After Logan: Rogue and X-23

All That's Left

It was unnerving, the way the other kids regarded her. They were filled with excited curiosity and yet had sad knowing looks in their eyes.

Rictor and Laura introduced her to the group the next morning, giving her a chance to be alone with her grief in the night. It had been restless.

There was an adjoining room to the barn that was low ceilinged but was much wider than the barn itself. When Rogue walked in nine pairs of eyes crashed onto hers. Nine other mutants. Eleven when she counted Laura and Rictor.

After years and years of mutants vanishing and new mutants not being born she had stumbled on eleven. Made to be weapons or assassins but here they were, seeking a life of their own and not the ones they had been forced into.

It made her angry. They had no bright future anywhere they went. They had no chance of living freely like she had when she was younger.

There was no Department of Mutant Affairs anywhere. What little rights mutants had were not enforced or upheld. It was rare to find a human willing to help or hire a mutant, and for those who could hide it were fired and left with nothing if they were found out. Sometimes it was worse than that.

These kids had no one to help them control and strengthen their mutations beyond what they'd learned in whatever cold and unfeeling lab they'd been created in.

"Everyone is dead."

"You're not."

Rogue stopped the thought before it could take any more shape. She'd never been an avid teacher like Kitty or Storm. She had assisted them at times but never took on the total role of a mentor.

The kids told her that they all had their own names. Some the lab had given them and some the nurses had given them in secret.

Rogue had high respect for the women who had helped them escape. Such acts were rare these days.

Along with their names they told her their abilities.

Rictor had seismic abilities. The powers he described to her reminded Rogue of someone the X-Men had once crossed paths with years ago.

When a young teenager named Mira began describing her mutation Rogue's heart skipped a beat for just a moment. The girl could temporarily weaken and paralyze others by touching them but she could 'turn off' the ability and didn't get any part of the person's psyche when she touched them.

Though they weren't the same Rogue found herself searching the girls features for any similarities to herself. She didn't see any.

She felt her heart skip again when a boy with powers of electricity said his name was Bobby. He smiled at her and Rogue did her best to smile back.

The rest carried on, most eager to talk to her while a few others were quiet or a little withdrawn.

By the end Rogue felt overwhelmed and didn't know what to say. This hadn't been apart of her plan. She never expected something like this.

She manged to offer a few words before making her way outside so she could think.

If she hadn't found these kids what would she have done after realizing Logan and Xavier were gone? Gone back to drifting place to place hoping her dwindling funds would somehow last her? Try to find a job somewhere in a secluded area? Fade back into the background?

Rogue let out a frustrated puff of air. All of those things sounded dull, constricting and lifeless.

The dream she had of Logan and the woods came back to her. Running really was all that was left for mutants. Running and hiding but that wasn't living. Where was the worth? Where was the happiness? They couldn't afford happiness in a world that would destroy it in an instant. But without happiness were you really living?