After Logan: Rogue and X-23

Laura

The first thing she was consciously aware of wasn't even her own conscience. Rogue opened her eyes, an instinct telling her to fight but it wasn't her own.

The ceiling above her was wooden and clouded with webs. She lay on a pile of something relatively soft but not soft enough to be a bed. Her hands were exposed and rested on her stomach. There didn't seem to be anyone around.

She tilted her head to gather more of her surroundings and froze. The girl was lying next to her on a pile of hay, eyes closed. Straw was caught in pieces of her dark hair and the shirt she wore had blood on it.

On edge, Rogue scanned the rest of the room, or barn as it appeared to be. She turned her head to focus on the girl when she noticed a teenage boy standing in a doorway on the far side of the barn. He was holding a bowl of something that steamed.

"I thought you would be hungry." He said simply, moving no closer.

She felt dizzy, trying to figure out what was going on. Rogue wanted to back away or attack but none of those things made much sense to her. It was because she wasn't the one who wanted to do either of those things.

"Who touched my skin?" She said, asking the first thing that came into her head. She sat up and then stopped. Her leg had been broken. So had her left arm. Both were now perfectly fine but her jeans were covered in blood and her sleeve coated in dirt.

Anxious and fearful she looked at the boy who stood across from her. "Who touched me?" She breathed, refusing to let herself hope because the mind in her own wasn't the one she had been hoping to find. It was a stranger's mind yet somehow it felt familiar too.

The boy walked towards her slowly and set the bowl on a lopsided crate next to Rogue. "She said she wanted to help you." He said, nodding to the girl next to her. "She heard you screaming before I did."

Rogue was still. She didn't turn to look at the girl. She didn't look at the boy. "She can heal people?"

Even as it was voiced she knew that wasn't the case. The girl had touched Rogue which meant the girl could heal herself. She had taken down the rest of the hunters. She heard screaming before this boy could.

Shaking, Rogue pressed her fingers against the back of her own hand and arm, feeling the bones. There were two more than usual. She dropped her hands as if they burned. "How- who-"

The boy looked at her with sadness."You were his friend weren't you? I recognize your mutation." He held the bowl out to her. "You'll forgive me for not shaking your hand. I'm Rictor."

Shocked and not knowing what else to do she took the bowl from him. It was warm.

"I don't mind explaining everything to you but I think Laura should tell you some of it herself." He frowned. "If she decides to talk."

Rogue looked at him, confused. "Laura?"

Rictor nodded back to the girl. "I imagine they thought the name they gave her was clever." He shrugged. "Even though they never used it."

"They?" She felt like her mind was lagging far behind. Like it was caught in the storm from her dream.

"The ones who made us." He said with a dark look. "To them we were just numbers. Laura was X-23. I had a number too. "

X. The letter bounced around Rogue's mind. It had meant so many things to her, that simple letter. Usually something good but not always. "As in, the Weapon X Program?"

Rictor nodded.

Rogue said nothing, letting this sink in.

"She'll be alright won't she?" The boy asked nervously. "She held on for a long time."