Nightmare on Elmo Street

"Toss Elmo!"

Rogue was walking past Siku's room when she heard the voice. Stopping, she peered into the room, expecting to see Siku playing with her new "Toss and tickle me" Elmo doll, a recent gift from "Unca Remy," for her fourth A-day. However, there was no one in Siku's room, just the usual clutter of toys and stuffed animals.

Rogue walked into the room, looking at the bright, orange doll. "Ah thought you weren't supposed t'talk unless someone was touching you," she murmured, looking down at the doll. "Ah wonder why you aren't with Siku? She's hardly let you out of her sight since she got you."

 "Tickle Elmo!"

She had to admit the doll had sort of an enchanting voice. It didn't sound quite like a real child, but close enough that she felt almost... compelled to pick it up. Her fingers curled into the soft orange "fur," noting how cuddly it was. She remembered how Siku's eyes had lit up when she opened the package. She had wanted this toy for a long time, but so did almost every other child in the USA. Rogue had no idea how Gambit had gotten his hands on one and no one questioned him too closely. We spoil that child, Rogue thought.

"Toss Elmo!" the doll pleaded.

Rogue looked around to make sure she was completely alone. Convinced there was no one around, she smiled and tossed the doll.

"Higher!"

Rogue knew she was blushing, but she couldn't resist. She tossed the doll again, higher this time.

"Wheeee!" Elmo chortled. Rogue caught the doll in her hands. They didn't have toys like this when Ah was a child, she thought, grinning. Not that Ah had a lot of toys at all.

"Now hug Elmo!" the doll requested.

Rogue paused. She had seen Siku playing with the doll many times, but didn't remember the doll saying that particular phrase. Ah must have forgotten it, she thought. Looking around again to make sure no one could see her she hugged the doll.

"Baby!" the doll cried.

She froze. There was something about the doll's voice that... worried her. It was still the same, high, childish voice, but there was an almost... sinister undertone to it. "Baby?" she repeated. "That's not a good thing for a doll to be sayin' not like that."

"Tickle Elmo!" the doll requested again.

She poked the doll's stomach. It vibrated happily, chortling noises emitting from it. "That's better," Rogue said.

"Now tickle Elmo, lower."

She stared into the cloth eyes. "You want me to what?" she asked, her brows furrowing. Something was wrong here.

"Tickle Elmo, lower!"

Her fingers moved a little further down the doll's "stomach" and paused. "A little lower, baby!" the doll chortled.

"No way!" she said, louder than she intended. "This isn't funny." She tossed the doll on to the bed. "You're not suppose to say those things!"

"Elmo wants you!" the doll chirped.

Someone is playin' a joke on me, Rogue thought. And it's not a very funny one! She looked around the room. One of her "teammates" had to be behind this

"Bounce for Elmo!" the doll suggested. "Bouncy, bouncy!"

There was only one person Rogue thought might be capable of pulling such a trick. Angrily, Rogue stormed from the room and into the hall, looking around. When she saw Bobby coming up the stairs, her eyes lit up. She ran over, grabbing him by the arm. "All right, Ah caught ya red-handed, Mr. Drake!" she said, her gloved hand tightening around his arm.

"Ow!" Bobby cried, trying to pull away. "Let go, you're hurting me!"

"Ah got your little 'joke.' Very funny, Bobby!" Rogue fumed. She loosened her grip on his arm, only slightly.

"Uh, thanks," Bobby said. "Mind telling me what I did?"

"You know what you did!" Rogue snapped. "Messing with a child's toy. Bobby, that's low."

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Bobby protested.

"Oh yeah? Well if it wasn't you, who was it?" Rogue shouted.

"I don't know!" He scratched his head with his free hand. "I don't even know what you're talking about!"

"Sure ya don't," Rogue snapped. "You messed with Siku's Elmo doll. You changed the voice mechanism inside of it or threw your voice so it would sound like the doll talking, didn't you?"

"No!" Bobby shook his head. "I haven't touched the stupid doll!"

Rogue was so intent on getting Bobby to confess she didn't even notice Remy coming down the hall from his room, until he was behind her. "Somet'in' wrong, Chere?" he asked.

