Disclaimer: I Do Not Own The X-Men Or Anything Related To The X-Men.

Thank you for reading the previous chapter everyone! I appreciate you taking time out of your busy days to look at this chapter. Thank you to tx peppa for the lovely review.

Here is the newest chapter:

According to the medical staff, the guard had been far too rattled and injured to be questioned that night. The news had devastated Rogue, but she knew that she couldn't push someone that medically fragile for answers. While he recovered the next day in the main Meridan hospital, she tried to keep her attention on anything else. Since the first round of the psychic challenges was starting that day, she forced herself to try and be a good sport and cheer on Jean and Storm as they entered the ring.

The girls had been through at least two practice rounds, but they were still unprepared when placed next to their opponents; a hulking pair of men who seemed built more for weight lifting than focusing on their mental abilities. Either way, the pair seemed to be willing to play fairly with the Earth team and even offered a friendly handshake before the competition started.

As they sat in the stands, Rogue tried to ignore the smell of popcorn and other fair foods drifting around her. She could barely focus on the match in front of her eyes since her brain was still sitting with the guard recuperating in the hospital. A graffiti incident was one thing, but now that they had someone directly injured from the mysterious actions, the whole thing seemed far more serious. If the attacks escalated to an even higher degree there could be a real danger to everyone.

Lydia and Rogue had both tried to talk the head of the games into either pausing or delaying the events. As much as they wanted to foster peace between the groups, it wasn't worth putting everyone at risk. The chance for grave injuries was growing steadily and without more information on who was doing these attacks; they were at a serious disadvantage to try and stop anything or defend themselves.

The acts of possibly anti-Morph threats had given the Morph only team a new sense of purpose. They had been adamant that the games continue and that they have a chance to prove they were skilled competitors who would not be deterred by any threat. Following their lead, the majority of the other teams had sent representatives requesting that the games continue as scheduled. Unlike the Morphs, who had been using the contest as a sense of pride, some of the other teams claimed it was more to do with the past traditions of the Lenox people being honored as well as not being punished with a delayed game just because some random Morphs were causing trouble.

Not one team captain who had stopped by to talk with the queen and the game representatives had appeared to be upset that someone was possibly targeting the Morphs with vague warnings. The general consensus seemed to be that it was the Morphs' fault for stirring up trouble in the dimension. The Lenoxians had never had any problems at the games until the Morphs began to demand their own unique team. Thanks to Lydia's gentle words of wisdom and calming shoulder squeezes, Rogue had managed to avoid tearing the more snotty team captains' a new one.

So, as they sat in the stands in silence, Rogue felt her own mind continue to wander off to places far beyond the competition. She had already heard a few of the people behind her whisper that it was quite possible her loyalties were not entirely focused on the Lenox people, but she tried to ignore the voices every time she caught wind of them. If she could look past the fact Morphs had destroyed her family, why couldn't the people of Lenox look past their differences? She had far more problems to deal with when it came to Morphs and yet here she was sitting side-by-side with the half-morph she called her brother.

"Did you see that?" Kurt cheered and shook Rogue's shoulder; "Storm just threw a giant piece of hail at that guy!"

Broken from her inner monologue, Rogue spared a glance to the field where Storm was currently creating quite a magnificent thunderstorm on the field. The hail fell wildly around the competitor's side of the field and sent the man trying to attack Jean stumbling backward. He tried to counter by tossing what looked like a ball of light at Storm, but she threw it right back at him with a sudden gust of wind.

Kitty, Kurt, and Jamie let out a large cheer, before attempting to start a wave, while Logan, who was sitting below their spot in the stands, groaned and rubbed his ear. Despite his displeasure at the general idea of this competition, he had appeared much more focused once Ororo had stepped into the ring. It had always been an idea whispered around the mansion that there could be something going on between Storm and Logan, but the small grin on his face as he watched Storm sock the guy with another large ice ball was the closest thing to proof they had ever seen.

