This chapter is 100% credit to Maedelin, who gave me so many good insights into the "Rogue perspective". I literally could not have done this chapter without her.

Also, it is very, very short as I am running out of steam on this particular hyperfixation. Eep!

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Shattered: Part 6

By Wiccamage

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Murmurs and gasps rose in the crowded hotel suite as the nine mutants surrounding Magneto's bedside processed Rogue's words.

Apocalypse.

Back again with an even more dastardly scheme. Last time it had been kidnapping telepaths to alter time and the universe. This time he was employing Sentinels.

"What else do you know, Rogue?" Cyclops was all business now as he stood next to Storm, arms crossed. He had been itching for a fight since the initial shock of the attacks had worn off, and after they'd discovered Madelyn's body on the beach, his rage had been slowly simmering to a boil.

Rogue shook her head lightly. "There's so much - so many images and thoughts Ah can't sift through 'em all. Just flashes of some island, mostly. And some sort of machine, maybe? Ah don't know what for, just that it's important. Ah saw Sinister and the Marauders, with Apocalypse behind it all, orchestrating everything. He's been manipulating Gyrich and Trask, encouraging them to build the Sentinels, giving them the technology and resources."

"I thought Sinister hated Apocalypse?" Jean replied from the doorway near Kurt and Wolverine. "After they kidnapped me and the Professor, and all the other telepaths, Sinister helped us defeat Apocalypse."

Rogue shook her head, rubbing her temples as she winced. "Ah don't know… He's got something on him, I think? It's so jumbled."

"Could," Jean started hesitantly. "Could I help? Maybe if we use Cerebro to sort through the memories you absorbed, we could figure out where they're going."

The Southerner nodded. "If y'all think it'll work, Ah'm as anxious t' go as a thoroughbredas thoroughbred at the Triple Crown. But it might take too long with just you and me. Do we know any other telepaths who could help? Might bolster our chances of huntin' down something important."

"Emma Frost is here," Storm offered. "She is the one who alerted me that Rogue was asking for assistance, and Carol had gone to see Magneto. Though she did not relay Carol's intentions."

"Psylocke's here, too," Wolverine grunted from the hall. "She's at a shelter not 2 blocks from here. Didn't wanna come up against Apocalypse, but I'd bet she'd help with something like this."

Cyclops nodded and looked around. "Alright then. Storm, Kitty, and I will go talk to Emma. Wolverine, take Morph and Kurt and go talk to Psylocke. Jean, you and Rogue go get Cerebro, then find a good place to set up where you can all get comfortable. Beast - check on Magneto, make sure Carol didn't do any further damage, will you?"

"Could, could y'all gimme just a minute, please? Ah'd like t' be alone with Erik for a spell."

The team exchanged uneasy glances, but it was Storm who spoke first. "We understand your need for closure and goodbyes, my friend, but I'm afraid that cannot be allowed. Not with Carol vying for control, and out for blood."

Hazel eyes sparking, Rogue opened her mouth to argue, but then cast her eyes down, biting her lip as she nodded. They had a point. If Carol took control again, it would be nearly impossible for Rogue to stop her, weak as she was right now. It felt as if all the events of the last few days were finally manifesting themselves within her physical body, and she was utterly exhausted.

"I'll stay with her," Kitty offered. Her brown hair had been replaced neatly in its high ponytail, and she wore a new blue and yellow uniform. The whole left side of her face was bruised and swollen, however, and her left eye was bloodshot from the trauma to her head.

Rogue swallowed hard, giving the young woman a small smile. "Thanks, suga'. Ah appreciate it."

As the others filed out, Kitty dragged over two chairs from the small table in the corner, offering one to Rogue before she placed the other on the opposite side of Magneto's bed. She watched as the Southerner reached out for Erik, then stopped herself, tucking her fingers back into her lap.

"I - I thought he was immune?" Kitty asked quietly, confused. "People have been talking about how you guys danced at the ball. How you could touch him."

Rogue chuckled mirthlessly. "Figures. We deal with mass genocide, and folks still can't stop gossipin'. Damn vultures." She rubbed her bare hands up her long sleeves, pulling the garment down to cover her fingers before she took Magneto's hand. "He can create a type of force field that protects him from mah powers, but it don't work when he's unconscious. We can touch, but only if he's awake - and strong enough - to generate it."

Kitty nodded slowly, then silenced herself to allow Rogue a moment with her own thoughts. She, herself, was thinking of Piotr, and she tucked her legs up onto the chair, wrapping her arms around her knees.

After a moment of quiet passed between them, Rogue glanced up at Kitty, her heart wrenching to see tears dripping down the younger woman's face. "Ah - Ah'm so sorry about Colossus, Kitty. Ah know you too had something special."

Wiping her eyes, Kitty nodded and sniffled. She was quiet for a few moments, simply staring at Magneto. "Can - Can I ask you something?" Her voice was shaky, unsure if she should - or could - ask something so intimate of her former teammate and friend.

