A/N: All the writing in Italics is a memory. Big thanks to Jenny, cause without her, my writing wouldn't make much sense!




I sighed deeply as I sat out on the fire escape, wiping away another tear that escaped from my eyes. The cold wind swirled around me as dark clouds gathered in the sky. In the distance, the hills were covered in an orange glow as the sun disappeared behind them. I lifted the bottle of Jack Daniels and took a large swig, letting it burn on its way down.

I licked the remainder of the liquid from my lips and looked out over the shadowy grounds below me. I had been trying to drown my sorrows since Remy had stormed out of the lower levels, leaving me all alone. The bottle was one of the Professor's. It was part of a crate originally destined to be for entertaining guests, but now it was on its way down to my stomach, the alcohol helping dissolve the pain I felt. Unfortunately, the pain a person feels when her heart is ripped out doesn't dissolve easily. Logan had come to talk to me after he had finished in the danger room.

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"Marie?"

I poked my head out from underneath my pillow where I had taken refuge. "What do you want?" I asked, my voice strained. "Haven't you screwed up my life enough?"

"Can I?" Logan asked, pointing at the bed. I sat and stared as Logan sat down at the end of bed and releasing a deep sigh as he ran his hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry okay." he said softly. "I didn't know. I didn't even think."

"That doesn't change what you did."

He spun around to face me"And you didn't respond?"

"I don't get touched a lot Logan. And when I do, I savour it as much as possible." I sighed, choosing my words carefully. "I liked it okay. I liked it when you kissed me, but not cause it was you."

Logan's jaw clenched and I could see he was angry. "You liked it, but not because of me." He growled in annoyance and stood up. "So what am I? Repulsive?"

"Stop twisting my words!" I screamed. "Look Logan, I care for you," I paused as I stared at the floor. "but not in that way."

Logan nodded and stood up. "Alright then."

He turned to leave.

"Wait." I called out.

He stood by the door. I went to my bedside and grabbed the dog tags. Pulling off the ring Remy gave me, I handed them to Logan.

Logan looked down at them and nodded. "Goodbye Marie." He said quickly before walked out the door.

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I took another swig from the bottle, finishing the last of the sour liquid inside. Discarding it, I reached inside the window and grabbed another bottle from the crate.

"Great." I slurred silently, popping the top off the new bottle. I lifted my eyes and the bottle towards the sky. "Herees ta happiness." I toasted, attempting to skull the bottle, but succeeding only in spilling half of the precious liquid down my front.

"Nice one." David mocked me.

Oh shut up, David. You have nothing to do with this.

"I'm just sitting back here with a bag of popcorn, watching this little soap opera unfold." he said with a laugh. "You should really sell your life story. I can imagine it now, The Young and Mutated."

"Don't make me block you out David!"

"Go ahead. But don't you come crying to me when your Remy won't take you back."

"That's it David, you're so........"

"Marie?"

Okay, have I drunk too much or did I just hear Remy? I peered over the side. Below me Remy stood, a calm look on his face. I stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you coming or not?" he said, holding out his hand towards me.

Huh? I blinked my eyes slowly, making sure I wasn't dreaming. Once I had established that, yes I was actually awake, I jumped into action. Grabbing the bottle, I crawled over the beanbag and quickly released the catch to the ladder. It groaned loudly as it reached towards the ground. I climbed down as fast as I could, turning round every few steps to check he was still there. Missing the last step, I fell flat on my back. Man it hurt, but I couldn't help but laugh. Remy walked over to me and helped me up.

"Are you all right Chere?" he asked, a look of concern on his face. I leaned against his warm body and nodded.

"I just had a little drink. Just a little bitty drink." I held up the half empty bottle as proof. Oops. Hiding the bottle behind my back, I grinned sheepishly at Remy. His charming grin was still on his face.

"Look Remy, I overreacted to the whole fighting thing...."

"Come on Chere," he cut me off. "I have a surprise to show you."

I frowned. "But aren't you still angry with me?" I asked as him as he led me towards the forest. I stumbled slightly, but Remy supported me along the way, a look of determination on his face.

"No Rogue," he said. "All is forgiven."

As we reached the tree line, Remy laid me down on a pile of leaves and looked into the forest. I unscrewed the bottle and was about to offer some to Remy, but he walked off into the forest, his silk shirt rippling underneath his trenchcoat.

I looked back at the mansion, wondering what surprise Remy had in store for me. I looked at Logan's room and jolted upright. Logan was standing in his room, talking to Remy. But that's not right........

My mind suddenly sobered up as I realized that something was wrong. There were two Remys, but which one was real? Turning around, I almost jumped to find Remy was behind me.

"What's wrong, Rogue?"

I looked down at him. And my brain clicked. Remy never called me Rogue and he hadn't worn the silk shirt since Mystique ripped it.......

