Moving on - Chapter ten

by Gimpy


A gleam of light danced across the burning metallic hood, reflecting through the thin glass window and spraying across Rogue's angelic features. Squinting she reached out and unfolded the shade, blocking the offensive light. Curling further into herself, she watched the scenery flow by as the small car spurred down the highway. Small operatic notes trickled from the radio, none of them loud enough to distinguish but strong enough to ease her nerves.

Shifting in the small and cramped seat, she glanced at Mystique. "How long?" she asked, glancing at the road ahead of them.

The soft words made the woman jump slightly and an embarrassed smile crossed her face as she answered, "Couple of hours at the most."

Nodding, Rogue leaned back, "Kay."

Mystique caught sight of the younger woman pulling her lip between her teeth and mumbled, "Hey, you okay?"

"Hmm? Yeah, fine, why?" Rogue stuttered, straightening out her folded legs.

Glancing between the road and Rogue, Mystique explained, "You seem off balance, not that I'd blame you if you were."

Rogue digested the words, almost laughing at their absurdness. "Ah am off balance… actually its more like teeterin' on the edge o' a cliff that's loomin' over a bottomless pit an if yah were ta toss a torch over, yah'd loose sight o' it before it ever even came close ta touchin' ground." A jerky shake formed in her fingertips as she rambled.

Barely able to keep her eyes on the road, Mystique's worry rose, "You rambling is never a good sigh… Wanna talk?"

Rogue scoffed lightheartedly and slouched back into her seat. "Bout what?"

"I don't know… something, anything? You've never told me about your parents." The moment Mystique offered the subject she knew it was a mistake. Rogue flinched and stiffened, her entire posture turning away towards the window. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have…"

"No-" Rogue interrupted softly. "Yah're right, Ah haven't."

"And you don't have to," Mystique reassured.

"But yah wanna know don't yah?" Rogue argued.

"Well yeah… aside from the fact we're sort of heading that way, they raised you first, it makes me curious," Mystique admitted, a slight glimmer of what Rogue could only describe as desperation, vibrating through out her words. "But," she reaffirmed. "I don't want you doing something you don't-"

"Raven," Rogue scolded gently. "It's okay if yah wanna know. Ah would o' told yah everythin' but Ah never knew where ta start." Rogue explained, slipping further into her seat, her legs finding their rightful spot before her clenched chest. "However long it's been Ah still remember everythin' 'bout 'em, the wave in Mama's hair, the crease in Papa's brow, every single word they've ever said, every movement. Ah even remember what they took in their coffee." Rogue's light and airy voice seemed to distance, becoming wispy and almost ghost like as the memories that went with the words crashed upon her.

"You seriously remember all of that?" Disbelieve weaved heavily around Mystique's words.

"Ah know, it's sounds impossible right?" she mumbled, her fingers idly toying with the ends of her leather gloves.

"A little," Mystique confessed.

A timid smile graced the listless girl. "Well when yah take inta consideration all the other voices stuck in mah head, mah own memories tend ta stick around longer, they're clearer. Ah guess it keeps me from getting' lost in all the chaos," she explained, a gentle finger tapping against her temple.

The woman beside her fell silent again and Rogue cast a wayward glance her way. "Hey," Rogue cooed at the glimmer of guilt making itself known of Mystique's coy features.

"What?" Mystique queried, her head turning more towards the road to hide the expressions giving her emotions away.

"Don't, don't do that, okay?" Rogue persisted. "Ah told yah Ah don't blame yah for any o' the extra voices up here."

"I know."

The conviction Rogue had wanted to hear was lacking and she sighed, letting that never-ending subject drop. The guilt she felt deep within about all she'd done to get in this car, on this road kept her from trying to relieve Mystique's. It was too much like giving herself penance when it wasn't due.

"Tell me about your dad?" Mystique whispered, her eyes never faltering from the concrete path before her.

A knot formed in Rogue's stomach but she ignored it, resting her head on the back of the chair. "There's not much ta say honestly… he was your run o' the mill detached, emotionless bastard. Ta be truthful, Ah can't remember a single time he ever told me he loved me."

