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Is that you?

Rogue opened her eyes, surprised to find herself lying in bed. She had absolutely no recollection of how she had gotten here, but a fierce pounding in her head reminded her of her brief episode in the other room.

A loud sigh of relief and the sound of a whisper made her turn her head and look to her left. John was sitting on the edge of bed, and from the look of his slumped shoulders and bowed head, he was the one who had sighed. Wanda and Tabitha stood behind him with their hands up to shield their mouths as they gossiped.

John looked up and a slow smile crossed his face, reaching his eyes. "Hey sleepy head! How are you feeling?"

Immediately Wanda and Tabitha dropped their hands and looked around at Rogue. Wanda's face remained impassive but Tabitha practically squealed and balled her hands into fists. "Oh my God! That was so cool!"

Rogue tried to sit up, but it felt like somebody was taking a hammer to her skull. She ground involuntarily and John was instantly at her side, helping her sit up and allowing her to lean on him. "Hey hey! Take it easy."

Rogue felt her vision swimming before her eyes and closed them briefly as she held a hand to her forehead as though it would lessen the pain in her head. "John…" She hated how weak and pathetic she sounded but it felt like someone had torn her throat out. "What happened?"

Before he could answer, Tabitha was squealing again. "It was the coolest thing ever!"

Wanda turned sharply to face Tabitha. "If you can't calm down for five minutes, get the fuck out of my room. You're pissing me off and I'm sure Rogue's headache is bad enough without you screaming like a twelve year old!"

Tabitha made the zip-the-lines-and-throw-away-the-key gesture, but her eyes were still sparkling with excitement.

"You went a little crazy." John started slowly.

Rogure snorted despite herself and rubbed her temples. "Yah I kind of remember that part. When did I black out?"

"Well you were charged after Magneto. I think you were actually going to kill him."

Wanda smirked at John's explanation. "You were definitely going to kill him. And you would have succeeded if he hadn't wrapped you in metal."

"And then he just kind of suspended you in the air. Man oh man Rogue, I've never heard you use that kind of language. You were mighty pissed, fighting against your bonds and kicking like that. And then you just kind of stopped."

"Stopped?" Rogue opened her eyes. The throbbing in her head had certainly receded and she didn't feel so nauseous.

"You passed out. You're whole body just dropped. And then Magneto put you back down and had Juggernaut carry you here."

Rogue looked around at the three mutants in the room. The window was wide open so the sunlight made the room seem overly bright. "So how long have I been out of it?"

"Only a couple hours." Apparently Tabitha was incapable of restraining herself for very long.

Now the next question that was eating up at Rogue. "So um… did I pass the test?" After everything she had been through, she didn't think she could handle rejection. But at the same time, she could hardly blame Magneto if he banned her from joining the Brotherhood.

However, all three of them openly laughed at her. "Of course you did!" Wanda recovered first from the fit of laughter.

"But I tried to kill Magneto!" Rogue could hardly believe it. The master of magnetism was definitely insane.

"So? You're powers are off the charts Rogue. Who would have thought you can control all the powers of people you absorb?!" John leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "You just gotta work on controlling their personality. No more Wolverine take overs, okay?"

Rogue leaned over and rested her forehead on John's shoulder. "That's never happened before. And it was kind of scary to be honest. I don't think I want to go through that again."

"Nah, don't say that! You've got serious potential. It's only because it was your first time and you're emotions are running a little high these days. That's why it seemed so explosive and intimidating. You just got to practice a little."

Rogue snorted again and looked up, resting her chin on John's shoulder. "A little? Try a lot. Like at least a year."

John bit his lip nervously and looked away, which instantly indicated that something was up. "What? What is it?"

John looked once at Wanda and Tabitha. Wanda grabbed Tabitha roughly by the shoulder and ushered her out of the room. "Come on. We should get ready."

"Ready? For what?" She looked at John, who had turned back to her. "John, what's going on?"

John looked down at his hands nervously and rubbed them together a couple of times. "See... we don't really have a year. Actually, we don't have any time at all." John probably knew he wasn't making any sense and he ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. "Callisto felt this huge surge of power while you were out. Magneto said it's the beginning of the war and took off with a few people to go check it out. The rest of us are to meet the rest of his army at his base up North and wait for him."

Rogue felt her head spin, but she wasn't sure if it was from trying to process this information or the after effects of her power surge. "Army?"

John nodded. "Yah, before you joined us, he had this huge… gathering shall we say, and recruited a bunch of mutants for his army. He plans to rally the troops and head out for battle."

Rogue shook her head and closed her eyes. This was way too much for her to handle. "What battle? Where?"

