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Anna felt Wanda put arms around her and it did nothing to shake that awful void in her heart and stomach. It was just a reminder of what she was going to lose. "It can't be true..." Anna shook her head. She just couldn't accept it. She wouldn't. The cure worked once, it could work again with more injections. But it was a miracle she even got the injection the first time. Erik's fear of needles had gotten her riled during the vaccination process. It didn't matter. Anna, Rogue, Marie, would walk through the fires of hell to keep touch in her life.

All that time she had spent wasting getting adjusted to a new life, a new home, it was all a waste. She was a dead woman walking and she hadn't even had a single kiss since she left the mansion and left Bobby. She was being so selfish, she almost forget what that meant for other mutants, for the X-Men. She needed to get in touch with them. If the cure didn't work, then Magneto would be back... They needed to be informed otherwise, he would get the upper hand on them.

Anna wiped the tears from her eyes and sat up straight. Every touch she took, every touch that was given to her, she would cherish it. They would be her last meal before another prison sentence alone.

The young woman pulled away from Wanda and stood up. "Ah need to be alone. Ah need to go." Her days were numbered. All this time, Anna had been living the dream of walking around her own apartment wearing next to nothing and not worrying about anyone seeing her or touching her. She just just gotten comfortable with her own image, building a self confidence. Soon, she would go back and be shrouded, covered and hidden from the world... It meant she would have to go back to the mansion... It meant facing all those looks of pity. "How long? How long do ah have? Ah took it six weeks ago." Anna held her breath. She internally beggedr it to not be weeks or months... Please be a year. Please...

The more sleep deprived Anna became, the easier she was to manipulate. Not that Wanda was manipulating. She simply put the idea to go to her place in Anna's head. And eventually, Anna followed along.

Whatever Wanda wanted to talk about seemed important, much too dire to talk about in a public bakery. Maybe she was going to ask to be room mates. The idea sounded nice. Her apartment was technically a home but it was still so empty. It was wood floors, a couch, a mattress, and string lights instead of lamps.

Anna allowed herself into Wanda's home once invited in and she took a seat, biting back a yawn. "Ah have to admit, ya really are piquing my interest now. The anticipation is killing me now."

Bobby opened the door and she seemed to deflate. "Oh thank god. One more minute determining my next paragraph and ah was ready to blow mah brains out." Rogue was always happy to see Bobby. He was always so great to her, so patient and kind and considerate. She was lucky to have him and she knew that. Any time she saw people touch, she reminded herself how much of a blessing he was in her life. And he could always make her laugh. She internally hoped she brought him as much joy as he did.

Peeking past his shoulder, she pointed to the mess that was about to happen. "Ya might wanna shut that before it becomes a headache." Rogue slipped past him, making sure to keep her distance from him as she slid past. Her figure was pressed into the door frame as much as possible before she loosened up and went to close the window by his desk. While she was there, she peeked at his opening sentence. Suddenly, her writer's block didn't sound so bad. Maybe they just needed a distraction for a bit before their minds rejuvenated back into a healthy and critical thinking state. 

"Looks like it's coming along nicely. Ah keep doodling all over mine, but Ah'm sure Professor Munroe isn't gonna be too fond of mah art skills when she's grading the final paper." She stood in Bobby's room and smiled at him. Sweet boy... Sweet sweet boy that gave her stomach the butterflies... Sometimes, she still couldn't believe he was a part of her life. That was the thought behind the smile at lit up her face.

It had been a week since she had been back from Liberty Island...

Logan was on his way out. He had taken her little gloved hand and slipped his dog tags in it, folding her fingers over them. He was the only one who actively went out of his way to hug her, slip an arm around her shoulder, or out a hand on her back... Maybe that would change with the momentum Bobby leaning towards. He seemed fond of her. And she did care about him. But her fear for his well being was overwhelming.

With Logan leaving, Rogue couldn't help but feel alone. Since she had been back, she tried controlling her powers. She imagined them shutting off, imagined them turning on, she held her breath to keep them dormant, she tried it all. But she never tried it on a person. She was too afraid to.

