Disclaimer: Marvel's, not mine.
Thanks to ishandahalf, Kira, DemonicGambit, GreenFairyGirl88, Antonia, and Star-of-Chaos for reviewing my second to last chapter. Questions will be at the end of this chapter. Thanks guys.
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Remy slipped in through the open window sill, landing carefully and quietly on soft carpet in a room that had once belonged to him. He nodded behind him, and Rogue flew in, Moira in her arms. There was a feeling of finality in the air, one that each one of them took in separately.
"We can quit bein' silent. They know we're here by now," Rogue said, breaking the cautiousness of their steps.
"How can ya tell lass?" Moira asked, her voice still in a whisper.
"Because Ah worked for em'. Ah know their moves. Ah know what they know."
"Maybe chere, but you and I got strong mind blocks. Logan and Moira are de only ones dey will be pickin' up."
"Where is Logan anyway?" Moira questioned, moving towards the window and peering out.
"Logan's a lone worker. Ah'm sure he's on his own mission," Rogue stated, crossing her arms with a slight smile on her face. "What ya looking at anyway Moira?" Rogue moved forward, up behind Moira's position at the window.
"I was just thinking how much this cloudy weather reminds me o'Muir Island."
"Oui. Dis place hasn't had good weather since Stormy died." At the nickname Rogue raised a playful eyebrow, but Remy wasn't paying attention. Her death was still fairly fresh, and she caught a reminiscing glint in his eyes. "Ororo put a curse o'bad weather on dis place," he muttered just as a few pelts of rain hit the glass. The action only caused Remy to smirk.
Suddenly Moira shot down to the ground, hands covering her head in pain, a sharp scream emitting her throat.
"Shit!" Rogue cursed, running to pick up the trembling woman from the ground. "Xavier's already gotten to her!"
Remy started climbing the window's ledge, his eyes scouring the area for an exit. "Head to de roof petit."
Rogue flew Moira outside, watching Remy climb gracefully up the building. Her admiration for his movements distracted her, as love often does. An optic blast caught her from the side, causing her to lose hold of Moira as both women plummeted to the ground.
She could hear Remy scream briefly, before she pulled herself up just before she hit the ground. She watched the pink glow of Jean's catch Moira and drag her towards the group.
Suddenly, Rogue felt herself go stiff, and realized that Eric had entered the picture, capturing her frame. The only thing that could stop her movements. Kurt walked up to her then, a small bracelet in his hands, one Rogue recognized readily. He slipped the suppressor around her thin wrist with a wicked glint to his eye.
And then she heard Remy scream. She waited for his body to come cascading down from the roof, but it never did. Instead she watched Angel flap his wings, and a few feet from the ground he discarded Remy's body, throwing it harshly to the ground. A power suppressor was already around his wrist.
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Rogue's eyes groggily opened as she pulled herself into a crawling position. Her hands met the cold cement, and picking out the area of her cell that held light, she stumbled over to that spot. And then her eyes brightened as she picked out a familiar shape.
"Remy?"
When she didn't gain a response, she crawled over, tapping his sleeping form. When that still did not garner her a response, she shoved him, rolling his body over, so she could see his face. Finally he groaned.
But his groan was not what caused her to gasp. Rather it was the blue rashes that adorned his right arm. She felt herself grip his skin hard, her fear seaping out through her now human strength.
"Rogue! Stop, you're hurtin' me chere." Rogue heard his plea, and tried to dismiss the cloudy look in her eyes, scooting back, releasing her hold.
"Remy? What happened? How'd we get here?"
She watched Remy shake his head, his gorgeous locks swaying back and forth, as his blood red eyes finally glanced in her direction.
"Why'd we come back here Rogue? Just for Kitty's sake?" He dragged himself up into a sitting position, curling his arms around his knees.
"For Kitty's, and for Moira's. Ah-Ah thought maybe she could, well-
"Change his heart?" Remy finished for her, a slight sarcastic tone to his voice.
Rogue looked at him with timid eyes. "Yes. Ah guess Ah thought that. Love's a powerful thing Remy."
"Oui chere. It be more powerful dan you know. Because where it's powerful enough t'heal, it's powerful enough t'destroy."
Rogue's body visibly shook then, as she wrapped her arms around her frame. "Please tell meh they didn't inject ya Remy?"
Remy looked at her with hollow eyes. "We ain't got a chance now chere."
That was all he said. His words seemed so cold, and maybe he meant them to be. His real feelings were impossible to read these days, and so she scooted closer to him, wrapping her arms around him. When she felt his warm hand touch her lower back, she pulled tighter. Together they remained entangled, because they didn't have much left.
