Rogue learns the truth

The X-men are training in the danger room, simulating a rescue and recovery mission.

Kitty phases through the floor behind Ororo dressed as a guard and sprays her, saying "North perimeter secure." Over her com.

Evan, who is on the other side, hanging from the warehouse they are infiltrating with his spikes, releases them and drops down behind Logan dressed as a guard, also spraying him, telling the others "This guy's catching Z's. Uh I mean South perimeter secure."

"OK, let's make it a clean rescue." Scott says and he teleports into the warehouse with Kurt, relying on Jean to catch them mid-air with her telekinesis.

"Man, you guys are heavy." She says and slowly lowers the two of them further down while she's standing on the roof, looking through its windows.

Scott then uses his laser to free the supposed Storm, who's lying on the floor chained to a beam.

"Which one of you has been putting on weight?" Jean asks struggling to keep them floating.

"It's Nightcrawler, burgers seven days a week will do that to a fellow." Scott replies.

Unnoticed by Jean a disguised Ben climbs up the warehouse behind her.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" He asks, turning her to face him.

Jean loses her focus, making Scott and Kurt fall down to the warehouse floor, tripping the light sensors on their way down.

"Let's grab her and port out of here." Scott says, grabbing the lying persons arm only for it to be a Rogue replica, grabbing his face and absorbing his power saying "Gotcha." The Rogue look-alike shoots Kurt with her laser eyes and Scott yells "Hold it, stop the simulation."

"Scott, you're never to stop a simulation unless you're hurt." Xavier says disappointed.

"Trust me that hurt." Kurt remarks from the sidelines.

"Why is Rogue in this training? She was not part of the briefing." Scott asks.

"And why is Ben playing a guard?" Jean adds.

"Simply the element of surprise, so expected it on every exercise. Well we're finished, so get to school." Xavier tells them.

Jean and Scott hurry to school, to help their teacher prepare the bus for the trip they are going on.

On the way to the group, collected at the bus Jean and Scott discuss the simulation.

"So he threw you off your game by sticking Rogue in a simulation, what's the big deal?" She asks him.

"Me freezing up isn't the problem." Scott replies.

"What then? Because he chose Rogue?" She asks.

"Yeah, I guess. Look how can we pretend she's the enemy while we're trying to convince her she's our friend. If we can't think of her as a friend, she'll never want to join us." Scott says.

"Hey, it was only a simulation Scott, nobody will stop trying with Rogue and remember we train against Ben as well and he's our friend." Jean tells him, pulling him along to the bus.

Unnoticed by them Principal Darkholme was listening in on their conversation and hurries to the gym, where Rogue is currently training a few marital arts moves.

Rogue falls down, overestimating a jump and hears voices coming from behind the gym. She moves over to the blinds and pulls them down slightly, seeing Scott and Jean packing up the Bus.

"Principal Darkholme." Rogue says surprised by the older woman appearing next to her.

"He's never going to be your friend. You know that." Darkholme tells her.

"Who, Scott? I ain't interested in him." Rogue replies and moves over to a punching bag and starts hitting it.

"Really? Tell me dear have you forgotten how Mr. Summers and his friends attacked you?" The principal asks her.

"No, it's just that…" Rogue says stumped.

"Just this morning I overheard them discussing simulated battle exercises with you as their target." Darkholme informs her.

"Why, why would they do that?" Rogue asks shocked.

"I think it's time you are reminded just who your friends really are. Enjoy the field trip dear, it should prove most enlightening." Darkholme says, putting down a bag pack for her and leaves to inform the teacher about the change of students, with Rogue going on the trip instead of Jean.

After being informed by the principal the teacher goes over to Scott and Jean and tells her that she can't come because of her absent days and that she's being replaced by Rogue.

While everyone of the students is in school Professor Xavier gets a visit from Magneto who is disappointed in him since none of the students know the real identity of their principal.

On the school trip most of the students are talking amongst themselves, save for Rogue and Scott. The teacher soon gets worried however because of the bad weather and informs his students that if the conditions continue like this they'll have to turn around.

Further down their road to the caves the school bus starts sliding because they hit an icy spot in the small road and its threatening to fall off the mountain they're on. Scott manages to stop the bus before it goes over however by shooting his laser to clear the ice on a part of the road for their tires to grip and the bus comes to a stop, making the pupils inside sigh out in relief.

"Everybody OK?" The teacher asks them.

"Yeah, but now what?" One of the students asks.

"We head back." The teacher replies and tries to drive them back but they are stuck.

"Mr. Rebestky, why not take our snow mobiles to the cave and wait out the weather there?" Rogue asks him, making everyone agree with her idea.

