"I shut the entire world out after Jean died." Logan said softly almost an hour later, still holding the now quiet young woman in his arms. She hiccupped, an aftereffect of the crying jag, but other than that, she remained silent.

"I didn't mean to. It was just easier handling everything. If I wasn't near people, then people couldn't remind me of what I had lost."

She sniffled, burying herself deeper into Logan's lap as he continued to speak.

"I guess, after a while, it become normal not to want to see people, talk to people, think about people. I didn't have to think about it, to consider it, people just left me alone and I liked it better that way. I never realized what I was doing till it was too late."

She closed her eyes, breathing in Logan's scent as he continued to speak, comforted by the familiar embrace of the man she once thought she had lost.

It was silent for the longest time before she spoke, finally finding her voice.

"I understand."

Logan closed his eyes as his heart softened, the constriction finally fading away after so many years.

"What now?" she asked, lifting her head from his chest to stare at him.

His brown eyes were the softest she'd ever seen them as he gazed at her. He brushed back a fallen strand of hair before speaking. "It's up to you. We can sit here and let Apocalypse attack us or…"

"Or?"

"Or go with what we originally planned. Hit them first and hit them hard."

When she didn't give an immediate hoorah, Logan raised his eyebrows. He watched as she turned away from him, staring at some unseen person.

"Is that a no?" he asked, holding his breath. The eyes that turned to stare at him were so hard he almost took a wary step back.

"Under one condition."

"What?"

"I get to kill Apocalypse."

X

Apocalypse found distaste in the human population of the world. People running around like chickens with their heads cut off, caught up in their own little worlds as they allowed the bigger picture to pass. They acted as if the world was theirs for the taking, ruining it and using it for their own gains.

He wanted to destroy all of them.

He was almost glad he had been awoken earlier than planned. Awoken to fix what had been broken.

"Sir?"

Apocalypse turned to stare at the oldest of his Horsemen, waiting patiently for the old man to talk.

"He's ready." Charles said simply, black eyes never leaving his master's face.

Apocalypse nodded once, turning to follow War as he led him to the chamber.

"How was it turning him?" Apocalypse asked almost conversationally, but War knew he was paying attention to every detail to look for flaws.

"Easy enough." War replied shortly, trying to ignore the tickling in the back of his mind. He shook his head slightly, trying to scatter the thoughts of remorse that came with the knowledge of what he had done.

"Alright." Apocalypse replied, not pressing the matter further.

They passed multiple hallways and Apocalypse glanced down one curiously, not giving the two tall blue bodies another thought when he saw them. They had supplied him power. That was all they had been needed for.

Charles turned into one of the many hallways, leading Apocalypse to a coded room. Charles slapped his hand on the scanner, almost impatient to show his leader the new weapon.

When the door slid open, Charles stepped to the side, allowing Apocalypse to step through first.

Apocalypse gave Charles a nod before stepping in, walking to gaze over at the pod standing in the middle of the room. He reached out a metal hand, almost stroking the barrier between him and his Horseman.

"Can I see him?" Apocalypse asked over his shoulder. He heard rustling as Charles moved around the room. "We were actually waiting for you, sir, before we opened the pod." Charles replied, clicking buttons on the machine attached to metal structure.

Apocalypse smiled.

"Well, than open it."

Charles nodded, clicking more buttons as he muttered under his breath. Apocalypse turned away from the old man, instead focusing his red gaze on the man waiting inside the pod.

The doors seemed to sigh, sliding open moments later. Smoke spilled onto the floor, and with a smile Apocalypse stepped back to marvel at his new weapon.

The metals wings shinged as they spread, the old body testing out his new appendages experimentally. He stretched his hands out in front of him, twisting them sideways and back, looking at the blue skin with wide eyes.

The blue eyes glanced up at Apocalypse when the metal being clapped. Apocalypse spread his hands as if in welcome.

"Welcome, Death."

The power coursed through his body and with a smile, Death clenched his fists together.

"Call me Archangel." Warren the Third replied.

X

Bobby fell on the floor, narrowly missing smacking his head against the metal surface. He rolled, almost singed by the fire erupting from David's hands.

David let out a shout, dropping to the floor as he hurriedly tried to put out his own hands. When he didn't feel any pain, he let out a sigh.

"David!" Logan yelled, and the young child winced at the condescending tone in the older man's voice. This was his third time dropping the power. The blonde turned as Rogue extinguished the flames in his hands, pulling back on her projection as Logan began to chew the young man out.

Rogue let out a sigh, shaking her clammy hands as she tried to quell the exhaustion that was already beginning to swamp her body. She'd projected too much today already, but couldn't help the fact that with every day that passed, the chances of Apocalypse attacking grew.

