Author's notes: I am so sorry about the late update. School has started for me again, and I've had a lot to deal with. PLEASE FORGIVE ME!
Notes to cat2fat: I should apologies to you the most because you are my most loyal fan. I am so sorry.
Notes to sheisbeatiful-sheisnot me: Yes the story has become a Rogue/Nightmare fic. You see at the begingin of this story I asked if people wanted it as a Romy, or a Roguemare fic. At the time there was only one person reviewing and she liked it to be Roguemare. I hope that's not a problem.
Rogue and Nightmare exited the gymnasium quickly. Luckily all the students that had survived the massacre had moved to the front of the building while waiting for the police.
Nightmare stopped as he began to breathe heavily. That beating had taken a lot out of him. He began to fall to his knees.
Rogue grabbed a hold of him and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"Come on," she ordered, "don't get weak on me now."
She began to pull him along as they headed into one of the other school buildings nearby.
As Rogue opened the door The Crimson Hands came out from the gym.
"Keep running," Butcher yelled, "it gives us more pleasure."
Rogue helped Nightmare into the building. They moved to the end of the first hallway. That was when Nightmare stopped.
"We have to split up here," he said.
"What," Rogue blurted out. Now did not seem like the time to split up.
"Trust me," the young killer said. "Hopefully they will all go after me. That will allow you to escape."
"But, what about you," Rogue asked.
Nightmare pulled his arm away from Rogue and stood on his own. "I'll be fine, just get the hell out of here."
As soon as those words passed his lips, the killers all entered the building.
With out further delay Rogue and Nightmare went their separate ways.
Shamen watched as the two split up at the end of the hall. His face turned to anger. There was no way he could allow the Goth or the traitor live.
"Hunter," he called.
Hunter stepped forward with his pickaxe propped up against his shoulder.
Shamen sad, "I want you, Stalker, and Clowny to go after the girl. The rest will hunt down Nightmare with me. I want the girl's head by the end of the night. As for Nightmare, I want him cut into little pieces."
All of his children were in agreement. They moved down to the end of the hall and then split up to track down their prey.
Rogue ran through the empty building, desperately looking for an exit.
Her mind had gone to the other X-Men who were at the dance. Were any of them injured during the slaughter? Were any of them dead?
The Goth knew that if they were alright then they would contact the other X-Men before they did anything else. All she had to do now was stall until they got here. Then it would be a fair fight.
But she was still worried. If the X-Men weren't here soon then surely both Nightmare and she would be as good as dead.
The Crimson Hands seemed more than determined. Out of all the enemies she had fought with the X-Men, none seemed as focused as the murderers.
They seemed to know exactly what their goal was, and knew how they would accomplish it.
Rogue continued running through the building. She knew this particular building well. It was where she took her French class during the school day. And she knew that soon she would come to a door that led to the outside.
If only she had time to get to it.
As she ran she soon felt something hit her in the back. It caused her to loose her footing and fall to the floor.
She looked behind her and saw Hunter standing a few yards behind her.
The killer had seen her running through the hall. And he had thrown his pickaxe at her, hoping to do much damage. Luckily it was the handle that hit Rogue's back.
"Damn," Hunter said, "I've gotten a little sloppy."
Rogue stood to her feet and saw the pickaxe laying on the ground. She picked it up and held it, ready to use it against the killer.
Hunter shook his head.
It was then that Stalker and Clowny came to his side.
"Surely you don't think you stand a chance against us," Hunter asked, as grabbed hold of his chain, and pulled it out from its holster.
Rogue began to shiver slightly. This not something she normally did in front of an enemy, but these killers were no ordinary enemies.
"Stay away from me," Rogue demanded as she held the head of the pickaxe in front of her.
The killers did nothing of the kind.
They began to walk forward, each holding their weapons.
Rogue tightened her grip and repeated, "stay away from me."
Clowny gave his usual insane giggle as he twirled his cleaver in his hands.