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"A person can lie so easily, can they not Moira?"
Moira looked up from her position, chained to a chair in what looked like a medical facility. Her eyelids were half shut, dozing from the tranquilizer she had been given.
"The gullible young man I was truly believed you wanted to marry me Moira. I thought we could live the rest of our lives together, because that is what love suggests." Moira looked up, her taped mouth giving her no way to respond, so instead she shot daggers in his direction, her eyes a sad twist of pain and sorrow.
"I think perhaps you need an example Moira." Xavier walked over then, untying Moira from the chair and dragging her up by her chained hands. He pushed her forward towards the next room over and up a flight of stairs. They entered a control room of sorts then, where he let her stand in front of the large glass plates.
"Magnus, bring in our happy couple, will you?" Xavier asked into a nearby mic.
Moira looked over to the man she had once loved with all her heart, her eyes bitter with disgust. It was amazing what one action could do to destroy a person's outer appearance. When she heard the door open below, she saw several of the X-Men drag Rogue and Remy into the large med bay, as if it would take an entire army to stop them.
"Now, see Moira? This is an example of the dangers love offers. There are perpetual reasons these two can never be together, yet they continue to torture themselves with their constant contact."
He glanced at Moira then, and reaching over he ripped the tape from her mouth, earning a small yelp from her throat.
He paused, waiting for her to say something. "Rogue was raised cold blooded by her mother Mystique. And yet she found love."
"What is this Charles? I thought ye examined mutants, not their love lives."
Moira's biting remark seethed through Xavier and he gripped the counter tops with his fingers in frustration. When she did not say anything more, he relaxed, taking in a deep breath.
"You never should have left me Moira. I did not wish my life to end this way." The sensitivity in his voice startled Moira. It was an aspect about him she had not seen in many years, one she thought had disappeared long ago.
"Ye chased me off Charles, if ye will remember correctly," Moira responded quietly.
His head raised, and for a minute she was afraid of what he might do.
"Yes, and I must have made a mistake. I listened to the pressures of my outside friends. Magnus interpreted that time traveler Bishop's reasoning so much differently than you did Moira. I was a fool to listen to him over you."
"Ay, perhaps. But ye did it nonetheless. What can ye do now?"
Xavier took another long breath, his mind swirling with possibilities. "I have made my decisions in life Moira. I suppose I must atone for my mistakes."
He looked down to the room below, watching the southern couple be pushed to the center, Remy strapped to a bed, as Rogue was forced to watch him be injected with another dose of medicine.
"Ye're killing the boy Charles," Moira mumbled. He looked over to her, watching her eyes go out to the man and the woman who loved him. "Just like ye killed us."
Xavier could not respond to her observation, because she was right in her assumptions. He had messed up long ago.
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When the other X-Men had left Rogue and Remy to themselves, Rogue crept forward in her chains, her hands shaky as she reached for Remy's lifeless body. Her hand landed on his chest, rubbing it gently, feeling for a heartbeat. With trepidation she found it and breathed a sigh of relief. But a brick still weighed on her shoulders, just knowing he had been injected several times now.
The warm feeling of his hand overlapping hers sent a chill through her though as she accepted his touch. She leaned further into the bed, her head lying on his stomach, afraid to let go of him.
"Hey sugah. Ah thought Ah had lost ya there for a sec."
Remy coughed below her, in an attempt at a laugh. "I ain't that easy t'kill chere. Give me more credit den dat."
Rogue tried to laugh, but it turned only to tears as she wept into his shirt, her hands grasping at the fabric of his shirt.
He rested a hand on her head, one finger combing through her long strands. "Y'can't give up like dat chere. Ya held out on me for so long."
Rogue looked up then, her eyes bloodshot and teary. "Ah led ya inta all o'this Remy."
Remy nodded his head side to side. "Y'can't look at it like dat chere."
"Yes! Yes Ah can Remy!" Rogue's voice rose as she clutched his hand tighter. He was thankful her powers were turned off. "If Ah hadn't o'led ya here, ya would be happy and alive in New Orleans with Belladonna."
Remy reached a hand out to her cheek, rubbing her skin with his thumb. "I woulda been alive, but never truly happy. I needed t'meet ya chere. I never woulda found love otherwise."
Rogue let out a choking laugh, her eyes squinting shut. "Ah had so many fantasies Remy, o'you and Ah together. We were gonna go so many places, do so many things. We were gonna have something together." Rogue wiped her wet face with the back of her hand and then met his eyes. "Was that stupid o'meh?"
Remy leaned over, and with the brute of his strength, he pulled the rest of her body onto the bed with him. Instinctively she curled her body into his, her hands gripping his sides, her legs and arms entangling with his.
