"All right, now everyone, Ah want ya ta read chapters nine an' ten in your books. Have ah good afternoon an' Ah'll see ya'll tomorrow." Rogue turned and erased the blackboard behind her from the notes she'd been writing up. Her class began to file out and she walked to her desk to get her things together.

"Miss Rogue?" She looked up and saw a young girl, about 12 years old, who had just come to the school a week earlier."

"Yes, Jenn? What can Ah do for yah?" The girl looked a bit nervous and shifted her books in her arms before continuing.

"Well, Miss Rogue, I, I wanted to know why your skin is always covered up. Is, is it your mutation or somethin'?"

Marie drew in a long breath and thought about her answer. "Yeah, yeah, it is. When people touch mah skin, it pulls theah lifeforce from them. Wit' mutants, Ah absorb there powahs for awhile, but it knocks them out."

"Does that mean you can't touch anyone Miss Rogue?" Marie and the girl were both watching each other so intently that neither noticed the man standing at the back entrance of the classroom, watching them.

"Well, yeah, it does. Jenn, there are just some things yah gotta accept in life, an' for people like us, there's ah lot that we have ta deal wit'."

The girl looked a bit uncertain, but she took her teacher's answer with a nod and smiled slightly. Then she said her goodbye and walked to the back of the room, nodding at the man known as Wolverine standing at the door, she left the room.

Rogue closed her eyes and sighed slowly, tears beginning to forming in her eyes until she felt the presence of someone else in the room with her. She held back the tears and opened her eyes slowly. Seeing Logan, she smiled and waved him inside the room as she finished gathering her things together.

"An' how long have yah been standin' there Logan?" She asked as she met him halfway across her class. She grinned up at him and cocked an eyebrow.

"Long enough," he replied. She smiled more sadly and he put a gloved hand to her chin. "I know ya Marie. And I know that there are plenty of guys around here who want you. One of them'll be good enough for you someday."

She leaned back against a desk and smirked. "Alright, yah made yah're point, can we get goin' now sugah, or are yah gonna make meh stand here hungry while everyone else's eatin' down there?"

Logan grinned at her teasing again and nodded towards the doorway. He lead them out and was about to go to the dining room when a mental call came for both them to go to the conference room.

They looked at each other and Rogue rolled her eyes at Xavier's way of announcing meetings and missions. They walked down the hall and entered the room. 'Ro, Remy, Xavier, Bobby, Jubilee, and Hank all were called to the meeting. Jean and Scott were still on their Honeymoon in France.

Charles looked around the room, then began to explain why their presence was required.

"Thank you all for coming so quickly." He moved around the map table and set it in motion. "It seems that Mystique and Sabertooth have their team in order and are planning to free Magneto. This was to be expected and we have all been preparing. The prison is set up as you see here. Now, Logan, you, Remy, Jubilee, Ororo, and Bobby will be our offense. Now, that doesn't leave much for defense and getting our team out of there, but I believe that we will not be in need of it. Hank, you will stay with Rogue in the Black Bird, who will be flying her tonight when we go on our mission.

"Now, I want you all to study this map and know the surroundings well. Remy, I need you to be acquainted with the security system so that we can bypass it, as Mystique's team will most assuredly
lock it all down again once they have entered. I believe that is all, if there are no questions, I suggest we proceed immediately."

The team nodded and dressed out in their black X-Men uniforms. Wolverine looked hesitant about Marie going with them, even though she always flew the Black Bird when Scott wasn't available. She would be safe in the jet though, so his uneasiness was dissolved, knowing he could go to protect her if it was needed.

The jet took off and they reached the prison in no time. Rogue landed perfectly and the rest of the team took off quickly into the now dark night. Hank and her both sat inside, watching the scanners screen for signs of both of the teams who would be against each other that night.

Logan found himself up against Sabertooth once again in a true battle. They both were out to get one another. Each of the team members were busy with their evil counterparts. There was only one odd out, Ms. Marvel, one of Mystique's team.

This mutant went out to the jet alone, she slid in the shadows, unseen until she was right beside the Black Bird. She punched her way through with her incredible strength, causing Hank to jump up from his seated position at the front of the plane. He took up a fighting stance against her and dogged her blows and got in some of his own, until she took him out with one truly staggering shot to his face.

He fell to the floor of the jet and the woman moved forwards. The team outside was winning and the only one standing from Mystique's team was Ms. Marvel. Logan noticed her absence and ran to the jet, in search of the mutant woman.

Marie glared at the woman before her and stepped forward, pulling her gloves off as she did.

"Don't come near meh, Ah don't wannah hurt yah now." The woman smirked and came forward more.

"Child, you couldn't hurt me if you were able to try at all. Leave the plane, and allow me access to it and neither you nor your teammates will be hurt."

She laughed, but Rogue only stepped closer. Carol moved and attacked her, but Marie moved to the side and was caught in a hold she couldn't get out of. Marie could see the team moving forward to help, but she knew that they wouldn't be their in time to save her from the super strength the woman imposed upon her. She curled her fingers tightly, stretching them to reach the mutant's skin at her neck.

A loud, piercing scream came from Rogue's opponent and Logan stopped in his tracks as he watched the woman's form begin to fall to the floor of the jet. Marie's voice crying out in pain at the absorption broke his trance and he ran growling, his claws extended, to the plane.

Marie felt the memories of the woman flood her mind and she screamed out. She tried so hard to let go of the skin she was touching, but she couldn't. It was like she was stuck to it and it was holding onto her in a way that nothing had before. The Rogue came out and fought against the hostile take over going on in her mind, but it wasn't working. Marie felt her control begin to slip and the woman's entire lifeforce enter her own. She screamed out as her own consciousness was taken over by Carol's. Ms. Marvel was dying
and nothing Rogue could do could stop the whole process.

