This story departs from X-Men '97 series after episode 7. I used bits of episode 8, but episodes 9, and 10 have not transpired, minus Rogue's new uniform.
Recap: Gambit's body, along with others, was taken by Sinister, Magneto was recovered and is alive but near death himself in the makeshift hospital.
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Shattered: Part 8
By Wiccamage
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Wearing Gambit's coat over her new green and white X-Men uniform, Rogue stood in the dusty clearing on Genosha where the Blackbird had taken off 30 minutes ago, her mind awash in guilt, grief, rage, confusion, and betrayal.
They'd left her behind.
She couldn't believe her team had left her, let alone actually banned her from the mission. Couldn't believe Cyclops had had the gumption to suggest that she would be kicked off the team if she followed them. Sure, she'd dropped Trask off a building, but it wasn't like he had actually died.
Except, he HAD. If she hadn't let him fall, if she'd pulled him back in, maybe tried to touch him like she did with Gyrich, then maybe he wouldn't have transformed into that Prime Sentinel and leveled the U.N. building. Now her team was going after Sinister without her. Because she was too 'unpredictable', too 'unstable.' Even Kurt, her brother, who had come to her rescue in Mexico City, and kept vigil at her bedside while she'd recovered from Trask's attempt to terminate her, had abandoned her. The anguish and disappointment in his eyes had been almost as unbearable as the lack of warmth and life when she'd felt Gambit die in her arms.
Cyclops had taken her to task for 'killing' Trask. Not to mention that Gyrich had died as well, despite him being alive and well when the team had left him in Mexico. Her body count was growing every day, and the team was seriously considering not just removing her from the X-Men, but detaining her for murder. As it was, it had taken every ounce of pull and persuasion for the team to convince the Avengers not to do so themselves. Thankfully, Jean had been able to 'show' Steve Rogers and his team that Gyrich was in stable condition when they'd left Mexico City. And, since Trask was currently in stasis as a Prime Sentinel in the basement at the Xavier Institute with Beast, the Avengers were content not to bring charges against Rogue for their 'deaths.'
At least, not YET.
Now Rogue was standing, arms crossed and eyes narrowed in a hard glint as she watched three planes fly off with her teammates and any volunteers they had been able to muster up. The first carried Wolverine, Morph, and Nightcrawler, all heading East toward Siberia where they suspected Sinister was hiding one of his labs. The second team consisted of Jean, Cyclops, and Cable, the latter of whom had joined up after saving them all in Madripoor. He had insisted that Bastion was a far greater threat than Sinister, and had refocused the team's efforts on the human-Sentinel hybrid. They were headed to Bastion's hometown in Connecticut to find more information about his past, motivations, and plans. Storm, Shadowcat, Angel, and Psylocke were headed toward the jungles of South America in hopes of stopping another Tri-Sentinel that was being constructed.
Iron Man, Captain America, and the other Avengers were dropping Forge off at the Institute to help Beast, who was desperately trying to figure out some kind of 'cure' for the humans turned Prime Sentinels, before dispersing throughout the U.S.A. to help put a stop to some of the more unruly riots that were occurring nationwide.
Rogue had been encouraged to join Forge or the Avengers on their missions, but the stubborn Southerner had opted to stay in Genosha to help care for Magneto and some of the other patients, instead. Amelia Voght had been unofficially named as head nurse/doctor and was more than happy to have an extra pair of hands to help out while she dealt with triage tents and distributing supplies to the survivors.
Emma had stayed behind as well, but more out of curiosity about Rogue's true motivations than altruism. The telepath knew Carol's personality had been shoved back into the depths of the X-Man's mind, and although their journey through her mind had excised some of Rogue's demons, there were plenty still pressing the southerner's darker motivations.
At the moment, the White Queen was casually leaning against the doorway of the hotel-turned-hospital, and fastidiously watching Rogue. Turning to glare at the blonde, the X-Man snarled, her rage eager to land invisible blows on someone besides herself. "What? There somethin' you wanna say, Emma?"
"Just… thinking." Emma's coy smile barely turned up her lips, but her pale eyes were alight with mischief. "The Hellfire Club will be looking for new members, you know. Keep up this vengeful tirade of destruction, and perhaps we can offer you a position."