She whirled around, still holding Bobby. "Iceman pulled some trick on me with Siku's Elmo doll and he won't 'fess up!"

Gambit looked at her. "Messed wit' Siku's Elmo doll?" he repeated.

"Yeah!" Rogue said. "Got it to say stuff a child's toy just shouldn't be saying."

"Like what?" Remy asked.

"It... wanted me to tickle him..." She paused, her face flooding red, knowing how stupid this must sound, "lower. Then it said it wanted me."

The sparkle in Remy's eyes deepened. "You sayin' Siku's Elmo doll wants you?"

"Yes!" Rogue exclaimed before she could think of how ridiculous that must sound.

Bobby and Remy exchanged looks, both of them trying to keep from laughing. "Uh, sure it does, Rogue," Bobby said.

"Well, at least de doll 'as good taste," Remy said, his shoulders trembling slightly with supressed laughter.

Rogue's eyes narrowed. "Oh yeah, you think this is soooo funny. Well Ah know one of you had to be behind it. An' Ah don't find it the least big amusing!" Letting go of Bobby, she turned and stalked down the hall to her room, slamming the door behind her.

"It jus' you an' me now," Remy said, looking at Bobby. "Did you really mess wit' Siku's doll?"

Bobby shook his head. "I had no idea what she was talking about!"

Gambit rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Mebe we should find out what's going on." They started towards Rogue's room.

Inside her room, Rogue threw herself on the bed, fighting back her anger. Why do Ah have to be on a team with a bunch of juvenile jerks? She wondered.

"Hellooooo, Sexy!"

When she heard the voice, she felt her heart leap. She looked over to the dresser where the bright orange Elmo doll now lay, propped into a sitting position, leaning on the mirror. "Ah left you in Siku's room!" she shouted.

"Elmo wants you, baby!" Although she knew it was impossible, Rogue would have sworn the doll was... leering at her.

She rose from the bed, staring at the doll with a look of horror. "Stop it!" she screamed. "Stop saying that, you're a toy!"

"Elmo wants to be your toy," Elmo said. "Bouncy, bouncy!"

"Rogue, Rogue are you all right?" Bobby and Remy called from outside her door.

She ran over to the door and opened it. "Both of you stop it, now!" she screamed. "It isn't funny! Not one little bit!"

"Rogue, I swear, Bobby and I don' know not'in' about dis!" Remy protested.

"Sure ya don't!" Rogue ran to her dresser and grabbed the Elmo doll. "Go ahead, say it now!"

Bobby and Remy looked at each other, their expressions changing from ones of amusement to ones of concern. "Say what, Rogue?" Bobby asked.

"Not you, the doll!" She shook Elmo. "Go ahead, say something!"

"Tickle Elmo!" The doll asked, its voice sounding the same as it did when Siku played with it.

Angrily, Rogue jabbed it in the stomach with her fingers. "Now, tell me to tickle you lower!"

The doll giggled and vibrated. "Now toss, Elmo!"

Remy moved closer. "Rogue, it's all right," he said, his voice soothing.

"No it's not!" Rogue shrieked. "You don't believe me, do you! But I swear, Elmo said he wanted me!"

"Uh, sure he did," Remy said. He looked over at Bobby. "Mebe we should get Jean or de professor. Maybe dey can find out what's wrong."

Bobby shook his head. "They're gone. Betsy too."

"Ah'm not imagining things!" Rogue shouted. "Ah heard the doll say he wanted me!"

"Scott's in the danger room," Bobby said. "I'm gonna go get him. Maybe he can get to the bottom of this." He turned and ran from the room.

"You think Ah'm crazy, don't you?" Rogue said, staring at Remy.

"Non," Remy said, shaking his head.

"But you don't believe me, do you?" She shook the doll. "Say it, you stupid doll! Tell him that you want me!"

"Bounce Elmo," the doll suggested.

"You weren't sayin' that earlier!" she snapped. "You were saying to bounce for you!" She slammed to doll to the floor.

"Bouncy, bouncy!" the doll warbled.

