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Healing	By : AngelofSnow Category: X-Men: (All Movies) > Het - Male/Female Views: 4234 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the X-Men movies, or any of the characters from them. I make no money from from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 32
- 33
- 34
Healing

Title: Healing
Verse: X-Men movieverse
Timeline: post X-Men: The Last Stand
Author: AngelofSnow
Pairing: Rogue/Magneto
Rating: M � everything, the works, the whole shebang, this
is the finale!
Disclaimer: At this point, I don�t think I need to disclaim
anything. I own all of it. Every last drop. I�m
accepting payment right now for writing this. Yay, money!
Summary: The Cure is only temporary. While healing Rogue and
Magneto find each other and realize they have more in common than they
originally thought.�

Soundtrack: I
recommend the song �Precious� by Depeche Mode. Rogue has been through a lot in
this story. She�s come a long way.

Dedication: To
everyone whose read this story. Thank you.

Notes: Sorry this
took so long to complete. (Thank you for calling me on it Rebecca.)I admit I didn�t really want writing this story to end. Endings
are always sad, and I put off writing this last chapter to keep the magic
alive.

Chapter
Thirty-Three: Trust Uncertainty

Charles:

�� Perhaps he
had not been thinking clearly. It hadn�t been easy to. The Phoenix� no, he refused to call her that,
Jean had levitated him out of his wheelchair. She had blocked all his attempts
to get through to her and he began to wonder if he could. When Jean�s
formidable power tore at his very skin, ripping it away particle by particle,
he had remembered something he had only believed possible in theory:
transference of one�s conscious into another. That is how he came to pull his
own consciousness separate from his body, as Jean destroyed the crippled vessel
that had been its home for nearly 68 years.

�� No longer
confined to the physical world, he had watched helplessly as the Phoenix�s powers made
short work of him. Erik had seen fit to try to use Jean for his own ends.
Charles knew beyond a doubt that the venture would not end well for his
ex-lover. Bereft and unanchored, his spirit and thoughts had existed in a form
more commonly known as a ghost for some time as he watched the X-Men retrieve
his wheel chair and begin to mourn his departure. Only when he followed them
and had seen the school that had been his life�s work did he remember the ideal
home for his soul.

Richard Troughdon had been 36 years
old and had never spoken a word in his life, nor taken a single step. He had
been born with no higher brain functions, no consciousness. His body was an
empty shell. As far as scientists could tell he had never had a thought or even
opened his eyes on his own. Troughdon�s family was well-off and they did all
they could for the boy, unable to accept that their son was born brain dead.
They kept him alive in a series of hospitals while they tried every possible
treatment therapy including stem-cell research and gene therapy. Doctors urged
the Troughdon�s to let their son be an organ donor, but the Troughdon�s refused
to give up hope. Eventually they got their son into a state-of-the-art genetic
research facility on Muir
Island run by leading
genetics researcher Moira MacTaggert.

MacTaggert was checking on her
patient some three months after her friend Charles Xavier�s �death� when her
patient opened his eyes, turned to her and said �Hello Moira.� She was so
startled she dropped her clip board and backed into the heart rate monitor
machine. She knew something extraordinary had happened. Even if her patient had
been able to grow the synapses needed to have consciousness, the patient would
not have known her name or known how to speak English anymore than a newborn
baby would have.

When her patient, Troughdon, or
whoever it was introduced himself as Charles Xavier she had been hesitant to
accept it even knowing her friend�s incredible mental abilities. But slowly as
Charles gained more and more muscle control everyday and acted more like himself, she had no choice but to accept the unbelievable
truth.

Charles was very angry with
himself. When he had died and taken possession of Richard Troughdon�s body, he
had done it with the hope to continue being of help to his X-men and to have
another chance to save Jean from the Phoenix.
He had not been thinking clearly because once his consciousness situated itself
in the brain of the late Troughdon it had taken him a month to build the
synapses needed to think and run motor skills. A bedridden man, like Troughdon,
had muscular atrophy, which meant his muscles had degenerated and could not
move without extensive therapy. Two more months went by before Charles could
move his jaw and tongue to speak the words �Hello Moira.�

Once he had spoken to Moira, she
had told him about the events in America:
the battle fought at the Alcatraz lab, the defeat of Phoenix, and the Brotherhood�s dissolution.
He learned a few weeks later that Erik had been de-powered. It was a dark time
for Charles. He regretted his foolhardy decision to take the body of Richard
Troughdon. His action had done nothing to prevent Jean�s death or to bring
about a peaceful end to the conflict. Instead, he lay alive in a hospital bed,
in a stolen body, months away from being able to sit-up or walk.

