Rogue remained in the medical center for another hour afterwards, until she grew so restless that Beast was forced to allow her to leave. Physically there was nothing wrong with her, after all... it was her mind and her emotions still traumatized by the day's events.
Cyclops had left shortly after he'd been assured she'd be okay, organizing his people to gather and distribute the supplies they'd stolen from the humans, moving them down into storage with the help of Colossus and Husk, once the latter's shoulder had healed. All in all, the entire fortress was settling back into the routine of things. Rogue however, having been relieved from duty as a soldier, did not know what to do. The only people in this universe she knew as friends, Mindbender and Cyclops, were both busy with a great many tasks. Thus, she found herself back at the arboretum, and it was there she first met Willow.
Willow was a foliage-kinetic mutant. Any member of the plant kingdom she could manipulate with the power of her mind, making it move as she wished, and sometimes even grow and develop. Naturally this made her the perfect gardener for the arboretum, with some assistance from Storm's nourishing rain and the ceiling artificial (but still plant-friendly) sunlight. Rogue rather came to like Willow. She was remarkably quiet, blonde-haired girl who's small size and ivory skin made her look like a porcelain doll. Unlike most of the soldiers in the complex, she wore no uniform, just a simple sleeveless shirt and some pants. She needed no gloves nor tools to garden, the plants themselves filled that purpose. She loved her plants, and they seemed to love her. Or maybe it was just subconscious using of her powers.
Whatever the case, Rogue found herself spending most of her free time with Willow that day, learning a little more about the world she'd suddenly been plunged into. Though Cyclops had told her most of what she needed to know, it was refreshing to hear it from a perspective of hope.
"Some day the war will end," Willow said in her soft, melodious voice that sounded like the wind rustling through the trees. "When that day comes, Storm and I, and our babies," she said, indicating the plants "Will spread over the world and make it green and beautiful again."
Rogue hoped that was the case.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the end of the day, weary of her exertions, Rogue found herself heading back towards Cyclops's room, where she'd spent her first night in this dimension. She would have to speak to him about getting her own place to sleep, she didn't want to keep imposing upon him and stealing his only bed for herself.
She was stopped on her way, however, by Spyke, who was making his way down the hallways, banging his fists on doors and shouting out to all present, civilian and soldier mutant alike.
"Listen up everybody!" he shouted. "Lord Magneto's calling for a gathering in the center tonight, all must be present! Get yourselves in gear!"
Rogue frowned, then decided it might be wise to learn more about this world's Magneto. Unerringly, she found the center, and as she did, she dimly realized it was because her feet already knew the path. Carol, no doubt. Buried though her psyche was, her memories had been so deeply absorbed they were like second nature to Rogue. So were her powers... Rogue had tested her theory, grabbing a spare and unneeded metal pipe from the floor during her walk.
She'd bent it in half like it was tinfoil, then restored its shape without breaking a sweat.
Just another thing I have to learn to deal with, she thought, her mind reeling from the events of the past two days. The iron pipe dropped to the ground with a clatter as it fell from her numb fingers. Dimly she noticed the others present filing into the center, some she recognized and some she did not, Cyclops's soldiers, Storm and Willow, Colossus, and a number of others, all eagerly talking amongst themselves, wondering what was to come. Apparently, she heard, it was rare for Magneto to actually make his presence known to his soldiers. This was a rare treat indeed, apparently.
So it was that when all had gathered Cyclops, with Beast and Storm at his sides, stepped onto the podium, holding up his hands for quiet. A hush fell over the gathered mutants.
The ceiling opened, the metallic walls sliding open in a recognized pattern, and from above, drifting down like an avenging angel, floated Magneto.
He hadn't changed much, thought Rogue. His armor was the same, red and black with the royal purple cape floating out behind his back. His eyes were the same cold glowing gold beneath the shadows of his helmet. But he seemed... older, somehow. And then she realized he looked like she'd seen him out in the Sahara Desert. Before the Rebirth machine had restored his youth. Apparently in this world, he hadn't been able to access it. And age was catching up to him. But rather than allowing that to deteriorate him, this Magneto seemed, if anything, even more powerful. He drifted down to the podium alongside Cyclops, removing his helmet and shaking out his longer, ivory white hair. Too, he sported a short white beard covering his facial features, and his skin was more weathered with age and covered in wrinkles, though not overly so.
