He was a thief, and a damn good one, too. He didn't need anything to supplement his income. He didn't need more danger on his plate. And he definitely didn't need a partner.

None of which explained why he was walking around in broad daylight, glasses on his eyes, searching for a pretty brunette.

He noticed a tall woman, thin, sitting beside a chess set. He carefully eyed her up. Long legs, pretty blue eyes, jet black hair. That should be the one. He shoved one hand deep into a pocket of his trenchcoat, and cautiously felt around until he clutched a pair of cards. Better safe than sorry.

"Mystique?" he asked the woman. She smiled lazily at him.

"Thief?" she asked in return. He nodded his head sharply. "Come with me." She slowly unfolded those long legs, and snaked one arm around the one he held in his pocket. He didn't like being led anywhere that he didn't know about. But when working with Magneto, his desires always came second.

"What he want with me?" he growled. Mystique simply smiled and led him to a car parked along the side of the park. His eyes widened when he saw it.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" the woman asked, kicking him hard in the back so that he tumbled into the Mercedes. He caught himself on a seat, and sat down without too much embarrassment. Turning, he found himself face to face with Magneto.

"Heard you lost your powers," he said. Magneto smiled, and raised a hand. The thief gasped as one hand rose, pulled upwards by a small silver ring. "Guess they was wrong," he chuckled.

"It turns out," Magneto said in a silky voice, "that the vaccine is only temporary."

"Well, congratulations," the thief said, inclining his head. "But if you don't mind, I got work to do."

"Precisely my point," Magneto's grin grew even wider. "You're going to work for me."

"Bobby, I did it for you!" Rogue exclaimed, following her irate boyfriend down the hall. She didn't understand why he was so upset. After all, now they could be together, now some stupid curse of a mutation wasn't stopping her from living a semi-normal life.

"I didn't want this, Rogue!" he exploded, finally turning around to face her.

"I know," she said softly, reaching out and catching one of his hands. "But I did."

He shook his head, blue eyes looking lost and confused. "You don't understand," he said heavily. "You've not one of us any more. You weren't. . .you weren't there."

"But I'm here now, Bobby!"

"No," he shook his head. "You don't belong here anymore. Don't you see? My powers are everything. I gave up everyone. . .my family, my friends, my life for my powers. And yours. . .you just threw it away, Rogue!"

"Well your power wasn't ruining your life!" she spat, finally getting sick of his attitude. "All I can do with my power is hurt people! You can. . .you can make skating ponds, and little ice flowers!"

His expression had fallen when she'd mentioned a skating pond. He sighed, and ran a hand through his short blond hair. "You saw that?" he asked. Rogue sighed, and looked down, no longer willing to meet his eyes.

"Yeah," she said. "I saw that."

"I'm sorry," he said, squeezing her hand tightly. "But it's over."

"No," she shook her head in denial. "Bobby. . .don't tell me that. Bobby!" She hadn't noticed her voice rising in intonation and volume. But she did catch herself at the end, as she was working herself into a fit. She bit off the end of a scream, but it was too late. Doors were opening up and down the hallway, as students looked out. Ororo noticed the disruption as well, and hurried over.

"Rogue, what's wrong?" she asked tenderly, laying a hand on Rogue's bare shoulder.

"Nothing," the girl said, trembling. Ororo sighed. Rogue tensed. She might not be able to absorb people's memories or thoughts any more, but it didn't mean she was stupid. Whatever her teacher had to say, it wasn't going to be something she'd want to hear. She looked up into the other woman's deep brown eyes.

"I know this might be a bad time, Rogue, but we're running low on space," she said lowly. "And since you no longer need the. . .special. . .services of this school."

"Oh my God," Rogue said, raising a trembling hand to her mouth. "You're kicking me out."

"No, Rogue, not like that," Ororo protested. Rogue shook her head. There was no hiding behind semantics. She wasn't a mutant any longer, so she didn't belong at their school. She understood. She hated it, but she did understand.

"I'll pack my bags," she said, and turning around headed slowly back to her room. She could feel the eyes of everyone in the mansion watching her as she departed. Kitty tried to say something, but she ignored her. The only person she paid any attention to was Logan, who looked at her with sad eyes.

"See ya, kid," he growled. She managed only a watery smile for him.

She stepped outside as quickly as she could, and quickly shut the door behind her. She leaned back against it weakly, trying desperately to fill her lungs with air. She blinked rapidly. She wouldn't cry. . .not over him, not over any of them. She'd been okay on her own to begin with, and she'd be okay now. She just. . .she just had to get away.

The scary thing was that she had no idea where she'd be going. She figured she'd just find a car along the highway, and hitchhike the rest of her way. It had almost worked before. Almost.

She didn't mean to let the tears go, but somewhere between the manicured lawn of Xavier's School and the forest, they'd started. Soon she couldn't see much of anything beyond the rivulets running down her face.

"Watch where you're going, chere!" a voice suddenly interrupted her self-pity, at the same time that a hard body sent her careening off the path.

"Hey!" she protested, brushing tears off her cheeks and windswept hair out of her face. "Who are you? What are you. . ."

"Shh," the strange man said. Rogue shrank away. He was so big. . .and those eyes. . .he had the eyes of a devil. She opened her mouth, prepared to scream for help. For the first time ever, she wished that she still had her powers. The man moved toward her, his eyes widening as he noticed that she looked ready to scream. He reached out a hand to cover her lips.

And all of a sudden Rogue stumbled back as a blond woman, a young man, and Ororo invaded her mind. The man's face paled, and his hand trembled. A moment later his eyes rolled up in his head and he fell to the ground. Rogue dropped her hands. She reached down to the man, and carefully reached toward the pair of cards that he held in his hand. She lifted them to her face, curious, when all of a sudden they lit up with a strange golden energy. Rogue yelped, and threw them as far from herself as she could. A minute later they exploded, and reflexively she threw herself over the unconscious man. Not like she could hurt him much more now, she thought.

She sat up a moment later, staring at her hands. "What dat be about?" she wondered. And why did this man remember Ororo? She sighed, and closed her eyes. Looked like her powers were back again. She should have known the vaccine wouldn't be effective. Her curse would be with her forever.