The teacher gives in to their demand and they pair up in two and drive to the cave. Along the way Rogue challenges Scott to a race and nearly makes him go off a cliff, leaving him stunned at why she would do that.

"No trophy's for second place." Rogue tells him cockily, waiting at the entrance.

"How does a southern girl like you know how to handle a snow mobile?" Scott asks.

"Let's just say I'm full of surprises." She replies.

|Xavier mansion|

"Why not tell them the truth?" Logan asks Xavier.

"How do you tell students that their principal, whom they are supposed to respect and their enemy are one and the same?" Xavier replies.

"look if there is anything those kids are used to doing it's keeping their cool and keeping their secrets. They'll deal with it trust me." Logan tells him.

"Trouble is brewing, a blizzard in the mountains." Storm informs the two men coming into the room with Jean and Ben in tow.

"The geology club left for their field trip up there this morning." Jean adds.

"Jean I thought you were going with them." Xavier says surprised.

"Yeah, so did I but I found out that Darkholme kicked me off the last minute to make room for her little Rogue." Jean informs him.

"Rogue? You're right. Trouble is brewing." Charles agrees.

"Why do you think there is something going on?" Ben asks.

"Nevermind, I'll tell you all later for now Logan, Storm lets get the X-wing ready." Charles tells the two adults.

"Wait, wait, wait if Rogue's in trouble I'm coming with." Ben says and goes ahead of them leaving no room for questions.

The four of them quickly get in the X-wing and take off, headed for the mountains the geology club is visiting.

|caves|

"Ok, we're stuck here so might as well make the best of it. In review, metamorphic rock, question what has altered it from its original state? Answer heat, pressure or chemical change. It was one thing but now it's another, a mutation. Now look over here." The teacher informs his students and leads them further into the cave other than Scott, who notices Rogue slip away and follows her.

Scott follows her down a path, stopping once he almost falls into a deep chasm.

"Rogue?" He shouts out, trying to locate her with his flashlight and finds her standing behind him.

"I need to know Scott, what is it you want from me?" Rogue asks him.

"I, I don't want anything except maybe your friendship." Scott replies.

"Know what I want? The truth. Am I a target for you and your X-freaks?" She demands to know.

"We, uh…" Scott stammers.

"It's true isn't it? I know all about your battle simulation, the one where I'm the enemy. Is Ben also in on this?" She asks going away a few steps.

"Rogue, wait it's complicated. We're not who you think we are. We never tried to hurt you, you've been lied to. We want you with us." Scott tells her.

"Yeah? Well sorry, not interested." She tells him stomping off until she bumps into one of the kids from the bus.

"Hey, everything alright?" He asks the two.

"Paul here's your friend but I bet you never practice fighting him." Rogue says.

"I'm afraid you'd lose that bet Rogue. Hello Scott, are you more surprised to see me or me?" Principal Darkholme says, dropping her disguise as Paul and then her disguise as Darkholme to reveal Mystique.

"Principal Darkholme, you're Mystique?" Scott asks shocked.

"Something Professor Xavier neglected to tell you, nice of him wasn't it. You have no idea what he's been hiding from you. Let me fill you in, you X-men are nothing but puppets for Charles Xavier and I am a sharp blade cutting your strings, just so I can watch you fall." She tells him and pushes him off the ledge.

"No, Scott." Rogue screams running over to the chasm.

"Why did you do that?" Rogue asks Mystique.

"I am protecting you dear. From his lies. He only wants to hurt you like Charles Xavier and all the other X-men, including Ben." She replies.

"And you don't, what did you do to Paul?" Rogue asks angrily.

"Let's just say he missed the bus due to a little miscommunication. Now let's rejoin the others and break the tragic truth." Mystique answers turning into Paul and offering her his hand.

"No more secrets." Rogue yells and takes off her glove, grasping Mystiques wrist and starts to absorb her powers as well as her memories, seeing her talking to her foster mother, turning into the X-men to scare her and talking to Magneto.

Mystique collapses for a short time after getting her powers drained and Rogue realizing that Scott and the X-men were telling the truth says, "Oh Scott, I'm sorry." And moves to the chasm, jumping down it upon seeing him hanging from a ledge further down. She pulls him onto the ledge.

"Thanks for the lift Rogue." Scott thanks her.

"Don't thank me yet." She says looking up and seeing a huge boulder headed right at them curtesy of Mystique.

They jump off the ledge to avoid being crushed and land in the small river running beneath them, which is leading into a waterfall.

