The X-Mansion had fallen.
A reformed Brotherhood of Evil Mutants had struck at midnight, at a time when the X-Men had decided that it was safe to go to bed, that there was no crime and that they'd be safe behind the mansion's defences. Man, were they wrong!
Rogue was awoken by the mansions defence system activating. She had stumbled to the shared bathroom and had put on her battle uniform, before soaring out like a hawk. Below her, were some of the other X-Men, and some of the students. "Hey! What're you doing out here! It's too dangerous, get back inside before you get your asses handed to you!" Rogue commanded, and some of the students obeyed, but others stayed where they were. "Kitty! What're they-" she motioned to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. "Doing over here?"
"I don't know," Kitty Pryde answered, her face steely and deep in thought. "But I feel like we're about to find out."
One of the Brotherhood members, a mutant with a tentacle, a single eye and a mouth on it, for a head, stepped forward. "We are here to claim the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning as our base!" He said, already sounding quite confident.
"Is it still called that?" whispered one X-Men to another.
"Who knows?" shrugged the respondent, one of the time-displaced X-Men. They had no more time to talk, as Kitty Pryde stepped forward with a leaderly stride and said confidently: "X-Men, attack!"
As the X-Men charged, the Brotherhood stepped aside. Rogue stopped short and gasped. Logan! He was standing there, dressed in his classic blue-and-yellow uniform, a smirk on his face. It looked quite attractive, Rogue had to admit, but still, she couldn't get over the shock of his betrayal. "Is that really him?" Nightcrawler asked, looking as shocked as Rogue felt.
"I believe so," Storm said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"It can't be!" Rogue cried. "I know Logan, and he's many things, not all of them good, but he'd never betray us. Especially to lead them." She hissed the last bit, but she felt a bit of guilt, as she was once of them, back in her naive days.
"Don't let him distract us!" commanded Kitty, but she sounded distracted, and like all of them, a bit distraught. Rogue charged, and went to punch a girl with flames for hair. Her fist easily collided with the girl's face. She went to face the Wolverine look-a-like, and removed her glove, ready for a special date with Logan's face. She was about to collide with his face, when all of a sudden he changed shape. "Eh?!" Rogue said, surprised. "Logan?" The not-Logan stood up and revealed that it was, to no one's shock and surprise, Mystique. "Why do you have to be behind everything?" Rogue said exasperatedly.
"Why not?" Mystique said in her calm, cunning voice. "Besides, you X-Fools are so gullible! You thought I was your Wolverine, despite the fact that Wolverine wouldn't do anything like this, not since the time we..."
"Shut up!" Rogue cried, letting her feelings to the forefront. She went to punch Mystique, but all of a sudden, she felt herself falling to the ground. Behind her, she saw that all of the other X-Men were powerless. "What have you done?" Rogue said, horrified at how easily they had been defeated.
"I'm fulfilling Irene's prophecies. With them fulfilled, our world will be a much better one for mutant kind-"
"Mama! You know what Irene would think of this-"
"Irene would think that this is honourable! And do you know what is honourable?" Mystique took out a knife and raised it above her head.
Rogue moved but not fast enough, Mystique had brought the knife down with the force of the Juggernaut's punches and had stabbed Rogue through the chest.
Rogue saw her life flash before her eyes, which was cheesy but true. From when she first discovered her powers (poor Cody...), to absorbing Ms. Marvel's powers (poor Carol...), joining the X-Men and her first romance. In what would be truly questionable, her first kiss with her powers was with the X-Men's archenemy Magneto. Could they have been happy? Maybe, but it would be incredibly awkward to look Wanda and Pietro in the eyes. That wasn't the only reason why she broke it off. Magneto, at the time, had been the leader of the Savage Land, but several incidents, most of them morally questionable, had made Rogue think "Hey, that's pretty awful" and that had been that. She had turned tail faster than a cheetah and never looked back.
Remy. He had been her longest lasting relationship in a string of well-intentioned, but often emotionally draining relationships. The bad boy Cajun had been determined to woo her, and eventually she let him into her heart. Unfortunately, Remy, like most thieves, was all about taking and didn't know how to give back. She had trusted him with precious memories, and even kissed him, but it turned out that Remy had locked away his memories and was not prepared to share them. That had been the straw that broke the camels back. She left him, for what would be the first of many times, but she always came crawling back.
In one of those off-periods, she dated Bobby Drake, also known as Iceman. He had been, living up to his name, very frosty. He seemed relieved that she could not, and would not, touch him. When he came out as gay, Rogue knew not to blame him for being so cold and that he had just been trying to cover up his true feelings.
In another off-period, she had had a brief relationship with her fellow X-Men Ororo Munroe. It had started as a bit of drunken fun, but eventually, they realised that maybe there was something more... some sort of spark... Unfortunately, this was right before Storm met T'Challa, the Black Panther, and when Storm met the Black Panther, she decided that it would be better for both of them if she could be close to her homeland of Kenya (with Wakanda being on the same continent) with another superhero that she could touch. Rogue may have cried, but she didn't show anyone her tears.
Logan was one of those strange relationships that she had pursued. Despite a deep, and rather awkward history, they had shared a few romantic moments. Unfortunately, Logan died while they were still discussing their future together. Rogue hadn't let it affect her, despite the fact that he was 'unkillable' and had been killed was a bit upsetting.
And finally, Wade. A loose cannon, a wild-card etc. Any mention of trouble was followed by "it must be Deadpool...". Rogue had taken a gamble, and while with the Avengers, had dated Wade. Heck, she'd even met his daughter, the little cutie. But they had to say their farewells when Rogue had to throw herself even more deeply into the X-Men.
And since then she had been single. She was here, dying a single lady. But that didn't matter. Rogue was known for being a tough Southern belle, and she wouldn't be left fantasying about what frisky going-ons could have happened if she hadn't been born a mutant, or had been more open or... It didn't matter, as Mystiques face flittered in front of her. "Don't let her win..." Rogue whispered with a dying breath. As it went black, she knew that she had died honourably, in battle, remembered as a strong X-Men and not as a stupid little girl, letting her fancy get the better of her. It's a good thing that no telepaths had witnessed the past few minutes inside of her head, because some secrets had to stay buried.