"I'm sorry."

Shrugging off the words, Rogue continued, "Don't be, Ah don't think Ah ever really loved him either. He was rarely around an' when he was Ah was either asleep or headin' that way. Ah know it's horrible ta say Ah don't love mah own father but he never felt like a father or a husband for that matter," she defended, her slender fingers still pulling at the leather confining her hands.

A pensive breath forced itself from her stunted lungs, the memories becoming more visible in her darkened mind. "He had this way o' lookin' at me, like Ah was a monster, a burden on his life that he resented. Ah guess Ah always figured Ah'd been unexpected an' had forced him ta settle down long before he wanted ta."

"Still, that didn't give him the right…" Mystique started but when a stern look was shot her way she stopped.

"That may be so," Rogue offered, her voice still detached. "But for all intents an' purposes he was the bread winner an' nothin' more. The looks an' the cold shoulder never really bothered much, Ah still had Mama…"

"You're more strong willed then I am," Mystique mused, her attempt to keep the air in the compressed vehicle light.

A whispery giggle flowed from the tensely wound girl but was quickly devoured by the next memory that surfaced. "Obviously not enough… Cause when mah mutation kicked in… Yah see Ah'd accidentally hurt a boy, mah best friend an' son ta mah father's boss… He went inta a coma and the way Papa looked at me after that… Not only like Ah wasn't there but also like Ah didn't deserve ta be there," she faltered, her eyes squeezing tight to the image of that face, the hate and disgust aimed at her by her own father.

"Ah guess in his mind Ah had always been the lowest form o' life an' my mutation just confirmed it for him." A shiver accented her words, physically rolling through her like a wave. "It was like he'd known all along, expected it…" A hollow sob choked her and she stilled for a moment. "But that didn't stop him, not even Mama could stop him an' damn if she didn't try."

A swell formed within Mystique as the telling progressed, a hand unconsciously and blindly reaching for her. "He hit you?"

A shift of the head was all Rogue could manage, the words to express what her father had done insufferable. A single tear streaked across her rosy cheek, going unnoticed as she switched the subject. "Mama… she was perfection, beautiful, strong, smart, elegant, everythin' Ah wasn't. She treated me like a princess, even after mah mutation she loved me, Ah don't think she was ever even afraid o' me or what Ah was."

"She sounds amazing," Mystique mused.

"She was," Rogue stalled, going blank for reason's Mystique couldn't digest. "She made me run, promised she'd follow, promised we'd be together forever. Crazy thing is Ah actually believed she was gonna come with me…"

"But she didn't," Mystique surmised, anger lingering in her words.

As the words formed a realization descended upon Rogue's already fluctuating sanity and resolve. Breaking out of her fabricated bubble she lurched forward. "Could ya stop the car," she begged softly.

Confused, it took Mystique a second to register what was said. "What? Why?"

Rogue's trembling hands curled into her frayed locks of hair as she repeated, "Stop the car… just stop the car, please!" Rogue whimpered, a hand already reaching for the door handle.

"Okay, okay," Mystique spouted back, swerving the car hard to the right. The wheels pulled on the dirt, shooting it up in waves that smothered the entire vehicle. The moment the wheels stopped Rogue jumped out of the confinement, her chest heaving as she started to pace.

Mystique flew out after her, mindlessly careening around the front of the car. She tried to wrap her mind around the sudden change in her daughter and the sight that greeted her sent a shiver down her spin. Rogue's feet carried her back and forth, her hands running deeper into her tangled locks.

"Ah can't… Ah can't do this!" Rogue cried, arms flailing frantically, eyes begging Mystique to stop something she had no control over.

"Do what? What's wrong," Mystique cried back.

"This!" Rogue screamed. "All o' this! Runnin' around hurtin' the people Ah love, goin' back ta a place Ah know Ah'm not welcomed! An' for what? Relief? Exoneration?" A bitter and sarcastic chuckle bubbled within the small girl as kicked viscously at the dirt. "What a joke right? Me getting let off the hook!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Mystique demanded with a force in her voice that held more worry then strength.

