I'm relaxing in the sun when she approaches me hesitantly a week after I set up my camp.

"What are you?" she asks haltingly.

"Rogue." I respond carefully, watching her face for a reaction.

It happens as a head tilt. "What is a Rogue?"

"It's a name. It's what others like us call me."

"What are we?"

"People. Humans."

She nods. "Do I have a name?"

"I don't know." I say sadly, regretting my lie instantly. "Would you like one?"

"I think I would."

"Your hair is very pretty, red like fire." I tell her.

"Hair?"

I finger my own brown and white locks, then indicate her long red ones. "Hair."

"It's not fur?"

I smile. "Most humans don't have fur. Some do, but for the most part, we don't."

"Oh. I wondered about that. What should my name be?"

"Would you like to be Phoenix?"

"What does it mean?"

"Reborn. My name is a lonely one, I thought you might like one a bit more welcoming."

"Thank you." She moves to hug me, and I pull back carefully. "What's wrong?"

"It's my skin. I don't have my gloves on right now, and you need to be careful not to touch my skin."

"I don't understand."

"Not all humans are the same. I mentioned that some have fur. My friend Beast is one of those. I've noticed when I happen to see you at the lake that you can make things move without touching them. My skin hurts people if I'm not really careful. I can also fly, and I'm very strong."

"Fly?" she tilts her head. "But you don't have wings."

"No, I don't. It's like I said. Not all humans are the same. Some, like us, are called mutants. Our cells have changed faster than most, and that makes it so that we can do things other people can't."

"How do you know this much?"

"I went to a special school for mutants. They explained it to us."

She sits near me. "I wish I had gone to a school like that. It would explain why I can't remember."

"Remember what?"

"Anything. I get flashes. Bits of images. Some of them scare me, like I might have been a bad human before I lost my memory."

"If you ever want to talk about them, I would listen."

"Thank you." She looks at me. "Why do you live in the forest?"

I close my eyes. "I lost a friend here a while back. She died helping me, saving my life and the lives of most of my friends. I missed her, so I decided to come and visit her for a while."

"I'm sorry. What was she like?"

I gaze at her, and then turn to look at the lake. "She was the bravest woman I knew. Strong, intelligent. I looked up to her. I was also a bit jealous of her, because the man I was in love with wanted her. She wanted him too actually, not so much because she loved him, but because he was new, and different. Even with all of that, I admired her. She was the closest thing I ever had to an older sister. I missed her terribly."

"Do you still miss her?"

"I'll always miss her, that's why I came here, but, after a while, I realized that she would always be with me. Her lessons, her example, I'll never forget them."

She shakes her head. "Logan."

I look at her sharply. "What?"

"The man who wanted her. His name was Logan."

"How did you know that?"

"I don't know. I heard it. He's tall, and his hair is kind of messy. He wears jeans."

I smile. "All the time. You can't get Logan to dress up for anything."

"He kissed her."

My eyebrows raise. "He what?"

"He kissed her, not long before she died. She told him that she would…" she cuts herself off. "Who's Scott?"

"Scott is my teacher." I say carefully.

"NO!" she shouts angrily. "WHO IS SCOTT TO ME? Why can't I stop picturing his face? What do you know about me?" she jumps at me.

I grab her sleeved arms and pin her to the sand. "Calm down." I tell her.

She writhes and fights me. "What do you know about me?"

"More than I plan on telling you if you don't calm down!" I shout, holding just a bit tighter. I feel her mind push against my fingers, trying to force me to let go.

"I'm stronger than you sugar, and you'd better believe I'm meaner." I drawl. "If you don't stop strugglin' I'll stop you mahself."

She stops moving. "Who am I?"

I let go, and stand above her. "One step at a time sugar. First Ah'll tell you about me, and mah friends. If you haven't remembered yourself by the end of that, then Ah'll start in on you."

She lifts herself up and stares at me. "You have an accent." She smiles.

I shake my head. "It only comes out any more when Ah'm angry sugar. It's a defense mechanism to keep Carol under control."

"Who's Carol?"

"My…let's just call her my other personality for now."

"Will you at least tell me who Scott is?"

"Scott is…was…Jean Grey's fiancé."

"Jean Grey?"

"The woman who died here."

"And he wears red glasses?"

"Yes."

"Why do I keep seeing his face?"

"You were in love with him."

"I was in love with someone else's fiancé?"

"It's a bit more than that, but like I said, we're not starting with you sugar. We're starting with me."

Logan and Scott look at one another. "We shouldn't be doing this." Scott says carefully.

"Doing what?"

"Coercing Rogue's friends into doing our dirty work for us."

"You don't think they're just as worried as we are?"

"The Professor told us to leave it alone."

Logan stares at him. "Would you leave it alone if it were Jeannie?"

Scott lowers his head. "No."

"Then you understand."

"I never said I didn't understand Logan, I said that we were ordered to leave it alone."

"Exactly. WE were ordered. Wheels said nothing about them." He indicates the twenty-somethings approaching them.

"Somehow I think he meant that we were supposed to let it go, not encourage others to take up the cause."

"What cause?" Bobby asks, wrapping his arm around Kitty Pryde's shoulders.

"Rogue is on a mission."

Jubilee looks at Logan incredulously. "She told me she was going to visit family in Mississippi."

Remy nods. "Chère told Gambit the same."

"The professor sent her to find someone he calls the Phoenix at Alkali Lake." Logan explains.

Kitty's eyes go wide. "Did you say Phoenix?"

"Yes."

She looks at Scott. "You know about this Mr. Summers?" she asks carefully.

Scott shrugs. "Yes."

"And you're still here?"

"I was told to leave it alone. That my presence, and Logan's, might endanger Rogue's mission."

"Did you even think about where it was she is?" Bobby asks, looking at Kitty's wide eyes.

"I tried not to." Scott clips.

"Or what it was she was sent to get?" Kitty presses.

Jubilee, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Gambit, Wolverine and Cyclops. Get in my office right now.

The four young people lock gazes, and turn quickly to hurry back inside. Scott and Logan reluctantly follow.

The six enter the office and find Charles Xavier glaring at the two senior X-men. "I told you to drop it."

Logan glares back. "And I told you I wasn't going to."

Scott nods. "I can see where he's coming from professor. He's worried about Rogue. We both are. She's like a sister to me, and you let her go out on her own before she was ready."

"I didn't let her do anything. I asked her to retrieve a – Suit Up. The Brotherhood is moving in on Rogue's location." The founder of the X-men wheels out of the room and his stunned team follows silently, joined as they went by Ororo and Hank."