Charles, however, chose to make the
best of the situation and went about his physical therapy with the same
indomitable optimism he had always applied to the mutant-human conflict. The
force of his willpower drove him through physical therapy at break neck speed
and by eight months he was walking, a feat he hadn�t done for over sixteen
years. He was eager to rejoin his X-Men, especially when news came in about the
delicate situation brewing between mutants and humans in America.

But one more major obstacle stood
in the way of Xavier: Richard Troughdon�s family was not ready to give him up,
especially to a telepath who had taken control of his body. Motions were filed
and a civil lawsuit was brought under very flimsy circumstances considering
there was no legal precedent for the case. Muir
Island, located off the coast of Scotland,
became home to one of the strangest cases in British legal history. Troughdon
vs. Xavier lingered for five months in the courts, as new evidence and
dubitable �experts� were brought in to testify. To add insult to injury
anti-mutant sentiment swayed the case against Xavier from the beginning. It was
doubtful Charles could win the case, and he feared the punishment the court
would merit out would further delay his return to America to deal with the growing
situation there.

So like the proverbial liar who is
forced to lie again, Charles was forced to again use his powers in ways he
disapproved of and downright abhorred. He swung the judge�s finding in his
favor and got off not-guilty. The verdict shocked the tiny island that had
followed his case with baited breath. Recovered and free to leave, Charles bid
goodbye to Moira and embarked on his journey back to the states.

When Charles returned to 1407 Graymalkin Lane
there was already nothing to return to. The Charles Xavier
School for Gifted
Youngsters had been reduced to rubble only two weeks before in the tragic
battle that had left Rogue in a coma. With subtle mind probes and a bit of
sleuthing he learned that the X-Men had escaped with the Brotherhood of all
people. The news shocked Charles, but it also gave him hope. His students were
alive and with someone he occasionally trusted. Better yet, Charles knew where
they were. He had read Erik�s mind often enough to know the little island off
the coast of Bar Harbor, Maine was the Brotherhood�s headquarters.

00000000000

Charles and Erik:

�� This is how
Charles Xavier came to stand before Magneto in the body of the late Richard
Troughdon.

�� Hello
Erik.� Charles had said. Although he was much younger, and now had brown hair,
a beard, and could walk; his voice and accent were nearly identical to before.
He also still dressed in the same expensive, high quality, custom-made suits as
before. Erik had recognized his old friend�s voice with ease and great
incredulity.

�� Charles?�
He asked, half wondering if he was losing his mind and a ghost of his old
friend was speaking to him. He held a cup of Earl Grey Tea shakily in his hand.
The bearded Xavier answered him.

�� Yes, it�s
me.�

�� How? How is it possible? I saw you��

�Yes, Jean-� he corrected himself,
�The Phoenix killed me. But I transferred my consciousness into the body of a
brain dead man.�

Charles
was alive! �It was difficult for
Magneto to believe, but he wanted it to be true. Somehow Charles had come back from the dead. He had claimed the body of
a brain dead man. Brain dead. Rogue! The tea cup
fell from his hand, splashing his desk in Earl Grey.

�Come with me. Hurry!�

Erik hastily strode out the door.
Charles, without a clue as to what was going on, stood rooted in place. When he
did not follow Erik, a magnetic field pulled him along by his wristwatch.

�What is this about Erik?� Charles
preferred not to read his friend�s mind unless he had to.

�Please, old friend. We haven�t
much time.� Erik said, continuing to lead Charles to the medical lab.

�Tell me what is going on Erik or
I�ll have no choice but to read your mind.� Charles said, but as soon as the
words left his mouth they stepped into the medical lab where Rogue lay hooked
up to several machines. Professor Jeri Kojak was at her side, laboring to clear
her mind. Logan
sat faithfully keeping guard over her comatose form.

