Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men

BW: I'm so so so so so so so so so so so sorry! I know its been like, half a year since I last updated. I was so busy with choosing colleges, and then final projects, graduation, prom. I also moved out so I now live on residence out of town, so a good portion of my summer went to packing and vacationing. I was so busy. Then September rolled around and college was hard getting into the flow of. I got into the swing of things mid October but then I was so busy with homework and then even the weekends I came home I had no time because all my friends wanted to see me. November I fell into depression (no surprise) and I only came out of it December. Then it was end of semester and crazy with finals and exams. Good news: I passed all my courses! :)

I know there's no excuse as to why I took forever to upload. Though I did say I refuse to be hypocrite and allow my stories to be discontinued. Tonight I finally managed to sit down and force myself to write another chapter. I apologize if a few of the characters are off, but I tried to come up with something you'd be happy with...

Round Two

"Rogue honey? Are you alright?"

Rogue blinked and turned her head to face Storm, who was peering at her with a concerned look on her face. Her gaze held genuine worry, her face as gentle as a mother nursing a sick child. Then again, Storm viewed all the students at the school as her children.

Rogue gave her brain a mental shake to bring herself out of her little daydream. Rogue forced a smile onto her face. "Yes. Yes. I'm fine."

Beast laced his fingers together, resting his arms on the table in front of him. "Perhaps we'd best call it a night…." He suggested lightly.

Rogue shook her head. "No. I'm going to finish the story tonight. If you make me stop now, you'll never know what happened. It's now or never." She stated firmly, with a glance at everyone sitting around the room.

Everyone nodded, some seeming reluctant, others just too curious to notice the tone Rogue was using.

Rogue allowed her gaze to rest a little longer on Logan. Sometime during her last bit in the story, he had gotten up from his chair and stood in the back of the room, with his back to the table, facing the wall, as though he couldn't bear to look at her.

Rogue let her eyes swirl around the room once more before bringing her gaze to rest back on Storm. She took a deep breath, and plunged back into the story.

A couple days had passed since Trask had last summoned her. Rogue had hardly left her room during this time. She had only come out once because Betsy had reasoned that taking a walk would help her get stronger faster, and a second time when James insisted on giving her a full tour of the place. They made several circles around the place until James was satisfied she had the layout of the whole place memorized.

Besides those two times, she hadn't left her room. At meal times, James would grab some food from the kitchen that he would bring up to her room so she wouldn't have to worry she would face Trask, or any of his lackeys.

Rogue was happy Trask was giving her the time she needed to recover, but she knew with each passing day, it was an extra day she was stuck there. Although she longed for control and wanted it more then anything, the whole place gave her the creeps and she couldn't wait to get out of there.

She knew her alone time wouldn't last forever, and on the third day of her shut in, another lackey came to meet get her.

"The man wants to see you." Harpoon told her. "Shall I show you to the training area?" He asked with a sneer.

Rogue shook her head. "No. I can find it myself." She said softly. "I'll be down in ten minutes." She said and closed the door softly and locked it while she got ready.

When she exited her room, Harpoon was gone. She went next door and knocked briefly on James' door. "James, it's Rogue. Trask wants me to practice some more." She called.

Only a few seconds passed when she heard the door unlock and James walk out. "Alright let's go." He said, stepping beside her.

The walk down was quiet this time. Rogue didn't feel like her legs would support her. She felt scared about what would happen this time. Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and just when she thought she would go crazy, James reached over and gave her hand a quick squeeze.

She looked over at James, who had a determined look on his face. "Don't worry." Was all he said. As much as she disliked James, she couldn't deny that his words comforted her.

She gave him a nod and pushed open the door to the training room. She moved slowly as she took in the number of people gathered the room, trying to locate Trask. He was standing in the place he had been last time, his stance relaxed, and his arms crossed casually over his chest. Rogue made sure her face helpd no emotions and gave him a small nod and made her way to the center of the room.

James had let go of her hand as soon as she had opened the door. He strolled in slowly and came to stand next to her again. He crossed his arms and stared at Trask.