Rogue had been more than happy to go a few rounds with Emma, but the blonde's words had the opposite effect on her brain, and she felt like the floor had dropped out from under her. Her face paled. If the VILLAINS were calling her out for her actions and behavior, did it mean she had crossed a line that even her family couldn't forgive? If she was honest with herself, she was very much starting to FEEL like a villain - full of the same kind of rage and hatred she'd felt a decade ago when she'd first absorbed Carol. Though her heart had shattered over losing Gambit, it was slowly knitting itself back together with the sharpness of broken dreams and the rot of decomposing bodies. She no longer felt like herself, like the 'empathetic', compassionate woman Erik had begged to lead with him.
Instead of engaging in verbal - or physical - battle with the White Queen, Rogue picked up a large crate of medical supplies the Avengers had left behind and brushed past the woman without a word.
"When are you planning to let Carol out again?" Emma called after the X-Man. "I had rather thought you two reached a sort of truce. You DID promise you'd give her control of your body, after all."
Rogue didn't turn around or acknowledge the barb, but she felt the sting as the White Queen's words lanced through her mind and heart. The X-Man still acknowledged her promise to Carol, but in her mind, that agreement was null and void until Gambit's missing body was retrieved.
After checking in with Amelia, Rogue busied herself with the main floor patients - the ones who were simply waiting for death to take them. Some had been given sedatives, but most had to be kept unconscious with chloroform or ether. Had these victims been animals, they would have been mercifully euthanized. But they were human beings, and if there was the slightest chance that the U.N. would send med-evacs, then they had to try and keep them alive until better help arrived. As it stood, however, most of the world leaders refused to do anything more than deliver aid via air-drops, which often caused more damage to the already decimated city. The realization that they had been abandoned by the rest of the world further twisted the darkness in her heart.
One young woman had deep lacerations all over her body, her olive-green skin covered with scales that somehow kept her from bleeding out quickly enough for death to claim her. Her legs had been crushed, then amputated, and her mutation kept quickly metabolizing the drugs they'd tried to give her for the pain. The telepaths had tried to put in mental blocks, but it only did so much. The woman's jet black hair tossed on the thin pillow as she writhed on the cot and moaned in agony.
"Hey, hey suga'," Rogue knelt next to the cot and took a scaly green hand in her own. "Let me see if Ah can get ya somethin' for the pain, all right?" The suffering all around her was overwhelming, and she had to fight back tears.
"Ju-st" the woman rasped. "Kill … me."
Rogue's face screwed up in empathy and sorrow. "Ah'm sorry hon, Ah know you're hurtin'," she soothed gently. "Let me find a doctor and some medicine, okay?" The X-Man started to stand up again, when the woman's hand reached up to stop her. Her scales brushed against Rogue's cheek for a mere instant, but it was enough for the absorption to pull greedily at the gravely injured victim's mind and powers.
With a gasp, Rogue leapt back a second later, but her epidermis had already transformed to reflect the same green scales of the suffering woman. The difference, however, was that the other mutant was now unconscious, gratefully pulled into temporary oblivion by the X-Man's powers. She gasped and blinked back tears of pain and shock, realizing that the victim's last conscious thought had been of gratitude for this small, unexpected mercy. The southerner's legs ached with phantom pain as she felt the shadows of the other woman's injuries as if they had been her own. It lasted only a moment, however, and Rogue stepped away on shaky feet, pulling her gloves off to examine her scaled hands.
The other thought that swirled through her mind, a reflection of the victim's anguish and despair, was about Magneto. 'Magneto was right,' played in her head on repeat, and she tried to shake the thought loose. But her feet were already carrying her toward the stairwell to the second floor, where she knew the Master of Magnetism was fighting his own battle against certain death. She needed to ground herself. Her grasp on her own humanity and generally compassionate nature was threadbare and frayed to the point of snapping. She felt very much like she was spiraling into a pit of despair and contempt that threatened to swallow her up.
Shoving her gloves into the deep pockets of Gambit's coat, she gripped the lapels of his collar with her bare fingers, pulling it tight and inhaling his lingering scent of cayenne and bourbon. Her feet moved on autopilot as her mind swirled with memories of him. The first time they'd really met and interacted had been on Muir Island a decade ago, after going the rounds with the Shadow King. Her clothes had been inexplicably shredded after some battle no one could even remember. Gambit had helped her into the same duster she wore now, joking about how other gentlemen would have done the same if they'd been smart enough to cart around a heavy trench coat. Then he'd offered to help her search for Mystique and Irene after insisting she call him Remy.
