They dedicate their lives
To running all of his
He tries to please them all
This bitter man he is
Throughout his life the same
He's battled constantly
This fight he cannot win
A tired man they see no longer cares

The metal javelin begins to glow a bright pinkish color as it becomes infused with temporal energies. The lavender fingers which hold the javelin begin to twirl it in circular motions. A blur of pink is all the opponent sees, before the javelin leaves the fingers and cuts through the air at high speeds.

Victor Creed, the opponent, leaps to the side and avoids the javelin. He moves forward towards his prey, his adamantium claws bared. He leaps forward and brings them down in a large arc. Clarice Ferguson vanishes in a flash of pink energy and Sabretooth falls forward. Blink appears atop his back, and taps him on the head.

Using his hands as a springboard, he flips back to his feet, and Blink jumps from his back. She lands in a crouched position not far from him. Sabretooth lunges forward once more. As he slashes, Blink grabs his arm and uses his own momentum to flip him to the ground. She points a javelin at the base of his skull.

"Had enough?" he asks.

She laughs and pulls the javelin away, the energy fading from it. She slides it back inside her jacket. Sabretooth gets up and dusts himself off. The two combatants hear the sound of clapping and turn to see John Allerdyce sitting atop a nearby rock with a cigarette dangling from his lips. He wears a red t-shirt with a small apparatus over it, and small tubes running down to the backs of his hands. He lowers his sunglasses slightly to look at the two of them, then leaps from the rock and throws the leather jacket which lays by his side over his shoulder.

"Not a bad show, Vic," he says. "But I'm curious... I always thought the purpose of fighting was t' win. Now to me, it looked like the lass made you her bitch."

"Hey limey..." mutters Creed. "Blow me."

"No thanks, mate," replies Pyro as he flicks the cigarette at Sabretooth's face. "I choke on small objects."

"Yer gonna pay f'r that, firebug," warns Creed.

"I'm shaking," says Pyro. "By the by, how are thoses restraints working out?"

The former terrorist mutant begins to chuckle as he walks back towards the outback town. Blink looks over to Sabretooth and sees the rage building in his eyes.

"Just ignore him," she says. "He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"I know," says Sabretooth. "Don't worry, kid, I ain't gonna give 'im the satisfaction."

"Good for you," says Blink. "C'mon, let's get back to the town."

"By the way, I saw how you handled Killian," says Sabretooth. "Good work, pup."

"He almost killed me," says Blink.

"So what? Y' still gave him a good run."

"Thanks."

Tokyo, Japan. A penthouse apartment which once belonged to the late Marcus Tsung. The former head of the Jigoku crime syndicate. Now, it belongs to the new leader. Betsy Braddock, the woman who calls herself Psylocke. Before her is Vargas, a Spanish gypsy who was trained by the Jigoku and rose through their ranks to become their top assassin.

"Your work pleases me, Vargas."

"Thank you, my mihtreth," replies Vargas outloud to Psylocke's telepathic conversation.

"The technology you obtained from the Crimson Pirates before dispatching of them will be quite useful to the Jigoku's goals."

She approaches the chair he sits in, casts him a downward glance, and then walks past it.

"However, you still have not completely redeemed yourself. The lisp you speak with is a reminder of your failure to eliminate Wolverine. Of course, we could theoretically find a way to cure you of it, but I find it is best to keep the scars."

As those words are transmitted into Vargas's mind, Psylocke's fingers lightly run across the mark of the Crimson Dawn permanently tattooed over her left eye.

"So we have a reminder of our past failures. And so we can rectify those past transgressions. I am in the process of rectifying one of them, and I have your next assignment for you."

"Am I permitted to attack Wolverine again?"

"So quick to die, are we? No, you are not ready to fight Logan. He not only defeated you when last you fought, he humiliated you. You need to work your way back to the top before I can forgive you for costing me the acquisition of the Clan Yashida."

"Then what is the tathk?"

Elisabeth Braddock circles back around to the front of Vargas's chair. She leans down and slender hands gently lift his head towards her. The Spanish ninja looks directly into her eyes, and the darkness within them sends a chill down his spine. Her lips form into a troubling grin.

"Sabretooth."

"I've fought him once."

"Then this time, you kill him."

"Man, I can't believe it's been so long since the last time we talked..." mutters Rosemarie Charleston. She still cannot find herself comfortable with that name. It may be her real name, but as far as she is concerned, she is and always be known only as Rogue. It is the name the members of her family—not her biological family but her true one—call her by. She knows she can trust them, and yet, she still has not told them what her name is. But, as a man who meant a lot to her once said, "names don't mean anything." And despite the problems she has had with that man, she still believes those words. She kneels down by the headstone and runs her fingers across the name chisled there.

ORORO MUNROE
STORM
"A GODDESS WHO WALKED AMONG MORTALS"

Rogue closes her eyes as she feels tears begin to well up in them. A few slip out as she sits before the grave. She thinks back on her past with Storm, and almost feels like laughing. When Rogue first joined the X-Men, Storm was furious. Rogue even remembers her exact words.

"'If Rogue stays, I go,'" says Rogue, repeating those fateful words. "We were at each other's throats when we first met and then we became friends over the years. Guess you can never predict what'll happen to you, eh 'Ro?"

Despite the fact that Rogue was not directly responsible for Storm's death, she still feels the sting of guilt in her body. Storm was killed during the debacle with Apocalypse, and Rogue was forced into Apocalypse's servitude at the time. It was not anything she could help, and she knows that if Storm were here, she would assure Rogue that she does not have any need to feel guilt.

