The Darkholme Legacy Chapter 14, a x-men: the movie fanfic

Author's Notes: Thoughts are signified by 'these'. Emphasis and the voices in Rogue's head are in italics. Telepathic conversation is underlined. Bold and italic signifies a vision. Yes, people, I am still alive, but what can I say, RL and writer's block suck. The next two chapters are already partially written, so there won't be as big a gap this time. Hope some of you are still around!

Disclaimer: I say again, the X-Men and related characters do not belong to me, they are Marvel's. However, Hannah, Decipher and Conchita, who first appear in this chapter, are mine. No touchee.

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"Darkholme, party of three?" Rogue nodded, and the hostess smiled professionally. "Follow me, please."

When Rogue, Wanda and Pietro were seated, the hostess gave them small drink menus and told them their waiter would be with them shortly to take drink orders and give them their main menus. In deference to the formal atmosphere of the upscale restaurant Rogue had picked, she and Wanda were wearing dresses, Wanda's black and her own a deep shade of green. Pietro was dressed up in slacks and a silver-colored silk shirt. Pietro had been tense since before they even walked in the door, and when their waiter took their drink orders and left them three menus, he finally spoke.

"So, Rogue," he began. "What's with the fancy eats and only inviting Wanda and me? You're not leaving, are you?"

Touched by the genuine panic in Pietro's voice, Rogue reached over to pat his hand reassuringly with her gloved one.

"No, Speedy, nothing like that," she answered. "I just… well, I have a business proposition for the two of you, and I wanted to handle it away from the House. I thought taking you to a more formal restaurant would be nice, but we can go somewhere else if you'd prefer."

Pietro visibly calmed and picked up his menu with a smile. Evidently they were staying.

Wanda leaned forward, "Why not include the others?"

"Avalanche has his own thing and, frankly, I would never go into business with Remy. I trust him only to do what is best for himat the time."

The twins nodded agreement.

"What about Piotr?" Wanda pointed out.

"Between teaching, his art and the X-Men, he's got three full-time jobs already. Maybe he'll be involved further down the road, but to start it would just be the three of us."

Wanda nodded, and the two young women, seeing their waiter give them a questioning glace, picked up their menus and decided what to get. Once their orders had been placed, and the waiter had once more left them to their own devices, Pietro and Wanda once again turned their attention to Rogue.

"So, what's this business proposition?" Pietro asked.

"Well," Rogue began, "you know about the money Mama Irene left me, and the letter."

Pietro and Wanda nodded again. The Brotherhood had been momentarily surprised but otherwise non-responsive when Rogue was suddenly a millionaire. After all, they all lived in a mansion and had fairly unlimited resources without Magneto there to veto spending and Mystique giving them free access to Brotherhood funds. Not one of them was truly a "big spender." Being that flashy drew attention, and they had all learned through various experiences in their young lives that attention seeking wasn't smart for them.

The letter she had shared only with the twins, being so much closer to them than she was to Avalanche and Remy… not for lack of trying on Remy's part, though Rogue couldn't help but think his attempts always leaned more toward shallow flirtation than true friendship.

Irene had written how much she loved and missed Rogue, and had cautioned her to continue to have the accountant in charge of her trust follow Irene's investment instructions, that she would need the money. Though they hadn't spoken of it in depth, not wanting to dwell on the fact that it would happen and it would mean the end of their current lifestyle, all three of them assumed Irene meant that Rogue would need whatever protection the money could provide when Magneto got free. But the letter had also told Rogue to enjoy herself and to live in the moment whenever she could. Rogue had found the letter disturbingly foreboding in many ways but planned to take Destiny's words to heart.

"And, well, I want to have something to do, something that's mine."

"That's understandable," Pietro commented. "What did you decide on?"

"I want to open a club that doubles as a bar during the week. I know you both have experience bartending, and you can do that as well if you like, I know how good tips can be, but I wanted you two to be my managers. I've worked in the back room of diners and a few bars in my time on the road and in New York, and I plan on hiring a consultant to help us get started. Of course I want the place to be mutant-friendly only." Rogue gave them a brief outline of how the bar versus club aspect would work. "What do you guys think?"

"You've really put a lot of thought into this, Rogue, but I see at least one big problem standing in your way," Pietro commented. "You only turned twenty several weeks ago."

Rogue smiled, retrieving her two IDs from the clutch purse she'd kept in her lap for this moment. She handed one of the cards to Pietro, the one that identified her as the over-twenty-one Ann Adler. With a twitch of his silver eyebrows, Pietro passed it to Wanda, who stared at it for a long minute before quietly speaking.

"Is that your real name? Ann?" she asked softly.

"No," Rogue answered just as gently, not wanting someone to overhear and take her words the wrong way. "Ann is an alias Irene made up for me so I could pass as older if I needed to." She handed the second ID to Wanda, retrieving the first in the process. Rogue had already decided it was time to let her two closest friends in the House know who she really was. Wanda handed the second ID to Pietro who glanced at it silently before he handed it back to Rogue, who was still speaking. "I'd appreciate it if you kept this between us. I don't know why I guard my name so closely, probably because it's one of the few things no one's ever been able to take from me completely, and it's made it all that much more important to me."

"We'll only call you Marie in private," Wanda agreed, her eyes slightly misty.

Pietro sank back further in his chair and studied Rogue. "Marie Darkholme. It suits you."

Rogue thanked the young man with a smile before turning back to the conversation about the club. "Since Irene was the one who left me the money, I considered calling the place 'Adler's' or something similar, but I think 'Darkholme' has that something extra, you know?"

