Freedom in more ways then One

by

Nya Duprie a.k.a Amanda Clopton

Copyright for X-men Evolution and the X-men Characters belong to Marvel.

This story and any Non-Cannon Characters however belongs to me.

Chapter Two: Learning to Cope

Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters was about to erupt into chaos, with the news that one of their own has left them, most likely for good, but only Destiny can tell what the future holds, and as Charles Xavier rolled into his office and saw a box on his desk, he though that it was very strange to say the least, given it was not there earlier in the day, and as he reached his desk and looked at it, and saw what was written on the box, he could not help but feel his heart break at knowing one of his students has left them without any notice at all, but then again he supposed that the display in the kitchen was more then enough notice to her and them as well.

He reached over slowly to pick up the letter that was on top of the box, and as he did his hand shook in uncharacteristic fashion, showing just how much this had effected him, and he just held the letter in his lap an stared at it, almost afraid to open it, for fear of what was written within. But after a couple steadying breaths he slowly opened the letter, and took out several sheets of paper, six of which were for specific people, Kitty, Kurt, Jamie, Sam, Jubilee, and Carol, which told him they were special to her in some form, so he sat those aside and would give them to them at dinner.

He then looked at the other letters, one being Directed at the other members of the teams and the school, he glanced over it, and was surprised at how she worded the very short letter to them, but he soon turned his attention to the letter Directed at him and the other staff.

Dear Professor Xavier, Ororo, Hank, Logan,

I know this comes as a shock to you to read this and I am sorry I could not have lessoned the blow of this more, but the display today in regard to my powers was the last straw, I finely learn to control my powers and I have a minor power use and the whole team assembles to come and take me out without knowing the facts. Though I suppose I cannot blame them for that, after the last time my powers went out of control, granted that was like a year and a half ago, but I guess some things cannot be forgotten nor forgiven, unlike some things and people, like when Jean just about destroyed the medlab, and I had to help her, or when Forge built that contraption to boost Kurt's powers, or when Logan goes into one of his Rages, all get forgiven, and the incident becomes nothing but a memory, but when something happens with my powers and people never forget and never forgive..

I know none of that is your faults it is theirs and my own for being unable to control my powers like everyone else, and for that I am sorry, I let everyone down because of that, but you won't have to worry about that any longer.

Now don't you all go getting worried about me, if something happens I will call the Professor, and you can come to the rescue like always. But I ask that you don't look for me, save for the Professor, who will do it even if I tell him not to, so I won't go bothering telling him not to, but I say this mainly to you Logan, cause I know your going to thing I went and got kidnapped once again, but this letter is to tell you that is not the case, I am just going to try and find myself, and my place in this world, as it is clear my place is not here, and certainly not as a X-men whose teammates do not trust.

But I want all of you to take care of them, they need it, and you need them, because they are the X-men. If anyone comes looking for me please tell them you will pass on any messages, those I truly want to contact me will have gotten a letter from me, or gotten word from me in person, the first you already have the letters for, just give them to them when time comes at dinner tonight, because I will not be there, in fact by time you read this I will be gone.

I am going to tell the Brotherhood about this all as well, and aside from telling them how to contact me via email, they will be given orders that if they need me, they are to contact you Professor, and you are to please get a hold of me in the same way you normally do, and I will take it from there.

Now as for my belongings you will find that they are boxed up and ready for storage, if you could store them till I can find a place to call home, I would be eternally grateful, and as for the uniform, well I do not know, I guess stick it in a closet or give it to someone better deserving of the uniform.

I am going to miss all of greatly, I shall never forget you, be safe and be well.

Love you, and Good bye,

Anna Marie a.k.a Rogue

The Professor put the letter down and had to reach over and get a tissue to clear the tears that were in his eyes, he rarely cried but for first time in a long time he felt like he had just lost a daughter, or at least a grand daughter, and now she was gone, and nothing he could do but pass along her messages to everyone. So he got himself together and called his staff to his office.

It took only five minutes for them to get there, Logan knew something was wrong as soon as he walked in, as he had smelt the tears, and given the Professor was only one in the room he knew it was him, but he never cried, least not in his office "Whats wrong, what happened?" he asked gruffly, his foundation shook lightly knowing it had to be big, his question were followed by the questioning and concerned looks from both Ororo and Hank.

