Warning: Here's the bugger. This part contains Rape. I am not going into graphic details, but I strongly advise you consider what you're about to read(Sounds like those things they put on HBO). Otherwise, enjoy!! ;-P Moonstar

DREAMS
Part Two
By Moonstar

Stephanie walked down the stairs as quietly as she could, afraid of waking her father. Preston Edwards had turned into a tyrant after he discovered she was a mutie. He had tired himself from yelling at her over the Cody Robbins incident, then proceeded to call her a murdering bitch for killing her mother. Guilt washed over her after many long hours of convincing herself he was right. She shouldn't have begged her mother to get her ice cream. She shouldn't have wandered off into the alley. She shouldn't have...'Stop it, girl! If you break down, you'll never get the courage to walk out that door'. She tip toed to the door and walked briskly out, shutting it as quietly as possible. She reached in her pockets and found the twenty-dollar bill she had managed to steal from her father's drawer. Quickly, she walked to the nearest bus stop and prepared to leave this horrible life behind forever.

The bus silently pulled off, leaving a scared twelve-year old girl in it's wake. So this was the "Big Apple". Stephanie had managed to steal over two hundred dollars off of unsuspecting passengers as she traveled from city to city, in search of a new life. So far, all of it had been used to get here, except four dollars. She figured that should at least get her hamburger, and then she'd go to a local shelter until she figured out what she was going to do next. She wandered from street to street, from vendor to vendor until she was comfortably full from 3 hot dogs and some bottled water. She looked around at the crowds and people filing past her, looking for the shelter. She searched for hours and finally, scared and lost, decided to find someone who would take pity on her. She was amazed at the cruelty of some people. They had called her a little whore and told her to get her ass out on the street. She sat down on a bench and cried, letting tears of rage and fury that she had held back fin ally rain down her cheeks. She almost jumped out of her skin when a figure sat down beside her. An elderly woman sat down next to her and gave her a look of sympathy.

" Are you lost?" Her voice was soft and kind, and reminded her of her mother's own sweet, soft voice. Still, Stephanie was reluctant to trust so easily.

"No. Ah'm just waitin' for mah father," she replied, keeping her words as curt as possible. Suddenly, the woman's smile turned evil.

"Why, my dear, your papa's right here," she growled out. Stephanie gasped and ran as fast as she could, desperate to get away from the twisted old woman. She could hear her father's laughter in her head, and his raspy voice telling her she'd never get away. But then the voice changed, striking utter terror into Stephanie's heart.

" I'm gonna enjoy you like I did yer maman..." Stephanie covered her eyes and fought back the urge to retch. Instead she began to scream hysterically, crying for her Mama.....

"No!!!!! Mama!!!" Rogue by this point was writhing on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, close to hyperventilating. Her shrieks of terror reached through the entire house, waking its residents. Her eyes were wide open, but she was fast asleep when the other X-men found her. Joseph pushed everyone out of the way, and sat by Rogue's side. As she shook, he started to pick her up. Cecilia, followed by Hank, pushed him out of the way.

"My God....she's going to hyperventilate," Cecila whispered, in awe of the what the woman was saying. She briefly seemed to wake, but then continued on screaming and talking.

"Mama! Papa! Don't hurt me! Ah-Ah'm sorry!! Ah-didn't mean-didn't mean ta kill her!!" Rogue continued to babble, then all of a sudden, her words and screams of despair ceased, leaving total silence in the room.

