Meltdown

by AnnaMarieLeBeau6

When Irene has a vision of a Nuclear winter, she knew she had to act. Raising Rogue was supposed to stop it, but there are things even Destiny can't foresee. Anna-Marie just wanted to be normal. Instead she was destroyed and was built back up as something else. Someone else. She must find herself if she ever wants to live the life she envisioned for herself as a young girl. ROMY

A/N: Hey guys! I know you're probably thinking "What the heck? Where's Going in Blind? I miss it!" But here me out! I have been through a LOT for a very long time! I needed a breather from reality and responsibility. While on break, a plot baby was growing in my head. Like a newborn, it kept me up all night and didn't let me get a breather to think about anything else. I was just tired of seeing books and stories with a weak leading lady (not any of Rogue though…I think that says something in and of itself.). Just recently, I read a book that restored my faith in strong women characters and inspired me to continue with everything. Without further ado, Welcome to the Meltdown!

Check out my facebook page to keep up to date on news regarding all my stories in the works. I post when I have new progress! It's a good way to keep up to date without alerts and you get to see a little behind the creative process as well so WIN! Just search of my name- Annamarielebeau6 on facebook!

Disclaimer: I own no shizzz but my own shizzz that is mine. It is 5 in the morning and I am still writing. Forgive me.

All raht. Enough of the bullshit. Ah am sick and tired of everyone spouting their stupid little fairy tales of hope and success! Mah story is different! Mah story is real! No more lies, and definitely no more sugarcoating the truth.

Ah'm done living for other people who could care less about whether Ah make it back home alive. No, that part of mah life is ovah. I have a family that cares about me and Ah am so blessed for that. But it wasn't always that way.

Ah had to claw mah way out of the gutters and the sewers to get where Ah am. Ah made a lot of enemies who only want to rip mah eyes out. Some even succeeded a few times. Well, that was before it happened.

The story is kinda complicated. A lot of shit went down that Ah regret. Ah believed the wrong people, and made more people hate me then Ah care to admit. But there comes a time in every gals life when enough is enough. Ah just couldn't take it anymore.

People believe that Ah did it on purpose, that Ah had a vendetta to fulfill. Ah was just naïve. And scared. But both of those bastards didn't care about me. They used me for their own purposes. But Ah got even, believe me! Maybe what Ah did was wrong, but it was the best Ah could do in mah situation.

To fully understand why Ah am the way Ah am, y' need to go back. Back to the beginning, the start of it all. All the way back to every single person who done fucked me over in the past. Then y'd see. See who Ah really am. Mah name is Anna-Marie. Just Anna-Marie.

Ah have long since abandoned mah surname. It only serves as a reminder as to who Ah really am. No matter the distance or time Ah put in between me and them, Ah still can't scrub the stains from mah hands. But as Ah said before, mah name is Anna-Marie.

Some people used to call me Rogue. Ah would hope and pray that those people are dead, but y'know what they say, right? Cockroaches are the ones that will survive even a nuclear fallout. If that's the case, then Ah have a message to each and every one of them:

You can run from me.

You can even hide from me.

But those options are fleeting.

Because one day Ah'll find each and every one of you who ruined me.

Y'll pay.

And Ah will collect.

One way or another.

Every struggle in your life has shaped you into the person you are today. Be thankful for the hard times; they can only make you stronger.

-unknown

~X~

Mah Mama always told me, 'Sugah? Nevah give 'em a reason to doubt y'worth. They eitha want y' the way y'are, or they don't. Nevah change for nobody. Especially no man. Then y'just as low and worthless as dirt.' Ah guess Ah never really forgot that. Y'could say that's what gets me into trouble, Ah s'pose…..

Ah grew up in the Deep South. Caldecott, Mississippi to be exact. Mah mama and daddy both raised me in this weird hippie commune place….if Ah wanted to blame anything on the way Ah turned out, that place would have to be the first thing that comes to mind. But all that aside Ah had a happy, joy-filled childhood. Which is more than Ah can say for some kids Ah know. When Ah was seven mah whole world changed.

