PartII -Dedicated To A Friend....

Black: There is nothing left…

Chapter 1: And it Starts Part I

"I Think I messed up…"

Polaris also as Lorna Dane was a visiting guest at the Xavier School she went to see her brother Pietro. Polaris tried to express her reasons of worry to Kurt and Storm at the breakfast table.

"I really hit a nerve with Rogue last night." She said in a low tone fiddling with her morning tea.

Establishing a bond with Rogue was important to Lorna, Rogue and Pietro had been dating for the better half of two years and it was getting serious. Pietro and Rogue were an unexpected pair and that's why it worked. There was never any judgment between the two only an understanding that people could change.

"What happened Lorna?" Kurt asked in a concerned tone. He wanted to help Lorna as much as he could. It wasn't long ago when he was standing in her shoes, meeting his sister Rogue for the first time.

"Well I suggested that we go out for a girl's night so we went to dinner and I said we should go to this cute bar I saw on my way into town. Then her mood dropped and only continued to get worse after we were inside, she wouldn't drink anything, she was barley dancing it was just a mess…" Taking a much needed breath after fast talking, Lorna pouted her face at Rogue's negative behavior.

Kurt was about to intervene when Lorna continued "Then I asked her about the scar she had on back of her neck… she totally few off the handle and left me there with no car. I was trying ok? She didn't have to be so rude."

Lorna searched for pity but there was none. Storm and Kurt looked at each other with uneasy faces. "What exactly did your brother tell you about Rogue?" Kurt cleared his throat unconsciously.

"Nothing, we hadn't had much time to talk you know that? He went on a mission as soon as I got here."

"Yeah…" Kurt looked to Storm for what he hoped to be was going to be back up. Storm shook her head instead she was having no part in where Kurt was going.

"There are a few things you don't know about Rogue and your brother…"

"Yeah…" Lorna rubbed her cup nervously. "This is about before Rogue was an X-man?"

"When she was on the other side she was in a fight, which she did not win and the scares are from that. She doesn't like talking about it." Kurt gave the best coles notes short version he could without opening up anymore questions.

"Is that why she wears gloves even though she doesn't have too?"

What Lorna asked was a big question it made Storm choke on her coffee. She shook her head frantically at the dumbfounded Kurt warning him not to continue.

"Finish the story Kurt…." A voice laced with a delicate southern accent dared Kurt to carry on.

"Go on you were doing such a good job?" Rogue was in the kitchen and heard the whole discussion. From her sharp attitude and sarcastic voice it was clear that she was not impressed by what she heard.

Rogue took a seat directly in front of Lorna and stretched out her hands to remove her gloves slowly. Her hands were filled with scares that ranged a half inch to an inch. Unable to stomach the scars Lorna looked away when she was shown them. She did hit a nerve and from Kurt and Storms expression it was a big one.

"I got these scares when I was working for Sinister; and in return I had to do some jobs on his behalf. Then one day sinister didn't play fair shocking I know." Rogue put her hair in a high ponytail and turned so Lorna could get a good view of the back of her neck. "He held a knife at my neck but I was able to slip out with help from….this guy." Storm bowed her head at the memory. "He got the back of my neck when I escaped his grip."

"The lab started to go array and everything was moving very quickly. I found myself holding my mother in one hand and my…this guy in the other. They both were slipping and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to save them both. My mother was stunned and clawed at my hand while his grip and nails dug into my other one." Rogue ran her fingers over the scares as if they were brail, they were telling the story for her.

"The building was falling apart and time was running out, his grip was getting looser and I thought he was…." She found herself getting caught up in the emotions of that night pulling all her feelings in struggling to keep it together. "…I let go of his hand to save myself and my mother."

Rogue stood up and put back on her gloves "I wear these because I don't want to explain my life story to every Tom, Dick, and Harry that comes along…next time Polaris ask me why I won't do or go to certain places instead of labeling me a bitch."

Strom left the table the same time Rogue did; she could never stomach that story no matter how many times she heard.

Kurt stayed behind to make sure that Lorna was ok. "Don't take it personally; it's still a heeling wound for her." He then got up to leave when Lorna reached for his hand.

"The drinking Kurt?" Her eyes were filled with regret from listening to Rogue's story. "Please, I don't want to make the same mistake twice."

