Summary:

This fic is basically a continuation of X-Men Evolution, mostly in the respects of Rogue's point of view, though the story will not be told as 1st person.

It will focus on relationships, open issues not yet resolved in the series, and what has yet to come for the teenagers as they grow into the X-Men we all know from the original animated series and the comic books.

I basically decided that I wanted to do a fic about Rogue and Gambit's relationship since I have recently become re-obsessed with the couple, but I decided to go farther with it, continuing where the show left off not only for the two characters but for everyone. I will also have my own plot in there (like how Rogue may have found a way to "control" her mutation), but I will be including plots that are meant to happen in the original concept of the X-Men.

So I hope you all like it.

Disclaimer: Marvel owns all X-Men related things, thought I own this fic and the general concept for it.

Rating: T, may change to M, depending on how far I go with the relationships. Rated for language and mature subject matter.

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"Ahhh!" came the frightful scream from the resident teenage Goth girl, waking up from her third nightmare that week. Her platinum white streaked hair clung to her pale face as a result of the light coat of sweat from her restless sleep. She gasped for breathing, leaving her panting for air before calming down and lying back on her pillow, raising a clammy hand to her forehead, going over the events of this last unpleasant dream.

Rogue had been having troubles with her sleeping ever since the resurrection of Apocalypse. The visions of memories, mutations, energy, they all took over when she slept, her conscious mind having little to no control while she slept. Even though they had defeated the mutant that wanted to destroy the world, the psyche's Rogue had absorbed had yet to leave her, some more attached to her than others.

The visions had ranged from happy to mournful, from disastrous to horrifying. The things the girl was seeing through all these eyes at one time was almost too much to handle. She had seen the massacres in the Holocaust, the death of a loved one. She had even felt the pain of her life nearly coming to an end, only to have her body regenerate those wounds. The only problem was that these were not her own memories, but those of the people she had stolen them from.

Rogue's own memories seemed to have taken the back burner, fading more and more as she had continued to absorb minds those few days. She could barely remember her own happy or painful memories, like the first time she cooked jambalaya, or when she scraped her leg when she tried to learn to ride a bike. The girl known as Rogue was slowly losing her own personality and sanity, only to be taken over by the thousand more that remained within her mind.

She turned her head over to the side and noticed the still dark sky. Rain had started to fall during her sleep and the dark clouds blocked the view of the full moon that was supposed to be out that night. With that thought, Rogue looked at the clock next to her bed, it saying in neon green '3:47 am'.

With a sigh, she whispered to herself, "Ah'm never gonna get any sleep at this rate."

Rogue swung her legs over the side of the bed, careful to be quite enough for her sleeping roommate, who had apparently not heard her cry of terror or the comment she made to herself. "That girl could sleep through the Apocalypse,"

Rogue said to herself, continuing to move across the room with silent footsteps and out the door, heading for the kitchen of the Institute.

She moved into the kitchen, switching on the main light, only to be blinded by its brightness. She eventually adjusted her eyes for new lighting and made her way to the fridge, grabbing the carton of milk before getting the box of cereal on top of the fridge. Rogue set them both down on the counter, getting a bowl and spoon and sat down at the bar stool silently eating her cereal, only hearing the patter of the rain hitting the window behind her.

After a few minutes of quiet, a sudden 'BAMF', and smell of brimstone, caused the southern girl to jump off her seat and drop her spoon with a clank, giving her little brother a stern look for scaring her.

"Ya'll seriously need to stop popping in front of people lahke that, Kurt!" she said quietly, but forcefully, not missing the apologetic look from the teleporting blue mutant.

"Sorry, Rogue. I did not mean to scare you." he replied as he moved to the cupboard, getting glass, filling it with some water and drinking half of it in one gulp.

"S'ok. Guess Ah should be used to it by now," she stated, sitting back on her stool and continuing to eat her cereal.

"Hey, Rogue, I don't mean to ask zis in any negative vay, but Kitty and I have noticed dat you have not been yourself lately. Is zere anysing dat's been bos'ering (bothering) you?" Kurt asked, his German accent a little more prominent than usual.

"No." was all she gave as a reply, not looking away from her bowl.