"My fellow mutants," he began, addressing those present. "I am honored to be in the company of such great and brave mutant brothers and sisters," he said, allowing a moment for those gathered to cheer before continuing, "We have achieved a great victory for mutant kind today. A victory that has finally broken through, and put us on the path towards final victory!"
Again cheering erupted, mutant hollering and whooping like kids at a concert. Rogue felt herself caught up in the rush of the moment as well, though she remained quiet as Magneto continued his great speech.
"We have finally pushed the human defenders out of Bayville and marked our borders!" shouted Magneto, raising his hands. Suddenly the room shuddered. Not violently, but enough for all to notice. "We have ascended to become the true rulers of this once great city. And in time, we will finally assert ourselves as the dominant species of this planet!" And with those words, the dome above them opened wide, exposing the fortress to the open night sky, dark blue for early evening. A few stars had come out, and most of the mutants gasped openly. Some of them had never seen the sky in their entire lives.
"My mutant brothers and sisters," said Magneto after a few short moments. "Tonight is a night of celebration. All duties are hereby relaxed, and your needs are being seen to," he added, gesturing as Husk entered the room, carrying behind her a truck loaded with all manner of party entertainments. Which, Rogue wasn't terribly surprised to see, mostly included alcohol, food, and other party things.
"Tonight you celebrate. You have more than earned it," said Magneto, giving a bow and stepping down from the podium, as the gathered mutants cheered. Fireworks flew from the hands of Jubilee and up into the air, sparkling and bringing light and sounds that delighted those gathered. They burst in a series of brilliant flashes of light, showering down their colors upon the gathered mutants who, as far as Rogue could tell, had been their happiest in many years.
Then they swarmed the party entertainments, grabbing what they wanted and taking off to go enjoy them. Surprisingly they were absent of the usual bickering and fighting over such things that normally accompanied a free for all. They were one big family, in a sense, united by their blood and circumstances of their births.
So Rogue smiled and decided to join them as someone struck up an impromptu dance and the gathered mutants began to celebrate like there was no tomorrow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He watched her, noted the auburn and distinct white streak, the features, the form. It was her. But he had to be sure.
Magneto had done much to assure the future of his people. Over the years he'd led them to victory after victory against their human oppressors. Tonight they'd reached the pinnacle. With the placement of Asteroid M in orbit and the clearing of ground troops, Bayville was now there's, once and for all. And from there, they would slowly begin their expansion to the rest of the world, and drive the old world powers into the dust. But perhaps now there would be no need.
"You are certain it is her?" he asked Cyclops.
"Not as we remember her," replied his second-in-command. First among his generals. "But it is Rogue," he replied.
Magneto nodded thoughtfully. "Then there is still the possibility of using the device."
"Sir, are we willing to do that?"
"Do not let your emotions cloud the issue at hand, Cyclops," he ordered darkly, his eyes glowing yellow beneath his replaced helmet. "What is one death, compared to the future of our species? It could mean a complete end to the war in no less than a few weeks... instead of a few years, as our calculations stand now. So many lives could be saved with such a sacrifice."
"I am to keep this from her then?" he asked.
Magneto nodded. Answer enough.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rogue smiled, stumbling out of the gathering of dancing mutants and back over to a nearby keg to grab a drink. Her head was ringing from all the noise, and she needed something to wash down the taste of dust in her mouth. Now that the roof of the fortress was open some of the wafting wind was bringing in dust clouds, despite Storm's attempts to create a wind-shield over the open dome. Ah well, it was worth it to see the stars come out, she thought.
She grabbed an empty cup and was about to pour another beer when a cup materialized in her view, and she glanced up to see who was offering it to her. Then she smiled. She might've known.
"Thought I'd save you the effort," said Scott, handing her the drink while keeping his own.