As soon as they had entered the room, the others had quieted down. A quick look around told Rogue that not even half the people from the first time had returned. She didn't know if this was because they were too afraid to try it again, or if Trask hadn't felt they would be necessary. Whatever the reason was, Rogue felt relieved and felt her fear shrink.

I can do this! She kept repeating over and over until Trask finally spoke, breaking the silence.

"Ah, my dear Rogue. So nice to see you looking back to your usual self." He said with a mix between a smirk and a grin on his face.

Like you would know what my normal self is. She thought sarcastically. Without thinking she rolled her eyes, and wasn't even aware she had down so until James elbowed her in the ribs.

She whipped her head around to glare at him. He nodded his head to Trask and she looked back over at him. He was staring directly at her, but no indication on his face gave away that he was aware of the brief interaction.

"Why don't we begin?" He said, still grinning. He turned his head to the person standing closest to him, but before he could say anything Rogue spoke.

"You're not going to do the same thing you did last time, are you?" She asked, unable to help it when her voice quievered ever so slightly. "I mean, the big rush of people..." She stopped talking when James turned to her sharply. Just the turn of his head indicated she should stop.

Trask let out a small chuckle. "Well how else will we make progress?" He jerked his head at the man next to him, who was waiting anxiously.

He came towards her, and when he was within arms length, he stuck his arm out. However before he could so much as graze the skin on her hand with his own, James lunged forward and twisted his hand behind his back. "Don't fucking touch her!" He hissed, his face livid.

Everything seemed to be put on fastforward and there were three men surrounding James. Rogue recognized Harpoon, but the other three were unfamiliar. She felt someone grip her upper arm tightly, and when she turned her head, she recognized Scrambler.

"Let go of him!" Harpoon snapped, Harpoon in hand, the tip of it pressed to the middle of James back. One of the other guys, a man with long white hair was holding James arm to prevent him from the twisting the other man's arm too much.

Scrambler took a step forward, forcing Rogue to step forward with him. "James, let go him or I'll pound her into a pulp." He threatened, his voice dangerously low.

James glanced over his shoulder at Scrambler, as though he didn't believe Scrambler's threat was real. As if to prove he was dead serious, Scrambler tightened his grip on Rogue's arm till she let out a tiny gasp of pain.

Trask was grinning anymore, but he wasn't frowning either. "Multiple let go of him right now."

Slowly, James relaxed his grip on the other man until her eventuallt released him. "Get the fuck off my arm Riptide." He snapped at the man with white hair, while giving him a shove. Riptide let go at the same instance the third man made a fist and landed a hard blow to James in the stomach.

James fell over on the ground, the wind knocked out of him. Rogue made a step forward to help him, but Scrambler pulled her back, the grip on her arm as strong as ever.

Trask had a satisfied smirk on his face. "Now, now Blockbuster." He said to the third man, who had now gripped James by the shoulders and was now dragging him across the room so he was well out of the way.

Trask turned to Scrambler. "Release our dear Rogue. We don't want to hurt her." Instantly, Scrambler let go of her as if she was some kind of disease and turned to the corner of the room the other three were standing near James, to prevent him from intervening again.

Trask glanced around the room until it rested on the man standing a few feet from Rogue. He was rubbing his upper arm, but his face gave no indication he was in any sort of pain. Trask nodded, as though he was no satisfied. "Alright. I think we're ready to begin."

Rogue turned to face the man who closed the space between them. Through all the excitement of James stopping the man and the brief attack on the pair, Rogue had had plenty of time to prepare for the stranger to touch her.

He reached forward. Although Rogue was prepared, she couldn't stop herself from squeezing her eyes shut. I hate this part! she thought to herself, dreading the moment he would flow into her.

The man wrapped his hand around her wrist. His skin was rough, but it was warm... almost comforting, as if to say: Don't worry, it will all be over in a minute.

The moment she felt his skin graze her's, she held her breath... Waiting.

Nothing happened.

AN: Please review to let me know there's still someone out there still reading and following the story. And please, any feedback is welcome, like if any character is totally OOC or something, tell me. I had to go over my work in previous chapters to make sure they weren't too off. Let me know how I did... :)