"Don't yah get it?! Someone is punishin' me for what Ah am! All o' this has been a punishment an' yah know what? They ain't in the wrong. Ah deserve this, all o' this. Ah know Ah do," Rogue cried, her voice rising along with her own desperation and labored breaths. "Who am Ah ta say it's not fair? What Ah did wasn't fair!"

"That's not true, you can't help who you are or what you are." Mystique argued back, taking a step towards the frantic woman.

"Yeah but Ah coulda controlled what Ah did. Ah had the power!" Rogue bellowed, pounding a fist hard against her chest. "It's only right that someone else gets a turn." The trembles in the lithe girl grew into convulsions as the emotions roared through her. Everything she'd ever done, the people she'd hurt and taken advantage off, it all added up and she honestly wondered who she thought she was to deserve normalcy. The life she'd attempted to build with the X-men, the friendships, and the promises of something more, it wasn't hers to have.

Mystique couldn't move, paralyzed by the vision of tears, the uncontrollable quivers rolling through her, the hateful words spewing from her velvet lips. All the older woman could manage was the question of, "Where is this coming from?"

Anger flared in the diminished beauty. "Where?" she shrieked, spiraling around to glare at the chameleon she's ignorantly called mother. "Ah'll tell yah where!" Marching up to the frozen woman she snapped, "Remember the fight we had? The one that made me run?"

The words shot out like daggers and Mystique felt each one take a piece of her. No matter how much they stung she didn't let it show as she responded coldly. "Of course I do."

"Course yah do," Rogue echoes venomously, back peddling and resuming her endless pacing. "Magneto wanted us ta do a job for him an' yah said yes. Yah knew how much Ah hated him! Always hittin' on me, tryin' ta win me over with that obnoxious arrogance o' his. Ah refused an' yah just couldn't understand. Yah never understood me!"

Mystique tried not to flinch as she remembered the words she's accosted Rogue with. "I remember, Marie," she strained out, wanting the reminiscence to stop above all else. Their past was riddled with darkness and most of it had been her fault, a fact she had only just come to realize and still hadn't accepted.

"Then do yah remember what yah said? Do yah!" Rogue cried, warm anger coloring her flush cheeks. When Mystique closed her eyes Rogue snapped, "Yah said Ah was weak!" Mystique flinched at the words, angering Rogue even more. "A child pretendin' ta be more then she was! Ah wasn't worthy of the work or the job…"

Rogue stilled, swiping angrily at the tears tainting her pained flesh. "Yah said Ah wasn't worthy of bein' your daughter… yah remember that?"

The constructed blue in Mystique's eyes darkened as salt swelled and threatened to fall. "I was angry, Marie, disappointed. You know I didn't mean that."

"Don't yah dare lie ta me," Rogue quipped back, pointing a menacing finger in the older woman's direction. "You an' Ah both know yah meant every single word… Ah wasn't good enough ta be your daughter an' all Ah've ever wanted was a mother."

"I know that," Mystique started but Rogue quickly cut her off.

"Oh yah sure as hell did, yah used that need ta lure me in! Promised yah'd me mah mother, someone ta take o' me!" Rogue accused, more hot tears gliding down her pale complextion.

"No! I didn't I swear!" As hard as Mystique tried all her words were for nothing, going right passed the enraged girl hell bent on venting.

"LIAR!" Rogue shrieked, the hazel tinted green in her eyes seemingly transforming to a deep and seedy black. "So yah know what Ah did? Ah went in search o' a real one, Ah went home, just ta see her, ta know that someone out there missed me, had loved me…"

"I love you Marie," Mystique defended, her words barely even registering with the irate girl.

"Yah wanna know what Ah saw?" Rogue countered, the tears and the anger knotting together within the tiny frame, threatening to burst. "Mah precious mother, the person who promised me the world, had moved on. New kid, new husband, new car, new life an' not a single speck o' mahself was left. It was like Ah'd never existed! What's worse is she was happier then she'd ever been with me. Ah didn't matter ta her, Ah was just a mistake ta be forgotten…"

"What did you expect her to do?" Mystique snarled, her own anger starting to take hold. "Spend the rest of her life wallowing over you?"

