Well, here is my first X-Men fic. It is a dabble with both Pyro/Rogue and Bobby/Rogue, so I guess I kind of keep both fanbases happy.

Out of all the choices, he was the last she had expected to meet her there. Yet, as she sat on the bus with an air of determination, intent, and fear in her heart, she found herself unable to look at him. He had hurt her. Had hurt Bobby. And so, as Rogue found herself on the way to possibly the biggest decision in her life, she chose to keep her eyes on the bus driver's hat rather than to face someone who had at one point been her best friend.

"So," she could hear his voice as he stopped by her seat. It was definitely him now. If his presence wasn't obvious enough, the arrogant tone of his voice labeled him. The only thing missing was the sound of his trademark lighter. "I see something brought little Rogue out of her precious school."

"Hrmph," was all the response she'd give him, choosing still to not converse with him.

"What, now you won't talk to me?" John asked, voice filled with sarcasm and frustration. "Did Rogue's precious X-Men tell her that I was a bad guy now? Did they say that I bite?"

"It's Marie," she snapped quickly, turning to glare at him. "And I'm not afraid of you."

Slowly, a smirk was drawn to his lips while amusement toyed in his eyes. Leaning closer, he paused until he was less than an inch away from her ear, not even cautious towards touching her skin. "Well, perhaps we'll have to work on that."

Glaring, she pushed his face away from hers before turning her head in the opposite direction. "Like that will every happen," she muttered, rolling her eyes before turning back to look at him with disgust. "I never said you could sit with me."

"You never said I couldn't," he retorted with a shrug. "Besides, what else do you have to accompany you besides myself?"

How about my inevitable fear? Rogue thought to herself, but chose instead to say nothing. Basking in the silence, she allowed herself to relax once more. In fact, John was no longer there.

Atleast, in theory the psychology worked. But as he spoke once more, she found the spell of blissful silence broken.

"So, Marie now, is it? I take it you're about to give up the only thing you've got going for you?"

"The only thing I've got going for me?" she asked, humoring him with sarcasm before she shook his head. "You don't know me anymore, nor do you have any idea what I've gone through," she muttered.

"I do know that your gift is the best thing that has ever happened to you, and you're about to let down a lot of people. Professor Xavier, that school of yours, and your precious Bobby."

"Oh leave Bobby out of this," Marie rolled her eyes. "Do you really think that you can chastise me by telling me what is right, when you left everything behind your self. You had a family, John. You had friends! Not that we mattered to you at all. You left us, left us for a man who swore to give you the only thing you've ever cared about. Your power."

Blinking, John found himself staring at her with slightly her with pain. "What?" he asked, his voice full of disbelief. "What did you say?"

"You heard me," she muttered darkly. "All you've cared for the whole time we've known each other is being able to show humans their place and how great you are. Well I'm sorry that the world doesn't revolve around you!"

Eyes flashing now, John found himself grabbing her elbow, just missing her bare skin. "Don't you ever tell me that I don't care about anything other than power. You don't know a thing about me nor how I feel about anything!"

Shocked by his sudden anger, Marie found her staring blankly at him. "Then tell me John, what do you care about?"

As John searched for an answer, he felt completely empty when he realized that he didn't have any. What answer could he give her? What did he honestly care about?

Before he even had a chance to think about it, to really dwell in what he was about to do, his lips came crashing down onto hers.

And by the time he realized what he was doing, he didn't want to take it back. What shocked him most, however, besides his sudden feeling of desire, was Rogue's reaction. She hadn't even tried to pull away.

After what seemed like an eternity, with nothing surrounding him but his need to have her, he felt a sudden strike of pain. Eyes opening wide, he pushed her away, pulling back, he looked at Rogue as she opened her eyes, and looked at him seriously.

"You see why I have to do this?" she whispered, her voice almost seemingly distant. A small amount of tears rimmed her eyes. "I hurt everyone. Even the ones I love. I can't live like this anymore. And I'm sorry that I can't be there for you, but this is it. I have to do this."

Shaking his head, John took in deep breaths before he slowly regained whatever strength he had lost within her touch.

"No, Marie. No, Rogue," he corrected. "You can't change you are. Just because you hurt people doesn't mean a thing. You are meant to be Rogue, an X-Men. No matter the fact that it puts on two different sides. Just because we are on two different sides doesn't mean we aren't together in this."

"That's where you're wrong, John," she informed him like a parent would a child in a hard situation. Realizing the bus was slowing down, she looked outside and took in the protesting mutants. It was more than obviously her stop. "I am in this on my own."

Giving her a sad look, possibly the last sign that he cared about any of them, he nodded softly before standing to make way for her departure.

As she started for the door, he found himself calling after her once more, if only to change her mind.

"Bobby doesn't want this," his voice broke, hating to bring up his best friend and the lover of the girl before him. His sudden declaration caused her to pause.

"How do you…?"

"He was here yesterday, looking for you," he commented while taking another deep breath. "Apparently that jet is faster than this bus. He doesn't want this. He loves you just the way you are, and he knows you can't see it but it doesn't matter."

Nodding, Rogue turned back to face the door of the bus, unable to let this information daunt her. "I know. That's why I have to do it. For him. To let him know that I will do anything for him. I love him, John."

Pausing, John had never felt so shot down. He knew her reaction to the kiss had been nothing but a warning, to show him how much she needed the cure. That only fed his hunger for her. His need.

"I know," he whispered, the pain so evident as he watched her take the last step off the bus. To give up the Rogue he knew, and to become the Marie she wanted.