"Dat wasn't stupid chere. Dat was idealistic, perfect even. It was probably de same kind o'material I was wishing for. I was always looking for ya."
"Ya didn't even know meh sugah."
"Non, I didn't. But I do now. You're dat girl I dreamed about, laying in de grass o'de Bayou. Dat girl I wished for even when Belle was by my side, cause even she never captured me whole like you have."
Rogue began to cry again, her emotions sweltering, held to the brim, afraid she would lose Remy at any second even though she knew the medication could take awhile to kick in and kill.
"Do ya know how much they have given ya so far Rem?"
She watched him close his eyes, feel his fingers in her hair, curling around her locks. "It don't matter Rogue. Just don't think about it."
Rogue scrunched her body closer, pulling tighter on his clothing as if she were trying to mold herself into him.
"Ya can't die Remy. Ya saved meh, Ah have ta save you."
Remy moved his hand down to her back, rubbing it comfortingly. "Just stay here wit me chere. Dat will save me."
He could feel the warm, wet liquid seep through his shirt as she silently cried. It was the only response she could give, he knew. He understood her position. There had been nothing he could do for Belle either. But this seemed so much worse.
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"Ye could save him Charles. Surely ye have a cure for this virus ye created?"
When Xavier did not respond Moira had her answer. She pursed her lips together and watched the couple below cling to each other.
"How long does it take t'kill?"
She watched Xavier squint his eyes in contemplation. "It depends on the mutant. But we don't usually inject them as often as we have Mr. LeBeau."
"Does that mean he will die faster?"
There was a long pause as he watched the two below.
"Yes. It was my last mistake."
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Rogue slept, and dreamt about a time when she thought things would work out. Back to the beginning when Xavier had first opened the institute. Back when Moira was still around. Back when Xavier still held moral ideals, when he worked for both mutants and humans, hoping for peace. An ideal built both on Moira's and Xavier's beliefs.
But then she had left. And Rogue's job as a recruiter had turned into that of a spy. A murderer really. That had been so long ago.
In her sleep she could feel Remy twist below her, and she couldn't help but dream of a time and place that perhaps could exist, even if in another time. His warm skin pressing against her cheek encouraged her fantasies as she continued to hope for a time and place where they would become real.
In her dream she could feel his hand loosen, his grip slacken. Her dream would interpret that as letting go, disappearing. A death of dreams. A death of hope. A loss of love.
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When Rogue woke up, the body that had been warm below her had lost its comforting body temperature. But in her groggy state she ignored her first thought. Instead she stretched out, clutching Remy's hand tightly, tilting her head up to kiss him gently on the cheek.
When he did not respond to her touch, she called out his name several times. Squeezing her hand tighter around his she rolled on top of him, shaking his entire body.
"Remy! Wake up sugah! We have places ta go! Ah dreamt about it!" Rogue slumped down on top of him, afraid still to admit the truth. "We were gonna travel. Ah was gonna be that girl ya introduced to your family," Rogue continued to gush. "Ah was gonna be that girl forever in your bed, in your heart. The one who met ya at the end o'the isle!" Rogue yelled the last sentence, pounding her fist against his chest.
She looked at his face, his sweet, beautiful face, perfect at every angle. She touched his nose, his lips, his cheeks. It was all so real, yet so cold. He hadn't even let her see his gorgeous eyes one last time, and so in her blubbering state, she pried them open with her shaking fingers, glancing at the dull red beneath, nearly fainting at their lack of luster.
Quickly she dropped her head to his chest, sobbing into the material below, clutching Remy's sides. He had spoken previously to her about how fast time flies, but this seemed too fast. Life couldn't possibly be this short.
When her sobbing had ended, she rolled off the lab bed, wobbling over to the counters, looking for anything that might help her end her situation. The door opening behind her did not stop her search, and she continued to slam things about, shoving things off the counters.
The distinct sound of metal extending was what finally stopped her actions, and slowly she turned around.
Logan stood mere inches from her, his expression grim.
"He's dead Logan." Rogue muttered, although she already had an idea by the look in his eye what he was going to say.
"Yep. And I'm afraid ya ain't got much o'a chance either kid."
He was giving her a chance, and for reasons beyond her knowledge, she jumped back, her reflexes still strong despite her lack of powers.
He swiped at her as she jumped, followed her as she ran. They were both trained spies, trained assassins. But Logan still possessed his powers, an advantage to Rogue's present state.
She also had no will to really live, yet she fought nonetheless.