Another pang jolted through her stomach and heart. She'd never told him her real name. He'd asked once or twice, hoping she trusted him enough to divulge her most carefully guarded secret. Then, on the day she had begrudgingly opened up to him, cozied up together in a horse drawn carriage on their first real date, he had hushed her, promising that names didn't mean anything, and he was willing to wait.
Her currently green scaled fingers rubbed the thick fabric of his coat as she pulled the collar up and tried to hide from curious glances as she slowly trudged up the stairs. She remembered desperately grasping these same lapels when Sinister had captured the team in the Savage Lands. When Gambit had confessed his love for her before they'd shared their first real kiss.
Feelings of grief and longing contorted in her gut as she entered the hallway as if on autopilot, only a few doors down from Magneto's 'private' room. The thoughts of 'Magneto was right,' kept echoing in her head from the mutant she had absorbed. Coupled with the twisting feelings of outrage and misery, Rogue's mind whirl with opposing desires.
On the one hand, she wanted revenge. Wanted to make those who had done this - had destroyed Genosha and killed Remy - pay. Dearly. On the other, she wanted to rejoin her team and save the world from the threat of Bastion's Prime Sentinels. The compassionate part of her heart - what little remained - wanted to retrieve Gambit's body, help the survivors, and rebuild Genosha. That tiny part of herself that remained wanted nothing more than to rescue her beloved Cajun and the others Sinister had stolen, and see them properly buried.
She was so lost in her thoughts, in her yo-yoing emotions and machinations that she hardly noticed when Val Cooper stepped out of another suite until the woman stood in front of her.
Rogue startled for a moment. No one had seen hide nor hair of the U.N. representative since the attack, yet here she was, looking more put together and unfrazzled than she had BEFORE the ill-fated party. She wore a crisp white dress with a blue suit coat, and the X-Man stared at her in shock.
"Dr. Cooper?" she asked hesitantly, brows furrowed in confusion. "Where have you been? We've been lookin' all over for ya? Folks assumed you were…"
"Rogue, please, I MUST speak with you. It's urgent." The blonde grasped Rogue's covered wrist and abruptly pulled her into the empty hotel room, shutting the door behind her.
"What's this all about…" Rogue started, turning around with her arms folded. But her words cut off abruptly as Val's blue suit coat melted away to reveal blue skin, her blonde hair transforming to flaming red locks.
"Momma!" Rogue stepped back in shock, her eyes widening before narrowing into slits. "What are you up to Mystique?!" She hissed. Then, as disturbing possibilities swirled in her mind, her face contorted into rage and she grabbed her adoptive mother by the neck, slamming her high up against the back of the door. "Did you have a hand in this!? Did you help Sinister and Bastion!? Did you KNOW!?"
"N-no!" Mystique choked out, both her hands grasping Rogue's wrist as her daughter squeezed tighter. The shapeshifter's eyes went wide. "I just… got… here."
Rogue's fury was building, but her gaze trailed to Mystique's throat, and Emma's words echoed in her head. Then Carol's voice, strained and distant though it was, whispered from the depths of her mind.
"Let her go, Rogue. Think of Kurt."
Ms. Marvel's sentiment, complete with feelings of remorse and guilt over the blood she had already spilled, had the desired effect, and Rogue abruptly dropped her mother, who crumpled to the floor. Mystique coughed and spluttered, grasping at her bruised windpipe as the X-Man folded her arms tightly, tucking her hands under her armpits lest she try to lash out again.
Rogue turned away and strode toward the window, pulling open the curtains with one hand to stare out at the decimated landscape. "What are you doin' here, and what do you want?" She finally asked. Her voice sounded dead and hollow, even to her own ears.
"I came to make sure you were okay," the redhead wheezed, staying on the floor as she caught her breath. "And to stop you from doing something rash."
A bark of derisive laughter echoed through the room, and Rogue's shoulders slumped even as her spine went rigid. "Think you missed the boat on that one, Mystique."
"No, not yet I haven't." Standing carefully, Mystique spoke softly, as if she knew personally the demons lurking in her daughter's mind. "Destiny warned me this event would come, and what might happen of you if don't tread lightly this day."