But Storm isn't here. And the words sound empty when they come from anyone else. If only Rogue had not been so headstrong in pursuing Alastaire. Then she would have never been kidnapped, and she would never have been turned into a Horseman. Then she would have been able to help out in the final battle. She could have saved Storm if only she was in control. If only she had done things differently.

"If only..."

"When Cerebro alerted me to a mutant presence, I wasn't expecting you."

Rogue turns at the sound of the new voice. She sees Cyclops standing before her, dressed in full uniform, complete with ruby quartz visor. Despite the fact that his visor never properly allowed anyone to read emotion on his face, it was even harder this time around. For some reason, that tone when he spoke... he sounded cold.

Almost as if he's given up.

"Scott... I'm sorry, didn't mean to alarm you."

"I do have a front entrance. You could have used that instead of sneaking around and tripping the motion sensors."

"I talked to Bobby," she says. "He told me you disbanded the team."

"He told you right."

"So soon after 'Ro's death?" asks Rogue. "Don't you think that's a bit extreme?"

"Changes needed to be made," replies Cyclops. "It's all for the advancement of our cause."

"I sometimes wonder if the dream is dead or not..." says Rogue.

"Dreams don't die, Rogue," says Cyclops. "I've just chosen to wake up."

Rogue turns to look at her former teammate in shock. She would expect words like those to come from Wolverine or Gambit. But Cyclops? He was always the epitome of what the X-Men stood for.

"You don't mean that..."

"If you don't mind, I have other matters to attend to," says Cyclops. "The next time you feel like talking to the dead, be sure to knock. I have more important things to worry about than former X-Men tripping the sensors."

"I'm still an X-Man, Cyke."

"It's Cyclops," he says. "And you're not. Not to me, anyway."

He turns away from her and begins to walk back towards the mansion. Rogue watches him go, and tries to resist the urge to strike him. From what Bobby told her, she knew things were bad. But she had no idea they were this bad. She had no idea that scott could become so... jaded.

She glances over her shoulder at the monument that stands to Professor Charles Xavier. The founder of the X-Men. She wonders how different things would be if he were still alive. Would the X-Men still be a family? Would they all be living under the same roof?

"Nice legacy you left us, Prof..." she mutters. With a thought, she conjures up the powers of the mutant called Gateway and opens a portal back to the Australian outback.

The portal reopens in the computer annex beneath the town. Rogue steps out of it and finds herself surrounded by darkness, the only light coming from the glow of the computer monitors. She notices a slight movement in the chair before the monitors, except the chair is not facing them.

"Pietro...?" she asks. "Why are you sitting in the dark?"

"...I went to see Luna."

"Oh..." says Rogue. "How'd it go?"

"Let me rephrase that," says Pietro. "I tried to see Luna. I wasn't allowed past the front door. Apparently, Crystal has given explicit orders that I am to come nowhere near her daughter. So, instead of receiving a hug from my child, I received this."

He lifts up some papers and tosses them on the ground. Rogue reaches over to the wall and turns on the lights. She then goes to pick up the papers and scans over them briefly. She then looks up at Pietro.

"What is it?" she asks. "Divorce papers?"

"She wants an annulment."

"Oh..."

"That means the marriage never even happened."

"I know," says Rogue. "I'm so sorry, sug—"

"Shut up."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said shut up," replies Pietro. "I'm not in the mood for pity right now, or pet names."

"Excuse you?!"

"Now is not the time," says Pietro. "I just wish to be left alone."

"Fine, have your wish then," she says, letting the papers fall from her hands. "When you decide to grow up and stop being an immature asshole, maybe then we can talk about this."

Pietro Maximoff glances up at her with crystal-blue eyes. There is an icy stare to them that reminds Rogue all too much of the man's father, and that scares her.

"Do you have any idea what I sacrificed for you?" he asks. "My daughter will grow up despising her father for never being around. She'll hate me for ruining her life, for not making my marriage work. And it's all because I chose to be with you."

"Don't even think of passing blame to me, Pietro, 'cause that's not gonna work," replies Rogue. "You can't keep blaming other people for your problems. Me, Crystal, your father. Sooner or later, that old, 'I'm Magneto's son' excuse stops working. You better start facing up to what's bothering you and get on the track to rebuilding your life. Because if you keep going down this road, you're not gonna have much of a life left to rebuild."

She turns and exits the annex, switching off the lights as she does so.

And Pietro Maximoff is left sitting in the darkness.

Alone.

Adamantium claws grow from his fingernails, and he grins as he faces his opponent. Blink removes her leather jacket to allow for better mobility, and brings her javelins to the ready.

"You set for round two, pup?" asks Sabretooth.

"Whenever you are, Mr. Creed," she replies.

"Remember the rules o' this exercise."

"No powers, I got it."

"Then what're we waitin' for?" asks Sabretooth as he leaps forward. Blink jumps towards him and uses her hands to spring higher off of his head. She flips in the air and comes to a perfect landing behind him. He turns and moves to strike her again, and she dodges his attacks with a finesse and grace that would make Psylocke envious. She then falls to the ground and drives her feet upward into his chest. It sends him stumbling slightly, yet she gets to her feet and delivers several more strategic kicks.

"Ready to say uncle?" she asks.

"No," replies a third voice from the shadows. "But you are."

The shadowed figure leaps from his hiding spot and bodyslams into Clarice. She is sent flying. Sabretooth glances over to see if she's okay, and he sees her beginning to get back up, albeit slowly. Sabretooth looks to see the attacker and brings his claws up as the attacker lifts his sword. Sabretooth's mouth forms into a snarl as he says,

"Long time no see, Vargas."