(A/N: Again, sorry for the wait, just to warn you this plot seems to be
escalating.)
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Rogue took to the skies, her mind reeling with new found freedom, the wind rushing through her short hair as she used her levitation to fly above the garden in the mansion's back yard.
It was four in the morning, but Rogue couldn't sleep, instincts that accompanied her added mutation kicked in and ended her up with the clouds, soaring just above the Institute's roof.
She didn't feel the piercing cold of the winter dawn, she'd turned off her touch, she was thinking now, and reaching out with her senses, picking up danger.
Rogue stopped and hovered near the gate surrounding the only area she was allowed to go, something was wrong, ever since yesterday afternoon, after the incident with Pietro, when the Acolytes announced that there was no need for them to stay with the X-men any longer, she'd been getting bad vibes.
She had been about to dismiss the nagging feeling, but it persisted, giving her a restless night and nothing else to do but investigate it's meaning.
*Magneto must be planning something* she thought, rolling her eyes at her own way too obvious assumption, she couldn't probe the master of magnetism's brain, though, to find out what he was up to, his shields were too strong.
*Guess I'll just have to spy on him, then* Rogue smirked, the expression on Eric Maximoff's face would be priceless when he found out that one of Xavier's students destroyed his next big plan.
Unfortunately, what Rogue didn't know was that 'she' was Magneto's next big plan, and by trying to stop him would only end up helping him.
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Destiny, otherwise known as Irene, waited attentively as Raven Darkholme paced in front of the diminished fireplace at their main base of operations.
"Are you sure it was Rogue you saw?" Mystique finally asked, without pausing in her concentrative state.
Only Irene would be able to tell that her shape-shifting friend's actions indicated nervousness, she may be technically blind, but she saw everything that other people missed, "I am sure, the first stage in her return to us has taken place"
Raven stopped her infernal pacing and felt some of the weariness leave her slender body, she smiled, this was coming together, it would turn out her way, *It feels good to be back on top*
Now she was one step ahead of both Xavier and Magneto, she had Wanda the Scarlet Witch, under her influence, and was soon to have Rogue as well.
With those two, she would start a new Brotherhood, after all, they were currently the two most powerful mutants in the world.
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Remy LeBeau swung the duffel bag over his shoulder and followed the rest of the Acolytes to the transporter balls (A/N: What do they call those things anyway?)
He gave a parting speech to the ladies before he stepped into the metal dome that would take him back to Magneto's main base, "It pains me to no end, leaving such radiant femmes behind, but I must go" he blew them all a kiss, they giggled and blushed.
All except one, she was leaning against the wall of the mansion, completely detached and uninterested, he had tried to talk to her before packing, and even after as St. John had dragged him out the door, but she blew him off.
He caught her gaze now, something flashed in her emerald eyes, it was hard to tell if the emotion was anger, hate, sorrow, or hurt.
Then her hair fell down again, covering her face, hiding the last bit of feeling she would ever show in front of another living soul.
Gambit kept his cool exterior as the transport closed up around him, then he sighed and slumped down it's smooth surface, he didn't want to battle her again, all he wanted to do was be able to be near her as anything but the enemy.
He valued his family's life, though, so that would never happen, he couldn't risk everything just for one girl that he'd been careless enough to let himself fall for.
He couldn't deny that he cared deeply about her, he had never overlooked the obvious, there were just too many complications, *But I want her so badly* he berated himself for those thoughts.
He recalled something his mother had once told him, "'Better to lose the game of love than not play at all'" Remy smirked, him losing a game? Hell must've frozen over.
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Kitty and Rogue sat in their room in companionable silence, both recovering from yet another loss.
Kitty thought about Peter, he had given her a pretty bouquet of pink and yellow tulips right before leaving, he had helped her get over Lance and forget her loneliness, even if it had been for just a few days.
*He's so sweet, why does he work for that jerk Magneto anyway? Why can't he join us, then we could get in a relationship* sadness spread through the usually cheerful girl, she felt like she had just lost her last chance at love.
