Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 441 MOVING ON

“Klarkin 50 for a sol. You’ll never find another deal like this,” a merchant said to people in the street. Holding up small metallic eggs I wasn’t sure what they were. 

“Huunefra, one sol for three,” Another yelled. I tried to steer clear of them. My Observation Haki at the max level I was pretty sure I was honing in on the others as we drew closer. Somewhere in a large building ahead, people streamed in and out of it. Anne beside me, she had tried to stay away, but as the area became more populated it became impossible to not bump into one another.

All around us were Shi’ar. The bird-like humanoids were fairly diverse. Some with different skin tones like red, purple, but most had a yellow tint to their skin. Most all of the hair was afro-like, made up of the very thin hair/feathers. I didn’t see anyone with the triangle hairdo, so I assumed they weren’t the top brass. These people were obviously rich though. 

Wearing bright colors, jewelry draped on most everyone, the style of clothes appeared more to focus on robes. Long cloth draped over them there were scarves and other long garments that hung down to at least their knees. As I focused on them I could feel hidden pockets underneath the robes hiding weapons and money. 

As we walked into the giant skyscraper I could feel the others I began to pick a few pockets. Since I doubted that the Majestor had given us much money, I needed to make due. Expertly sliding my hands this way and that as I picked pockets, it wasn’t overly hard to hide the money as I could just throw it in my Status Screen. 

“Alright, we need to talk,” Anne whispered in the thick of the crowd. 

“Goddammit, Rogue, what do you not understand-” She cut me off, grabbing my arm to look at her.

“I fucking understand,” she hissed. “I know we have to fight. I know we need to focus. I don’t know, I can’t get past this for some reason. Just let me get a few things off my chest, and I swear we can move on.” n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“No, if ever there was a death flag, it’s that,” I admitted. Annoyed and ready to be done with this. She stared up at me, her big eyes blinking, unreadable in the mass of people. “Fine,” I said. Grabbing her hand I pulled us to the edge of the crowd. The wide hall of the building was less condensed at the edges. I found a spot between two groups of teens and leaned against the wall. 

Anne frowned, gathering her thoughts as she tried to look out into the crowd instead of at me. I felt my anger that was starting to build back up, dissipate. Instead of trying to read her feelings and saying something dumb I waited. Eventually she spoke. 

“So you’re not interested in me?” She whispered, still unable to look at me.

“Of course not,” I laughed, then realized I misspoke as she frowned. “Of course I’m interested in you. Anne back in th-no, no more past shit. Now, currently only. Anne, I like you, probably love you, which is what makes this so hard. So of course I want you.”

“Then why do you want other women?”

“Honestly?” I frowned, caught off guard by her now calm attitude as she asked. It felt like we had been fighting so long that it was hard to remember what we were fighting about. “Honestly, I just…don’t like to pretend to be someone else.” 

“What do you mean?” She asked, finally looking up into my eyes. The loud noises of others talking and walking slowly faded around us as we locked eyes. I couldn’t help it and took her hand, my thumb rubbing her knuckles as I thought. 

“What is it like to not use your mutant power?” I asked, doing my best to put my thoughts into words without sounding like the jackass I had been coming off as. 

“What do you mean?” She asked, some fear spiking in her with talk of her power. 

“You used to use your power subconsciously. Now you can turn it off and on. Have you ever thought about turning it on?” 

“I…” She chewed on her lip. “I think about using it all the time.” I could tell the admission hurt her. Lips trembling, she was about ready to cry. I frowned. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked, confused. 

“Does that make me sick?” She asked. “Wanting to use it? I hurt a few people and when I did it was always so…powerful. I don’t think I ever told you but it was a rush. But it always hurt people. Now though, I-I don’t know. I think about using my power all the time. Even though it will hurt people.”

“So what?” I asked, my hand releasing her’s and moving to her chin so she would look up at me. “Rogue, this is a part of you. It’s not leaving. And I’m starting to suspect its a whole lot more powerful than you think.”

“What do you mean?” She mumbled, some relief coming to her. 

“You were brought here with about 20 other people with superpowers. Some of them are really strong too. No offense, but I’m pretty sure you’re the weakest of all of us physically. You or that Susan Storm girl.”

“How can you know that?” She asked, irritated. 

“Just a guess,” I said. I could feel everyone’s spiritual energy and they had the lowest. Even the homeless guy was stronger than them and I didn’t know his full story yet. “Anyway, your power is strong. The two things I know that you steal are people’s lifeforce, or nen, and we know you at least take mutant powers, but who knows what else?”

“Like what?” She asked, scared and excited. 

“Like, mutants aren’t just a human thing. There are probably more than a few Shi’ar with special abilities on this planet. I’m sure you could borrow those.” I recalled future Anne had the power of flight and some white glowing power. She hadn’t had to touch someone to use the power either which meant she either stole it or learned to keep abilities longer. I couldn’t exactly remember if she did the same thing in canon, but it sounded familiar. 

“You need to use your power here, but you also need to learn to control it,” I said. “Practice on people. Stealing a little at a time. Learning how much people can take. Learning if you even need to touch them or if you can absorb their strength from afar.”

I looked out into the crowd and she grew excited, then ashamed for becoming excited. “Really?” 

“Really,” I said. “You can turn it off now, and I think you will do fine with your power.”

“I…Ah fuck, you distracted me again. What the hell does this have to do with us?” She asked, angry again. 

“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “I originally asked if you thought about using your power. I know you do, because it’s a part of you. It’s like not using your right arm even though you still have it. Your body craves it. You know I have a lot of powers.”

