I do not own the X-Men, but I do own minor characters of my creation.

This story world has a few minor changes from the original show. Gambit is a recently added member of the X-men and Rogue has Mrs. Marvel's abilities.

Thank you for reading my story and if you enjoy the work please feel free to offer a review.

There was fire.

The world around me was a blank darkness, but I could feel the heat of the flames washing over my body. Each step forward strengthened the mystery flames into searing blasts of pain. But no matter the agony coursing through my veins, I could not stop moving forward.

Something was calling me...

Something wanted me to move...

Something needed me...

The silent air lit up abruptly with piercing screams and howls of maniacal laughter. I opened my mouth to let out my own terrible shriek of pain as the fire still increased its attack on my body, but I was drowned out by the thousands of dead moans and cries that surrounded me. Few words stuck out as the screams started to take on a similar ear-piercing tone, but I could make out a select few that were uttered by voices I did not see or know...

"It's all ours!"

"Run Maggots! Run to your deaths!"

As the words grew louder so too did the flames, causing me to finally collapse onto the ground. I curled my hands around my ears as salty tears began to rapidly roll down my cheeks.

Why was I here? What was this place? And why, through all the pain of fire and screams, did I feel the greatest pain was in my heart?

Finally, I could stand the chaos no longer. I forced my eyes open and stared at a large room morbidly decorated by five bodies strewn about haphazardly. Their decapitated heads lay carelessly around them. As the pools of blood inched closer and closer to my feet, my head began to spin. Without a moment of hesitation, I released a high-pitched scream I didn't recognize at all…

The next thing I knew, my eyes were aimlessly gazing into the dim light of my bedroom. Once my vision unblurred, I was surprised to find a pair of red and blue eyeballs staring at me with a mix of worry and concern. It took a full minute, but slowly I regained the ability to blink and close my still agape mouth. As the air conditioner in the room kicked into gear, the tears staining my cheeks began to sting but I didn't trust my hands to remain steady enough to wipe them away without shaking in front of my new audience.

"Cherie?" The red-eyed Cajun spoke first and almost looked like he was fighting the urge to wipe away my tears.

"What…" I scooted backward to put more distance between us. With only a flimsy pair of pajamas and a blanket keeping my mutant skin from theirs, it was best to take all available precautions, "What are ya'll staring at?"

Gradually, I forced my body to calm down by taking very slow and deliberate breaths. Ever since my overwhelming power flare-up last summer, the entire mansion had started walking on eggshells around me. The general belief, I surmised, was that I would probably flip out any day and kill them all. With my fate already secured in their minds, I couldn't risk looking out of control in front of anyone.

Maybe I don't talk about it with, well, anyone... but this place is the closest to a real home I've ever experienced. It's kind of nice to think of belonging somewhere in some small way. Of course, I'm not an idiot. I know full well there would be no way for me to stay at the mansion if the professor saw me as a danger to his other students. Not to mention, with winter on its way, I had no interest in trying to forge a home out on the streets anytime soon. So I went with the first thing that usually popped into my head, pretend everything is fine.

"Rogue are you like, okay?" It was Kitty, my roommate and self-proclaimed best friend, who piped up this time with a great deal of worry in her tone.

"Yeah," I wiped away any evidence of my midnight tears, then looked into Kitty's large blue eyes, "I just had a bad dream that's all."

"Sounded like a pretty bad one to me, Stripes."

I looked up to find Logan standing in the doorway with a mix of concern and annoyance etched on his rough face. I knew exactly why he was annoyed, the very reason was perched on the edge of my bed and staring at me, but I really didn't care at the moment. "Well, they ain't normally pleasant, you know."

Logan snorted as he took in my remark with no insult to himself. He and I had always been a bit similar in a few ways; Both loners with temper issues and pasts we had no power to control. He always had an uncanny way of knowing when I was not in the mood for sharing things, unlike the two uneasy mutants still sitting on my bed.

Rogue? Rogue, are you all right?

A voice besides my own suddenly jostled my thoughts. I knew its owner was located on the other side of the mansion, but, out of habit, I momentarily looked around for the source.

"I'm fine, Professor. No need to worry." I spoke the words slowly and steadily as I thought them, in hopes my point would get across to both the professor and the three people staring at me.

Well, the professor seemed to sense my desire to be alone because he didn't question my answer, if you decide you would like to talk, my door is always open, Rogue.

Thanks, I thought it quickly and let my attention leave the Professor. I trusted that he was a man of ethics so there was no chance he would continue hanging around my head in search of some cause for the dream. No, he would leave that joyous occasion for tomorrow when I'd have trouble finding an excuse.

As I turned my attention back to the three sets of eyes trained on my every move, I forced out a yawn and tried my best to look sleepy.

Unfortunately, Kitty was the only one who bought the ploy, "Rogue, why don't you like try to go back to sleep? Maybe you'll have a better dream this time. And you need to be fully awake for our science presentation tomorrow."

