Late one evening Charles Xavier, ever restless under the relentless weight of his hopes and dreams, tossed and turned. Before him, in his dreamscape, stood the man he so desperately wished could understand what he was trying to accomplish. Alas, even here in the comfort of his own mind, they were ever at odds.

"Months ago, Charles," Magneto stood before him, where a prosecutor would stand in a court, as he gestured toward a darkened jury pool. Charles knew there were faces there, perhaps some he knew, but as they were all clouded in darkness he was at a loss of who would decide his fate. "To save another you sacrificed your soul. And having endured the horrendous consequences of your actions, the ravages of Onslaught, the wrath of the human authorities, the loss of your freedom, and the tainting of your students' belief in you," he said as he gestured to his right, a bright light overtook the room.

He saw his X-Men sitting in the jury, their expressions disgruntled. Some with ire, others confusion. Colossus's cold gaze stabbed daggers into his heart. How he had failed his sister. Her death had affected the Russian greatly, but never before had one of his X-Men abandoned him, so infuriated with him and his cause, to join Magneto's service. His eyes passed over Rogue, who was sitting next to Colossus, the student he had failed to assist for so long, and wondered if Colossus was merely the first.

"How far dare you go to stop me now?" Magneto asked as he lifted himself into the air and levitated himself behind the jury pool.

"Magnus, please!" he said as he watched Magneto place his hands on Colossus' and Rogue's shoulders. "We don't have to fight! We could work together!" he pleaded, as he always did. Even now, he held out hope his oldest friend would stand by his side.

"It's far too late for that, Charles," Magneto said as he tightened his grip and he saw the rest of his X-Men falter, their faces contorting with fear and pain as they died from some mysterious force. Yet, as they did, Rogue and Colossus were spared. "You know what you must do to stop me."

The world, his dream, stood on the balance. And Magnus was asking him to make a choice, to accept or deny his dream. Charles was torn; he wouldn't sacrifice anyone else, not like that. And so Magneto held him in his grip as well. Magneto held his heart and soul, represented in his dream and the X-Men hostage, and Charles' refusal was their death knell. And he was powerless to stop him.

"No…please…Magnus…," he begged, as his X-Men crumbled before his eyes.

But his pleas fell in deaf ears, as Magneto had turned his attention away from him, as he bid Colossus and Rogue to stand, their gazes turned away from their suffering comrades. Magneto's hands remained on their shoulders, as he spoke with them. Charles couldn't hear what was spoken. But Colossus gave Magneto a stern nod in agreement and a shake of the hand with Charles' former friend. And Rogue, Rogue was…entranced by his words. But as her head turned to look away, back at her friends, seemingly to go and help them, Magneto's hand left her shoulder and took hold of her blushing cheek. He turned her head back to him and his gloved thumb caressing her skin tenderly.

No, not his children! They were both succumbing to Magneto's ploy. Didn't they know? After all this time, all his schemes. How could they so easily be swayed? Didn't they see their teammates suffering?

No, they didn't and he was-

"I don't," Charles Xavier muttered in his bed, trapping himself deeper in a dream gone dark. "I don't want to," he said as he pressed his fingers to his temples. With a thought he could stripe the helmet off of Magnus' head and … "I don't want to do it again," he said. "I don't…don't want to…do it again…" Charles Xavier muttered in his bed, trapping himself deeper in a dream gone dark. But it was useless, Colossus and Rogue departed with Magneto. And the rest of his children died begging him to save them the entire while. The earth screamed a funeral dirge, mourning his loss.

"Please…stop…" he muttered, slipping further into his fears, his protestations decreasing to half-uttered words to nothing as sleep claimed him.

Rem-Ram crouching outside of the Xavier Institute, watched the carnage of Xavier's dream with equal measures of horror and awe. When he had been given this task, to sneak into the world's most powerful telepath's mind and distract him, he wasn't sure he was up to the task. However, Xavier's troubled mind did most of the work for him, a subtle nudge was all that was required. He considered moving onto a gentler dream, perhaps. No, REM-Ram didn't dare try anything else to the other man.

