A Rogue's Tale

Destination: New York: Part 2

The Song I used is Missing by Everything But the Girl.

Tara, Bruno and Remy arrived late that same night at the Xavier Institute. They were given temporary rooms in the guest area until permanent room assignments could be issued. It was late, so they all had just a quick snack and it was off to bed. Remy and Bruno shared a room, while Tara was given one of the smaller ones. She would most likely have a roommate eventually, and she would have liked it to be Bruno, but she knew there was no way that was going to happen.

Tara settled into her room quickly and went right to sleep, being so exhausted after everything that had been happening. She wanted to call her sister, but it was late and unfortunately, she left her cell phone at home.

She would have to wait to get a new one, but until then she would have to use one of the institute's land lines. Not wanting to worry Sasha, she would have to call her when she knew her parents were not in the house. They would only freak out, and perhaps ruin the set up she had going. For now, Tara was content to live with these people, as long as Bruno was with her.

Since her wings sprouted, she had been sleeping on her stomach, which wasn't the most comfortable position but necessary. She settled down for the night and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

In the room next door, Bruno was still trying to get settled. He was just as tired as Tara, but he was so wound up he couldn't bring himself to try to hit the sack.

Instead he looked out the window and out at the view of the water fountain. "Have you ever noticed how destructive water can be?" he asked, while thinking out loud and not directing the question to his new roommate.

"Yeah," Remy said as he unpacked his bag. "Can flood a whole city."

"That's true," Bruno said and came and sat down at the edge of his bed. "It can also save a life."

Remy wasn't really listening, because he was going through his things, but they were items that were in reality not his. There was a novel, which was a vampire book, and a sketch book, a pair of black leather gloves, and a girl's makeup bag that had a particular piece of jewelry hidden in the side pocket on the inside.

He took it out and held onto the butterfly necklace. "Hey, man, what's that?"

"Oh, dis, belongs to a friend," he said, admiring the piece. "Holdin' on to it for her."

"Oh, a girl," Bruno said with a sly smile. "Girlfriend?"

"Yeah, sort of, but I don' know where she is right now," he said, holding the metal necklace up to the light. As it shimmered in the light, he could only think of the girl who once wore it. She was in this city somewhere, and something told him that, and he was going to find her no matter what he had to do.

"It looks like a piece of cheap metal," Bruno came over to inspect the thing, "but it looks familiar."

"Belongs to my girl, Anna Marie," he said and put it back in the in the black makeup case. "I won it for her a long time ago when we was jus' kids. When I find her again, I'm gonna give it back to her."

"Hey, was it from some street vendor in New Orleans?" Bruno asked and Remy looked up in surprise.

"Yeah, how did you know?" he asked.

"Because that's the same story Rogue told me and Tara a million times. She would say the boy who won it for her was her true love and all that crap."

"You know Rogue?" Remy asked stunned by this revelation. Bruno nodded and Remy reached in to his pocket and pulled out a picture. "Dat her?"

"Yeah, but she told you her name was Anna Marie?" Bruno asked.

"Dat's what she said it was back when we was kids," Remy said. "We were both snatched and taken ta dis lab, but I got her outta dere."

"So, all these dreams she told us about were actually true," Bruno said, shaking his head. "Anna Marie? No one ever called her that, at least not since I've known her."

In fact, no one knew her real name. She would never tell anyone." Then Bruno thought for a minute while studying the photo. "Do you know where she's been? A few weeks ago, she took off from Caldecott, and no one's seen her since."

"She was in New Orleans," he said, while still gripping the necklace. "She was stayin' at my place which is where she was when dey took her."

"She was kidnapped?" Bruno asked with a stunned look on his face. "Damn! When Tara finds out..."

"Can't tell her," Remy said with an intense look in his eye. "Can't tell no one... not 'til I find her and get her some place safe."

"At least let me help," Bruno said with a look of concern on his face, but Remy turned away from him. "Come on, man, she's my friend, and Tara would never forgive me if something happened to Rogue. Besides, Tara would kill me if I didn't lift a finger to help."

After some hesitation and seeing the sincerity in Bruno's face, Remy let out a deep sigh. "Fine, but we leave dis between us," Remy said as Bruno returned the picture to him.

Bruno gave a yawn and stretched his arms up in the air. "I think I'm gonna crash."

"Yeah, me too," Remy said and plopped down on his bed. The problem was he didn't sleep. All he could do was sit up looking at Rogue's picture, wondering where she was and if she was okay.

To Be Continued...

I hope you are all enjoying this. First person to leave a comment on this part will get a dedication in the next one.

The story continues next time when Rogue settles into the Brotherhood house. The boys got this idea in their head that they can push her around simply because she's a girl, but they are in for a rude awakening.