Colossus was different then anyone she had ever met, and he respected her, he knew her for who she truly was, and now she was lonely again.
Mean while Rogue was slipping into a stage of denial, an often occurrence when it came to her emotions, *I can get over him, he's probably already forgotten about me, probably clubin', trying to score a one night stand, why am I even thinking about him? I should start working on how I'm gonna mess up his egoistic Cajun face in our next battle*
So there it went, two friends, longing and lonely, each dealing with it in their own way, until one finally breaks the revere, "Rogue?" Kitty asked quietly.
The Goth looked over at her, "What is it?" the Valley girl absently played with a strand of her brunette hair, "Promise me something"
Rogue was taken aback, purely shocked, those were three words she never thought she'd hear in her life, "Ye-yea?" she managed to get out.
"That no matter how many people that will come and go in our lives, we'll always stick by each other"
To say the least Rogue was touched, her hard mask softened, "Ah promise, Sugah" Kitty smiled sadly.
And that was all the needed to be done, no matter what, Kitty Pryde and Rogue would never be torn apart.
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Rogue slumped in her seat as the history teacher droned on, she tuned him out and drew into her own little world, forcing herself not to think about anything except how she was going to spy on Magneto when she couldn't go off the Institute grounds.
Rogue was so caught up in her planning that she didn't notice Pietro, who was sitting one row back, jot down a note and ask the guy in front of him to hand it to her.
The scrap of paper was slipped lazily on her desk as it's deliverer went back to dozing, Rogue picked it up absently and scanned quick eyes over it, then she crumpled it up, cloaked it with her telepathy, and sent it floating back to it's origins.
Quicksilver pouted playfully, he wanted someone to mess with, and Rogue was proving harder and harder to irritate, or anger, or anything for that matter.
Still, she was his only option, none of the other BoM or X-geeks were in this class, besides, Rogue was unpredictable, what was trivial to her now might really tick her off latter.
He wrote another note, this time making it something that might get her to play his game.
*Knock it off, Speedy, Ah don't have time for this* Rogue's voice in his head startled him, but, true to his name, he quickly regained his cockiness, *What? You dreamin' about my dad's favorite puppet? Sorry to disappoint you but I saw him leading a blond chick into his room, father should really get sound proof walls, they kept me up all night*
Rogue hardly flinched, her durability was incredible, *Get your mind outta the gutter, Ah'm the one that has to read it, let's see, anything in here about chrome-dome's latest plot?*
Pietro put a protective arm over his head, as if that would keep her out, then he had a wicked idea, *While you're in here.* he trailed off and flashed her a sick mental image that had to do with, well, her and a bath tub.
He began bouncing in his seat so he wouldn't erupt into laughter as Rogue pulled out of his mindscape and nearly threw up on her desk, *That was the most repulsive, disgusting, vulgar thing, if we weren't in front of a bunch of humans Ah'd kick your ass right now*
*Tsk, tsk, Roguey, the X-geeks wouldn't want you to get violent*
*You say that as if it matters* she bit back, he grinned, *Now there's the rebel I love so much*
*Shut up, Maximoff* Rogue leaned in her seat and looked out the window, it caught Pietro's reflection and their eyes met in the glass, her's were glaring daggers, his were smirking annoyingly.
*Why the interest in what my father's doing anyway?* she didn't reply, just shot him another death glare before turning her hearing on and sitting up straighter, she sensed the teacher was about to approach, "Can you give us the answer, miss Rogue?" he asked.
It took her less than a second to recollect, everything that was said during the class, all she had to do was scan one of the brainiacs, "1875" she had no clue what the question was, but she knew that was the answer.
He frowned, but moved on to the next unsuspecting daydreamer, Rogue would've blown out a breath of relief if she had been anyone else, then the bell rang, signaling freedom, and everyone was off.
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Rogue sat in a chair in the living room, legs flung over one side arms crossed over her chest in boredom.