Pretty little girly, shaking in my view.
Pretty little girly, Clowny's killing you.
Cut her, gut her, make her fears come true.
Pretty little girly, butchered in my view.
Another one of Clowny's twisted rhymes. It sent shivers down Rogue's spine.
She did not want to hear anymore.
With all her strength she swung the pickaxe at Clowny.
It made contact with his shoulder, puncturing it, but Clowny did not react.
He just grabbed the pickaxe, and pulled it away from Rogue.
Hunter laughed what had just happened.
"Come now pretty," he said, "Clowny is immune to pain, I thought you had learned that after our first encounter."
Rogue decided to try another attack, and quickly brought her foot to Hunter's groin.
The killer kneeled down in pain, allowing Rogue to break through the killers again.
As she moved passed Hunter she said, "well, at least you feel pain."
Stalker helped his brother to his feet.
Hunter said angrily, "I want that girl impaled on a spike."
Further into the building, Rogue began to look for a place to hide. She knew very well that the class room doors would be locked. Still she had to find a way to get in to one of them.
At last she found her opportunity.
A fire extinguisher was in a case of the wall. She took it out and smashed open the window on one of the classroom doors.
She reached her hand through the window and unlocked it. And then she paused.
If this door was the only one with a smashed window, those killers would be able to finder her with out delay.
So as fast as she could, Rogue moved to two other classroom doors and smashed those windows open as well.
Then she entered one of them, and hid under the desk, where the teacher would normally sit. The fire extinguisher was placed by her side. It might be of some use later on.
Outside of the classroom the three killers had finally caught up. Hunter paused and looked at the three doors.
His pickaxe was back in his hands, and he wanted to use it very badly.
He turned to his brothers and said, "wait here, make sure she doesn't double back."
Hunter began to walked towards the classrooms. He turned his head to each door, wondering which one to enter first.
At was as if he was not looking, but listening.
Cautiously he entered one of the classrooms.
Rogue hid below the desk, trying to breathe as quietly as she could.
She had heard the door open, and her mind instantly fell into despair.
She listened to Hunter move around the room. The footsteps came closer and closer to where she was hiding.
That was when she heard Hunter's voice. "Perhaps this would be the best time to tell you what my ability is Pretty."
Rogue held her breath when she heard that voice.
"I can hear people's heartbeats," Hunter said, "and yours is as loud as ever."
Rogue's eyes turned wide. And then Hunters pickaxe went through the top of the desk.
The point went right in front of Rogue's face, causing her to scream in surprise.
The Goth grabbed hold of the fire extinguisher, and stood up from under the desk.
Hunter was one the opposite side of the desk. His pickaxe jammed into the wood surface.
Rogue pointed the fire extinguisher at him and sprayed the cooled substance inside at him.
The killer stepped back as his eyes were hit with the freezing essence. He backed away rubbing his eyes with his hands as he moved.
Rogue took the opportunity. She ripped off one of her gloves and reached out towards Hunter.
She slipped her hand under his mask and touched his face.
Hunter could only gasp when he felt the girl's powers kick in.
Rogue's mind became full of Hunter's memories. She saw many people who he had killed. Each death was filled with blood and gore.
After a few moments she let go of Hunter.
The killer fell unconscious to the ground.
Rogue was slightly relieved, but she knew there were still more like Hunter in the building.
"One down," she said, "six more to go."
She walked towards the door, stopping in her steps as she reached for the knob.
"Wait," she said, "what about Stalker and Clowny."
Rogue then remembered what Hunter had told her. She searched her mind for Hunter's power.
When she had found it, she did her best to kick it in.
Then she heard them. Two heartbeats outside the door.
She looked back down at Hunter, knowing very well that she had to protect herself.
Outside of the room Stalker and Clowny waited. Their worry was beginning to grow. There was no scream yet. Surely Hunter would have found the girl by now.
The tension was eased when they saw the door open, but it wasn't Hunter who came out.
