Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own minor characters of my own creation.

Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers.

Jude's green-blue eyes took in my disbelieving face with little surprise. He ran a hand through his hair and waited until I began to blink again before he continued, "I know it's hard to believe."

"You mean impossible."

Jude's laugh sounded nervous to me, but he shrugged his wide shoulders and spoke in a semi-calm voice, "I had trouble believing it at first too."

"That's because you shouldn't believe fairy tales!"

"This is no fairy tale." A new deep voice broke into our conversation.

I looked to my right and saw the man who had wielded the gun and fake accusations earlier walking closer to Jude and me. I really had no luck in this world did I? With an annoyed sigh my body took up a routine fighting stance ready for whatever this gigantic man was going to try,

"You again." The words came out in a growl that seemed so rough that it reminded me of something Wolverine would say.

The tall man walked closer and once he was within four feet, dropped to one knee in front of me and hung his head as if he was truly ashamed to look at me, "I am terribly sorry for my earlier actions, your Highness."

"Er… What?" I looked down at the huge man, unsure what kind of trick this was.

"I shall make this up to you, my Princess."

"Uh, no. That's ok…"

"My actions were unforgivable and I will with your blessing, devote the rest of my years to guarding you against any harm."

"Yeah," I watched him skeptically and wondered how he could change so quickly. One moment he is prepared to shoot me down the next he is pledging his life to me? "Well," I tried to think of the right way to speak to the man so he would get the point, "I don't plan on staying here much longer, so it doesn't really matter. And by the way, stop calling me Princess."

The man looked up to my eyes and seemed unsure how to respond to my requests, "Yes, your Highness."

"Don't call me that either."

"Majesty?"

"No."

"Ruler?"

"Noooo."

"Empress?"

"NO!"

Jude was snickering unabashedly behind me at this point. The guard merely racked his brain to find another term to address me. "Look," I sighed softly and rubbed my temples to kill an oncoming headache, "If you have to call me anything just use my name."

"Alexandria?"

"No! No! No!" I grumbled loudly as I grew even more frustrated between Jude laughing and this strange giant failing to label me correctly, "My name is Rogue. R-o-g-u-e. And I am not this Princess Alex girl!"

The tall guard nodded his head slowly as if he was trying very hard to take in all of my words, "Then I vow to spend the rest of my years guarding Rogue."

A sigh escaped my lips and I rubbed my temples harder, "Sure. Whatever makes you happy…"

The guard watched me try to calm myself by taking a few deep breaths, then looked to Jude, "They wanted to speak with you again, sir. And I am sure they will be delighted to see that Rogue is awake." His smile fell on me once he got my name correct.

"Thank you, Axel," Jude spoke up in a professional tone and looked to me, "Are you ready to meet the others?"

"I thought I got to leave now."

Jude shook his head slowly as if I was suffering from some severe memory loss, "The deal was that you could leave once I was done explaining things."

"Fine!" I grumbled and started to march off down the hall, "This better be a damn short meeting."

The boys caught up to me quickly, since my short strides were nothing compared to their long 'manly' ones. After they caught up to me and explained that we were actually supposed to be heading in the opposite direction than I had stormed off to, they stayed completely silent. The only noise between our trio as we began walking along the correct path, was Axel clearing his throat once or twice as Jude led all of us to this random meeting. It was a bit strange to be surrounded by two tall silent men as they led me through unfamiliar territory.

"Ya know," I looked up at each of them briefly then focused my stare straight ahead, "You two are kinda creepy when you're silent."

Jude chuckled softly and Axel looked down at me with curiosity, "Well what would you like to talk about, Rogue?"

"Well for starters, where am I?" The thought of finally getting a few of my questions answered was quite exciting. Hopefully, Axel wouldn't be as vague as a certain other man had been.

"Lenox."

"What state is that in?"

"State?" Axel said the word slowly as if he was hearing it for the first time. After a few minutes of thinking, the guard peered down at me with a bit of disappointment. The look in his dark brown eyes told me exactly what was wrong; He had no idea how to answer my question. It seemed odd, but his eyes shone with a kind of truth that even I couldn't miss.

"It's an Earth thing," Jude spoke up and offered the taller man a calm expression.

"Oh! Yes. I remember hearing about those now."

I stared at the two boys in surprise. What did Jude mean it was an Earth thing? And for that matter how could someone as old as Axel looked not know what States are?

"Am I missing something?" The question came out softly, but Jude's intense eyes were staring at me immediately. He let out a gentle sigh then stopped our procession so he could stand directly in front of me.

"Rogue, this isn't the world you knew."

"Ok…" I watched the boy and wished he would just spit out a complete answer.

"You stepped on a light stone in your dimension, and it brought you here."

"And here is?"