"Hey, be careful, it's jus' a toy, Chere," Remy said, picking up the doll. "An' Siku'll be disappointed if you break it."

"It's not a toy!" Rogue said, her nostrils flared. She knew now that this wasn't a joke being played on her. No one would have let a joke go on this long. "It's something... evil."

Remy looked the doll over carefully. With the exception of a bit of wear and tear caused by being loved by the owner, the doll looked exactly as it had the day Siku had opened it. "Non, Chere. It's jus' a toy. Remember? I gave it to Siku at her A-Day party."

Rogue stared at him. "Amazing, isn't it?" she said, her voice quivering. "That's the hottest toy in the world. Every time the stores get any, people stand in hours to get them, but somehow you managed to find one. How do you explain that one, Gambit? Huh?"

Remy stared at her. "What you tryin' t'say, Rogue?" he asked.

"Ah don't think that's a real Elmo doll!" Rogue said. "Ah think you... did something, made some sort of deal so you could get it for Siku. It's not a real Elmo doll, it's something.. evil an' wicked! Probably something... Sinister cooked up!"

Remy rolled his eyes. "Oui, I wanted Siku t'have de doll so badly I went to Sinister an' said, 'I do anyt'ing you say, jus make me an Elmo doll for my niece! T'ink about it, Rogue. If I hadn't been able t'get Siku a real Elmo doll, I would 'ave gone t'someone like Forge an' ask him t'make one. An' you know Forge wouldn't make a doll that made passes at women!"

He had a point, but Rogue wasn't willing to let go of her theory that easily. "Then how did you get it?" Rogue asked accusingly. "Ah can't see you standing in line at a toy store for hours!"

Remy shrugged. "I-I flirted wit' de clerk at Toys R Us," he finally confessed. "She call me an tole me when dey got a shipment an' put one aside for me."

The story sounded reasonable and right up Remy's alley. "Then how do you explain the weird things it's saying?" she asked.

"I 'aven't heard it sayin' anything wrong," Remy reminded her.

"Oh, so now you do think I'm crazy!" Rogue shouted. She advanced towards him. "Get out of my room, get out of my room, now! And take the stupid doll with you!"

"Now hold on a moment, Chere," Gambit began.

"Either leave this room or Ah'm gonna throw you out the window!" Rogue threatened.

Remy decided not to risk it. He left the room, holding Siku's doll. "I don' know what's going on," he muttered. He brought the doll back to Siku's room. Feeling rather silly, he played with the doll for a few minutes to see if it said anything unusual. All Elmo would do is make his normal requests to be tickled, tossed and bounced. Poor Rogue, he thought. She's flipped.

Rogue refused to let Scott in her room, when Bobby came back with him. She just wanted to be alone. Part of her knew this was crazy, there was no way a doll could talk to her like that, no way a toy would make passes at her, but she knew what she heard.

Ah need t'get a grip, she told herself. Ah've been working too hard. She decided to forgo her usual workouts and danger room sessions today and spoil herself. She took a long, hot bubble bath, washed her hair, and did all those things she often found she did not have the time for. She even decided to take a nap.

When she woke up, a few hours later, she felt marvelously refreshed. Opening her eyes, she stretched and yawned. That was just what Ah needed, she told herself. The stress of bein' an X-Man must have gotten to me. But Ah'm all right now. She sat up, running her fingers through her hair.

"Oooooh, baby!"

That voice again. Rogue looked over at the door. It was still shut and locked exactly how it had left it after kicking Remy out. Feeling terror rising in her throat, she looked over at the dresser.

"Elmo's baaaaack!" the doll said.

"Nooooo!" she shrieked, jumping up from the bed. "You couldn't have gotten back here, you couldn't have! I saw Remy take you when he left!"

"Elmo missed you," the doll said. The sinister tone the doll's voice had taken on earlier was getting stronger now. It was still the basic Elmo voice, but it now sounded a bit older, a bit... lecherous. Its arms were spread out as they always were. "Give Elmo a big hug."

"No," Rogue whispered, backing away from the doll. "No, stop it."

"Elmo wants a kiss," the doll continued. "A big, wet kiss."

