Summary: What if, instead of heading off to get 'the cure', Rogue went to join the brotherhood? What if Magneto held off on starting the battle to let Jean recover and stabilize herself a bit? What about if Pyro found himself falling in love with his ex-best friend's ex-girlfriend...? A lot of changes would occur – that's something you can be sure of!

Pairings: Pyro/Rogue, Logan/Storm, Bobby/Kitty, (Jean/Scott)

Disclaimer: Don't own X-Men – quite obvious with all the changes I'm making, huh? XD That, and the comics were made even before I was born... -.-'

From X-Men to Brotherhood: The Battle Against The Cure

Prologue – Heading Out

Rogue stepped out of her room; all her belongings packed tightly into a single canvas bag – after all, she came with so little stuff and in the mansion, she hadn't had the need for anything more aside from a few random pieces of clothing to replace old, torn, and out-of-date items. She was now completely thankful for this as it made it a lot easier to just stand up and leave.

"You need a lift, kid?"

Rogue turned slowly, her mind in a bit of a panic as for an excuse, but relaxed as she registered the voice of Logan. "No."

He walked up to her. "Where're you going?" He asked softly.

She just stared at him, her mind racing again, but her face stayed impassive.

"You're going to get the cure." It was a statement, not a question.

She frowned inwardly in distaste. Despite popular belief, Rogue absolutely hated the very idea of that 'cure'. Everyone just kind of figured that she wanted it when she had barged into Professor Xavier's office (now Storm's) and demanded to know whether this 'cure' would work or not. Really, though, she was enraged by the very idea – much like Storm, but to a higher degree. The difference was; she could actually conceal her anger. You learned to hide a lot of things being a mutant, as you're ostracised by the rest of the world.

Of course, being angry with this curse was exactly why she was leaving – that and catching Bobby (her boyfriend of at least six months) and Kitty getting a little too close for her comfort skating around on the recently frozen fountain out back.

Call it jealousy, but really – Rogue had had enough. She knew that a proper relationship wouldn't work unless she got the cure and she sure wasn't doing that!

Back to Logan, however, Rogue realized that she couldn't explain all this to him. There were just certain things that were kept from him and this was most definitely one of them.

She nodded quickly (possibly a little too quickly? Logan shook that off, though.) and babbled out something about being afraid of her powers and wanting to be able to get closer to people.

Sheesh. Why would she want that? People have only ever hurt her. She didn't want more of that.

Logan looked at her suspiciously. "I hope you're not doing this for some boy..."

Rogue almost rolled her eyes, but instead looked down, trying to think of a retort.

He shifted his feet a bit, then continued, apparently taking that he was correct about that. "Look, if you want to go, then go. Just make sure that it's what you want."

She smiled. He had no idea how much he just encouraged her to do what she was about to do. Still, she thought that she'd better check something as this seemed a little off for an adult (even if Logan wasn't exactly your everyday responsible one).

"Shouldn't you be telling me to stay? To go upstairs and unpack?"

Logan shook his head, smiling a bit in something akin to fondness. "I'm not your father; I'm your friend."

Rogue grinned slightly. She'd definitely have to remember that and be especially careful for him once this was all put into action.

"Think about what I said, Rogue." He finished and started walking away.

She nodded and decided right then that she'd take his words to heart, even if in a way that he hadn't quite intended. "Thanks," she whispered, and had a feeling that he heard her because just before she turned around to head out the door, she caught out of the corner of her eye, the slightest of nods.

Rogue grinned in pure relief as she walked out the doors of the mansion a few moments later, breathing the cool evening air in deeply in satisfaction.

Logan really did have no idea what-so-ever on what he just helped her with, but she was thankful for it all the same.

She'd definitely have to stand up for him if ever anything bad happened later on because of this...

AN: Well I finally have this up. Been waiting in my story box for far too long, so I thought that I'd put it up. :D Sorry if it's a bit confusing, but this isjust the prologue. Thanks for reading and review if you wish. Ja ne!

- Cady