THANks so much for y'all reviews! Sorry to keep anyone waiting. I'll definitely try not to wait quite as long to update. And finally, here's chap. 8!



Chapter 8: Repossession

Carol gripped Scott's neck, one-handedly strangling him by using another one of her powers, super-strength, as she floated in the center of the Danger Room. She knew he was the leader of the X-men and so she wanted to terminate him first.

"Stop it! Rogue, why are you doing this!" Jean cried, fearful for the life of her boyfriend.

She threw Scott across the Danger Room with unbelievably little effort and laughed, "Do you honestly still think I'm Rogue after all you've seen? Ha! I've been in her head long enough to know the real Rogue never had this much control over her powers! And you really still think that I'm her, a little pathetic, weak mutant? Oh, this is too rich!"

"If you're not Rogue then who are you! A shape-shifter?" asked Evan with anger in his voice.

"No, you see this is Rogue's body. As a matter-of-fact she's in her with me, locked in her own mind so if you hurt me in any way, you'll hurt your beloved Rogue too," said Carol.

Then Kurt saw the weather-witch, who Carol had blasted with an optic beam, with a heated expression. He noted Storm's eyes were whirling with white mist and sparks of thunder as she stood from where she had fallen.

"NO!" Kurt yelled, but it was too late. Bolts of thunder struck Carol at Storm's will.

Carol fell from her floating position in the air and onto the floor, Kurt quickly teleported over to her.

"Rogue! Rogue!" Kurt cried as he tried to shake his sister awake, though her body was completely immobile.

~~~~~~~

"The sort of offer I'm proposing is actually along the lines of a truce," Mystique told them.

"A truce?" Fred repeated. The four boys looked at each other.

"You see," she went on, "there's going to be quite a battle between Magneto and I. And when that battle comes, Wanda and I will take no prisoners. Anyone caught up with Magneto's cause will die with him. But none of you have to get involved. I'll spare your lives if Pietro does one little thing."

"What?" Lance asked curiously.

"Reveal Magneto's new location," she replied simply.

Pietro shook his head and grimaced, "If you think I'm going to betray my father for you, Mystique, you obviously don't know me very well."

"Quicksilver, I know you love your father. Hell, I was just as acutely loyal to that old madman as you are now! But trust me he's using you. He uses everyone; even his Acolytes are just expendable pawns in his future plans," she told him, "After all, Pietro, he abandoned Wanda, his own daughter. He'll soon do the same to you once he no longer requires your patronage."

Pietro paused; Mystique's words had pushed him deeply into thought.

"Listen, I don't expect an answer immediately, but don't take too long deciding, Quicksilver-the battle is closer than you think," she warned and left the Brotherhood boys to themselves.

~~~~~~~

"Is she going to be all vight, Professor?" Kurt asked, full of concern for his adopted sister.

Rogue was lying atop a metal table in the mansion's infirmary. Xavier was next to Logan, who stood diagonally from Kurt.

"Don't worry, Kurt, Storm only shocked Rogue enough to put her into short unconsciousness. She'll be fine. Logan, take Kurt into the hall with the others. I need to be alone with Rogue," said Xavier.

Logan nodded and as he was leaving, the blue elf ahead of him, he looked back at the professor. "Chuck, you can bring Stripes back, can't ya?"

"I will try, Logan," replied Xavier.

Logan grimaced and quietly left the room with little hope that Rogue would be able to be saved.

Xavier went to the end of the table and his hands hovered on either side of Rogue's head. His skull bent downward slightly so that their foreheads nearly touched.

~~~~~~~

*** "When this body wakes up I'm going to kill that white-haired bitch!" Carol swore. She was pacing around Rogue, who was still locked down in the metal chair.

"Ya know, even though Ah get hurt every time ya get hurt Ah wish Storm woulda feed ya enough lighting bolts t' kill ya!" Rogue snapped.

"But then you would die too, Rogue, and I want no one to have the pleasure of your death, but me," Carol said. "Besides I can't let you die yet, I'm not through torturing you!"

"Ya try t' even touch a hair on mah friends' heads again an' Ah'll-"

"You'll what?" Carol asked and glared into Rogue's emerald eyes. "My mind is stronger then yours will ever be!"

"Want t' bet?" Rogue said and suddenly she mentally forced the entire metal chair to vanish.

Carol looked at her, "You think you can fight me and prevail?"

"Ah don't think, honey, Ah know," Rogue replied, as she stood up with her back determinedly straight in front of her enemy. "Ya was right, Carol, bein' stuck in here gives a person a lot a time t' think an' Ah've had a bit of a revelation. Ah used t' think it was mah fault ya was dead. Ah thought ya had reason t' be so angry because Ah had taken your life from ya. An' because Ah understood your feelings, deep down a part of me thought Ah deserved your punishment. But Ah was wrong. Ya let your anger consume ya and destroy ya humanity without needing any o' mah help."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Ah'm sayin' take a good look at who ya've become-you'll see ya look a lot like me, the person ya claim is so guilty."

"No! You're the mur-"

"What? Murderer? Not too long ago ya was tryin' t' kill mah friends, who had nothin' t' do with what happened t' ya! They're completely innocent an' ya was tryin' t' execute them-now, who sounds like the REAL murderer here?"

Carol was speechless. Rogue had made some good points about her that she hadn't thought about before. Still, she wasn't about to give up the fight; Carol had let her anger toward Rogue turn into hatred. And she had let that hatred destroy her judgment and humanity, just as Rogue had said. All that Carol had left now was malice.

"Well, Rogue, if you want this body you're going to have to take it because you won't get it back otherwise," Carol challenged. "And I doubt you're will, or meager mind is strong enough to-"

Rogue punched Carol before she could finish. "Ya know somethin', Carol? Ya talk too much." The two of them began to battle, but were unaware of another presence entering. ***