"I agree," Wanda responded; Pietro nodded his affirmation as well. "But it sounds like we wouldn't be contributing much, not enough to warrant all the extra effort of bringing us here and all, anyway."

Rogue shook her head but had to wait until their meals had been set in front of each of them before she could answer, "I told you I want you to be my managers, and believe me, you'll be earning the title if you agree. I've decided to take Emma Frost up on her offer of coaching me to further hone my abilities; it will mean leaving one or both of you in charge when I'm not around. And part of Emma's deal involves me working for her when she needs it, and I'm not even sure how often or when that will be. I'm not actually going to go to Emma until after Darkholme opens, but you can see that I will most definitely be needing you."

The twins shared a look and Pietro asked, "Could you make yourself scarce for a minute so we can discuss it?"

"Oh, of course," Rogue answered somewhat hesitantly, not sure how long she should stay away from the table.

I'll tell you when we're done, Wanda assured on the mental path Rogue had unknowingly opened the night of her encounter with Carol Danvers, the one she had cultivated with Wanda and Piotr and newly forged more recently with Pietro.

Rogue had not tried contacting Logan again since that accidental first time (though she still didn't know if he had ever heard her), knowing how much he hated having his head messed with, and nervous to find out how he would react to where she was living and who she was living with. She'd only telepathically spoken to Scott once since that night, assuring him she was on her way when she realized she was going to be late to their most recent monthly meeting. Scott had only shown the tiniest hint of surprise, more amused at her apologetic attempt than anything. Mystique, on the other hand, Rogue had stopped speaking to telepathically when she left for D.C. Rogue didn't want to surprise Mystique during any sort of meeting that might compromise her adoptive mother's cover. She wasn't actually sure the ability would reach that far, in any case.

Agreeing silently with Wanda's plan, Rogue excused herself from the table and made her way to the ladies' room leisurely. Stopping in front of a large mirror that was simply on the wall instead of over the sinks, Rogue fussed unnecessarily with her hair, killing time. The incongruous sight of the dog tag hanging around her neck along with the nice, long-sleeved dress and gloves she was wearing made her smile.

She had only considered taking off Logan's tag for a second before dismissing the notion. It and the psychic echo of him in her head were her most precious 'possessions' and she wasn't about to give up either one. As he and Erik had promised nearly two months ago when she had cleaned out her head, her Inner Logan had been less hostile about the Brotherhood and Rogue's choice to stay with them. It had been a more than welcome change and had actually helped lessen the headaches she still got on occasion. Nothing, however, stopped the nightmares.

The smile disappeared from Rogue's face. She had lied to Mystique and Piotr, telling them that the dreams had lessened so the two would be a bit less worried about her all the time. Rogue wasn't sure either of them had actually believed her, but her assurances had eased their active worrying a bit. But no matter what she had told them, the dreams hadn't lessened, and she had no idea how to get them to do so.

Just last night she had woken in a cold sweat after one of Erik's concentration camp torture dreams. After the incident with the gates when his power first manifested, the Nazis had been interested in harnessing his… they believed… supernatural control over metal. But because he was still young, untrained and terrified, the young Erik had lacked control. This hadn't pleased the superiors of the officers in charge of his 'training' and the lower level officers had no problem taking out their anger over being disciplined on him in ways that even the most detailed documentaries on concentration camps failed to cover the scope of. Rogue never purposefully delved into Erik's memories of World War II, but she had recently been considering doing so in order to find out how he had survived so that she would have that information to fall back on, to further prove to herself that it was over, that it was just a nightmare, just a memory.

The combination of Carol's invulnerability and Logan's healing factor, both now hers, served to allow Rogue to sometimes go a couple nights without sleep. On those occasions she would busy herself with even more training, getting in extra practice at the sessions she took part in everyday. She had also begun reinvesting her time in all the various lessons Irene and Mystique had given her when she had lived with them. Ballet, modern dance, gymnastics, aerobatics, as well as varying martial arts and intellectual studies occupied her days and the long, quiet times when she eluded the Sandman. But invariably the time would come to sleep again, and she would once more dream things no one deserved to suffer through. It didn't help matters that some of the nightmares were truly her own.

Rogue sucked in and released a deep, cleansing breath before splashing her face with cold water. She didn't need to think about these things right now, she was supposed to be enjoying herself with Wanda and Pietro and thinking about the club.

'Happy thoughts, Rogue,' she told herself mockingly.

Perhaps if you got rid of me, you wouldn't have my nightmares anymore, Erik suggested in her head, his tone making it clear that leaving her head was still something he didn't truly want.

'Thanks for the offer, Erik, but I still have the dreams about Xavier losing his ability to walk, so I don't think that would do any good,' she reminded him.

Perhaps because they were the strongest of the three presences left in her head, or maybe because she relied on them so much, Erik and Logan were able to read her thoughts, which extended to knowing when and what she had dreamt. In a way, she was as much a part of them as they were of her. And they comforted her each time she was in need of it, much as Mystique had when she had been in residence at the House. Her odd little family, two of them "voices" in her head and one an absentee mother figure posing as a US Senator, was unconventional, but it didn't stop them from meaning a lot to her. Piotr, Wanda and Pietro were included in her makeshift family of course, but she wanted to keep them out of the worst aspects of her mutation as much as possible.

I'm sorry, my dear, I hadn't thought of that, Erik replied to the reminder.

Rogue knew Erik's words were heartfelt, but she couldn't help being amused by the relief she could easily tell he felt.

