Hey everyone thanks for the reviews! This chapter ISN'T a filler! Promise!

-UltimateGammy91

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Chapter Eight – Footprints in the Sand

Rogue felt a small smile spread across her lips as she let her bare toes wriggle in the cool sand. The feeling was soothing and despite the insignificance of the action, it was a little freedom that she relished with a grin. She sat in the shade of a few palm trees on the edge of the grassy brink that led to the sandy beach. She had been fortunate to find a small snack shack in the pool courtyard and had bought herself a small fruit platter and a lemon soda. While the soda bottle was secure in her hand, the fruit bowl sat on her knees while she sat elevated on a patch of grass. Her bare feet lay in the cooled sand with her shoes not two or three feet away. The heat of the day had begun to rise as the afternoon aged, forcing Rogue to pull her hair back into a sloppy tail. Her sunglasses were pushed back onto the top of her head, forcing her white streaks away from her face. However, despite the rising heat, Rogue felt comfortable, at ease even. What more could a person want in a tropical paradise like this?

"Hey Rogue! –Bobby! I found her!"

Rogue jumped (and winced inwardly) at the familiar holler of her brother's voice. Before she could make herself scarce or better yet run she felt two presences appear on either side of her, followed by two grinning faces. She had to smirk lightly at their attire. Each boy donned a colourful Hawaiian-flower shirt that was left unbuttoned, differentiating caps, board shorts and flip-flop shoes. Their faces were slathered in white sunscreen, making their grinning faces all the most silly. Kurt was the first to speak. He looked as if he were about to burst he was so full of excitement.

"You vill never guess what we just got!"

"Yeah,' Bobby quipped in. "We got the best deal! Seriously!"

Rogue was barely able to suffice a 'What did you get?' before Kurt grasped her by the shoulders (carefully) and shook her lightly as he exclaimed.

"You and I, Bobby and Kitty are going scuba diving off one of the nearby islands tomorrow morning! Isn't zhat great?!"

Bobby was quick to cut Rogue off in his own exclaim of excitement.

"The hotel gave us a load of gear on hire for a really good price! Wet suits, gas tanks, fins, scuba masks- the load. The boat hire payment is next to nothing and we get an authentic native guy showing us the site. Cool huh?"

Rogue blinked several times as she tried to register the whole idea. Her? Scuba diving? If circumstances were different, Rogue would've been fine with the idea but swimming with a bunch of fish and who knew what else ready to touch her skin? She didn't fancy the idea of absorbing the mind of a fish. She shook her head and gave an apologetic look towards her brother to ease his disappointment as she spoke.

"Look that sounds really great but its bad enough ah can'te swim with people around. Ah don't wanna risk absorbing fish an' adding that t' the list. Why don't ya'll ask Scott t' take mah place or somethin'?"

Kurt and Bobby both gave crestfallen looks but they didn't give in easily. Bobby was quick to retort.

"Aw come on Rogue, it'll be fine! We made sure to get you a suit that coved everything and besides that you'll be wearing scuba masks and fins anyhow. You'll be completely covered!"

Rogue made a reluctant face before settling on a scowl. She leant back on the balls of her hands as she replied irritably.

"Kurt this is mah vacation away from group activities. Ah don't wanna-"

Kurt began to pout mercilessly before she could finish. He began to plead not long afterwards.

"Schwester, please? You've got to come! Zhis is ze only thing we'll ask you to do with us while we're here, I promise. Just say you'll come this once? Please? For me?"

He continued to pout, causing Rogue to slump her shoulders in half defeat. Bobby joined in on the pouting session, both boys kneeling before her with the best puppy-dog-eyed impression they could muster. Though Rogue ignored Bobby's pouting face easily, Kurt's was a little harder to resist…entirely. Finally, with an utterly defeated sigh of resign, Rogue nodded. The two gave identical whoops of delight, high-fived each other and ran off after a quick thankyou shout out from Kurt. Rogue shook her head with a small sigh as she set her gaze back on the sea view before her. It wouldn't necessarily kill her to do one measly day of scuba diving would it? Besides, she had a full six weeks ahead of her to do as she pleased. She had more than enough time to be alone and enjoy the seclusion. With a last swig of her soda Rogue plopped the last strawberry from the bowl pack in her mouth before slipping on her shoes and standing up. She had had enough of the shade. As she turned around to step back onto the path she slipped on her sunglasses and began the journey back to her hut. The blaring sunlight singed the uncovered spots of her neck as soon as she stepped out of the shade of the trees. Rogue frowned. She would remember to put on sun block before she left next time. She didn't want to spend a week inside a hut getting over a dose of sunburn.

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Rogue ran into no one on the return journey to the hut. No tourists, no friendly staff people or any of the other X-Men. The hour was growing late, near three in the afternoon and the shade had descended over her hut by the time she reached it. Like the friendly staff peoples' treatment back at the main building, Rogue found it strange to have so much open space. No people crowding the pathway, no mindless chatter drifting through the air and not a soul to intrude upon one's own peace and quiet. There was nothing but the soothing sound of the waves and the cool breeze that drifted by every so often. Rogue couldn't help but smile lightly to herself. There was nothing better.