Rogue stepped out of the room with Hunter's pickaxe in her right hand and the killer's hook in her left. The chain was draped over her shoulder just incase she needed it.
Stalker looked her over, enraged that she had taken his brother's weapons.
"What have you done to him," he asked.
Rogue kept her hands tight one the weapons. "Let's just say he's down for the night."
Stalker clenched his pitchfork so tightly, that it would have snapped in half if he had the proper strength.
"This is an outrage," he said. "No one has ever laid hands on our weapons. No one was meant to. You little whore."
Rogue dropped the hook so she could get a better grip on the pickaxe.
"Sticks and stones, asshole," she said.
Stalker kept his gaze on Rogue, but he spoke to Clowny.
"Clowny, go fin the others. Tell them that Hunter is wounded and it would be wise to tend to him. I will make sure that this bitch dies."
Clowny nodded and made his way further into the building.
Stalker moved closer to Rogue, wanting so much to jam his pitchfork into her neck.
Rogue felt the same way towards him. She wanted him dead. However there was something in her mind that made her delay in just simply attacking him.
Nightmare. That's what it was in her mind. When she had absorbed Nightmare's memories she must have taken this as well.
She knew that Nightmare did not want to kill Stalker. He could still feel that bond between them. That's why it was always so difficult for them to fight each other. It would be like Rogue having to fight Kurt. She wouldn't be able to.
She knew she had to try something else before she tried to kill him.
"Stalker," she said. "Why the Hell are you doing this?"
"Stop stalling and fight me," he said.
"Not until you clear a few things up," Rogue said. "Ah want to know why the Hell you joined these people? It seems to me that you'd be more at home with Nightmare. Why the Hell would you stick with The Crimson Hands if you still feel like Nightmare's brother."
"Just shut up and fight," was all Stalker said.
"Please Stalker," Rogue said, "Ah have to know."
Stalker kept his grip on his pitchfork. Why did this girl want to talk?
In his mind he should have taken the opportunity to finish her. But something made him not do so.
"Do you have any idea what its like," he said, "to hate where you came from."
"Do you know what it's like living everyday, knowing that you hated your parents. I do."
His voice became full of pain.
"My childhood was Hell. My parents seemed to know what I was before I had even heard of Shamen. And because of that they hated me."
"Every morning I woke up to see them looking at me with hate in their eyes. They felt I was just a burden to them."
"All I ever wanted was for them to love me, but they could never give me that. Every day they would tell me how it would be better if I had not been born."
"So one day I ran. I ran away from them, just to get away from those bastards was all I cared about."
"However I was only a child. I didn't have any food, any water. All I had were the clothes on my back."
"And did anyone take me in? No. I was just another homeless person on the streets to everyone else."
"But Shamen, he found me and he rescued me. If it were not for him I would have died before I had even turned ten years old."
Rogue had listened to his tale. Stalker's parents sort of reminded her of Mystique. She did not truly care about her either. She just wanted her powers.
"Stalker," she said, "Ah do know what it's like to not be loved by your parents. Mah adopted mother didn't care about me either. We both know what that's like. You don't need to hate all mankind because of two people."
Stalker looked into her eyes. Why was this girl acting this way towards him?
"You don't need to be with The Crimson Hands," Rogue said.
The young killer still did not trust this girl. However her words intrigued him.
'"Really," he asked. "And just where am I suppose to go?"
Rogue put down the pickaxe and the chain. She wanted to try and show Stalker that she wasn't the way he thought she was.
"Maybe with us," she said.
Stalker cocked his head to the side.
"Ah know that you don't want to hurt Nightmare," she said. "He told me everything that you told him earlier tonight. Why else would you help us if you still want to be with those killers."
Stalker did not have an answer. He did not know why he had warned Nightmare about what was to come.
He placed the head of his pitchfork down on the ground. Still this did not make him change his mind about Rogue.
"There is no point in trying to change my ways Pretty," he said. "It will only be a matter of time before you are killed by that red metal giant."
