Chapter One:
When Rogue awoke in the room that she shared with her roommate, Kitty, she rolled over and looked at her alarm clock, it was four am. It was another sweltering summer night and she had been unable to sleep once again. Ever since Logan had left, again, at the start of the summer, Rogue had been feeling sad and sleeping poorly. As she got out of bed and put on her gloves, careful not to let her skin touch anything living as she did so, Rogue began to think about why Logan had left this time, he had told her that he found a lead on his past and that he would be back within a month.
Now it was two and a half months later and he was nowhere to be seen, not that Rogue hadn't expected this, it was what he did every time. But this was different, this time he had told her he loved her before he left. Those three little words, "I love you" meant the world to her, she had loved Logan ever since she met him, but she had never thought that he reciprocated those feelings. When he had promised that they would announce their love to the school as soon as he got back, Rogue had been so excited, but now she was beginning to wonder, now he had been gone a long time and she was beginning to wonder if he was having second thoughts about her, about them. After all she was "Rogue the Untouchable", and that's what Ah'll always be she thought, 'Rogue the Untouchable' and unlovable. With that thought, Rogue put on her slippers and left the room, she needed to get some air and find somewhere where she could think about everything that was going on in her life.
As she was headed down the stairs, Rogue saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. Thinking that it was just one of the younger students headed back from the bathroom, Rogue continued on past the bathroom and headed down the hall towards the side door. Just as she came to the door to Scott and Jean's room, Rogue saw another flash of movement with help from her heightened senses that Logan gave her, and turned around.
"Who are you?" Rogue asked nervously as she saw a stranger in a white coat standing in front of her, "Shh," the strange woman said with a finger to her lips, "I'm not going to hurt you," "What do you want?" Rogue asked as she backed up towards the wall, "Stay away from me" she said with increase volume as the woman came closer, "Be quiet, it's okay" the woman said as she continued to move closer to Rogue, who was now backed against the wall, "Stay back, Ah mean it" Rogue said loudly
"Rogue, is everything all right?" Jean asked sleepily as she opened the door, "Ah'm not really sur…" Rogue began as the intruder pulled out a gun and shot Jean in the shoulder. Rogue began to scream and Scott ran out of his room just as Rogue felt someone cover her nose and mouth with a cloth and then everything went black.
"Wha…What happened?" Rogue asked as she sat up, causing her head to spin. As she looked around Rogue noticed that she was not in her room, or in the school at all from what she could tell, then her memories came flooding back to her, Jean! Oh god would she be okay? Calming herself down Rogue knew that Jean could take care of herself, and that right now she just needed to figure out what had happened to her.
Hearing a groan from beside her, Rogue looked down and saw that Scott was lying on the floor of this empty room with her. "Scott, are you okay?" she asked in a worried tone, "What happened at the school? The last thing I remember was you coming out of your room." "I'm fine" Scott said he sat up and immediately began to go into leader mode, "I came out of my room hearing you scream, and saw that Jean had been shot, then I saw you being dragged off by someone in a white lab coat so I ran after you. The next thing I knew, I felt someone shoot a needle in me from behind, and now we're here." "Wherever here is" Rogue muttered under her breathe.
"Oh you're awake" said a cheery faced woman as she opened the door to the empty room, "Now don't even think about using your powers on me," the woman began, Cyclops had already lifted his hand to his visor, "because if you do, the other scientists at this facility will quickly kill you, and then the girl here would never escape." Appealing to Scott's leader instincts, Rogue thought, that is low. "Scientists, you're scientists?" Scott asked with something that sounded remarkably close to fear in his voice, he knew what people could do to mutants, and he didn't want anything like that to happen to him or Rogue.
"Yes we are," the woman responded cheerfully, "but not the kind that you are thinking of, we are very knowledgeable in the field of mutant studies, and we just want to observe you. Sure Rogue thought with a snort, "It's true" the woman said as she entered the room all the way holding a tray of food, "If you simply cooperate with us we will release you when the study is finished, and you can go back to your lives." "And why would we want to cooperate with you?" Scott asked with disgust in his voice, "Because Mr. Summers," the scientist said, and then reacting to the surprise on their faces she said, "Yes, we know who you are. We know a lot more than that, we know what both of your powers are as well as how to keep your energies hidden from cerebro." Reacting once again to the shock on his face the woman said, "Yes Mr. Summers, we know about cerebro, now stop gawking. Since you are hidden from cerebro the other mutants will not be able to find you, so that is one reason why you ought to cooperate with us. Another reason is that we are on your side,"
"What!" Rogue said as she stared at the woman, how could someone who would kidnap them be on their side, "We're on your side" the woman repeated, "You see, the reason that we want to perform studies on you is so that we can show the rest of the world that, other than your powers, you are perfectly normal human beings and should be treated with respect. All that you have to do is allow us to perform some simple observations, on your eating habits, your speech patterns, sleeping habits, etc. So what do you say?" "I guess we don't really have a choice," Scott said in a defeated voice, "Is that okay with you Rogue?" "Ah guess it's got to be, so long as they keep up their end of the deal and let us leave when they get all of their stupid experiments done." "Great" the woman said with another one of her cheery smiles, "Go ahead and eat the food I brought you and then we will get you moved into the observance chambers."