The Professor sighed "Your all going to want to sit down for this, it concerns Rogue" he said to them and Logan just about jumped out of his skin, but the Professor, simply raised a hand "She is fine Logan." he said to him and sighed and handed the letter to first Hank, who took a few moments to read it, before passing it to Ororo, who was practically in tears by the time she was done, just like the Professor was, even Hank has some tears in his eyes.

Once Ororo was done and had gave it to Logan to read, he oddly enough found himself sitting down as he read it, and the emotion written in the letter was unlike any their little southern spitfire had ever expressed written or verbal, but he was the Wolverine he could not show emotions like everyone else, so he got up gave the letter back to Xavier and stalked out, Ororo stood up and turned "Logan, where are you going?" she called to him desperate and scared, and all he could muster was a rough sounding "Danger Room" before he stalked out the door, and Ororo fell into the chair and put her head in her hands to cry, which of course caused the skies to darken outside, and rain to pour on anyone unlucky enough to find themselves outside.

Hank sighed "It is indeed a dark day.... Do you think she will ever return?" he asked the Professor, who truly did not know the answer, "I do not know Hank, I really don't know." he said sadly and looked at the clock, and sighed "Sadly we still have to inform the students of what has happened, and give those she wrote to their letters, I expect tempers to flare and hearts to shatter this night, besides us and the Brotherhood, no one else knows, yet." he said and took a box of tissues with him as he went around the desk and let Ororo and Hank each take one to help put themselves together before they head to the dining hall.

It took them only a few minutes to get to the hall and everyone was already there except for Logan who was still in the Danger Room, handling things the way he normally does but as they walked in they saw everyone eating "Could I have everyone's attention please?" the Professor called out to his students who quickly turned to him "Thank you, we have a few things to say, but first Ororo would you please pass out these letters to those they are addressed to?" he asked her as he handed her the stack of letters and went about passing them out "I will ask those getting letters please do not open there here, they are for your eyes only, no one else's." Xavier said to the entire room, for the chosen six though one was in the medlab right now, which he had kept, and planned on giving it to Carol himself.

Everyone was bit confused about this letter stuff that was basically eyes only, and once Ororo was back next to Xavier, and Scott opened his mouth "Professor what is this about?" he asked in that annoying Leader Mode voice that everyone wanted to strangle him for and Ororo let a bolt of lightning hit just outside the mansion "Now is not the time to be in Leader Mode Scott this is serious, this is about each of you as a person and as a team." she scolded him in a motherly tone and Scott sat down quietly.

Xavier nodded, "Some of you may have noticed that there is one person missing from this meal time, and it is not Carol, that I am referring to." he said in a questioning tone of voice and Kitty was the first one with it as she looked at her name on the folded piece of paper "Rogue." she stated in shock and almost opened her letter but remembered what the Professor said, and stopped, "That is correct Kitty. Rogue has left the X-men and the Institute, and it is unlikely that she will ever return, unless something happens." he said to them.

And of course Scott was the first shout "We have to go get her, she is a danger to everyone with her powers going out of control, how could you just let her leave.." he yelled at them highly upset that they allowed such a thing to happen, and Jean picked up Hank's thoughts and feelings "Scott I think you better be quiet." she said to him which he ignored "No I don't she is dangerous, she has never gotten control of her powers so that just makes her even more dangerous" he said aloud in front of the whole school

Xavier had never been so disappointed and pissed then he was in this moment with Scott "Scott Summers, I suggest you sit down and shut up right this second, because your actions and the actions of your team, are the reason that Rogue left, so I do not think that you have a leg to stand on in this case." he snapped at him and the team, and kept a steady gaze on all of them, and Hank spoke up them, in a calm voice, "Now then, if you had gotten all the facts this afternoon you could have saved everyone this trouble, and since she is gone no reason to hide the news now, Rogue got control of All her powers last night in her sleep, we did the testing today, as well as putting Carol back in her own body." he said to them all.

Xavier had calm himself while Hank spoke, "That is correct and that incident in the kitchen was nothing more then her instincts kicking in thanks to Miss Danvers Seventh sense ability, as the boys were starting a food fight and some food headed in our direction, so her mind threw up a shield to not only protect us, but to allow for silence since we were talking while we ate, she had not even noticed it, but the situation was handled shortly after the boys ran out of the room, and she solved the problem as well, I would like to see all of you go from having no control to suddenly having control, but needing to learn how to work that control." the Professor said to them.

