Partners in Crime (X-Men ROMY)

Chapter Twelve

"Hey, Kid." Logan said as he approached.

"Hey." She didn't bother turning around.

"Look, I'm not gonna tell you that what you said to Kurt was right, but I'm not gonna tell you that the anger you feel is wrong either."

She turned to him, curious about his statements. He held out a fist towards her and extended his adamantium claws.

Rogue stepped closer. "Is that metal?" Tentatively she reached out and hand to touch one of the claws.

"Yup, it coats and is fused with every bone in my body."

She could hear the pain in his voice and looked up into his eyes. "Did Hydra do that to you?"

"No. The project was called Weapon X, that was their code name for me, but their methods were basically the same as the people who turned you into a killer."

She paled. She hated thinking about some of the things she'd done.

"They controlled me too," he said. "Well, they tried, and for a while they were successful. Lucky for me, I lost most of my memories about 15 years ago, so I just get flashes. That's bad enough though."

"How do you live with it?" she asked in a soft voice.

"You have to forgive yourself."

Rogue scoffed and turned away.

"I know that sounds impossible, but you weren't in control of your actions, kid. You may feel responsible, but you weren't. By taking any of that blame onto yourself, you're letting them off the hook. You were the weapon, but they pulled the trigger."

That actually made a lot of sense to her, even if she couldn't quite believe it yet.

"Thanks, Logan."

"Any time, kid. And next time you see Kurt, say sorry, got it?"

"I was going to anyway!" she snapped. She didn't like talking about feelings, or admitting when she was wrong, so it made her rather short tempered.

"Good, cos as family goes, you kinda lucked out with him."

He turned and left and Rogue smiled at his retreating figure. He wasn't a man of many words, but the few he did speak were worth listening to.

 ***

"Rogue?"

She turned to see Kurt standing behind her. It had been about two hours since she had seen him, maybe an hour since Logan left.

"Hi."

"I just wanted to say that I am sorry about what I said, about Mystique wanting you. That was unkind."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. I am angry but not at you, I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

Kurt smiled and stepped a little closer. "I was hoping that even though you disowned Mystique and she disowned me, that perhaps we might be friends, if not brother and sister."

Rogue smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Kurt quickly stepped towards her with his arms outstretched and Rogue flinched.

"I- oh." Again she had hurt Kurt.

"I'm sorry, Kurt. It's not you, I'm just not used to people being so forward around me."

"You let Remy touch you."

"Now I do, but I didn't at first." She took a seat on the bench and patted the space beside her. Kurt took the hint and sat down. "Mystique and Irene weren't exactly cuddly parents, so I didn't touch much as a kid, then with Hydra, the only people who came close wanted to hurt me or do tests on me. They used to use power dampeners in my cell, you see, so my powers didn't protect me."