"It's called The Sentinel," Rogue stated. "And we have fought it before. After some of us were captured mah friends stopped at nothing to rescue us. Trust me this time around will be no different. If some of us are captured again, we will be rescued."
Stalker shook his head. "Not this time around."
He moved a few steps closer to Rogue.
The Goth began to feel slightly afraid. Stalker still had both his weapons and she had dropped hers.
'Why the Hell did Ah have to put down the pickaxe,' she asked herself in her mind.
Stalker spoke. "I saw it. Every one of you was captured by this Sentinel, as you call it. It spared no one in my vision, not even you. But I am afraid that you will not make it to the headquarters alive."
This made Rogue's fear grow. "What do you mean?"
"The people that created the red giant," he continued, "they are going to put an end to your existence Pretty. When all of your team is captured and they begin to load you onto their transporters, they will see that they have room for all the mutants but one. That one is you Pretty. And seeing as they will not permit a mutant to be left behind, they will dispose of you right on the spot."
Rogue stood there in a pit of her own fear. This was a terrible thing to know. She was going to die.
"No," she said, "that can't be possible."
"It is," Stalker said, "being a mutant does not mean you are immortal. Unless certain events do not take place your fate may not come to pass. But until that happens, you are doomed."
"No way," Rogue stated, her voice shaking. "There has got to be a way Ah can change it."
Stalker said more sternly, "if certain events are not changed, then you are going to perish, and there is nothing that you can do."
His killing instincts began to overwhelm
He picked up his pitchfork. "Of course I can change it so you don't have to wait so long."
He pushed his pitchfork forward.
Rogue barely managed to get out of the way.
She grabbed onto the weapon and tried with all her strength to pull it out of Stalker's grasp.
But the killer would not let go.
Rogue knew very well that the only way she could take the weapon was if she cut off her foe's hands.
However there was one other way. She had not replaced her glove after attacking Hunter.
As quickly as she could she slid her hand under Stalker's mask, and once again her powers began to kick in, sucking out Stalker's memories.
And that was when she saw it. Her own death.
All of Trask's men were standing around her. She was incased in the green substance that she had been trapped in once before.
The men had these strange guns in their hands, and were aiming them at her.
"Fire," said the voice of Trask, from only a few feet away. And his men obeyed his orders.
An odd beam of light came out from each of the guns. The substance that surrounded Rogue shattered instantly, but the beams did not stop. Each of them went clear through Rogue, and all she could do was scream, before she fell lifeless to the ground.
This vision was too much for her to bare.
She let go of Stalker and backed away screaming, but unfortunately she did not hold onto Stalker long enough. He was still conscious, even though he was weakened to a huge level.
He could barely even hold up his pitchfork.
His body began to stumble around before he finally fell to his knees.
"How the Hell did you do that," Stalker asked as he began to breathe heavily. "How did you take away my strength by simply touching me?"
Rogue didn't answer. She couldn't. The poor girl was still too shaken up to speak.
However that was the least of her worries now. Soon she felt a cold blade being pushed against her neck.
It was Clowny's cleaver. The killer had returned while Rogue was fighting with Stalker. And he did not come alone.
From behind Stalker, Shamen stepped forward.
When Rogue saw him she could barely breathe.
Shamen stepped over to her and said, "that was very impressive girl."
He reached his hand over to Rogue's face. "What's your secret Pretty. Does your mutant ability give you poisoned flesh, or is it something more."
Still Rogue said nothing. There was no way that she would tell Shamen what her powers were. She did not need some other force of evil wanting to use her.
Shamen however, did not care if he got an answer or not. Now that he had Nightmare's friend then that gave him the upper hand.
"Clowny," he said, "take her back to the others. I will collect Hunter."
He then looked to Stalker. "Can you walk?"
Stalker nodded his head. "I think so."
And with that Shamen went into the room where Hunter was lying, as Clowny began to take Rogue back to his brothers, with Stalker right behind them.