As soon as everyone had gotten home from school, they were, with the exception of Rogue, ushered back out again, on a mission, against the Acolytes.
*Those guys don't waist anytime, do they?* she grunted and got up, not even the Professor had stayed behind, there was nothing she could do, homework had taken her twenty minutes, thanks to, of course, Mesmero, only it was his memories that had helped her out this time.
Surprisingly, the guy had gone to an actual school, aced everything, went to college, graduated with honors, met Apocalypse, and his life went trash from there.
Rogue paced in front of the fire, mulling over her problems, first Magneto, second Pietro, and third her teammates, not including Kitty, Kurt, Storm, and Logan.
She was stumped at problem number one, so she skipped it for now, problem number two would be easy, with the other X-men gone she could give him an overdue beating, problem number three was hard, but not impossible.
Ever since she'd killed their enemy, they'd been treating her like scientists would with an ancient and priceless relic, either avoiding her altogether or putting up the fake grins and meaningless conversations.
They'd tip-toe around everything, it was driving her crazy, she pushed them away and that was that, at least until training sessions or meals.
So she had two options here, start eating in her room and cloaking herself with her telepathy when it was essential she go downstairs, or brainwash them so they don't remember what happened.
*I'll have to go with option number one, don't wanna be too immoral, okay, time to take care of problem number two*
She exited the Institute and walked to the Brotherhood house, no one noticed her slip in, she covered her actions, silently flying up to Pietro's door.
She was about to enter the speed demon's room when Wanda appeared behind her, "What are you doing here?"
Rogue faced the other Goth coolly, "Ah'm gonna give your brother a slow and painful death, have a problem with that?"
"Not at all" Wanda replied, leaning against the wall, "Be sure to hide the body where Sabertooth can't track it"
They both smirked, Rogue sensed a connection starting between them, she had feeling she was gonna like the Scarlet Witch.
Without any further interruptions, Rogue kicked open Pietro's door and wasted no time tackling the silver haired boy down.
He was no match for her with her new powers, she could stop him from running, so he was basically defenseless.
Wanda watched this with mild interest as Rogue whipped out a knife and held it against Pietro's throat, "Let's chat" she said with an evil grin.
Maximoff gulped, suddenly there was a slight rumble as Lance, Todd, and Fred busted into the room, "What's going-" Lance didn't finish, instead he smiled at the scene in front of him, "It's about time, someone get the popcorn"
"Idiots, get her off me!" Pietro yelped, Alvers raised his eyebrows and plopped down on the bed, "What's this? Quicksiver complaining about a girl being on top of him?"
Toad snickered and Fred laughed.
Rogue ignored the rest of the exchange and proceeded to put more pressure on the knife she was using against her victim, "Quit your whining, Pietro, this started out with me wanting to kill you, but now Ah want information, than you can die"
Quicksilver didn't look any less horrified.
"What's bucket-head up to, and don't even think about lying to me because Ah can sense it a mile away" she could practically feel his heart trembling with fear, what no one knew right then, was that Rogue was actually the scared one, she felt as if she were back with Mystique again, threatening information out of targets, then killing them afterwards.
*I'm not my mother, I am NOT my mother..* she repeated over and over to herself, all the while keeping her menacing mask up. "IdontknowwhathesdoingIswear" Pietro was hyperventilating, Rogue narrowed her emerald orbs on him, then suddenly smirked and got up, "Thanks for your cooperation, hope to do future business with you"
She slipped the knife into a secretive fold in her shirt, she always kept it there for protection, then she turned and walked out, leaving a shaking Pietro and hysteric Brotherhood behind.
Rogue rushed as fast as she could back to the mansion, glad to see the team hadn't come back yet.
She slowly floated up to the roof, sat down, curled into a ball, and began mumbling to herself, "Ah am not my mother, Ah am not my mother, Ah am not my mother"
She continued this until she sensed the X-jet getting near, then she slipped quietly to her room and didn't come out for the rest of the night.
