She'd been assigned to work with the Boy Scout – yeah, Logan's nickname for Scott stuck in her head, though she rarely called him that to his face – and they'd been practising the reading they had been assigned for their drama exercise. They'd be performing it the following Tuesday. Rogue would be Kate, daughter of the French king. A role particularly suited, after a fashion, to the Mississippi girl who grew up not quite far enough from the Cajuns to be inclined to be without at least some knowledge of the language. And then there was that old lady she'd absorbed even better understanding of not only proper French, but a few more languages from as well.

The passage in question involved French dialogue. It also involved a third person, so she really had no idea what the teacher was doing assigning it to only two people. It was amusing to her though, that it was perceived as a love scene. Anybody who spoke French would know that Kate did not look forward to the day her arranged marriage would be fulfilled.

Practice was interrupted by Kurt popping in.

"Woah, tender moment here?" he asked. "Sorry to interrupt."

Rogue couldn't help it. She'd been repressing it and holding it in since she got her first look at the lines. She burst out into gut-busting laughter. "Good one little bro," she said when she got her breath back, patting him on the shoulder and trying to stem the tide and prevent any further laughter from bursting forth.

"Uh, Rogue?" Kurt ventured. "Flattered as I am zat you see me as family, there is a reason for my being here, other than watching you both rehearse."

"Yer playin' message carrier?" Rogue asked, surprised out of her laughter as she blinked up at the blue boy currently crouched on the table.

"Ja. Jean's been nabbed -"

"What!" Scott interrupted, grabbing Kurt's uniform.

"Easy on the exquisite costume mein friend!" Kurt objected. "Wolverine's on the scent. I'm supposed to collect you."

Scott released Kurt and slammed both of his fists down on the table with an angry grunt. "Blob! If he's hurt her I'll..."

"Who now?" Rogue asked.

"New kid, big, very strong," Kurt explained. "You missed the lunch room incident?"

"Ooh," Rogue breathed in understanding. "Right. No, mah lunch break is the second slot, not the first one. Ah got to see the custodian cleaning it up though."

"We don't have time to talk!" Scott insisted loudly. "Kurt!"

"Oh, ja. Rogue?"

"Ah'll see you two there," she said, and called on the power she'd absorbed from Kurt to teleport herself back to the institute.

An hour later, Jean was home safe, Rogue had absorbed not only Fred 'The Blob' Duke's powers, but Wolverine's as well. She'd got hurt bad in the fight, having a bit of heavy equipment dropped on her from a great hight, and he didn't want to move her until she was in a better condition. Lummox held onto the bare skin of her face until he was nearly unconscious and she was all better.

Rogue had called on Freddie's massive strength to pick Logan up off the ground and carry him to the van. She drove his motor cycle back to the mansion too.

He came straight to her once he was up and moving again, well, via the kitchen, but that was hardly a detour.

"C'mon in," she called from where she was meditating on the floor of her room.

"Heard me comin'?" he asked as he sat down opposite her.

"Yeah," she agreed, and opened her eyes. "You've got more to yer mutation than just the healin' an' the claws."

Logan grunted. "The claws aren't even part of it," he answered with derision. "Far as I can tell anyway. They're adamantium, real metal, grafted onto my skeleton by sicko scientists. That's my best guess anyway."

"Ah know," Rogue said softly. "Ah picked up every one of yer memories from the last fifteen years, an' everythin' you c'n remember from b'fore yer mem'ries got scrambled," she snorted softly, an indelicate chuckle passing her lips. "Should make danger-room sessions more interestin'," she quipped. "But yer wrong too. The claws were yours already."

To prove it, she lifted her fist and forced three bone claws out between her knuckles.

"They just got made more dangerous with the metal added," she said with a small smile before she pulled the 'claws' back in. "How're you holdin' up?" she asked.

"I remembered how I landed in that snow bank," he said quietly. "Guess you pulling at all my memories ripped at the block in my brain some. I'm gonna have to talk to Chuck about probin' that hole you made," he added with a slight smile.

Rogue returned it happily. "Glad to be of service," she said.

"Would ya mind if I get back to ya about maybe rippin' that hole a little wider, if Chuck can't help too much?" Logan asked. "I don't want you gettin' nightmares or anything, which you might, since I have no idea what's in that part of my own head, but -"

Rogue's expression softened. "Ah'd be happy to," she interrupted. "Yah can help me work on controlling what Ah absorb at the same time."

Logan smiled in gratitude. "Thanks Stripes."

Rogue giggled. She now had her own nickname from Logan. She kinda liked it.