Her fingers fumbled with the lock. She didn't care that all she was wearing was a T-shirt and underpants; she had to get away from this doll. "Leave me alone!"

"Kissy kissy!" The doll said.

She finally managed to get the lock undone. Wrenching the door open, she ran from the room, down the hall and down the stairs. "Noooo!"

She almost ran into Scott who was coming to see what all the noise was about. "Rogue, what's wrong?"

She grabbed onto the sleeves of his shirt. "It's Elmo!"

"What about, Elmo?" Scott asked cautiously. Bobby told her about Rogue's earlier claims that Siku's doll was not acting right, but he had not believed him. I guess owe Bobby an apology, he thought.

"It's making passes at me!" Rogue shouted.

This was one of the few times in Scott's life when he was glad his eyes were covered. "Really?" he asked, trying to suppress the smile that twitched at the corners of his mouth.

Rogue's eyes narrowed. "You don't believe me either. But it's true. The stupid doll wants me!"

"Uhm, sure it does," Scott said.

"Why doesn't anyone believe me?" Rogue shrieked. "Ah know what Ah heard!" She let go of his arms. "Scott, Remy took the doll an' left mah room. Ah locked the door behind him and it hasn't been opened since. But when Ah woke up from my nap, the doll was there! How did it get there?"

"I have no idea," Scott admitted, cautiously. "Why don't we go take a look at the doll? Maybe we can figure out what's going on." This isn't like Rogue. She's not the type to be giving into flights of hysteria and making things up.

They went to Rogue's room. The doll was now lying on his back in the middle of Rogue's bed. She picked it up. "Go ahead, Elmo, say it!" she shrieked.

"Tickle Elmo!" the doll asked in his normal Elmo/mechanical voice.

"No," Rogue whispered, clutching the doll tightly. "Don't pull this on me, you stupid toy. Say it! I want a witness, now say it!"

"Toss Elmo," the doll suggested.

"Rogue, I don't want to upset you, but I've been hearing that doll say those things since Siku got him," Scott said gently.

She glared at him. "Ah know what Ah heard the doll say!" She shook the doll harder. "Say it, you stupid Elmo, say that you want me!"

"Rogue, breaking the doll isn't going to help," Scott said. "Let me see it."

She handed over the doll, shuddering. "Scott, Ah'm not crazy. Ah know what Ah heard."

"I don't think you're crazy," Scott said, turning the Elmo doll over. "I know you really believe the doll was making passes at you."

"Don't patronize me!" Rogue shrieked. "Ah'm not crazy, Ah did hear it!"

"I know that," Scott said gently. "Look, I'm going to take the doll. I'll check it out. If there is anything wrong with it, I'll find out what it is."

She nodded. She shuddered as he left the room with the doll.

Scott was back in less than an hour. "I'm sorry, Rogue. I can't find anything wrong with the doll." He held Elmo up by one arm. "I checked him out, I even had Hank run tests on him, but it's a normal doll."

Rogue shook her head. "That is not a normal doll!" she spat. "Normal dolls do not want big, wet, kisses!"

"None of us heard him say anything like that," Scott said. "All we heard him say were the normal things the doll is supposed to say." He dropped the doll on her bed. "But, just to be sure, we took the batteries out."

"Git that doll outa here!" Rogue screamed.

"I will, soon," Scott said. "But I just want you to look at it, to see the batteries are gone. See? Elmo can't say anything, anymore."

Rogue snatched up the doll and shook it. "Go ahead, say something," she demanded. The doll said nothing.

"See?" Scott began, only to be interrupted by the phone. "Hold on, I'll be right back." He left the room.

Rogue looked at the doll. "C'mon, we're alone now," she said. "Go ahead, say somethin'."

The doll stayed silent. She giggled. Why didn't Ah think of that? she thought. Take the batteries out! No batteries, no voice! Ah feel so silly now. She tossed the doll, feeling relief going through her. "You've been silenced, Elmo," she said. "You're not gonna be makin' passes at me anymore."

"Elmo still wants you."

The doll was in the air when it "spoke." Rogue froze, letting the doll fall to the floor. "No," she moaned, "No, not again."