Rogue swallowed hard, pursing her lips. She could tell Kitty was ruminating heavily on something that likely had to do with either Colossus, Magneto, or both. "Sure, hun," she replied at last, giving the woman a small smile. "What's on your mind?"

"I -" Kitty cleared her throat, her cheeks blushing slightly. "I know what Carol said about you and Magneto, and I know it's not my business, but…" she hesitated, eyes flicking lightly to the man sleeping on the bed. "But did he ever, I don't know, have an issue with your relationship - the age difference - at all? Did he ever, I don't know, think it was wrong or something?"

Rogue sat up straight, pulling her hands back to cross her arms over her chest, eyes narrowed. "You'll forgive me, suga' if I'm not inclined t' answer that kinda question."

Blue eyes widened as Kitty sat up, too, her legs dropping back to the floor as she held up her hands. "Oh no! That's not what I meant! I'm sorry! I just…" The young woman covered her face with her hands, shaking her head. "Oh god, I'm messing this up so bad." She pulled her hands down and met Rogue's gaze, pleading for forgiveness. "I was just wondering if the age gap was ever an issue for either of you the way it was for me and Pete."

Kitty sighed, fidgeting with her yellow gloves. "You know how I left Xavier's when I was 14 to go to school in England, right?"

"Course," Rogue nodded, her posture softening. "It was sad seein' you leave - especially since Ah was brand new to the team, and you'd made some pretty big waves as the youngest 'unofficial' X-Man. But everyone was so tickled ya got that scholarship t' study abroad."

Kitty smiled brightly, but bit her lip sheepishly. "Yeah, well, I never DID make it to college at Oxford, but that's another story." She waved her hand in the air as if dismissing the thought, and her time with X-Caliber. "Anyhow, I met Pete - Colossus - a few years after that. He was in England for a while, trying to earn more money to go to America. He'd just left Russia - was on the run from some KGB or something that wanted to force him to work for them."

With another deep breath, Kitty forced herself to focus. "Anyhow, he stayed in England for about a year, and we … worked together. He was almost 30 though, and I was only 17. But I swear it was like love at first sight, Rogue. I just knew, ya know? That I wanted to be with him - just him - for the rest of my life."

With a knot in her stomach, Rogue turned her eyes to Erik, trying to keep her face unreadable. Rogue couldn't remember ever feeling that way toward Magneto - even all those years ago in the Savage Lands. When they'd first discovered that Erik could touch her, she'd felt relief, and desire, sure. But there had never been that instant connection. Never that all-consuming need for anything beyond what he could give her physically. Her heart had never given that jolt of recognition and hope for Erik - not like it had when she'd first met Remy LeBeau.

Rogue blushed lightly, simultaneously blinking back tears as her mind drifted to her Cajun. Thankfully, Kitty never noticed and simply continued talking, her excitement gaining momentum as she recalled her teenage romance.

"I knew Piotr liked me, too, but he … he always got so nervous around me. Always made sure we were never alone together, always turned down my invitations for dinner. He spent two months trying to avoid me altogether. Eventually…" Kitty paused, taking a deep breath as she grimaced. "Eventually I told him I liked him, even kissed him, and he admitted how much he liked me, too. But he said I was too young for him, that it was wrong and he couldn't allow himself to be with me. That I was inexperienced and confused, and should find someone my own age. Get to know other people, date other guys."

Scowling, Kitty slumped back in her seat, pulling her legs underneath her this time. "He left the next day, headed to America. He was so afraid to be with me that he ran away to a whole other country, a whole other continent!" Her tone flared with anger before it blew out like the flame of a candle. "I just keep thinking that we wasted so much time that we could have been together, you know? Eventually he came back, when X-Caliber was helping set up New Genosha *, and I finally convinced him to give us a try. That I wasn't so young anymore. But we lost four whole years when we could have been together."

With a heavy sigh, Kitty stared at Magneto's sleeping face. Most of his visage was overshadowed by the breathing tubes taped to his face, and the parts of his skin that were visible had been so badly cut and bruised that he was nearly unrecognizable.

"I just - I wondered what it was like for you with Mag… Erik. If you ever regretted it one way or the other? Getting together so quickly despite your differences, or not staying with him in the Savage Lands?"

The brunette heaved another tremendous sigh as she carefully wiped her bloodshot eye and bruised face. "All I can think about is that I lost Pete so soon, that we could have had more time together if he'd just gotten over the age thing. I just wondered if we did the right thing - waiting." The tiny brunette wiped away another errant tear as she continued staring at the older man sleeping in the bed.

"T' be honest? That's - that's a hard call, Kitty," Rogue nibbled her bottom lip as she pondered the question. "Ah was about your age, maybe a tad younger is all, when my momma first took me to him for help with my powers. He was kind, and charming, and handsome, and well, it didn't take much for me t' start developin'... feelings… for him."

