Xavier's Institute Infirmary, Monday Aug. 12th 11:21 pm

Rahne was gone. The institute had barely survived the loss of Jean, what were the new recruits going to do when they heard? How had the doctors and scientists done so much damage in such a relatively short time? Rogue's mind burned with rage, pain, and questions from the horror of losing a teammate. 'No,' She thought in anguish. 'Not again!' Hank and Emma looked around as the lights began to flicker and everything began to tremor, slightly.

"Rogue!" Emma snapped frantically. Her gaze pinched. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to deal with the news of Rahne dying dozens of times over in her head. "Enough!" She threw her hand out and Rogue let out a strangled cry. The energy relaxed and her powers seemed in control. Hank sent her a bewildered and angry look.

"Emma,"

"We don't have time for her power-fueled tantrum." She said, a tear slipping out of her own eye. She wiped it quickly. "We need to coat this place in adamantium in case the same thing happens to Piotr's sister-"

"What's wrong with them?" She asked, her face falling all over again. "With Illyana." She corrected, her fists clenched. Hank looked at the ground.

"We don't know. They seem to have infected them with something..." He started.

"It's a disease that rapidly destroy's the X-Gene of the subjects. The damage was probably irreversible in Rahne by the time we were rescued." She admitted blankly. Rogue shook her head in disbelief. 'This doesn't make any sense...' She thought.

"Okay," She breathed, looking over in Piotr and Kitty's direction. "Hank, you have to do something." He sighed again.

"There isn't much I-"

"Mr. Sinister engineered my powers and gave people the effects." She gestured at herself. "Can you do that with Logan's healing factor?" He looked at her quizzically.

"Maybe, but he's all the way in-"

"Mine, Hank. My healing factor." He frowned at her.

"Rogue, no." He answered quickly.

"But-"

"I would have to infect you with whatever she has and hope that it could fight it off. Then cultivate the genetic sequence of your healing factor healing and hope I can spin an antidote out." He explained, his brow furrowed.

"Okay." She said, standing up. "Let's try i-"

"Do you X-Men ever do anything that doesn't involve one of you dying?" Emma snapped angrily. "What Hank is saying is that it's a death wish, and we'd rather keep the death count as low as possible." She crossed her arms haughtily but Rogue ignored her.

"Hank, you have to try." She chased his stare and knew he knew she was right.

"I cannot willingly infect you, Anna." Rogue frowned at the sudden usage of her name. 'Never pulled that before, McCoy.' He looked at her as if to say 'two people would have me murdered' as well as his own objections. Rogue looked over to Kitty and Piotr, hopelessly collapsed against each other in despair.

"We have to." Her lip trembled. "She's just a kid." Both Emma and Hank's stares dropped. "And if this kid could rescue you, she can make this decision!" Emma blew on her hair in exasperation.

"She kind of has a point, Ms. Frost."

"Why are you so eager to let the child kill herself?" Emma responded back with a defeated smile.

"Listen, Hank. You're not a government lab. If anyone can save Illyana's life without killing me, it's you." He sighed tiredly.

"We can try," He eyed her. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." She answered before he finished talking. Despite Emma's scowl Rogue slipped off the infirmary bed and followed after him.

S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters 219 West 47th Street New York, Tuesday Aug. 13th 2:03 am

The one-eyed man smiled at Logan, but there was no joy.

"They're calling it the Legacy virus." Logan flinched. He could tell from his inflection it wasn't good.

"Do I even wanna know, Slim?" His friend with the eye-patch chuckled. They stared at the vial in the glass case together in silence.

"Still at the school of little mutie kids?" Logan's face grew serious.

"Yup." He pulled out a cigarette and lit it and handed the box and lighter to Logan.

"Don't ask us where it came from, we don't know yet. But this virus targets mutants. Not people with special powers, necessarily, but X-Genes." Logan's face paled. Everyone (himself included) was at risk to a virus like this. "It embeds a mutant in theirs and injects junk DNA code2, causing the subject to deteriorate upon usage of their powers."

Logan's claws shot out in a frustrated snarl. How could he possible protect a school full of vulnerable children from that. Nick Fury's face seemed to say "Your guess is as good as mine." He ran a clawed hand through his hand and huffed. "Jesus christ."

"Right. It's only a matter of time before-"

"This crap is in the hands of every Tom, Dick, and Harry?" Logan shook his head. "But-"

"This isn't why you're here, is it?" They locked eyes again.

