An Endless Journey by Rogue-5473
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. Cheers.
Summary: X-men/LotR cross-over. Just when Rogue thinks she's gotten her life back together again, everything she's worked for goes to hell where she along with her best-friend; Jubilee are pulled into Middle-earth.
A/N: Hello everyone, it's been a little over two years since I've written anything or updated my other story; Terminal City. Writer's block, life and reading everyone else's stories tend to get in the way so my sincerest apologies to all my readers and those who have clicked on out of curiosity.
Over those two years, I became a really big fan of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy especially the cross-overs and some of the girl-falls-into-Middle-earth so I decided I wanted to write one of those too but I also wanted to use one of my favourite characters from the X-men, the movies; Rogue.
After a few months of deciding how I wanted this story to go, I came up with this so I hope y'all enjoy.
An Endless Journey
Isengard Sept 6, 3010 Third Age
On the fringes of the old forest known as Fangorn, home to the mythical tree-herders; the Ents, lay the land of Isengard. With the first visuals of spring in sight, these lands were quite beautiful and wondrous to see but what was more wondrous was the impressive high grey stone walls that surrounded an equally impressive tall black gleaming tower known as Orthanc and the home to the white wizard; Saruman.
"My lord, d-do you truly believe this could work?" he asked curiously as his dark beady eyes darted across the old aged parchment before he hurriedly continued at his master's pointed glare. "Not... well not that I am saying your calculations are incompetent of course, it just seems so-so unreal..."
"Unreal alone yes, but do not concern yourself with this Grima, the ritual you see before you has been done."
"H-How can this be? And what is this 'power' that you speak of, my lord?"
"You shall see Grima, and when the time is right, I'll have my best men retrieve this special 'power' but until that day, all we can do now is wait."
"Oh, yes of course my lord."
oooOooo
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Westchester, NY
Five weeks had passed since the tragic mission at Alkali Lake; it was still hard to believe that Jean Grey a member of the infamous X-men, a loved and respected family member, a doctor and teacher at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters had sacrificed her life.
Rogue knew what Jean had done to her before she had slipped out from the black-bird on that fateful day but she was not about to announce it to the whole 'god damn' world. She was scared, so scared that she would be misunderstood, that she would be more of an out-cast than she was.
And already some of them blamed her for what happened that day; she couldn't even leave the sanctuary of her bedroom or the stables without someone making a snide remark or even going so far as to physically harm her if they could get away with it.
It hurt like hell and in a way it felt like being back in her hometown again before she was literally thrown out. Had these people that she had truly believed to be something of a second family would they condemn her too or had they?
And if they did, who could she turn to now since Logan had taken off after Jean's memorial service which in a way Rogue was somewhat glad, she wasn't sure how he'd react to her situation or if he'd even care.
Sometimes she wished that she could just up and leave too not caring what others thought but that was not her way or maybe it was the fact she had just become so comfortable staying in one place with an endless supply of food and shelter or maybe it was because she had others to consider than herself.
Like the Professor, her friend's or Bobby.
Besides she didn't think she could deal with being on the road again, not with what she had to do to survive once her savings had run out, things that she was too ashamed to even speak of.
Her relationship with Bobby was a whole different matter altogether, he'd been quite distant from her lately even before Alkali Lake. She had a feeling it was to do not only with his family's rejection towards him and the whole mutant population but that his feelings for her had changed and moved to the phasing mutant; Kitty Pryde.
Seeing them on that day after the memorial, had only confirmed her suspicions. Rogue had been searching the grounds for him when she stumbled across the pair in one of the many gardens. She had immediately stilled and watched as Kitty threw her arms tightly around his neck before kissing him without as much as a complaint from Bobby.
A few days later, she asked him if he had feelings for Kitty and that she'd understand if he wanted to pursue a relationship with her instead but he denied those claims immediately but by the change in his scent, (thanks to Logan's mutation which had not yet disappeared) she knew he was lying.
However reluctant she was and despite Bobby's protests, Rogue ended their seven month long relationship. She had only wanted him to be happy even if he cheated on her in the process and it was quite obvious that, Kitty was the girl he wanted.
'It's all for the best' she thought sadly as her thoughts quickly shifted to the problem of having gained another power, including Logan's.
Logan's mutation; for some unknown reason had not completely left her like Erik's had. Of course she still had their somewhat vague memories but to still have Logan's powers was definitely frightening, strange and something she had not spoken a word of to anyone; not even the Professor.
His powers had been very weak at first but during the course of the last four weeks, they'd been gaining strength.
For example four days ago she had been helping Mrs Stevens in the kitchens to keep her mind off recent 'events' when she accidentally nicked her finger on a steak knife, what had happened next made her gasp in surprise as she watched the small wound slowly but surely knit it self back together.
Even her eye sight was sharper, seeing in the dark was an added bonus, her sense of smell was a little better... well, lets just say it all came in handy when she wanted to avoid everyone but it was her hearing and reflexes that had become the most strongest.
