A/N: This is an extra long chapter just for Abaiisiia, whose reviews prompted me to write it. So thank you Abaiisiia, and I hope you enjoy this chapter written in your honor.

Melting Ice

A squeal of tires, gravel spattering the road, a red haired woman laughing loudly, the man next to her accelerating to feel her hand grip his in fear. Jean Grey giggled, the remnants of her soda splattering the street as she tossed it away in abandon. Her date, Scott, slowed the car as the large mansion came into view. Jean's giddy laughter died down, and the car came to a complete stop in front of the gargantuan building. Scott smiled and said, "Well, I wonder how the mission went?"

Jean snorted and waved a manicured hand toward the door, "Who cares? It's not like anything important happened."

A foreign voice rang out into the summer stillness, "That's where you'd be wrong."

The door to the mansion opened, light spilling out and spangling the darkened yard. And, silhouetted against the light, was Remy, beer bottle in hand. He smiled sarcastically and said, "Welcome back, Lovebirds."

Jean wrinkled her nose in disgust, and Scott peered at the Cajun, his tone accusing as he said, "Are you even old enough to drink?"

The older man laughed a shot back, "I'm too young to drink and you're going too fast in a residential area. So you see, we're even."

Jean got out of the car, slammed the door, and stalked past the amused (and rather drunk) Remy into the mansion, letting out an exasperated sigh while doing so. Scott's shoulders slumped, and Remy hiccupped before saying, "Oh, I'm sorry, did I ruin 'the mood'?"

Scott massaged his temples in answer before grinding out, "Remy?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Remy answered with another hiccup before retreating back into the brightly lit house.

The Next Day

Beep, Beep, Beep…

The heart monitor was insistent, mocking, each little beep sounding more satisfyingly infuriating than the last.

"Mien Gott! This is driving me insane!"

A sympathetic sigh and Kitty placed her hand on Kurt's shoulder while using the other to brush an errant strand of brown hair out of her eyes.

"It'll be ok Kurt."

"But she has a link to Rogue! I was sure she was dead, but now…now I don't know what to think! She may be alive, and this mutant is the only way we can find out."

Beast, who was currently adjusting the fluid drip, said, "Kurt, we have to be very careful. From what I can tell, this mutant has a very odd power, not terribly unlike Rogue's. If she were to go renegade on us, she might be hard to subdue."

Kitty dismissed this by saying, "She's in no condition to go renegade."

X and Remy sat at a table in the corner of the infirmary, looking over the files that Logan's team had recovered. It was their hope that the woman that now lay still on the hospital bed had records that could tell them more about her. They had been at it for eight hours, having not slept since returning from Red Block. Even with all of their effort, they had received very little success at identifying the mutant. Remy, who was nursing a bad hangover, had fallen asleep twice, and even the normally stoic X was showing signs of fatigue.

Beast sighed loudly and prompted them with, "Alright, I think it's time for you four to go to sleep."

"I'm not tired."

"Yes, you are," the gorilla like man insisted, "You haven't slept in over twenty four hours."

"But then who will watch her?" A gesture was made towards the still form of the mutant.

"I'll get the one of the recruits to, or maybe Scott and Jean."

Remy snorted, "Sure, they'll be happy to, considering they got back at about four in the morning last night."

Beast quirked an eyebrow and replied, "Don't make me get Logan to drag you out."

Kitty replied with a "whatever," and went back to her silent vigil over the comatose woman.

"Found it!" X, normally monotone, was almost giddy with excitement, waving a piece of paper back and forth. Slowly she began to read the information on it, her blue eyes sparking in excitement.

"Name: Arashi Tokumaru

Age: 24

Race: Japanese

Hair Color: White

Eye Color: White

Code Name: Void

Power: Skin-to-skin contact with Arashi causes her to unwillingly suck the life force from her victim. Once the life force is absorbed, she can transfer it to other objects, human of otherwise, healing them. However, she is volatile. Skin-to-Skin contact prohibited.

Purpose: Used for disciplining unruly mutants.

Precautions: Must be chained, Must wear full clothing, must bathe separately."

X's voice trailed off, her eyes looking up and meeting the tired faces with which she had much in common. Kitty sighed, looking at the pale lady who had been dubbed Arashi.

"We still don't know how she knows Remy."

"And Rogue isn't in any of the files. Arashi's was the last one."

Remy gritted his teeth and muttered, "Damn."