"Once again yah don't understand!" Rogue bit out. "It was like she was jumpin on mah grave, one that hadn't even been dug yet! Mama had promised! Promised me forever an' all Ah got was five lousy minutes in a condemned old house before she shoved me outta her life like Ah was nothin!" she sobbed, ringing her hands frantically. Her words froze and the anguished sound of her light sobs surrounded Mystique.

"You aren't nothing Marie," Mystique spoke sternly. "You aren't."

Glancing over at Mystique, eyes glazed in salty tears, hollowed out by the truths slowly washing over her, she murmured, "Ah was never enough for yah either…"

Saddened yellow flashed through Mystique's artificial features. "That's not true."

Swallowing hard Rogue continued uttering words she wasn't even sure she believed. "Yah couldn't even change for me, Raven. Yah loved me but that wasn't enough. Ah wasn't enough. Not for you, mah real mother, an' Ah'm definitely enough for…" She couldn't finish the statement though her gaze fluttered to the road behind them and what she'd left there.

Tilting her head back she muttered sourly, "Ah don't have the right ta a life. Ah'm really starting to get that, yah know? Nothin' ever works out an' Ah've done so many wrongs… hurt so many people… Ah deserve this, Ah do…" The black hole within her soul deepened and the strength to stand vanished. Her depleted form dragged itself over to the car and she leaned against it. The weight of the past few days pushed down on her and she slid off the gleaming blue metal coming to a disembodied rest in the gritty dirt.

Mystique grew speechless, unable to find the quick fix words to bandage the crumbling girl. Instead she lightly made her way over to Rogue's side, taking up the space beside her. Rogue fell against the woman whose arm instinctively wrapped around her shoulders.

"Oh baby," Mystique whispered into the young woman's hairline. "You're wrong, so incredibly wrong. My decision was never about my love for you. That was more then enough for me…"

"Then why?" Rogue whimpered.

Resting her chin atop Rogue's head, Mystique whispered, "I was afraid. We've both done things we're ashamed of but I've done too much to change. You haven't, god you have no idea how innocent you really are… You don't deserve this."

Rogue stilled, pulling back to safely tilt her head up to face Mystique. "How do yah know?" The word quivered off her tongue. "How…"

Smiling softly through her own tears, Mystique murmured, "I just do." The woman's pale blue eyes rimmed in yellow bared down into Rogue's soft green and watery pools. "You don't deserve any of this." When Rogue's gaze became shifty Mystique knew that her words had been in vain. The disappointment she felt showed on her face and Rogue pulled away from that, a tension forming and stifling both women.

The darkened green eyes faltered completely and Mystique sighed. Using the car as leverage Mystique stood then peered down at Rogue. Frowning, she reached out a helping hand, one Rogue took without reservation. No words were spoken and each action was carried out with the lingering tension. Mystique opened her door and Rogue eased herself into her seat. When the metal closed again Mystique paused, blinking back the tears she had no right to cry.

The sun glared off the tarmac and she followed the slick pavement all the way to the horizon. No cars, no life, just road and untamed land. No path to follow, no destination. She didn't know where to go or what to do, except that the girl curled in on herself needed refuge and she had to give it to her.

Running a hand through her hair, she climbed into the driver's seat and paused. With no real purpose she started the car and continued down the narrow road. Rogue didn't seem to notice or care, all she could do was stare at her trembling hands, memorizing each fresh tear that trickled off the black leather gloves.


"Come on."

A long silence had once against surrounded the women; time seeming to dwarf into never ending moments until those two words snapped Rogue out of the stupor she'd nestled into. When she raised her glassy eyes she realized Mystique was no longer in the drivers seat, nor was the car moving. Confusion swarmed her as a waft of cool breeze tickled the back of her neck. Turning her head she saw the passenger side door was wide open and a very worried Mystique was holding out her hand. Peering behind the towering woman she caught sight of a cheep and questionable motel. Connecting eyes with Mystique she questioned without words.