"Oh yeah," I groaned out the words as the sudden memory of our simply made science experiment came to mind, "I'm gonna need all the sleep I can get for that."

Remy chuckled softly as he watched the look of annoyance grow on my face. "What you laughing at Cajun?"

In truth, I didn't care one way or the other what Remy LeBeau thought of anything. The annoying bayou boy was always following me and spewing words of love that he knew were impossible feats for someone with my gift.

"Nothing. Remy just thinking that you look amusin' with your face drawn up like that."

He chuckled again as I tried to force my scowl to relax and become a neutral expression. "If you're done making fun of me you can leave now," I growled, knowing in the back of my mind it was a mistake to show just how much he irritated me.

"Aw, Cherie," the Cajun looked at me as if I had wounded his pride or something else just as ridiculous, "Remy never make fun of you." He grinned widely and in spite of myself, I felt my heart skip a beat. "Just trying to put a smile on your face. Can't be cranky about that now."

I forced myself to furrow my brow, "Yes. I. Can." The words were growled out in such annoyance even Logan, who had given Remy death glares, chuckled.

"Alright, be mad, at the handsome man trying to help you feel better," The Cajun smiled at me and patted my covered knee before giving it a soft squeeze. He offered one of those crooked grins I enjoy, a little too much for my own good if we're being honest, then leaned close to whisper, "And Remy thinks it could help if you dreamed of him. So why not leave a memory, non?"

My hand came out before I even realized it and punched him so hard he toppled off the bed, "You can't go more than three minutes without trying something can you, Cajun?"

I groaned and rubbed my temples in annoyance and to help the slight pain reverberating through my skull. During normal day time hours Remy could be annoying, but this late at night he could be downright unbearable. The boy was on his feet already rubbing his, most likely, sore stomach when I glared up at him. Each move was typical Remy. Every time I thought he might have the tiniest amount of sweetness underneath all that bravado and over-confidence he had to make a stupid move.

Why couldn't he be happy with us just being kind of friends, anyway? Then again, in that dark space way back in the farthest corner of my heart, I could almost admit I kinda liked the fact he pulled these types of stunts on only me. Sure, I could never date him or anything, but it was kinda nice at times to feel special. Of course, the Cajun would never be granted knowledge of that secret.

"Can't blame Remy for tryin'." He laughed at me and offered me a smile before Logan, obviously growing tired of the Swamp Rat's usual antics. walked gruffly over to Remy.

"As much as I want to see Stripes beat you to a pulp, we'll all have to wait until morning." Logan's arms crossed over his chest as he stared the taller Cajun square in the eyes. "But, for now," He growled and pointed a thumb behind him to the door, "You should be heading off to your own room."

"Looks like I must be going now." Remy seemed unfazed by Logan's curt manner as he turned to me and smiled a little wider.

"Good night, Cherie." With his goodbye finished, in his own sweet time as per usual, the young man turned and walked gracefully past Logan and down the hall.

"Stinking Cajun…" Logan grumbled under his breath and I knew he was fighting the urge to kick Remy into a wall or enact some other violent fantasy. Why Logan always seemed so ticked off with Remy I never quite figured out. Kitty always seemed to believe he was acting like a dad or something when he would tell Remy to stay away from me, but I never figured Logan would want the dad title. Then again, who really knew what Logan wanted?

"Logan?"

"Yeah, Stripes?" He turned to me with as kind a face as the Wolverine ever wore.

"You mind if we go back to bed now?" I looked over to see Kitty sitting on top of her bed with a facial expression that revealed she was practically asleep already.

Logan glanced to Kitty than looked back at me, "Sure thing. See ya in the morning."

As he left our room at a much slower pace than necessary I offered him a small reassuring smirk, "I'll be fine, Logan. I promise."

Logan gave a gruff laugh-like noise and gently shook his head, "I know, Stripes." He shut the door and headed off to who knows where. Well, I had a good idea he was going to make sure Remy was actually gone first, but after that no one knew.

As Kitty went to snuggle under her covers, I lay back on my bed and glanced up at the ceiling. With no one to distract me I couldn't avoid analyzing my nightmare. I knew enough from the special our health class watched on sleep to understand that dreams were just things people were concerned about or thought a lot about. It was all the workings of the self-conscious… or was it the subconscious? It didn't matter, either way. The far more important question was how could my brain have thought about something as violent as being on fire and decapitation? I've never been through something like that, and I was pretty sure I'd never seen it on TV or in some action film. Could it have been some kind of memory from one of the psyches floating around in my head? The idea of anyone actually living through that horrible scene left me feeling shakey and nauseated. I closed my eyes as the questions began to overwhelm my exhausted brain and give me a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Whatever this dream was, it was probably best to forget about it…. It was just a random dream anyway… It had to be...