Rogue… Marie, Wanda's astral voice tentatively tried out her real name. We're ready.

Leaving the restroom after she dried her face, Rogue smiled as she approached the table. The twins smiled back, Pietro with his lips pressed together since his mouth was full. Rogue waited until he had finished chewing before sending an inquiring glance at her two companions.

"Before we give you our answer," Wanda began, immediately causing Rogue to assume the answer was no, "we wanted to tell you that you've come to mean a lot to us. We've never had as deep a friendship with anyone else the way we do with you, and it means a great deal that you've asked us to be a part of this."

Wanda's voice quivered during her last sentence, and Pietro took over for her. "What we're trying to say is that we think of you as a little sister."

Emotion swelled within Rogue at their words, closing her throat and stopping her from speaking. Tears came to Rogue's eyes and, blinking rapidly to keep them from falling, she extended her gloved hands to each of them, Wanda and Pietro both taking the hand nearest them and squeezing tightly.

"Thank you," Rogue whispered, afraid she wouldn't be able to speak at normal volume; her voice was sure to crack from the emotion.

"We'd be honored to be a part of this with you," Pietro finally answered when they'd all gotten themselves under some semblance of control.

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It wasn't until a month after Darkholme had opened its doors, three months after Rogue had told Pietro and Wanda about her plan, that Rogue approached Emma Frost about the training she had mentioned that fateful night. Emma was more than happy that Rogue had decided to go through with it, and 'working for her' became an interesting aspect once Emma learned of Rogue's changed circumstances. Rogue trained with Emma on better controlling her telepathy, and the ability she had been born with, twice a week during the early part of the day when Darkholme was closed. And every week, or every other week, depending on what had been scheduled, Rogue accompanied Emma to dinners and parties held by the Hellfire Club.

The Hellfire Club was an exclusive club of influential or wealthy (or both) men and women, some mutants, some not, that met regularly to make connections with other members and spread news among their community. Unknown to most members, the Inner Circle, a group of men and women code-named after chess pieces… the place Emma had gotten her 'White Queen' code name…and were 'in charge' of the Club, kept tabs on everyone and everything that went on, using it to their advantage politically as well as financially. Several members of the Inner Circle were telepaths of one form or another.

Because she was rich in her own right and Emma was the one sponsoring her, Rogue was accepted as a lower level member immediately. Rogue wasn't 'Rogue' as a member of the Hellfire Club, though, putting into use the alias Ann Adler once more (she'd had to use it to get all the permits necessary to open Darkholme). To excuse the fact that she had a powerful mind block and wore concealing garments (the Club had a dress policy of revealing garments for the women and old-fashioned attire for the men), Emma had suggested a cover story for Rogue of having a touch-telepath ability that she could use weakly without touching, but could not control during skin-to-skin contact. Both Rogue and Emma didn't think it would be a good idea for anyone to find out all that she was capable of. The 'work' she did for Emma consisted of keeping her mind open to catch investment opportunities as well as anyone who might be using the Club for more nefarious purposes.

The former was fairly simple and Rogue generally had several things to report after each Club event. So far there had only been one time, though, that she had discovered anyone there for murderous intentions as opposed to just selfish ones. The man had been at Rogue's table at a dinner, and glee at having information to give his boss crossed the surface of his mind. The fact that his boss' last name was Creed stopped Rogue from turning her attention away from him and on to someone else.

If he was working with Sabretooth to try and free Magneto she needed to know, even if Emma wouldn't find it important. The man had an impressive mind block for a non-mutant, but Rogue was able to get passed it fairly easily. It was then that she realized the first name had been Graydon and not Viktor. Even without the aid of the man's knowledge, Rogue immediately remembered that her much older foster brother was a member of an active anti-mutant hate group. She had excused herself from the table on the excuse of needing the ladies' room and gone in search of Emma, accidentally walking in on a meeting of the Inner Circle in a private room.

"Sorry," she'd apologized when one of the men… Shaw, who was the Black King… stood with the intention of chewing her out. "Emma," when she got several glares from Inner Circle members, she corrected herself, "White Queen, there's a member of the Friends of Humanity at my table."

"Thank you, Ann," Emma had responded. "We'll have someone take care of it."

Rogue'd had to keep both Logan and Erik leashed as she sat back down with the FOH member and pretended nothing was wrong. Taking him out herself, while tempting, would have blown her own cover as part of the Hellfire Club and gotten Emma in trouble as well. So she'd sat quietly and pretended to be as confused as the other people at the table when two of Shaw's henchmen had come to escort him away. Later that night when the event had ended, Emma told Rogue that she had used Rogue's outing of the spy as a means to put forth the idea of making Rogue her personal assistant, and therefore a member of the Inner Circle.

Understandably, given their closed ranks and personal agendas, the decision would not be a quick one. But the Inner Circle had not immediately vetoed the idea, so Emma was optimistic. Rogue, however, was now on even higher alert to keep her mind block firmly in place. Shaw, the leader of the Inner Circle in his position as Black King, would be looking into every aspect of her life to determine whether it was worth the risk of including her in the group. Rogue was lucky in that all paper trails attaching her to Darkholme and to Emma were already under one name. Even though Marie Darkholme was co-owner of Darkholme, who would actually believe two identities solid enough to fool the IRS and business bureaus could be for the same person? There was also hardly any risk of her connection to the X-Men being discovered since Xavier had never been in possession of her real name, or her alias, to put in any documentation.