Mystique shrugged absently and muttered, "We had no where else to go, this was all I could think of. Is it okay?"

Digesting the dingy motel, Rogue sighed then took the offered hand. "It's fine."

"It's not much but it's better then sleeping in the car, plus we have our own beds," Mystique continued, taking hold of Rogue's elbow and pulling her from the car. Together they made their way to the already rented room.

Rogue blindly went with the motions, barely taking note of the dirt and grim that seemed to canvass the entire building. With a hand at the middle of Rogue's back, Mystique led her inside where she idly stood and stared, ignoring the tinted orange carpet and the yellow stained wallpaper. Not even the smell of previous tenants registered with her. She was too stressed, too depleted to even attempt emotion beyond the numbness within her.

Casting a wayward glance at what apparently warranted the title of bed, she scratched any idea she'd harbored of sleep, peaceful or not. She didn't even want to think about what might be hiding under the covers, what germs or bodily fluids could be lingering there. Taking a deep breath for strength she lowered herself gingerly onto the closest mattress, cringing at the creaking and groaning, each one a testament to the horrors performed against the aged springs.

Catching the disgust on her daughter's face Mystique frowned. "I'm sorry, I should have found something better."

Lifting her angelic face, Rogue forced a grin. "Yah know what, Ah don't honestly care."

"About the conditions of this room or life in general?" Mystique questioned, catching the heavier meaning in her words.

The fake grin faltered and Rogue bowed away, curling into her frame again. "Both, though mostly that last one."

Sighing, Mystique slipped out of her coat, her fabricated image going with it. Standing in the center of the room in all her blue tinted glory, she looked more alien and distanced then ever. It made Rogue want to cry, knowing the hateful things she'd said, knowing that the ever growing tension between them was her own fault.

"Is there anything I can do? Anything at all?" Mystique offered, taking at tempered seat at the tiny table beside the door.

"Can yah turn back time so Ah never get a chance ta hurt those people? Can yah take away mah mutation itself? Or maybe just go back an' make it so Ah was never born? Any o' those would make me feel great or non-existent, which is better Ah don't know," Rogue deadpanned, completely serious about each suggestion, which she made evidently clear by staring Mystique right in the eyes, daring her to scold her callused behavior.

Mystique just stared back, shocked and scared to the very core by her sarcastic words. It took her a moment to respond and when she did the scolding she'd prepared mentally, vanished. "Is a coke okay for now?" she joked, the dark humor not lost on either woman.

Rogue chuckled bitterly and muttered, "A coke would be great."

Reaching for the mini bar atop the table, Mystique tossed a can at the balled up woman who caught it effortlessly. Rogue muttered a soft thank you then retreated within her own mind. It worried Mystique how quiet she became, sitting on the corner of the bed taking gentle sips of her soft drink. She wanted to know what was filtering through her mind but couldn't see passed the blank and cold expression on her face. The idea that she couldn't help, that there were no words or actions to ease the torment was almost just as hard and knowing she had a part in her anguish.

The afternoon was almost gone, the sun's languished arch across the sky coming to an end. The silence persisted along with the unchanging lack of expression leaving Mystique to dwell on her own thoughts and idly go through cans of coke like candy. When all light finally vacated every crevasse of the tiny room Mystique was forced to move, flipping on the dim lights that gave barely any respite from the darkness. Rogue didn't seem to register the new light and once again she was forced to sit in silence.

Time passed with her perched in the semi darkness until the shadows started to meld together and she had to shake her head to force the haze away. Sleep was creeping up on her and she knew it. Glancing down at her watch her suspicions were confirmed.

Peering at the stone-faced girl she sighed. "It's getting late, maybe you should try and get some sleep?" she offered, uncertain if she'd get a response.

For the first time Rogue shifted, the empty can slipping from her fingers. When she spoke her voice cracked, coming out barely above a whisper. "Ah c-can't…"

"Marie," Mystique droned, dropping out of the chair and onto her knees. Sliding across the grimy carpet she let a slender hand grasp Rogue's shoe. "When's the last time you slept?"