Days passed, then weeks. The woman, Arashi, laid still, each wheezing breath reverberating in the still and stuffy room. It was enough to drive anyone insane. At first all of the team, and even some of the students had been enthralled with the woman in the coma, but after that wore off only a few would keep their silent and boring vigil. Even X, the most patient of those who stayed, had abandoned her watch, choosing instead to go on nightly escapades with Logan. Logan too had ceased, though he still brought food to those haggard forms that had not. Remy, Kurt, and Kitty had each claimed a corner of the room; one littered with soda and psalms, the other beer and ash from cigarettes, the last with fashion magazines and specialty coffees. The fourth corner was home to Arashi, her slowly eroding form tormenting those who had gone to so much trouble to save her.

"Hey half-pint. I brought you some food."

Red-rimmed blue eyes rose wearily, thin and pale hands reaching languidly for the bag of fast food that Wolverine held. "Thank you Logan."

He handed it over and came to be cross-legged on the floor, one arm loosely around the fatigued young woman. "Listen Kitty…" he began, tension evident in his form.

He was greeted by a heavy sigh and the slurp of a soda. "Logan," Kitty said tiredly, "I know it's possible that she won't wake up. I know that she may have permanent brain damage because of her starvation. I know that Rogue is dead. But I also know that I owe it to her to try and find out everything I can. I owe it to them."

She gestured to the sleeping forms of Kurt and Remy, one with a thin flannel blanket covering his knees; the other sprawled on the thin and cramped couch. Remy had an empty bottle in his hand, a beard forming on his face, and a cigarette loosely dangling from his lips. Kurt was slowly growing thin; the dark circles under his eyes evident even through the blue fur.

Logan sighed so heavily it was as if his entire body went slack, all the muscles releasing like a thousand little ropes, he looked so old. "Kitty," he said tiredly, "Rogue was an amazing woman. I know that better than anyone. God, some days I can barely breathe I miss her so much. But do you think this is what she wants for you? You're going weak, you don't eat, the last time you really slept was three days ago, and then it was only because I made you." He gestured to her small and thin hand, the blue veins scrawling over its surface.

"And what about Kurt?" he continued, and as if on cue the teleporter rolled over with a groan, "He's lost his will to live, his faith in God, his everything. He can barely function and it's all because of Rogue's death."

He snorted and went on to Remy, "She loved him, half-pint, and though I hate to admit it, he loved her back. I never saw Rogue as happy as the few days he was around. And look, just look at him now. He's drunk and smoking three packs a day. At this rate he'll join her sooner than planned.

"The team is falling apart, and she wouldn't want that. She wouldn't want you three sitting in a hospital room like it's worth your time. You're alive Kitty, and you need to do something with it! Rogue is dead, and you can't change it. So please, for her and for me, just live!"

The young woman sighed in answer, slipping herself out from under the older man's arm. "Alright, Logan," she said, "I'm going to finish my food, and then I'm going to sleep. Happy now?"

He smiled sadly in response, "As happy as I've been in the past year."

And still time wore on, like a file slowly wearing away at the very fabric of the team. School resumed and it snowed, the bitter cold sorely grieving the occupants of the mansion. Kurt and Kitty had to go to school, and so only Remy was able to keep his watch over the woman. Sometimes X would come, or the Professor, though whenever that happened Remy would leave. It was a full month and a half after the Red Block mission, when a blizzard prevented everyone from going to school, that the young albino woman awoke.

It was gradual, her slow harkening to consciousness. It put Remy in the mind of an ice statue melting, the way in which she came to be awake. It was only he in the room when it happened, when a flurry of beeping alerted him to the raised pulse of Arashi. He shouted a summons and rushed to her bedside, where Logan, Kurt, Kitty, X, and though he resented their presence, the Professor, Scott and Jean, joined him.

A quiet intake of breath, like leaves whispering on a chilled window, and the frost white eyes slowly opened, hands coming up to touch the face that had felt no human contact in over a month.

A voice like stones dropping into deep water, so smooth and evocative as the woman formed the words, "You…are…the X-Men."

For vocal chords so unused it seemed a momentous occasion, though the crowd in the small infirmary listened intently for more. White eyes looked to the ceiling and found white plaster, a thin chest rising as Arashi continued, "I am Void. I thank you for your rescue."

Kitty, who was furiously brushing at tear-filled eyes, whispered, "Your name is Arashi."