"You sure? I mean, after da Mesmero s'ing… ve just don't vant you to lose control of da psyches again. Are zey bos'ering you?"

Rogue didn't see a point in lying to him. He knew she was having troubles sleeping.

"Naught as much as when Ah first absorbed ya'll, but they're still pretty rowdy,"

she admitted, looking up at him, empathy written in his face.

"Just remember, ve're here to help each ozer, Rogue. If zey get too out of hand, ve are here to help you."

"Yeah, but Ah feel lahke Ah'm the only one that needs help sometimes. Everyone else seems so in control of their powers." Rogue said, beginning to look disheartened again. Kurt tried to change that.

"Dat's not true, Rogue. Remember when Jean's powers evolved too fast and she lost control, but you vere the one dat saved her and da school. And Mr. Fearless Leader does not technically have complete control of his powers; without his visor or glasses, he vould be blind."

Kurt had hoped to brighten Rogue's spirits, but she just looked back down at her bowl, even though it was now empty.

"Has da sessions vith da Professor been helping?" he asked, moving to the stool next to her.

"A little. Ah think Ah've gotten over the whole Mystique thing now. But Ah still have a long way ta go before Ah have control over everything going on in mah head."

"I know you vill get s'rough all zis. Ve have faith." Kurt offered her a smile and she obliged in return, smiling back at him and reaching around him for a hug, careful to avoid the exposes areas of skin, like always.

"Thanks, Kurt. Ah dunno what Ah'd do without ya'll."

"No problem, sis." He added with a grin as he pulled away, only to get a small punch to the arm.

Rogue still wasn't totally accustomed to being called a sister, so when Kurt teased her about it, she'd usually just hit him. But it was only a joke and they both knew it.

"'Kay, Ah'm gonna try and get some sleep."

"Night, Rogue."

"G'night, Kurt," she said over her shoulder, walking out of the kitchen and back upstairs.

Kurt continued to stare at the door, a worried expression crossing his face before finishing his water, placing the glass in the sink, and 'BAMF-ing' back to his room.

All the while, in the shadows surrounding the Institute, a small squirrel moved from window to window on the lower levels, looking for any sign of life.

They found it when they peered through the kitchen window and found the two people they were looking for, talking about something that was only mumbled by the rain and glass between them.

The squirrel looked on in wonder at the two mutants, catching parts of the conversation, somehow reacting to bits of it. When the white-streak haired mutant left the room, the squirrel jumped off the ledge and ran across the grounds to a black limo that waited by the gates. The door was opened and the squirrel jumped in onto the leather seat, next to a middle-aged woman wearing sunglasses and a walking stick in hand. She was the mutant known as Destiny.

"How are they coping?" the woman asked to the little squirrel.

The squirrel then transformed into the body of the shape-shifter only known as Mystique.

"Rogue seems to still be having trouble with all the absorption she has done. And Kurt… I think I have truly lost any connection I may have had with him." Mystique answered, her face stern as she looked back at the mansion sized building, before continuing, "What will happen to them when I no longer interfere with their lives?"

"To your disliking, Mystique, Rogue's sessions with Xavier will end up completely blocking you out of her mind. She will try to go on in a life where she only remembers me raising her and she will have more obstacles to face with her powers, not only with the psyches she has absorbed. And Kurt, he, along with the other X-Men will still have a long road before they will be accepted into society. He will be faced with much oppression because of his appearance. I fear that both of them will have to battle against both mental and physical enemies, and I am not sure who will win in the end. All I know is that you must not interfere with them. This is what they must go through and they will be the ones to face their demons. There will be a day that you will rejoin your children, but I cannot guarantee they will be happy with your presence."

Mystique did not like Destiny's precognition, but accepted the fact that she could no longer try to manipulate her children's futures.

With a final nod, simply saying "I understand," she motioned for the unknown driver to continue on and away from the Institute, knowing it would be the last time she would see her children for a long time.

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The next morning, Rogue woke up from a more rested half of a sleep, grateful that not the whole night was full of bad dreams. She looked over at her clock and was satisfied with sleeping in until then. It was around 10:15 am on a Saturday morning, and of course, as Rogue sat up in her bed and looked across to her roommate, Kitty was still asleep.

