Title: Law of Nature
Rating: R - eventually.
Summary: Nothing is permanent. Post-X3:
Author's Note: This is my VERY long fic I've been mentioning in another fic I made. Basically, I felt that there were some plots that could've been used, or can be used, in the movies that we have yet to see. Most of these invovle Rogue, and since there were so little of her in the third movie I felt it was a perfect chance to make one about her and what I see can be in store for her. Feedback is complete love. Somethings I've gathered from information about the comics, but almost everything is from the movies.
Pairings: Rogue/Pyro, Rogue/Bobby, Rogue/Wolverine, Mystique/Magneto, Magneto/Xavier (vibes), Bobby/Pyro (vibes)

CHAPTER ONE - YOU CAN'T FIGHT NATURE.

Marie lay soundlessly asleep in her bed. It was nice, being able to touch people again. In fact, ever since she was cured, she'd made a point to touch people as much as possible. She didn't go around hugging everyone, but just some small touching here and there. Borrowing clothes from the other girls and exposing herself a little bit more than what she used to, something that people might think was cliché and annoying but Marie saw it as her sign of independence.

She rolled a little in her sleep, comforted in feeling Bobby's body next to hers - soundlessly asleep as well. In her sleep, Marie put her hand on Bobby's stomach, sighed and continued to dream.

When she woke up, the sun shone through the window and the promise of a good morning once again filled her. That was until she heard someone cough. It wasn't a 'I have a cold' cough or a 'I got some dust in my lungs' cough, it was a bad one. Marie turned to her side and saw Bobby coughing for dear life, looking oddly pale.

"Bobby..." She felt worry, but she couldn't understand - why would...

Suddenly Bobby almost sprinted off the bed, sitting himself on the floor and Marie watched in horror as the coughing lessened. Either he was allergic to her or... No, that was impossible. No way. They said that...

"Bobby," she said finally, "Are you okay?"

Bobby looked up at Marie, meeting her eyes and she could see they were filled with sadness. All hope and promise once again drained from them as it had been before. Marie felt a panic and images of Kitty and Bobby ice-skating filled her mind.

"Bobby, it's not what you think! They said that it would be-"

"I know, they thought it would be permanent, Rogue." he said gently, completely calm.

Marie suddenly wondered why he was so calm. She herself was practically vivid, but he seemed as if he had expected this, or in some way, hoped for it. She looked at him, trying to study him, hoping that Xavier was alive or that she had his ability.

"You seem pretty calm about this." Marie stated the fact, and the silence told her everything she needed to know.

------

Logan walked down to the Danger Room, he needed a good workout. Sounds of someone running made him stop and turn around. Marie was running down to him, her eyes red of crying and Logan felt sorry for whatever was causing her pain.

"Marie, are you alright?" he asked.

Marie stopped, looking rather pale, and then a tear fell down her cheek. She shook her head and looked down on the ground. "It didn't work," she whispered, her whole heart behind that statement, her voice filled with emotion.

Logan studied her, genuinely sorry for her fate, but he couldn't think of any words of comfort, because he hadn't a clue how she was feeling. He walked up to her, out of habit reaching out to touch her shoulder, but Marie pulled away.

"Don't," she warned, her eyes hard and her voice as well, but the watery eyes told him of the broken heart inside.

Logan backed down, raising his hands to prove a point. The momentary look of disappointment did not pass him and Logan wondered what he did wrong.

"I eh... need to go," Marie said, turning around quickly, quickly walking with shaky legs.

"Marie..."

"My name's Rogue," she said sadly as she walked away.

------

It took Bobby a good while to locate her, she was sitting under the stairwell, crying. He saw people walk past her but noticed that no one stopped to ask what was wrong. He walked up to her, not sure what to expect. He wasn't afraid of her; he hadn't for a good while. But he knew how much she wanted to be what people called normal. He also knew that since she was human, she technically shouldn't be at the school, but since she had no where else to go, Storm had accepted to have her there.

"Hey," Bobby said, sitting down next to her, watching her turn away from him, "I've been looking all over for you."

"So?" Marie's voice was sharp, angry, as she wiped a few tears away.

Bobby sighed. Marie was a strong girl, but he didn't know how to reach her when she pulled away like this. Even though he loved her so much, he'd never seen her cry before - maybe cry because she was angry, but not because she was broken.