Another scoff escaped the southerner's lips, but it was not so harsh this time, and she tore her eyes away from the destruction to glance at the shapeshifter. Her mother was approaching timidly, and looked very much like she simply wanted to wrap her daughter in a much needed hug. But Rogue bristled, looking down at her bare hand, which was slowly transforming back into her usual skin tone. "She warned you about TODAY, but not about Genosha? Ah find that hard ta believe."
"Destiny spoke of the day of genocide, and that it would lead to a series of dominos. Some that could be changed, and some that couldn't. But it was YOUR fate, as our DAUGHTER, that most concerned us."
Rogue turned, arms crossed tightly, her eyes slitted in barely contained fury. "Then maybe y'all should have warned me of what was comin' before the man Ah love died in mah arms!" She sucked in another deep, shuddering breath and willed herself not to cry in front of this woman. Mystique had no empathy for anyone's feelings, even her own daughter, and would only see tears as another form of weakness to mock and scorn.
"I know how it feels, you know," Mystique spoke softly, and Rogue blinked, startled by her almost kind words. "To lose the person you love most in the world?" The shapeshifter came to stand before the window next to Rogue, their shoulders nearly touching. "When Destiny was murdered by Legion and the Shadow King… I know EXACTLY how you feel."
This time Rogue couldn't stop the choked sob that exploded past her lips, and she reflexively slapped a hand over her mouth and turned away from what she knew would be harsh, judgemental eyes. But a gentle, soothing hand slipped across her shoulder, and before she knew what was happening, she was wrapped in her adoptive mother's warm embrace as she cried like a toddler. Loud, wracking cries echoed through the damaged room, sisters to the cries that had been interrupted back in Mexico City. Jean's touch had been comforting, but the team's presence had only made the southerner close off her emotions and turmoil. Their attempts at consolation and healing had only hardened her resolve to stay strong and not break down again.
But now her teammates had left her behind, her brother had abandoned her, and all Rogue could feel was her heart shattering all over as her mother lowered her to the ground, rocking and soothing her in a fashion almost identical to Kurt's earlier embrace. She didn't even know how long she sat there in her mother's arms, bawling like a newborn as her soul tried to knit itself back together with more than darkness and pain.
Mystique stroked her daughter's white and chestnut locks, content to hold and soothe her like she'd done decades ago. Rogue was strong - Raven and Irene had seen to that - but none of them were made of stone, and there had been a few occasions the shapeshifter could recall that reflected their current position. On the first night, when Mystique had welcomed the young, frightened runaway into her home. The second time had been when her daughter was so plagued by Ms. Marvel's psyche that she'd admitted she'd rather end her own life than live that way.
That had been the night Destiny had warned Mystique - if Rogue did not leave, did not find her way to Charles Xavier and the X-Men, their daughter would perish. So Mystique had made a call. Had gotten the exact time and location needed to ensure such a chance encounter, and had anonymously warned her greatest enemy that there was a mutant in desperate need of his help.
She had lost her daughter to Xavier that night, unsure of how long it would be before she was returned. Destiny had assured her that one day they would be reunited again, as mother and daughter, but she had been as cryptic as ever. Since Irene's death, Raven had never stopped trying to get Rogue back, convinced that she would have to tip fate's hand in her favor.
The rhythmic dance of her hand down Rogue's hair and back did not slow until the X-Man's sobs quieted to soft hiccoughs and sniffles a long while later. "Please, my daughter," the shapeshifter crooned. "Listen and heed me now."
The quiet desperation in Mystique's voice shocked Rogue enough that she turned her bleary, red rimmed eyes up to her mother, pulling back enough so they could look into each other's eyes, but not so much that they had to release each other.
"You mustn't leave Genosha. You must NOT go after them. Gambit's fate is already sealed, and if you try to retrieve him, or Magneto, you will die."
"Erik is HERE, why would I need ta…" She trailed off, eyes widening as she sucked in a breath and flew into the air, not even bothering to open the door before she punched through it and soared down the hall to Magneto's private hospital suite.
But Erik was gone.
"NO!" she screamed, a loud, long shriek of agony and fury, and she whirled around, eyes flashing murderously as Mystique's footfalls echoed into the room behind her.