�Who�s this?� Logan stood up, protectively moving in front
of Rogue. He sniffed the air to smell the unfamiliar stranger. The new Charles
smelled nothing like the old Charles. Logan
was wary of a stranger being around Marie while she was in such a vulnerable
state.

It�s
me, Logan. Professor Xavier. Charles projected into the Wolverine�s mind.

�Chuck?� Logan didn�t know whether to believe it or
not.

I�ll
explain later. Xavier assured him. �Hello, Professor Kojak.�

�Good to see you are well, Xavier.
I have missed you.� Jeri and Charles were both telepaths and were familiar with
each other from the annual Society of Telepathy conferences.

�What happened to her?� Charles
managed to keep only a hint of anger from slipping into his voice. He was
anything but happy to see one of his students injured. He wondered if she took
part in the battle at the mansion or if Erik had been up to no good while he
was out of commission. He hated to admit it, but he wouldn�t put it past Erik
to use his absence as an advantage. He had certainly done so in the past.

Jeri Kojak answered him. �She used
her powers to save everyone by draining all the soldiers that attacked the
school. But now her brain is overloaded with memories. I haven�t been able to
make much progress to clear them. She�s been in a coma now for two weeks.�

�Can you help her Chuck?� Logan asked warily. He
trusted the Professor, if this was the Professor, to know how to save Marie.

Charles held off answering Logan. He probed the
girl�s mind shallowly and was hit by a barrage of personalities and memories
jumbled together in a vortex. Rogue�s memories, thoughts, and consciousness
were no where to be found.

�There are hundreds of
personalities in her mind. How was she able to drain this many soldiers?�
Charles asked. But even as he asked the question he knew the answer.

�You removed the mental block and
trained her to use the full existent of her mutation.� Charles said. Erik
recognized the anger in Charles� words.

�She came to me when the Cure
failed her. I guided her, but the rest she learned on her own.�

�I put that block in for a reason.
You knew how dangerous her powers are; how destructive they can be.�

�It was her decision to sacrifice
herself. She did it to save us when my powers were thwarted by plastic.� Erik spit the word out.

If Charles was curious what Erik
had been doing at the mansion when it was attacked he did not ask. Charles
remained gruffly disappointed but turned his attention back to his patient and
put his hands near Rogue�s temples, careful not to touch her skin.

�Can you save her?� It was Erik�s
turn to ask the question to which they all wanted to know the answer.

Charles was surprised by the way
Erik�s voice cranked with emotion. Hadn�t Erik nearly killed this same girl
five years ago for the cause of mutant liberation?

�Erik, Rogue�s condition is very
serious. I may not be able to help her.�

Erik bowed his head, his fists
balling at his sides in frustration. He had believed that Charles� return would
be the key to Rogue�s salvation. He tried not to lose hope, but it was
difficult. The metal throughout the lab trembled: Rogue�s bed frame, the
machines monitoring her condition, and Catalyst�s equipment. Again Charles was
puzzled by Erik�s reaction.

�It isn�t like you to be this concerned
over a mutant who has made a necessary
sacrifice.� Charles tested Erik by reminding him how had once viewed Rogue when
he had used her to power his machine.

�I feel responsible for her
condition. I should have been able to prevent it.� Erik answered. Charles knew
that Erik particularly loathed when his enemies took precautions against his
powers. Erik had always believed he ought to be near unstoppable. Charles
wondered what the Cure must have done to him.

�It�s more than that.�

Erik�s eyes locked with Charles and
he barely hesitated before answering.

�Yes it is.�

�What is between you and young
Rogue?�

�It is none of your concern
Charles.�

�She is one my students.�

When Erik made no move to answer
Charles and his mental shields remained in place, Charles turned towards Logan
who was watching the exchange. Logan
hesitated, still undecided if he could trust the bearded and able-to-walk
Xavier as the genuine article.

