Thank you to all who reviewed! I've replied to most of you by now, but I'd like to say thanks to my anonymous reviewers! Cookies for all of you. Hee hee. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: Don't own x-men.

Beautiful Soul

Chapter 3: Open Road

Rogue's tears lasted only until she reached the New York State border. By the time she had crossed over into Pennsylvania, whatever anger sadness she felt for leaving her only real home she had ever know vanished, lost as she tore down the highway on her new bike. For once in a long time, she was actually enjoying something. Motorcycling was one of her favorite things to do, and was Logan's bike perfect.

She loved the way that it purred, how well it handle, almost as if it was able to read her thoughts. She wasn't too surprised though, after all, Logan was the one who had taken care of it and given the bike some special adjustments. And to think, it was now hers. She'd never be able to repay Logan back for it.

She saw a sign for a gas station, and exited off the highway, pulling in to the place to refuel. Logan had not left her with a full tank, and she figured now was a good time to stop and grab some other things as well. She fueled the bike up, and then went inside to pay for it, grabbing a few maps, a highlighter, a coffee, and a snack as well. It was now almost 2 am, and Rogue had yet to start feeling tired.

Paying for her things, Rogue proceeded to go back outside and sat down on a bench about six feet from her bike. Taking a sip of coffee, she opened the first map, one of the entire United States. She sat there, starring at the map for a few moments, deciding what her next move would be. Where did she want to go? Rogue had always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon in Arizona, or maybe she should go have some fun in Las Vegas, or maybe…

Her eyes rested on the southern part of the map. Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama. The South. Someplace she hadn't been in a long time. Memories of her forgotten life played through her mind. The warm gentle air, the lovely scenery, the best food anywhere in the country. That was where she was headed, to a place she once called home. Mississippi. The memory of Cody drifted into her mind, still fresh as though it had happened yesterday. Her eyes darkened as she remembered the horror that had unfolded. No, she couldn't return there. Then where would she…

New Orleans. The name seemed to jump off of the map at her. Rogue smirked. New Orleans would be the perfect place to go. She wanted a little excitement, and she was sure to find plenty there. Quickly finishing up her coffee, Rogue hoped back onto her bike, the caffeine entering her system, giving her an extra boost of energy. She tore off, getting back on the highway, determined to get to New Orleans as soon as possible.

After what seemed like hours, Rogue glanced at her watch; it was 4:01 am. The time she was scheduled for that dumb ass training with Scott. Knowing her "leader", Scott would probably start to flip out in a few more minutes. It would be soon that someone found out she was missing. This only made her laugh as she sped down the highway, the open road in front of her.

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4:15 am.

To say he was pissed, was an understatement.

Scott Summers was enraged. Rogue was in serious trouble now. He was tired of her attitude, and was determined not to let her get out of this training so easily. Which was why he was pounding on her door two minutes later. He didn't care that he was waking up the rest of the mansion; he just wanted to set things straight with Rogue.

"Rogue! If you don't open up this door now, I'm coming in!"

Silence.

"Alright Rouge, I'm opening the door!"

With one quick turn Scott opened the door and walked inside.

"Rogue?"

Only to see an almost empty room.

"Professor!"

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By 6 am, Rogue had made her way into West Virginia and was starting to get a bit tired. The coffee was wearing off, and her eyes were becoming heavy. It was when she almost fell off the bike did she decide it would be best to get a little sleep. She found the cheapest hotel around and managed to lug her stuff up a flight of stairs to her room, where she immediately flung the bags on the ground and collapsed onto the bed, falling into a deep sleep. For once in quite some time, she slept peacefully without any horrible dreams or psyches trying to invade her mind.

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The mansion was anything but peaceful. Scott's yelling had awoken most of the students and upon the discovery of the missing Rogue; Xavier had called everyone for a meeting.

"Now now. It seems we have a slight problem," he began to tell the still half asleep students; "It seems that Rogue has run off. We do not know how long it has been since she has left, but we do know one thing; she does not seem to want to come back. Most of her belongings are gone, as well as Logan's bike."

The X-men looked over to Logan, expecting to see anger upon his face. To their disappointment, he didn't even look shocked.

"Care to explain Logan?" Xavier asked calmly.

Logan looked the Professor in the eyes, "No, not really."

Then he proceeded to walk out of the room, "You all have a danger room session in fifteen minutes. I expect to see all of you there and ready."

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Alright! That's the end of this chapter! I'm hoping to have a small chapter out in a day or two that describes the danger room session that the X-men are about to receive. It'll be more of a side chapter, just there for the amusement of y'all. I wasn't gonna originally include the DR session, but onesmartgoalie brought up the idea and I'm gonna run with it. So look for that in the next few days.

REVIEW!

Til next time,

Les723