I remember it happening more vividly than anythingelse that’s ever occurred in my entire life. Even moreso than when I kissed Cody. More than when I absorbed Carol. Those memories seem almost insignificant now, simply floating in the back of my head along with all the fractions of psyches I’ve taken over the years. I remember sitting in the auditorium, surrounded by my fellow X-Men as we watched our fearless leader fervently speak about something that meant everything to him--our safety.The preservation of the mutant race. And not only our safety, but his dreams of a potential peaceful co-existence between homo sapiens and ourselves.
We sat with quiet anticipation as we listened, me nervously chewing the fingertips of my gloves as each truth came to the surface for the public to be aware of. None of us really knew what to think of Xavier exposing our organization and our cause in such a manner, but I had a sinking feeling that nothing good would come of it. Turns out I was right.
A shot rang out through the auditorium as each and every member of the congregation gasped and jumped in their seats. I’d like to say that it was one of thoseevents where time passed at an almost stand still, and each second seemed stretched into an entire minute soit’d at least seem dramatic and more worth telling--but it wasn’t. It just…happened. None of us saw it coming, and none of us were capable of stopping it. You’d think with all the mutants present at leastone would have caught it, but that wasn’t so. It happened out of nowhere, and in result the entire roomfell silent. But then a moment later, hushed whispering began filling the air. “Who do you think did it?”, “Good riddance, one less mutie in the world.”, “Wasn’t he, like, the leader of all mutants?Are they gonna go crazy and come after us now?”, were some of the remarks I caught as the X-Men all stared at each other in disbelief. We couldn’t bear to look over in the direction of the podium where our beloved Charles Xavier’s lifeless body was slumped over in his wheelchair.
The telepaths spoke for us, conversing between each other via mental messages. Too scared to go up there and claim him for ourselves out of fear that we would be the next to be shot (and the shock of the crowd if I were to go up there and prove to be bulletproof), we instead decided to nonchalantly follow the crowd out the double doors as the police ushered all of us outside. We forced ourselves to not look back, we didn’t want to appear too obvious. Suspicious looks were thrown at us from all around as we crowded into a mutual tight huddle, but I began to notice that those looks were being given to everyone.
The looks of suspicion were mixed with looks of sorrow, fear, sympathy. Everyone was a criminal, and everyone was a victim at this moment. We quietly shuffled our feet to our respective cars and returned home, a storm already beginning to brew. We walked to the front door with our heads bent down to partially shield usfrom the rain, each of us sharing matching tear-stained cheeks. The estate never looked as foreign as it did at that moment.
We all met in the recreation room, a place we had spent so much time in these past years. A room that normally hosted such happy times with popcorn fights, video games, and charades competitions now held agroup of somber faced mourners, wondering what to do next. I sat next to Ororo, who wrapped a comforting arm around me as our listless faces scanned the room for an answer, albeit an answer that wasn’t there.
“I’m sure you’re all aware…that we can’t live here anymore,” Scott finally said, his voice firm buttrifling, indicating a breakdown at any moment.
We simply nodded, this was something we had most likely all realized on our way home. The Xavier Institute was simply not safe for us to reside in anymore. Anti-mutant supporters had been waiting for a chance like this to jump in and destroy the haven that all us freaks had been, for the most part, safe fromunwarranted prosecution and attacks in. Now that Charles was dead…who knew when they would strike.
“For those of you that have no place to go…” Scott began again, his eyes grazing over me and a few others, “Jean and I could use some roomates.” He forced a small chuckle, giving Jean a light squeeze asa tiny smile appeared on her lips.
Warren, who had been holding his head in his hands the entire time finally raised his head and piped up as well. “And anyone who is lacking in the funds necessary at the moment to afford a place of your own…I also would be happy to assist you with that,” he offered, leaning back in his chair and sniffling softly.
I smiled at him appreciatively as I wiped away one of my own tears, one of the many that had been flowing freely since the incident.
“Scott’s right, we can’t stay here anymore,” Logan reiterated, casting a some what softer version of his normal sneer over to Scott, nodding. “And if we knowwhat’s good for us, we better get movin’ soon. I doubt those bastards have any intention of allowin’ us a grieving period.” Rising from his seat, Logan headed for the stairs, probably to go put together whatever few belongings he left around here.
We all began to follow suit, each of us going upstairs to pack the life that we had lived here, not wanting to think of what to do next but also realizing that we had to.
I had been walking along side Ororo all the while, and she stopped me before I entered my room.“Rogue, I believe Katherine and I are going to looking to getting an apartment together for awhile until we’re on our feet…we would be honored if you would join us,” she offered, the grace in her expression showing all the compassion in the world as she waited for my response.
