Magneto paced in front of the interrogation table, his hands behind his back and his mask off for once. He stopped and came to the table, resting his palms against the cool metal. He smiled with a frigid intensity that reached his blue-grey eyes; she bit through her lip and tasted the bitter tang of copper that flowed over her tongue.
Magneto chuckled as she sat on the hard chair and struggled against the metallic ropes of his own design. "You have been given false hope, my dear."
"Go to hell," Rogue sneered, but Magneto wasn't paying attention.
"You see, I need you. And although you have no need of me, it will go easier for the both of us if you stopped struggling."
"I'll stop strugglin' if ya let me go." Her smile was sweet and her tone acid-like. Magneto sat in an opposing chair and continued as if she had not even spoken.
"I am getting old. I need you to carry on what I believe in. Charles either cannot or will not understand my way of thinking. He believes in an America that pledges equality and justice for all. An America that does not exist. He does not realize what America is becoming."
"Like I care?"
"You should."
"And why should I care?"
"We will both remember the camps, Rogue."
"What the hell are you talkin' about, Old Man?" Rogue's face seemed to grow paler beneath the gothic make-up she wore. Her green eyes were narrowed and she watched him warily as he began to pace once more.
"The hate-filled faces, the `ovens', everything. We will remember what this country is going to disintegrate into."
"I'm not gonna remember anythin'," she snarled. Rogue struggled even more keenly against the metal ropes, which only grew tighter around her thin wrists.
"Tut tut, we can be here for a very long time if you continue to struggle."
"The X-men will come for me. They're my friends."
Magneto scoffed. "Fair-weather friends, including Ororo." He smiled at his own joke.
"They will!"
"Not bloody likely."
"Just because your best friend didn't follow your ugly path doesn't mean my friends won't come for me."
Magneto's face twisted and he hit her across the temple with a metal glove. "Do not be impertinent. It will get you nowhere."
Rogue turned her face and spat at him. "That's what I think of you and your damned impertinence." She smirked and leaned back.
The white-haired man smiled his chilling smile. "We both know that once I touch you skin-to-skin you will be flooded with everything about me. And I will become you."
She tightened her dark lips and said nothing.
"My dear child, what is it that you think they can do to help you? We are in a secluded area that I control. We are in a government protected zone. Charles will not risk his precious truce with the government for you."
Rogue hung her head and whispered, "They will come for me."
She thought she could hear the smile in his voice, "They will not. Join me, and we will rule the world."
"I don't wanna rule the world! I want to be a normal teenager with no special additives. I don't want this."
"I am sorry to hear that."
"What the hell do you care?"
Magneto paused as if considering his words. His tone became that of a teacher, "You will soon learn that empathy is one of the most powerful emotions available to man. I remember that time in my life when I wished that I had been born into anything but a Jewish family. Later I wished that I was not one of the `gifted.'"
Rogue raised her face to Magneto, the sneer gracing her visage once again. "Right. Like you understand what it means to be a mutant now. Times have changed, Old Man."
He flashed a smile reminiscent of old people letting a child know that they were not as wise as their elders. "Of course times have changed. Time has passed. People are more violent, angrier, and more hateful. I cannot keep up. That is why I need you."
"You don't need me. Get someone who's willin'."
"You are willing, Rogue. You just don't know it yet."
"Like hell I am."
"Child –"
"I am not a child!"
"Child, if you join me you will be free."
"Free? What part of this makes you think I will be free? I'll be stuck with you!"
"Come of your own free will. That entitles you to leave at any time."
"Leave where? You're gonna to take over my body!"
"But you can still leave. It will be your mind. The imagination holds infinite possibilities. In your mind, you can touch anyone you want. Even the Summers boy."
Rogue sucked in a breath. He even knew one of her deepest longings. Her voice was not as strong as it had been before. "I don't want Scott."
Magneto frowned, "Please do not even endeavor to lie to me. It is plain to anybody that has eyes that you desire Mr. Summers."
"I don't want Scott!"
He smirked, "Would you desire the young Gambit? Or perhaps the Wolverine?"
Rogue was shocked. Remy? Wolverine? Why Remy? Why *Wolverine*?
"None of them want you. Neither of them even really likes you that much."
Her gaze, which had been centered on the table, snapped to his face. His eyes were strangely kind. She watched as Magneto stripped off a glove and briefly touched her face; her eyes fluttered shut. Rogue saw Magneto standing in front of a mirror as a young man, his proud and sharp features loose as he laughed a carefree laugh. She opened green eyes to see a tired old man leaning against the table.
"I was laughing with Charles. I no longer remember the joke, but it is one of my happier memories."
"That wasn't supposed to make me care, was it?" She struggled against the chains he was placing around her, both physical and mental. She wasn't supposed to care. Oh, god, but she was starting to.
He smiled tiredly. "Not precisely. It was more of a test to see how you would react." He paused. "And how hard this would be for me."
"Yeah, well now you know. So get me the hell outta here."
"It's not so hard. It doesn't hurt like last time."
"Stay the fuck outta my head, Magneto."
He tightened his lips. "I am hardly Charles."
"Ain't that the fricken truth."
Magneto paused and frowned. "Nobody cares about you. Nobody ever will. At least do something worthwhile with your life."
That hurt a lot more than it should have. "Now you're just bein' spiteful. They do care."
"Why, Rogue. It sounds as if you are not sure. Let me re-iterate that. They do not care. You said it yourself, they would come for you. They are not here."
"Shut up! Just shut the hell up." Her eyes dropped to her lap and tears began to form. Damn, but he really knew where to hit.
His voice dropped lower into an apologetic tone. "I'm sorry, but it is only the truth."
The tears fell onto her skirt, blotting the green material. "You're lyin'. I know you are."
"You know I am not lying, Rogue."
"Liar," she whispered.
Magneto reached an aged hand to her head and smoothed back the white streak in her hair. His blurry face was concerned, and he whispered, too, "It will be all right. They will not come. They do not deserve to know you. You are strong. You are mine."
"I'm not yours."
"You are mine."
"I don't belong to you!" she sobbed.
Magneto continued to whisper, "You are mine."
"How am I yours?"
He smiled slightly, "You have always been mine."
She closed her eyes.
"Tell me that you are mine."
"No."
"Tell me."
"I'm not."
"You know you are."
Her voice faltered. "I'm...not yours."
"You are mine."
"I am...yours?"
Triumph flared in his cold grey-blue eyes. Rogue did not see it.
"Tell me again, louder."
"I am yours."
He smiled his most triumphant smile and brought a gloved hand to her chin. His voice was hoarse as he asked her one last time, "To whom do you belong?"
The defeat was in her voice as she whispered one last time, "I belong to you."
He brought his old and dry lips to her young and plump ones. She felt the last of him drain into her as Cyclops and Wolverine burst into the room, shouting for her.
She smiled fleetingly, and then she was lost.
The Wolverine roared in grief as he heard Magneto speak words in the voice of the girl who was once Rogue:
"The world is mine. And we are free."
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I'm not even sure that this constitutes as a relationship, but Wolverine does show up. And is somewhat mentioned. You'll understand. Enjoy.