�They�ve got some kind of a twisted
thing going. Marie says she loves him and he says he loves her, but�� To Logan no matter how
untwisted two people both loving each other and returning that love should be,
he could not help but view the relationship between Rogue and Magneto as
anything but normal. The very idea of them together was demented in his view. Logan also wasn�t entirely
sure how much he believed their sentiments. Yet, he was impressed by how often
Magneto came to sit at the girl�s bedside.

Is
this true Erik? Charles projected the question into his friend�s mind.

�It is a relationship of mutual
admiration.�

�You can understand how I might
find this hard to believe.� Erik looked away from Charles� gaze. He did not
need to be a telepath to know Charles would be hurt he was again allowing
someone other than him to fill his bed.

�Please. Do what you can to save
her.�

Erik knew Charles would not let the
issue drop so easily. But for now, Rogue�s ill health was a bigger concern.
Erik watched as Charles sat down by Rogue�s head, his movements still jerky and
somewhat awkward from muscles that had only recently begun to comply with his
wishes. Although it was jarring to picture the youthful, brown-haired and
bearded man as his dear old friend it gave Erik hope. If Charles could return
from the dead then so too could Marie.

Charles began his work by again
placing his hands near Rogue�s temples. He described his efforts out loud to
satisfy Erik and Logan�s
tension, which to a telepath felt like a leaden blanket hanging over the room.

�I�m unable to locate her. But I�ll
clear some of the stronger presences first.� Several minutes passed as Charles
worked to zap foreign memories and quiet discordant voices begging for
attention in Rogue�s mind.

�Still nothing.
There�s so much here.� Charles was a much stronger telepath than Kojak. Some
even say Xavier is the strongest in the world. What would have taken Professor
Kojak months to accomplish, Charles could do in mere minutes. He continued to
cleanse Rogue�s mind and recycle the memories lodged in portions of the brain that
were usually dormant. Many of personalities and consciousnesses of her victims
could be found in the cerebral cortex and it took Xavier twenty more minutes to
remove them. He noticed her brain shifted as the strain on it eased and her
mind relaxed slightly.

�There�s been minor brain
swelling.� Charles pronounced, opening his eyes and taking a short break from
his work. Erik knew enough about medicine to know that was a bad sign.
�Professor Kojak, what have you done to relieve the swelling of her brain?�

�I�ve administered the drug manitol
at 12 CC�s an hour.�

�Good.� Charles nodded his head and
went back to work. He could hear Logan and Erik�s desperate desires and
thoughts that he save Rogue. He even heard Erik praying in Hebrew, something
Charles could only remember hearing once before, when he himself had been the
patient.

Rogue�s mind was now partially
clear of the soldiers� memories but there were still several other sections of
her mind engulfed by the foreign thoughts. The left hemisphere, a vast section
of the brain, was filled with only the memories and personalities of a few men.
Without a doubt, Charles knew Rogue must have killed them. She had their entire
memories and personalities in graphic detail. When Charles tried to remove
them, erasing the memories, the men fought back. They were dead in life, but
had lived on for several weeks in Rogue�s mind. Charles did not relish
dislodging them and vanquishing their life force entirely, but he was forced to
for Rogue�s sake. When he finished he checked again to feel Rogue�s familiar
consciousness but she was still missing.

�I still can�t find her.�

�Dammit Charles!
She can�t be gone! She can�t be.� Erik slammed his fist down into his open palm
and the metal walls of the room quaked. Logan who was no less upset stood by
Magneto and recognized his own feelings in the man�s outburst. Their eyes met
and for a second a brief recognition of their mutual connection glimmered
across their faces, then the two looked away embarrassed at the moment of
understanding. Charles would have laughed if the cause wasn�t so tragic.

He explored the right hemisphere of
Rogue�s brain erasing the personalities as he went, careful not to disturb the
girl�s own memories of sensory data. With the removal of foreign memories from
her frontal lobe he had completed the task of restoring Rogue�s mind to her own
control and erasing all the soldier�s memories. However, he was unable to feel
Rogue�s own consciousness, which he should be able to communicate with and see
on the astral plane. He was puzzled by this and concerned Rogue�s own
personality might have been destroyed permanently. So he delved deeper,
projecting his voice into her mind calling for her and hoping to draw her out.