"You… you… !" Rogue couldn't even articulate a proper sentence, but her fists were clenched so hard as she advanced on Mystique, that she could feel her nails cut into her nearly invulnerable flesh. Mystique's eyes were wide for a moment, a flash of true fear and dismay gracing her features before falling back into a mask of haughty calm.
Still, her mother backed up, taking one step at a time into the hall and away from her daughter. "I had nothing to do with his capture, Rogue. I only know that Destiny warned me it would happen and you shouldn't pursue them. You MUST NOT go after Magneto, or Bastion WILL kill you."
"Does Bastion have Gambit, too?" Rogue snarled, but she stopped advancing on her mother as several mutants acting as 'nurses' emerged from various rooms and peeked out at the commotion.
Mystique shook her head. "No."
"But Sinister DOES?" The X-Man asked, eyes narrowed as she stood almost nose to nose with her 'mother,' who nodded wearily. They had shared such a welcome, intimate moment as mother and daughter, only to have it tainted by the knowledge that Mystique had merely been trying to delay her.
Rogue stalked back to the bed where Magneto had laid. "They ain't been gone long," she mused, touching the divot in the bed with her bare hand. "Mattress has barely gone cold. Ah could still catch 'em before…"
Mystique's furious grip on her arm pulled her from her thoughts as her mother whirled her around to shake her. "Don't you understand!?" The shapeshifter half cried, half screamed. "If you try to save Magneto, YOU. WILL. DIE!"
Rogue ripped her arms from her mother's grasp and took a step away. "Ah ain't about ta let HIM die, too! He's all Ah've got left! He still LOVES me, just like Remy did. Even after all these years, part of me still loves him, too!" Her rage melted into sorrow and torment as she finally admitted her feelings aloud.
Mystique's shock was only overshadowed by her look of horror. "What on Earth do you mean? After all these…? He didn't…" she shook her head vigorously, as if trying to dispel unpleasant images. "For the love of god tell me he didn't…"
Rogue's cheeks were already warm from her angry outburst, but now they burned with an altogether different kind of emotion.
"In the Savage Lands?" her mother asked again, aghast. "When I - when he…?"
Rogue's silence and the uncomfortable shift of her gaze back to the bed was the only confirmation Raven needed.
Mystique closed her eyes, brows furrowed, and her hand covered her mouth for a moment as if trying to stifle a sob. "Irene warned me…" she started, refusing to meet Rogue's eyes. "She told me if I obeyed his orders and sent you to him that he might… But I didn't want to believe it. And I was so frightened of losing you." The shapeshifter raised both hands to cover her face. "All those times he spoke of your training and progress… God, how naive I was! I'll kill that rat bastard!" Mystique seethed.
Rogue's face still flamed, but she felt far more bewildered than embarrassed now. Her rage was all but forgotten as Mystique grabbed her by the upper arms again and looked her dead in the eye.
"Rogue, whatever he told you in the Savage Lands, whatever it was he did or said to make you believe he was in love with you… It wasn't… it wasn't REAL." The blue skinned woman's face had contorted, but her eyes burned with sympathy and disgust in addition to her underlying currents of anger. "Erik Lensherr is a MASTER manipulator. I learned some of my very best tricks from him. Everything he does, everything he says, or doesn't say, serves only himself - so he can take what he wants. Do not risk your life for someone who does not - CANNOT - feel the same way for you."
Taking a step back from her mother, Rogue pulled herself free from Mystique's grasp again. Her eyes were starting to sting, and her stomach felt like it was lined with leaden stones. "He - he DOES," she protested, but her heart was racing with surging doubt.
Mystique shook her head sadly. "Rogue, MAGNETO was the one who insisted I bring you to him. It was not my wish for you to join him in the Savage Lands. When I first refused, he threatened to kill me; he threatened to kill you and Irene."
At this, Rogue exhaled a small gasp, her mind reeling even as she refused to believe it. Still, her mother continued.
"He was certain he could ingratiate you completely to our cause. He told me of his plans - he wanted to train you to become one of the most powerful mutants on the planet. He thought he could teach you to retain the gifts you absorbed. When I asked him about learning to control your powers, so you could touch freely, he laughed. It was never his intention to teach you such things."
