White flakes dropped from the sky as a tightly bundled figure walked hesitantly. Her dark brown eyes glued on the tree-line and orange light that was coming from behind. The bitting cold in her bones was ignored as she pressed on into the frigid breezy night. Her steps were quiet as she could make them as she crunched through the snow. A thickly gloved hand reached to push the lock of white hair behind her ear once more. Rogue looked around as she continued under the shelter of the trees. The bright light of the full moon had bathed the landscape, but was unable to reach the frosty ground under the canopy of the trees. The orange glow that illuminted the trees and their gnarled roots grew stronger as Rogue wove through the natural maze.
"Hello?" She called uncertain. "Anyone here?"
Nothing answered her, though a shadow swept through the orange glow before the glow disappeared. Sounds of running echoed in the near silent woods.
"Wait! I'm no' gonna hurt ya'!" Rogue shouted as she started to sprint towards where she though the light had been coming from. She stumbled along a little ways before stopping.
She looked at still smoldering cinders in a hand-dug pit. Scattered around were supplies. Water bottles, food, sleeping bag, clothes, several small packs, and lighters, lots of lighters. Rogue let out a sigh and knelt beside the packs. She gathered all the scattered supplies and put them in the small packs. As she pulled the last jacket towards her a wallet and phone fell from a pocket. Rogue carefully picked up the two items, setting the phone down as she looked inside the wallet. The girl froze as she starred at the face and name on the driver's license in the wallet.
"John." She whispered to herself.
Rogue pulled the card out of the wallet and held it up for a closer look. The date on the card said that the photo was from right after the end of the mutant war. The man in the photo was not the boy she knew, not the Pyro she remembered as her teammate nor the John she'd known as a friend. Carefully Rogue put the card back. She saw a small photo tucked in the wallet. She pulled it out and was stunned when she looked at it. The photo was of that day at the museum. Rogue almost laughed at the faces that she, Bobby and John were sporting. Bobby had made a frozen clown nose for himself and grinning madly. John was unimpressed but making an effort as he stuck his thumbs in his ear and was attempting to grin. Rogue was laughing uncontrollably at the two boys on either side of her. On a curious whim Rogue pulled the only pre-packed pack that she had found towards her.
The mutant snoop began pulling out it's minimal contents. The only things inside the pack were a shirt, some pants, batteries and two journals, one looking older than the other. Rogue picked up the older looking book and opened it. Inside she found page upon page of messy scrawl with the occasional singe mark on the edges. In the top corner there were dates, and though they were barely more legible than the main text itself Rogue managed to decipher that John had been keeping a journal since before he left the institute. More curious than ever, Rogue allowed herself to succumb to her desires and begin attempting to read some of John's entries, starting with some during his time at Magneto's camp, migrating to a time or two at the institute and ending on hurried smudges that recounted his current times. Rogue felt bad for John as she read. He was alone now that Magneto was vanquished and his army imprisoned, not to mention that he was a fugitive too. The boy was lost and without a soul in the world to turn to. In the journal he claimed several times that he missed the institute and the friends he'd had there, but was tortured by how he could never go back after what he'd done, after betraying them. A heavy sigh left the girl's lips as she closed the journal and returned the contents of the pack inside. She looked around the clearing and set to tidying it up and hiding any traces that someone had been living here, while still making it livable. After a year or more of running Rogue had learned her wilderness survival skills well.
When she was done, Rogue got to her feet, hoisting her pack onto her shoulders. The site around the fire pit was tidy; John's packs tucked safely under a tree and a note there for him to find letting him know that he wasn't in any danger of being discovered. Rogue didn't tell John who she was by name, just that she was a friend and that if he stuck around she'd be around too. The mutant girl had taken the liberty of adding herself as a contact on John's phone under the name of Anonymous, nickname Annie. A smile had formed on Rogue's lips when she typed that in the phone. Her full name was Anna Marie, but no one knew that and even less than no one knew that she used to go by Anna or Annie as a child. She didn't know what had made her do it, trust John with that part of herself even though he was the enemy not so long ago. She just did.
Rogue wasn't sure of much. Not where she was going to stay, what she was going to eat or even if she'd survive; but she was certain that John knew he had a friend out here with him.