~oOo~

When 'Porcupine' arrived at the institute – damn she liked Logan's names for the other kids – Rogue collected the power and memories of his 'rival' Pietro. She'd been there with Evan when Pietro got off the bus for the basketball game. When they'd been informed down in the danger-room, she'd slammed her hand against her forehead at Kurt's enthusiasm, but she'd managed to get the chance to place her bare hand on the white-haired boy's shoulder. As his shirt had a wide collar, that meant she got half her hand on his skin, and she held on.

She held on until he passed out.

"What did you do that for, man?" Spike asked, slightly stunned as he stared down at the guy he'd once thought was his friend.

"Why do you care?" Rogue countered. "He set you up and just admitted to framing you."

"I want my record cleared, I don't really want him hurt. He was my best friend growing up," Evan explained.

Rogue sighed. "He'll be fine when he wakes up," she admitted. "Groggy, slowed down a little, an' it might take a week to happen, but he'll be fine. As an added bonus, there isn't more property damages to deal with."

The next day was something of a pool party to celebrate Evan's record being cleared thanks to the confession he'd been smart enough to record Pietro giving, and for all that her own swim suit was more like a thin wetsuit, Rogue still managed to catch Kitty's power when she was knocked off her floating bed and into the water by first Kurt's cannon ball, and then Evan's. She caught Porcupine's as well when he popped the bed and fell through, his foot landing on top of hers.

"It's dangerous out here," Rogue decided aloud, hauling herself over to the side of the pool. "Ah'm gonna head in, maybe train with Logan."

The metal all over his bones had effectively put a stop to Logan ever enjoying going swimming again, even though he still could swim if he needed to, so he'd stayed inside while everyone else was by the pool. Running danger-room simulations most likely, or just having a beer while no one was around to scold him for having alcohol around impressionable teenagers.

She found him in the garage, working on his bike and with a six-pack of beers in a cold-box nearby.

"Hey Stripes," he greeted, not looking up from the bolt he was either tightening or loosening.

"Hey yerself," she answered with a smile. "The half-pint doesn't like her nickname," she informed him.

"Not changin' it," he replied, then stopped. "What happened?" he asked, turning to look at her, concern on his face.

"She fell on me in the pool," Rogue answered. "Her an' the Porcupine both. Ah gotta sort through their memories and make sure Ah'm not gonna have issues with conflicting personalities in mah head."

"Normally meditate in yer room though, doncha?"

"Sure," Rogue answered with an easy shrug. "Right now, Ah'm blamin' Kitty's bubbly, social personality for me seekin' company to be quiet in, rather than just holing up in mah room like Ah'd usually do."

Logan chuckled. "Well, when you're clear in your head again, you can get yer butt over hear and get a free lesson in motor mechanics."

Rogue smiled. "Thanks Logan," she answered, then folded her legs cross-wise and took a deep breath. The sounds of Logan changing the oil of his bike and cleaning all the road ash off the engine parts wasn't like listening to the river and the wildlife that she'd had back in Mississippi, or like the sound of waves against the cliffs below that she could hear if her window here was open, but it was soothing in much the same way. Soon enough she had sorted all the thoughts, memories, energies and powers out from her own – and yes, energy and power were two different things. Energy was like life force, what she got even when she touched a normal human. Power was something that only mutants had, and was different from one to the next.

"Ya know, sometimes Ah wonder if Ah'm gonna live a long time," Rogue said as she came out of it.

"What makes ya think about stuff like that?" Wolverine asked.

"Well, Ah always seem to take a bit of life from the people Ah touch. Ah don't know if that means they'll die sooner or if Ah'll live longer, but like Ah said, just wonder sometimes. Then o' course there's the fact Ah've got your mutation as well, so Ah've got the same healin' factor. Ah don't have ta get old if Ah don't want to, thanks to that," Rogue explained. Of course, there was the knowledge that if she held on long enough she'd kill a person, but she wasn't sure that was the energy drain bit.

Logan snorted in amusement. "Get over here Stripes. Lemme show you how to build an engine from parts."

Rogue grinned. She had the know-how, but there was just something special about being shown how by someone you looked up to.

~oOo~

She was reading under a tree around the back of the school when she heard the tell-tale bamph of Kurt's re-entry, and then a crash that told her he hadn't done that particular teleport with any of his usual grace. Probably just teleported blind, which meant he was getting away from something, and as they were at school that could mean any number of things, though most likely an altercation with someone else from the Institute.

"Kurt?" she called out as she headed down the stairs to the dusty space – she could smell it even from outside – where the blue boy had popped in.