Ah was sittin' on mah bedroom floor playin' with mah dollies when daddy ran in ramblin' about mama and about how she "jumped into a weird blue swirly thang!" and that she never came out. He just kept cryin' and mutterin' "She didn't come out…" Ah was confused but knew that if mah daddy was cryin' then Ah should be too. Ah cried so hard that Ah lost track of the days. When Ah finally came to, it was dark outside, moonlight spillin' in from the living room window. Ah was layin' on mah Aunt Carrie's couch. Ah knew it was hers 'cause it had this awful flower design on it and it smelled kinda like cat pee. Anybody who knows what cat pee smells like knows exactly what Ah'm talkin' about!

Ah was distraught and sad, and Ah wanted mah daddy! So Ah did what any seven year old in that situation would do. Ah cried out for him. At first there was absolute silence. Then a few seconds later Ah heard a real faint thumpin', like someone running to console me. Ah thought it was mah daddy. Ah was wrong.

It was mah Aunt Carrie. Ah was excited because she was usually pretty nice to me and gave me cookies and cinnamon rolls, which were mah favorite thing, even if her couch was ugly and smelled bad. So Ah ran to meet her and put mah tiny arms around her, just genuinely excited to see a friendly face in mah confusion.

So imagine mah….surprise….when she winds up and just WHAM! Socks me raht in the kisser! Ah fall back and Ah am just stunned, y'know? Mah memories of mah Aunt were all relatively nice ones, so why was she hitting me? It hurt really bad too!

While Ah was still reeling from that blow she picked me up off the floor and just tossed me on the couch like Ah was some raggedy old doll. So then she gets down on her knees like she's about to pray, y'know? And then she takes me by the hair and pulls me to her face. Ah could smell her breath and let me tell y'! She needed a mint like, yesterday! Even though Ah was small, Ah was from the South! Ah know bourbon breath when Ah smell it! And boy was she mad!

Y'know how to tell if someone is crazy mad? Well, y'havta look at their face. When they have those funny lookin' red lines in their eyes, then they're mad.

If, when they breathe in y'face, they blow out spit and it gets all over y'cheeks and lips, then they are mad.

When trying to speak to y', they gnash their teeth and y' just can't understand a word they say, then they are mad.

And when they get that funny splotchy purplelish red color in their face they are 'dig y'own grave 'cause y'are DEAD mad!

So yeah, Ah'd say she was pretty pissed off at me.

Ah didn't realize it then, but in the blur of tears and unconsciousness, mah daddy had up and left. He apparently dumped me on the steps of mah Aunt Carrie's porch, according to her.

Ah was only seven years old! Who does that to a child who just lost their mother? Who does that to any child in any circumstance? Hindsight tells me she hated me because I reminded her of her sister, mah mama. I've heard of people turning evil after losin' a loved one. Ah know more about that than I care to admit.

Anyway, so from that moment on Ah was to live with mah now demonic Aunt Carrie. Needless to say my life was pure hell.

~X~

Time went by like molasses out of a jar. Days of pure agony blurred into one hazy but self-defining milestone. Aunt Carrie never let up from that moment on. She controlled every aspect of mah life. Not a single day went bah that wasn't planned out. Y'see she had these stupid little agenda books filled to the brim with chores to torture me with. And every month that passed, she would mark out things in her signature red sharpie marker. If she didn't see red, she would punish.

Punishment would usually consist of re-doing all the chores, but she liked to up the ante. Things like making me clean every dish, counter, and even the kitchen floor with a toothbrush. At least Ah didn't have to use mah own! Thank the Lord for small miracles, Ah guess. Kinda ironic that she was a neat freak and never did anything with that gawd-awful couch, huh?

Y'know the saying 'Strict parents create sneaky kids'? Well that was me in a nutshell. While Aunt Carrie had her nightly ritual downing her Bourbon, Ah was out on the town gettin' muddy with a bunch of the neighbor kids. This was basically the only time Ah had to be a kid 'cuz dear sweet Carrie never let me get messy, run around, or associate with the neighbor kids. She said it was 'Unbecoming of a Lady'. By the first month there Ah was known as 'the Shut-in'. By the time Ah would leave there Ah would have another nickname. One that suited me just fine.

