Epilogue

And he was gone. The portal closed behind Logan and all she was left with was Scott, who had his arm around her shoulder, and the black spots that were in her eyes. Rogue blinked several times until her vision returned to normal. Not that it really helped, her eyes were becoming clouded over from her sudden loss of Logan.. again.

Timerider was approaching them. That's when the ground underneath them started to shake, as if an earthquake was upon them, although it didn't feel natural. He held a small silver round object in his hand, she had seen him get that from behind a tree earlier, as if it was waiting for him. As if someone had left it for him.He pressed a button.

What looked to be a force field surrounded the three. Scott grabbed onto Marie, she grabbed on to him. Both nearly loosing their balance.

"He did it!" Timerider shouted over the sudden explosions of sound. It looked as if the world was breaking apart around them. The ground splitting, trees being sucked into it, ripples of what looked to be energy flowing through it all.

But they were seemingly safe, in their safety bubble that was lifting them off the ground, away from the destruction and sudden chaos.

"What the hell is going on?" Scott approached the man, letting go of Rogue.. his hand making its way to his visor, ready to fire off an optic blast if necessary.

"He succeeded."

"You already said that!" Rogue said as loud as she could without screaming.

He looked at Scott and Rogue like he was seeing them for the first time. "Time is stabilizing, merging with what should have been. What was supposed to be."

"But where does that leave us?" Scott was surveying the ground underneath them that was being destroyed.

"You either come with me, or you will merge with your true self's... all that you have gone through will be forgotten, nothing remembered... as it should be."

Rogue had a realization, the way things were playing out.

"Y'planned this didn't you?"

"Planned this how could he?" Scott looked at Rogue his expression one of confusion.

Timerider gave Rogue an appreciative smile.

"I see everything you have gone through hasn't dulled your mind." He looked at Rogue then Scott then back at her. "Yes I did plan this, although, originally I only thought I would be taking you with me."

"What makes you think I.. we want t'go with ya?" not that she wanted to merge with her true self and forget all that had happened, all that she had been through, all of it for nothing.

He cocked his head to the side, as if deliberating on her question.

"You have experienced things, seen things... we could use you both to help us set other things right that are wrong in time."

"We aren't meant for that!" Scott yelled... "And what about the others.. Xavier.. Magneto.. the surviving X-men!"

Timerider frowned and then ran a hand through his very dark black hair.

"It's too late for them."

They were rising the whole time the conversation was going on, the world underneath them now a blur, the clouds they were passing through dark and ominous.

Rogue couldn't believe that everybody she had known her whole life was gone. As if they never existed. It was almost too much to comprehend, but her thoughts were interrupted by Timerider before she could make any further depressing evaluations. She would have to deal with that later, along with too many other things.

"I'm afraid you need to decide, either come with me, or I can leave you here to merge with your other selves."

Rogue bit her lip, until one thought entered her mind.

"Will I be able to see that Logan again?" she pointed down where she had last seen him.

Timerider grinned at her. While Scott seemed disappointed with her question.

"Yes."

"Sooner than later?"

"I don't know."

She turned to Scott.

"What should we do?" She inquired of him, knowing she had already made up her mind.

Scott was once again staring at the disappearing world underneath them. A bright light suddenly shot through them and there was a pressure against their force field of a bubble. He looked up at her. He had made his decision.

"We go with him, but if he betrays us, or has lied to us..." Rogue raised an eyebrow waiting for him to finish. "Well.. we can figure that out later."

Rogue turned back to Timerider who was looking increasingly worried. The field they were in was getting smaller. Soon there would be no room for the three. No room for anything.

"We will go with ya." she finally said, the Asian man looked at Scott who nodded his confirmation.

Timerider smiled knowingly as if he knew what their decision was going to be all along. Letting out a deep breath he raised his hands in front of him. A portal formed nearly spontaneously, it seemed to be attached to the field they were in, as it grew it opened a space between the two objects.

When it was large enough Timerider motioned for them to go through. Scott went first but not before looking back at her... Rogue hoped he hadn't made his decision so quickly because of her obvious desire to go. She didn't think he did though. He probably had his own reason. Like not loosing his identity, all he was or had become. Even Rogue, without Logon on the forefront of her mind would have chosen to go anyway, after all the alternative was no better then death.

Timerider went next. And she was left alone.

Rogue didn't know what to expect... what the future held for her. But at least she had one.

The thought of seeing Logan again, willing her to take some chances, to worry about those things later. Even if it meant trusting someone who was once an enemy or walking through a portal to the unknown... Where Scott would be waiting for her.

She stepped through it.

As soon as she did, the field the three had occupied imploded on itself and the world they had known disappeared completely, becoming nothing more than a memory.

Nothing more than the past.