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(A/N: This is probably my longest one yet, hope ya'll like it:)
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Rogue took to the skies, her mind reeling with new found freedom, the wind rushing through her short hair as she used her levitation to fly above the garden in the mansion's back yard.
It was four in the morning, but Rogue couldn't sleep, instincts that accompanied her added mutation kicked in and ended her up with the clouds, soaring just above the Institute's roof.
She didn't feel the piercing cold of the winter dawn, she'd turned off her touch, she was thinking now, and reaching out with her senses, picking up danger.
Rogue stopped and hovered near the gate surrounding the only area she was allowed to go, something was wrong, ever since yesterday afternoon, after the incident with Pietro, when the Acolytes announced that there was no need for them to stay with the X-men any longer, she'd been getting bad vibes.
She had been about to dismiss the nagging feeling, but it persisted, giving her a restless night and nothing else to do but investigate it's meaning.
*Magneto must be planning something* she thought, rolling her eyes at her own way too obvious assumption, she couldn't probe the master of magnetism's brain, though, to find out what he was up to, his shields were too strong.
*Guess I'll just have to spy on him, then* Rogue smirked, the expression on Eric Maximoff's face would be priceless when he found out that one of Xavier's students destroyed his next big plan.
Unfortunately, what Rogue didn't know was that 'she' was Magneto's next big plan, and by trying to stop him would only end up helping him.
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Destiny, otherwise known as Irene, waited attentively as Raven Darkholme paced in front of the diminished fireplace at their main base of operations.
"Are you sure it was Rogue you saw?" Mystique finally asked, without pausing in her concentrative state.
Only Irene would be able to tell that her shape-shifting friend's actions indicated nervousness, she may be technically blind, but she saw everything that other people missed, "I am sure, the first stage in her return to us has taken place"
Raven stopped her infernal pacing and felt some of the weariness leave her slender body, she smiled, this was coming together, it would turn out her way, *It feels good to be back on top*
Now she was one step ahead of both Xavier and Magneto, she had Wanda the Scarlet Witch, under her influence, and was soon to have Rogue as well.
With those two, she would start a new Brotherhood, after all, they were currently the two most powerful mutants in the world.
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Remy LeBeau swung the duffel bag over his shoulder and followed the rest of the Acolytes to the transporter balls (A/N: What do they call those things anyway?)
He gave a parting speech to the ladies before he stepped into the metal dome that would take him back to Magneto's main base, "It pains me to no end, leaving such radiant femmes behind, but I must go" he blew them all a kiss, they giggled and blushed.
All except one, she was leaning against the wall of the mansion, completely detached and uninterested, he had tried to talk to her before packing, and even after as St. John had dragged him out the door, but she blew him off.
He caught her gaze now, something flashed in her emerald eyes, it was hard to tell if the emotion was anger, hate, sorrow, or hurt.
Then her hair fell down again, covering her face, hiding the last bit of feeling she would ever show in front of another living soul.
Gambit kept his cool exterior as the transport closed up around him, then he sighed and slumped down it's smooth surface, he didn't want to battle her again, all he wanted to do was be able to be near her as anything but the enemy.
He valued his family's life, though, so that would never happen, he couldn't risk everything just for one girl that he'd been careless enough to let himself fall for.
He couldn't deny that he cared deeply about her, he had never overlooked the obvious, there were just too many complications, *But I want her so badly* he berated himself for those thoughts.
He recalled something his mother had once told him, "'Better to lose the game of love than not play at all'" Remy smirked, him losing a game? Hell must've frozen over.
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Kitty and Rogue sat in their room in companionable silence, both recovering from yet another loss.
Kitty thought about Peter, he had given her a pretty bouquet of pink and yellow tulips right before leaving, he had helped her get over Lance and forget her loneliness, even if it had been for just a few days.
*He's so sweet, why does he work for that jerk Magneto anyway? Why can't he join us, then we could get in a relationship* sadness spread through the usually cheerful girl, she felt like she had just lost her last chance at love.