Rogue was not a name that had any meaning to the Hellfire Club, so the Inner Circle had little reason to come across it. There was, however, always the chance that Shaw would send a telepathic spy to check on her housemates or the people who worked for her. But Emma was of the belief that having ties to both the X-Men and the Brotherhood would actually work in her favor instead of against her. Unfortunately, if they learned that much, they'd also learn that she and Emma had lied about her powers. Who knew how they'd react to that. At this point, it was basically a waiting game. And since finding out as much about the Friends of Humanity as they could from their new captive was priority one, the game could be a long one.

In the meantime, Rogue continued to train both mentally and physically. The focusing exercises continued, allowing Rogue to slowly but surely gain the ability to touch while only drawing one aspect for longer periods of time. But she still could not touch without drawing something from the person she had contact with. Emma had also started her own version of the "what are Rogue's limits?" department of training that Pietro was so fond of. When Emma converted her body to the hard, diamond-like material that was her physical mutation, she was able to bruise Rogue with her punches and kicks, even snapping one of Rogue's ribs once. Rogue healed quickly, of course, and the brutality of the training was necessary for her to acknowledge that her invulnerability only went so far. Because though her friends and adoptive mother cared very deeply for her, there was no longer anyone around who could bring her back from the point of death with a simple touch.

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The bar was oddly quiet when Scott walked in, and for an instant his insecurities about wearing his red shades around normal humans allowed him to imagine it was because of him. But he quickly realized none of the people in the place, most of them men, were looking at him. They were all staring, with varying degrees of openness, toward the back of the first room, which appeared to have a partition-type wall that could be opened up to make the interior bigger. Scott walked further into the room so he could see what they were all watching so avidly.

There was an old-fashioned looking jukebox that none-the-less had CDs inside it against the temporary wall. But it was the shapely, jeans-clad rear end of the woman on her hands and knees partially behind the machine that had everyone's attention. His too, now. After a few seconds of wriggling that was… interesting to watch, the woman backed out and stood, tossing her hair back over her shoulders in the process. A flutter of white… or at least what he knew was white to other people… among a curly fall of rich mahogany caught Scott's eye a second before the woman turned and revealed herself to be Rogue.

Scott quickly filed all of his previous thoughts in the section of his mind that Jean allowed him to keep private from her. He would have anyway, knowing how oddly insecure she was about his attraction to other women, but it being Rogue, he knew, would make it so much worse.

"George, quit unplugging this thing or I'll toss you out on your ear," she berated one of the men at a small table close to her. "And Hank, stop playing songs you know George hates or I'll toss you alongside him."

The two men grinned at each other and then at her, clearly unrepentant, and Scott had to wonder whether George cared at all about what song Hank was playing when he unplugged the machine. Rogue narrowed her eyes and shook her head at them, but moved away, spotting him moments later. She approached with a guarded smile, looking around and toward the sign for the ladies room as she stopped in front of him.

"Didn't think you and Jean frequented bars," Rogue commented.

"I used to occasionally," Scott answered. "But she doesn't. Jean's at a conference in D.C. for a week."

Rogue nodded and gestured toward a table away from other customers that had a bottle of Dr. Pepper sitting open beside a book. "Would you care to join me? I'm not really on duty tonight, just watching over the place."

Scott frowned at her last sentence. He had thought it odd when she spoke to the two men that way, but had put it down to probably working here, like Piotr (who Scott had passed at the door acting as bouncer) did. Even thought she was technically a year too young to do so according to what Xavier had told him about the approximate date of her birthday.

"Oh, didn't Piotr tell you?" she asked to his look. "Darkholme is mine. Opened it with some of the money my foster mother left me."

Looking around the place with new eyes, Scott replied, "It's nice."

"Thanks," Rogue responded cheerfully, turning toward the table she had indicated moments ago. "What would you like?"

"Bud in a bottle if you've got it."

"Sure do," she answered, waving a signal to a woman behind the bar who looked vaguely familiar.

The two of them reached the table and sat, and the next second a sudden breeze brushed over them both and Pietro Maximoff was standing in front of them, his light blue eyes narrowed at Scott.

"Speedy," Rogue said gently before Magneto's son could say anything, "he's a friend, remember? He led me to Emma. Do you really think he came here… alone… to make trouble?"

Pietro's stance relaxed and he tore his eyes away from Scott to focus on Rogue, "Fine. Piotr's here if you're wrong. I gotta go," he indicated a busty blonde waiting by the door with a nod of his head.

"Have fun," Rogue responded in an amused tone.

With one last glare at Scott, Pietro left, but not before a warning of a different kind, "You better tip my sister well, Summers."

"I'd tell you to ignore him," Wanda Maximoff, the young woman Scott had somewhat recognized from behind the counter, said as she set his beer in front of him, opening the top for him, "but I would like a good tip." The redhead, a much more auburn shade than his fiancée's hair and much curlier, smiled to show she was teasing before asking Rogue, "You need another?"

"I'm good. Thanks, Wanda."

Scott paid for the beer, and a very fair tip.

"Thank you for what you did for Rogue all those months ago, and before that as well," Wanda commented, her tone and face much more serious now.

"Of course."

With another smile for Rogue, Wanda headed back toward the bar, smacking a hand that reached for her behind on the way.

"They really don't mind about your connection to their father, do they?"

It was more of an observation than a question, but Rogue still answered it.

"Actually, they didn't even know at first. There were a few days of tension when they did find out, but we've grown closer since then. I don't know what'll happen if Magneto ever escapes, we don't ever talk about it, but for now they're definitely my friends."