"He is the one who warned Ms. Marvel of the theft of the aircraft on the night you absorbed her," the redhead spoke softly, as if her words alone could shatter Rogue's invulnerable exterior. "He was curious about how your powers would compensate for someone who wasn't fully human. He set the whole thing up so you could steal her powers and test your own. He told me to make sure you not to let go. Destiny warned him that it would have terrible consequences, but he didn't care. He was thrilled when the transfer was permanent."
By this time, Rogue had both arms wrapped around her stomach, her breathing quick and shallow as she tried not to vomit. Everything her mother was saying directly contradicted what Erik had told her all those years ago. That MYSTIQUE was the one who wanted Erik to help her, that he was determined to teach her how to control her powers, that her mother had ordered the theft of the aircraft leading to Ms. Marvel's demise.
"It ain't true…" she stammered, refusing to believe that the first man she'd touched, the first man she'd kissed, the first she had… That it had all been a lie. That she'd been used and manipulated in the worst possible way. "You're LYING!" Rogue hissed, her voice full of malice. "It ain't TRUE!"
Rather than argue, Mystique slowly pulled off a long white glove and held out her bare hand. "Then touch me. Take my memories. I won't let you run off and get yourself killed for a man who USED you like that, Rogue. I'd rather you drain me dry than beholden yourself to him because of a fantasy he planted in your head."
The X-Man licked her too dry lips, her whole body quivering with doubt and desperation. If she touched Mystique and she were telling the truth… Her eyes burned at the possibilities. But if she didn't, she would always wonder, always doubt whether any of it had been true. If he'd ever really cared.
"Did Erik ever let you touch him? Ever let you freely absorb his powers, or his memories?" Mystique understood her daughter's hesitation, but kept her hand steadfast.
Rogue nodded lightly, her eyes flooding with relief. "Yes," she smiled smugly at the memory. In the jungle, she had been practicing on one of Magneto's Acolytes, Pyro, and struggling to contain his mind within hers. Erik had offered his hand freely, even though they had already discovered his ability to repel her mutation, and she had absorbed his powers and his memories when he lowered his shields. He said he would think of a number between one and one million, and challenged her to tell him what it was. He never would have allowed her to touch him if he'd been worried about dastardly plans coming to light.
She explained the scenario to Mystique, who shook her head sadly.
"But you also saw something else in his mind, didn't you?" Her mother questioned. "He showed you some of his darkest memories that day, didn't he? He told me as much. He told me once that your training was coming along so well that half the time you didn't even know what it was you were really working on." The shapeshifter's voice was steady even as Rogue's hands began to shake. "He gave his Acolytes instructions on what types of memories to focus on right before you touched them. He wanted to see if you could pick out and retain information from the minds of your enemies. But he also said he was implanting the seeds of anger and hatred toward humanity, by showing you the worst they had to offer."
Mystique paused, letting this information sink in before continuing. "He wanted you to see his darkest memories and hate all humans, so you would never be tempted to the other side. So you would never leave us for the X-Men."
Rogue took a deep, shaky breath and closed her eyes, willing her tears not to fall. She remembered the moment all too well. It had been the first time she'd used her powers on Erik, and though he'd given them willingly, she'd seen images beyond that simple numbers game. It was the first time she had absorbed his memories of Auschwitz. The first time she felt true hatred, and resentment, and disgust, for mankind.
Rogue shook her head, unwilling to believe that everything she'd felt, everything she'd been shown and taught by Erik - all those feelings, and caresses, and 'firsts' - had been part of a carefully fabricated ruse.
"Ah don't believe you!" Rogue shouted all at once, her voice shifting from sorrow to rage as her heart desperately tried to protect itself, and she grabbed Mystique's bare hand with one of hers, the other coming up to grasp at her mother's cheek.
Emotions and memories immediately flowed into the X-Man, and Rogue was momentarily overwhelmed by Mystique's vivid recollections.
A phone call to Magneto, as he gloated about his thrall over Rogue's sensibilities.
A gut-twisting email received from the Master of Magnetism admitting that he had successfully ingratiated Rogue to him - and their cause - as she clung to his tutelage like touch-starved puppy.
The heated argument between Mystique and Magneto over the upcoming mission and the 'tests he wanted Rogue to undergo - much to her mother's ardent disagreement.
Eavesdropping on a private conversation between Erik and Sabertooth, as the former confessed that he was enjoying the slow manipulation and coercion of his beautiful young 'apprentice'.
