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[un_gloved]

As a sort of concession to circumstance, Rogue hadn't spent much time alone, lately. She was always with someone, or at practice or in the rec room. She didn't even sleep in her room anymore, though most of her things were still there. It was the smarter way to play it, and she was mostly used to it after life at the mansion, but her greatest option for being alone was gone, and she was missing it more than ever.

Having passed over a truly spiteful number of books on aviation and a few issues of Superman, she'd slipped A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court off the shelf and curled up in the corner of the sofa with it. She'd read it when she was first at Xavier's, something the Professor had suggested she'd like. She'd been skeptical. And wrong.

She only made it a few chapters. The jukebox was quiet, no one was watching a film reel. In fact, she was totally unaware of anyone else in the room. It probably should have been indicative of how out of it she was, but she'd missed that, too. She fell asleep, book on the cushion beside her, arms curled across her stomach and forehead tilted against the back of the couch. It was the deepest she'd slept in days.

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[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

She laughed a little, and it managed to sound somehow disapproving. Mostly that was to cover up her confusion; having him pull back had not been the aim.

"You look scandalized, cher. Don't t'ink it suits you."

[thedevilhisdue]

I bite my tongue and force myself to keep it together, drawing back more, but grabbing her shoulder.

"Yeah, well, dis don't suit you much, either, hein? Rogue, snap out of it."

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

Rogue blinked, hard, and not in a way that signified a turning over of whoever held the reigns. The expression didn't suit her face. It belonged on one with higher cheekbones and a sharper chin (more attractive than her own, Rogue had always thought. Because of course Gambit's wife would be a classically gorgeous blond amazon...), but it came easily enough.

She was not amused.

"C'est quoi ce bordel, Remy?!" she snapped, hand whipping up in reflexes that Rogue had never learned to put his from her shoulder, with the precision of an Assassin and the flounce of a French girl.

"Don't call me that!"

[thedevilhisdue]

It's instinct to move my hand with hers, flipping it around to try and catch her wrist, but it's one I shouldn't be having to use. Rogue's well and truly left de building, and on its own dat'd be bad enough, but even if de voice an' face are all wrong, I'm dealing wit' someone I'd planned on never dealing wit' again and dis becomes a whole new level of wrong. Funny t'ing about plans, dey never seem to go right where I'm concerned.

"I'll call you dat all I please, seeing as how c'est ton nom. Come on, chère, think for a second!"

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

She sucked in a sharp, quiet breath, affronted. Not that Belladonna wasn't familiar with Remy Lebeau's audacity, but it was stunning to be faced with, now.

"Let go of me! You t'ink you can play dese games wit' me, you be very mistaken, mon mari."

[thedevilhisdue]

I don't know what to do. She's looking at me and seeing de boy she grew up wit' and nuthin' else is getting through and I don't know how to fix it. Maybe if some part of me didn't, in some messed-up way, love both o' de women I'm currently dealing wit', it'd be a little easier to go through my options, but as it stands...

"Alright, alright, you win," I say, trying to at least look relaxed as I make like I'm surrendering and take a step back from de couch. My grin might be forced, but it's still one dat knows it's got a job to do. "How 'bout a different game, den?"

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

"Why should I," she demanded, standing, too furious and focused for their surroundings to have sunken in yet.

"You wan' play games? There be plenty of fool girls around be more den willing to let you! I swear to God, I don't know what goin' through that head of yours!"

[thedevilhisdue]

"Come on, Belle, humour me," I say, laying it on thick as honey as I step around de couch, leaning over de back of it to watch her. I've got an idea and no clue if it'll do anything or even make t'ings worse, but I got to do somethin'. Hopefully before she figures out something's wrong on her lonesome and gets real angry.

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

She crossed her arms imperiously but the moue her lips settled into was a tell-tale sign that she was caving.

She being Belladonna, not Rogue. Rogue wouldn't have known how to moue if her life depended on it. She wasn't calculating enough.

"...Dis better be good," she told him, sitting on the arm of the couch and watching him with a hooded gaze that was trying to remain unimpressed.

[thedevilhisdue]

"Oh, it is," I promise, taking a step back and grinning even wider to cover how much it throws me, hearing dose words in dat voice, seeing dat look on Rogue's face. "Trust me, you'll never see it coming. We just need to go for a teensy walk, de two of us."

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

Her eyebrows lifted a little, but she didn't look immediately resistant. Absconding places at night with her affianced rarely led to disappointing experiences. But she was still being unamused, couldn't let him run wild yet.

"Then lead de way, cher," she said, not moving an inch.

[thedevilhisdue]

I take another step back, but it's a slow one and I fake a pout. Least de longer dis goes on, de easier it is to get into de act, but who even knows what it's doing to Rogue? Wherever she is.

"C'mon, Bella, you got to be un petit peu more interested den dat."

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

She shook her head the tiniest bit, slowly, one corner of her lips angling fractionally up.

"...Fine," she sighed, as if put out, and started after him with a sway that was entirely purposeful and well learned.

"Someday, you goin' get in real trouble wit' me, you know," she told him, lifting a finger to drag across his chest.