The observance chambers, Rogue soon discovered, were a set of six interconnected rooms in the middle of the facility with glass walls for observing. There was a kitchen, complete with appliances, a living room with a sofa, TV and all other necessary items, a bathroom, two bedrooms, and an exercise room. It was a lot like a small house except for the fact that people were able to see into every room, including the bathroom, had glass walls (there were curtains in the bedrooms and bathroom that could be drawn when the scientists said it was okay), and that for all that there was a door to the outside in every different room, only the scientists with the keys could open them. Rogue quickly discovered what a goldfish must feel like under constant surveillance.
The next month passed by relatively simply, with tests on their breathing, eating, sleeping and exercise habits. Scott and Rogue barely saw each other, for all that they were living in the few rooms, they were always to busy being tested and were required to stay in their separate rooms. The few times that they did see each other they were so busy being observed and asked questions by the scientists that they never had any time to talk. By the time that they had been at the testing facility for almost two months without so much as a word on when they would be allowed to leave, Rogue was completely fed up.
"Ah'm so tired of being experimented on!" Rogue yelled at the man who was measuring her body's caloric intake as she ate. "Ah'm tired of being poked and prodded while Ah sleep, Ah'm tired of being watched while Ah use the bathroom, and Ah'm tired of never even getting to see Scott while we're both stuck here!"
"It's okay," said Kelly Reed, lead scientist, who they had met on the first day, as she came over. "We're done with those tests anyway."
"Does that mean we can leave?" Rogue asked hopefully, "Not quite yet" the scientist said with a falsely friendly smile, "We have finished testing all of your normal activities, but now we need to test your powers." "I thought you said that you just wanted to prove that we were normal" Scott said in a dangerous voice as he came over to where Rogue was sitting in the kitchen, "You never said anything about messing with our powers!"
"That's true," Kelly said rationally as she looked at the angry mutants through the glass, "But in order to prove that you are not a threat to the human race, we need to test your powers as well as your life habits." "Then you picked the wrong mutants," Rogue said with a glare, "Ya see, Scott and Ah are the only one's who can't control our powers," "She's right," Scott said as he stood up and walked closer to the indestructible glass walls that kept them in, "You see, I was in a plane crash when I was young, and it messed up the part of my brain that allows me to control my mutation, so" he continued in a deadly whisper, "If I were you I wouldn't try to mess with either Rogue's or my mutation. You got it?"
"Actually Mr. Summers" Kelly continued as if unaware that he had ever threatened her, "The fact that you and Miss Rogue cannot control your powers is the exact reason we chose you, or should I say her. We never actually intended to get you as well, that was simply an added bonus," As Ms. Reed continued to explain the reasons that their inability to control their powers made them the best subject to present to skeptics, Rogue felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Ah dragged him into this. It's my fault that Scott is separated from his fiancé and doesn't even know if she's alright.
"It's all my fault," Rogue whispered accidentally voicing her last thought aloud. "Rogue?" Scott said as he turned to look at her after what she just said, "Are you okay?" "What, oh Ah'm fine," Rogue said as she jolted back to reality. "Ms. Reed here was just telling us that she would allow us to spend more time together after your earlier complaint during your outburst." "Oh, that's good" Rogue said as she stared out the glass walls feeling as though she had somehow betrayed Scott.
As the days passed and the scientists began to test their individual mutations, Scott and Rogue began to spend more time together. By the time that they had been gone from the mansion for three months, Scott and Rogue had become good friends. One evening as they were sitting in front of the TV during the small amount of unsupervised time that they had, Rogue asked, "Scott?" "Yeah Rogue," Scott said barely moving his eyes from the television screen, "Do you blame me for us being here?" "What!" Scott said turning to face her sharply as if she had gone crazy, "Rogue, what would ever make you say that?" "It's just that Ah, Ah'm the one that they were trying to capture in the first place, and then because you had to save me…"
"I did not have to save you Rogue," Scott said as he looked meaningfully into her eyes, "I chose to save you, that is in no way your fault." "What have Ah told you about going into leader mode?" Rogue asked with a giggle as she recognized the familiar need to protect in his eyes, then becoming more somber she asked, "What do you really feel Scott? And before you say anything," she added as she raised her hand to keep him from protesting that he had told her the truth, "Ah just want you to know that Ah value our friendship Scott. You are the only thing that keeps me sane in here, and you don't need to try and protect me. Ah may only be sixteen (A.N. I know the age is a little altered here I wanted to emphasize that she's still young), but Ah'm not stupid Scott. Ah can sometimes hear you crying at night, Ah know that you miss her, I miss her too."
Sighing Scott looked up into her eyes, his leader look now vanished, "I do miss her Rogue," Scott said letting go of all his need to be strong, "I miss them all, but I would never, ever, blame you for my being here. I mean that" he said sincerely as he grabbed her chin to make her look at him, "You're my friend too Rogue, and none of this is your fault." "Thank you" Rogue whispered as tears spilled from her eyes, "Shh, it's okay" Scott said in a comforting voice as he pulled her into a hug and patted her back.
"We're going to get out of this, I promise. They're coming for us, I know it Rogue…" "Marie," Rogue whispered into his shoulder, "What?" "My name," she said looking up at him as she wiped the tears from her face, "It's Marie" "Alright Marie," Scott said as he hugged her tightly, "Promise to continue to be my friend and keep me from making a fool out of myself by trying to be the big strong leader?" "Ah promise" Rogue said with a chuckle. "And I promise to always be your friend and be there when you need me" Scott whispered into her hair as she fell asleep with her head on his chest.
This is my first x-men fanfic, Please review!