"No," Said Logan nervously, realizing it had been far too long since the professor had contacted him. He needed to know about this, and now. Why hadn't he reached out to the mutant? He didn't know if he should continue trying to find information or return home...

'You will know when if I don't reach for you.' Xavier had said, probably with a smile. Logan sighed, staring past Nick.

'Hang in there you guys.' He thought worriedly.

Rogue took a deep breath and tried not to look worried as Hank approached her. "Rogue," He started. Kitty banged on the window to the infirmary, Emma standing haughtily beside her.

"ROGUE," She was mouthing but they couldn't hear her inside with the door locked.

"Are you sure?" His eyes were grave. He looked like he was about to do something he didn't want to do. Rogue nodded.

"I'm sure." She looked at the wires connected to her. "Logan's healin' factor is gonna heal me and you're gonna be able to extract a cure from it." He nodded, his face tight with concentration.

"Supposedly." He looked at the bare flesh exposed on her shoulder grimly and placed a needle to it. "Rogue, is there an-"

"Jus' go for it." Kitty and Emma watched in horror and Hank injected Rogue with whatever virus had killed Rahne.

"Jesus Christ!" She exclaimed. Emma was tapping her nails on her arm impatiently. She sure had inherited a train wreck from Scott.

"I don't like it either, Katherine." She said quietly. "But it's the only shot we get to save Illyana. And if this doesn't work..." Her voice trailed off. Kitty covered her mouth in horror. 'What an impossible situation.' She thought bitterly. Piotr had been beside himself since they returned and he hadn't even seen Illyana yet. In fact, nobody had seen her or Rahne.

He was terrified that his sister was dying, how awful that must've felt. 'No wonder Rogue is doing this, no matter how dangerous it is.'

Rogue winced as the needle entered her skin. Hank sighed again and placed the needle on the counter. "Now, I'll just watch." He announced, scrubbing his hands over his face. "I don't know what the symptoms are besides rapid deterioration." His mouth became dry. "Hopefully, your healing factor doesn't let many symptoms mani-"

Rogue hollered suddenly in pain, squirming to reach her shoulder. Hank watched her closely. "I-I dunno... I feel somethin', Hank." He nodded, grabbing an empty needle and watching her closely.

"I'm here." He said, turning the strange machine beside her on. He rotated her arm and began searching for a blue-green vein. Tears and sweat dripped down her face but she could feel Logan's healing factor kicking into overdrive to protect her. 'This might just work...' She thought, gritting her teeth in vain.

"I'm going to take a sample of your blood now." Hank told her. "Just keep hanging in there!"

Rogue exhaled loudly as the blood began to fill the needle. She began to feel light-headed but she steeled herself to give the sample, hoping she didn't end up contracting the deadly virus. "Almost done." Hank cheered as the vial filled. He hurriedly placed a black band around Rogue's neck and pulled the blood sample away. He turned it on and allowed it to amplify Rogue's mutant abilities. "It'll give you a better shot at healing the virus away." Rogue nodded silently, feeling herself trying to mend on a genetic level.

He left the room with a grim face and closed the door.

"Well?!" Kitty cried. He sighed at her.

"I'm off to try and make Illyana some medication." He tossed a look back at Rogue. "Time will tell if Logan's healing factor will be able to work..." His voice trailed off ominously as he moved around the women to his lab. Kitty batted at her eyes with the back of her hand and tried to be brave when she went back to face Piotr.

'What a mess this is.' Emma thought.

Joseph wandered back to the infirmary in a daze eventually. He saw the tiny one they called 'Kitty' draped over the hulking Russian, asleep. He was too anxious to sleep as the bags under his eyes told. He sat in a fog with his arms around Kitty and waited for word. About Illyana. Or about Rogue.

"Piotr," He tried gently, hoping he might return a smile. He frowned when he didn't, struggling to steady his voice.

"Joseph," He began. "Thank you for going along to rescue Illyana and others." He told him, attempting to smile. Joseph looked into the infirmary room, perturbed.

"You don't need to thank me. What's happened to Rogue?" Piotr sighed.

"She infected herself with the disease the labs gave Rahne and Illyana. She has a factor that can heal and hopefully Hank will be able to cure Illyana and Rahne with it." Joseph walked close to the window and watched in awe.