"This is the Lenox dimension. It is a lot like your dimension, but this dimension is ruled by the Lenox family."

"Okay," My eyes watched the man before me in shock. He really expected me to believe I had somehow been teleported to another dimension by a rock?! That was impossible! What kind of idiot did he take me for anyway? I shook my head to clear any possible cobwebs, then stared at him with doubting eyes, "I must have hit that tree harder than I thought."

"That is the truth, Rogue." Axel spoke up this time," The Lenox family is the highest power on the entire planet. They are above all other governing bodies in Lenox."

"Others?" Though I was not completely sure why Axel's words seemed to hold a more truthful ring then Jude's.

"Yes," Axel smiled and seemed to enjoy the chance to explain Lenox policies to me, "There are multiple power holders stationed around Lenox. It would be all but impossible for the King and Queen to make it to every village in the dimension. So, they rely on various representatives to take care of the residents and alert the King and Queen when they need help."

"Oh," I nodded my head slowly as I tried to take in the explanation he offered, "But why are the Lenox the most powerful?"

"Oh, that's easy." Axel smiled wider and started to motion grandly with his hands, "You see the Lenox are descended from a long line of m-"

"Pardon me." A cold voice suddenly cut Axel off in mid-sentence.

I noticed Axel go down into his submissive kneeling pose immediately. This was starting to become a pretty common movement for the giant man. Unlike Axel, Jude merely stood up straight and kept his position beside me. The weird thing about Jude was how quickly the warm emotions and playful nature could drain from his face. As he stared straight on I could see his bright eyes had become a dull gray color that was an insult to his true green-blue hue. After watching the two men react in largely different ways, I turned to face the mood killer.

The man was taller than Jude, but nowhere near the gigantic height of Axel. He was skinny and pale, which made his body look weak and sickly. The man had a pointed chin, which he tilted down just enough to be able to stare at me through a pair of tiny glasses perched at the end of his nose. He ignored Axel and Jude and addressed me first, "It's very good to see you awake, Princess."

"Rogue." I corrected the skeleton man quickly and stared into his deep yellow colored eyes.

"Alright," he bowed his head to me, "My apologies, Rogue."

It didn't make sense to me, why these people all treated me like my word was law. Did they really think I was this princess chick? These people could really use a reality check if they thought I was royalty. There was no way that could be true.

The skeleton man turned his no-nonsense gaze to Jude, "You are late for the meeting, Judah."

Jude nodded his head softly, "I got tied up in something, Griffin."

Griffin nodded his and finally turned to Axel, "You may rise guard."

Axel stood up slowly and gave the man a curt nod, "Thank you, sir."

I hated to see the one person in this place that had been kind enough to answer my questions be kicked around like some kind of servant. As I stared at Axel and Griffin, an idea began to form in my head. If they already assumed I was this powerful princess why shouldn't I try out my 'power'? I owed Axel a favor anyway, so why not help him now? I cleared my throat softly and all three men snapped to attention, "His name is Axel."

Griffin watched me for a moment then dipped his head in a reluctant nod, "All right. I shall make sure he is addressed by that title from now on."

"Thanks, Grif," I smiled at the man and watched his face tense slightly when I shortened his name. It was strange how much joy giving the order gave me. It had been a long time since anyone had listened to me, so this was rather fun. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad if they thought I was this princess for a bit. At least that way I got a little bit of respect.

"Judah," Griffin looked at the young man beside me, "I will go alert the others that you have arrived. I'll expect both of you shortly."

Griffin gave me a grand bow before he stood straight up once more and started to walk away from us. Once he seemed out of hearing range I let out a small shiver, "He is creepy."

Jude laughed softly at my words and patted my back with his warm hand, "Don't mind him. He's just a firm believer in the old customs and practices."

"Well, I hope I don't have to spend any time with him."

"He is the highest advisor. I have a feeling he will want to see you." Jude laughed softly and watched me think over his words. After a few minutes of considering what it would be like to have to spend time with the skeleton man I shook my head quickly, "Just take me to this meeting and then I am out of here."

Axel started to walk forward the moment Jude began to lead us again. I had to try and hurry my steps in order to keep up with the tall boys. As we walked along in silence once more I took the chance to study Axel more closely. The man was a true giant, that much was certain. I only came up to what I figured had to be his belly button. The man looked like he could kill anyone stupid enough to try and fight him.

"Hey, Axel?"

The behemoth of a man smiled down at me kindly, "Yes?"

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving this place as soon as this meeting is over so you shouldn't give that whole guard thing a second thought, ok?"

"I have sworn to protect you. And a true guard never goes back on his word. If you must go I shall go with you and make sure no harm comes to you."