"Loagahn!!!!!!!!!!! Oh God............" Marie screamed as she fell to the floor, caught by Logan. "No...no... can't feel anything...no, it's dark, so dark, too dark...no...no... Logan...make it stop... ahhhh......." Her body writhed in his arms and he had to hold her tight to him to keep her from hitting herself against something inside the jet.

"Shhh...Marie, shhh. I'm here. Don't worry. I'm here. It's gonna be okay Marie, don't give up now, come on honey..." He turned to look back at the now conscious Hank, standing over Carol. Beast shook his head at the whole team, then turned to look after those wounded on their team.

Storm nodded and moved swiftly to the front of the plane, sweeping her gaze quickly over Logan holding Rogue's shaking and convulsing body. She sat down and quickly shut the back to the jet. Storm worked the controls and they took off swiftly.

The team worked together to get Marie on a stretcher and take her out of the plane. Logan accompanied Hank and Marie to the medical room quickly. She had stopped convulsing, but her temperature had risen very high and Hank was worried. They set her down and began tests. Logan wouldn't leave her side as their teammate helped top lower her temperature and stabilize her condition.

Marie looked up through the clouds that seems to cover all of her vision. Everything around her seemed vaguely familiar, but it was all so different. She saw it through more than one person's eyes and it was enough to make anyone freak out. She closed her eyes, then opened them again, unsure of where she was, who was around her, and truly, who she even was herself.

Rogue began to feel herself come back into herself as she saw and felt Logan's presence beside her. She couldn't tell who he was exactly, but she knew she knew him. Soon, her memories of him came back to her through the haze of feelings and thoughts that clogged her brain. "Logan...." she barely croaked out. He came closer to her and held her hand with his gloved one.

"Quiet Marie honey...you gotta stay quiet and keep your strength for me, alright?" She nodded and lay her head back down softly on the pillow. The Wolverine sat down beside her and held her hand as she slept.

---

The Next Morning

A deep sleep had overcome Marie, in which her mind began to set everything out and organize all of the new memories, thoughts, and feelings. Finally awakening from this haze, she opened her eyes and was met with the beautiful sight of Logan sleeping. He was holding her hand still, and his head lay on her stomach. She smiled and ran her hand lightly over his thick hair.

He smirked and looked up to her. "Thinkin' I was asleep there honey?" She smiled as she sat up. He ran his hand down her slim arm and helped her to sit up completely.

"Ah'm fine Logan...Ah am. Ah can sit up on mah own thank yah." She raised an eyebrow at him, swung her legs over the side of the metal bed, and nearly fell as she tried to stand on the cold floor beneath her. "Shit...Logan, Ah wanna go ta mah room. Ah can't stay here. This place freaks meh out, an' damn, Ah can't walk. Why can't Ah walk, gawd, Logan..." she was near tears and Hank came inside as he saw that she was awake.

"Ahh...child, I see you are up and about now. How are you feeling this morning?" He pulled on a pair of latex gloved and walked to her bedside where Logan was holding her up as she was unable to stand on her own.

"How the hell does it look like she's feeling? She can't even stand on her own!"

"Mr. Logan, Rogue, do not worry. This is only due to the powers she absorbed. She will be fine shortly. She just needs to get used to the changes in her body chemistry. Rogue, you took on Ms. Marvel's super strength and her ability to fly, therefore, your body seems lighter to you. You simply need to work at it a little and you will be right as rain. It is simply amazing and wonderful how you've recovered."

Marie held onto Logan as Hank examined her. "Can she go back to her room now Hank?" The blue man nodded and pulled off the gloves. "C'mon Marie, I'll help you there, okay hon?"

"Ah...alright Logan." She saucily grinned up at him for a moment, then checked herself. She raised her brows seductively at Hank, but once again she stopped before it could become a big a deal or anything. Logan looked to Hank in question of her actions.

"Rogue, this will happen for a short while. You know that the last time you took Logan's healing ability, you took on many of his characteristics. It seems that you have gotten better at suppressing these tendencies, but it is perfectly normal. You will find Carol's presence slightly more oppressive at first since her whole lifeforce is now inside you."

She nodded and asked, "Did we at least win? Did we all get out alright?" Hank affirmed that with a smile, then walked back to the laboratory office, leaving Logan and Marie in the room together again.

"Help meh back ta mah room Logan, would yah? Ah think Ah'll be able ta walk soon. Ah feel so strong, damn, it's weird. Gawd Logan, what did he mean, Ah have all of her lifeforce now? Ah, Ah didn't kill her did Ah, oh, no, no, Logan..." They were walking down the hallway towards her room in the East Wing of the mansion with the teachers now. He held her close to him and kept her from running into anything as they entered her darkened room.

"Marie honey, shhh...don't cry. It's not yer fault. She attacked you, you couldn't let go. You stopped her from taking the Black Bird..."

Rogue interrupted him quickly, "So...so...Ah did, Ah killed her, didn't Ah? But she wanted meh to. Ah know that. Ah feel that. She wanted meh to..." she trailed off as she turned away from Logan, then sat on her bed, curling her feet up beneath her.

"Marie, as far as I know, that woman was fucked up. She had problems beyond problems and you shouldn't have to deal with that and all the other shit up there alone. You want me to stay in here with you?" When she nodded slowly, he continued. "Alright honey, lay down and get some rest and I'll be right here in your chair when you wake up. I'm not going any where. Just get some sleep..."

She obeyed and so began the rituals of Logan's spending more and more time in her room. It transferred to the point that they spent just as much time in his room as well. They talked and laughed and fought, nothing more, as nothing more occurred to them as a possibility, a thought, but not possible for sundry reasons.