When the dust settled and Storm and Jean stood high on the first place podium, the entire X-men section let out a large round of applause. It was the first real win they could put on their board, besides Rogue's rough placing in third during the flight races. The moment seemed positive enough, even pushing some of the teams that had scoffed at an Earth team into applauding and cheering for the two talented women.

It was decided not long after, by one of the more hyper brunette teammates, that the victory 'totally deserved a like, celebration lunch'. The majority of the group wandered off towards the large cafeteria sitting on the far side of the wide spread field, agreeing that an event like that was worth savoring. Still feeling a little queasy at the thought of eating anything, Rogue declined the offer to join the victory party and decided to head back to the house to try and rest before the next contest started.

She hadn't picked up when he started to follow her, but as she stepped into the mansion she left the door open behind her for Remy to slip inside. He had stayed with her during the multiple hours of searching through the stage rubble for any kind of clue, and she figured he was feeling as fatigued as she was. A yawn pulled at the corner of her mouth as she and her handsome shadow easily walked towards her bedroom.

Once the door was closed and they were left alone again, she sat on the edge of the bed and offered him a good-natured grin, "If you are here for anything more than a nap, you are going to be completely disappointed Swamp Rat."

"You really know how to hurt a guy, don't you Chere?" He smiled at her and crossed the room with only a few long strides, "You really should eat something you know."

"Not hungry," She shrugged her shoulders and noted how bright his eyes were shining as they looked into her own pair, "You?"

"All Remy crave is a green eyed girl," He leaned forward and glanced in her eyes momentarily before placing his warm lips on top of her own pair.

She detested the fact that each encounter she had with her boyfriend started with a double check to see if she was ready to control her power. Sure, he had snuck a few touches here and there and got his butt zapped immediately, but the majority of their moments together seemed far more planned than she would have liked. Maybe it was selfish, but as Remy pulled away from their kiss, she realized how desperately she wanted full control and not just a rusty sense of control that worked only if she thought hard enough. She could only imagine how frustrated Remy had to be with their current situation.

The Cajun gently pushed her back on the bed and snuggled close enough to her that her back was flush against his front. He held her lovingly and smiled when he noticed a small grin of comfort and security spread across her face. It had been far too long since he last held his southern spitfire and he wasn't going to waste the moment. Tenderly, he kissed her covered shoulder and took in the strange flowery scent that drifted from her hair.

Somewhere between the warmth and comfort of his embrace, Rogue let herself drift off to a deep sleep. It had been a while since she had gotten a full night's rest, and though the nap was only about two hours long, when she opened her eyes once again she felt a small sense of calmness wash over her. Even with the craziness of her life, she had the warmth of Remy's arms to come back to and it eased her troubled mind slightly.

"Wake up, already Alex?" He grumbled using her real name to prove how much he disliked the idea of leaving their warm little moment to rejoin the outside world. "Remy not ready to let go." He grumbled playfully and rolled over her so he could lay on top of her and pin her to the bed.

Rogue laughed softly at his antics and let out a sigh, "You know I have to go check on the guard, Rems."

"Non," He shook his head and after sparing one glance at her eyes, kissed her neck, "Guard don' need us now. He got lots of people watchin' him."

The sleep coating still hovering over Remy's words gave them an even thicker accent. She relented slightly to his request and let her own hand gently rub his back. The boy grinned in happiness, thinking he had won a longer moment with his girlfriend and gave her a wink, "See, Remy's idea be more fun."

"Remy's idea will have to wait." She offered and tried to gently push him off of her. The boy lay like dead weight and mumbled something into her hair about being too tired to move. She rolled her eyes at his dramatics and offered her own threat, "You gonna make me push your butt off this bed, Cajun?"

"Could be fun." He whispered into her ear and chuckled as she blinked nervously and looked away from his eyesight, "Remy always thought his Roguey liked the rough stuff."

The teasing comment forced her to push him to the other side of the bed a little harder than necessary. Remy, unfazed by the movement, simply grinned like a fool and watched her sit up on the bed. He was glad for the contact they could have, but it didn't mean his mind hadn't wandered into ideas of what it would be like when Rogue finally had real control over her mutation. He had waited for Rogue to be near him for long enough to have considered quite a few possibilities of how they could celebrate her eventual control.

