Notes: To the two people who emailed me: My hotmail account is currently throwing a hissy fit and won't let me send out anything, but I did get your emails and please don't think I'm ignoring you, I'd reply if I could! Sangofanatic: Thank you, I think… coldqueen: I never said that Jean would die, I said an X-Man would die. I could kill off Rogue, ya know, I'm just that evil. But Jean does go through a fair share of pain so I guess that's okay, right?

I had to post the end half of this chapter elsewhere as it contains explicit violence that I felt, was NC-17 and not R-rated, but don't worry, I mention when I cut off and where to find the rest.

Chapter Four

"Rogue, what's going on? What's happening? Who are these people? Where are we? Where have you been the past month? We've been so worried and the Professor couldn't find you with Cerebro! What is going on?"

"I'm sorry, Jean, I wish this didn't have to happen."

"Wish what didn't have to happen? Rogue, talk to me!"

"This is called the Cage, it's sort of like a dogfight using mutants. I got captured a month ago, and I've been fighting for my life ever since. The rules are pretty simple, and really cliché: two mutants enter, only one mutant leaves. We have to fight, Jean, until one of us is dead."

"What? Rogue, that's crazy, why are you doing this? I'm getting out of here right now."

Jean struggled to her feet and turned to face the door of, reaching out as if she would grab it. Rogue sighed and watched as she attempted futilely to use her powers on the door.

"Your powers won't work, Jean, not on the bars," she said. "We're trapped. If we don't fight-"

Jean didn't let her finish, instantly grabbing onto that faint hope. "We have a choice?" she asked, her eyes desperately pleading with Rogue to say yes.

"Not much of one. If we refuse to fight, we'll be given to the guards for 'fun'. For me, that just means torture, which trust me is bad enough. But you don't have the protection I have, your powers don't prevent people from touching you. You'll be gang-raped, Jean, as well as tortured. It's better to just fight."

Tears welled up in Jean's emerald green eyes, slowly sliding down her cheeks. She collapsed to her knees again, her shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs.

"I don't want to do this," she moaned, hiding her face in her hands. Rogue felt a surge of pity wash through her body, and looked down at the weapons scattered on the ground.

"I'll make it quick, Jean, but you have to decide if you want me to kill you, or if you're going to fight me."

Jean looked up at her, all hope draining from her eyes, leaving only the fear behind, and the uncertainty. "Rogue, I can't…"

"I'm truly sorry, Jean. If you want, I can kill you quick. If you don't want, you can fight me, and see if you can win, but if you don't fight me, you'll regret it for hours, maybe days. And if you do fight me, I promise to give you one helluva fight. All friendship ends if you decide to fight."

Jean shook her head. "I won't fight you, Rogue. I refuse. If you want to kill me, just do it quickly."

Rogue sighed and picked up a knife from the floor, gripping the black handle tightly. She took a step forward, but couldn't force herself to go any further. Her friend looked so defeated, kneeling on the floor with her tangled hair hiding her face. Her shoulders were still shaking, and Rogue knew that she was crying again.

She should kill her, save them both a world of pain, but… Jean had been so kind to her when they first met, it had been Jean's smile that finally convinced her to join the X-Men, she'd never seen someone so caring and sincere. She couldn't kill that smile. She knew she should, her mind was screaming at her to do it, but her heart… her heart was telling her not to.

She sighed again for what felt like the hundredth time, and let the knife slip from her fingers. She turned to look up at Adams, knowing that she was making a big mistake but also doing the right thing.

"We refuse to fight," she stated clearly, and saw rage cloud his blue eyes.

"Do not do this, Rogue."

"You can keep us in here for years, but we will not fight."

"Guards!"

A group of guard stormed into The Cage, and Rogue watched them come impassively. A small voice whispered that she had saved her friend, and doomed her at the same time, and she smiled at the irony of the entire situation. She wouldn't kill her friend, so instead condemned her to hours of torture and rape. That made a bucket load of sense.

This part is too explicit for , so I have posted it in my LJ, just go to www dot livejournal dot com slash users slash kalisama slash 10349.html#cutid1 (yes writing it that way is a pain, but ffnet eats any urls so it's pretty much the only way)