[ Forever Torn ] by Kojie

Chapter One

Disclaimer: Marvel owns the characters, etc. except my story. I don’t make any profit, except I do get really nice reviews ^_^ And that’s all I want *hint hint*

Notes: After Day of Reckoning Pt. II. Just to make things simple, not to mention easier, Gambit, Peter, and Pyro have joined the X-Men, the battle with Magneto is over, etc. This is the sequel to “Torn”. Italics are Rogue’s thoughts. Feedback is welcome (and wanted!!!) : kojie101@yahoo.com

One month later…

Rogue lay quietly on her bed. She was alone, since Kitty and Amara were out shopping. She sighed in content. “Man, Ah’m so glad that everything’s back to normal again,” she said, talking to herself. “Everything’s so quiet and peace--”

Suddenly, she heard a door slam. She sat up, startled…and annoyed. She walked out of the room and into the hallway, looking for the person who slammed the door.

She took a glance downstairs and saw Scott Summers walking from the front door and towards the steps. It was fairly obvious that he was the one who slammed the door so loudly. She was about to say something nasty when she noticed that his jaws were clenched, and his eyebrows furrowed. Something bad had happened.

“Hey Scott, what’s wrong?”

“Huh?”

Scott stopped walking and looked around blindly, until his eyes landed on Rogue. His face softened, then he smiled.

“Nothing’s wrong. I just had something on my mind…nothing important.”

Rogue crossed her arms on her chest. “Yeah, right. Ah know you better than that, and besides,” Rogue continued,” yer bad at lying.”

Scott gave a small smile, and sat down on the steps. He gestured for her to sit beside him by patting the spot next to him with the palm of his hand.

“It’s just that…he always gets in the way and… Man, I hate Duncan,” Scott finally managed to say as Rogue was sitting down. Rogue tried not to smile. Scott looks adorable when he’s upset…

“Well, maybe you an’ Jean should like, get things out in the open, y’know? I mean I’m sure it’d make things easier…”

Scott looked at her. “Rogue, we already tried doing that. Twice! And the first time we got interrupted by Duncan, and the second by Taryn . It’s like a conspiracy against us or something. Or maybe….maybe it’s fate and it doesn’t want Jean and me to like, I dunno, get it on..?”

There was a pause between them. Then Rogue burst out laughing.
“What?” Scott asked her, completely clueless.

“Nothin’…”Rogue replied, trying to control herself. Scott raised his eyebrows.

“Okay, okay. Um, it’s just that…it was weird when you said “get it on”…Ah mean, Ah can see Evan, or Kurt, or any of the others say it, but you? It just really cracked me up.”

Scott looked at her with an amused smile on his face. “Wow, am I really that um, what does Kurt call it…..stiff?”

“No, I mean yeah, I mean…well, we’re kind of getting off topic here,” Rogue stammered, “The point is, I think you should try to get things out in the open with Jean again. Ah mean, there is that phrase called “try, and try, until ya succeed.” What the hell am I doing?? Why am I helping him out with Jean??

“Hmmm…I guess you’re right, Rogue,” Scott said after thinking for a moment. “It’s just that….I’m kind of starting to lose hope. I mean, Jean and I met almost three years ago, and we still haven’t had the courage to talk to each other...about us, y’know?”

“Yeah, I do know….” Rogue replied absently. We’ve met almost a year ago and I still haven’t had the courage to tell you how I…

“You do?” Scott asked, surprised.

Rogue nodded. “Yeah, but Ah really don’t think you should lose hope though, cause Ah mean, d’you really think that Duncan’s gonna last? He doesn’t even know that mutants exist and even though Ah don’t really know Duncan all that well, I’ve got a pretty good feeling that he’s not even gonna try to understand any of this…stuff if Jean told him about mutants and powers and all that crap. But you….you and Jean don’t have any secrets from each other..” Stop it Rogue!! What the hell ’dyou think you’re doing??

“I guess so…”

“Except of course the whole “I like you, but I don’t want to go first” thing,” Rogue added.

Scott laughed, which made Rogue smile.

He looked at her, his face torn between sadness and gladness. “Thanks, Rogue. I really mean it.”

“Oh, uh, it was nothing….you’re welcome.”

Scott smiled warmly at her, then stood up, leaving Rogue sitting on the steps.

He slowly climbed up the rest of the steps and walked towards his bedroom. Then, he stopped at the doorway, and stared back at her. “Rogue?”

Rogue turned to face him. “Yeah?”

“Thanks for being a good friend.”

Rogue nodded and smiled. As soon as Scott was out of sight, her smile faded and she shook her head solemnly.

[ Chapter Two ]