Nightmare began to trash the room that he had entered just a few moments ago. He was looking for anything that he could use for a weapon. So far nothing would do.
In an act of desperation he picked a chair up from a nearby desk. It may not have been the best weapon, but it would have to do.
And so Nightmare stood ready to attack, as he began to hear the voice of Butcher yell, "this way, I thought I heard something coming from one of these rooms.
Nightmare held his ground as he held the chair up.
He was not afraid for his own life, but he was afraid for Rogue.
"I've got to get to Marie before they rip her to shreds," he said.
He tensed himself up, wanting so much to attack the first person that entered the room.
He was completely cut off guard when the bamfing noise came from behind him and the smell of sulfur filled the air.
Nightmare turned around to see the mutant he knew as Kurt standing behind him.
The furry mutant did not notice the cloaked madman at first. When he did notice him he jumped in surprise.
"What are you doing here," Nightmare asked the blue X-Man.
"Looking for you and Rogue, what do you think," Kurt said.
Nightmare only looked at him with confusion.
Kurt explained. "After Kitty and I got everybody out of the building we saw you and Rogue enter. By the time we got inside you were gone."
At least that explained how he knew Nightmare was there.
The young killer then looked down at Kurt's arms. The blue mutant was holding Nightmare's weapons. He must have picked them up when he entered the gymnasium.
Kurt knew what Nightmare was looking at.
"Oh, here," he said, as he handed the weapons to Nightmare.
This made the cloaked young man even more confused. He could have sworn that even though the younger students were not afraid of him, they still didn't trust him with his weapons. But Kurt just gave them to him as if he trusted him completely.
Kurt spoke again. "Kitty contacted the Professor before I started looking for you. The other X-Men should be here soon."
This provided no comfort for Nightmare.
"Well, try contacting them again, and tell them not to come."
Kurt cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"
"I have my reasons," Nightmare said. "You should go find Rogue, and get her out of here."
"Are you crazy," Kurt asked.
Nightmare said forcefully, "yes I am, now go find Rogue, and get the Hell out of here."
"Nightmare," Kurt stated, "look I know we don't know each other very well, and I admit I may have seemed afraid of you before, and I am sorry about that. But it doesn't matter what you think of me now, we're going to help you out."
"Will you shut up," Nightmare said in a whisper, remembering the killers were nearby.
Kurt was about to speak again, but Nightmare slid his weapons back in their holsters and covered the blue mutant's mouth.
Wardog's voice came from outside of the room.
"Do you sense anything Scarecrow," he asked, as the two stood outside the door.
Scarecrow nodded. "Yes. I can sense his life force behind the door And someone there's someone else with him."
Wardog turned to the other killers. "Come on Butcher. It looks like we're going to get some extra killing tonight."
Inside the room Nightmare looked down at the doorknob as it began to turn. He ran for the door and grabbed the knob.
That did not stop the entrance.
Wardog and Scarecrow slammed their shoulders hard into the door, pushing Nightmare back so they could enter.
The cloaked madman looked to Kurt. He had hoped that the boy would teleport away from here, but he didn't. And now he was unarmed.
"Kurt," Nightmare called to the fuzzy elf.
Kurt looked to Nightmare, as the madman tossed his machete to him.
Nightcrawler caught the blade just in time.
Scarecrow came running at him with his gaff swinging madly. Kurt barely managed to block the attack with his borrowed weapon.
Nightmare had it just as tough, if not more, for Butcher had entered the room.
Nightmare was up against him and Wardog.
Butcher was a very difficult adversary. His powers made it impossible for anyone to cut him. He did not have invulnerability, nor was he able to heal instantly, but his powers made it so Nightmare could not cut him.
Still the young madman pulled his axe out of its holster.
And so Butcher and Wardog went in for an attack.
Nightmare dodged Wardog's large machete in time to block Butcher's sledgehammer.
