawline and his cheek.
“Ya think its tough fo’ us out here? At least out here we have places to run. Try ta imagine being
stuck in a cell with nowhere to go and no one who gives a rat’s ass if you survive to make yer
court date.”
Rogue took a step back and Scott let go of the breath he had been holding. Before he could
respond to Rogue’s rant Kurt did the dumbest thing possible- something which Scott was entirely
grateful for because it took Rogue’s attention away from him. “Vy are you so angry at us?” Kurt
asked, “Da guy took Scott’s wallet. Vat were we supposed to do? Just let him get away with it?”
The second the words were spoken all the sane X-Men backed away. Rogue’s head was lowered
and she was taking deep breaths through her nose, vaguely resembling an aggravated bull waiting
to charge after the next thing red. Lucky for Kurt he was blue.
Rogue whirled around and stomped off in the direction of the hotel. A quiet moment passed as
though none of the X-Men wanted to break the tension that had gathered in the area but finally
Evan spoke, “Shouldn’t someone consider going after her?” When they all looked at him as
though he were crazy he sputtered, “I wasn’t suggesting me! There’s no way I’m getting
anywhere near her! I meant someone else. Someone with a tranquilizer gun maybe.” All of them
dropped their eyes and focused intently on the ground. After about a minute of all of them trying
avoid the danger of talking with a pissed-off Rogue, Kitty sighed and looked up, “Fine. I’ll, like,
risk my neck and go talk to her.”
Everyone finally looked back up from the sidewalk and glanced sympatheically at Kitty. Guilt and
relief filled the air and Scott spoke, “Look, I really don’t think that I should go talk to her right
now but are you sure that you’ll be OK?” Kitty was positive that Scott’s eyes were shifting
nervously behind his glasses, like he knew he had to have said something but he didn’t want to
risk getting sent to check on Rogue.
Flipping her hair over shoulder Kitty smiled bravely at all of them, “Yeah, I figure that, like,
besides Kurt, I’m the one who can get away the fastest. And I’m sure Rogue so doesn’t want to
see the elf right now.” Taking in a deep breath Kitty turned to walk towards the hotel. Behind her
she heard Evan mumbling, “Brave girl. I’ll miss her.”
***
Rogue paced around the hotel room like a caged tiger, partial ideas whirling in her head as she
tried to come up with a plan to break Remy out of jail. She was so intent on her mumbling and
pacing that she jumped back in surprise when Kitty tapped her shoulder. A tiny yelp emitted from
her mouth and Rogue was just about to bitch Kitty out when an idea flashed inside her head.
“Kitty! Ya have to do me a favor. It’s jus’ a small thing really.” Rogue made her face as pitiful as
possible before she continued. Her face twisted up as though she were in pain and Rogue
somehow managed to make her eyes water a little bit. “Ah need ya to phase inta jail and git Remy
out. OK?”
Kitty’s jaw hit the floor. “You want me to what into where and get who? Oh, and before you
answer that, could you, like, tell me why this guy is so important to you. Cause it’d be so totally
helpful to know why you’re, like, a lunatic all of a sudden.”
Rogue ignored the sudden urge to smack Kitty and chose to answer her questions instead, “Ya
know how ya said that guy looked like the guy from my painting? Well, it is him and he’s a
mutant and if they find out and he goes inta a jail cell with some anti-mutant freak than he might
get hurt and Ah would really hate fo Remy ta git hurt. So Ah need ya ta go and git him out before
anything can happen ta him. Please Kitty, he really means a lot ta me.”
The speed at which the words poured out from Rogue astounded Kitty and all she could manage
to do was nod. With a joyful grin Rogue grabbed Kitty’s arm and ran out of the hotel.
***
Kitty stared up at the two story building, pondering. “Um, Rogue, Could you, like, explain to me
how I’m supposed to find this guy? And how am I supposed to make him come with me?”
Rogue sighed. ‘Shit. She’s got a point.’ Rogue thought internally. Externally she said, “How
about you take me with you? And we can phase through the walls until we find him. My guess is
he should be on either the first floor or in the basement.” Rogue hoped she sounded more
confident than she felt. She also hoped that Kitty would avoid thinking about how Professor
Xavier would react if he found out cause Rogue was ill at the thought and she needed Kitty
concentrating fully on getting Remy out.