That was until her alarm clock suddenly went off, blaring the hideous music of Christina Aguilera, or Britney Spears, or who ever current blonde tootsie-pop it was.

Rogue groaned in annoyance, lying back on her bed, covering her ears with her pillow, only to notice the music not being turned off. Kitty was still asleep. This was ridiculous! Over half the Institute could hear the music and she was the closest one to it.

Eventually, Rogue stood up in a huff, pillow in hand and stood next to Kitty's bed, the pillow suddenly coming down on the sleeping girl, shocking her awake so fast and frightened that she phased through her bed to the floor beneath it.

"That was, like, SO not funny, Rogue!" the bubbly brunette shouted, as Rogue pushed the off button to Kitty's alarm.

"Hahaha! Well if you learned how to shut off your own damn alarm clock, Ah wouldn't have to wake you up lahke that."

"Hmm, well someone's in a good mood today." Kitty stated as she moved out from under the bed, dusting off her pajamas, smiling at her friend.

"Sorry Kit." Rogue sighed.

"So, didja have another nightmare?" Kitty asked, making her bed. It had become normal for Kitty to ask about rogue' nightmares in the morning. Kind of therapeutic for Rogue.

"Yeah. But wasn't really any different than the others. Hey, check the hall for me, is there a line for the bathroom?"

"No prob." Kitty moved to the other side of the room and phased her head through to peer out to the girl's bathroom, only to see Jean walking out clearly having just taken a shower. "Nope. Jean just, like, got out now and there's no one else there."

"'Kay, Ah'm gonna have a shower. Ah'll see ya later."

Rogue noticed that it was unusually quiet in the halls for a Saturday. She ended up assuming everyone had already gone out for the day, so she took as much time as she damn well pleased in the shower, some how feeling like she should take extra care of herself. Normally, she wouldn't be so tedious unless there was a special occasion. But when you are used to having a line waiting for the bathroom, on a daily basis, you tend to go quick with the morning rituals, doing only what is necessary in the bathroom, the rest in their own rooms.

After her shower, Rogue actually started to get ideas to do something different with her hair or something. She started to realize she was getting bored with her continuous Goth girl look and while she loved feeling unique and different, also for the obvious reason of her mutation, she just wanted to dress-up sometimes. She didn't know if it was the other female psyches influencing her, but she ended up changing her make-up that day. She traded in her dark eye shadow for black eye-liner and a rouge, almost red color eye shadow; one that made her emerald eyes pop even more. And instead of using her trademark purple lipstick, she stole one of Kitty's red-ish pink lip-glosses.

"Ah think Ah mahght keep this look," Rogue said to herself in the mirror, after straightening her hair like she always did and got dressed in a black tank top that showed a bit of stomach, with small slits over the shoulder, connecting to longer sleeves that covered until her knuckle, a little loop of thread that was placed around her middle finger. She put on a pair of dark blue jeans, Converse high tops, and, of course, her satin gloves.

As she made it down to the kitchen, she noticed way more people in the lower levels then there were upstairs.

Jamie, the beloved younger brother of the team, was being teased by Bobby and Ray, something about his 'stupid comics'; a past time he and Rogue had enjoyed together on more than one occasion. Scott and Jean were in the front foyer, looking like they were about to leave for the day. Kitty, Jubilee, and Tabitha were peeking around into the study hall, watching Warren, or Archangel. Most of the girls on campus were quite taken when Warren became a full-fledged member of the X-Men and they were always caught giggling or fawning over him. Though Rogue could hear Tabitha commenting on Kitty's relationship with Lance, but Kitty saying, "I'm just looking, not touching." Before they broke out into more giggling fits.

"Wow, Rogue, you change something today? You look different, but in a good way," came a sudden voice as Rogue turned around and found Jamie looking at her like an adoring little brother to his wiser older sister.

"Aw, thanks, Jamie. Just a bit though." She replied, moving to fridge, smiling at the boy.

"Hey, yeah. Rogue, you look hot, girl!" Tabitha stated as she and the other two girls she was with came in.

"Rogue, did you steal my lip gloss?" Kitty shouted, immediately recognizing the shade.