“Ah dunno, ‘Roro,” I replied,shrugging my shoulders slightly. “Ah think Ah wanna beby mahself fer awhile…jus’ t’think things out, y’know?” Leaning against the door frame, I placed mygloved hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. “But Ah’m gonna keep mah cell on me at all times, an’if y’all ever need me, you’ll know how t’reach me, alright? Ah’ll be expectin’ a call from y’or Kitty tellin me where yer stayin’ at. Maybe Ah’ll joiny’later.” I gave her a reassuring smile as she pulled me into a hug, the down pour outside now beginning to fade into a mere drizzle as I hugged her back.
“I’m going to miss you, dear. I do hope you will join us later on,” she smiled, walking down the hallway to her room as I finally entered the doorway of my own.

I looked at all the little trinkets scattered upon my shelves that I had gathered over the years…gifts from friends, things I picked up in other cities. And of course my expansive stuffed animal collection. They were all memories, essentially. Memories that I was now going to have to pack up and drag along to wherever my new destination was going to be. Who know show much of it would make the trip. I was never so dependent on such trivial things…but after having a happy home, and enjoying my life, these sort of things just fell into place.
Sighing softly, I pulled a few suitcases out of my closet along with some tissue paper I still had and began wrapping my little treasures. The more I wrapped, the more I began realizing that there was no way I was going to be able to take it all with me, but I would just worry about that when I ran out of room.
As I worked, I heard a faint knock on my half-way open door. I turned my head to see Remy. Smiling faintly, I moved to show him mysuitcase that was steadily filling with my stuff.
“Looks like Ah’m gonna be here for awhile,” I joked,picking up the next closest piece to wrap.
Remaining silent with a contemplative look on his face, he moved closer to me to put his hand on my shoulder. “Listen,chere…” he began, his warm breath on my neck causing my entire body to break out into goosebumps. “I know we ain’t had de best times, but we also ain’t had de worst times, an’ I was wonderin’…maybe ya’d like to shack up with ol’ Remy here for awhile. It could be nice…”
I already began shaking my head in negation before he was even done, and I turned to face him.“Oh, yeah, go t’New Orleans t’live with y’an’ Bella an’ the Thieves Guild. Sounds like a great time,Remy,” I snorted, my face turning red. I was going to remain adamant this.
“No, Rogue, it won’t be like dat…it CAN’T be like dat, I can’t even go back dere.I was t’inkin’ y’an me could travel a little, see all de nice t’ings de world has t’offer…” he grinned, but I shook my head.
“No. Ah told ‘Roro th’same thing, Ah jus’ wanna be by mahself fer awhile. Please jus’respect that,” I sighed, my eyes pleading with him.
He looked at me for a moment, his eyes glowing red with thought. “Okay petite, if dat’s de way y’want itto be…dat’s fine,” he nodded, taking my gloved hand to his lips and kissing it gently. “Au revoir for now, Ihope we meet again someday…” he trailed off, heading for my doorway as I made a grab for his arm, pulling him into a hug.
“Y’know we will, cajun, have no doubts ‘bout it. Y’have mah number, make good use o’it,” Iinsisted, hugging him tightly despite the strong smell of cigarettes coming from his coat. He’d probably had about a pack and a half on his way back home, with all the stress. Smiling gently, he handed me a card boasting the Queen of Hearts and winked, finally exiting my room. I smiled reminiscently and put it in my back pocket, where I knew would be the safest place for it. I continued packing the contents of my room, having to make a few trips to the basement for boxes to hold everything.
Sometimes people would stop by, and I’d try to pawn off my stuffed animals on them while we said our personal goodbyes. Finally, hours later after I was done packing and after we had all made sure that everything that was of importance was out, (evenincluding the main computer of Cerebro), we saidgoodbye. The waterworks started up again as we all hugged each other, exchanged phone numbers and addresses, and all promised to keep in touch as often as possible. This went on for about forty-five minutes before we all went to our cars, me in my little red ‘69 Mustang convertible packed with my belongings, looking much like the rest of the cars exiting the gates.
We all honked in farewell and drove our own ways, some of us knowing right where we were going to go, and others of us…well, it wasn’t the first time I had to leave home with no destination. I had money saved up, so I found a little apartment in upstate New York. I did some secretarial work for a small record company. I got a little gray tabby and named him Chuck. I lived a normal life, for the first time in long time.
Then one night after a longheart-to-heart with Ororo, I got a call from some woman who called herself Serina. “Yeah, this is Rogue. How d’ya know who Ah am? How d’ya know whoth’X-Men are? How didja get this number?” I asked suspiciously.
She merely told me to calm down, and explained to me an idea she had to make another place like the Xavier Institute, only in Georgia and that itwas a Southern-style home. She must have known that was the right thing to say, because she sold me on the idea about right there. We talked for a while longer,went over the details, and the next day I was up and packing on my way to Georgia.

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