~X~

Six days after mah twelfth birthday Ah snuck out of the house to meet up with mah friends to go down to the abandoned train tracks just outside of town. Ah had reservations about going 'cause Ah had been gettin' really bad headaches and mah nose would start bleedin' and stuff. Ah didn't tell anybody about what had been goin' on 'cuz I didn't want mah friends to think Ah'm a freak or sumthin'. But peer pressure eventually won out, plus there was the fact that mah crush Cody Robbins was goin'…..Ah thought that if Ah showed him how brave Ah was that he might like me.

So we got to the tracks and we all shut up and put our ears on the rail. We heard that if y'do that then a ghost screams and a fireball flies down the tracks and attacks y'! Ah had gotten the nickname 'Rogue' a while back 'cause Ah was always the one to win our little tussles with the boys from the trailer park down the road.

Anywho, we were all just listening to the tracks when suddenly Ah was ripped from mah spot on the rail. Startled the kids all ran into the woods to escape the assailant. Nice of them to leave a "friend" behind, right? Even Cody ran away, and that broke mah heart into pathetic little fun-sized pieces. At that point Ah knew who had me and Ah didn't care. Ah was livid. How dare that dumb bitch ruin mah chance at happiness! That dumbass Carrie just had to be sober enough to stumble her way to mah room and see that Ah was gone. How could she do this to me? And to somehow track me to this very spot? How insane could y'get?

Ah just wanted to make her pay. All Ah could think was 'She should never be able to ruin mah life again! Ah need to make her pay!'

Ah made her pay…..but Ah wish Ah hadn't….

Ah somehow managed to escape her bony claw-fingers and scrambled away from her swaying body. She was stumbling around and slurring curses at me, saying things like:

"You damn brat!"

"How dare you disobey me!"

"After all Ah did for you! Ah gave you a home! You would be sittin' on the side of the road if it wasn't for mah kind heart!"

"Ah can't even get laid in this fucked up town 'cause Ah have a little brat clingin' to me like a magnet!"

And the mother lode:

"Why didn't you just die or disappear or sumthin'? Y'ruined mah life!"

Now, Ah'm a nice gal. Ah let people speak their minds. But Ah had had it with this woman. Ah was sick and tired of letting this bitch control and demean me. So Ah did what any sensible twelve year old would. Ah grabbed her by the throat, slammed her body against a nearby tree, and Ah squeezed. Ah wanted to squeeze the life out of her evil imp body. Ah wanted to see her ended. And Ah got mah wish…just not in the way Ah ever imagined.

As Ah was holding on to her, Ah started getting mah headache and nosebleed again. But this time felt different in some way. Ah started noticing that Carrie was getting tired…r-really tired. And pale. And the world around me got really blurry. All Ah could see were these spider-like veins running from beneath mah hands on her neck.

Ah was transfixed. The feeling Ah was getting was of utter jubilation. It filled me with so much joy that Ah just couldn't contain mah laughter. Ah was sick with this giddy feeling in mah stomach. But then the feeling changed abruptly. Ah could see the life being sucked out of her. See the scared look in her eyes as she realized Ah was killing her.

Suddenly, Ah got really scared that Ah really was gonna kill her. Ah mean, hey! Ah'm an emotional teenager who only wanted to fit in and be loved! Ah didn't want the only family Ah had left to die and leave me! So Ah dropped her right away. She crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. A-and she just laid there! Not moving, not speaking, not anything!

And then there were these images and Aunt Carrie's voice! In mah head! Ah thought that Ah finally lost mah marbles, but seeing her just laying there as pale as a piece of paper, really just told me that Ah wasn't crazy. And even worse was the fact that Ah don't think she was breathin'.

That's when the images and her voice became overwhelming! It flashed like lightning in mah mind. And it wouldn't stop. Ah was just so confused about it all! So Ah did a cowardly thing. Ah ran away, and left her body to rot. Ah could tell she was dead. The voice in mah head, which Ah refused to accept as Aunt Carrie's, kept screamin' at me to die. For mah body to rot in hell…..