"Oh, Rogue, thank goodness!" Kurt called back, and he was smiling where he stood when she reached him. A sheepish smile that hid his fangs.

"Inducer batteries died again, huh?" she asked, not unfeelingly.

"Ja," he agreed with a nod, "and Scott! He's seriously cramping my style, he pulled my tail!"

Rogue winced in sympathy – not empathy, she'd never used her borrowed powers to give herself a tail, so she really didn't know what it felt like, but she could tell he wasn't happy about it – and slung her bag off her shoulder. "Ah don't think if Ah've got the right batteries for yer inducer, but Ah did absorb Storm's powers a while back, so if Ah can get the battery out then Ah should be able to re-charge it," she offered.

Kurt relaxed. "Danke," he said, a grateful smile on his face.

"Yer welcome, but hows about we do this behind that door," Rogue suggested, pointing to the door with the 'Stay Out' sign on it. "Don't want people spottin' us after all."

Kurt nodded. "See you on the other side!" he said with a grin.

One after the other, they teleported to just the other side of the door.

"What is zis place?" Kurt asked in whispered wonder.

"F'rgotten by the looks of things," Rogue answered. "Let's fix this, an' then explore, okay?" she suggested with a grin of her own as she tapped Kurt's inducer where it was still strapped to his wrist.

Kurt unstrapped the gizmo and handed it over, then headed over to the somewhat retro computers that were set up at the other end of the room.

Rogue had unscrewed the back of the watch, taken out the battery, and charged it up again when she heard an unfamiliar voice, slightly digitised, speak.

"January twenty-second, nineteen seventy-eight. Hi there! If you're hearing this message you've got ten seconds before this lab self-destructs. Have a nice day! What's left of it."

Rogue double-timed putting the battery back in. "Port out Kurt!" she yelled.

"Like this!"

"The walls are thick, just into the next room!" she ordered, running through the wall herself the way Kitty would.

Kurt appeared at her side a moment later, and the ka-boom followed not long after him.

"Place wouldn't be booby-trapped more than once," Rogue said, a little breathlessly, adrenaline high as she strapped the watch/inducer around Kurt's wrist again and pressed the button to turn it on.

"You're not going back in there!" Kurt asked, incredulous.

"Compromise?" Rogue suggested.

Kurt nodded, though slightly reluctant, he was willing to hear her out.

"Ah'll try using a power I absorbed... See if Ah can figure out what's best to do."

"What power is zat?" Kurt asked.

Rogue smiled weakly. "When mah powers first appeared, Ah was givin' mah guardian a hug jus' before bed. Ah got her memories, her powers, an' so much of her life force she jus' died right there. Irene's power was to be able to see bits and pieces of the future. Ah don't know about the past, but Ah can give it a go."

Kurt nodded, and lay a comforting hand on Rogue's shoulder, letting her know he was there for her if she ever wanted to talk about it.

Rogue gave him a grateful smile and patted his hand, then closed her eyes as she focused on Irene's power and applied it to whatever had just happened. A moment later, she opened her eyes with a gasp and shot into the demolished room.

"Rogue!" Kurt yelled after her, chasing her in through the destroyed door.

"Feel like bein' a hero?" she asked, the only still-intact device in the room held in her hands.

"What am I doing?"

Rogue smiled. "We're gonna save someone, and if we're lucky, make two friends today."

"Two friends?"

Rogue nodded. "Let's find Todd."

"Toad?"

"Someone say my name?"

"Yeah!" Rogue called out. "C'mon down here!"

"What you goodie-goodie X-freaks want with me?" Tolansky asked as he walked down the stairs to join them. "An' what the hell happened here, yo?"

"Booby-trapped lab," Rogue explained.

"Why are we making friends with the Toad?" Kurt asked.

"Aw c'mon Kurt, just 'cause he don't bathe doesn't make him a bad guy," Rogue teased. "Besides, imagine the fun you'd have chasin' each other 'round the mansion."

Kurt grinned, recalling the one time they had done that, the day he'd arrived from Germany. It had been fun, well, until he'd accidentally 'ported them into the danger-room.

"So, what you want me for yo?" Toad asked again.

"You let me touch you, absorb your power, promise to make sure this thing doesn't get destroyed, not use it on people, an' press one particular button when Ah ask you to, an' it's all yours," she said with a smile.

"What's it do?" Todd asked suspiciously.

"Kurt, point it at me," Rogue instructed.

"What?"

"Ah'll be fine, Ah promise. Jus' don't tell the boy-scout Ah'm doin' this," Rogue said firmly.

"Aye, captain," Kurt said with a sigh, and took the device from Rogue. He pushed a button, and with a flash of light, she disappeared.

