Like A Moth To A Flame

Author's Note: Hey everyone! Wow… how long was I gone? Um, sorry for the long delay! I cannot even begin to tell you my 'adventures' however, I have to warn you all that I may pull another month-long or two disappearing act. I have a feeling that I had a virus in my computer and its now decided to show up. My hotmail doesn't load and I am unable to go on ff.net much more than I used to. So, the only haven I have to upload things is at school. We only get 40 minutes of lunch time and I need so much more than 40 minutes to update stories…all of them, but here's the next chapter to LMTF.

Special thanks to:

Tokyobabe2040 - thank you so much for being there and to ask whether I was alive or not. By the way, you ROCK! You finished your story!

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Rogue could not believe what she had done. It had been more than a week since her last encounter with St. John, and it was tearing her apart. The stress of her mutation was getting to a point where looking at her own reflection made her hate herself. She had been relocated back into her room, and Kitty was once again her roommate.

Jean had been a little nicer and the world was once again on her side.

'But how long?' she wondered.

How long would it be until she was labeled a traitor once more? How long would it take for the X-Men to turn on her and lock her up in an insanely small space, just because of her growing powers?

'How long can Ah stand being alone?'

Even though everything was back to the way it was before the accusations, Rogue didn't feel any comfortable than before. She still felt insecure, she felt empty. There had been a new recruit from Magneto's group. Remy LeBeau had decided to become part of the X-Men, to join the fight for humanity, but it wasn't his joining that surprised her… it was the acceptance of the X-Men.

They had welcomed him with open arms, while they had constantly rebuked her. To make it worse, the cocky Acadian would not stop hitting on her, reminding her of her mutation. Her curse.

'How long will Ah have to suffer? How long will Ah last without love?'

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St. John sighed for the millionth time, it seemed. He hadn't moved from his room since his last encounter with Rogue. He hadn't slept nor ate. He didn't even bother to shower!

" You're beginning to stink like Todd!" Lance said as he pinched his nose. " Mags better return soon, I don't think I can stand a depressed housemate!"

Pietro looked at the Aussie whose facial hair was long enough to make him look like Tom Hanks in Castaway. "When-was-the-last-time-you-saw-someone-like-this?" Pietro asked Blob.

"Uh… when Lance got dumped?" the large boy replied.

"Exactly."

Pietro sped up towards the depressed pyromaniac and squatted in front of him. He tried to grab the Aussie's attention by waving his arms back and forth, only to realize later that with his speed, his arms were almost invisible.

" You've-got-to-snap-out-of-this-dude!" he said, trying harder to shake St. John out of his depression.

Standing up, he sighed and looked at Blob. " It's not working… maybe we should call Roguey-"

"No"

Pietro was surprised that St. John stood up and disagreed, when he had not moved in a long time.

"No? Johnny-boy, you've been in here for week!" Lance exclaimed as he leaned on the doorframe. " Was I really like this when Kitty dumped me?"

Blob nodded as he stuffed another piece of pizza in his mouth. " Worse."

Pietro placed an arm around St. John and shook his head. " You see, Pyro… we bad guys can't have a relationship with the good guys… it always ends up badly," he explained slowly.

" Yeah, I guess that's why Gambit joined the X-Men," Blob commented and walked away. St. John's eyes grew wide and in a speed faster than Pietro's, he ran towards Blob and panted.

" What?" he asked. "Gambit joined the X-Men? When?"

Pietro was impressed at St. John's recovery and started down the stairs. " He joined three days ago. Something about winning some cherry or something," he said speedily. " I swear, that guy must have STDs or something…"

St. John growled and stormed up the stairs. For an hour, all the brotherhood could hear was the sound of the shower running and a string of colorful curses.

" Man… what's up his ass?" Lance wondered out loud.

Pietro grinned knowingly and went out for a run. 'You better thank me for this later, Pryo!'

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Author's Note: Sorry again! I know… lame… keep it mind, I wrote this 11:50 on New Year's Day! Hope you guys had a good one!