Scott of course started to speak again when Hank stepped up "Alright Scott, if you were to suddenly get control over your mutation, meaning you no longer needed the visor, what would you do?" he asked him and Scott thought for a second "Well I would be happy that I would not hurt anyone with my sight." he said and wondered if it ever would be possible, but oddly it was Jean who asked the next question, "How would you know you would not hurt anyone? Because as far as I know your power is to absorb light or UV rays, you would still need the glasses at least, but I am sure you would have accidents in the process of learning your new control." she said now understanding what the Professor and them were getting at.

Scott sighed "I would just deal with it and keep trying till I got it handled" he said to them and Xavier nodded "Exactly, which is what Rogue was going to have to do, but now she will be doing it by herself, she has control but not utter control, I have confidence she can do it, but I shall keep watch of her but not for you or anyone else, but for myself to insure she is alright." he said to them left the room, having no will to eat dinner this evening, and Hank returned to the medlab to keep watch of Carol, for sigs of waking up, and Ororo headed for the Danger Room to check on Logan.

Which left all the students to think on what happened, but five of the students got up from their seats and left with each other scowling at Scott as they went by him, and they all decided to read their letters as a group so they could lean on each other, which is exactly what they had to do, all of them were crying more so Jamie as he lost a big sister or rather Mother like figure in his life, Rogue was always looking out for him, Sam lost a fellow southerner and secret crush, Kitty and Jubilee both lost a close friend, and Kurt lost a sister, granted only adopted, but still his sister, so they huddled together for their friend.

Back in the Dining hall everyone was quiet, not wanting to speak for fear of getting the same treatment that Rogue got from their Fearless Leader, many of them just up and left, dropping their plates off in the kitchen, as they lost their appetites, in fact most the X-men up and left for no reason at to go do something else.

The table Scott and Jean were sitting at emptied quickly, some moving to other tables other leaving like most of them, rather sick the some jumped to conclusions so quickly, but least they will have plenty of time to cope with what they have done, just wonder how long they will have to wait to apologize to Rogue and everyone else for that matter. But right now they are going to think long and hard about what they are going to do, and how to make up what they have done if it is even possible.

Mean while at the Brotherhood House

The members of the Brotherhood barely had time to get over their good byes and shock when the door belle rang, and Pietro walked, yes Walked to the door and took the pizzas from the pizza guy, as well as tipping him, given they already paid and took them to the kitchen, and just to emphasize how in shock everyone is, the pizzas are late by nearly an hour, and it has not hit them yet, other wise the guy would have gotta a real treat from them, but as it is everyone just kinda walked into the kitchen and started eating in silence.

They were just about done with the pizzas before anyone spoke, and it was Lance that spoke up first "I can just bet that Summers is the one that set it up, with the help of Red, cause no way he could have done it himself, I mean jeez she finely gets what she has always wanted from the moment her powers manifested and they have to go an ruin it." he said ranting on a bit in a fury.

Pietro was feeling same as everyone else which is strange given the way he acts sometimes, "Look we are leaving pretty soon anyways, so why don't we give the X-men a parting good bye, not only from us but for Rogue, cause you know she left using words alone, and they need to be taught a lesson, that even though Father may be on their side, don't mean we are." he said to them all and Wanda was surprised cause he said it all at a normal human speed which was so unlike him.

Todd smirked "Yo, thats right dog, lets show those geeks that you don't mess with the Brotherhood." he said jumping up onto the counter with that happy go lucky grin, that you just want to knock right off his face, and Fred who had listened to it all and shed the most tears spoke up "I agree, no one should get away with doing that to family, and Rogue is family, even if she no longer one of us." he said to them and they all looked at him stunned, for that was the most words he has said in long time.

Wanda smirked and stood "Thats right, Rogue was one of us first, and even when she joined their side, she was still our friend, even after battles she went right back to talking as if nothing had changed, so if we are gonna give them X-men a sweet parting gift of an ass kicking then we better start planning, cause I want this to be good, not one of our hit and run fights." she said to them sternly.

And hiding just on the other side of the door is the leader of this merry band of mutants, and she steps in after hearing the last bit of their speeches "And I agree, Rogue is my daughter and if even part what you have said is true then they deserve a parting gift from us, but we do this for keeps, knock them out a while, given something to think about, mean while our new base is getting setup, I think you will like it, bigger and much more stable then this place." she said to them as she walked over and took a seat in one the chairs.

Lance looked at her, a bit strangely, given they had not seen very much of her since the whole Apocalypse event, but she has now devoted herself to the cause and to the Brotherhood, now that she ran it and not Magneto "Welcome Mystique, been a while, you planning on helping us plan or just stopping by?" he asked with bit of venom in his voice.