Scott shoots part of the wall, creating a room for them to hang on to and grabs it, telling Rogue "hang on to me." And he manages to drop them down on a ledge sprouting beneath them with her hanging on his back, only for the ledge to crumble and they tumble down the steep cliff, landing on an ice bridge with Scott hitting his head.

|with Ben|

Shortly after they assembled in the X-wing Ben asks the professor "Do you mind if I go ahead?"

"No, please do. If mystique made her move, she must be growing desperate."

Xavier replies mumbling the last part mostly to himself.

Ben wastes no second, transforms into a dragon like bird with jet thrusters on his wings and opens the door of the x-wing. He jumps outside and quickly takes off with only a green streak showing which way he went.

A few seconds later Ben lands in front of the caves the class were going to visit and transforms into his crab-like form and searches for Scott and Rogue telepathically with his heads armor plate splitting open, revealing his enormous brain.

Once he finds them Ben transforms into a blue mothlike being and flies in the direction of their location using his ability to phase through part of the mountain separating him from his friends.

Not long after, Ben reaches the two teens and sees Scott lying on the ground, looking unconscious on the ice bridge hovering over a massive abyss with Rogue kneeling next to him, trying to wake the brunette teen.

"What happened to him?" Ben asks dropping down in his mothlike form and shifting back to human.

"Ben, am I glad to see you here." Rogue says.

"Mystique is after us, Scott hit his head when we fell down here." She tells him.

"Scott, hang on. Ben's here now so we might get out of this alive." Rogue says to the barely conscious teen.

"Thanks for the pep talk." Scott replies sarcastically.

"Rogue thanks, you saved my life." Scott thanks her.

"I owed it to you, Mystique had me pretty mixed up. Her mind is a tortured mess, but I saw enough to know that you're not my enemy. But I thought she really cared about me." Rogue says.

"Maybe she does." Scott replies before losing consciousness.

"Jo Scott, stay with us dude." Ben says kneeling on one knee next to Rogue, who's supporting Scott's head with her gloves on.

"Will he be OK?" She asks Ben worried.

"He'll be fine. The professor should be here soon. You did good Rogue." Ben tells her, patting her shoulder appreciatively.

They get interrupted however by Mystique, who's shifted into a wolf, coming down the mountain, stalking them like prey.

"It's Mystique." Rogue says scared and drags Scott further into the middle of the bridge to get away from the wolf.

"Let me handle this." Ben says and shifts into a wolf-like form with a weird snout which can be opened four ways.

The two wolf look alikes growl at each other and Mystique makes the first move, jumping at Ben, clawing for him and hits him in his side, trying to get past him at Rogue. Ben retaliates by grabbing her by the tail and yanking her back away from Rogue and Scott and punches her on the snout.

Mystique jumps back, growling more furiously at Ben and Ben readies himself for her next attack, hearing that the X-wing is almost at their location, lead there by Xavier leading them to Ben's location since they can't see much with the whiteout, they are in.

Mystique jumps towards Ben, trying to hit him head on and get in a bite, Ben acts on instinct and his snout claps open. He howls and shoots her flying back with the soundwaves he emits. The soundwaves however also weaken the ice bridge they are on and it's starting to crack. Mystique rebounds quickly, turning into a hawk and preparing to attack Rogue, flying right past Ben but retreats once the X-wing appears just next to the bridge with Logan appearing in its door, snarling at her.

Ben takes this chance to retreat and runs on all fours over to Rogue and Scott, picks up the unconscious teen with one hand and yells at Wolverine to get out of the way.

Ben scoops up Rogue in his other arm, being able to lift her easily with his larger size and jumps over to the hovering jet moments before the bridge collapses.

Once in the jet Ben hands Logan Scott, who quickly straps in the unconscious teen before going back over to the shivering Rogue and Ben asking, "Where is your allegiance kid?"

"Logan." Ben snarls not delighted that he's bothering Rogue while she's still confused and scared.

"If I don't say you, will I get thrown out of this yet?" Rogue asks scared, shivering from her prolonged exposure to the cold.

"Nope, not our style, we've either earned your trust by now or we haven't plus I don't want ghost boy over here to go haunting my ass." Logan tells her pointing at Ben, who's now turned back human.

"You." Rogue says, after looking at Ben for a moment.

"Welcome to the X-men" Logan says giving her a smile and shaking her hand.

"Logan, give us some space would ya?" Ben asks the older man who grunts in reply and moves back over to Ororo, who's checking on Scott while Xavier pilots the jet.

"Sorry about Mr. grumpy guy, he is a little to protective of us." Ben tells Rogue, who's still cowering in a corner because she's so cold.

"Here, hold on." Ben says, sitting down next to her, cross legged and concentrates for a few seconds, shifting his hands and lower arms into that of his magna form which can produce fire.

