Chapter Text
Rogue jerked awake, groaning as her sore body informed her that was a bad thing to do. She groaned again, quietly as to not wake the others, as she tried to stretch out. She hated this place, chaine
d to the wall, away from the sun and breeze, trapped in a dirty concrete dungeon, smushed in with a bunch of other kids just like her. Well, maybe not exactly like her, but they were all the same. They were seen as freaks, monsters, unnatural. But Rogue saw them all as family.
They were all mutants, trapped in an underground trafficking ring.
Fighting for survival.
Most of them, right now, were asleep still. Still being cradled in the dreamworld where no harm could come to them. Sometimes, Rogue liked to guess what some of them were dreaming. Maybe they were celebrating a party or a holiday with their families. Rogue hoped their dreams were peaceful and nice. She could never remember her dreams. Or if she did, she could never tell if her dreams belonged to her or someone else’s. One of the downsides of having a power that sucks out the life force from others. One of the only upsides to being forced into this trafficking ring was the inhibitor collar around her neck. A cough on the other side of the room jerked her out of her thoughts. Her eyes went to the figure curled up in the corner of the basement, huddled up in a ball. Rogue scooted closer to the hunched-up figure.
“Kurt?” She called out. She strained her ears for anything that sounded like guard. The boy in front of her coughed even more. His shoulders shook as he curled even further on himself. Rogue gently touched his back, feeling her heart break a little when the blue fuzzy child beneath her hand gave a full body flinch. “Hey….it’s just me. It’s Rogue.”
“Ro-” The cough that ripped through his body hurt her own lungs.
“Try not to speak, Kurt.” She pulled him into her arms as gently as she could. Rogue situated herself up against the wall, cuddling the boy so that his head rested on her shoulder. She sighed sadly when she felt how warm he was under his fur. He whimpered and Rogue pulled him tighter. “It’s okay….it’s going to be okay.”
She knew that he knew that was a lie. Everyone knew why they were there.
They were waiting to be sold to the highest bidder.
Her arms tightened further over her brother. She knew getting attached was….dangerous when a stranger could easily rip everything from her with a swish of a pen and a check. But it was all she could do right now to keep herself together. She pulled Kurt closer to her as the place above them started to wake up. There was going to be an auction that night, she just knew it. She didn’t know that for sure, but she could feel it.
“R’gu’.....” Kurt coughed into her chest. His eyes fluttered open a little.
“Hey there, sleepy head.” She pushed back a few strands of damp hair back. She smiled a little wider. “You feelin’ okay, sugah?”
“Hmmm….hot…..” He pulled into himself. “Che-chest….hur-hurts.”
Rogue sighed. “I know, honey. I wish I could do something to help you.”
“I don’ w’nn’ ‘e h’re an’m’re….”
“Me neither.” Rogue sighed. “Me neither.”
They waited in the silence of the room, listening to the others as they slowly roused themselves from their uneasy sleep. There was a symphony of chains that jangled whenever someone moved, mixed in with the low groans and quiet sobs of those others who were trapped with them. Rogue pulled her brother closer. She didn’t want to face a reality that was staring them in the face that this all might not last much longer. She glanced down when she felt a timid tug on her sleeve.
“St’ry?”
“Sure thing, sugah.” Rogue whispered a story to her brother as she held him close, trying to savor what could be their last day together. No sooner had she gotten halfway through a made up story about a superhero with the power to talk to swamp creatures (Kurt’s favorite part was when he would ride alligators like horses) did the door swung open and the keepers swarmed into the room. Rogue curled around Kurt, who whimpered at the sudden light piercing the dungeon.
“Round up everyone on this list.”
Her heart pounded in his chest as a swarm of keepers went around the room, dragging out several other mutants. Some begged, others whimpered and cried. Very few fought back, squirming and wriggling as they were hoisted up and tossed into a pile. Rogue had a moment where maybe they would pass by her and Kurt. She was too normal looking and with the inhibitor collar on her neck, she figured that no one would believe that she was a mutant. If she just stayed where she was, stayed small and unnoticeable, she could keep her brother safe-
“Where’s the blue one?”
Oh shit.
“I don’t know.” There was silence, but all Rogue could hear was the intense pounding in her ears. “Don’t think it got out, do you?”
“Nah, it’s got the collar on- oh, there it is.”
Rogue growled as she felt one of the keepers loomed over her. She pulled herself closer to her brother as a hand wrapped through her hair. There was no stopping the keeper as he pulled her off the ground by her hair, throwing her to the side as though she was a piece of trash. To them she was. She was a mutant, a freak. Sure she looked human, but that was just a disguise. She was worthless. And they were going to take her brother from her.
“Ew, this thing’s sick.”
“No! Don’t hurt him-” She was cut off when a foot slammed into her chest.
“Just mark it down. If it does get sold, it won’t last much longer. But that won’t be our problem.”
She sobbed.
“What about her?”
“Leave her. Boss wants to save her for a later showing.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to kill you, you son of a bitch.” That was the last thing she was able to say when a fist came in and connected with her jaw. She heard Kurt’s cry for her as the darkness embraced her.