Rogue paused, having to think of the answer. Letting her gaze drop to the woman before her, she frowned, her pale almost sickly eyes baring all emotion to the woman. "Ah don't know… What's today?"

"It's Saturday," Mystique answered, her hand warmly running over Rogue's jean covered calve.

"Wow," she muttered, the word rolling off her tongue slowly. "Four days…"

"Since you last slept?" Mystique spurted in shock.

"No, no," Rogue reassured, taking the hand on her calve in her own. "This all started four days ago… Ah hadn't thought it'd been that long," she muttered more to herself then anything else, her thoughts and posture wondering slightly.

"Marie?" Mystique whispered in concern. When Rogue's gaze came back to her own Mystique asked the question again. "How long?"

"Ah don't know… Thursday maybe, Ah can't remember." Each word was soft, dulled and almost disembodied.

"Sleep now? Even if it's just for a little while? Please," Mystique begged, believing above all else that a little sleep could restore her, even if it was only slightly.

"Ah don't know… it seems too superficial, too normal after everythin' that's happened." And to her it was, she didn't feel worthy of the bliss that tended to come with slumbering.

Breathing out a heavy sigh, Mystique sat back, her hand still clutching Rogue's. "You have to stop punishing yourself."

The saddened lines curling around Rogue's eyes deepened and she tried to hide that fact in her knees.

"Sweetie, how many times am I going to have to tell you that you can't-" Mystique stalled mid sentence, her posture stiffening and her senses going on alert.

"What-" Rogue started but was silenced by a stern look from the edgy woman. With uncertainty, Rogue watched Mystique pull back onto the balls of her feet. Her yellow eyes jerked towards the door as an unsettling sound reached her sensitive ears. In one fluidic motion she was on her feet, one brash hand coming to rest before Rogue's concerned form, demanding wordlessly she remain seated.

Titling her head, trying to gauge the sounds filtering through the crack under the door, Mystique jerked back. The events that happened next seemed to lag when in fact only seconds lapsed. The sound of braking glass pierced the stale silence of the room, a long metallic object shattering through the thickly compressed sand. Frozen, both women watched the long metallic cylinder roll along the ground, slowly edging towards the nightstand beside the table. With bated breath they waited until a small clink resonated as the metal collided with the wooden leg. Within a matter of seconds it split open, a smoldering cloud spewing forth from the crack. Almost immediately Rogue started to cough, the ability to breathe waning as the cloud expanded.

"Marie!" Mystique screamed, grabbing her arm and jerking her towards the door.

Rogue tumbled to the ground, hitting it hard. For a moment she stalled, them sprang up, diving for the door as an invisible force started to pull her down. She felt her limbs starting to succumb to the heavy poison now floating in the air. One foot in front of the other became difficult and the door seemed to get further away with each step.

The sound of wood splintering filtered into her ears before she saw the door shatter and slam into the wall. Hazy blurs of black infiltrated through the opened exit and she screamed again scampering backwards. Something connected with the back of her knees and she flailed back, hitting the object and rolling. Flat against the carpet she coughed and sputtered for breath. An eternity seemed to pass with the carpet staring up at her as she struggled to turn her head to see what she'd tripped over.

What she saw when she finally managed was the color of Mystique's skin dragging behind her as she spiked forward and connecting hard with one of the black hazes. All color seemed to fly apart and blackness peaked at the edges of her vision. The blue spun into the air, its color curving and separating into one long line that seemed to slice through a budding black haze. The haze fractured with the blow but was quickly replace with another.

The last thing Rogue remembered was the flowing blue colliding with the newly born and condemning black then being swallowed whole. After that all she knew was shadows of night as her consciousness bled away.


A light vibration filled the hollow room as the expensive printer slowly sputtered out sheets of paper. As the last one came gliding out a yellow gloved hand reached out and grabbed the small stack. Taping the sheets together Jubilee stood up and pulled them hard to her chest. Sighing she started out of the room in search of the two men who'd returned from their trek into New York a few hours ago. Pausing in the hall she heard two deep masculine voices heading her way.