Kitty sucked in a deep breath and grabbed Rogue’s hand. Together they phased through the outer
wall and wandered through the police department in a way usually reserved for rats. Carefully
they meandered sideways through the walls, trying to avoid popping out in the middle of a
hallway or having various body parts protrude from the walls. “Rogue watch it! You’re sticking
out again,” Kitty hissed, “Next time wear a tighter bra.” A chagrined Rogue was tempted to say
‘At least Ah got something that sticks out’ but the temptation faded when she remembered that
Kitty could leave her stuck in the wall.
It took about ten minutes to find Remy slouched in a plain office by himself. He quickly
straightened up though as he saw the two girls emerge from the wall. “Mon Deu!” Remy’s
eyebrows hit the ceiling. Then he noticed who was stepping through the wall and grinned, “Ma
cherie, Remy t’ought dat beautiful skin was poison. You dinna tell Remy it could go t’rough walls
too.”
Rogue blushed, shocking Kitty and making Remy’s smile widen. “Kitty’s the wall walker, not me.
But let’s get going before someone comes back in here.” Kitty grabbed them by the hands and led
them into the wall just as they heard the door open. “Suck it in Rogue,” Kitty murmured, “I think
the cops might notice those poking through the wall.”
***
Back at the hotel the three of them let go of the fear of being caught and cheered. The eight block
walk back from the cop shop had been like walking the high wire for them and they were glad to
be safe from the prying eyes of the law. “Rogue,” Kitty exclaimed, “I don’t care if Professor
Xavier would kill us for that. It was sooooo, like totally incredible! We busted a guy out of jail!”
Kitty’s grin fell and she bit her lip nervously so Rogue asked, “What’s wrong Kits? We’re fine.
No one has to know and it’s not like we did something bad.” Remy and Kitty shot a look at her,
“Well, OK technically it’s bad and illegal. But-” Rogue smirked, “Ya kin’t tell me it wasn’t
exhilarating.”
Kitty smiled back at her but not as happily as she had been moments earlier. “I was just thinking
that Lance would be proud of me,” she said as she twirled her hair around. Remy glanced
confusedly at Rogue but she shook her head, as confused as he was. “Ah, but cherie, you jus’
saved Remy from a cold damp jail cell, an’ possibly a cellmate named Bubba. For dis Remy is ver’
grateful. Ver’ Grateful. So you jus’ tell dose unhappy t’oughts to be quiet and let’s celebrate ou’
victory ova dose who woul’ rightfully incarcerate Remy.” Rogue frowned and prayed that Kitty
wouldn’t catch the fact that Remy had said ‘rightfully incarcerate’ but she didn’t need to worry.
Remy’s charm seemed to drive Kitty’s worries right out of her head.
But just then the sound of jangling keys from outside the hotel room’s door made new worries fly
right back into Kitty’s vacant head. “Scott,” Jean’s muffled voice sounded from the other side of
the door. Kitty froze as Remy and Rogue looked around for a place to hide the newly released
convict. “I’m going to see if Kitty and Rogue want to come with. I’ll be down in a second.”
“The balcony,” whispered Rogue frantically as she pushed Remy outside. He wiggled his
eyebrows and blew her a kiss as she shut the curtains just as Jean opened the door.
“Hi you two,” Jean said cheerfully, “We’re going down to the French Quarter to look around. Do
you want to come?”
Both Rogue and Kitty shook their head vigorously. “No thanks Jean,” Kitty said anxiously, her
voice slightly more high pitched than normal. “We’re good here. Have fun! Bye now.” Jean
looked at them curiously as they waved at her. She raised her eyebrows but just shook her head as
she head back towards the door. “You two have fun,” she said. As she reached for the doorknob
she added, “And stay out of troub-”
The balcony doors flew open and Remy stumbled into the room. Jean gaped at him and Rogue
and Kitty groaned with dismay. Remy shrugged apologetically and explained, “Dere were officers
on da street ma cherie. An’ dey were looking up. Remy t’ink it’s time to leave now.” Rogue
watched as Remy crossed the room towards a confused and angry looking Jean. ‘Crap’ she
thought miserably, ‘Ah don’t want him to leave.’ At the threshold of the door he turned back and
reached his hand out to her, “Are you coming wit’ ma cherie?”