The alarm clock on the bedside stand flashed midnight as Rogue zipped her large duffle bag closed and looked around her room. It was depressing, she realized, that she could put everything she owned into one three foot bag and a backpack. It was habit that had kept her personal belongings to a manageable minimum. Almost as if she knew that the urge to run was just biding its time. She knew the urge was partly reminiscent of her six month stint as a runaway, and partly due to the growling voice that had taken up a permanent residence just this side of her subconscious.

Speaking of growling voices she had to go meet up with Logan before she left. Her mind briefly wondered back to their fleeting conversation earlier that afternoon. When she told him she was leaving he had stared blankly at her for a moment and then bluntly asked why. She explained. While she justified her actions, he had listened quietly, then when she had finished he had nodded his head once and told her to find him before she left. Of all the reactions she had expected, that had not been one of them.

In retrospect she couldn’t decide why his actions would surprise her as they did. After all, when she had gone to get that damnable ‘cure’ he had stood by her. Even when several others had called her a traitor to the cause. And even now when everything was going so very wrong in her life. Rogue shook her head to get rid of the self pitying thoughts.

Despair was an enemy if you were on the road. If you started to think that maybe you would be better off dead, you soon found yourself in that very position. Too many times had she seen fellow runaways fall prey to despair only to find that their situations immediately got worse. Doing a hand job for money was different than giving a blow-job to keep your pimp from beating you.

Rogue snorted in sarcastic amusement at the irony of such thoughts in the hallowed halls of Xavior’s School for the Gifted. Most of the people who lived here would never understand what a person would do if their life was on the line. Nor to what ‘depravities’ one would sink. She ignored the rumbling agreement of the voice in the back of her mind. Most of the people here were too innocent. Kitty, Bobby, and even Ro’ to a certain extent would never understand. However, some she knew, would, Jubilee, Rogue had noticed, had a certain hardness around the eyes. Even as Jubilee joked around and acted immature, she had noticed a sense of watchful wariness that only evolved after time alone on the road.

A knock on the door startled her out of her dark musings. She cast a quick glance at her bags laying packed in plain sight then shrugged. She hadn’t planed on anyone but Logan knowing she was leaving, but what the hell, everyone would know in the morning anyway. She calmly opened the door to find Kitty in a pair of cute kitten pajamas and Jubilee fully dressed in her customary wild fashion carrying her own duffle. Rogue stared at the pair a moment before sweet innocent Kitty broke the silence.

“Oh, Rogue, it’s true.” she cried as she spotted the newly donned elbow length gloves and then to the packed bags in the room beyond. “You are leaving.” she murmured with such a depressed air Rogue was hard pressed not to gather her in a comforting hug. Deadly skin and all that.

Jubilee cleared her throat, “Since you’re already leaving ya mind if I hitch a ride chica?” Rogue shifted her gaze from Kitty to Jubes.

“Where too?” she asked. Jubilee gave a nonchalant shrug.

“New York, I’ve got a few friends that I want to go and visit with for a while. Tall, dark, and growly said that you were hitting the road soon and that I might be able to catch a ride.” she accented her statement with a snap-pop of her gum and grinned.

“Your forgetting one thing, I don’t have a car. I can’t give you a lift anywhere.” Rogue wryly reminded her.

“Ah well, as to that, Wolvie told me to tell you he would be in his office when you were ready.” and, with that, Jubilee picked up her own duffle blew a kiss at Kitty and sauntered down the hall, calling over her shoulder as she went. “I’ll see you in about a month Kit-Kat. Take care of the boys for me.”

At that last statement Kitty turned bright red and looked studiously at everything but Rogue. Kitty and Bobby, after the two of them had made that stand with the rest of the X-men they had gotten even closer. Rogue rubbed her eyes trying to alleviate the throbbing behind her eyes. It wasn’t so much that she was jealous of Kitty being with Bobby. It was more a case of being envious of Kitty in general. Everything about her was perfect, from her supportive parents, the controllable ‘gift’, the perfect boyfriend, and the sweet innocence tempered with a very striking intelligence. In short Kitty was everything she wished she could be. With a sigh Rogue took pity on the younger girl.

“It’s ok Kitty. Bobby and I were never ‘true love‘ material. We would have broken up in time anyway.” Rogue ran a frustrated hand through her hair. “Besides, that isn’t exactly why I’m leaving.” she admitted. “I’m not really one to stay in one place for long anyway. Two and a half years in one place is a long, long time for me.” she reassured as Kitty finally met her eyes.

“Because of the Wolverine?” Kitty asked.

“No, not really. I’ve had the wanderlust for longer than I’ve known Logan. I always wanted to travel when I graduated.” Rogue spared a moments thought to the girl she used to be.

She had been somewhat, ironically enough, like Kitty was now. So, perhaps it wasn’t Kitty she was envious of, but the fact that she was still mostly an innocent. Even if one took into consideration the side effects of standing against Magneto’s hoard. Rogue pushed aside the whisper that she should have been there as well.

“Rogue,“ Kitty started hesitantly. “I just wanted to let you know that I didn’t want you to leave because of us. I didn’t mean to fall in love with him, and then I really didn’t expect him to fall in love with me. And then the cure…” Kitty’s voice trailed off. “I am sorry. Sorry for well,” she gestured towards the long gloves, the bags on the floor, and then at the masculine ring on a chain around her own neck. “everything.”

“I know Kitty, no harm no foul, right?” she said with a sad smile

This caused Kitty to smile shyly up at her and then, much to Rogues surprise, give her a huge hug. After a moment she returned the hug and ruffled the younger girls hair in affection. After a moment they broke apart and stood looking at each other awkwardly.

“Well…” Kitty began.

“Yeah,” sighed Rogue. “Time to go.”

She turned and walked back to the bed where her bags were. Stooping, she grabbed up her backpack, slung it over her shoulder and picked up the duffle. When she turned around she found Kitty in the same spot as she had left her.

“You take care of the boys like Jubilee said, you hear?” Kitty nodded and stepped out of the doorway to let her through.

As she started to make her way down the carpeted hall when she heard Kitty call her name.

“Yeah?” she asked as she turned to face the younger

“Remember to come home Rogue. You don’t have to stay, but come home every now and a while. Ok? We need all the good X-men we can get.” Kitty stated in all seriousness.

Rogue watched as Kitty put her hands on her hips an a scolding manner much like Jean would have. She gave Kitty her first genuine smile in a long time as she saluted.

“Yes, ma’am. Will do.” she called to Kitty.