I looked down at the complete shirt and stepped back. Remy's charming smile dropped from his face. I turned to run, but landed face-first in a pile of dirt as my legs were swiped out from underneath me. I clawed at the ground, trying desperately to get away. Two strong arms grabbed at my ankles and I was pulled into the air. My stomach felt queasy and I could taste the bile in my throat. I tried to kick out with my feet, but the grip just tightened.

Remy came into view and he bent over, his face only inches from mine. His demonic eyes turned yellow as he laughed at me. Turning away, I watched in horror as he turned into Mystique. Twisting myself around, I looked up at a grinning Sabretooth and promptly threw up.

Mystique jumped back in disgust, Sabretooth almost dropped me into it. Close enough to the ground, I pushed off the ground with my hands, sending a foot into Sabretooth's face. It was just enough to get him to loosen his grip, so when I twisted, he dropped me. Right into the pile of puke.

Shaking my stomach contents from my hand, Mystique kicked me in the face. If I didn't already have a headache from the alcohol my head was now exploding in pain. Barely able to see straight, I crawled towards the blurry light that was the mansion. Behind me, I heard laughter.

"Shut up!" I said, looking back at Mystique's laughing figure. "I'm drunk and hurt. Just leave me alone!"

And for a sec there, I thought she would. Yeah, right. Sabretooth picked me up underneath my arms and carried me outstretched towards Mystique.

"Ohh, poor baby," She mocked me. I kicked her face, hitting her nose. I smiled as she wiped the blood from her nose, only to be smacked over the head by Sabretooth's big nasty paw.

"Let me down!" I screamed at him, struggling against his restraint. Mystique nodded and Sabretooth dropped me. Seeing my chance, I made a break for it. And I would have made it too, if Toad hadn't jumped on me.

"Tie her up." Mystique instructed.

Toad sat on me, grinning as he tied my legs and hands. He rolled me over and Sabretooth took his cue and picked me up, slinging me over his shoulder. As he started walking into the forest, I used my other line of defense.

"HELP!!! SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!" I screamed. My voice was promptly silenced by a glob of slime, provided by Toad.

Mystique held up her hand a few feet into the forest and Sabretooth stopped and put me down. Mystique pulled out a knife from a sheath she was carrying and grabbed at my tied hands. I moved them away from her, grinning at her angry face. She pulling the knife up and pressed it against my neck.

"I could kill you right now, do you know that?"

I gave my 'well duh' look. Mystique pressed the knife harder against my neck.

"I could leave you here bound and bleeding to death and they wouldn't even know." The steel point of the knife cut into my skin and I felt it nick my skin. 'Oh shit' I thought nervously looking at the knife.

Amazingly, Toad came to my rescue.

"Back off there Mysti." he said softly, gripping her blue hand. "Remember we still need her."

Mystique's face twitched in anger. Sighing, she lowered the knife and grabbed at my hands. I felt a sharp pain as she dragged the knife across the center of my palm. And holy shit it hurt. Warm blood spread across my hand, soaking my gloves.

Mystique put the knife back in the sheath and leaned over to whisper in my ear. "Magneto wants your little boyfriend," she chuckled, "and you're going to lead him right into our trap."

I grabbed at her face, trying to connect my bare skin with hers. I felt Sabretooth's furry hand grab my neck and I froze.

"Come on." Mystique told Sabretooth.

Sabretooth picked me up and slung me over his shoulder and slowly began walking deeper into the forest. I clasped my hands together, hoping to stop the flow of blood. It dripped onto the ground, leaving a steady trail of red.

We kept walking long into the night. My eyesight was going blurry, probably from the lost of blood and the alcohol in my system. I had a killer headache but that was just the beginning of a hangover. We came to a clearing and Sabretooth dropped me onto the hard ground.

I struggled to sit up and looked around. It wasn't a clearing as I had originally thought, it was a road. Parked a little further up was a black Jeep. Toad and Sabretooth busied themselves packing and preparing to leave as Mystique checked a series of silver briefcases. I tried to get up, feeling lethargic. My legs were like jelly and as much as I tried to stand, I couldn't. I managed to get onto my hands and knees, but after crawling a few feet, I felt extremely tired. Mystique walked over, pulling gloves over her

hands. She grabbed at my injured hand, inspecting it.

"I see you got it to stop bleeding." She said with a smirk. "No matter, I'll just take the glove."

She pulled off the glove exposing my bare hand. I reached up at her face but she just smacked my hand away. Walking away, Mystique grabbed a piece of paper from the jeep and stuffed it inside my glove. Discarding the glove, Mystique ordered Sabretooth to put me in the back of the Jeep as she hopped into the back seat. Sabretooth lay me down among the metallic briefcases and closed the boot. It was cramped in the back, but I still managed to maneuver my head so I could see out the Jeep's back window, up at the stars. I felt strangely calm as I stared up at the dots of light in the sky, remembering the time at the park. I had been such an idiot. The jeep's engine rumbled to life and Mystique leant over the seat and looked at me.

"Goodnight." She said, pointing a dart gun at my arm. Closing my eyes, I welcomed the oblivion of sleep and with a quiet bam, I was there.