The two lapsed into catch-up mode, filling each other in about recent happenings the way they did during their monthly meetings. It was some time later when Scott confided his previous worry over their mutual friend.

"When Piotr first told me about this job, I asked him why he needed another job when he was already teaching and painting and getting free room and board, but he said it wasn't about the money. I can understand why now."

Something in his tone made Rogue frown, and she told him carefully, "Piotr and I are very good friends, he's the best friend I've ever had, but we're not… involved, or anything."

That hadn't been what he meant, but the defensive way she said it made Scott want to find out more. He had seen how comfortable the two were the few times he'd seen them together, and he also knew Piotr cared very deeply for her from things he'd told Scott. And the way the young Russian had behaved when Rogue had been in serious danger… it had humbled Scott to see it. It was in everything Piotr did in connection with Rogue; the way he spoke of her, the way he looked at her, the way he touched her, the paintings and sketches he did of her.

"He loves you," Scott observed softly.

Rogue smiled warmly, "And I love him. But there are many different kinds of love, Scott, and the love he and I share isn't romantic."

Scott wasn't sure if she was right or not, at least on Piotr's end of things, but if Piotr had a reason not to pursue Rogue, then Scott would not be the one to mess up what they did have by pointing out the elephant in the room.

He gestured dismissively, "Anyway, that wasn't what I meant. Piotr enjoys things more when he's around people he cares about, and you're here."

Rogue nodded in agreement, "You're right. Piotr told me his favorite thing in the world back home was just to be in the living room with his family at the end of a long day and sketch with his sister next to him and his parents close by watching TV. I'm the closest thing he has to family here, and working here allows him to spend time with me without being at the House."

Scott nodded slowly and silent minutes passed as he sipped from his third beer of the evening. Finally, Rogue broke the companionable silence with a teasing tone.

"Is that why you came here? To see what Piotr was up to?"

Despite the levity of her voice, Scott could tell there was still a fear in her that he thought she could no longer be trusted.

He answered honestly but lightly, "Nah, I know Piotr can take of himself. The Professor heard one of the seniors talking about this place and wanted me to come check it out. Make sure no underage drinking would be imminent."

"Well, I have no intention of losing my license, so no worries there," Rogue answered easily. "Besides, during the week we're strictly twenty-one and over…" when Scott gave her a look she amended, "except the proprietor, of course. We're closed Sunday, Monday to Thursday we're just a bar, with the occasional pool tournament in the back room, and then Friday and Saturday we're a club. We're still eighteen and over then, though, so only a few of the students will be able to get in even then. Those under drinking age are required to wear a special wrist band and get their hand stamped, which shows up in the black lights over the bar even if they happen to take off their band. And the bartenders are all instructed to ask for ID if they have any doubts. We also serve water and soda, so… we haven't had too many problems so far. And when we do, well, that's what Piotr and the other bouncers are for."

Scott nodded his understanding. "Sounds good." He paused and smiled at her before asking, "Any chance of a friends-of-the-owner discount?"

Rogue laughed as he had intended her to, and answered, "That depends on how often you come in."

Later, when last call had been declared and most of the people had left, Piotr and the other bouncer came inside and started helping with the clean up, Scott pitching in when Piotr offered to drive him home if he did. When everything had been tidied and put away, Rogue opened a locked panel on the jukebox and flipped a switch inside. Evidently the switch allowed music to then be played free of charge, because she punched in a few selections and moved to the stand beside Wanda on the part of the floor that was cleared. As the up tempo beat of a country song from the early nineties filled the room, Rogue and Wanda began a slowed-down version of a line dance, letting Piotr and the other males that worked at Darkholme fall in behind them and learn the steps before moving normal speed.

Scott took a spot beside Piotr with a smile. It had been a long time since he had nothing to do but have fun, even if this was just a temporary reprieve. After another fast song that they danced the same steps to, a slower song played. Rogue moved to Scott with a smile as Wanda began to two-step with one of the bartenders.

"Care to dance?" she asked gently, her smile friendly.

Scott's answer was to take her into his arms and twirl her around the floor with nearly perfect footwork. But halfway through the song he noticed Piotr watching them and danced Rogue over to his teammate, realizing how late it was and that they had to leave sooner rather than later.

"I gotta sit down a minute," Scott excused. "You wanna take over, Piotr?"

Piotr smiled and easily accepted Rogue into his hold, pausing a moment to let her strip off her gloves before clasping the fingers of one hand and letting the other rest on his shoulder, close to his bare neck. Scott gaped in shock, Rogue telling him succinctly that Piotr was immune before the Russian guided her away from the visored man and across the floor. They moved together with a familiarity that Scott had seen only rarely in other people, and he found himself wondering again if Piotr felt more for Rogue than the young woman knew.

On the way back to the school, he decided to ask Piotr about it.

"If you're immune to her touch and you care so much about each other…" he tried.

"She loves Logan. Even if he isn't here physically, he'll always be in her heart," Piotr responded simply, and Scott knew it was the end of that conversation.

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Nearly a month after outing the FOH member, Rogue was in the middle of one of her Inner Logan's standard 'lab torture' nightmares when it suddenly stopped. She knew she had to be dreaming, but what came next was unlike any dream she'd experienced before. Her nightmares were vivid, and she could often feel the pain inflicted in them, but they never encompassed all five senses. This did. It was like she was completely and fully there, even though she knew she wasn't.