Logan sees this and yells "Bub, if you burn anything in here, you'll have to work it off after I'm done kicking your ass."

Ben ignores him and moves his hands close to Rogue, careful not to ignite a flame, so he doesn't burn down the X-wing with them still on it.

"Better?" He asks her, hovering his arms over her body, changing locations every few seconds.

"Yeah, thanks. Didn't know you were such a hottie." She replies with a playful wink, making him lose control for a second and a flame ignites on his hand, singeing part of his muscle shirt, before he claps it out, quickly turning his hands back human.,

Rogue laughs quietly at the scene and Logan threatens "Why do I smell smoke Bub?"

"Would you cool it. It's a wonder my clothes haven't been burned up completely already." Ben tells him before turning his hands back to lava and continue warming the brunette, who at the mention of his clothes gives him a quick one over, liking what she sees.

"Sorry." Rogue apologizes quietly.

"Don't worry about it, you were only telling the truth after all plus this won't be the last time, I'm ruining these clothes." Ben tells her jokingly, making her grin.

"You know kid after you're done drying her you can get to work on Scott." Logan tells Ben, coming over to him.

"What am I your own personal heat dispenser?" Ben asks irritated by the older man, he's grown to like after he taught him a lot in regards to staying cool-headed no matter the situation and meditation.

"I'm OK now Ben. Maybe you should really help Scott now." Rogue says, getting up and giving him a thankful nod.

Ben goes over to the other teen, lying in his seat grumbling "Everyone bossing me around, using me as a common heat lamp."

"You know, in a way you're already the most powerful out of us all." Logan tells her.

"What do you mean?" She asks not knowing what he is talking about.

"Kid's clearly got a thing for you and he could whoop anyone's ass hands down once he's got a little more training and experience under his belt. But don't tell him I said that." Logan says while Rogue watches Ben who's warming up Scott.

"Who tell hell put a blanket on him?" Ben shouts annoyed once he causes the blanket to catch on fire due to his heat and Storm has to put out the fire quickly.

|That evening – Xavier Institute|

"It's the same as lying to us, we had a right to know who our principal really was." Jean says after Charles told everyone about Mystique.

"Yeah man, what did you think we were gonna do? Go after her?" Kurt says while everyone else agrees, other than Rogue who's holding back and Ben who only started school and doesn't really care.

"Man, we know better. She wants to play like nothing's going down, so can we." Evan says.

"It's like we were playing with fire and didn't even know it." Kitty says.

"Rogue?" Charles asks wanting to include her.

"It's not my place." She says.

"Sure it is, you're part of the family now." Kitty tells her.

"Yeah girl, tell us what you think." Evan agrees.

"Well, I think. No I've learned that honesty is very important between people you care about. At least it is to me." She says.

"You're all right. I must apologize for keeping this secret from you, but please understand there are many challenges in your future. Secrets, elements of surprise. Some you're ready to deal with, some you're not. In the future I'll try to determine better which is which." Charles tells everyone.

"Thanks professor, we're all in this together. It's nice to know we've all got something to learn. That's what makes us X-men." Scott says and soon after their group discussion everyone leaves for their rooms, talking amongst themselves.

"Hey Rogue, wait up a second OK?" Ben says stopping the brunette teen as he walks over to her.

"What is it Ben?" She asks him.

"Well, despite it being an eventful day, I think you should have a welcome present from me, meet me at my room in a few." He says and goes on ahead while she's going to hers and Kitty's room wondering what he's talking about.

"Hey there roomy. Earth to Rogue?" Kitty says seeing her new roommate enter their room spaced out.

"What… Sorry." Rogue says snapping out of her thoughts.

"What has you so lost in thoughts girl?" Kitty asks, sitting down on her bed with Rogue doing the same on her new bed.

"Ben said he wants to give me a welcome to the X-men present." Rogue tells her.

"Man, why didn't I think of that, wait I never got one." Kitty says.

"So it's not usual for the newbie to get a gift?" Rogue asks.

"I don't think so, but I guess I can already figure what he's talking about." Kitty says thinking it over.

"Anyways I better head over to him, he's waiting on me." Rogue says and leaves the room with Kitty telling her "You're lucky, you know that. I wouldn't mind him fawning over me like he does you." Kitty tells her, lying down on her mattress.

Rogue makes her way over to Ben's room and knocks, hearing him say enter.

She enters the room and looks around his room, seeing a few weird looking devices leaning on the wall and a few papers scattered on his table, other than that the room is pretty much the same as everyone else's.

"Sorry, don't mind the mess or that stuff." Ben tells her motioning to the wall with the devices.