Charles checked the other recesses
of her mind plying through her parietal lobe, temporal lobe, and limbic system
but still there was no trace of her. Some of Rogue�s own memories surfaced, but
her consciousness, her soul was not anywhere. He explored more regions of her
brain which displayed themselves as long grey corridors to his mind. Images and
memories would flint in front him as he traveled down impossibly long corridors
at superhuman speeds searching for Rogue.

Finally he reached an area known as
the pons. Only then did he see the first glimmer of hope. It was in the shape
of Magneto�s transparent plastic prison. The prison, an image in Rogue�s mind,
was reproduced perfectly. It�s occurrence an influence of his memories no
doubt. Except this time Magneto was not the prisoner inside the prison: it was
Rogue herself. The prison represented the small organ the pons which when
injured, often produces a �locked �in� effect on the patient, who despite being
conscious cannot speak, move, or demonstrate that they understand. They are
essentially �locked-in� their mind. This was what had happened to Rogue.

Charles studied the damage to the
synapses around the pons organ. He saw the incredible amount of raw strength
Rogue must have had to use her power in such a way. He knew the engulfing flood
of memories had fried areas of her brain and swallowed her own consciousness,
sequestering it away beneath the recently acquired soldiers� memories.

Charles knew how to regrow damaged
synapses from his own experience in Richard Troughdon�s body. As he repaired
the synapses in the physical world, Rogue�s astral cage grew weaker and weaker,
the plastic walls dissolving around her. Finally he was able to enter her cage
where she lay on the cot, curled in a fetal position,
her hands over her ears. In this mentally created world, Charles appeared as
his older, familiar self.

It�s
alright Rogue. You can come out. The girl removed her hands from her ears.

The
voices�they�re gone. Throughout her coma Rogue had heard ceaselessly the
soldiers� pleas and their memories, day and night.

Yes,
I cleared your mind and repaired the damage.

Thank
you Professor. But I thought you were dead.

I�ll
explain everything when you wake up.

How
long have I been out? Was it all a dream? Did you die? Was there a Cure?

Rogue.
He reprimanded her for letting her imagination run wild. Concentrate on healing your mind and locating your own scattered memories.
When you feel ready try to regain control of your body and wake up.

Slowly, Charles unfurled his mind
from Rogue�s and came out of the telepathic trance. Erik was quick to question
him.

�Did you find her?�

�She should be alright in a few
moments. There�s no way to tell if some of her own memories have been destroyed,
but I believe she should be able to regain control of her mind.� Charles turned
to specifically address Erik, as though he was responsible for her. �Her
tremendous use of her mutation caused violent injury to her brain. She should
be dead.� He turned to Logan.
�I imagine you had something to do with her recovery.�

�I couldn�t let anything happen to
the kid. You know that.�

�Yes. However, I am disappointed to
learn how many inappropriate events occurred in my absence.� Now Charles� gaze
met Erik�s. Erik did not back down; he had grown used to his friend�s
disapproval.

�� Uhh�� a
small moan came from Rogue�s bed. Erik raced around Charles to be at her side.
Rogue�s head turned and she moaned again. Her eyelids fluttered.

�� When Rogue
awoke the first thing she saw was Erik, who smiled down at her tenderly. His
hand brushed the white streak of her hair pushing it behind her ear. Logan stood at the other
side of the bed. He squeezed her hand through the bed sheet.

�� Am I really
awake? Is it really you, Erik?�

�� Yes, my
dear it�s me.� Erik kissed her forehead lightly and whispered to her. �Ich liebe dich.�

�� I should
tell the others Rogue�s woken up.� Logan
felt a little uncomfortable watching Magneto and Marie together. A part of him
was also understandably jealous that she turned to him first when she woke up.

�� Charles gave
Erik and Rogue a few moments together, before gently tapping his old friend on
the shoulder.

�� You should
let her rest. She�s had quite the ordeal.�

0000000000

Everyone:

Erik and Charles left the medical
lab where Jeri Kojak saw to Rogue�s care and made sure she continued to rest.
Outside, members of the Brotherhood and X-Men had gathered after hearing that
not only was Rogue well, but Professor Xavier was alive.