“Bullshit powers,” she said with an annoyed smirk. 

“Yep,” I said proudly. “One of the things that is different about old me is honestly, my libido. You remember in the hotel room, right?” She blushed. “I could keep going.”

“Yeah but I kept up,” she whispered, her face becoming more red. 

“That was kid’s gloves, Anne. Just simple foreplay,” I said, no shame in my voice while she was redder than a tomato. 

“Ugh, I don’t know how you can talk about this stuff,” she mumbled. “Then you’re telling me you’ve been holding back?”

“Of course,” I said as if it were obvious. “Anne, I had no idea if you were coming back. I know your folks are super-Christian and look down on this whole out-of-wedlock stuff. Me, I like it, love it in fact. I wasn’t about to push myself on you for more. Force something onto you that you weren’t ready for.”

“So you went to someone else for it,” she said. The side of her mouth moving up then down, annoyed. Not so much angry at me, but more herself. “And if I…gave myself-”

“I don’t want that,” I said truthfully. She frowned, about to retort. “What? I get to have you as much as I want? Despite your feelings? Whether you want to or not, you can sate everything I could ever want in the bedroom? That’s not how I would ever want you.”

“Then how?” She asked, lost and annoyed as she fought frustrated tears.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “You and I have been fighting so much. I just…want things to go back the way that they were. I would prefer we weren’t at each other’s throats. You angry every time I talk to or about another girl.”

Her anger flashed. “You never did answer, who Morgan was,” she said.

“A friend,” I assured, and with how things in the future ended up, someone I needed to stay close to. “Anne, I can’t have you pissed off like this. Yes, I hit on other women. I joke, laugh, and get shot down. Right now, we aren’t dating. You and I are not a thing. So you getting angry about this crap is only hindering our situation.”

“I thought we were just talking about starting over,” she said, her mouth squeezed together in anger.

“Goddammit,” I said. Closing my eyes I pointed to someone in the crowd. “That guy and two others have been following us since the airship. We are not safe, despite the supposed lax guard they’ve shown us. That guy right there,” I pointed to another person in the crowd. “Is three people. All small, all a different species than the Shi’ar. They are using some kind of holographic tech to look like a normal bird person. As you can see there are nothing but the bird people here. So why does he have to disguise himself?” 

I let out a long sigh. “No, we aren’t dating. We broke up. I would love to get to know you again. Hang out more. See if there is something we can salvage from what we had. But apparently I cheated on you, so I’m not exactly sure how I could get your confidence again.”

Anne’s anger increased, but to my surprise she leveled off. Chewing her lip she spoke slowly. “What if I forget all of that? What if I ignore all past transgressions? You did none of those things in my eyes. Would it be possible to be just you and I again?”

I opened my mouth then shut it. Caught off guard by her offer. I hadn’t thought she would try the tactic and I was lost for words as I thought it through. Could I? No that didn’t matter, I could if I really loved her. The question was, would I? I had Matilda, and from her reaction in the future even years from now she liked me and the sex. Elektra too, despite her coldness. But the biggest thing holding me back was Delilah. Though we had only kissed, her innocence and personality had struck a chord with me. Making me feel in a way that I hadn’t felt in a long time. 

“I…don’t know,” I said truthfully. 

Anne nodded, taking a slow breath she exhaled. “Despite your supposed…libido.” She eyed my crotch then looked back up to me. “Can you refrain from overtly straying until we are out of this ordeal?” 

“Probably,” I said truthfully. 

“You can’t give me a yes?”

“I don’t like to lie,” I replied. “I have no idea what’s going to happen today, let alone what it’s going to take to get out of this. I will do my absolute best to not hit on anyone while we are here.”

“Fine,” she said, shaking her head in annoyance. “Fine, I’ll take it. You do that, then when we are back home, I want to talk through this shit. No more secrets. You tell me everything.”

“And from there?”

“From there, we will see,” she said. Her hands moved to my elbows, I used Zetsu to keep my lifeforce in check, just in case she decided to suck me dry. “I love you, Weston. Despite whatever happened to you. I want to be here with you. So I am willing to put the thought of others out of my mind, if you can, while we figure us out.”

“I…think I can do that,” I said, a little confused. “Are we dating again?”

“Yes, you big oaf,” her hands began squeezing my muscles. “We never stopped. And though I am pissed off with you, you are going to win me back.”

“Fuck,” I said, unsure if I wanted to fight this or not. This was a tightrope I didn’t want to walk at the moment…or ever. Back in Naruto World I had asked my father how to juggle multiple women. He had said I needed to figure it out on my own. I had gotten lucky with Hinata because she had a weird home life. In fact I had been lucky in most worlds. This was a comic world though. 

The writers of the canon loved drama between the sexes. Cheating was always a big source of drama, and I doubted that was something that could be rewritten in these women easily. My best bet thus far had been showing that just one person couldn’t satisfy me, and I always felt that the more the merrier was a factor in my lovemaking. 

If I could figure out Anne, could I apply that to other worlds? Hell for all I knew, maybe she could be enough. She could steal lifeforce, could she steal libido? It was a possibility. Though I didn’t like to lie, I wasn’t against trying to direct things where I wanted to go. Anne had a touch kink, maybe she was actually up for additional people, as long as she was involved. I could get behind that. Though I wouldn’t give up on Delilah, I could keep my eyes from straying while we were there. 

“Fine,” I said. “We start over. No more anger or jealousy. You get the full story after we leave planet.”

“Deal,” she said, a small smile on her lips. She lifted up her hand. I took it and we rejoined the crowd of people in the bazaar. Ready to finally get our shopping list filled.