~X~

Ah ran to a lot of places. Saw a lot of things. But Ah think the weirdest thing Ah saw was a little after three months on the road. The day mah life changed again. Ah was in an Alabama rest stop on the way to San Francisco, and Ah saw some weird lady with really long white hair and some creepy little dude with crazy hair and some ridiculous mutton chops. They were lookin' at a map and arguing over what Ah assumed was directions. So me, bein' me, laughed at them. Oh boy was that a mistake if Ah ever made one! The short guy apparently could hear me laugh and he turned around all slow like and he had this mean look on his face. It softened when he realized that Ah was just a kid. But just barely.

"Logan? Are you sure this route will take us to New Orleans? Are you even listening to me? What are you-"the lady paused as she slowly took her eyes off the map in her hands and turned around. She stopped and smiled at me. "Why, hello there little one! What can we do for you? Did you lose your parents?" Ah remember the unique lilt to her voice like it was yesterday. It gave me the shivers. But the softness in her voice was what got to me the most. Ah haven't heard such a kind voice since mah mama was still with me.

Ah always got shy around people Ah just met, so Ah blushed like a mad woman. Ah couldn't believe that Ah got caught laughin' at people. Mah mama and daddy woulda been so mad if they were still around. So Ah stammered out a shy response.

"Ah'm sorry for laughin' ma'm! It was really rude of me. Ah just couldn't help but notice that y'tryin' to get to Louisiana?" She and her little buddy obviously recognized mah aversion to the parental unit question.

She smiled warmly at me and replied, "Yes, dear one. We have to visit a family friend in Louisiana. You sound as if you know where we are. Are your parents around? I would appreciate if you could get them to give us directions to go south from here?"

Ah shook mah head and looked around nervously. There was now a bunch of kids around mah age comin' out of the bathrooms. This wasn't good for me 'cause Ah don't like crowds very much, to state the obvious.

"Ummmm….well mah parents aren't around, but Ah know how to get y'started….if uhh, y'know, y'need me to show y'….?" Now the kids were like, huddlin' 'round the pair. It looked like a freakin' field trip!

So now Ah'm getting really fidgety and self-conscious with all these kids jumping around, Ah mean really! Can't they show some respect? Some people don't like to be crowded around! Some people can't be around a whole bunch of idiots jumping around and jostling them!

Well needless to say Ah was freakin' out. They just kept getting' closer and closer. There had to be about twenty flippin' kids! Ah tried to cover up what little skin was showing, but it's pretty hard to cover up y'entire body in the dead of summer. Ah was already wearin' this itchy wool sweater Ah stole, a ripped up, stained pair of jeans, thick wool winter gloves, and mah favorite pair of vans from back home.

Ah was always wary of going out in public 'cause Ah look like a hobo who hasn't showered in months. Quite literally. Most people don't trust me 'cause Ah look dirty and y'can tell Ah'm homeless. That wasn't good for 'business'. Everybody's scared of the homeless, so they always protect their valuables when they go out on the town. Lord knows how hard it is to pickpocket someone who thinks y'gonna murder 'em at any minute!

And that's when Ah noticed 'little buddy' staring at me. He didn't say a word, but just glared me down. Ah felt like a tiny little ant under his gaze. Ah hate that feeling. That inferior feeling when an adult looks at y'like a science project. So Ah glared back, "Can Ah help y'sir? Or d'ya have a headache?"

"You're a mutant." He grumbled. When he said this, the pretty lady's perfectly groomed eyebrows rose dramatically. The kids all stopped jumping and an eerie silence overtook the rest stop.

Ah was confused. What was a mutant? And why did he think ah was one? And then Ah remembered a day two weeks ago. Ah was sitting in a greyhound bus bound for Alabama when these two guys started yelling.

"No, you ninny! Mutants! And not those stupid turtle cartoons, neitha! Ah'm talkin' a gen-you-ine Mutant! You heard about them wildfires down in Florida? Well Ah heard that there was sum kid blowing flames out their mouth and that she was the one to set the fires! And in Japan there was sum story about a guy with swords commin' out of his hands! A-and yesterday! While Ah was havin' lunch with Mary-Lou, Ah thought Ah saw some kid bending spoons, but Ah think he was doin' it with his MIND 'cause as God was mah witness, he wasn't even TOUCHIN' it! But it was still floatin' in the air and BENDIN'!"