Colossus was different then anyone she had ever met, and he respected her, he knew her for who she truly was, and now she was lonely again.
Mean while Rogue was slipping into a stage of denial, an often occurrence when it came to her emotions, *I can get over him, he's probably already forgotten about me, probably clubin', trying to score a one night stand, why am I even thinking about him? I should start working on how I'm gonna mess up his egoistic Cajun face in our next battle*
So there it went, two friends, longing and lonely, each dealing with it in their own way, until one finally breaks the revere, "Rogue?" Kitty asked quietly.
The Goth looked over at her, "What is it?" the Valley girl absently played with a strand of her brunette hair, "Promise me something"
Rogue was taken aback, purely shocked, those were three words she never thought she'd hear in her life, "Ye-yea?" she managed to get out.
"That no matter how many people that will come and go in our lives, we'll always stick by each other"
To say the least Rogue was touched, her hard mask softened, "Ah promise, Sugah" Kitty smiled sadly.
And that was all the needed to be done, no matter what, Kitty Pryde and Rogue would never be torn apart.
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Rogue slumped in her seat as the history teacher droned on, she tuned him out and drew into her own little world, forcing herself not to think about anything except how she was going to spy on Magneto when she couldn't go off the Institute grounds.
Rogue was so caught up in her planning that she didn't notice Pietro, who was sitting one row back, jot down a note and ask the guy in front of him to hand it to her.
The scrap of paper was slipped lazily on her desk as it's deliverer went back to dozing, Rogue picked it up absently and scanned quick eyes over it, then she crumpled it up, cloaked it with her telepathy, and sent it floating back to it's origins.
Quicksilver pouted playfully, he wanted someone to mess with, and Rogue was proving harder and harder to irritate, or anger, or anything for that matter.
Still, she was his only option, none of the other BoM or X-geeks were in this class, besides, Rogue was unpredictable, what was trivial to her now might really tick her off latter.
He wrote another note, this time making it something that might get her to play his game.
*Knock it off, Speedy, Ah don't have time for this* Rogue's voice in his head startled him, but, true to his name, he quickly regained his cockiness, *What? You dreamin' about my dad's favorite puppet? Sorry to disappoint you but I saw him leading a blond chick into his room, father should really get sound proof walls, they kept me up all night*
Rogue hardly flinched, her durability was incredible, *Get your mind outta the gutter, Ah'm the one that has to read it, let's see, anything in here about chrome-dome's latest plot?*
Pietro put a protective arm over his head, as if that would keep her out, then he had a wicked idea, *While you're in here.* he trailed off and flashed her a sick mental image that had to do with, well, her and a bath tub.
He began bouncing in his seat so he wouldn't erupt into laughter as Rogue pulled out of his mindscape and nearly threw up on her desk, *That was the most repulsive, disgusting, vulgar thing, if we weren't in front of a bunch of humans Ah'd kick your ass right now*
*Tsk, tsk, Roguey, the X-geeks wouldn't want you to get violent*
*You say that as if it matters* she bit back, he grinned, *Now there's the rebel I love so much*
*Shut up, Maximoff* Rogue leaned in her seat and looked out the window, it caught Pietro's reflection and their eyes met in the glass, her's were glaring daggers, his were smirking annoyingly.
*Why the interest in what my father's doing anyway?* she didn't reply, just shot him another death glare before turning her hearing on and sitting up straighter, she sensed the teacher was about to approach, "Can you give us the answer, miss Rogue?" he asked.
It took her less than a second to recollect, everything that was said during the class, all she had to do was scan one of the brainiacs, "1875" she had no clue what the question was, but she knew that was the answer.
He frowned, but moved on to the next unsuspecting daydreamer, Rogue would've blown out a breath of relief if she had been anyone else, then the bell rang, signaling freedom, and everyone was off.
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Rogue sat in a chair in the living room, legs flung over one side arms crossed over her chest in boredom.