"What a leader." He commented, more to himself than anyone.

"She should be. She made Hank use her as the guinea pig to try to save Illyana. He wasn't keen to..." His face fell and he looked into his hands. "I was powerless to help my own sister..." Joseph approached her and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You would do anything to help your sister." He told him firmly. "Anybody could see that. That's why Rogue helped you." Piotr gave a small smile.

"She is very precious to Katya, like Illyana is to me. She must hurt to see me smile again." Joseph smiled at him sadly.

"It's usually like that, isn't it? She will be alright. And so will your sister." They both silently said a prayer.

Xavier's Institute, Tuesday Aug. 13th 11:10 am

Remy didn't really know how he'd ended up in this situation. Even in his despair at being banished by Rogue and Scott he hated Sinister. He would never align himself with the living experiment. He despised him. Mystique had told him that his obsession with the X-Men and her would leave Rogue in peril. Even if she hated him. 'What better way to help her den from de inside.' He'd thought that day in the rain, when Sinister had approached him for the last time.

He would overcome him and kill him from the inside when he was never expecting it. The plan was full proof. So he didn't understand why he kind of liked being Death. That's what he found when Sinister offered him the potion. 'It'll take all your feelings away, my boy.' He had said. Remy was doing this to save Rogue. Not to get rid of his gut wrenching feelings about her. His pain. His heartbreak. His regret. Or was he? He could.

His eyes flickered around the dark, dungeon like room. Should he? He couldn't refuse, Sinister would never buy it. But did he want to remove his feelings? His care? His worry? His love? For the girl who hated him now. Why not? "Okay," He'd said, accepting the elixir hesitantly. The potion did just that. Erased all his feelings. His warmness. His humanity.

He still hated Sinister. But now he hated Rogue too. He snuck deftly around the institute grounds, his multiple abilities making it easy to sneak past the defense systems. He phased through the wall with ease into the kitchen, grabbing an apple on his way and taking a bite. The boy who could split into copies, Multiple, walked into the kitchen rubbing an eye. Remy grinned darkly.

"Bonjour." He froze, staring at his new appearance in fear. Remy waved his hand and he dropped into a sleep on the floor. He chuckled to himself and moved quickly through the halls.

'Professor.'

'Ah, good morning Emm-'

'Remy is is leaving a snail trail through the institute as we speak.'

'He's here-'

'Yes.' Emma stood in her office with a frown, smoothing her white and gold Versace slacks out in her full length mirror.

'Just head to the infirmary now, I'll alert everyone.' He frowned, closing his eyes and focusing his telepathy on a broader audience.

'There is an intruder in the institute. All capable and experienced mutants head to the west wing of the infirmary.'

'On it, Charles." Ororo said, tensely, hovering as her conservative skirt and sweater billowed.

'Piotr is already here.' He announced. Xavier could imagine him armoring up in the waiting lobby.

'I will lend a hand.' Xavier was shocked when Joseph responded back. He had never been able to permeate Magneto's mental shields. But Joseph was an open book. His openness and generable agreeability never failed to surprise him.

'Thank you very much, Joseph.'

He made his way hurriedly into the institute from the courtyard and hurried towards the infirmary. Kitty was already in Rogue's room and Piotr was one over, speaking quietly with Hank.

"You mean," He stuttered, looking tearfully at his little sister. Hank smiled, blinking back tears of his own.

"It worked. That virus, whatever it is... It's completely out of her system." Piotr blinked in relief and crushed the small girl to him.

"Slava bogu," He exhaled, kissing her blonde hair. Hank smiled, his eyes crinkling in the corners. He broke the embrace and turned worriedly to Hank. "And, Rogue. She-"

"Her healing factor seems to have successfully fought off the virus." His face became more serious. "But the process of extracting the antidote removed her get out of jail free card. Her ability to heal at all is gone." Piotr looked at the ground.

"I am glad she is safe. And sorry she lost such a thing." Hank shook his head.

"She isn't."

Kitty sat at Rogue's bedside in the room over, babbling excitedly. "I sent Kurt to get us French toast since you're awake." She explained with a grin. Rogue rubbed her head.

"Sounds perfect. Is-"

"She's perfectly fine." Kitty's face formed into one of concern but she smiled. "Thanks to you..." Rogue frowned. 'But Rahne isn't... Why couldn't I save her? Why?'

"Don't mention it." Kitty pushed her playfully.