"That's bullshit! You're always making stories up Joe! How can Ah believe a word that comes out of yo' mouth? Especially about some nonsense like 'Mutants'! Next you'll end up believin' y'done seen a squatch! "

"You can think whatcha want Carl, Ah know what Ah saw! And if they can do all that, then Ah don't even wanna THINK about what they can do to the rest of us NORMAL folk!"

"Great, now Ah'm dealin' with a lunatic! Just go to sleep Joe! Ah think ya need it….mutants…HA! Watcha gonna think of next?"

"Ah'm tellin' ya Carl! Somebody needs to stop those freaks! Before they start killing people next!"

Ah sighed and lost interest as they moved on to talking about which chicks on what magazine cover they wanted to bone. Ah put in mah ear buds and just started blaring Thousand Foot Krutch. Mah last thought was:

'A little too late on that one bud!'

Why was this big guy sayin' that Ah'm a mutant. Ah can't breathe fire, Ah can't bend spoons with mah mind, And the last time Ah checked, Ah certainly did NOT have swords growing out of mah hands! As far as Ah can tell the only thing Ah can do is kill people by touchin' 'em….

"Dear one, is this true?" Ah jumped as she pulled me out of mah thoughts. "My friend Logan never lies…"

At this point Ah'm more pissed than confused. "So what if Ah am? Why should Ah tell y'?" How dare they accuse me of bein' a freak! Ah'm not a freak, Ah'm a kid who's in a bad situation. If Aunt Carrie wasn't bein' such a bitch, then she might still be alive. Rotting in the woods, being eaten by hungry animals and she STILL somehow manages to ruin mah life….

"Because I can smell death on ya! That sour stench just trails behind ya like a cloud!" The big guy apparently named Logan shouted. "You're dangerous and should be taken out, kid!"

"Logan!" Ms. White hair exclaimed. "How can you say that? She's just a child! And a scared one at that!"

" 'Ro! I'm tellin' ya! This kid smells like death! I should just take her out here and now!" 'Logan replied, attempting to stalk towards me. The nice lady apparently named 'Ro jumped forward and pushed him back, trying to contain him.

"Just smelling 'death' on her does not make her a killer! Nor does it give you the right to attack young children! Tessa! Piotr! Help me!" she gritted out, struggling to hold him back. The kids are all excited now, chattering conspiratorially in hushed whispers and laughs. The stares of the kids were overwhelming, plus y'tend to get kinda nervous when a short hairy dude is tryin' to murder y'. Just then two people break free from the ocean of kids and rush forward. One was a woman with black hair and strange red lensed sunglasses and she ran to Logan trying to calm him down. The other was this HUGE guy. He reminds me of what Ah would imagine a hairless yeti would look like, super tall and bulky. He went behind Logan and pulled him into a big bear hug that did a good job of keeping shorty from killing me. Thank the lord for SOME mutant abilities Ah guess.

Things get kinda blurry at this point cuz of all the chaos. Between the screaming of the excited kids, the yelling of 'Ro, the black haired lady trying to look at me while taming the short angry man, and the huge guy struggling to hold back my death it was all pretty hard to keep track of what happened next. All Ah know is that somehow huge guy didn't do his job right and Ah had a very scary short dude barreling towards me.

"Holy shit!" Ah screeched and high-tailed it as fast as Ah could in mah panic. Those 'push' doors are really heavy when you're runnin' for your life. As we race through the parking lot Ah noticed the sky get dark and then BLAM comes a crash of thunder like two metal trash can lids in mah ears. Ah was never good with storms, especially storms that show up after a day of blisterin' heat and scorchin' sun with not a cloud in sight. Ah got so scared Ah tripped out of one of mah vans and straight onto the pavement. Ah scramble up on mah knees and looked behind me, expectin' to see the dude still comin' but he had his hands over his ears and was cursin' up a storm as the white haired woman caught up to us.

"Wait dear! Stop!" she yelled as she skidded to a stop in between us, her hands outstretched, "This is a terrible misunderstanding! We can help-"

"Get the FUCK away from me!" Ah scream and fall back on the ground in fear of these people, It's not mah proudest moment but Ah ain't ashamed to say Ah crab walked as far backwards as mah scraped and bloody hands let me.