The greatest mind on earth, so well protected against others, was much more susceptible to itself, and Rem-Ram surmised that if he did anything else to the psychic, he could possibly wake him. Right now, he decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and he backed out of that powerful mind hastily.

"Coming out of Xaiver now…" he managed to grunt as he came back to himself.

"Shall I continue to boost your powers?" Cortez asked, a fine sheen of perspiration on his forehead as he maintained the circuit between the two Acolytes. Cortez kept a large gun in his free gauntleted and gloved hand. It was trained to the floor, but Fabian was watching their surroundings, as if anticipating an assault.

"No, Cortez. His dreamsong was strong, I couldn't control it; only nudge that river," Marcus reported, and Cortez frowned. What did he expect? Charles Francis Xavier was one of the greatest minds on earth. Cortez's powers were strong, but to be powerful and delicate was straining Marcus' abilities to the limit.

"Let me look for someone who has less defenses. I wasn't s'posed to outmuscle him. So it's all going to plan, remember?" Cortez relaxed as Rem-Ram reminded him, and the younger man sighed in relief. Their leader didn't realize that Marcus wasn't a typical telepath; he couldn't so easily nudge folks, he needed to plant ideas where the soil was already fertile.

'Move the dreamsong,' he thought to himself as he refocused his energies. "This is all kinda new to me," he said, hedging his bets as he scanned for someone just as agitated as the founder of the X-Men was.

It didn't take long; there was one dream that stood out more than most, they were all people in search of their identity and a place to call home. Amongst them was one who had felt the sting of no succor, not in the flesh, but in her own mind.

Rogue slept, and her dreams shifted, changed, and settled into a disturbing, repeated pattern she was all too familiar with. This was a familiar dream. She was floating high in the sky without ever remembering getting there. Separated from the world, high above it, she seemed unable to descend any further. While Rogue was high up and far away, she could also see others on the surface of Earth, laughing, playing. Hugging. Kissing. The whole of humanity there, enjoying one another, never more than arms length from one another on a green Eden. She wanted to be there; she wanted to belong.

She felt like she heard someone calling to her on the wind that swirled around, somewhere distant, and faintly. They sounded concerned. Rogue drifted, trying to get a feel for the voice. Who was saying her name? She saw a flash of color near a cave that appeared out of nowhere next to her, as dream logic often demands. Perhaps the person was there.

'With patience, you may yet learn…' the voice seemed so familiar, she couldn't quite place it.

'Not female…but they're-' scaly wings erupted deep from the cave's entrance. They flapped and fluttered around her as threw up her arms to hide her face. Even though she couldn't see whatever the creatures were, their emotions and memories wrapped in screams were absorbed into psyche as they bounced off of her.

"No!" She cried, they weren't her memories. They weren't hers!

She fled away from the cave, back to the safe, wide open sky. Where she was alone. Again.

'Never alone…' a voice whispered as she realized who it was.

"Professor?" she asked blankly, looking around for her mentor and the leader of X-Men. But there was no one; she was completely alone.

'...have us…one day…will find…' the rest trailed off, reminding Rogue that even in the end, words were empty. She closed her eyes looking for some mercy, some surcease and finding none. You couldn't run from yourself.

If time passed, she wasn't aware of it. Too deep within herself, she only caught her name being called over and over again. "-gue? Rogue."

She knew that voice. Her eyes popped open in surprise.

"Magnus?"

He stood before her in the outfit she knew so well. The red and purple armor he had done so much in. She knew why he did, it spoke to the nobility of his fight and the violence he caused. He extended a hand to her.

"We need to talk." Bewildered, and trusting as in the nature of dreams, she took it. They walked - the dream changed imperceptibly and they were now elsewhere.

Wherever they were now was not where they were before. He gathered her as he guided her along a manicured lawn. It was a bright spring day, and Magneto had one of her hands casually looped and resting on his forearm, like a promenade stroll. She tried to extricate her hand from his, but he was insistent in keeping it nestled in the crook of his arm.