I was about to inform Axel that he would have trouble fitting in with humans that rarely grew taller than seven feet max, but I was caught off guard by a set of tall armored guards standing like statues in front of two large oak doors. The guards were just as large as Axel, but they did not hold the friendly quality he did. Both statue like men gave me and then Jude separate bows before stepping out of the way of the doors.

Axel leaned forward and pulled the door open for Jude and me, then followed us into the room. I could see the room was quite large and that we were on a raised platform since on both sides of our trio there were stairs covered in a lush red rug leading downward. The room interested me, but before I could see any more of it, Griffin decided to butt in once more.

"Welcome." Griffin addressed our group in a confident voice. I tried to look around his thin frame so I could see more of the grand room, but he moved each time I did to block me from sight.

"Is the council ready?" Jude asked Grif and tried to stop my squirming by laying a gentle hand on my back.

"Yes," Griffin nodded and looked down at me, "I shall announce your presence immediately. The council members are very excited to see you."

Without another word the skeleton man turned around and walked towards the railing of the upper level. He stood perfectly straight and addressed what I figured was the council down below, "My fellow council members, it gives me great joy to stand before you on such an auspicious occasion. We have reason to celebrate throughout all of Lenox today. For today, the true heir to the throne has come back to us. So, it gives me great pleasure to introduce her Royal Highness Alexandria Gracelyn Rose Lenox, Princess of all Lenox." Griffin stepped aside and motioned for me to come forward.

I stepped closer to the Griffin with a nervous stomach and clung tightly to the cold stone railing. Below me were a hundred people of different races and genders shouting out cheers and praises. Each person bowed or curtsied as I stared at them curiously. I could understand a few people mistaking me for this princess, but all of these people couldn't possibly believe I was their princess. What was wrong with these people?! Here I was dressed in a tank top and oversized sweat pants and they are proclaiming allegiance to me! There was something terribly wrong with this place.

Jude walked up to my side and placed his hand gently on my back once more, "There was something I forgot to mention." He whispered the words in my ear, but I couldn't pull my eyes from the crowd below to look at him.

"What?"

Griffin cleared his throat then and stood behind us, "And I am pleased to announce that now Lenox can finally have the royal wedding they have been waiting for. Three cheers for the Princess and her betrothed, Sir Judah Carson Kingston!"

As the crowd below started to cheer happily, Jude mumbled into my ear, "That."

I stood in complete shock as the crowd started to pat each other on the back and shout messages of good will to us. How could Jude forget to mention this Alex girl was his fiancée?! While it was a bit fun to be respected by these people, there was no way I was in this for marriage! My stomach started to churn nervously as the image of me being married started to appear in my mind. Slowly, I stepped back from Jude and Griffin and mumbled out my shocked rebuttals.

Axel's gloved hands held my shoulders softly as I backed into his large body, "Are you alright, Rogue?" He looked down at me with a great deal of worry.

As I looked up to his face I spotted the quickest escape from this loony bin. Without a single thought, my body shot up from the crowd and headed straight through the thick roof covering the building. Once I reached the outside, my eyes looked around anxiously for the stone that had brought me here.

Luckily, the stone was not too far away from what I could see now was the extremly large loony bin castle. I flew to the large stone and landed on the center of it, "Ok!" I shouted at the stone in a panicked voice, "Take me back now!" I waited motionlessly for the lights to wrap around my body and take me back to a sane dimension.

But nothing happened.

"What the hell?!" I yelled at the stone again and tried to make it work by closing my eyes and focusing on my destination or anything to do with Earth in general.

"That was a pretty big exit."

I opened one of my eyes and saw Jude and Axel standing a few feet away from the stone. My brow furrowed as I offered Jude my best attempt at a Logan growl, "Why the hell didn't you tell me that this Alex girl was your fiancée?!"

"I was going to."

"When?!" I snapped at him, "On the fucking honeymoon?!"

Jude sighed and rubbed his temples, "Look Rogue, I-"

"Save it!" I snapped at him and turned to the stone under my bare feet, "If you value your life Jude, you'll shut the hell up."

Jude sighed and watched me in silence beside a very worried looking Axel. For the first time since I had met him, Jude actually didn't put up a fight when I asked him to do something. Maybe there was hope for preserving my sanity yet…

FIVE hours later I was no closer to escaping the royal loony bin! While Axel and Jude had played cards under the shade trees nearby, I had been trying everything I could think of to make the stone work. By this point, my tactic was simply dive bomb the damn thing from the sky in hopes it would come to life. Each dive ended in a ground shaking tremor, but the stone remained unscratched.

"How long are you going to do this?" Jude looked at me from his spot leaning against a large tree's trunk.

"Until I get out of here!" I growled at him.

"Wow." Axel yawned then continued his statement, "You must really want to get back to this Earth place."