Mystique shook her head, "On this I will help, a way to get revenge for taking my daughter from me, not to mention my son, who must be devastated about this, so no one must be harmed, save for their pride." she said to them and got head nods from everyone "Good, lets get to work then, and then get some sleep, going to need it to go against the X-men." she said and they set out to plan their attack on the Institute.

Flying high in the sky

After Rogue left the Brotherhood house she flew off in some direction, she knew it was not north, nor west, so had to be between east and south, which she hoped she was heading south, but she had been flying for about a half hour and could tell she was in New York, which given the time which was about 8:30pm nearly 9:00pm she decided to stop off in New York, get something to eat, not that was in the mood, but all this power use was working up her appetite quite a bit, if she could have she would have asked Carol if flying did the same thing to her, but as it is, she would have to consult her psyche of Carol for the answer.

But since she wished not to do that while in the air she headed down and landed carefully in a alley that was open on both ends, so anyone would think that she had just walked through the alley, which she proceeded to do, and came out one end of it and looked around, and could tell she was not in the center of the city which she was glad about actually, cause she could find a decent motel, and some food.

So as she walked down the sidewalk in the direction of a small shopping center, you know those that sell maps and postcards as well as 'I Love New York' T-shirts, which was the perfect thing she needed at this moment, so she made quick work of walking through the crowds and right to the shop that had what she wanted, and she walked in and looked around, to get her barrings before heading to the maps and travel books in the hope of picking up some discounts, just to save what money she did have.

Took her little time to pick up a big Travel Map book, as well as a big Travel Discount book, and went over and paid for it, she then stopped outside the doors to and placed the Map in her backpack, then she flipped open the discount book and started looking through it, and found a couple coupons she could use, one to a great pizza place she knew of offering a good deal, and the motel, or really a Hotel was a nice one, and the discount was for about 40% off any one night stay, which is exactly what she needed.

So once she pulled out both those coupons she slid the book into her backpack with the other one and headed off after slipping both coupons into her pocket, before she hailed a cab to get her to the hotel, which took only 20 minutes, and a decent chunk of change, never knew cab fair had gone up so much, but it did save her walking time, and once she walked into the hotel and booked a single room for the night she was very glad, and you should have seen the look on the girls face at the counter, guess she was the first person to use a coupon on a room.

Once she had the key and was in her room she tossed both bags on the bed and proceeded to collapse onto the bed, just for a few minutes anyways, cause she wanted food, so as much as her body wanted the bed, her stomach was wanting food, so she forced her body to get up, grumbling all the way, grabbed her bank card and slipped it and the key to her room, in a secret pocket on her right glove, which would not know it as there unless you were looking for it, then she locked the door and headed for the pizza place that was nearby, another reason she picked this hotel.

An hour later she was walking into the room with medium sized supreme pizza, garlic bread sticks and butter, and a 2-litter bottle of soda, which she sat on the small table in the room, then grabbed the ice bucket off the TV stand went and got some ice from the machine down the hall, came back and grabbed one the dinky plastic cups and sat down at the table, poured some soda out and took a refreshing drink of the soda that makes to sigh loudly in contentment, before she dug into her pizza and bread sticks.

Before long the food was gone, and she had gotten ready for bed, watched few minutes of the news and the weather, before climbing into the bed and curling into a ball around the pillows, and proceeded to cry her heart out, she just let everything go, the pain, the happiness that was short lived, the sorrow of what her teammates did, and the sadness of having to leave her home, least what she thought was home.

But as she finely cried herself out an hour or so later, an image of a place that she longed for crossed her mind, it was not a happy memory that image came from, but it was not horrible either, but as she drifted off to sleep a small smile graced her lips, as she thought about a certain southern town, that until now had always drawn her to, why is anyones guess but, one reason could be a certain Cajun she had left there.

TBC

Comments

Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully I can get the next one up soon as I write it.

I want to thank everyone who has read this story, and added it to Favorites or Alert, that means a lot to me really it does, to to those that Review I thank you as well.

I know the first chapter was bit odd as my first Reviewer pointed out, I have no idea why I even started out in first person, it was not my intention, but just came out that way, so if I slip into that from time to time please forgive me, I am used to Roleplaying in third person, with others, so writing a story is a first for me.

Once again I hope that you enjoy this chapter, and please let me know what you think, not to mention any advice you wish to offer.