Chapter 1: Arriving in Middle-earth

It had been two years since the incident in the Alkali lake, and although things were never the same the x-men had gone on, but now with one member less in the team. Rogue, Kitty, Boby and Wolverine were on a training session in the danger room trying to avoid some sentinels when Rogue, who was the last, triped and fell to the ground, and one of the sentries saw and fired his laser against her. Wolverine, who was nearby saw it and jumped over her covering her with his body, they had lost Jean, but he wouldn't allow anything to happen to the closest thing to a family he had. Before the laser could reach them a white light wrapped around them and they both disappeared, leaving the rest of the team members confused and worried.

Strider and the Hobbits were going up the hill of a small mountain. Strider was on the lead and Sam walked at the back leading the pony, Bil, who they had bought in Bree, leaving the other three Hobbits free to speak at their will, or rather whisper.

"How do we know we can trust him?" asked Pipin, the youngest of the four, to his cousin

"A host of the enemy would seem more cautious and worn off." Merry replied.

"Even more?" Insisted his cousin once more.

"We have no choice but to trust him." Frodo interrupted them wanting to finish the discussion.

"But..." Sam added not being able to contain his curiosity. "Where is he leading us?"

"Rivendell sir Gamgee, to the house of Elrond." Answered the ranger, who had been listening to the conversation beind his back.

"Have you heard that Mr Frodo? We're going to see elves" exclaimed the gardener not being able to control himself.

Just when Frodo was going to respond to his friend a strong flash blinded them and they heard a thump. When the light disappeared they noticed movement among some bushes on their left, and there appeared two figures. The bigger of the two figures was a tall man with black hair and dark eyes that appeared to be about thirty, and the other was a young woman about nineteen years old with brown hair with white strips on both sides of her face and also brown eyes. Both appeared to be in very good physical shape and dressed in strange clothes. They wore black suits of strange material with several 'X' paterns in different areas, the only difference between the costumes being that the seams of the man's suit were yellow while those of the female were gray.

Wolverine and Rogue looked to each other confused, the last thing they remembered before being wraped by the strange light was being in the danger room, and suddenly they had appeared in a strange place and had encountered an even stranger group of people, if that was possible. In front of them there were five persons, an adult man and four beings that appeared to be children but for their faces and eyes were not, and a pony, all dressed in clothing similar to that of medieval times in Europe. The man, physically similar to Logan but with longer hair, was in front of the other four with a hand on the handle of his sword in a protective attitude. The seven were looking at each other for a moment and the tension was such that they had the feeling that they could cut the air with a knife until Rogue decided to break the silence and bring an end to the stare competition between Logan and the strange man.

- Sorry, but..., could you tell us where we are?

The five looked at her confused, for how it sounded they knew that the girl had asked them something but they hadn't understood a word of what she had said, so Strider decided to try luck talking to them, first in the common tongue and then in elvish, but both shok their heads signaling that they did not understand. Although it was clear that they could not understand, neither of the two men dropped their guard, they didn't know which were the intentions of the other, so it was better to be cautious, the only difference being that Strider had moved his hand a bit away from the sword.

Rogue looked at Wolverine, and when he reluctantly nooded, she took off a glove, slowly approached the man with her hands raised in a sign that she was not armed and lightly touched his face with her fingers. Neither of them was concerned about the stranger's welbeing, one year before the Profesor had found a way to help Rogue control her powers and they immediately started working on it, although they still had a long way to go, the girl was able to absorb only what she wanted, or even not absorb anything, through her skin as long as she was concentrating, and was even able to reverse the process, although that was more difficult and tired her, but Logan was concerned about the reaction the other might have when he felt how his 'daughter' sucked something of his mind.

Strider took a step back when he felt a jolt go through his body and the girl alsoretreated, although the ranger had the feeling that she did it more for his reaction than the shock itself.

"Don't worry, it's allright." the girl said, suprising them again, because this time she had spoken in the common tonge, and therefore increasing the ranger's suspicions, as she approached her partner and touched his cheek "you see, my skin absorbs the memories , the personality and the life force of those whom I touch, but if I concentrate I can choose what I want to take, and even reverse the process and give the person I touch what I choose to give, though the latter is more difficult. I'm sorry to have taken something from you without permission, but it was the only way for us to understand each other, and I assure you the only thing I have taken is your knowedle of this language."

"For now I'll trust your word, my lady, but I would like to know who you are and what you're doing here, because I have never seen clothes like yours."

"I'm known as Rogue, and he's Wolverine. As to what we are doing here, I have no idea, all I know is that a strange light enveloped us and sudenly we appeared here. By the way, where exactly is here?"

"Strange incident certainly, had I not seen the light you speak of myself I wouldn't believe you. You are in Middle Earth, not far from the village of Bree. I am Strider, and my companions from right to left are Pipin, Merry, Frodo and Sam, and they belong to a race known as Hobbits. Although... What kind of names are Rogue and Wolverine?

"The same as Strider" said Wolverine entering the conversation "although since you have given us theirs I'll give you mine, my name is Logan, but she'll remain as Rogue."

"Fair enough" Strider said seeing the girl's grateful look at not having her name revealed to some strangers, and deciding they seemed sincere and that, at least for now, they did not represent any danger to them "I don't know where you are from nor who exactly you are, but I'm afraid we don't have much time. We are heading to Rivendell, I'm not sure if I can trust you, I will not hide it, but your situation is something I don't understand, so I invite you to come with us, since the lord of Rivendell is very wise, and perhaps he might shed some light to your situation."

After exchanging a look both mutants nooded and Logan replied for them bot:

"It seems to be the best choice, we'll go with you."