She wouldn't dare ask any of the students. What if they threw her out of school for using her powers on another student? She most definitely couldn't ask Bobby... He would think she was a freak and right now, he was one of the only friends she had.

Being a mutant was exhausting... She had to practice control, focus on her studies, go to classes, socialize, and still find time to figure out who she wanted to be in this big and brave new world.

This much change in so little time had Rogue at the edge of her seat most of the time. The students whispered about her time away from the mansion, about what had happened when Magneto took her. People said she had almost killed him. If a girl her age was capable of taking down a class three mutant, what else was she capable of?

It was whispers like this that fueled her fear. It was this fear that kept control out of her hands. Instead of just allowing it, Rogue sought help in the good Dr. Grey. Logan trusted her, so that meant Rogue would too.

She knocked on her office door.

Anna almost felt like Wanda knew what her mutation was. The way she took her hand and stroked the back of it with her fingers... 

Touch was still an odd sensation to Anna. She just wasn't use to it yet. And when she did touch someone she wanted to, Anna relished it. And most of all, she did not take lightly to those men at the bar touching her whenever they damn well pleased. But all she could do was shrug them off when she really wanted to knock their lights out. Touch was a beautiful thing. To waste it by groping away at your server was a sin. But hell, what could she say without exposing herself? Sometimes in life, ya just had to take the good with the bad.

Hand contact like this was so intimate. Intimate enough that Wanda was getting close to the scar on her palm. It made Anna nervous. For a woman who was able to touch again, she still seemed like she just wasn't use to it yet. There was plenty of time to get adjusted. Anna was in no rush. There wasn't exactly anyone who sparked her interest in learning. Even if there was, there was plenty she had to do before she could even think about anyone else.

"Absorption. Any skin to skin contact and ah would absorb memories, life energy, and even abilities. It was such a pain in the ass. Then ah took the cure. Now here ah am."

In the light, it was easier to see. If Wanda paid enough attention, she would notice the scar on Anna's right hand, right on her palm. It was a burn mark. That burn had been her breaking point, the catalyst that sent her from the people she cared about to go and find herself find her worth, find her place in the world. She couldn't stay with the X-Men. She would have only gotten in the way.

It sounded like a sappy 90's love ballad.

"If I should stay, we both know I'd be in your way..."

How could she be a burden to those people? Having a house full of mutants and then one human teaching... It as trouble waiting to happen. What if a man like Stryker raided the school again? One human woman against a team of soldiers wasn't going to be efficient. They would just end up killing her. Logan would blame himself for anything that happened to her. She just couldn't do that to him, to them. They were good people.

"Why Scarlet Witch? Ah saw the red sparks but... Ah don't quite understand the witch part." She didn't look like a witch. And she certainly didn't act like one. And then she dropped a familiar name. "You know Wolverine?" Logan never mentioned the woman before... But Logan was also older than dirt and he had most of his memories lost. Anna wondered if she could fit some of the pieces of his last by asking this woman. She knew he would be thrilled to hear something, anything that could give him an idea of what his last was like.

When Wanda took her hand, Anna chuckled. "Oh stop, there's no need to fuss over me. Honest, Ah'm just a bartender tryin tah find mah place in life. Maybe it's here or maybe it's somewhere else. But ah'll never know unless ah look." Anna frowned and sat back. A dream? She never really thought about it. Dreams ended when she hit the road on her own when she was fourteen. And she did live her dream. She got to travel, just like she originally wanted. But what was the dream now? Anna had no powers now. Rogue and Marie were figures of the past. So what was the next step? Forming relationships. Friends... And maybe one day... Someone special who didn't know about her past and what she was, who she was... Someone that would just run wild with her. "Ah just... Ah dunno, no ones ever asked me what mah dream was. Isn't life enough?"

How did I NOT know Jack White was in Dead Weather?! -buys ALL the music-

THANKS!