~~~~~~~

"Well, I see you're finally awake."

Wanda stood with her arms crossed in front of the encaged girl.

"You know the government has people looking all over for you in Nevada, that's where the base you were in is, right? Well, they'll never guess you're here in New York. But I'm curious, what was it like being asleep in a tank of water for five years?" Wanda asked with a mocking smile.

The girl spat at her. Wanda made the walls wobble a little and a few books fell from a nearby desk.

"I'm trying to be nice to you, but spit at me again and I don't care what Mystique says-dead bait is just as good as live bait in my opinion," Wanda said. She paused, "Aren't you even curious to know why you're here?"

"Whatever the reason I'm guessing it entails usage of my powers," the girl said.

"I'll be damned, she speaks!" Wanda said wryly; the girl hadn't spoken since they'd kidnapped her. "And yes, you're right it does involve your powers."

The front door opened and Mystique stepped into her home. She went into the living room and Wanda followed.

Wanda glared suspiciously at the older woman, "Where have you been?"

"I had errands to run. Anyway, how is our captive mutant?" Mystique asked.

"She's awake and has a bit of an attitude," Wanda remarked.

"Well, you two have something in common then," the shape-shifter said with a smirk. Then Mystique's face became serious, "I've decided now is the time to put the girl to some use."

~~~~~~~

***Xavier gaited slowly into the room; one thing he liked about entering someone's mind or memories was his normal physical 'fetters' didn't apply in the psyche, which allowed him to walk instead of being paralyzed in his legs.

He came into the room to find Rogue fighting whom he was sure was the person that Storm said attacked the X-men earlier using Rogue's body. Even though the blond girl seemed to be quite strong Rogue was too determined to quit.

"Rogue!"

"Professor?" Rogue said as she twisted Carol's arm back and flipped her over.

"There's only one way to stop this. We must contain her because she can't die. Like the pieces of personality and memories of others you've absorbed she is permanently apart of you now," Xavier informed her.

"But how do we-"Rogue wasn't able to finish because Carol delivered a hard hit to her stomach.

"You must be Professor Xavier," Carol said. "I've seen some of Rogue's thoughts about you. She actually believes you can stop me because of all your psychic training! But I'm not going to give you the chance to stop me!"

She charged forward at Xavier, but suddenly she couldn't move. Xavier was using his mind to hold her in place.

"Rogue, you know what to do! Hurry! She's strong and I can't hold onto her long!" he said urgently.

Rogue stood in front of Carol and began to assault the blond with as much mental-strength as she could muster. And with the help of the professor, thick, liquid concrete started to ascend from Carol's feet and was inching up her thighs at Rogue's cerebral command. The liquid concrete was slowly coating Carol, swallowing her limbs from view like quicksand.

Rogue fell to her knees as the strain on her mind began to weaken her, but she continued; she couldn't quit, no matter how painful it was, she had to stop Carol once and for all.

"IT'S NOT FAIR!!!" were Carol's final words, as the liquid concrete hardened, forming into a solid figure.

In moments the concrete had stiffened, and it confined Carol inside a perfectly shaped, dark emerald cube, which was peculiarly the same color as Rogue's eyes. Then a flash of white light overflowed the room and both Rogue and the professor vanished. ***

A/N: So what did y'all think about this chap? In my next chap I think I'm gonna write something a lot of y'all have been waiting for! Chap. 9 will be loaded soon. PLEASE REVIEW!!! Cam:. Chao!