She was dressed in her uniform and flanked by Pietro and Wanda, who were also 'professionally' clothed. There was a warehouse-type building in the distance and she could smell the pollution from factories a distance beyond it. She heard herself say, "I've seen this place before. They have kids here too, not just adults."

As if to prove her own words to be true, though they probably wouldn't appreciate being called kids, the dream jumped and Rogue found herself in an odd room with cement walls and a row of doors, beside each of which a section of the wall was crumbled. A set of teenage twins, a boy and girl with Hispanic features and skin tone but blue hair and eyes, stood before her. And though they were both striking, it was the fact that they were about to lead her somewhere… her own voice echoing, "Do you know where they're keeping Hannah?" … that was truly interesting.

The dream shifted again, a brief vision of a sickly looking young girl, followed by a tombstone with all but the word "Hannah" blurred out of focus. There was a sense of urgency to that final image that told Rogue that whoever Hannah was, she didn't have much time left.

Rogue woke with a start, but she couldn't see anything. She began to panic. Even in the deepest, darkest part of the night, the enhanced eyesight she had inherited from Logan's touch could see nearly every corner of her large bedroom. So why couldn't she even see her hand in front of her? She was so confused that it took reaching up to see if there was something covering her eyes before she realized that something warm and wet was sliding down her face. It started near her nose and was slowly dripping off her chin. Rogue licked her lip cautiously and gasped.

It was blood! Her nose was bleeding. She'd never been prone to nosebleeds before, but she'd seen enough movie and TV characters with them to automatically pinch her nostrils closed and tilt her head back. But that still didn't explain why she was suddenly blind. Even if some illness had befallen her that would have stripped a normal person of their sight, Logan's healing factor wouldn't have allowed it to remain. For that matter, why was her nose still bleeding?

It's a side effect of the vision, Marie, Irene's voice sounded remorseful. My power is a strong one and it is momentarily suppressing all your other mutations, except for your skin of course. Your body isn't used to it, and may never be, and the way it's dealing with this is to tell you something is wrong by giving you symptoms to get your attention. It will probably happen any time my power works, but you need to hold onto the ability for a little while longer.

'Why?'

Rogue thought her inner voice sounded rather whiny, but was it too much to ask to be able to choose for herself which abilities she kept and which ones she got rid of? Especially if they were a danger to her health.

Just trust me child, Irene responded firmly.

'Why not just tell me all of it now? Get it over with. Then I'd never have to go through this again.'

Rogue could feel Irene's hesitation before the psychic echo of her deceased foster mother replied, I'm afraid it can't happen that way. Knowing that much of what's to come that far in advance could change the future in ways even I could not begin to fathom.

'How do I go about seeing again?' Rogue asked resignedly. She added with a touch of sarcasm, 'With my eyes.'

I will fade back to my little corner of your mind, and Erik and Logan will return. They'll help you.

Irene did as she said, disappearing back to wherever it was she normally hid. Searing pain so sudden it knocked the air from her lungs and left her gasping spiked through Rogue's head, feeling how she imagined it would feel to have someone slam white hot lances into both eyes and all the way through her brain.

Rogue didn't stop a physical scream from tearing from her throat, knowing if she stifled it, her pain would seek another outlet through her psychic link to her friends and maybe even Mystique. And there was nothing any of them could do about this. Though Rogue would have liked to be comforted, she acknowledged that knowing about this latest 'injury' would only make them all feel bad, powerless to help her. And when her head hurt badly enough, and this certainly qualified, she had a harder time blocking what people projected around her.

We're here for ya, darlin', Logan growled comfortingly in her head.

Erik suggested gently, Why don't you take some Tylenol and try to get back to sleep, my dear? Your healing factor works even better on things like this when you get enough rest.

'I know, Erik,' she responded distractedly. 'And thank you both, but I can't sleep. It's going to happen soon.'

Once she had gotten more of a handle on dealing with the agony in her head, Rogue went into her bathroom to wash the blood from her face. Her short nightgown had gotten blood on it as well, and Rogue stripped it off to soak in the sink, pulling on a terrycloth robe. Running a brush through her hair, she left the mass down, knowing her skull would not thank her for the tension and weight of a ponytail. Tying the robe snug around her, Rogue headed down to the changing room where she and Wanda kept their uniforms.

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Scott covered his mouth when a yawn escaped, sitting up a little straighter in his chair. Minutes ago Xavier had woken Jean telepathically. Jean had then woken him and the couple had come down to Xavier's office together for a mission briefing. It was the wee hours of the morning and thankfully the coming day was Saturday, but even if they'd all had classes to teach, they still would have been doing this. As Xavier started telling them about the place that was holding a group of mutants for future experimentation, Scott was disgusted, not for the first time and almost certainly not for the last, at the horrible things people would do to each other out of simple fear and hatred.

"I came down half an hour ago to investigate a disturbance in the astral plane using Cerebro," Xavier was telling them. "Unfortunately by the time I had gotten there and activated the machine, the disturbance had disappeared. It was shortly after that when I sensed someone with knowledge of the holding area. There is another group that is also planning to help these people."

"Is it anyone we should be wary of?" Jean asked softly.

Scott stiffened. Jean had been abnormally paranoid about every mission they had been on lately, afraid that the Brotherhood would show up and get in the way or start a fight with them. She had been that way ever since they had learned where Rogue was now living. Scott had asked Jean to try to control her fear, outwardly at the very least, and though she was not being specific about who it was she thought might be a threat this time, Scott knew she meant the Brotherhood. Xavier had to know as well, but if he did, he chose not to acknowledge it.