"Ah'm surprised," she said, sipping it. "Ah am under aged, after all... my Scott wouldn't have let me near a beer on principle alone."
He shrugged lightly, sipping his own frothy concoction. "We don't have such rules here," he replied, glancing over at where Beast and Storm stood near their grand messiah, Magneto. "Magneto declared early on, if he was going to send children to fight and die, he would let them live first. Once you reach age sixteen, you can do whatever you want on your off-time."
"So I see," remarked Rogue, watching as Rahne was practically dragging Sam away from the party and off down deeper into the fortress. Not that he looked like he was struggling too much, mind you. "So why aren't you out there with the others?" asked Rogue, indicating the partying mutants.
"Never been much of a party person," remarked Scott.
"Now that -is- just like the Scott ah know," she replied softly. "So where do you go?"
"The arboretum... care to come with me?" he asked.
"Ah'd love to."
Author's Notes:
And there, ladies and gentlemen, is Willow. Her original character design comes from Comet-hime's 'Triangle' series. She's much different than in my AU. And of course you see the most introduction of the feared AU Magneto. Rebirth plays an important element later. The party scene is yet another of many I'll doubtlessly steal from 'Starship Troopers.' I feel like such a thief. Ah well, I'll get over it. Magneto's plans for Rogue I'll leave vague for now, to be very -very- evil to my audience. But there is plans, and they're evil, and they've been done before. Prepare for more, soon to come.
Risty: Damn you fangirls! Your power is too great even for me! Glad you liked the mention of Forge and his new artificial limbs. And also David's work in restoring Rogue and banishing Carol in her mind. Poor Carol.
Nessie6: Yes I'd heard about this seventh sense, and I'd seen how fast she can fly. Because in that episode she was floating on a plane's wing. It's the only way to fly. Hehehehe. I was more curious about the limits of her strength and invulnerability. I know those tend to vary even among similar mutants like Colossus, Juggernaut and the Blob.
DoubleL27: Irony is a good thing. Makes us laugh, makes us gasp, makes us shiver. It just blows the mind. I am glad I could accomplish good irony. Hope you enjoyed the exploration of her power of strength. The others come later. And yeah, of course you know good ol' Cyke will help.
Elrohirthewriter: I wish I could've explored her mental landscape further but David had a deadline and a mission so I'm afraid I couldn't. Maybe in another story, but glad you liked it. Well thank you for the confidence in my abilities, I wish I had the same. I'm a little overwhelmed by the thought of doing the phoenix saga myself.
Sashi: Actually that line about mutant children was foreshadowing things to come. Yes, biologically it's the same person. David is who you think he is. In this AU he's got the same dad, he's just less MPD and psychotic and hateful. And yeah, Carol and Rogue both would cling to life pretty hard. It's a real shame what happened to them. I'm so mean. Muwahahahaha!
Rogue14: Evil! Evil!! EVIL!!! EVIL!!!!. Behold the power of my wickedness! I will never update again! Ever! Muwahahahaha! Haha, just pullin' your leg. Or am I?!
X00001: Yeah, poor Carol. And poor Rogue.
Todd fan: Creepy? Our lovable ol' Forge creepy? Nah. I don't believe it. Mechanical yes, I've seen how he was in TAS. And he was a bit of a pain, but creepy? 'fraid I just don't see it in the fellow. Meh.
Lyranfan: Oh you'll see. The wonderful thing is I get to have Carol do two somethings, since we got both AU Carol and... and... regular Carol, whom Rogue'll meet when she goes back to her world. Doesn't that just boggle the mind now? It boggles! Boggles I say!
Sandoz: Your second favorite couple, Scott/Rogue? You do write them rather well, so it wouldn't surprise me. No reason for the AU Battles taking place in famous cities, just in-references. Yes, this is still working towards the end of my XME series which shows the scenes from Ascension come to pass, so yes about Rogue and everything. Carol of course would've fought to live. Her comic version tried to claim Rogue's body as her own once or twice, so it made sense. David has some of his powers, but not all of them. I think some developed because of his split personalities, so I'm leaving him with the "Jean" arsenal of powers. All the powers I need... for my master plan.