As she ascended the small stairway she decided that since she wasn't obligated to do anything with the others until the following morning, she would get a head start on her planned out activities. Upon entering the hut and closing the door behind her, Rogue pulled open her suitcase. She dug around for a few minutes before pulling out a medium-sized black shopping bag from the bottom of the case. Before leaving on this trip to paradise, she, Jean and Kitty had gone out shopping for holiday essentials; clothes. Jean had been practical of course, getting only what she really needed which was a new bathing suit, a new sarong, towel and some travellers checks, Kitty had been the most impractical. She had practically maxed out her cards (again) on different shades of pink sarongs ("I, like, need to have some variety! I can't, like, wear the same one all the time!"), three new swim suits, thick sunglasses that made her look like human fly (in Rogue's opinion), bottles of sun-block, packs of sanitising wipes, make up travel kits, sandal shoes and other quantities of that sort. Rogue, comparably, stood no where in between the other two. She had opted to leave the two to shop alone and the end result was now this inconspicuous shopping bag.

Like a thief waiting to be caught, she opened it carefully and pulled out two pieces of thick-striped black and blue material. Blushing slightly, despite being well and truly alone, Rogue moved towards the small bathroom towards the back of the hut and changed quickly. She emerged from the bathroom in a two-piece bikini. The top's straps wrapped around her neck and attached together with a plastic latch while the hipster-bottom hugged her hips quite nicely like a pair of short-shorts. Rogue couldn't help but fidget with her fingers slightly in the bareness of the bathing suit. Obviously, due to her powers, wearing anything like this even around the mansion pool was strictly unrealistic. Rogue had never shown much skin around the others, not even now that she had somewhat accepted it that she wouldn't have control. 'Yet' she reminded herself. Apart from that, there was always the embarrassing possibility of someone spotting her wearing something like this back at the mansion. What with a house half full of raging hormonal boys and somewhat discriminative girls, an untouchable such as Rogue would die of the embarrassment. Thus, when Kitty and Jean had been preoccupied elsewhere on that trip to the mall, Rogue had slipped into a bikini store and picked out a swim suit that was something different to her usual attire. She refused to have to wear that all-covering scuba-suit she usually had to wear when swimming with the others. Not when said others would not necessarily have to be around while she swam.

"This is mah vacation," She thought silently to herself as she took a look in the closet mirror. She forced her fiddling fingers to separate and move to her sides determinedly. "Ah'll be damned if ah let somethin' lahke this ruin it." So what if she was provoking danger by wearing this thing. Girls her age wore these things, why couldn't she? Just this one time? No one would see. No one. With that, Rogue turned back to her suitcase and pulled out her sun block and her blue towel. After covering every bare spot of skin in sun-block, placing her towel on the small terrace railing, she stepped out onto the sun-kissed beach and waded into the gentle tide of the ocean.

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Meanwhile…

Remy was officially bored. Except for the pool courtyard, the small bar in the hotel, a hotel gift store with useless trinkets, the island was full of nothing but touristy expenditures, all of which he had seen, experienced and endured over the past two hours. Anything and everything worth looking into, as said by one of the more helpful friendly staff members (as they all were), was back at the mainland of Saint Vincent that could only be reached by boat. He had no intention of leaving the island that day and, apparently, neither did his jolly Aussie comrade. John had taken to the touristy attractions as quickly as a moth to a flame or more a pyromaniac to a flame, literally. When he had dragged Remy out of his hut for the day, he had pushed him towards the hotel gift store only to emerge a half hour later with a large gift bag full of brightly coloured tourist gifts. Hotel cap-hats, hotel logo-painted pencils, T-shirts, pens with shells stuck to them, a couple of brightly-coloured flowery necklaces and countless other tourist traps that Remy had all but tried to drag John and his wallet away from. However, there was no stopping John until he had bought at least half the store out of all it had. Remy wondered why his wallet hadn't started screaming as soon as they had entered the shop.

Now, however, Remy sat on a stool in the one place that he could tolerate; the bar. While he drowned a regular beer (he wasn't one for early-day drinking, so he kept it to the minimum), John's beer bottle sat untouched on the bar stool. The once-frozen layer of water on the bottle had dribbled onto the bench top as its owner stood several feet away, attempting to chat up an 'Aussie Sheila' that had supposedly 'stolen his heart at first sight.' Remy rolled his eyes for the millionth time as John exploded in a barking sort of laugh. There was no doubt in Remy's mind he had just cracked the latest 'joke' and watched with pity as the blonde 'Sheila' raised an unimpressed brow at him and shifted away from him slightly. They stood at the end of the bar bench, John with his back turned while leaving his Sheila's expression bare for Remy to observe. The relationship was headed for a slap in the face the way John was going on about it, that Remy was sure of, however, he didn't intend on waiting to find out. Laying down some bills on the counter and thanking the bar tender quietly, Remy moved towards the exit discreetly and left John to his own fate.