And finally, the conversation between Magneto and Mystique about Rogue's defection to the X-Men. That he had full faith he had so well enchanted and 'trained' her that she would ultimately return to his side despite Xavier's intervention. That he had played his hand as the compassionate, caring mentor that only wanted the best for her, and was certain it would ultimately draw her back to his side. That he was playing the long game and knew she would fight by his side again one day, when she could no longer bear the loneliness and isolation of her powers.
With a shrieking sob, Rogue wrenched her hands from Mystique's skin, and both women collapsed to the floor of the hospital/hotel suite, the former with debilitating, sickening realization, and the latter as a result of Rogue's powers.
It took a few minutes to collect herself, but her heart - and head - were whirling even more than before. She was lost between wanting revenge - against Bastion, Sinister, and even Magneto - and wanting to rip her very heart out of her body. She was certain it had crumbled beyond all repair, now.
The X-Man seriously contemplated just letting Carol out to take over right here and now, but the part of her mind that was screaming for revenge needed an outlet for her outrage and anger before she completely self-destructed. She knew she could still go after Magneto. Mystique's knowledge was vague, but she had bits and pieces gleaned from Irene's visions - images from books that Destiny had written decades ago. Bastion had Magneto, and thanks to the info Jean and the other telepaths had pulled from Rogue's mind, she had a basic idea of how - and where - to find him. She knew - from both the absorbed psyches and Mystique's memories of Destiny's Diaries - that Bastion had dastardly plans on the not so distant horizon, and that Magneto was to be used as a pawn in the coming war. She vaguely saw an image of the now powerless omega level mutant being strung up like a marionette, and it made her stomach curdle.
The other impressions rattling around in Rogue's brain from absorbing Mystique swirled around the familiar red and black eyes of Remy LeBeau. Haunting sketches of Remy with gray skin and white hair flashed back and forth between that of a smoldering skeleton and a man of flesh and blood. Another page turned in the vision of absorbed memories, this one showing Rogue herself writhing beneath a glowing skeletal hand, her flesh burnt and clothing melted away.
Kneeling in front of Mystique's unconscious figure on the floor of Magneto's former hospital suite, Rogue clawed at her eyes. The sketches suddenly took form and she could suddenly see - and feel - her skin being flayed from her body as Gambit's fingers trailed down her bare form. She gasped as his eyes bore into hers, glowing a vicious, eerie red that lacked all the warmth and charm of the man she knew and loved.
The corrupted version of Remy kissed her, and her skin burned as a horrendous pain erupted from her lower core to send sparks of electric energy through her entire body. A scream wrenched from her lips both within the vision and the physical realm as pain wracked her entire being. Yet, within the same moment she felt the agony consume her body and soul, the image shifted and Gambit's eyes and skin returned to normal, glowing with all the adoration, concern, and swagger he had exhibited before the Genosha massacre. She saw the sketch through Mystique's eyes as Rogue's screaming, tortured form gave way to the rebirth of the dearly departed Remy LeBeau.
When Rogue opened her eyes, her adoptive mother had regained consciousness, and was propped up on her elbows, staring at her in dread.
"R-Rogue, I know what you're thinking. You can't go after them. You'll be KILLED." Mystique was barely conscious, trying in vain to push herself up off the carpet, as if she could stop her daughter.
"Ah know what'll happen if Ah DON'T, momma. If there's even a snowball's chance in hell Ah can bring him back, then Ah'm takin' it."
"You'll never make it past Sinister, let alone Apocalypse. He knows your powers," the shapeshifter begged, breathless. "He knows your powers, your strengths and weaknesses. He'll be ready for you. You'll never make it past the front door. None of the X-Men would, even if you all attacked at once. They can read your thoughts, Rogue. They'll anticipate anything your mind can fathom. Sinister and Apocalypse would only turn you, too."
Rogue stared down at her hands, feeling her mother's psyche bouncing around in her skull with that of Carol Danvers, begging her not to fall prey to the trap Sinister and his master had laid. Her hands were shifting back and forth from blue to her normal pale complexion, and her thoughts were disjointed and chaotic.
A slow grin slid up the X-Man's cheeks. "Ah'll take that bet, and raise ya a ROGUE…"
~X~X~X~X~X~