"Is there something I can do?" he finally said, finally catching her attention.

Marie looked up at him, her eyes glistering with hope, but it soon faded and she turned her eyes back to her kneecaps. "Forget it," she said, sighing unhappy, "There's nothing no one can do any more."

------------

Erik looked down on the chess table, once again moving the pieces with his mind. Wonderful that they were made out of metal. He felt joy, when he had first learned that his powers were back. Incredible joy, but then later, regret. How he had pushed Mystique away... When it hadn't been permanent. He suspected that she would've understood, if it had happened to someone else. He also knew of her betrayal but that mattered little. He had suspected as much.

He was happy that he wasn't behind bars. The government had seen him as a non-existent threat and told him that he was free, he suspected also that there were people that sympathized with his struggle but that was another insignificant detail that he didn't want to bother with afterthought.

The pawn moved, and Magneto felt as if even though his powers were still basic, that they were under a greater control than before, since he knew how his powers worked, and the reappearance of them were a surprise, but it was one that he soon overcame.

He sat here every day, moving his pawns, kings and queens. Practising, remembering. He felt a great deal of sorrow that Charles was dead. He'd never wanted that. Ever. They have had different views on his war entirely, and even though Charles viewed him as a threat, they still had that common ground that deep friendship gave.

------

Logan knocked on the door to Marie's room. Softly at first, not hearing a word inside, but soon the sound of a lock turning notified him that someone was inside. To his big surprise, Bobby was the one that opened the door. Logan's first instinct was to growl and ask what the fuck he was doing there, but he resisted and walked through the doorway, not waiting for an invite.

"Where's Marie?" Logan asked, looking around Marie's room, seeing things all in a mess.

Bobby paused for a moment, as if he was unaccustomed that people called Marie for her real name. "She took a walk. She needed to think about things."

Logan turned around, looking at Bobby, smirking slightly. "What? She didn't bring you along too?"

Bobby sighed and didn't reply. Logan was quite pleased that he didn't, right now he was on a sarcastic roll – if someone told him that Scott had risen from the dead, he probably would've made a good joke out of it. Also, there was a slight guilt inside Logan, nagging him.

He hadn't given Marie any proper attention for months and he had after all promised to take care of her, even though she was practically an adult now, she still needed someone to care for her. He'd seen the pain she was going through earlier in the day and the voice she'd used when she changed her name back to Rogue again haunted him and pushed away any other thoughts from his mind.

Also, he couldn't help but wonder if Marie really would've gone to try and get her mutation away if he had told her not to. It seemed as if she was throwing him strings but he just didn't climb them.

"Like I said," Bobby said, "She's not here."

Logan was pulled from his thoughts and stared at Bobby. Oh. Apparently he'd been here a little bit longer than wanted. Oh well, what can one do? Logan threw an excuse over his shoulder as he walked through the door, pretty sure he didn't even mean it.

-----

Marie felt strangely empty. Others people's thoughts began to come back to her head, not as strong as before, but definitely there. She wondered how long her powers had been there, she hadn't felt them coming nor did they wake up with a start. It was as if they had been sleeping for a long time and was slowly beginning to come back.

Marie touched a rock not far away. It was quite interesting, she had wanted to have her powers removed but now she felt rather… calm about it. That was just grief, she guessed. You screamed, you cried, you moved on. She felt as if she had more control over it now. Maybe it was because her powers were still asleep but she had managed to touch Logan earlier in the day, and he hadn't even reacted. Maybe, if she gave it enough thought, she could control them.

The idea was absurd but it filled Marie with some sort of strange hope. She guessed she could ask Storm later if it was possible. She guessed that most people knew by now that the cure didn't work.

Mental images of Kitty throwing herself at Bobby entered her mind for probably the eight hundredth time that afternoon. She loved Bobby and she knew he cared for her, but the temptation could be too great, she knew it. Like she said before, he was a guy; he only had one thing on his mind even if he didn't mean to. Before she had probably been the ultimate prize, something untouchable and something so no one could have. She'd been forbidden fruit, but now the aftershocks of having a girlfriend that you couldn't touch were beginning to show.

Marie sighed. Apparently it was true that you couldn't fight nature, even though Marie hoped with her whole being that it was possible.

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