1

Her head hurt. That was the first thing the woman realised. That and then that the rest of her body hurt. The white light of the sky burned her eyes when she opened them. When her eyes did adjust, she took in the vast amount of trees and swampy lands surrounding her.

"Where am ah?" her stream of consciousness questioned. "Who am ah?" the woman's breathing began to grow shallow with anxiety. "How in the world did ah end up here!?"

xxxxx

The woman had trekked her way through muddy swamps and branches clawing at her; seeming to not want her to leave. Eventually, she found a road and a sign.

"New Orleans," she read aloud, letting the location set in. She was in New Orleans? What was she doing here?

As the woman wandered the streets of the French Quarter, she glanced at people walking past her. They were giving her funny looks because she was half covered in mud. The woman shied away from them. The attention of strangers was not the only attention she was gaining.

"I don't believe it!" Julian said, elbowing the guy next to him and smirking. "It be mon lucky day after all."

The woman noticed the two men approaching her, a smirk on their faces that didn't look friendly. She began backing away and turning on her heel to retreat the way she came only to bump into a body that now grasped her arms in a death lock grip.

"Well looky who we have here?" came a cocky voice not far behind her. The woman was twisted around to face the evil smirking man with gingerish hair. "It be de Blanc Diable's femme, de infamous Rogue."

Rogue gulped as this man approached her with a knife slipping from his sleeve into his hand. At least now she knew her name… maybe.

The ginger haired man brought the knife up to Rogue's throat, making her twist her head away as the point began to dig into her skin.

"We got some catchin' up to do," the man said.

Rogue was dragged off by the man who had a hold of her arms down a side aisle. Rogue began to struggle with the knife having been taken away from her throat. The man was strong, yes. But, surprisingly, Rogue had a few tricks up her sleeve.

Rogue threw her arms up, breaking the man's grip on her, then twisted to her side, reaching back and grabbing one of his arms only to throw him over her head and into the other two men who had approached her as if she'd done it many times before.

"Whoa," Rogue muttered as she watched the three men go stumbling down to the ground. She glanced at her gloved hands, surprised at her own abilities.

While her eyes were on her hands, she never saw the other man reach to grab her wrist.

Rogue gasped, turning to face her attacker. She felt her body readying to react without thought, but there was something about the concern and seriousness in this man's face that halted her.

"Best be gone, now," he said, pushing and pulling Rogue along and breaking into a run with her wrist still clasped in his hand.

Rogue glanced back at the men who had attacked her. Yes, she defiantly figured she was better off running with this man who was trying to get her away from those crazy hooligans than starting another fight.

The two ended up running down many backstreets until the man stopped them and hid them down a side aisle.

"Well, y'certainly do keep things interestin', don'tcha?" the man asked her through huffs of breath that he was trying to catch back.

"Ah-Ah didn't mean ta. Ah'm not even sure if ah know who they are," Rogue tried to explain to the man.

"Ah-huh," the man said, seeming to raise his eyebrow in a sceptical manner.

Rogue didn't blame him considering she had no recognition of who she was. Apparently, that wasn't the only thing.

"I do happen t' have de pleasure of speakin' with the Rogue?" he asked, eyeing her as if he was investigating her.

"Ah…Ah think so," Rogue said, not feeling one hundred percent confident on anything at that moment.

"T'ink so?" the man questioned.

"Ah, erm, ah don't actually know who ah am. Can't remember anythin', in fact. Ah just woke up in a swamp and… well," Rogue threw her hand up back towards the way they came. Her meaning was clear.

"Y' hit your head o' somethin'?" the man asked.

"Maybe. Ah don't know," Rogue said, straightening up as her body finally eased from the running.

The man watched Rogue contemplate her situation. Her eyes showed her going off to a far off place. She looked just as his father had boasted. White stripes, pale skin, huge vulnerable eyes and practically covered from head to toe to keep her miracle touch hidden away.

"Y' feelin' alright petite?" he asked.

"Not really," Rogue admitted, coming out of her thoughts to glance at the man who now had a sympathetic look on his face.

"Y' can't remember anythin', can y'?" he asked.

Rogue shuck her head, no.

The man placed a careful hand on her shoulder.

"I t'ink I might know someone who can help y' if you'd be interested?" he asked.

Rogue tried to smile at that, but they both could tell it was a forced smile. The man rubbed Rogue's shoulder once before turning her around and leading her away.

xxxxx

French Translation

Mon - My

Blanc Diable's femme - The White Devil's Woman

Petite - Little One