"Sorry, Kitty. Ah put rahght back afterwards. Ah just wan'ed ta see how it'd look on meh."

"Feeling more girly?" Jubilee asked her.

"Kinda."

"Well if that's the case… then we need to do some all girl shopping sprees!" Tabitha exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the three girl's necks.

"Tabitha! Too close!" Rogue shouted out as she nearly connected skin with Tabitha's arm. She immediately jumped out of the embrace and away from the girls.

"I'm sorry, Rogue. I wasn't paying attention t…" Tabitha tried to explain, but Rogue cut her off.

"Nah, mah fault. Ya know what, you guys go on without meh. Ah think Ah just wanna stay here today."

"You sure, Rogue? We could get you some make-up of your own since you seem to like the new look." Kitty pleaded, hoping it might change the southerner's mind.

"Nah. Ah don't feel much lahke going out tahday. Think Ah'll just stay here." She said once more before turning back to the fridge and grabbing an apple to eat and heading to the rec room to watch a movie or two.

"Rogue's really been out of it lately." Jubilee commented to the girls as they made their way out to Kitty's new car.

"It's been those, like, psyches of hers. They've been bugging her for a while now, but the Professor is helping her get them under control. I'm just happy to see she's coming out of her Goth shell though." Kitty stated, starting up the car.

"Maybe if she absorbs you one more time, Kitty, she'll go even more girly." Tabitha laughed out, "What an interesting thought."

"Yeah. It's hard not to imagine Rogue as anything but a Goth."

"Then why don't we change that." Tabitha said, with a smirk on her face.

"What do you mean?" Jubilee asked, poking her head through the two front seats.

"Let's buy some new make-up, hair products, and the rest and give the girl a make-over?"

"You think she'd go for that?" Kitty asked, not looking away from the road.

"Course not. She'd have to strap her down… or have a telepath hold her down."

"Ah, gotta get Jean in on this too. I know she'd, like, love to help Rogue with this."

"So, let's do it!"

"Yeah!"

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About halfway through "Sweet November" (I love the movie), Rogue, along with any other available X-Men, was given a telepathic message from the Professor.

"X-Men, I need anyone that is on or close to the Institute to report to the hanger immediately, ready for a mission."

Rogue shut off the movie and ran for the hanger, knowing the Professor sounded urgent in his message. She got into her uniform and zipped up her boots just as Jean came running in and got changed just as fast.

"You two have an interrupted date?"

"Yeah, but that's the life of an X-Man, right?"

"Yup. Sad, but true." Rogue said smiling to her teammate before they both made their way to the hanger to find Wolverine, Storm, Archangel, Beast, and the Professor already there. Scott, Bobby, Jamie, and Ray followed soon after the two women.

"Where's Nightcrawler and Shadowcat?" Beast asked, hoping one of the teens knew.

"Ah think Kurt said he was gonna be out with Amanda tahday, and Kitty is out with Boom-Boom and Jubilee." Rogue answered to him.

"Alright, let's keep this debriefing short." Wolverine announced, getting everyone's attention and motioning for everyone to start boarding the X-Jet, "We have an unidentified mutant that's causing some trouble in Las Vegas. We can't tell much, or even who it is, but we know that his power was active and possibly causing harm to the public."

"How can you not be able to tell who it is, Professor?" Cyclops asked.

"This mutant apparently also has a low level of telepathy and I am unable to break through his mental shields. Even with Cerebro, focusing too much on trying to get through would only damage his mind."

"Do we at least know what his power is so we can prepare for it?" Jean asked, earning a reply from Beast.

"Apparently, it has something to do with explosions, but the details are sketchy otherwise. We don't know if it's like Boom-Boom's power, or completely different. It may even have to do with his low level telepathy."

"So, is this a recruitin', or save the people from a mutant terrorist?" Rogue commented.

"Both." Wolverine answered sternly, piloting the X-Jet up and out of New York and on it's way to Las Vegas.

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Can anyone guess who the mutant is?

Now this doesn't really follow with how it normally happens in the comics, but Evolution did change the plot around already, so...

Anyways, read and review. Comment, suggest, but don't bash!

Until next time…