Gambit takes one last look at the folders his new boss had given him. He flips through the pages shaking his head.
“Well, Remy believe dat his friend, the mad scientist has finally lost it.”
He tosses his cigarette to the ground and crushes it underneath his boot. His red-in-black eyes scanning the area, not making out any sign of movement. The night is thick with fog and there is a scent of ash and smoke lingering in the air. Vertigo is perched on a rock staring in the opposite direction, also looking for anything out of the ordinary.
“I think we must be in the wrong location. I can’t see or hear anything...”
She trails off as something in the near by waters start to move. Steam and a faint glow begin to rise from the ripples in the middle of the lake.
“Gambit...”
Remy turns towards her, still fumbling through the folders, as if trying to figure out what they missed.
“Hey, Gambit...I think you should look at this.”
“What chere, can’t you seem that Remy is trying to...” His words are cut mid-sentence as he realizes what he’s actually looking at. The glow had gotten brighter and the water was bubbling. Red hair and green eyes slowly made their way out of the water.
“Oh my god! We were sent all the way out here for a person?!”
“D’is not just any person chere.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Steam. Heat. Comfort. Nothing like a shower to satisfy an aching body after a hard days work. Rogue had been teaching classes again, against the council of Scott and Emma. Although, she did lots of things that went against the advice of those two lately. Still, she needed those classes, she needed something to keep her mind from trailing off.
She dries herself off, flops her hair up in a towel and heads for the kitchen. Coffee time. As she enters, she can hear someone flipping through papers, scolding under their breath. Right away she knows that it must be Wolverine.
“Hi Sugah. Papers misbehaving again?”
“Huh? Nah. Frost said I had to fill out this crap if I wanted to take over the self-defense and weapons classes. What a load of B.S.”
Rogue places a filter in the coffee machine, adds the coffee grinds and pushes start. She opens the cupboard removes a mug and looks over at Logan. He nods.
“Yah know Logan, many things are different now. We have more students, new classes, more teachers...”
“I know. It’s the only way to keep track. But come on, who we kidding? It’s not like this is a real school...”
“Well sugah, for some...it is. Want milk or sugah?”
“Nah.” Logan rests his pen on the stack of papers and sips on his coffee. The kitchen is quiet, and the two stare at each other from opposite ends of the breakfast table.
Feeling uneasy, Rogue breaks the silence. “Ah can’t believe how fast it gets dark outside now.”
Wolverine sets down his coffee and stares out the window, as if contemplating what she has just said. Keeping his eyes on the darkened sky he sighs. “I need to know what went on...”
Rogue drops her gaze to her steaming mug and doesn’t say a word.
“You know. After I left. I need to know...”
Wolverine looks at the maple tree through the window, how different it looks now. The long branches that had looked so welcoming in the sun, now like bony fingers searching for its pray. It’s beautiful colored leaves now all gone. Something about it was just so dark, so menacing, so sinister.
Rogue warms her hands, holding her mug, all the while continuing to stare at her coffee.
“I didn’t mean for anything bad to happen, Rogue. I didn’t even know that I was kissing you, until later when I felt weak. It felt like something I was thinking about, a dream maybe, but there’s no way I would have left if I knew...”
Her eyes moistened. Loosening her hair from her towel, she shakes her head, trying to shake off the pain. Not from his words, but from her memories.
“Logan. It’s not...never was...yah fault. And ah can remember everything clearly. You weren’t kissing me. We...we were kissing each other. Also, yah not the cause of any of mah...the mansions problems with Remy. That Cajun scum managed that on his own.”
Confused and shocked, Logan sits lost in her words. Was that really what happened? Was it true that he hadn’t been the only one giving into those suggestions in their heads? Was he truly not the one to blame, for once?
“Rogue...I...”
“Ah think he always wanted to leave. He nevah really seemed settled here. That thing with Foxx...Ah think it was just an excuse...And t’ah think I actually gave a damn. Mystique, she always knew that she could make him leave...”
As if a red light was flashing, Logan had just realized what she said. “Wait a minute. You said Mystique. What’s she got to do with any of this?!”
“Everythang. She is Foxx. After you left, Remy told me he had made arrangements to switch Foxx to a different class. But then, somehow, Emma figured out who she really was. Ah just knew that swamp rat was lying about something...”
“Lying? About what?”
“Remy knew who Foxx really was. So Ah moved my stuff to a different room when Ah found that out. Then I confronted Mystique.” Her moistened eyes now begin to fill with tears and her speech begins to tremble as she recalls the events that took place. The events that threatened to crush her soul and leave her broken.
“Rogue, it’s ok you don’t have to...”
“She told me...she told me that she offered herself to Remy as Foxx but that he said no. But then she offered herself to him as ...oh god...Logan...”
Wolverine feeling the urgency in her voice moves from his chair to her side. He squeezes her shoulder a bit to let her know that he’s there.
“She offered herself to him as me.”
“I’m sorry kid. But he said no...right?”
“That’s just it Logan. Ah don’t know. But come on, who wouldn’t?”
Feeling stupid, not knowing what to say, Logan continues to stand by her side, holding her shoulder. Random thoughts of words he could say race through his mind, but nothing comes out.
“It’s ok Logan. Yah don’t need tah say anything. Ah’ll be...alright. It’s just the coffee talking, is all.” She manages a smile and wipes her eyes.
“But Frost said he tried...”
“Tried to kill us? Yes, he did. More then once he came here and he failed every time. But there were some times Ah thought he would do it. If it wouldn’t have been for Pulse, Ah don’t think I would be here now.”
Wolverine’s eyes and heart fill with rage. If only he would have been here, if only he knew, that Cajun would have been dead a long time ago. All these years, he said that Gambit had to go, but not once did he ever intended to hurt him, he couldn’t even think of making Rogue cry.
“Why did he come here? How could he have...”
“At first Ah didn’t think much of it. He was gone a few days. Ah thought he had to blow off some steam oh something. Then days turned intah weeks. Then there was the first attack...”
Rogue flashes back to seeing Remy for the first time since he had left. How he towered over her, how dark his ebony skin was, how long and white his hair had become. His face had lost all traces of humanity, his eyes had no hint of a soul, nothing was left. She can still remember how horrible his voice sounded when she called out his name as he calmly left the building.
“Gambit! Don’t go!”
“Gambit is no more! There is only Death now!”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Remy removes his trench coat and wraps it around the woman and carries her out of the waters. Her eyes flutter open and closed as he holds her close keeping her warm.
“Cher, don’t you know dat it’s too cold out for a swim?”
“Wha...? Who are you...? Where...where am I...?”
His eyes widen in shock and disbelief. He can’t believe his own ears.
“Cher, it’s me. Gambit.”
The woman tilts her head a little and holds her right temple.
“I can’t...can’t remember...Who...Who am I?”
Gambit sits the woman down on some near by grass and brushes the strands of hair in her face out of the way.
“Jean, chere. Your name is Jean.”
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Author's Chapter Notes:
Oooh Ok! Oh man, I'm either going to get alot of great reviews for this one or alot of flames. Either way...hehe this one is a doosy! Enjoy!
Disclaimer : I do not own any of the x-men
Disclaimer : I do not own any of the x-men
Chapter End Notes:
Hehehe what did I say?? Boom Boom Boom
Please Read and Review. Thank you.
Please Read and Review. Thank you.