�Is it true? Rogue�s woken up?�
Bobby asked. Pyro stood next to him. It was good to see the friends united
again. One could tell from the change in Bobby�s demeanor and posture how
relieving it was for him to get his sexual feelings out in the open.

�Is she feeling better? I was
worried about her.� Kitty asked.

�Rogue should be fine. She just
needs a few more days rest. She has woken up, but please keep
visits short while she recovers.� Charles answered. The group stared back at
him, unsure who the bearded man was.

�I�m sorry. We haven�t met. I�m
Storm.� She extended her hand politely as if to shake Charles� hand, unaware who he was.

It�s
me Ororo.

�Professor?�
Storm�s disbelief was shared by everyone else in the room who studied the
thirty-something man in front of them. It was hard to reckon a walking, young
man with a beard and a full head of hair with their crippled bald Professor of
old. The fact that he dressed and sounded the same didn�t help much. There was
an audible gasp that found its way through the group.

�When the Phoenix killed me,� Charles couldn�t say Jean
had killed him, he just couldn�t. �I transferred my consciousness into the body
of the brain dead man I had been telling you about as a case study in my ethics
class. I had hoped I would be able to return and help Jean to control her
powers.�

�You heard about what happened to
her?� Logan
said, his arms folded across his chest as he leaned
back against one of the walls. His head was bowed and he was looking at the
ground. Everyone felt for Logan.
They knew how much it had hurt him to do what he did.

�Yes, Logan. You did the
right thing.� It helped Logan
to hear Chuck say it. �However, we have other problems now. I�ve seen what�s
left of the school.�

The group�s good morale from
discovering their beloved Professor Xavier was still alive dropped when he
mentioned their former home. The mansion was destroyed and not much was left of
it. Worse, the government still had the estate cordoned off as a crime scene
and was likely to keep control of the land for the duration of Mutant Human
Civil War.

�We will rebuild.� Xavier said. �We
cannot let this destroy the X-Men and what we stand for. Relations between
humans and mutants have dissolved greatly. I fear the current war will not end
well for either side. It is our prerogative and the mission of the X-Men to do
what we can to bring this war to a peaceful conclusion.�

The X-Men took his words to heart.
It felt good to have their leader back. With their school gone, Storm�s powers
�cured�, and the current war even the most diehard of idealists, Bobby Drake,
had begun to doubt the X-Men�s future. For how long the X-Men would stay at the
Brotherhood�s island fortress and where they would go when they left were
unknown. Whether they could reason with the U.S. government was not certain. If
they would soon face their current hosts, the Brotherhood, in battle was for
the future to decide. For now it was enough that the Professor was back, Rogue
was healed, and they were together and safe.

00000000000

Magneto and Rogue:

�� A few days
later found Rogue up and around feeling remarkably like her old self. She was
in bed with Erik and they were about to go to sleep when she noticed his
pensive look. He had been moody of late. Alternately blissful to have Rogue
returned to health and then at times dark and morose.

�� Erik, is
something bothering you?�

�� He folded
his hands in front of his lap and a minute passed before he answered.

�Do you trust me Marie?�

She did not hesitate. �Yes.�

He nodded his head and a second
later got up from the bed as if he had wordlessly decided something in his mind.
Rogue watched him walk out the door of their bedroom. He returned a few minutes
later holding a small stainless steel tumbler. He brought it over to her. Rogue
looked down at the dark red liquid in the cup. It looked like red wine.

�Do you trust me Rogue?� Erik�s
tone was steadfast, but his blue eyes seemed immeasurably sad, almost
conflicted.

He was asking her to drink the
liquid in the cup. Her mind raced. Was it poison? Or just some wine? Was it a
sedative or a drug? She couldn�t imagine Erik poisoning her. But could it be
the Cure or the vaccine for it?

�Yes, of course Erik.� Rogue said
and she moved to take the cup from his hand. He pulled his hand back at the
last moment, causing some of the liquid to spill over the lip of the cup.

�No- No. I�� Erik muttered. Rogue
was shocked by his indecisiveness. It wasn�t like him. �It should be your decision.�

�What should be?�

Erik turned and put the cup down on
the metal nightstand. He took a seat next to Rogue on the bed.