"You were pretty bad ass as commander in chief last night. Rogue scowled.

"Please, Kitty-"

"No, really. You did a good job." Rogue looked embarrassed suddenly, her face glowing red. "I-" They both jumped as Piotr appeared, his skin already iron. Kitty gave him a weird look. "Is everything alright, P?" She asked. Not much longer after that Joseph appeared looking flustered. Rogue frowned.

"Guys, I-"

"You are in danger, Anna." All eyes were on Joseph and Rogue, suddenly.

"I-I what?" No sooner had Rogue questioned him did Remy slide through the ceiling with Kitty's powers, causing both girls to scream.

"Dere you are, chére." He grinned, his staff extended. "Good t'see ya." Piotr wasted no time blasting Remy through the window of the infirmary with a tackle.

"You are not welcome here, LeBeau." He said in a warning tone, his skin glinting in the light. Remy wiped his face and stood up slowly, eyeing the Russian mutant.

"Nice t'see ya too, Rasputin." He growled, spitting a little blood. Without much effort Piotr was slamming into the wall of a lobby. 'What powers are these?!' He thought, realizing there was a lot about Remy none of them knew.

"PIOTR!" Kitty screamed, erupted from Rogue's side. She began to get out of her bed but Hank sent her a warning look.

"You must let us handle it, Rogue."

"But-"

Kitty ran towards Remy with her fist raised but he smacked her aside with relative ease.

"Not interested in you, petit." He sneered, sprinting back towards the infirmary. Hank intercepted him, grunting with the effort of holding him back.

"You are no longer welcome here, Remy." He told him eloquently. He feigned sadness.

"Ya break m'heart, Hank." He flung Hank aside and clambered toward Rogue's room where she was already standing.

"Remy." She snarled. He sneered at her.

"Mon amour," He purred to her, leaping. She screamed and punched him back into the waiting area, IVs dangling off of her arms.

"Rogue!" Kitty yelled.

"No," She seethed, flying forward. "This ends now!" She cried, preparing to punch the unconscious Remy into pulp. Joseph noticed a second in time that he was actually awake.

"Anna!" He shouted. Remy twitched and jerked his staff upwards towards Rogue's chest. Joseph slammed into Rogue and replaced her in harm's way, taking Remy's staff to the stomach. Kitty and Rogue screamed as Ororo and Emma arrived, flustered.

"Joseph!" Ororo shouted, floating near his side.

"NO. Why?!" Rogue screamed. "I'm invulnerable you... You..." She looked at him in disbelief and he smiled at her.

"I had to protect you." Tears leaked down her face as she faced the strange mutant. "You are precious."

"Joseph..."

"Everywhere you go," Emma began. "Begins to stink, Gambit." She crushed a fist and Gambit crashed to the ground before he could attack her.

"Merde."

"Isn't this getting old?" Emma sneered at him.

Rogue grabbed Remy on by the collar of his coat and hoisted him up, trembling. "Remy, I-" He disappeared in a cloud of sulfur, leaving the X-Men alone. Beast grabbed Joseph quickly and ushered him back in to the med lab area. Rogue started to stalk towards the doorway but Emma held her back.

"And where are you going?"

"After Remy? Are we just gonn-'

"Back in the infirmary." Rogue started to protest but the look in the telepath's eye stopped her. With a huff she turned around and got back in the infirmary bed, her mind spinning. 'Why... Why me...'

Xavier's Institute, Tuesday Aug. 13th 6:57 pm

The entire institute was called to assemble in the backyard after everyone arrived after school. Whispers told that Rogue and Illyana were okay but nobody had heard about Rahne. Bobby and the rest of who were considered 'new recruits' were beside themselves. Rahne had never been injured on a mission like this. The mood of the school was glum, and this assembly wasn't helping.

Xavier sat grimly amongst his teachers, Ororo, Hank, Emma, and even Angel. The sun had just begun to set as the kids stood on the lawn and waited for the news. Even Rogue and Illyana. A silence fell over the group and they were waiting to hear what their mentors had to say.

"Students..." Xavier began, trying to keep from sounding sad. "First, let me say nothing makes me prouder than watching you all band together in times of need. It is fundamentally what being an X-Man is about and you embodied that." He sighed, looking into their expectant faces. "And despite that effort, banding together... Things don't always reflect..." He shuddered.