"Magnus, are you…um…you again?" She was more than a little confused. "But Joseph-"

"Is but a whisper of what I am, but in one regard he is a shout I have long refused to hear." He asserted as he guided her to sit on a sun-dappled wrought iron bench.

"...in plain English?" she asked, clearly confused. 'Why would my dream speak in riddles-'

Before she could continue the thought, Magneto pressed on. "Joseph knew how he felt about you, and had the courage to express those feelings."

"But Magnus, Ah-"

"Don't deny there was a possibility of love between us. There is still a spark of it, is there not?" he asked, one gloved hand tenderly tucking some errant strands of hair behind one ear for her. The intimate gesture tugged at her heartstrings. "Don't deny yourself."

"There is- Ah mean there was, but now? There's been so much that…that…" she tried to object as she felt the physical distance close between them, as in the nature of dreams. The distance between them was erased, as dreams often could make happen between one moment and the next. Her mind scrambled for reasons, looking for answers. They felt so close, closer than anyone dared to be with her, and even in a dream, she was ever vigilant.

'Ah don't think I've ever thought this hard in a dream-' she thought to herself before the thought burst like a pricked soap bubble.

'...'s right…Rogue, don't listen t…'

That voice again. She turned her head away from Magneto, as if looking for it. Magneto's strong hand captured her jaw, turning her back to look at him.

"That way of life will soon be over, for me. For all mutants." he promised. "Rogue, if my plans succeed, our kind will finally have a true haven away from strife and prejudice. They will be safe from all dangers. And I will need someone by my side…" he said as he smoothly shifted off the bench, bending his knee before her. "...I will need you."

The small box opened, and a lovely diamond sat on the velvet. He lifted it up, setting the box aside.

"Magnus," she yelped in surprise.

"Rogue, please, say yes." He took her hand, which was ungloved -

'When did that happen?' she thought to herself. Suddenly, platinum and gold wound around her ring-finger, gently cupping the gem. He wrapped both of his bare hands around hers."We…we touched." she looked at him, in shock.

"As we have before," Magnus said, looking amused. They were standing once more, she was embraced with one of his hands winding through hair which spilled down her back. She was now in her ragged uniform from the Savage Land. As his hand toyed with her hair, the other wrapped around her back, holding her in his embrace. She had her ungloved hand against his naked chest. When had he removed his shirt?

'Don't…'

It didn't matter. The other was on his shoulder, and she made a move to push away from him, but found herself unable, or perhaps unwilling, to escape.

"You are like me in so many ways, Rogue." Magnus said to her, and for a moment, she was suddenly dancing with him in front of the New Mutants long ago. Disoriented, she didn't try to escape him as they whirled around the make-shift dance hall in the formal dining room.

"How many obstacles must you place in your path to happiness? For how long will the excuse of looking back prevent you from moving forward?" His eyes held hers as the dream returned to the garden. "I said my pride held me back before; and I beg you now, don't let your own do the same."

"Magnus…"

'Say…no…,' the voice echoed in her ears. She wondered how or why this person was talking to her. She wondered a great deal in this dream. Was that normal for her?

No. She couldn't ever recall feeling this awake in this situation. Even just thinking that gave her a little more control, a little more assurance. The abnormal nature of a troubled mind was something she was familiar with, and her rational mind reasserted herself.

"Magnus, you've hurt innocent people, no matter who begged you t'stop. If…If Ah were to-"

"Rogue," Magneto said, taking his hands in hers. She looked down, entranced by the ring on her finger, with theirs laced together around it. "My choices then were born of my desire to bring peace and safety to our kind. Many I regret, some I rationalize. All were necessary. Soon, they will be a part of my yesterday…" he said, the emotion of the moment returning as he pulled her in close. She was swept away in it, the overwhelming romance, the things she had always wanted to hear him say to her. She felt her will crumbling like a neglected wall, falling to twin assaults of nature and time.

'Don't - ust…him…'

"And you, a part of my tomorrow. Say yes, Rogue," he whispered against her lips as his head lowered. "Say yes."

'Say no.'

"Yes…" she whispered, pressing her lips to his, holding to him as tightly as she could. Her heart soared; she had searched for this all her life, and finally she found it with him-

"No!" a furious voice cried out.