And she wasn't about to let that happen, tired or not.

"Logan, relax." Rogue murmured, trying to fight the fatigue from her voice. Logan turned to face her, letting out a sigh as he ran a hand raggedly through his hair.

The older man mumbled an apology towards David, already dropping the subject as David scrambled to his feet.

"Break!" Logan barked, watching as the kids dispersed.

He ran his hand through his hair once more, turning to face Rogue.

"What do you think?" he asked and winced when Rogue winced.

"Truthfully?"

Logan nodded.

"We've been at this for weeks and no one is used to the powers yet. We're not getting anywhere."

Logan placed his hands on his hips, looking around as he let out a sigh. "Not all of them are hopeless." He mumbled, nodding his head over towards the older mutants.

"We can't fight Apocalypse with five kids." Rogue mumbled, following Logan's gaze.

"we might have to." Logan retorted, cracking his neck as he clapped his hands together. "We're not going to figure it out by giving too many breaks. Let's get them back together." He muttered the last part before breaking away, leaving her alone with her thoughts as she took a seat on the cold metal floor.

Because, she was truly alone.

No visits from the Professor, Jean or even Scott. At first, she thought it had been a psychological issue, maybe something had been wrong with her because she was seeing dead people. Now…now she figured it was a side effect of the "cure", something she had always speculated about, but not been very sure on.

She let out sigh.

If there had been any time she wished that she could still see them, it would've been the last couple of weeks. She never realized how much she depended on the companionship until they had been gone forever. Maybe she never realized because there had always been someone to fill the void.

Warren's face flashed before her eyes and once again, she felt the familiar tightening in her chest, the ache in her heart that refused to go away. She tugged at the small feather still nestled around her neck, closing her eyes as she felt the familiar tears begin to form.

She wondered what that metal asshole did with the body. Did he bury it? Burn it? Chop it into tiny pieces and threw them around the city?

She shook her head.

Her imagination was getting the best of her.

She hurriedly brushed the tears away when she heard someone shouting, telling her that training has begun. She stood, squaring her shoulders as she sucked in a breath.

She was going to get payback.

They would regret the day they messed around with the Rogue.

X

Death turned his hands over, staring at the blue skin that covered his new body. He sneered with slight distaste, clenching his fingers into a fist before softly letting go, watching as the blood rushed back into the whitened palms, turning them back into blue.

He didn't remember much about his life before. Hell, he only remembered one thing, and it was the thing that had been nagging him for almost a week.

He remembered the white strands that stood out against the dark brown hair, the eyes that reminded him of whiskey.

He remembered the hate, and the jealousy.

"Why are you in here pondering by yourself?"

Death surged to his feet, already bowing as his master walked in, flanked by his children of the apocalypse.

"We've been looking for you." War muttered, speaking for his father. Death bowed slightly, murmuring an apology before turning to Apocalypse.

"What is it you wanted to tell me?" Death asked, eyeing the metal being in front of him.

Apocalypse smiled.

"It's time to attack."

X

"They've gotten better." Ororo muttered from her view on the sidelines. Logan sent her a sideways glance before nodding slightly.

"We've been training non-stop for a week. Even David isn't so terrified of the powers anymore."

Ororo smiled at the pride, and confidence, in Logan's voice.

"And Rogue?"

Logan let out a long sigh before continuing. "She's holding up. Wouldn't let anything get her down during training."

"and what about outside of training?"

Logan let out another sigh. "She's making progress. Doesn't hole herself up like she used to. Hell, she even treated Lonnie nicely when he came to apologize for using his power against her. And I mean sincerely, not sarcastically."

Ororo nodded slightly. "Do you think she'll be ready when the time comes?" she asked, turning to finally face the Wolverine. She watched the broad shoulders shrug.

"Rogue is strong. When the time comes, we'll just have to depend on that strength to lead us through."

Ororo waited a moment before speaking.

"Let's hope the time doesn't come too soon."

X

When she felt him, she stopped, her entire body going cold and numb at the same time.

Everyone around her stopped also, some eyes confused as they turned to face her, others wary from the look on face.

She dropped the projection, the obstruction in her throat almost choking off her air supply. She reached out a hand blindly to grasp the closest thing to her, taking comfort when she felt Logan's hand wrapped protectively around her arm.

"Rogue?"

She struggled to make words with her lips, trying to find her voice as the pain began to spread anew.

"Rogue?" Logan repeated, terrified by the look in her eyes.

"He's…he's here."

"Who? Who is here?" Logan demanded, shaking her softly when she wouldn't answer.

"Apocalypse."

There IS more coming, i promise :D