As my chest heaved from all the effort I put out to get the stone to work, I couldn't help but think about Axel's words. What was there for me on the other side? The humans hated mutants more each day, the students treated me like some kind of giant joke, and I was a clumsy ticking time bomb to the other X-men. All that I was running to was a life where I disappointed and endangered everyone.

"Rogue?" Jude stood up and watched me closely.

"What?!"

"Look, why don't you admit that you can't leave and just head in and rest some?"

"I'm not staying here!"

"Oh yeah, you've made excellent progress in getting out so far!"

"What do you want me to do?!" I demanded of him, "Click my heels together three times?!"

"Well-"

"Forget it!" I snapped and stood face to face with Jude. We stared into each other's eyes, neither daring to blink and risk looking subordinate.

"Whoa, guys." Axel walked towards us and placed a gloved hand on each of our shoulders, "Rogue, why do you want to leave? I know it's not my place, but just now you looked heartbroken at the thought of going to the other dimension."

I sighed and broke my gaze war with Jude to look at Axel, "Look, Axel this place is beautiful, but I just wouldn't fit here. And besides, there is no way I am going to be forced into a marriage. I'm not this Alexandria girl."

"I don't want to marry you!" Jude interjected and looked me in the eyes, "Believe it or not I am not thrilled with having my love life planned out for me."

"Well," I relented somewhat, "Maybe you're not a complete psycho then."

Jude offered me the same playful grin he had when we had talked over omelets, "After all that has happened today, I appreciate that." He offered me a few more minutes of playful grins, and then took on a more serious face, "But, there is a more serious issue here than just us."

"Like what?"

"Since the Lenox reign was interrupted the dimension has fallen into chaos. No one knows who the rightful heir is supposed to be. The council has already had to squash several uprisings by various villages. But now word has spread that the true Lenox heir is back and the people are hopeful again. I'm worried that if you leave now they will fall into a chaos that even the council cannot fix."

"Look," I glanced at my feet feeling slightly guilty since I still wanted to get out of being a princess, "I am sorry about your dimension, but I am not Alexandria."

"Are you sure?" Axel piped up.

"Of course, I'm sure. I would know if I was a princess."

Jude placed a hand under my chin and raised my head slowly. He gave me a soft smile and asked in a low whisper like voice, "Then why does the locket glow for you?" He let go of my chin and kept a soft look in his colorful eyes, "Tell me do you remember your childhood? The princess was taken from us when she was only about five years old."

I was a bit stumped by Jude's questions, and that really bothered me. The locket did do strange things for me. Unless it supposedly lit up and shot out light for everyone, and I just didn't know it. As for the childhood, I knew that my early childhood years had always been a bit foggy for me. The earliest memory I had was waking up in a hospital to find Mystique and Irene sitting by my bed. They had explained that I had been in an accident and that I was going to live with Irene.

I hadn't realized it back then, when they took me from the hospital, that the doctors had no idea I was going with them. But, looking back on it now I could see the obvious signs that what they had done was wrong. While I had given my past life some thought over the years, I had never thought that it could be this grand. I always assumed that my parents were just simple people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was no way someone like me could be a long lost princess. Things like that just didn't happen in real life…

"Rogue," Jude looked down into my eyes and asked softly, "I'll make a deal with you okay?"

"What kind of deal?"

"Since you obviously aren't able to make the teleportation stone work, why don't you stay here? To me, Griffin, and Axel you are Rogue, but to the rest of Lenox, you will be Alexandria. We can contact a memory unlocker, who might be able to help us look into your early years and prove that you are the true princess."

"And when they find out that I'm not the heir?"

"Look at it this way; If you are not the princess then you just got a five-star vacation for free. We will take the blame and explain it to the public while you head off to your past dimension or wherever you want to go. But, if you do turn out to be the true heir you will have a whole dimension that belongs to you and only you. You can't loose."

My brain tried to digest the young man's words every way it could in hopes that I could find the downside. But after a minute or two of thinking, I still couldn't find a problem with the plan. I'd get to be viewed as someone who wasn't a mess or a disaster for a couple of days and in the end, I could walk away with no strings attached. I took one more glance at the rock below me, before giving in to the deal, "Alright. Deal."

I shook the hand Jude stuck out at me and watched the boy's mood grow happy once more. Jude gave me a wide smile and Axel followed the facial movement quickly with his own grin. Jude kept a hold of my hand and started to lead me towards the castle. Axel followed behind me with a big grin on his face as he hummed what sounded like a victory tune.

"So," I looked at Jude curiously before yanking my hand from his in order to hold up my oversized pants, "What does a fake princess do exactly?"

"First," Jude watched me hold up the pants with an amused grin, "We'll need to get you some clothes that fit."

So two minutes into the princess charade and I was already being set up for a day of fashion. Great…