Ororo placed a hand on Xavier's shoulder.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you all this but Rahne..."

"She didn't make it." Emma finished, fine with being the bad guy when Xavier couldn't. Silence pervaded the moment as everyone struggled to understand just what they meant. Rogue's hands were clutched into fists and tears were streaming down her face. 'It's not fair...' She thought, she hadn't even graduated high school. She'd never done a a bad thing to anybody.

Soon a few whimpers were heard.

"No," Jubilee began, her breath hitching violently. "You're wrong!"

"What?" Someone else. Xavier hung his head in shame. He was supposed to lead them. Protect them. Rahne had disappeared and died soon after. Kitty and Piotr looked at each other and around them, Illyana at their side. 'Why her and not...' Soon the chorus of moans grew loader and the grief was palpable.

"-What? B-But..." Sam began.

"No. How, this can't..." Roberto's gaze dropped the ground. "Rahne... No. You said you'd be right back..." He dropped to his knees, Amara, Jubilee, and Sam falling with him. "Please, somebody tell me this isn't true. I didn't say bye back..." He covered his face in his hands, thinking about the girl he'd liked for years.

"This isn't right..." Kurt began, placing a hand on Rogue's shoulder. She turned to him with a sob and threw herself around him desperately. Xavier waited a moment, as long as he could.

"But from these fires of grief... We will forge a new dawn. For Rahne. For anyone else who falls along the way! It is what we have to do." He thought of the chilling visions he got in Apocalypse and shivered. 'How I wish you were here, Jean.' Rahne wouldn't be the last lost. A few sad heads nodded, most of the students were bawling, their true ages easy to see.

"This won't be he first time we all lose someone." Emma continued to a few glares. "But we can be stronger from it. Better. Rahne would like that, wouldn't she?" A few more nods in agreement. "So mourn her but don't lose focus. Don't forget her, she can be the motivation you need to get through anything." Most sad eyes were cast at the grass below.

Rogue looked around, remembering when the psyches in her head came together to send Jean off. She thought of Joseph, who she had so violently distrusted, laid in the hospital from protecting her. She stepped forward and nobody questioned it, tears already on her face. She looked around at the dozens of scared, sad faces and it wasn't the first time.

"Rahne was a private person." She said, her lip trembling. Both Kitty and Illyana leaned on Piotr, his strong arms keeping them up. "So much so I remember when I explained my powers to her and how they work, that I would take her memories as well as energies and powers... She told me (as far as Danger Room, non-threatening) exercises go, she didn't want me to absorb her. A lot of people thought that would offend me..." Her eyes locked with Kurt's for a second.

"But it didn't. In fact, I respected that so much. I want honesty, I need honesty with powers like mine... And if you have doubts I always hear them anyways." Silence. Rogue cleared her throat. "So I was glad she told me that now. It makes me sad though, because now I don't have her memories... That version of her to hold on to. I'm selfish, I really am." She chuckled sadly and a few people joined her.

"But nobody knows those nights I sat alone, so isolated. The one thing I could touch is a dog. An animal. So many times she stayed with me and kept me company and contact cause she knew on an instinctual level how lonely I was. That's the kind of person Rahne was. Anyone who called her a friend," She looked around and smiled. "Called themselves lucky." People nodded.

"Amen." Said Hank with teary eyes, placing a hand on Rogue's shoulder. "She would've loved that."

'What are we going to do, Charles?' Emma sent telepathically over everyone's heads. 'We have to give her parent's a box with a dog. We can't change her back. How,'

'Let me handle that, Emma.' He responded tiredly. She sighed in her own head. The crowd of mutants slowly dispersed until the original New Mutants were left, standing in the yard. Rogue passed and placed a hand on Bobby's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" She asked, squeezing with reassurance. He nodded solemnly.

"We will be." He answered, trying not to sniffle. "We just want to have a moment a think about her..." Rogue nodded, biting her lip.

"Or course-"

"Thanks for saying a word about her, it kicked ass. She would've loved it. It was very Scottish." They both laughed quietly, tears glittering on both their faces.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save her, Bobby." He looked at her in surprise.

"What? No. Don't say that. You did everything you could, and you saved Illyana. That's the bravest thing I've ever seen." He placed a hand on her back. "Don't think of it as something you didn't do. She wouldn't want you to, I would know." Rogue looked to the ground, her eyes watering all over again.