�My dear, I have been considering
your situation ever since your recovery. Even with your new found control of your
mutation, its powers hurt you as much as your intended target. It was arrogant
of me to promise you control and untold power. Perhaps it is for the best if
you use the Cure to manage your skin.�

Rogue was shocked. How could
Magneto, a man violently opposed to mutant oppression, suggest she take the
Cure to be rid of her mutation? Didn�t he hate the Cure? Hadn�t he fought a war
to destroy it? Suffered under its effects? Labored to create a vaccine against
it? And chastised her for wanting more of it at Alcatraz?

�Ah don�t want to take the Cure
again. How could you even suggest it? Ah�ve come so far! Ah don�t have to wear
gloves anymore or worry about hurting anyone. Ah�m not
a liability anymore in a fight. Ah can actually contribute. Ah don�t want to
give up now.�

�I cannot bear to see you hurt
again Marie. Without a way to stop the absorption of memories into your mind,
your mutation is equally as dangerous for you to use as it is for your target.
I cannot let you use it again. I won�t see your fragile mind ruined forever.
You were so close to death, Marie�� Erik�s face turned away from her, shadows
playing across it from the dim lighting in the room. For the first time, Rogue
realized that she had to think of two people from now on when she considered
the consequences of her actions: both Erik and herself. They were a couple.

��Ah understand why you feel this way Erik, but
Ah can�t go back to that. Ah don�t want to hide behind the Cure. Ah don�t care
how long it takes, Ah�m gonna control my mutation and make use of it. You
taught me to respect myself for who Ah am. Ah am a mutant and it would be wrong
for me to pretend to be somethin� else.�

Erik seemed to ponder this for a
moment as though he�d expected her to resist and react in just this way. His
large wrinkled hands found her small, soft skinned ones. He smiled at her.
Although he worried about her, he respected her decision. It would have been
the one he would have made himself.

�Ah don�t want to take the Cure
Erik. Ah wanna take the vaccine for it.�

�You understand once you take that,
the Cure will never be able to help you again?�

�Ah know.�

�Okay then. You shall have the
inoculation tomorrow.�

�Ah wanna take it right now.
Please.� Before I lose
my resolve. She silently added in her mind.

�If that is what you want�� Erik
obliged her wishes.

�It is.�

They rose from the bed and Rogue
was quick and nimble to grab the stainless steel cup holding the Cure drink.
Before Erik had a chance to protest, she took it to the bathroom and poured it
down the sink.

�That was the last dose available
outside of government control.� Erik informed her.

�Good riddance. That stuff is
poison.�

Erik let out a jubilant chuckle.
How far young Rogue had come from when this had all began. He remembered
vividly the frightened girl in the debris on Alcatraz
desperate for even a drop of that poison. Never in a million years would he
have predicted to find her a year later in his bedroom destroying it in an act
of defiance.

Fate had a sense of humor.

00000000000

Notes: I blame
Marvel and Fox for the complete biological implausibility of the above
reappearance of Charles Xavier. Although I love Charles and am very happy to
see him return and to make use of him in my story�come on! One, there�s no way
he could transfer his consciousness like that and two, no human can be born
without higher brain functions and survive as a vegetable for that long.
Seriously, bedridden people usually get a lot of diseases and don�t last that
long. The muscular atrophy alone would make the continued existence of the
vegetable person doubtful. Not that I am doctor, or that I have taken a biology
class since 9^th grade, but my personal belief is no one would last
that long.

�� I made up
Richard Troughdon. If you happen to know the true name of this character, feel
free to tell me. And yes in the comics Moira MacTaggert is Charles� ex-fianc�. But not here in my Healing Universe. Here Charles only true
love is Erik and I refuse to change that. So too bad implausible, unbelievable
comic book storylines, you have no power here.

�� I also
managed to again butcher all known knowledge of neuroscience to suit my story�s
purposes. Oh well. Ignore anything read here. It�s based on real neuroscience
and then I just twisted it however I needed to.

Preview: The End Notes
are coming! The End Notes are coming! Will there be a sequel?
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Healing