"Give it up kid!" The guy grumbled, reassemblin' himself and started to come near me again but the lady put her hand on his chest."

"Go, child. I'm sorry."

"'Ro what are you doing? We need to t-"

"Go!"

I snap out of mah shock and scramble to mah feet and start runnin' down the road, lookin' back every now and then to make sure they're not followin' me. They just stand there yelling at each other as Ah run further and further. Ah don't remember how long Ah ran, but all Ah know is Ah ran as fast as the good Lord let me. To this day Ah miss mah shoe.

~3rd Person POV~

"I can't believe you! What on this Earth possibly let you think you could do this?" Ororo bellowed as she stared down Logan in disgust. "What gave you the right?"

Logan, still recovering from the thunder she created growled out "I had every right! She smelled dangerous! I wasn't about to let some punk who smelled like death to lure us into a trap. Not with the students exposed and vulnerable like that!"

"We could've helped her! The professor says we are to help those in need, not discriminate against those who were misguided into doing horrible things because of their situation. I bet she has nobody willing to help her control and accept her gift."

"That ain't my problem 'Ro. She's a threat."

Ororo went silent. She simply stared at him with a disappointed look on her face. Defeated, she scrubbed her face and looked away from him in disgust. "I remember a time when you came to the professor and you were JUST like her. Homeless, starving, and a killer. And we embraced you with welcome arms. Charles took you in and helped you regain most of your memories and helped you cope with what you did. You were scared, guilty, and ashamed but we didn't care. Others came into our home with similar stories as well and what did we do? Accept. How is she any different, Logan? Explain it to me."

"I don't know why I did it 'Ro. Something about her is just…off. She doesn't smell right." He huffs out and they start heading back towards the rest stop where their crowd of students and teammates were waiting huddled outside the doors just enjoying the show. Kids texting furiously, dying to spread the juicy gossip to all their friends back at the mansion.

"Logan" Ororo sighed, "smelling off isn't an excuse to-"

"No 'Ro you don't get it. It's not that she smelled like she killed someone. She smells like death, Like the Grim Reaper follows her around! I can't explain it…" He stops walking and pinches the bridge of his nose. She stops and just stares at him. She had never seen him look so disgruntled before. He finally shakes his head and starts jogging towards the kids "Alright maggots! Nothing to see here! Back on the bus!" She shakes her head and giggles at the children's groans and complaints and rushes off to catch up with the group.

Later, as Logan is just about to get on the bus to leave he smells something…odd. 'Is that…damn my nose must be playing tricks on me today. First death kid and now her? I need a drink.' He sighs and shakes his head as he enters the bus.

Rogue kept running for what felt like hours. Her feet hurt, she only had one shoe, and she was sure she stunk even worse than she did before. She was tired but was afraid that if she stopped running that the short guy would pop up out of nowhere and pounce on her. She had a feeling he was good at that. The sun was starting to set and she quickly realized she needed to find a safe place to crash for the night. She finally stopped running and followed signs she had been noticing that advertised a new residential area under development. Thinking that she can squat in one of the incomplete houses for the night she sneaks in, being very careful in case any construction workers were still there for the day.

All she heard was the silence of a tranquil sunset in the dead of summer. Figuring she was safe she decided to find a decent place to rest. There was one house, almost complete, that caught her attention. Deciding to stay there, she quickly made her way over and found a way inside. It was a lovely two story home with a wrap-around porch. There wasn't much inside but she was bewitched. As a little girl, raised in the heartbeat of the south, Anna-Marie had always imagined living in a home as wonderful as this one. She would marry the love of her life and raise 2.5 kids and a dog in this house. Kids would play on a tire swing in the yard and she would watch her grandchildren play on it with her husband together, rocking in their porch swing and growing old together. As Anna-Marie was beaten down and replaced with Rogue, things had to change. Rogue would never be caught dead imagining such a sappy life. But sometimes, when Rogue is distracted, Anna-Marie creeps through.

As Rogue was wandering around the skeleton of the house she was blissfully unaware of what would shape the rest of her life. She turned the corner and-

"Ahhh!" She screamed as two women were waiting in what was to be the living room. Rogue, panicking, backpedaled into the corner of the entryway trying to escape.