It was the second, Elmo voice. The lecherous one. "Don't drop, Elmo. Love Elmo."

She started back up, away from the doll, whispering, "noooo nooooo..."

"Everyone loves Elmo!" the doll chirped. "Some, several times!"

"You're not gonna do this to me!" Rogue screamed. She ran over to her desk and opened a drawer. Not taking her eyes off the doll, she fumbled to find something. She could feel the cold metal of a letter opener. Wrapping her fingers around it, she pulled it from the drawer and advanced on the doll.

"Go ahead," she shrieked. "Say something. It's your life in your hands now!"

"Don't do this, Baby," Elmo said. "Put it down."

She hesitated, staring at the furry orange toy.

"That's right, baby," the doll said. "You don't want to hurt Elmo. You want to love Elmo. All night long. Bouncy, Bouncy!"

"No!" Falling to her knees beside the doll, Rogue raised the letter opener above her head, then brought it down, plunging it into the doll's head. "Die, Elmo, Die!"

The blade punctured the doll's head. For a moment, Rogue would have sworn she heard the doll cry out in agony, but she did not care. She repeatedly stabbed the doll, plunging the letter opener into the soft, fuzzy, orange head.

"What is going on here?" A voice cried.

She did not even hear Scott, Remy, and Joseph come into the room. They watched in horror as Rogue kept stabbing the doll, sending white, fluffy, bits of "Elmo guts" flying about the room.

"She really losin' it," Remy commented.

"Siku is going to be so disappointed," Scott said. "She really loves that doll."

"Ah'm gonna make sure you never speak again!" Rogue shrieked, plunging the blade into the doll's mouth. "Hah hah hah!" she laughed, hysterically. She wrenched off one of the doll's eyes, throwing it across the room, then the other one. "Now you're blind! How you like that, Elmo? Not feelin' so frisky now, I'll bet!"

"We really have to do something," Joseph said. "We can't just let her go on like this."

"You're right," Scott agreed. "We have to lock her in the basement with Elmo. Let her see that he's harmless. Someone take the letter opener away from her."

Rogue heard the last part. She turned, staring as the men advanced towards her. "No!" she shrieked, waving the letter opener in front of her, trying to fend them off. "Ah'm tellin' you, Ah'm not crazy! It's Elmo, he's evil! He's eeeeevillllllllll!"

"Evil!"

Rogue's eyes opened. Heart pounding in her chest, she looked around.

The room was dark. Outside the window it was dark. Slowly she realized what was going on. It was a dream, she whispered. Just a stupid dream. Relief flooded through her, and she giggled. How could Ah be so stupid? she thought. Dreamin' 'bout a silly toy wantin' me. Well, Ah learned my lesson. No pepperoni, anchovy, and mushroom pizza just before bed for me anymore.

She ran her fingers through her hair, brushing it off her face and flipped over on her other side. Suddenly she froze. "No," she moaned. "No, no, no."

Lying beside her pillow was the bright, orange doll.

"Daddy? Daddy?"

"Mrf?" Hank murmured, opening his eyes. "Siku? What are you doing here?"

"I heard noise an' I woke up," Siku said. "So I went to see what was wrong. Tuck me in again, Daddy?"

Rubbing his eyes, Hank sat up. "All right, Sunshine," he said, stumbling out of bed. "Daddy'll tuck you in." Sleepily, he led his daughter back into her room.

Siku climbed back into her bed, smiling as she watched her father tuck the covers around her. Daddy's funny when he's not awake, she thought.

When the covers were safely tucked around her, Hank sat on the bed. "You got your fuzzy?" he said.

Siku held up her Bamf doll. "Check!"

"Teddy?"

She held up her old teddy bear. "Check!"

"Snow?"

She looked around for a moment, then pulled the snow leopard from under her pillow. "Check!"

Hank yawned. Why does she have so many stuffed animals and why does she sleep with all of them? he wondered. "Uhm... Elmo?"

Siku shook her head. "I don' have Elmo." She grinned. "I heard Auntie Rogue havin' a nightmare, so I left him in her room. Elmo will make her feel better!"

The End.