He hadn't gone far, as far as the edge of the pool courtyard, when someone caught his eye. A flare of red hair caught his attention, accompanied by a pair of ruby-quarts lenses that were unmistakeably recognisable. Jean Grey and Scott Summers passed by from across the pool, hand in hand while both were attired for a day at the pool. Remy made sure to keep himself inconspicuous as he stepped out of the pool courtyard but could not stop the smirk from spreading across his face. 'If dey be here, Rogue's got t' be somewhere close." Though he had looked around on his way out, to his disappointment but not his surprise, Rogue was nowhere in sight. 'De crowd,' he figured. She wouldn't risk it with so many people around in their bathing suits and exposed skin.

"But where she be now?"

With that thought came his personal objective for the rest of the day. He retraced his steps around the hotel grounds (while avoiding John's presence completely) but there was no sign of her. He had a near run-in with a few more of her team mates but they were easily avoided. Soon however, as the hour grew later with each aimless step, Remy became restless. She couldn't have left the island. She wasn't a girl that struck him as a crowd-loving person and that would be all over the mainland if she left. 'Non,' he decided. She wouldn't leave. The nature of her powers and the seclusion the island offered away from all those dangerous possibilities that could occur on the mainland was too inviting. He was certain she wouldn't miss out on that kind of opportunity.

Remy frowned irritably as he came to a standstill on the dirt road that led to the huts. 'Mais where would she go den?" He gave an aggravated sigh. He felt so at home in this climate, the sun on his face and the heat radiating with the cool breeze, but there was a difference between a speck of land in the middle of the ocean and the buzz of the South back in the States. Space made all the difference to muddle up his mood and sense of direction as it turned out. Without much of an idea of where to start looking again however, Remy settled on walking aimlessly down the dirt road. Maybe he would get lucky?

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Meanwhile…

The water rushed over her like a second coat of transparent skin. When she had first stepped into the shallow foamy waves it had been stone-cold. However after taking a deep breath and plunging head-first into the surf, the cold became nonexistent. Rogue smiled as she rose from the waves and lingered above the surface for a few moments, her feet kicking the space of water below. The ocean horizon stretched before her in a deep shade of blue, a mirror of the cloudless sky above. Though the heat of the day hadn't gone just yet, the hour was growing late. The light of the sky had begun to sink into the horizon. Rogue took little notice of it as she dived below the surface again. She opened her eyes once she was engulfed by the water. Though her vision was blurred a little she could make out the sand below along with the dulled sunrays that danced across it. She wasn't far out enough for there to be fish or any marine life for that matter but that didn't bother her. In fact it made things a little easier on her knowing her chances of absorbing any fish near-by were slimmer than they would be out in the deep. With a small smile, she kicked off in the water, launching herself like a human-submarine into the endless space of water.

The tiny bubbles that emerged with each movement of her arms and legs tickled her skin pleasantly while the sound of water rushing past sang in her ears. She felt lighter in the water. Which, honestly, did sound rather obvious but it was frankly how she felt. Weightless. It wasn't a feeling she had very often. Rogue didn't know how long she stayed out in the water but judging from the sudden dimming of the sunlight, she figured it had been long enough. She rose from the depths with the rush of a passing wave. She was thrown off balance quickly, sending her stumbling into the water before she managed to find her footing in the shallows again. The sand turned to puffs of mist in the water as she dragged her feet to keep her from stumbling in the surf. Finally, when she was able to stand and walk properly without the waves pushing her off balance, Rogue was able to step onto the beach. She didn't go very far before heaving a sigh and sitting herself down on the sand.

Tucking her legs up, Rogue wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her chin atop them as she stared out to the horizon. Dark-smeared white clouds had begun to stretch over the sky, foretelling prospects of a downpour of rain soon. She figured as she remained there on the shore, that maybe she should head back to her place. She should probably start thinking about what she should do about dinner. It wasn't until the sun had lowered a few paces over the sky that she decided to get up. She dusted the wet sand off the back of her legs as she pulled herself to her feet. However, as she began the track back to the hut (she had wandered away from the hut while in the water) something in the distance caught her eye. Squinting, Rogue realised it was a person headed in her direction. She couldn't make out significant features, mostly that the person- man was dressed in black or what she could tell. She continued to walk back up the invisible path to her hut which happened to be in the direction the man was coming from. As she came closer, the figure before her came into better view. She could make out features now and realised firsthand that he wasn't just dressed in black but a pair of green stripes accented the pair of board shorts he was wearing. His hair was a reddish-brown colour, tussling in the humid wind that blew down the beach. His face wasn't distinguishable, save for a pair of dark sunglasses that hid away his eyes. However, despite this concealment, Rogue's mouth still fell open in shock and realisation. As she came to recognise the confident, casual stride that the man defined she was certain that he had realised who she was too.

"No way…"

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Muahahahaha. Yes go ahead and fume that I left you on Cliff Hanger.

But Review please, and please don't send any flames!

-UltimateGammy91