[thedevilhisdue]

Oof.

"B'lieve me, you got no idea," I mutter, and it ain't easy to keep up a show at a reminder like dat of what I spent so long running from.

Good thing I'm such a professional. Slipping an arm around her shoulder (and alright, maybe dere are a couple parts of dis dat aren't tous méchants, but not enough to really count for anything), I lead us on out of de rec room, not in any sort of rush. Now hopefully she doesn't realize she knows her way around here enough to know I'm steering her towards de bathrooms.

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

Well, that was better. She brought a hand up to rest at the small of his back, smiling slightly.

"Don' pout, Remy," she drawled as they went, turning her head a little so when she did, her voice was directly in his ear, "you always have a certain uncanny ability to make t'ings up to me..."

[thedevilhisdue]

I let out a slow breath at dat, since it's de reaction what gets me in de least trouble, long-term. Twirling a piece of her hair (white, in case dere was any doubt as to who I'm doing dis for) to distract her as much as me, it's a quick stroll down an empty hall to the end of de line. "Here's to hoping I break dat streak later as 'posed to sooner, den. Ladies first."

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

The tactic failed because she was distracted by the door as it opened, or more accurately what was behind it. She frowned as she stepped inside, at the stalls, the tile- and then him.

"I know you be an exhibitionist, Remy, but at least you usually got some cla..."

She was staring past him at the mirrors behind the row of sinks. It was a startled, uncomprehending look that greeted her in return- wide green eyes, lips that were the wrong shape, a face that was the wrong shape. It was a pretty face, that she felt an immediate and fierce hatred for. The face flushed, as she felt herself flush.

"What," she ground out, jaw tight as she tried to reign in the confusion. The girl in the mirror's mouth moved when her own did. She back up slightly, shoulders smacking into the stall partition, before she stalked a few steps forward, shoving his shoulder out of the way in one terse movement.

"What de hell is dis?!"

[thedevilhisdue]

And here come de fireworks. Time to make it or break it.

"It's you," I say, snapping back to dead serious as I reach down to grab her arm. "It's you, Rogue. Think about it, 'bout where you are."

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

"No," she gasped sharply, jerking away from the mirror, from him, though she didn't manage to dislodge his grip.

"Why you callin' me dat it's not- No," she repeated again, significantly louder, voice edging toward ragged, almost shrill.

"This can't be- this can't be! What is this?" She turned back on him, eyes alight with rage.

"What did you do?"

[thedevilhisdue]

Well, dis could certainly be going worse. Somehow. Probably.

"Woke you up, remember?" I say, standing a little more defensively out of necessity, but not letting go of her. If I keep calm, hopefully some of it'll rub off on her 'fore dis start to hurt, but it's tough to tread lightly 'round something so insane. "You ain't Bella Donna, you never were. Calm down and think for a second, where've we been dese last few years? You know who you are, Rogue."

Good to know de Sabretooth t'ing really wasn't as bad as it could get.

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

"Why are you sayin- How can you be sayin' dis to me!" She was hurt, incredulous, and furious. She began pulling away, actively trying to get her arm out of his grip while not looking at the reflection of a stranger's body doing the same, except it was impossible not to see.

"Let go! Dis ain't real that isn't my face, where- why is-"

She rocked, abruptly, looking disoriented and pained. She leaned heavily on the counter and clutched at her head.

"Oh God. Where am I, I don't... how did I get here, I can't..."

The line of her shoulders and, slowly, her arms began to tense. Noticeably.

"Remember." She looked at the mirror, met the face there dead in the eye. The face of that awful little river rat mutant who been trailing along after her husband like he was... like they were...

"No. No." She slammed the flat of her palm against the mirror, hard enough by the sound of it that it should have cracked and shattered, fingers splayed out to fracture the image reflected there.

"Cette connasse- that little mutie bitch!" She rounded on him with a desperate, possibly immutable rage.

"How did this happen?! How could you let it?!"

[thedevilhisdue]

Right. Dey're acquainted. Dey'd have to be for dis to be happening at all, naturellement, but it's still something I've never been all dat eager to wrap my brain around, for obvious reasons.

"It's not like dat," I say firmly as I put my hands up, de sound of her palm smacking glass keeping me focused. Panicking's not gonna do any of us good, and I am not about to start defending Rogue to herself. "You're just confused. You just need to calm down and we'll get some help, okay, chère?" It probably don't make much of a difference, but it also don't help dat I really don't know how I let it happen.

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

"Do I look confused?" she snarled. The answer was no, she looked homicidal, but it didn't change the fact that the real answer was yes.

"Where are we!"

[thedevilhisdue]

Confused is more an all-encompassing state of being right 'bout now, not just a look, but hopefully her asking questions is a good t'ing. I just wish I had some answers she'd like.

"We're in a building," I answer slowly, "on an island in de middle of nowhere. You've been here for years."

[un-gloved.livejournal.com]

Her color, most noticeably that which had been prominent in her cheekbones, drained.

"Years?" she gasped, practically staggering, catching herself against the counter and looking back to the strange reflection. She stumbled back from it, one hand flying to her forehead as the other reached blindly for the wall to steady herself.