She had her suspicions that it was in connection to the incident with Jean, though she wasn't a hundred per cent sure but it was the most logical answer that she could come up with.
That was not the end of her predicament either, since Jean's death she'd been plagued with more nightmares; these were worse than the usual one's from Logan and Erik.
With death and destruction, blood, pain and the bone chilling screams that would without fail cause her to awaken in a cold panting sweat but what scared her most was the reality of them all.
oooOooo
Five weeks... Five weeks and still it felt like he was living in an everlasting nightmare wondering if it would ever end. Jean... How could this have happened? How could such a wonderful and compassionate person just be taken away like that? Taken away from him?
Guilt... Pain... Rage... He couldn't help but want to rage against all the residents at Xavier's, blame them all for Jean's heroic sacrifice; sometimes wishing it was them instead of his beautiful fiancee but as soon as the thought crossed his mind, guilt would overwhelm him for even thinking it.
He knew Jean would've been very disappointed in him to even suggest such a thing but he couldn't help it, all he wanted was to go back to that day and change everything that ended with a devastating outcome.
Sighing to himself he glanced around 'their room' taking in the clutter they'd accumulated over the years. Picture's of their first vacation together in Rio, some of their time had been spent in Italy and France so many good memories and at least... at least he had those; memories.
"Snap out of it Scott" he mumbled softly. "Stop doing this to yourself." God he had to get away from this room... at least for a little while.
oooOooo
Rogue was still finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that Jean had deliberately touched her, not only passing on the red head's own mutation well, she was still quite unsure of that since she hadn't displayed any of the 'good' doctor's powers but Rogue definitely felt something and whatever it was, caused within her an instant chain-reaction.
At first the changes were slow going and at times slightly painful but nothing she could not handle nor hide... well, not until it hit the fifth week that she wished she had not survived the Liberty Island incident. The pain had become so overwhelming that she had quickly hidden herself in what was branded as the Wolverine's bedroom.
Not only was it further from all the other residents but she knew that no-one apart from the Professor or Storm, were game enough to enter. So this way, no-one heard her screams or begging for the pain to stop as she desperately tried muffling them against the pillows.
What she didn't count on, was a grief stricken Mr Summers wandering aimlessly through the empty corridors of the mansion; especially the one she was located in.
oooOooo
Scott had been so deep in his painful thoughts that he hadn't even realized that he had walked down the wrong hallway than the usual one he took his nightly strolls in. He was about to turn back and retrace his footsteps when he heard a strange sound coming from one of the guest rooms or more specifically; Logan's.
Scott knew that the gruff Canadian had not yet returned from where ever he had run off too, so who was in his room?
He stood there silently contemplating if he should alert the Professor and call for back up or deal with the slight disturbance himself.
He immediately chose the later, not wanting to hear the same pointless talk of 'I'm here for you if you need someone to talk to Scott' or 'I know how you feel Scott' or 'You really should talk about your feelings' and the least favourite one of them all was 'How are you Scott?'
"And they wonder why I try to avoid them all." he mumbled tiredly to himself. He knew they meant well but he was sick to death of it all, especially the pitying looks he'd get each time he was seen around the mansion or one of them would go out of their way to corner him.
Before his thoughts could take a turn for the worst, he quickly returned to the problem at hand and cautiously approached the door. Gently pressing his ear to the varnished surface, he was quite surprised that who ever was on the other side of said door, didn't even try to hide what noise they were making.
For a spilt second his eyes narrowed sharply before throwing all caution and all of his training to the four winds before he charged into the room. The first shock came when the door actually opened with ease and quickly realized it wasn't even locked. The second shock caught him completely off guard; he never expected to find one of his students in such a state, especially with it being Rogue.
He was so use to seeing her always covered up so as not to hurt anyone with her skin but here and now she was wearing next to nothing but a bra and panties. He had to admit though she definitely didn't have the body of a teenager not with all those curves and womanly parts. He caught himself before he turned away and quickly scanned the room before his visor covered eyes turned back to her withering form.
Her body was slicked with sweat as she seemed to struggle against whatever had caused her condition but that wasn't really what caught his attention, no; it was the way the room had started to shake each time she'd cry out in pain. God dammit, this whole situation seemed so familiar to him that he could only think of one other person who had gone through something similar but it had been caused by having nightmares; Jean.
'How is this even possible?' He thought confusingly before he recklessly rushed to her side.
"Rogue, Rogue can you hear me?!" he questioned her worriedly before he unthinkingly reached out to gather her into his arms and hoped that Hank, who'd taken over Jean's position as the resident doctor, would know how to help her. In his mad dash to get her to the med-lab, Scott unfortunately failed to remember all about Rogue's life absorbing mutation.
On the other side of the mansion in a beautifully luxurious suite, two piercing blue eyes snapped open.
"Dear Lord... SCOTT!"
A/N: Please review. Feedback of all kinds welcomed. Cheers.