Wardog grabbed hold of his bayonet, now giving him to weapons.
Nightmare pulled out his sickle, and began to block attacks left and right. It was difficult for him to move fast because of the beating he had received only moments ago, but he did his best to ignore the pain.
Kurt was having difficulty as well. He had never fought an enemy like Scarecrow before. Never had he faced a foe that was so bent on killing him. Most of the enemies had had faced had some other objective besides just killing. Death seemed to be the only objective for The Crimson Hands.
Kurt blocked another attach with Nightmare's machete.
Scarecrow took this as an opportunity.
As Kurt blocked the killer's attack Scarecrow pulled the hook on his gaff around the blade and pulled, causing Kurt to lose his grip on his protection.
Scarecrow began swinging his gaff at Kurt.
Kurt jumped and dodged to the best of his ability, but it wasn't good enough.
The gaff went into his ankle, knocking him off balance.
Kurt fell to the ground as Scarecrow raised his gaff to go in for the kill.
From across the room, Nightmare saw what was happening. He ran to Kurt's aid, tackling Scarecrow and slamming him into a wall.
Butcher watched this happen, and then looked to Kurt on the ground.
"Looks like I'll have to take care of this one myself," he said, walking over to the blue mutant on the ground.
Kurt looked up to see Butcher standing over him. The killer had his sledge hammer raised, ready to bash Kurt's face.
Nightcrawler looked about the floor, trying to find anything he could use to defend himself.
That was when the machete passed into his sight.
He bamfed out from under Butcher, grabbing the blade in the process.
Then he reappeared behind the killer, and lifted the machete up, to go in for an attack.
Nightmare saw what Kurt was going to do. He couldn't let it happen.
He ran for the blue mutant and grabbed onto his arm.
"No Kurt," he blurted out, "that will get us all killed."
Kurt struggled with Nightmare. Why wouldn't he let him cut Butcher?
Butcher turned around and swung his sledgehammer at his two foes.
Kurt avoided the attack by transporting both him and Nightmare to a different part of the school.
When he was certain that they were safe, Kurt pulled his hands away from Nightmare.
"What's wrong with you man," he asked, "I could have wounded Butcher and made the fight easier for us, why did you stop me!"
Nightmare said angrily, "because you can't cut him."
Kurt just looked confused.
Nightmare explains. "Butcher's special ability make him very dangerous. If he so much as gets a drop of blood on him, it absorbs into his skin. Then it gives him a major adrenaline rush. He becomes very strong, very fast, and very deadly. And he has no control over it, so he doesn't stop until his blood lust is satisfied."
Kurt looked at Nightmare with eyes wide and then looked down at the machete. If he had cut Butcher then they would have been screwed.
"Holy God," Kurt said.
"If Butcher has to be killed you have to make sure to kill him on the first attack, or else you're as good as dead," Nightmare said.
Kurt nodded showing that he understood.
Unfortunetly the three Crimson Hand members had already discovered where they were.
Kurt did not teleport that far from the room they were just in. It was easy for the three killers to find them.
Nightmare slid his sickle back into its holster and held his axe tightly.
Kurt did the same with his machete.
The three killers rounded the corner and stood in front of their enemies.
"You should have kept running," Wardog said.
"That wont happen," Nightmare stated. "We finish this now. And none of us stop until one of us lies dead."
"With pleasure," Scarecrow said.
The three killers prepared to go in for their attack.
It would have been a bloody battle indeed if the strange red light didn't blast the ground in front of them.
Everyone turned around to where the blast had come from.
Of course it had come from Scott who stood with the other X-Men.
All the X-Men circled around the three killers. They were now outnumbered.
Butcher looked about at each mutant. There was no way they would get out of this.
Nightmare said from outside the circle, "get out of here, this is between me and them."
"No," Storm said from the circle. "Enough have died already. We cannot allow any more."
Scott then spoke. "We're gonna take them to the police. They won't be able to hurt anybody anymore."