"No! Wait Rogue!" The first woman, a beautiful slender woman with long raven black hair and a business suit, shouts out. Rogue froze, astonishment took hold of her face as she wondered how this woman could POSSIBLY know her name. Then the second woman made her presence known. This woman was different, much different. Her silvery white hair was elegantly twisted behind her head and her eyes were covered in thick black sunglasses. She dressed in a way that reminded Rogue of the Granny in Loony Tunes, except much thinner and frail. Her wrinkled hands were folded calmly over her walking stick, acting as a cane in this instance.

"Do not be afraid child. My name is Irene Adler. My friend is named Raven Darkholme. We are not here to hurt you. I am here because I can see your suffering. I have seen YOU, child."

"What in the-I don't understand! This day just keeps getting stranger and stranger!" Rogue cried. Exhausted, she collapses in a crying heap on the floor. "I just want normal. I just want normal. I just want to be normal..." she repeatedly mumbles, finally breaking down for the first time since she left Mississippi.

Raven's eyes softened and she knelt down in front of Rogue and gently pried her hands from her face. "I know dear. I know how it feels to be different. To be berated for what you cannot control. It is a hard truth, but a truth nonetheless."

"How could you possibly know how I feel? I kill people when I touch them!" Rogue screamed and started beating the floor with her fist. "How is this fair? How is any of this fair?"

"Life is cruel, child. The different are shunned and only the normal are praised. I feel your pain because," Raven said, standing up. As she stood, she changed. It started with her face. Porcelain skin shifting into deep blue in an unexplainable way. Her body came next and blue trickled down to envelop her whole body. What was once long black hair was now bright red hair slicked back out of the way. Everything that was "normal beauty" was replaced with this creature that was beautiful in its own special ways. "I am also different. It is our differences which make us great, Rogue."

She was stunned. She had never seen something so whimsically beautiful before. The ability to become someone else whenever you pleased sounded like a true gift. She had been about to tell Raven this but she was interrupted before she could even take a breath.

"All of our differences are gifts my dear." Irene calmly stated with a serene smile on her face. "I too have a gift. I was given the gift of sight, when my own was lacking. Destiny has a way of finding us all." She smirked as if pleased with an inside joke.

"So that's how you know my name?" Rogue asked no longer afraid. She sat up in rapt attention, wanting to soak in every detail of this moment.

"Yes Rogue. I have seen that and so much more. You have a role to play in the molding of our destiny. Many lives depend on your next actions."

"I don't understand, what about my next actions? Whose destiny?"

"It is simple child. " Irene replied and stepped closer to Rogue. "We want to take you in. Help you gain control over your gift and retake control of your life. No more hiding in the alleys, scrounging for food out of dumpsters because that is what you feel you deserve. You deserve so much more Rogue. You have a very important role to play in the future. Allies and foes alike must band together to stop the end. The Apocalypse is coming, child. One day it could swallow us whole into the ground and bury us in the ashes of winter. You can stop this. Come with us and never be lonesome again. Retake your destiny, Rogue."

Rogue quivered as Irene foretold the future. She knew that this was no prank. The world was changing. She had to grow up and take her life back. For too long she had hidden in the shadows, afraid to see the light. She would go with them and learn.

"I'll do it." She said and slowly rose to her feet in determination.

"You have chosen wisely, my dear child. Even men in their 50s have less maturity than you, and I'm terribly sorry for the circumstances that led to that. You will be a great help to the world. Our cause will flourish with you at our side." Raven smiled to Rogue.

As they chatted and bonded, a vision overtook Irene. She gasped causing the other two women to look over at her curiously.

"What's wrong Irene?" Raven asked, concern furrowing her brow.

"Nothing Raven. The future is already shifting. All is well." Irene smiled serenely at her dear friend.

Raven smiled and said to Rogue, "You are already changing the world my dear." Rogue smiled and they continued to chat and joke, joyously celebrating the beginning of a new family.

They didn't notice the frown that overtook Irene's face after that. Or the slight tremor of her hands, clenching her walking stick desperately, as if to steel her resolve.

'My God, what have we done?'