I understood what she meant. Probably. But doing what she asked turned out to be much harder than I thought. I don't know how much time passed before I heard it—the thing that hadn't been there before and couldn't have been. The creaking of a door.
This house was built by my parents, but not entirely by themselves, of course. They were helped by their parents in some parts. Specifically, my maternal grandfather made them the beautiful wooden doors. My father always kept a close eye on the family home, and I don't remember the doors in our house ever creaking.
This sound felt foreign, out of place. So, this is it? This is the sign. We—Sharlene and I—entered and followed the sound. Only one door was creaking, and I wasn't surprised when I discovered a room behind it, with a cage inside, where the ghost of Masquerade was floating. He wasn't as impressive as the Nine-Tailed Fox inside Naruto, but he had certainly drunk his fair share of blood! He started shouting something, but Sharlene silenced him with a simple gesture of her hand.
She studied the anomaly for a long time, and I grew quite bored. But as all things do, it eventually came to an end, and Sharlene Xavier finished her work. The woman looked tired but intrigued. To discuss what we had seen, we left the room where Masquerade was locked and headed to the living room.
"To be honest, it's not the first time I've come across something like this," she admitted, sinking heavily onto the old, worn-out couch.
"Really?"
"It's not a story I'd want to share right now. But the point is, I've worked with 'inner demons' before, and most of the time, it's not so hard to overcome them."
"But not in my case, right?" I said, understanding where she was going and not too upset.
"You see, the last time, the demon was so strong that I barely managed to lock it away. Notice, I locked it away, not destroyed it. I think in your case, it won't be much easier."
"But you can do it?"
Sharlene didn't rush to answer. I kept my composure. If Professor X could help Rascal, he would have done so.
"Since I trapped the first demon in another person, a lot of time has passed. I've grown older and a little more experienced. I'm afraid this is the wrong approach. You see, it's like building walls around a garbage bin, like building a house of cards in the middle of a field. I can contain him, but when the demon escapes, he'll be ten times stronger."
"Is there a way out?" I asked, thinking about her comparisons.
"Ororo said you can steal others' abilities," Sharlene said cautiously. "Temporarily, right? But with this... Masquerade, it's different, isn't it?"
"I understand where you're going with this," I said, noticing the hidden judgment in her eyes. "I won't say anything that could be used against me in court, except that there was no other option."
Hmm, I should have expected her to figure it out, or rather, understand. I'm sure she didn't read my thoughts or dig through my memories, but she wasn't a fool. The woman could easily put two and two together and understand why a demon named Masquerade had become embedded in my mind.
"I've made mistakes too," she said. "Hell, I'm still living with them. No one is perfect. Understand, the real problem here isn't even the strength of your inner demon, but its tenacity. In your case, he's almost conceptually unkillable."
"I don't understand."
Concepts are love, time, infinity, and things like that. Abstract ideas that neither life nor death can touch. So to speak, of course. But what does Masquerade have to do with it? How can he be, by nature, unkillable?
"When you killed Masquerade, you swallowed too much, took on what you couldn't overcome. I'm not sure, but I think his existence is based on you yourself. He's like a parasite you're feeding. Therefore, you can only defeat him yourself. But for that..."
Sharlene suddenly paled and shut her mouth, but it was too late. She had already said enough for me to finish her thought on my own.
"For that, I have to be a telepath!" I exclaimed, jumping up from my father's chair and pacing the living room.
So, that's the real problem? That's why Xavier couldn't help the original Rogue! I immediately thought of the mutant named Legion. He was so powerful that he couldn't control his abilities. Of course, his childhood trauma played a role, but that's beside the point.
Legion had so many varied and powerful abilities that he had to create artificial personalities inside himself. Essentially, he saved himself by transferring some of his power to his own schizophrenia, reducing the strain on himself.
It's possible, very possible, that something similar is happening in my case. When I absorb a person's power, memory, and even their damned emotions, I essentially recreate their ghost in my mind, and project all my negativity onto it, along with the inability to comprehend what I've done.
The inability to understand what my own power is doing. After all, my brain, my consciousness, isn't that far removed from ordinary people. The fact that I'm an outsider plays a part, but I'm no Yamanaka, and there's no shame in that.
But I can change that. I can expand my control over my own mind! To do that, I just need to drain a telepath and acquire their abilities!
Logical? Logical!