Anna looked over her shoulder, feeling rather accomplished at shrugging off that last drunkard. She ran a hand back through her locks, the white instantly falling back into place along the sides of her cheeks and temples. They were as stubborn as she was most of the time. There were times that the debate arose of whether to dye them the same color as the rest of her hair, but they were all she had left of the past and the people she called home and family. It was the only thing that made her special now that she didn't have any powers. And out here, no one made the connection between her and the girl in the papers years ago, the one at Liberty Island that had been a part of Magneto's terrorist act against all humans.

Taking her eyes off the men by the pool table finally, Anna caught a glimpse of that devil waiting for her by the bar. That smile and that spirit around him, it seemed contagious. It reminded her a lot of home, or at least, what home use to be. Although her parents had brought her up in a strict house hold, Anna Marie was just always that girl that walked the fields barefooted just about every night, dove into the water with all her clothes on, and fell asleep out on the rooftop just so she could be woken up by a sight so precious as the dawn. Was it just her or was he actually staring? She might have been a looker, but she was also modest.

Anna couldn't help the wink she threw his way when he brandished that Cajun French at her, and quickly produced a fresh cool glass in front of him to pour the amber liquid in. He had somehow thrown off her rhythm with his next comment. Fortunately, she recovered quickly, chuckling at his indirect invitation to have a drink with him. Instead of giving him the typical shoot down, she opted for a different response. A smile blossomed on her face as she slid his fresh drink forward. "Ah'm flattered, but... Ah gotta keep mah eye on those ruffians over by the pool table." It wasn't a no, but it wasn't a yes either. "An' don't go thinkin' about manipulatin' me with any puppy dog eyes. Ah'll have ya know that it doesn't work on me." She might have said it with a firm tone in her voice but something in her eyes reflected a playfulness about the conversation.

Now he was just trying to make her blush. Normally, flattery got her patrons nowhere. But this guy? He was just so damn charming. Anna crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side. "Ya ain't so bad lookin' yourself, Sugah."

His voice was getting quiet... If this was the part where he lured her in for a kiss... He would be hurtin' somethin' fierce in a few minutes. Anna leaned in to hear him better, eyes focusing on him and losing peripheral vision of the group by the pool table. But surprisingly, that wasn't where this was heading. The name didn't sound familiar... And then he dropped the bomb. Anna's smile faded. In fact, she blinked a few times while she processed the word.

Mutant.

Noun. Someone born with the X-Gene.

Anna was a former mutant. And who was this guy? Was he hunting them or was he one of them? Either way, she knew trouble was heading in her direction. "Never heard of him. And watch where ya say that word." Anna knew from personal experience. She had gotten lucky already that the knife went in Wanda's attacker and not herself.

So who was the bad guy? This Greycow fella, or tall, dark, and handsome? Was he a mutant too? Did she even want to find out? Anna's right hand started to fidget, her fingers running over the burn scars on her palm that Pyro had inflicted on her during their confrontation. Without being able to absorb Logan's healing, her hand had remained scarred. It was an instant reminder of the events that happened in that alley. "People around these parts ain't too fond of us."

"Them."

Just like that, Anna had given herself away.

The woman threw her arms around Rogue, her cheek nuzzled up against hers. What sort of trauma had the woman been through that she was too afraid to let go of Rogue even though she was being drained. "STOP IT!"

Rogue was on the ground when Mystique reached her. Her skin felt alive, like there was a humming on every inch of her. Her head felt several sizes too small and Rogue shook her head. "It hurts."

Mystique was plowing through though, freeing the woman that had just been absorbed and yanking on Rogue's hand. She could fret about the damage done later. There were so many people relying on them to lead them out of this place.

Rogue saw the memories... Granted they were fragments that needed to be out together, but the vivid details of what had gone on in that building... It made her stomach sick. She ran anyways. She could be sick later, not now. She couldn't be the weak link that dragged them down.

Once on the main floor, they were greeted with a S.W.A.T. team. Rogue stepped forward, wiping the sweat from her brow. "Go one guys... Ah got this. If Ah'm not outside in fifteen minutes, get out of here. Don't come back."

Rogue was ready to fight. Even if it meant she would be left behind.