John sighed and got up and paced back and forth across the room. "Alcatraz Island. Where they developed the cure and where they keep the source. He wants us to destroy it. No doubt the Government have set up a massive army to prevent such a movement. And the X-Men will probably try to head us off." John stopped pacing abruptly and came forward to sit next to Rogue again and rest a hand on her knee. "Magneto's taken a small group to investigate the power surge. Everybody else left for the North. Only Wanda, Tabitha, Gambit and me stayed behind until you were ready to travel." He paused for a moment and grimace. "And sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but being a member of the Brotherhood, you don't really get a choice in this."

Rogue sighed slowly and looked up at John. "Well I guess I knew I would eventually have to fight to X-Men when I signed up for Magneto's squad." She sighed again and stood up slowly, her legs shaking. John reached forward to give her his arm. "Just give me a couple minutes to gather some stuff.

Less then an hour later, she found herself in a tiny plane, wedged between Tabitha and John. Apparently Gambit had stayed behind to pilot the hunk of metal (or more like junk) with Wanda. Rogue had not been sure what method of transportation she had been expecting, but this was nothing like the X-Jet.

She was relieved when they began their descent, even if it was in an overly forested area and she had no idea where they were.

They exited the aircraft and Wanda set a fast pace. Rogue wanted to ask if they were even in the right place, because there was nobody around expect for this rag tag group. However, in the distance Rogue could hear the rumblings of many voices, possibly hundreds, and the further they walked, the louder the rumblings got.

And then they broke into a clearing and Rogue saw what had made all the noise. She had been right. Hundreds of people –mutants- stood in the clearing. There was blasts here and there and she couldn't help but notice as a pair of mutants got into a tussle.

Rogue barely had time to take in the scene when Pietro zipped in front of them. "Wanda-these-guys-are-out-of-control-you-gotta-help-me."

Wanda lifted a hand to silence her brother and then turned to crook her finger at Gambit, Pyro, and Rogue. "Come with me you lot."

She skidded the clearing towards a large boulder which she climbed up. She waited for the others to climb up. "Gambit if you please."

Without a word, Gambit reached into his trench coat and pulled out a deck of cards. He took the cards out and tossed the cards from one hand to the next before taking the top card from the pile. The card glowed red and he tossed it into the air, high about the heads of the army. At the sound of the blast, the others started quieting. Gambit threw a couple more into the air until there was complete silence.

Gambit made a small bow and gestured for Wanda to step forward. "They're all yours Scarlet Witch." He looked up and caught Rogue staring at him, so he gave her a small wink. "Like what you see?" He whispered flirtatiously.

Rogue felt her cheeks warm and knew she was blushing. She was aware of the impatient glare Pyro shot towards Gambit. "Hey, cool it would you Gambit."

Gambit smirked as her stepped back while Wanda took front and center stage. "I wasn't the one staring." He winked again at Rogue as her cheeks flushed a deeper red. "Don't fret monm cheri. Gambit doesn't mind."

Rogue hardly registered the fact that Pyro put an arm around Rogue's waist and pulled her a step closer towards him. "If he ever bothers you, just let me know." John leaned forward to whisper in her ear so the others wouldn't hear. "I've been looking for an excuse to toast that guy since day one."

Rogue felt a grin tug at her lips and a single giggle escaped her throat. "It doesn't bother me." She noticed how John's face seemed to darken at that. "Oh God, don't tell me you're jealous Johhny!"

"No. The man is just a cocky bastard, that's all." But the way he jerked his head away pointedly spoke far more volumes then his words did.

Rogue finally settled as Scarlet Witch raised her hands in the air to draw attention to herself. "I've made contact with Magneto! He is on his way back to camp and he shall be here within the hour. Be prepared. We will be leaving camp by the end of the week!"

Without taking her eyes off Wanda, Rogue reached around until she felt John's hand. She squeezed it and then a moment later, she felt him squeeze it back comfortingly. "It'll be okay." He whispered, just as there was a flash and Pietro was standing on the rock next to Wanda. "He's here!" He gasped as he leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

Wanda smirked. "Well that was fast."

John turned to the base of the rock. "Come on, the big man will want to address the group and he's not going to want us standing on his stage." He skidded down the rock, then turned and lifted his arms so that Rogue slid down the boulder and right into his grip.

Gambit jumped down behind them. He was so graceful on his feet; he made the rest of them look like chimpanzees.

Just as Pietro and Wanda jumped down, there was a rustle in the bushes and Magneto stepped out, closely followed by Callisto, Juggernaut and a couple of others that Rogue did not recognize.

Magneto nodded to the group of teenagers but stopped and smiled when he saw Rogue. "I'm glad to see you feeling better my dear. I hope you have that power of yours under control."

"Of course." Not at all! Rogue forced herself to sound and look confident and gave Magneto her best smile. "There's nothing that I can't handle."

Magneto smirked. "Good, because I have a special task for you."

There was another rustle in the bushes and Rogue looked to see the last member of his team emerge from the foliage.

"No… that's impossible!" Rogue whispered and she was unable to keep the shock from her face. For the person who came out was somebody she had never expected to see again… because she died over a month ago. "Jean, is that you?"

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