"I'd take a cold shower if I were you." She informed him and watched his eyebrow rise inquisitively.

"Only if Remy gets a little company in there." The comment earned him another eye roll and a view of Rogue walking away from him and over to her dresser.

Unlike Remy, whose brain was still trying to remain somewhere between the land of sleep and romance, Rogue was already snapping back to action. She looked over the top of her dresser, hoping to see a note from one of the other mansion guards that would update her on the status of the injured guard. When she couldn't find anything on the top of or on the floor near the dresser, she sighed and rummaged through her drawers for a hairbrush she had thrown haphazardly into them while unpacking. Of course, her version of unpacking had consisted of merely throwing the contents of her bags into various drawers. If it hadn't been for the maids in the mansion being so upset with her organizational skills and taking it upon themselves to put freshly ironed outfits in her closet, Rogue would have most likely been seen only in over wrinkled pieces during her entire stay at the games.

When she couldn't find the brush in the drawer, she started to search the bathroom for the missing item. She found it in one of the many drawers and started to untangle her curls as quickly as she could. Both Remy and she were supposed to show up and support Kitty in the first round of her first event, and if she didn't hurry she wouldn't have a chance to stop by the hospital for news before heading out to the field.

Remy watched her move around the room in such a hurry with a long sigh. He knew that look in her eyes meant she was back to overthinking and worrying, and that any sleeping in plans were effectively canceled for the foreseeable future. He sat up and ran a hand through his own disheveled hair before pulling out a pack of cards to keep his hands busy. Watching Rogue act so nervous gave him an uncomfortable sense of growing tension. The one thing he couldn't figure out was if it was more fear of what she might do next or whom she might be thinking about.

She had stared at Jude and Victoria throughout a small portion of the earlier match. The two hadn't done anything interesting, they hadn't even kissed once, but Rogue had stared at them with such a bitter expression that he would never forget the look in her eyes. The small flare of jealousy raged through his body and threatened to light up the entire deck of cards being shuffled over and over again.

"You know," he took a more serious tone as Rogue spared him a curious glance, "The guard is in safe hands. The moment anything is discovered, there will be tons of them guards searching for the guy who did this stuff."

"I know." She admitted and stood firmly in front of him, "But I need to hear it for myself, Remy. I need to know. He is the only person who can prove that Victoria is up to no good."

"Chere," He took a slow breath to calm the growing emotions in his mind and laid the deck of cards on the bedspread.

When Rogue had disappeared after the flying competition, he had taken a few hours to shadow Victoria. He didn't think that there was anything solid to Rogue's claims that she was trouble, but he respected his girlfriend enough to at least look into her statements. The entire mission had proved completely fruitless, though. Victoria was squeaky clean, to the point of being boring as dirt, as far as he could tell. She practiced with her teammates, spent time with Jude, and went to bed. The only thing she had going against her was apparently her interest in a particular blonde man.

"You really think she is behind all this?" He noted the immediate look of displeasure flash across her once bright eyes and steadied himself for another round of the bizarrely over exaggerated anger that seemed to be flowing out of her more and more often now, "I followed her for hours last night and she didn't do anything suspicious."

"So you don't believe me either?" She demanded of him unfairly, her hands on her hips, "You think I am as crazy as Jude does?"

"Never said you were crazy." He stood up from the bed and let his own face firm into a slight frown as days of silent jealousy threatened to slip out of his guarded head, "Just sayin' you don't have any proof."

"Once the guard wakes up I will have all the proof I need!"

"Why are you really so obsessed, Rogue?" The statement was blunt, but she could easily feel the emotions charging his question, "Is it really about the people of Lenox or are you just thinking about Jude?"

"I am thinking about everyone!" She stared him down and tried to defend herself from the unspoken accusation, "I know there is something wrong with Victoria and I have to help Jude and save everyone else."

