Rogue: Annihilation (An Avengers Sequel)

26. Everybody Lost Someone

She rubbed her eyes, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. "You're... me? How-I don't even-this makes no-what?"

"It's... complicated," I told her, but she wasn't listening.

Instead, she started speaking to herself under her breath. "Dreaming. I have to be dreaming." Then she pinched herself, hard. "Wake up, wake up!"

"You're not dreaming," I told her, still trying to be gentle. "This is really happening. Let me explain."

She wouldn't even look at me, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. "This doesn't even make any sense." She sounded almost breathless as she tried to come up with alternative possibilities. "No, wait, it totally makes sense. Aliens are attacking New York... you're an alien. You're a freaking alien."

I raised an eyebrow – was I really this dense 11 years ago?

"Why would an alien-?"

"I don't know!" she cut me off before I could finish, becoming hysterical. "I don't know why an alien would do any of this. But if I'm not dreaming, and you're not an alien, then there's no other explanation... unless I'm going crazy? Maybe you're just a figment of my imagination."

I shook my head fervently. "I'm not imaginary, I'm real. And you need to start listening to me before we run out of time."

Her eyes widened. "You're kidding, right? I don't even know who you are." Her eyes caught mine and quickly drifted away. "Sure, there's a resemblance, but that doesn't mean we're the same person. We can't be."

I held up a hand. "You know as well as I do that it's more than just a resemblance, we have the same face." I told her bluntly.

"Then prove it," she challenged me, hands on her hips. I didn't remember being this confident back then... but this was a situation that I'd never dealt with before.

I smirked. "Fine, what do you want to see first? The weird birthmark on our ass? The crooked tooth that we're ridiculously insecure about? The fact that we have electricity running through our veins?" I asked, counting down on my fingers. "Or I could just cut to the chase and tell you that the only reason you've spent the last 12 years hiding up here is because you're terrified about letting the world see who we really are. You're so busy daydreaming about the family that we lost... you're not ready for the family that I'm trying to save."

The look of shock on her face was a satisfying one. "You know about the birthmark?"

"I can show it to you if you want?" I offered sarcastically. "But I'm pretty sure that someone's coming."

As I spoke, the door handle rattled and opened. I barely had enough time to grab the case and dive into the closet before Maria Hill entered.

"Rogue?" she said, looking into the room to only find my counterpart. "Weird, I thought you would still be asleep."

I watched them through the small crack between the closet doors. 2012 me swallowed and nodded, making an obvious effort not to look at the closet I was hiding in.

"What's up, Hill?"

"They did it. They defeated Loki," Hill responded, a smile plastered on her face.

After a moment of hesitation, 2012 me nodded slowly. "R-right. Um... sorry, I'm all over the place. Can you come back later, please?"

Hill squinted at the girl. "You okay, Rogue? You look... weird."

This time, 2012 me looked at the closet before she answered. "I'm fine. Just... tired."

Hill gave her a long look, before slowly leaving the room and shutting the door behind her. As soon as the door was shut, I came back out.