Her cheeks colored lightly as Rogue ducked her head. She'd never openly discussed her relationship with Erik with anyone before Remy, and even then she hadn't shared much in the way of details about why, or how, things got started.

"Did he, did he ever put you off? Tell you that you were too young or something?" Kitty's voice was gruff with hurt and bitterness, and Rogue offered her a sympathetic smile.

"No. But with MY powers? Ha!" Rogue chuckled, a quick bark of derisive laughter. "Ah had more years of experience in mah head than HE did, physically. Kinda comes with the territory from absorbin' other people. All their trauma, and experiences, and filthy minds? Makes ya grow up a mite faster than most." She blushed again at Kitty's look of surprise and shrugged lightly. "When Erik looked at me, he didn't see some young, inexperienced girl. It was always like he was seein' the whole person, and not just the powers. Like he saw me as a woman - an equal - with knowledge, and intelligence, and dreams of my own. Sometimes he'd look at me like I was some kind of library of lives and experiences, but still my own person with thoughts and feelings. It was… nice."

Rogue swallowed hard and avoided Kitty's sympathetic look, turning her attention to her hands in her lap. "When ya grow up not bein' able t' touch, when everyone avoids you, when the responsibilityis on you to make sure every single second of every single day is your job to make sure no one gets to close to you… It's isolating. Ah've always felt …radioactive, blighted, somehow. Erik never made me feel that way. He was always careful with my skin, sure, but he never encouraged me to cover up. Never treated me like I was toxic."

"He…" she continued slowly, studying the man's sleeping, pained face. "He never treated me with kid gloves. He told me about his dreams for the future - for a place like Genosha…" Another mournful sigh as she looked out of the window at the decimated landscape. "Like Genosha used t' be. He showed me what mutants could become. That we just had to unlock our potential without fear of being persecuted."

Rogue toyed with the edge of her shirt sleeve as she glanced between Erik and Kitty, smiling lightly. "He taught me how t' use my powers. REALLY use them. How t' control the psyches Ah absorbed and harness the powers Ah gained. Used t' be Ah could recall and use anyone's powers perfectly. Now Ah'm lucky if Ah can borrow Scott's beams without knockin' down a building."

The young woman looked surprised. "Really? But you took on the Nasty Boys and the Marauders. Cyclops said you were able to use Tar Pit's powers, as well as mine and Jean's."

Rogue shook her head. "Carol was usin' yours and Jean's powers first. She had control, so somehow, Ah did, too. Tar Pit and Scrambler …? That was pure instinct. Ah didn't have time t' think about it, and it just happened. T' be honest it feels more like a dream than anything. Like it couldn't have really been me usin' all those powers at once. Ah haven't been able to really control the powers Ah absorb since … Since Carol."

Kitty stayed silent, waiting for Rogue to sort through her own thoughts. "Ah was… Ah was a mess after Carol. Ah'd already been studyin' under Erik for a week or two, and things were purely platonic. Professional, even. Then Ah went on that mission for my momma - for Mystique. And when Ah came back to the Savage Lands, everything had changed. Suddenly Ah'd lost the little control Ah'd had, and all Ah could think about was the guilt. He tried t' help, tried t' get me outta mah own head. Tried teachin' me some art and history, and other such things that could distract me from… from what Ah'd done."

Rogue's stomach clenched as Kitty stared at her. "Then our relationship… shifted… somehow. And one night when he insisted I have dinner with him, our hands accidentally touched, and we figured out his powers protected him from mine."

"Is that when you two…?" Kitty trailed off, her face suddenly flushing as she stopped her question mid-sentence.

"A lady never tells," Rogue smiled at her, amused.

Her smile faded a moment later, however, as she leaned forward to take Magneto's hand in her sleeve-covered fingers. "But it didn't last. Couldn't. He had his demons, and I had mine, and neither of us could help the other. Carol was drivin' me crazy - she even tried t' kill him once or twice. Nearly DID right after we…" The Southerner's cheeks flamed.

"Anyhow, Ah had t' leave." With a sigh, Rogue squeezed Erik's hand and sat back in her chair, deep in thought for a moment. "Long story short-er…" She snorted. "Tad late for THAT, ain't it?"

Kitty grinned widely, giggling a little as she nodded in agreement.

"Anyhow, Ah don't regret it. Not really. What we had back then was special to me. Ah NEEDED that connection, more than Ah think Ah ever realized 'til now. But it wasn't … Ah don't think it was LOVE, either. Not like you and Pete. Not like… Not like me and Remy."

Hot tears spilled down Rogue's cheeks again as she bit down harshly on a trembling lip and willed herself not to cry again.

"I'm sorry about Gambit, Rogue," Kitty whispered quietly. As Rogue stared at her hands and tried to pull herself together, the small brunette came around the side of the bed and leaned over the back of Rogue's chair to give her a hug from behind. In turn, Rogue's hands came up to lightly grasp Kitty's wrist, cheek resting against the back of her hand as they both wept.

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