The pair stared at each other in silence for a long moment, neither wanting to back down from their stance. Remy had tried to ignore the pangs of jealousy that crept into his system each time Rogue flew into another tirade about Jude and Victoria, but it was no longer possible to keep his voice calm and his thoughts collected. All he could see was the way she watched Jude with those big, sad eyes that used to spend time sparkling in his direction as they shared special moments. Now all he ever heard was, 'Jude this…' and 'Jude that…' and it was pulling at his last nerve.

"Just quit this damn act, Rogue! We both know the only person you are interested in is Jude." He disliked feeling his emotions flaring out without his brain being part of the mix, but he still added under his breath, "Interested in kissin' at least."

"Excuse me?!" She demanded of him, feeling her own anger flood out of her mouth as quickly as his.

"He's a big boy. He don't need you protecting him from beautiful women!" The comment was bit out with true anger as Remy let his emotions get the better of him; "The only thing Victoria has done wrong was date the guy you can't get over."

The comment struck Rogue harder than she expected it too. Seeing Remy's bright eyes shrink into angry orbs and his words change from supportive to bitter seriously shook her confidence. Besides the hurt feelings of losing the last person she thought was really on her side, a new anger began to grow over her heart. How dare he accuse her of being romanticly interested in Jude! Sure they had been a somewhat item, but that was over. She was dating Remy and the idea that he could question her loyalty to the relationship forced a bitter shell to grow over her heart.

"Well good news for you, Remy LeBeau," She growled out and stalked to the door, "Not only am I over Jude but I may just be over a certain Swamp Rat, too!"

The flight over to the hospital did little to calm her mind. She kept replaying the scene with Remy in her bedroom and found with each replaying the emotions came back with new strength. She must have been unable to hide the pain tearing at her heart since even her mother tried to question her when she entered the large building. Thankfully, Lydia had been willing to give her daughter some space on the subject and had even informed her that the guard was conscious once again.

Inside the large private suite, the guard was sitting propped up with large pillows. He was a large man, with an impressively sized piece of gauze covering a great deal of the left side of his face. The right didn't seem too much better, with its various bruises creating a heart-wrenching painting of black and blue on his face. Despite his condition, he offered both Lydia and Rogue a formal salute as they entered his room. In the corner of the room, was uncle William sitting in the comfiest looking chair in the sterile area, while his cane rested only a few feet away.

Due to the games still being played on their regular schedule, Rogue figured Victoria wouldn't show up to this meeting. She and Jude had seemed deeply involved with the games, and her uncle probably still had more power in this town than Victoria anyway. So it made sense that he would be the Meridan representative for the investigation.

"Please, tell me who did this." Rogue, still riding an emotional roller coaster, skipped pleasantries and jumped right to the question at hand.

The others in the room shared surprised glances, but only Lydia dared to frown at her daughter and offer a verbal reminder that they needed to let the guard take things easy. With her daughter dealt with, Lydia turned back to the guard. She asked him how he was feeling and if he would mind answering a few questions about what had happened. When he readily agreed, the other guards in the room started to open their notebooks to write down any information he could offer.

"I didn't get a good look at the woman. I was checking out the area before I went to change places with another guard, and I noticed a woman fly to the stage and start destroying things." He paused in his story and took a long drink of water from a cup on his bedside table.

"A woman?" Rogue perked up immediately, "You're sure it was a girl?"

The man nodded his head, then grimaced as the action irritated his head wound.

"Can you tell us what she looked like?"

He opened his mouth and then shut it again as if he wasn't sure how to describe what he had seen.

"Please, I need to know. Was she tall or short? What color hair?"

The man took a deep breath and finally looked at Rogue, "Actually, Your Highness, she looked quite a lot like you." The room grew still as the nervous man spoke up again, despite the strange feeling of saying an attacker could be similar to the princess, "What I mean is, I only saw the back of her. She had brown hair like yours and was similar in size and build."

The words echoed around in Rogue's head as if she had been given the answer to an unsolvable problem. If this culprit looked as similar to her as the man said, then she was almost certain that she had all the proof she needed. All she had to do now was find Victoria and get the truth from the source.