Void's eyes widened, her hands furiously picking at the bedclothes, "Arashi. That was my name once. I have not been called that in nineteen years."

Remy's voice was strained, desperate, as he slowly said, "You were being held by Hydra. When I saw you there, you wrote some things on the plastic, they-"

"You desire to know how I knew your name."

He exhaled, breath exiting in a gentle whoosh, "Yes."

"When…when I was kept prisoner by Trask, as I had been for eighteen years, my purpose was to heal the mutants who were injured during training. Last year, during the summer, I was brought in to heal an individual with a destroyed spleen, liver, and a bullet lodged in the base of their spinal column. That mutant…" she trailed off, voice going hoarse.

Kitty gave a strangled sob and cried out, "Please Arashi, please tell us!"

An intake of breath, and it was released, the words spoken so quietly that only those near the bed heard it.

"That mutant was…Rogue."

Remy blinked, as if he was seeing this woman, really seeing her, for the first time. "Rogue…oh god, she…"

Arashi continued as if he had not spoken, "I healed her, and through some miracle she did not absorb my memories. However, that might have been from the field I am able to create around myself…"

Complete silence as all eyes were trained on her.

"Rogue had green eyes, auburn hair with a white streak, pale skin. She had a cell next to mine. I remember when they gave her a code…"

" A- a code?"

The young woman sighed in response, raising a thin and emaciated hand to them, palm forward, displaying a tattooed barcode with a number underneath, 8216.

"This," she said in response, "Is a barcode. Rogue was given one, and she didn't cry out once, not even when they put in a microchip with it, all in the same day. Even those of us with healing abilities are usually given at least a week to recover. But anyway… you see, any time we are allowed out of our cells, they scan these to show that we have gone. If a prisoner is found roaming where they don't have clearance to go (another bit of information in the scan), then they are shot. The vital information is in the microchip, here." She lifted her hair and placed it to one side, showing a small, discolored spot on her neck.

"The microchip hurts the worst, they slice open the skin and put it in with no painkillers or anesthesia. Most people cry, but Rogue didn't. You know, I'm surprised I remember her name, we were only addressed by aliases or numbers."

"What was Rogue's number?"

"4734, A.K.A. Sponge."

Jean, even with all that was happening, stifled a laugh, "Sp- sponge?!"

Arashi's nervous picking stilled, "Yes. She was being trained to use her powers at full extent, to be able to call up psyches at will. She was nearly there when I was transferred to Red Block, I'm sure she can do it now."

Logan smiled in paternal pride, "That's my girl."

Remy, on his knees at the bedside, choked out, "You're sure Rogue is alive?"

"Yes. Even if she tried to escape, she it too valuable of an asset for Trask to terminate. She is alive, unless…"

Desperation bloomed in Kurt's eyes, "unless what?"

"Unless she killed herself. Rogue was slowly losing her ability to cope; it came from the withdrawal of the psyches."

"What do you mean?"

"During the time I knew her, Rogue's only real comfort was the voices. However, because of training, she was losing them. At the last time I saw her, she only had the ones of those of you in the room, I think."

Scott looked suspicious, he pushed his way to the front and jabbed his finger at the still woman, "But that doesn't explain how you know Remy."

Arashi watched his finger dispassionately, her voice going commanding. "I don't understand how she found your voice to be a comfort Scott, you're quite full of yourself."

Silence.

She continued, "Rogue told me about you, you see. Though I seem to remember she spoke mostly of you, Kurt was it?" The blue-furred teen nodded furiously, tears in his eyes. "And Kitty and Logan."

Kitty fell to the floor, face pressed against Kurt's side, sobbing deeply.

"And you, Remy. She talked of you often." The Cajun smiled, revealing his slightly crooked teeth, and he replied, "She did? And what did she tell you?"

Arashi responded with, "I'd rather not say."

"Oh?" Remy managed a lift of an eyebrow.

Arashi grinned weakly in response, "it's girl talk you know."

Her eyelids began to droop, the conversation draining her of energy. As she slowly drifted to sleep, the throng filed out, and Remy, Kurt, and Kitty slept soundly for the first time in months.

A/N: So, how was it? I hope it was good, I really do. Not too draggy?

Next Chapter: Agent 4734 ("

I am Agent 4734. I exist to complete my purpose... My life, or lack thereof, is in the hands of the man I call "Sir."

His name is Trask.")