As soon as everyone had gotten home from school, they were, with the exception of Rogue, ushered back out again, on a mission, against the Acolytes.
*Those guys don't waist anytime, do they?* she grunted and got up, not even the Professor had stayed behind, there was nothing she could do, homework had taken her twenty minutes, thanks to, of course, Mesmero, only it was his memories that had helped her out this time.
Surprisingly, the guy had gone to an actual school, aced everything, went to college, graduated with honors, met Apocalypse, and his life went trash from there.
Rogue paced in front of the fire, mulling over her problems, first Magneto, second Pietro, and third her teammates, not including Kitty, Kurt, Storm, and Logan.
She was stumped at problem number one, so she skipped it for now, problem number two would be easy, with the other X-men gone she could give him an overdue beating, problem number three was hard, but not impossible.
Ever since she'd killed their enemy, they'd been treating her like scientists would with an ancient and priceless relic, either avoiding her altogether or putting up the fake grins and meaningless conversations.
They'd tip-toe around everything, it was driving her crazy, she pushed them away and that was that, at least until training sessions or meals.
So she had two options here, start eating in her room and cloaking herself with her telepathy when it was essential she go downstairs, or brainwash them so they don't remember what happened.
*I'll have to go with option number one, don't wanna be too immoral, okay, time to take care of problem number two*
She exited the Institute and walked to the Brotherhood house, no one noticed her slip in, she covered her actions, silently flying up to Pietro's door.
She was about to enter the speed demon's room when Wanda appeared behind her, "What are you doing here?"
Rogue faced the other Goth coolly, "Ah'm gonna give your brother a slow and painful death, have a problem with that?"
"Not at all" Wanda replied, leaning against the wall, "Be sure to hide the body where Sabertooth can't track it"
They both smirked, Rogue sensed a connection starting between them, she had feeling she was gonna like the Scarlet Witch.
Without any further interruptions, Rogue kicked open Pietro's door and wasted no time tackling the silver haired boy down.
He was no match for her with her new powers, she could stop him from running, so he was basically defenseless.
Wanda watched this with mild interest as Rogue whipped out a knife and held it against Pietro's throat, "Let's chat" she said with an evil grin.
Maximoff gulped, suddenly there was a slight rumble as Lance, Todd, and Fred busted into the room, "What's going-" Lance didn't finish, instead he smiled at the scene in front of him, "It's about time, someone get the popcorn"
"Idiots, get her off me!" Pietro yelped, Alvers raised his eyebrows and plopped down on the bed, "What's this? Quicksiver complaining about a girl being on top of him?"
Toad snickered and Fred laughed.
Rogue ignored the rest of the exchange and proceeded to put more pressure on the knife she was using against her victim, "Quit your whining, Pietro, this started out with me wanting to kill you, but now Ah want information, than you can die"
Quicksilver didn't look any less horrified.
"What's bucket-head up to, and don't even think about lying to me because Ah can sense it a mile away" she could practically feel his heart trembling with fear, what no one knew right then, was that Rogue was actually the scared one, she felt as if she were back with Mystique again, threatening information out of targets, then killing them afterwards.
*I'm not my mother, I am NOT my mother..* she repeated over and over to herself, all the while keeping her menacing mask up. "IdontknowwhathesdoingIswear" Pietro was hyperventilating, Rogue narrowed her emerald orbs on him, then suddenly smirked and got up, "Thanks for your cooperation, hope to do future business with you"
She slipped the knife into a secretive fold in her shirt, she always kept it there for protection, then she turned and walked out, leaving a shaking Pietro and hysteric Brotherhood behind.
Rogue rushed as fast as she could back to the mansion, glad to see the team hadn't come back yet.
She slowly floated up to the roof, sat down, curled into a ball, and began mumbling to herself, "Ah am not my mother, Ah am not my mother, Ah am not my mother"
She continued this until she sensed the X-jet getting near, then she slipped quietly to her room and didn't come out for the rest of the night.
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(A/N: This is probably my longest one yet, hope ya'll like it:)