A Rogue's Tale

Who Am I Now? Part 4

I'm back with another part. This part is pure chaos so I hope you enjoy.

The next thing she knew she was in a graveyard. "What just happened?" she asked herself out loud. "Where am I?" Rogue took in her surroundings. She couldn't fathom how this could have happened. The graveyard was a few miles away, so how did she wind up here? "Ich speche deutsch. I can speak German?" She thought for a moment. "The fuzzy one... Kurt... ah'm him, like ah was Cody. I think ah'm catchin' on now. But how did ah..."

Before she could finish her thought, Rogue was teleporting all over the graveyard, and for the first time since the traumatic incident with Cody, she was actually having fun. The feeling of joy only lasted for a few minutes, because on her last teleport, she reappeared a few inches off the ground and ended up falling on the somewhat hard surface of dirt and grass.

Despair took over again as she asked herself out loud. "When's this all gonna end?"

She sat huddled on the ground by one of the tombstones and closed her eyes thinking that when she opened them she would somehow wake up in her own bed safe and sound, and this would all have been some awful dream. After a minute or so she did open her eyes, and she was still in the graveyard. She looked up to see a tall red-headed girl approach her. She rose promptly from where she was sitting, not knowing what to expect but being prepared for the worst.

"Hi," the girl simply said.

"Do ah know you?" Rogue asked, studying the girl's face. She had seen it before but didn't know where. "All these memories, ah'm so confused."

"Yeah, I know," the girl said. "I can relate to what you're going through."

A name popped into Rogue's mind, and she finally could place a name with the girl who stood before her. "Jean? You're Jean Gray." Jean nodded with a half-smile, but it didn't make Rogue feel any better. "You're like the others!" Rogue shouted, pointing at her accusingly.

"Relax," Jean said calmly, but Rogue's intense trembling persisted. The red-head tried to calm her down by saying, "If you know who I am, then you know I won't hurt you. Look, it's tough to go it solo." Rogue seemed to calm down a little, but she still couldn't bring herself to trust this girl. "Hey, zero pressure, but if you want to talk more you can reach me anytime on this communicator."

Jean opened her hand, and Rogue saw the small device float through the air until it was within her reach. She hesitantly took it and held it in her hand. "Latest fashion accessory, huh?"

"We all have one." Rogue looked up to see a young man with a visor over his eyes and a dark-skinned woman with white hair. She was the one that spoke, and Rogue recognized her. She was the one that threw the grenade at her causing her to fall to the ground. Fear entered her eyes again.

"You!" Rogue shouted, pointing a finger at the woman. "No, you won't take me!" Rogue ran in the other direction, seeing the boy with the visor try to chase after her, but he stumbled and fell in the mud.

She ran deeper into the graveyard until she found a mausoleum. It was as good a place as any to hide. She went inside and hid herself behind a large sealed coffin. Even though she was alone now, she was still frightened, more by the deafening silence than any appending harm her pursuers could inflict.

She then heard a noise and looked up to see the boy with the visor come through an opening in the ceiling and dropped down and landed on his feet. He was still a good distance away from her, but she was still huddled on the floor too scared to get up.

"Thought you could escape us, did you?" he shouted, slowly coming towards her. He smashed a large piece of pottery that was in his way. "The X-Men don't leave loose ends." He was still coming closer as he smashed another large vase.

Rogue backed up some more and found the strength to rise to her feet. She quickly ran out of the mausoleum, and to her surprise ran into the very person she was running from. She pushed him out of her way, which left him dazed. A bright red beam came from his eyes hitting the power lines and causing an explosion. Rogue ran back into the mausoleum, only to run into a very angry Jean Gray.

"I tried," Jean shouted at her. "I really did, but some people just won't be helped."

Jean raised her hand ready to attack, but Rogue quickly teleported away. She reappeared in midair about a foot off the ground. Startled, she fell and hit the surface e with a thud.

"Are you hurt?" Rogue heard Jean Gray's voice. Why was she being so sympathetic now? Must be a trick, Rogue thought to herself. Well, she wasn't going to fall for that act again. "Lie still. Don't try to move."

Rogue was now in a sitting position. She backed up away from Jean, but soon realized that the dark-skinned woman who attacked her earlier was right behind her.

"Child, what is it?" the woman asked. She looked genuinely confused, but Rogue was too frightened to care. "We are your friends."

The woman was close enough for Rogue to touch, and the contact threw the woman back a few feet in a puddle of water. Rogue could see the boy with the visor coming towards her, but suddenly she was rising into the air. This great surge of power felt wonderful. The rain, the thunder, the lightening, they were all at her command.

"What's with the affects?" the boy with the visor asked. She shuffled through the memories. Cyclops, that's what they called him. She smiled deliciously as the power of the elements took over her body. "Oh, no... No!"

Rogue had control of Storm's powers, or more likely they had control of her. Storm, she knew that was her name, looking into the memories of the weather witch. Lightening came forth striking a tree. Chaos consumed the air as Rogue commanded the elements. Jean created a force field to protect herself and Cyclops, but the pressure pushed her power to the limit and she was growing weak.

"I can hold it off a little..." she managed to get a few words out.

"Give it up," Cyclops said. "She's got Storm's powers, but not her control." In the distance the mausoleum was hit by a stone statue and crumbled into rubble. Then a lightning bolt hit the power lines. Cyclops looked on in horror towards Storm's direction. "The power lines," he shouted turning towards Jean. "If they hit that water, Storm will be fried."

Cyclops and Jean raced towards the unconscious Storm. Cyclops reached her first, while Jean stayed a few feet behind. He lifted her unconscious body out of the water. Jean used her levitation as a means of escape, but using so much of her power was quickly weakening her.

"I can't keep this up for long," she managed to say.

Rogue was still in midair as the chaos continued, and she wanted it to stop. She looked over at Jean with a lost look in her eye. "Too much power," she cried out. "Ah can't control it." With her last bit of clarity gone, Rogue screamed. She disappeared, leaving everything suddenly quiet and still.

To Be Continued...