"That came after, to repress the memories…you should ask your brother about the rest." He disappeared out of the kitchen with a gust of blue smoke.

Rogue walked the halls the main hall trying clear her thought, the memories came washing back:

As the building came down the X-Men oddly in alliance with the Brotherhood fought off the last of Sinister's men while Rogue was facing her life altering decision of whom to let go of.

Pietro saw Rogue struggling in the distance to stand after she chose Mystique. While Rogue was focused on supporting her mother, Pietro noticed the roof above them was coming down and at the rate Rogue was moving she wasn't going to make it out safety. Using his mutant ability of speed he raced over and grabbed Rogue and her mother before the roof fell in.

Rogue went into a depression after choosing her mother over him. She started drinking and doing cheep hits in an attempt to numb the pain of that day. But no matter what Pietro was there for Rogue to lean on. Rogue was getting worse and staying with the Brotherhood wasn't helping her. Going behind the backs of his brotherhood team Pietro found her the help she needed with the X-Men. Once Rogue left the Brotherhood Pietro made it two blocks; before turning around to join the X- team with her. He's been at her side ever since.

Rogue had been sober for ten months and fifteen days. Having to work hard constantly to keep herself from slipping in to vague place Rogue found support in the team around her. And as she gained more strength they gained more faith in her, it wasn't long before she had family again.

"You ok?" Storm asked when she caught up with Rogue in the Rec room. Rogue took a deep breath and rubbed her bottom lip. It was one of her ways of letting Storm know that she wasn't ok that second, but was going to be.

"I think I'm going to take a hot shower." Rogue mustered up the strength to smile at Storm before heading up stairs to her room. It was days like that she wished he had a cold drink in her hand.

Storm watched Rogue take a defeated walk to her room. Times when Rogue wasn't responding to anyone Logan would always get threw to her and became a watchful big brother type figure. Storm was heading to find Logan and encourage him to have a talk with Rogue later that night to make sure she wasn't thinking about falling off the wagon.

Exiting the Rec room Storm noticed a deck of cards was spilt all over the floor she went to picked them up with a heavy heart, when a steady yet persistent knock at the front door snapped Storm out of her thoughts, it was ten in morning and no one was expecting a guest…

The hot water running down Rogue's back massaged her tense muscles. The steam quickly filled the room clearing her thoughts and reenergized her skin.

Stepping out of the tub she stood in the middle of her foggy washroom and fought the urge to open the bottom cupboard instead she wiped her mirror with her hand Rogue took notice to her body. It was a work of art really, her hourglass figure was astonishing it had woman everywhere jealous. Her bust was a healthy D cup which only heightened her narrow waist and smooth lower curves. Rogue was a tall woman standing at five feet eight inches with auburn hair that reached her mid back and her signature white bangs that fell into her face.

However being a work of art came with a price, she had scars on her fore arm and hands a huge one on her neck and a bitter one on her forehead. They weren't dominating but they felt that way for Rogue maybe it was memories associated with them or the guilt she felt when she touched them. Either way she rarely showed off her skin, always covering herself up to some degree.

Opening her washroom door the steam escaped into the blackness of her room. As Rogue stepped out of the washroom for the first time in months she felt like someone was watching her. There was only one person that ever gave her that feeling and she killed him.

Rogue went for the lights thinking it was her subconscious toying with her senses again like when she was drinking. Rogue was bone dry, she hadn't laid eyes on a bottle of liquor in months. Her hand rested on the switch and she closed her eyes remembering Storm's breathing exercises. Each breath was deeper then the last, bracing her weight against the wall she hoped for nothing but prepared for the unimaginable as her heart echoed in her ears and her hands trembled at the thought….

Click. The lights went on.

It only confirmed her deepest fears. There he was sitting on Rogue's desk running a card around his fingers. He was an illusion she told herself but the way he smiled made Rogue wobble in the knees. He was real his blissful aroma brought back all the good memories they shared and for a brief second Rogue forgot about all the stress in her life. He looked just like the way Rogue imagined he would accept a bit wiser. His hair was shorter coming to his ears and his body, if possible, seemed more defined. But his eyes are what trapped Rogue mesmerizing her all over again. They were the gateway to sin that Rogue always fell into. From the way his eyes were burning brightly at Rogue's towel form they were after one thing.

"I've missed you Cher."