Silently she waited for the men to come into view, an unsettling fear coursing through her. This morning their attitudes towards her had been brutal and she didn't think she was up for a second go. As their broad figures came into view the sound of metal separating at the other end of the hall echoed. The fears within her intensified as she glanced down the long and narrow hall. The Professor's chair wheeled almost sluggishly out of the room that held Cerebro but that wasn't what spurred on her fright. That was reserved for the look of near death swallowing his entire form whole.

"Professor?" she muttered, the sheets slipping from her slender arms, spinning and spiraling out of control on the metallic panels that made up the glistening floor. From behind her came a crude and biased comment from her tormentors about being clumsy but all she saw was the pain and the absolute fear that had shattered the man before her. Her feet moved without commandment, spurring her down the flowing corridor.

Everything outside of her mentor faded away as she raced to his side, tripping violently onto her knees before him. One desperate hand grasped at his as she stuttered, "Professor?"

In one deathly long move, his aged and wise eyes found hers but instead of the normal calm, collected and strong all she saw was sorrow and guilt. It was so intense, so overpowering that she truly felt all that he felt and when he finally spoke his voice was a whisper of what it once was.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he muttered, his despondent head shaking with such sadness Jubilee found tears in her eyes.

Xavier's chin came to a rest on his chest, his free hand reaching out to take hers in a forceful hold. She accepted the hold, her eyes shifting to the room behind the man and Cerebro's doors slowly closing, taking with it the revelations that had broken the man before her.

to be continued...


Author's Notes: Well were just shy of a month, three days shy actually, which makes me feel really bad but you all can understand. Last year of high school, it being semestered so I'm coming home with homework every night. Its been hard and this chapter has had three different starts to it - one for each weekend until this one when I finally started and finished. Anyway much love to all reviewers - it was hard to get them knowing I had nothing to give back but at the same time made me smile.
RogueChere:
Ah my loyal reviewer how much I love you. As for the Scott/Logan thing… no it will not go that way, though I am open minded to it - this fic is not so no worries. Thanks for the review and I apologize for the wait. Much love!

The Mishy: I love your reviews, always so cute. Their may be physical pain as you can tell by the end of this chapter but I promise she will be healed, both mentally and physically though the process may take awhile.

dissolved star: Aww thank you for the reassurance it's been much needed, hopefully I still have readers left after all this time. School has become my life but I never forget about this and I never will.

Tara: I forgot about your poor heart! Forgive me? I promise things will get better - they have to right? Well maybe… I have no power on where this is heading. I'm glad you like Mystique in this, I do too. Thanks again for the review Tara, it means a lot after not writing for so long.

jupiterhime: My senior year is gonna be a bitch but I'm just as excited! Thanks for the review!

Ebony Glare: Do you have any idea how much this one review meant to me? Well obviously not but you should know that it meant a lot. I'm so glad you're enjoying it and that it's not confusing (one of my obvious fears). Thank you so much for the review and I hope that you continue to read and support - cause we both know I'm gonna need it if the next chapter takes just as long as this one, hehe.

BrennaM: You seriously stayed up until 3am just to read this? Now that's a compliment - unless you're a night owl but still thank you for that. I how this chapter isn't too long to keep you up late again. :smiles:

AUD: Aww, ya know what? I loved the good cop/bad cop thing too, which is why I had to write it in. Thanks for the review, cap locks and all.

Tara: Hmm… haven't I heard from you before? Not that I mind - this reassurance was… wow… lets just say I almost cried. It meant a lot to me to hear this from you. I do have fears about my writing - when I don't many reviews or when they aren't as ego boosting, I feel it hard only because I'm no stranger to writing chapter after chapter to no audience what so ever and it hurts. It really does. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for this heart felt review. I have tears in my eyes again just from rereading it.

Nyruserra: I'm glad to hear your caught up and trust me when I say I won't stop writing until it's finished. It may just take me awhile because of school work.

P.s. Once again much love for everything and I will try my hardest to make the wait shorter.