"No," the older man answered Jean gently. "I sense no hostile intent from them. They are just there to help the less fortunate. However, they don't seem to have a plan much beyond getting the captives out, and that is why I am still sending in the full team in the Blackbird, despite the proximity of the site."

Scott nodded acknowledgment to Xavier's final statement, and he and Jean left the office to wake the other two X-Men and prepare to leave.

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"Here you are!" Wanda exclaimed when she came into the women's dressing room, where Rogue had been waiting, uniform on, for nearly half an hour. "I was a little worried when you weren't in your room."

"Sorry," Rogue replied softly.

"It's okay. Hey, why are you in your uniform already? Pietro asked me to tell you about the mission just in case you wanted to come," Wanda kept talking as she changed into her own costume. "Did Mystique change her mind about letting us decide for ourselves whether to ask you to come along? Pietro tried to tell her that it would be best for you to get back in the saddle, so to speak, but she wasn't sure about it which was why she called him in the first place and not you."

Rogue shook her head, "Mama didn't call me."

"Oh. Well, you must have picked up something from Pietro or me about needing to leave in a hurry." Rogue shrugged awkwardly, and Wanda continued. "Mystique found evidence of a holding area for mutants with obvious physical mutations. It's nearby and not too heavily guarded so she thought we could handle it ourselves instead of having to wait for a time when she's be able to come with us."

Rogue nodded and took note of Wanda's dressed form. "You ready?"

"Yeah, the guys are going to meet us in the garage, we'll be taking two of the SUVs. I don't know what we're going to do about the captives, but this is just a break-out, not a recruiting mission, so I guess we'll just tell them to go to ground." Wanda paused, staring at Rogue for a minute. "Did you dye your hair?"

Frowning, Rogue answered, "No, why? Is something wrong with it?"

Wanda shook her head. "No, it just seems like your white streak is thicker. Must be the light in here or something."

But when Rogue glanced in the mirror as they were leaving the room, she saw that Wanda had been right about her white streak. It wasn't a huge difference, only half again what it had been before, but it was a difference nonetheless.

It must be a reaction to intense stress, Erik observed. First my… treachery, and then being forced again to use a power you had no chance to control at the time.

Rogue heard the shame in Erik's mental voice and responded, 'Must be. But unlike your ability which has proven very useful, I will never gain control of Irene's gift.'

And I am sorry for that as well, my dear, Erik intoned.

Logan growled, What is it with people and forcing abilities on you without your say-so?

Rogue almost laughed. 'I have no idea, but look at it this way, if they didn't, neither of you would have a reason to be in my head.'

It calmed the two main residents of her head to hear her say that, and it was a bit scary for Rogue to realize that sometime in the past year it had become a good thing, a comfort, that they were there. Some part of her had to have acknowledged it before… why else would she have continued to keep them both when she had the chance to get rid of them… but this was the first time she had consciously thought about it.

She and Wanda had reached the garage, and Rogue shook her head slightly to clear it of thoughts, needing to focus on the situation at hand. A few minutes later Avalanche, Pietro and Remy showed up. Avalanche and Remy got into one of the two vehicles they'd be taking, but Pietro pulled Rogue aside before she could climb into the second with Wanda.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" he asked. "We'll be okay without you if you're too tired or… anything."

"I appreciate you trying to play overprotective big brother, Speedy, but I'll be fine," Rogue answered with a small squeeze to the hand holding hers. "Like Wanda mentioned you saying, I need to do this again, to prove to myself that I can. What better time than on a mission that has less of a chance to prove dangerous?"

"Alright," Pietro agreed. "But if you need to get out of there before we're done, promise you'll let one of us know."

"I promise."

They left moments later, Pietro driving the two young women. It was only a twenty-minute drive to a warehouse district close to an industrial area. The target building had a large back lot which was overgrown with dry weeds. The two SUVs were parked across the street from the lot, and Rogue and the others began walking, keeping their eyes open for any hint of security men or equipment. But there appeared not to be any.

Rogue froze when the building came into view.

"You okay?" Wanda asked.

Wanda's concerned touch on her arm snapped Rogue out of her trance.

"Fine," she answered softly. "I've seen this place before. They have kids here too, not just adults."

None of them asked her where she had seen it before, and Rogue thought it was probably because they assumed it came from her head. She had the memories of several people, more than one of whom this place could have a possible connection to. There was still no need to reveal that Destiny had remained in her head.

Pietro's jaw clenched. "Then let's go get them out."

Rogue smiled tightly at the silver-haired youth and nodded. Almost as one, the Brotherhood and their housemate moved faster toward the structure. Gaining entry was simple; one well-placed kick from Rogue took out the door, some of the doorframe and the connecting wall. The falling debris knocked out the two guards that had been just inside. As Mystique had reported, security was at a minimum. The lab was crude, obviously not as well funded as the one Rogue and Mystique had broken into.

The hallway they entered led to a large, main room that was made up of several concrete-walled cells and guarded by two men with automatic weapons, but Pietro had run through the room and taken the guns before the guards knew what was happening. Rogue and Wanda each knocked out one of the men, Rogue with good old-fashioned fisticuffs (backed by just a bit of super strength) and Wanda with her hex power. To save time on unlocking all the cells, Avalanche used his ability to crumble a section of wall by each door, allowing the captives to squeeze through into the open part of the room. Rogue forcefully removed the door on the last cell when no one exited it, having noticed that the two teenagers from her vision weren't among those who had come out of the other cells.