Rem-Ram was shocked, he hadn't expected any resistance after Rogue had finally capitulated and accepted Magneto's proposal. He hadn't meant for the dreamsong to become so powerfully romantic; he had been pulled into it the more the dream built on itself. What had been really odd, though, was this sudden interference. It hadn't come from within. Was their Professor mounting a defense? No, he could still feel psychic man's dreams holding him in place. He should move on soon, but first, settle this dreamsong so that he would not be found so easily. He knew that tampering with the dream too much would leave fingerprints. And fingerprints could be followed.

Meanwhile, Xavier was finding that he was starting to come back to himself, and had tossed out a last desperate play. He activated a trigger word said in the right way sparking the defenses he trained into all his X-Men before being sucked back into a nightmare sprung from his own depths. Family.

'His name is Rem-Ram…' Charles Xavier thought as he was pulled back into the depths. 'He will not escape me…once I escape myself.' The nightmare enclosed him and he found himself befuddled, but knowing he must fight. He set himself to the task, wondering whoever he had helped a moment ago was given enough. For now, Charles Xavier fought himself.

Rogue wistfully embraced Magnus, her eyes heavy with want. She saw the same fire in his as even with the voice bellowing no in the background, still she pressed on and into him. Before a card lit with energy was thrown between them. Magnus pushed her back, ensuring they both avoided the blast.

Rogue's gaze turned to see Remy LeBeau, Gambit, his cards flaring to life in one hand while the other brandished his bo staff. The only thing that glowed brighter than them were his eyes, inflamed and focused on the pair.

"Stay away from him, chere! He will tell you whatever you want to hear, to get his own way. That's true, n'est ce pas?"

"The hypocrisy of that statement is hardly worth regarding, LeBeau. Who knows more about lies and secrets than you, thief?" Magneto responded, using Rogue's own memories and recollections from herself, as well as the imprint of Gambit that remained within her.

"I don' pretend t'be anything more or less than I am, unlike you. What do you want to be called today, Michael? How 'bout Magnus, or mebbe Erik? Or is Magneto good enough? Dat's yer truest name, oui?" Remy taunted, before looking back at Rogue. "Please, chere, come wit' me. Your family is waiting." He looked back to Magneto. "I ain' no terrorist, or a mass murderer!"

Magnus barked a bitter, furious laugh.

"Which family shall we address first, thief? Let us list your sins with the X-Men to start. That family, correct? The family you yourself lied to, LeBeau? The family you hid your misdeeds from? I will not take insults from a man who hid his marriage and associates from whoever he claims is his 'family'. And in spite of your assertions regarding mass-murderer, I am certain the Morlocks would disagree."

Remy scoffed, startled. His cards almost flared out of his control. "You know?"

"All mutants should know of your crimes, Gambit." Magnus said, his face darkening. "All mutants should be aware of the Brutus in their midst!" Gambit swore in French as he released his cards, throwing them in a wild, blooming array of exploding kinetic energy. The boom was deafening. Magnus raised a shield, protecting her with his body and his powers. Rogue seemed to have none; and indeed it seemed she was unable to move; all she could do was watch the display.

The two men's powers flared in a cacophony of lights, explosions, and force projections. Despite not being much of a gossip, Rem-Ram was completely entranced by the display before him and unable to take his attention elsewhere.

The battle was epic, improbable. The stuff of dreams.

All Rem-Ram could do was watch as the two men fought over their accusations and their hearts desire. He had never expected to experience this kind of passion in his life. He had never -

'That will be enough, young man'

""Whoa–oh!" Rem-Ram shouted as he was unceremoniously yanked out of Rogue's dreams. "No, wait, please, I-" he broke off as he saw an awake, irate Charles Francis Xavier before him. "Gotta go!" he gasped and terminated his hold. Rem-Ram left the astral plane in a rush, already regretting he would have to tell Cortez that the X-Men were alerted.

Fortunately, he didn't need to because lights began snapping on at the distant mansion as he regained consciousness and stood up. The Acolytes knew.