The dreams of the previous night leaving her in a state of confusion, Stephanie bravely boarded the bus that would lead her to Garnet, Louisiana, just thirty miles north of New Orleans. She didn't want to fly, she just wanted to return to the town she had lived in for four years, right where her mother was visciously raped and killed in a back alley. She remembered everything now as if it were yesterday. She remembered the name of the ice cream parlor she had insisted her mama take her to- Charley's. She listened intently to the walkman she had brought along with her, trying to escape into the song that was blaring from it. Instead it made her feel worse. "Every night in my dreams, I see you, I feel you. That is how I know you go on. Far across the distance and spaces between us, You have come to show you go on. "Near, far, wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on. Once more, you open the door, And you're here, in my heart and my heart will go on and on." "Love can touch us one time, and last for a lifetime, And never let go 'till we're gone. Love was when I loved you, one true time I hold to, In my life we'll always go on." "Near, far, wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on. Once more, you open the door, And you're here in my heart and my heart will go on and on." "You're here, there's nothing I fear, And I know that my heart will go on, We'll stay, forever this way, And you're safe in my heart and my heart will go on and on." She abruptly pulled the headset off, tears streaming down her face, a dull ache in her heart. 'What did Ah do? Why was Ah was such a goddamned monster to him?' she thought, pulling her knees to her chest and buring her face in her hands.' Ah don't deserve to be on this Earth after what ah did ta Remy,' she despaired to herself. And she felt even more foolish for thinking that the little boy had been Remy. She suddenly felt strong arms circle her waist and she leaned into the hand that touched her face so gently. When she realized that she wasn't absorbing whoever it was that was touching her, she looked up, half expecting to see kind red-on-black eyes instead of the blue eyes that flared with hungry intent. She shoved at the middle-aged man's chest and stood up, glaring down at him angrily.

"Ah don't know who you think you are, mistah, but you need ta get yer act togetha now!" she raged, noticing how thick her accent had become when the seedy looking man had obviously tried to cop a feel. What really got her, though, is that he had touched her.

"I'm sorry, miss. I didn't mean ya no harm," he said, with obvious falseness. He had defiled her emotions and then had the audacity to believe that she would listen to his lies? She really couldn't say he had toyed with her, except it had been he who had touched her without her knowing and without being hurt, not the man she loved.

"Get outta here," she snarled, shooing him away. She sat back down in her seat, her eyes concentrating on the seat in front of her. 'God, what's happenin' ta me?' she asked herself, her heart more confused than ever.

The bus pulled off, reminding Rogue of the nightmare she had had before. She walked a couple of blocks, then decided to fly rather than walk the long distance to Charley's, a place that would reveal many forgotten truths to her searching heart and weary spirit tha had been broken when she left Remy in the snow. She squeezed her eyes shut and blinked back tears that were aching to spill forth from not having him at her side. She started to take off, but gasped when nothing happened. She turned around and stifled a scream when the man who had pissed her off on the bus suddenly grabbed her from behind. She started to scream again, but was quickly silenced when the man shoved a gun in her back.

"Listen up, girlie. Ol' Moe's gonna take care o' you. An if ya scream, I'll shove dis gun in your head!" She recognized the voice and tears flowed down her face to realize that the man who had raped her mother all those years ago was going to do the same to her and then she'd join her mother. If she didn't go to hell for killing her. She complied, and silently cried as he took her into an alley similar to the one her mama had been killed in. She continued to do so as the vile man shoved her to the ground and violated her body. He pinched and hurt her, his nails digging into her sensitive breasts, causing her to cry out with the pain he caused. He did the worst to her, making each movement a tortured pain for her, and she raged that he didn't give a damn about what he'd done afterwards. She curled up into a ball and cried as he stood up and pulled the gun out of his jacket. He put it in her face and prepared to pull the trigger when suddenly a burst of movement from the other side of her caused him to start and he dropped the gun to the ground. It went off and she heard a grunt of pain from the other side of her, and, unable to focus, listened to the angry words the other man spat at Moe.

"You bastard! You gonna pay, you son of a bitch!" She saw a flurry of movement, and tried to make out the two shapes as one plunged something sharp into the other's shoulder. One of them made a painful cry and took off running. The other figure started after him, but was stopped by Rogue's weak voice.

"Pl-please....hel-help me....." The man rushed to her side and gently picked her up, grimacing at the sight of blood and what was left of the vile man running down her legs. He choked back a sob at the sight of this beautiful woman defiled and violated. Her spirit was surely broken as well as her heart. Rogue could make out his tears on her cheek, as he whispered something that upheld her will right before she slipped into a void of unconsioussness.

"Rogue, mon amour, I ain't never gonna leave you again..........."

Note: The song in the story was "My Heart Will Go On," by Celine Dion. This song is the love theme from 'Titanic' and is also featured on her new album, "Let's Talk About Love". Email all comments to: jenny_booker@hotmail.com All flames will receive some sort of cocky response, so don't bother sending them.:) Moonstar
************************

Next: Who is the mystery man who saved Rogue? What happened to that bad ass punk Moe? To find out, tune in next time!!!