"So, why am I here?" Rogue asks unsure as she sits down on the edge of his bed, in front of him while he's in a meditative pose on the floor.

"Well, like I already told you, I might have found a way for you to be able to touch someone, well me." Ben tells her.

"Yeah, so you said it was a long shot." She replies.

"True, but still I thought what better way to welcome you than with what you've been missing." Ben says and extends his hand to her.

"Trust me." Ben says and removes her glove with his other hand and lightly grasps her wrist, leading her hand close to his, so she only has to grab him.

"I don't know." Rogue says scared of what might happen.

"Rogue, if we don't try I won't be able to try and figure out a way to make this work. Look, I know you're scared but please, just trust me." Ben tells her honestly.

"OK, here goes." Rogue says and takes his hand, squeezing her eyes shut expecting something to go wrong and for either of them to get hurt.

After maybe 5 seconds of contact she opens her eyes, asking "Ben are you OK?", feeling her absorb his powers.

"Yeah, but I think we might have to wait longer to see if I succeeded." Ben tells her and they sit there in silence for maybe 40 seconds at which point Rogue decides to be bold and takes of her other glove

With her teeth and takes his other hand.

After another minute with Ben checking his watch to see how things are going He stands up and sits down next to her saying "I can't be completely certain but it looks like it works, doesn't it? How long does it usually take for you to affect someone?" Ben asks her with a wide smile on his face.

"Only 3 seconds I'd guess. We're almost at 3 minutes." She says excitedly, checking his watch.

"Ben, this is…" She says, tears swelling up in her eyes.

"Everything OK?" He asks concerned, one hand leaving hers to wipe away her tears.

"It's perfect." She says softly and leans in, closing their distance quickly and kisses him sensually, never wanting the moment to end.

Ben doesn't waste any time and replies to her kiss eagerly, never having kissed anyone before due to him flying about as a ghost.

"Ben, I don't know what to say, honestly. How?" She says gratefully, once they break their kiss.

"It involved a lot of let's say challenging training with the prof after hours." Ben informs her, giving her a peck on her nose.

"Oh Ben, you really have no idea what this means to me." She says tears welling up in her eyes again.

"It's all OK now. This won't go away any time soon." Ben tells her, squeezing her hand.

"How long do we have now anyways?" Rogue asks, looking at Ben's watch and sees that around 15 minutes have passed.

"Looks like it's working. If there was a problem, it should've shown itself by now." Ben says.

"Yeah. But I guess I better get back in my room or Kitty might organize a search party for me." Rogue jokes.

"Yes, you might be right." Ben agrees and let's go of her hand as they walk to his door.

"Look Rogue, I'm guessing you already know that I like you, but I want you to know that this doesn't mean that I expect you to reply to my feelings or anything I just want you to have something normal back." Ben tells her as she's standing in his opened doorway, looking back at him.

"I know that Ben, let me just respond with this. See you tomorrow, boyfriend." Rogue tells him, pulling him in by his shirt quickly and gives him a brief kiss before she goes over to her room's door with a light bounce in her step while Ben is going over what happened in his mind quickly while watching her leave. Once she's out of sight he closes the door and lies down on his bed smiling to himself.

"Boyfriend." He replies happily.

When Rogue enters her room, she sees Kitty waiting for her.

"What took you so long?" Kitty asks.

"It worked." Rogue replies almost in a whisper.

"What?" Kitty asks not having understood her.

"It worked, I was able to touch him." Rogue says happily, a smile on her face as she goes over to the other girls' bed happily.

"That's good, and I don't want to burst your bubble, but can you please still be careful around me?" Kitty asks, pulling away her hand just before Rogue accidentally touches it because her gloves are still off.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Rogue apologizes and quickly gets off her bed, going over to her own.

"Don't worry, I'm happy for you. So, you still didn't answer me what took you so long?" Kitty replies.

"We wanted to make sure it wasn't just a fluke and kept contact the whole time, 15 minutes, can you believe it." Rogue says ecstatically.

"So you were holding hand for 15 minutes?" Kitty asks.

"Well we started with holding hands, but… ah you don't need to know all this." Rogue says.

"Yeah well, your face says it all and please be careful with him. I know he might appear confident and cocky but he's really just a kind-hearted sweetheart deep down." Kitty tells her.

"What makes you say that?" Rogue questions.

"Just trust me on this, other than the teachs I've been the one he spend most of his time with, since he helped me train my powers." Kitty informs her.

"OK, thanks I'll keep it in mind." Rogue thanks her and gets ready for bed while Kitty thinks to herself 'Man I'm really Jealous of her, she had to go and snatch up the only guy worth dating around here.'