If Rogue had been in her right mind, she might have been able to explain. These weren't all her thoughts, they were the influences of all the angry minds trapped within her own, leaking in to prey on her insecurities. So many of those psyches wanted her to suffer, wanted her to know pain and unhappiness for the rest of her life, and even the strength of Remy and Erik and Logan combined wasn't enough to keep them all at bay, especially not after such a strong nightmare. There was a spiderweb of cracks in the walls that kept her sanity intact and she was terrified of him seeing her when it came crumbling down.

That anger took her by surprise, and she stared at him as he bared his teeth and called her sweetheart with such dark emotion that it was like a knife to her chest. She'd done this. Her weakness was hurting him even now when she was trying so desperately not to.

"You can't love me," she insisted weakly, unfolding herself so she could slide off the bed and stand on unsteady legs. "Loving me gets people killed. I kill them. I can't do that to you."

And she started for the door, part of her knowing that he was likely to stop her, and that same part wishing that he would. She didn't want to lose him, but she couldn't keep him.