A frightened squeak echoed from the dark cell and Rogue cautiously eased inside. Both of them were there, huddled in a corner. The male teen was holding the girl protectively, his facial features set defiantly. But as he stared at Rogue, the look faded slowly to be replaced with slack-jawed amazement.

"I'm not here to hurt you," she assured gently, holding her gloved hands with fingers splayed wide to show that they were empty. "My friends and I are here to help you get out."

The boy's arms loosened from around the girl and Rogue stooped slightly to help pull her up. While she was doing so, the boy quickly scrambled to his feet and laid his bare hand on her face. Rogue jerked back an instant later, doubly glad that she had gone into the entire situation with her skin tuned to "just abilities" in case of accidental touching; she hadn't wanted to hurt her friends or the mutants they were trying to free.

Rogue turned to warn the teenager about the dangers of what he had just done… and found herself wondering two things. One, why did he look so pleased with himself? And two, how did she suddenly know that although he shared the same physical mutations as his sister, blue hair and the ability to breathe underwater, the boy also had a secondary ability, that of knowing with only a glance what another mutant's power was? It took only a second longer for that thought to sink in and for her to realize he had given her that ability through his brief touch, which hadn't been long enough to copy his physical mutations.

"Why did you do that?" she asked softly. "You could have been hurt."

The boy shook his head, shaggy hair falling into his eyes before he swiped it away. "Part of my ability is knowing how much of theirs another mutant is using. I knew you wouldn't hurt me."

"Oh." Realizing she was still holding onto the boy's sister, who didn't seem to mind, Rogue let go of the girl's hands. "Well, come on, let's get you two out of here. And thank you, your power will complement mine well."

The boy smiled widely, "I know, that's why I gave it to you in return for helping us. This is my sister, Conchita. I go by Decipher. Sorry we didn't come out right away, but they've tried to make us think we were being freed before and they… punished us when we tried to leave."

Anger on their behalf boiled inside Rogue, but on the outside she remained calm and followed them out of the cell. A strong sense of deja vu flooded her as she looked over Conchita's shoulder to spot a door with a scanner next to it.

"Do you know where they're keeping Hannah?" Rogue heard herself ask.

Conchita's eyes rounded in shock, but Decipher was already headed for the door. Rogue followed him, Conchita close behind her.

"Decipher, are you sure this isn't a trick?" Conchita asked her brother quietly when she reached his side, Rogue's sensitive hearing easily able to pick it up.

She was unable to take offense under the circumstances.

Decipher's eyes darted to Rogue and back to his sister, before answering clearly, not attempting to whisper, "She sees, 'Chita. Someone gave her that power like I just gave her mine. She collects. She has telepathy, super strength, healing, flight and senses too."

"Wow," the girl breathed, staring at Rogue with wonder now.

"Rogue," Pietro called as he drew closer to her, the rest of the Brotherhood trying to keep the other escapees calm and together, at least until they were clear of the building. "What are you doing? We need to get out of here in case there was an alarm or something."

"She's going to go get Hannah," Conchita informed him simply before Rogue could try to think of an explanation on how she knew there was another mutant being held here.

Pietro's silver eyebrows winged together in a frown. "There's another holding area?"

"No," Decipher answered. "They just keep Hannah in the medical room all the time now. She's sick."

"Dying," Rogue added quietly, feeling coloring her tone. "I won't let her die here, alone."

"What's going on, Rogue?" Pietro asked, confused. "There's no way you learned all that and feel that way from the few moments you were in the cell with these two. Unless they're somehow connected to this Hannah and you touched them."

Decipher stepped toward the older male and, picking up on his intention to lie to protect her secret, Rogue held up a hand.

"What do you know about Destiny?" she asked Pietro.

"You mean besides the fact that Irene was your foster mother and left you the money for Darkholme? And that she was a powerful precog but couldn't always control what she saw…" Pietro trailed off slowly, his light blue eyes widening slightly. "You touched her."

It wasn't a question, but Rogue treated it like one. "Actually, she touched me. The Irene in my head once told me that I would need her ability. But early this morning was the first time it actually happened. I saw snippets of this place… and of Hannah. But as soon as I can, I'm getting rid of this ability. It hurt me to use it. I woke up blind with my nose bleeding and my head…"

Pietro flinched, and Rogue sighed. He and Wanda both knew how taxing it sometimes was on her physically when she overused more than one power, and Pietro would be able to tell from the way she had faltered that even though she had no control over this particular ability and had not actually tried to use it herself, it had been worse than usual.

"I don't suppose there's any hope that saving this girl is going to be the end of it, that Irene'll leave your head after?"

Rogue shook her head, "No. I already asked her."

"Maybe you should call Emma Frost when we get back to the House," Pietro suggested. "She might know something that can help."

"Emma's in London on Hellfire business for the next two weeks, I can't call her back here for something like this. And Pietro, it isn't about me right now," she ignored his mutter that it should be and continued, "I don't just need to save Hannah, I want to. There's something about her…"

She trailed off again, but this time Pietro didn't argue with her or question her. Instead, he turned to the Brotherhood and the mutants they had just freed.

"Avalanche, stay here with the prisoners. The rest of us will help Rogue get the last captive out. If anyone comes, take out the outside wall with your power and make a run for it. Otherwise wait for us and we'll all leave together."

He turned toward Decipher and Conchita, his mouth open, but Conchita cut him off with a defiant glare.

"We're going with Rogue."

Pietro shook his head in exasperation but gave Rogue a "go ahead" gesture.