"Woah," both the boys said.

"I'm not sure this is a safe thing," Kurt said.

Todd smirked. "But I know just what I want to do with it," he said.

Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Principle Darkholme's new car," Todd explained with a sly grin.

Kurt's face burst into an equally devious grin, and they ran off to have a bit of fun with the device.

An hour later, Rogue teleported in front of them. "Alright guys, when Ah disappear again, Ah need you to push the reset button. Ah'm sick of bein' stuck in the twilight zone with fallin' cars and rainin' furniture."

The boys laughed, and gave her the thumb's up. When they pushed the button in question, Rogue appeared with a guy – one that Kurt recognised as being on the computer screens in the lab before they all blew.

"Kurt, Todd, this is Forge. He made the do-hickey you've been havin' such fun with," Rogue said, performing the introductions as she removed the bit of tech Forge had made for her so she could 'port between the two dimensions – the regular one, and the one where his do-hickey sent stuff. "Now, Ah believe the agreement was that Ah could absorb yer power Todd?"

"I-it's not gonna hurt is it?" he asked nervously.

"It might," Rogue answered honestly. "But Ah've been workin' on it, so it shouldn't be too bad."

"It wasn't when she did it to me a few minutes ago," Forge said with a shrug.

"Nor me, and that was some time ago now," Kurt added.

Todd looked between the two boys, then looked back to Rogue and nodded in acceptance. For her part, Rogue lay her hand lightly on Todd's face.

"That tingles," Toad announced a moment later. "Okay, now it's startin' t' hurt yo."

Rogue pulled her hand away immediately. "Take some time out, have somethin' ta eat, you should be fine tomorrow," she told him as she pulled her glove back on.

"So, you guys are... mutants... too?" Forge asked Kurt.

~oOo~

For a while, things were as quiet as they got in Bayville. Not that it was too quiet, but the next big thing to come up was a school production: "Dracula, the Rock Opera". Kitty rather obviously had a crush on the guy who had already been cast as the male lead, and based on that alone intended to audition for one of the girl parts. Rogue, on the other hand, intended to audition because of the show itself. A school play, however, wasn't really all that big of a deal. Neither was Spyke being given a video camera for a current affairs project to make up his grade, interesting as it was.

What was a big deal though, really big, was the dangerous wild-man who showed up after Logan's hide for reasons that weren't being shared around.

Rogue didn't wait for an engraved invitation. She put on a short-sleeve shirt with a low collar, pair of comfortable trousers, and only wore her leather jacket while she was on the scooter that took her outside the safety of the mansion. Her memories of this guy, one Victor Creed, aka 'Sabertooth', came from Logan – and she knew two things. One: he wouldn't be able to resist an easy bait. Two: no way was she missing the opportunity to absorb his powers.

She pulled over on the side of the road, lay helmet and jacket over the seat of the scooter, and sat down to meditate under a tree. It would just be a matter of time until the guy showed up, and until then, she'd make a mental list of all the mutants she knew and knew of as compared to all the mutant's she'd absorbed the powers of.

She'd been sitting there for only two minutes before a large hand closed around her throat and her skin started sucking the powers, memories, and energy in, while her mind fought not to accept the personality that accompanied them. She knew she wouldn't be able to get her skin to go from 'on' straight to 'off'. She was working at doing it in stages. Take one less thing at a time, try to take only one thing... She was doing alright, by her guess anyway, as she wrapped her bare hands around the uncovered parts of the arm attached to the hand currently failing to cut off her airways.

"Stripes!"

"Oh, hey Logan," Rogue answered easily, a smile on her face as she actively repressed the physical manifestation of Creed's mutation and pushed the practically dead – and heavy – mutant off of her. "What's up?"

"What's -?" Logan cut off his yell. "What were you thinkin' Stripes?" he asked lowly.

"Ah was thinkin' Ah'd nab his powers and all his memories while he was on hand to give 'em up," she answered easily. "An' Ah don't mind tellin' you, there's more than Ah'd anticipated from lookin' at 'im," she admitted, massaging her temples with the thumb and second finger of the same hand for a moment before she looked up at Logan again.

"Start talkin' Stripes," Logan ordered, almost softly, as he sat down in front of her, very close, just about knee-to-knee.

"There's the chip planted in your brain by a friend o' his f'r starters," Rogue began, and until the sun started to go down and the air started to cool, Rogue told Logan all the things she'd gotten from Sabertooth that related – in any way – to the gap in Logan's memory that covered most of the time between WW2 and when he landed in that snow drift fifteen years ago.