Those words struck the three killers hard. They would have rather been killed then forced to rot in a cell.
Logan stepped forward and released his claws.
"Let's go," he said, "nice and easy."
Sadly their plans were changed.
A scream was then heard in the hallway where they were.
Every one knew it instantly.
"Rogue," Kurt said, fearing for his foster sister.
They watched the corner from where the scream had come.
Clowny rounded the corner with Rogue in his grasp. She was still alive, but she had a huge wound on her arm.
Clowny had made the wound in order to get the attention of the X-Men.
His cleaver was pressed up against Rogue's neck so she couldn't move without getting herself killed.
Shamen rounded the corner as well with Hunter and Stalker.
Hunter was conscious now, but he could not walk on his own yet.
Shamen looked at the X-Men circled around his children.
"Let them go," he ordered, "or Clowny here will make your friend's pretty head into a trophy."
The X-Men held their ground for a moment. They did not want to let these killers go, but they also didn't want Rogue to get harmed.
Shamen became impatient. "Clowny, cut off the girls nose so they know I'm serious."
Before Clowny could obey the command Logan spoke up.
"Wait," he called, "don't hurt her."
He looked to the other X-men. He didn't even have to speak in order for them to open the circle.
Butcher, Scarecrow, and Wardog made their way over to Shamen.
As they walked Butcher passed by Nightmare.
The two looked at each other as if they wanted nothing more than to gut the other.
When the three killers made it to their brothers, Shamen looked to Rogue.
He took the pale girl from Clowny and held her in front of him.
He began to stroke one of his clawed fingers against her hair, making her tense.
"We will shed no more blood tonight," Shamen said as he held Rogue, "however we still have business with you."
"Like what," Scott asked, keeping his hand on his visor.
"Simple," Shamen said, "Stalker has had a vision that concerns you and me."
Luckily the other Crimson Hand members didn't know that Stalker had already warned Nightmare about his vision.
Shamen continued. "There will be an ordeal that will come up. A threat in the form of a red giant made of metal."
Scott was about to say that Stalker had already told them, but stopped when he saw Nightmare shake his head.
"If you are captured by this giant you will be killed," Shamen said, 'Stalker has seen that much."
He took a few steps forward moving Rogue along with him.
"We may be different," he said, "but we are still cut from similar cloth. We are hated for what we are. Each of us are given a unique ability, and beaten down for it."
He looked down at Rogue in his grasp.
"I do not ask this of all of you," he said, "only some of you Join with us."
The X-men were in shock when they heard this.
"It has already been seen by Stalker," Shamen said, "that one of you will betray your friends. I think that would be good for whoever it is. You will be with people who truly understand what it is like to be hated by society. You will be treated with respect. And most importantly, you will be safe from the red giant, and be able to get revenge on all those humans that hate you so much."
He then turned Rogue around so she faced him, and took his hands off of her.
"I especially hope it's you who joins us," Shamen said.
Rogue did not speak. She couldn't speak.
"Your abilities," Shamen said, "Are the most impressive I have ever seen. The ability to take away strength by merely touching someone."
Rogue then spoke in a shaky voice, "why should Ah join you?"
"Because," Shamen said, "I can sense you are an outcast to both your friends and humans as well. None understand you. You feel alone with them.
"But with us you don't have to feel that way. You would be respected instead of misunderstood. Appreciated instead of shunned."
Shamen then held out his hand.
"Take my hand," he said, "and be excepted. Go with them, and remain an outcast."
Shamen knew Rogue's weakest points. He knew exactly what to say in order to intrigue her. The X-Men were afraid that Rogue would take the hand.
Shamen than said, "I will only offer you this chance once."
Rogue then lifted her hand, and smacked Shamen's away.
"Ah'd rather be an outcast than sell mah soul," Rogue said.
Shamen became enraged, but chose not to show it.
"Very well," he said, "then the next time we meet, you die."
And with that he left the X-Men alone in the hall, followed by his sons.