"This is terrible, Bobby..." She said, stifling a sob. "What are we gonna do..." He tucked some of her hair behind her hair.

"What you've always told me." He leaned his forehead on a part of her face covered in hair. "What we have to." She smiled at him and made her way towards the institute. She watched Kitty walk Piotr's blonde haired sister upstairs. She nearly jumped when Piotr approached her sheepishly, a sheet of something in his hands.

"Piotr-" She began tiredly.

"Rogue, forgive me." He handed the paper towards her. "It is not much but is very least Piotr can do. Thank you, Rogue. You saved my sister's life. At the potential risk of your own, I hear." Rogue smiled uncomfortably. "The Rasputin's are forever in your debt." Rogue looked down at what he handed her. It was an incredibly detailed, charcoal sketch of Rogue reading on sketchbook paper. Her mouth dropped open in surprise as she examined the skillfully drawn portrait.

"Piotr..."

"I hope it is alright that I-"

"It's absolutely stunning." She looked up and smiled at the Russian mutant, so glad her roommate had managed to find her way to someone gentle amidst all the chaos. 'Someone should.' She thought bitterly. She shook the thought from her mind and looked at Piotr wearily. He placed an awkward, massive hand on Rogue's shoulder before disappearing into the institute. The portrait tucked safely into her jacket, she headed inside to the infirmary to check on Joseph.

She took a second to muse on how funny it was the Magneto of all people had saved her life. She didn't even think of their duel in New York city anymore. He had signed up to help them without a second thought and he had jumped in front of Remy's staff to spare her. She caught an involuntary chill when she thought about her former lover. Remy's cold, red eyes and white hair. 'Why does he hate me so much...' She wondered to herself as she approached the infirmary.

Hank was humming to himself and already in the magnet mutant's room. "Ah, Rogue." He said warmly. "He's sleep but he's stable, just resting." Rogue's body sagged with relief.

"Good. Ah guess I'll just stay with him a while..." Hank nodded, smiling but not saying anything else as he exited the room. Rogue stared into Joseph's familiar yet unfamiliar face.

'Why did you save me from Remy?' She wondered to herself, her head propped up on her hand. 'You have no memories of me... And the ones you did were not good.' She had on a cropped, denim jacket that had a big 'X' stitched on the chest. A short black shirt and baggy cargo pants Logan had gotten her a Christmas or two ago.

"I thought you didn't like me, Anna." Rogue sat back in disbelief.

"Yo-"

He chuckled and then coughed, causing Rogue to stand in a flustered panic. "Take it easy, ya yahoo!" She fussed, trying to fix his pillow at a more comfortable angle. He smiled at her, clearly amused.

"I'm okay," He tried to shift into a comfortable position and frowned. "That hurt, though. Who was that guy, anyways?" Rogue's face went blank.

"Him. He used to be a part of the team. For a hot second." Rogue was scowling now. "He sold out and sold his soul to the bad guys. Got some point to prove that he's committed to by killin' me, I guess." Joseph frowned now.

"He came for your life. You got a lot of people counting on you." Rogue avoided his stare, embarrassed suddenly. 'Why is he looking at me this way?' She wondered, in total disbelief she was electing to spend her time with Magneto of all people. Memories or not. He smiled at her as he always did.

"Don't let Remy scare you, that's exactly what he wants." He settled back in the bed, seemingly satisfied with that as an answer.

"You're very brave," He observed. "You're not afraid of anything, are you?" Rogue scoffed.

"And you're a flatterer." She crossed her arms before she answered. "I'm scared of plenty of things." She mumbled, fiddling with her hands. "Bein' scared doesn't mean you don't do anything." Joseph nodded in agreement.

"This is very true. You're very wise for you're age." Rogue sneered at him.

"You don't even know my age." He bowed his head as if conceding defeat.

"When I look in the mirror I can't tell what my age either, to be honest." Rogue looked at him for a moment before busting into laughter. She stared at him reluctantly.

"Joseph... You're kind of alright." The smile slowly faded off her face. "There's a lot of things that would make more sense if you could remember, unfortunately." Joseph stifled a wince as he looked at Rogue.

"Will you tell me about them sometime, Anna?" She stared hesitantly into his shockingly blue eyes.

"Y'know... I never said you could call me Anna." He cocked an eyebrow.

"Forgive me, Ro-"

"It's fine."

A/N: Slava bogu: Thank God

Merde: Shit