Shoving medical equipment in her path, and picking up loose pieces of glass shard, Rogue led Logan around the lab. She knew he was going easy on her. She lacked both her top mental and physical strength, but she had skill even without.
As she rotated around the lab, coming closer to Remy, she realized that this was the way it had to be. And it would be perfect.
She backed up against Remy's bed, stretching her arms out alongside his body, resting her head back against his stomach, reveling in his feel one last time as she gave in.
And then Logan's claws sunk into her heart, sending her into blackness once again, his last words her last sound.
"Told ya you could never sneak past my nose Anna. Ya never even saw my angle." She felt his claws release, just as darkness consumed her. "I'm sorry Stripes."
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Jean stood watching from the glass window pane. She had always thought Logan a traitor to their cause, and yet it seemed she had been wrong, misled. She had followed him down to the lab, followed him ever since picking up his presence on the property. A part of her still lingered for him, yearned for him beyond what Scott could.
She entered the lab quietly, watching him, head bent down, perhaps mourning the young woman he had just killed.
"How did you do it Logan? I never even sensed it."
Logan bent down, picking up the limp body of Rogue. Slowly he placed her on top of Remy, wrapping her around him.
"That was the point darlin'. I was checking things out from the inside position. Xavier's orders."
Jean stepped forward, hopeful. "Was it Xavier's orders for you to leave me?"
Logan looked up, staring first at the wall in front of him, before turning towards her.
"Ya fell for Scott long before that darlin'."
His words cut through Jean's heart in their accuracy. She had fallen for Scott, but had never completely let go of Logan.
"It's not fair Logan."
He nodded his head. "It never is darlin'. It wasn't for Betsy and Warren, Chuck and Moira, Rogue and Remy, even you and I Red."
Jean looked to the southern couple, appearing as if they were only sleeping on the lab, aside from the blood that spilled from Rogue's chest down the sheets, to the floor below. It was such a Romeo and Juliet situation that Jean was saddened by the reality of it. Nothing seemed forever.
She looked Logan in the eyes one last time, focusing on everything they had been once, everything they had had together. Because this would truly be her last time.
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Anna Darkholme watched from the side of the lake, sitting openly on the branch overhanging the water, wearing only her bathing suit, large hat and sunglasses.
She watched from a distance as Remy and his family enjoyed an afternoon barbeque, their laughter echoing all the way to her position. She gave a loud sigh, watching Remy wrap his arm around Belladonna's shoulder as he swung another arm up in emphasis, making those around him laugh harder at what he was saying.
She had yearned for that life once. It seemed so stable, so sure. Laying back against her branch, she closed her eyes, soaking in the afternoon's sun. She wished she had never been chosen for this mission. She was only two days into it and already she could tell it was going to be the death of her.
A loud splash moments later startled her, drawing her head up. She could see several members had jumped into the water, cooling off. But the splash had occurred so close to her. She searched the waters, her green eyes squinting in the sun.
Finally a head popped up, auburn, long strands soaked through by the lakes water. It was her target, but he hadn't yet seen her. He stared towards the shore, a slight grin on his face as he watched his family. He had such a beautiful grin.
Catching her thought, Anna shook her head, and in the process lost her balance and fell off the ledge of the branch. Screaming, she landed in the water below, garnering a response from Remy as his head shot to the side.
She pulled herself up, frantically reaching for her hat as it floated away. Her sunglasses marred her vision as it swam towards Remy, directly into his hands.
Even before she pushed her sunglasses atop her head, wiping the water from her face she could see the bright smile light up his face; the red beam of his eyes.
"Bonjour belle."
Anna smiled, not wanting him to identify her voice. Her smile seemed to make him smile more, but his eyes lit with something amid confusion and attraction.
She could hear his name begin to be called from the shore, and reluctantly he looked in that direction. He gave a loud sigh and looking back to Anna he pushed the hat back, letting it drift on the water back towards her.
He gave her a apologetic half smile, looking once more into her green eyes, before he dove back under the water and swam back to shore.
Anna watched after him, remembering the feeling that washed over her from that day on. It could never be considered being in love or falling in love, but it resembled that, encompassed that. It was their first shared feeling, one both would remember but never detail to one another again, because it was too sacred and intense for that.
Every love has a beginning, and nothing lasts forever, as forever is too long a time to imagine, even one as intense and beautiful as this.
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Well, life threw me a curveball, one I wasn't quite prepared to deal with this last month. I decided to mirror that bottle of emotions in this story. Sorry if this story started to die off, but now it is officially over, as this is the last chapter. Hope you enjoyed it as much as you could, because it may be my last story for awhile.
Here is a list of maybe questions, and questions asked from last chapter:
1. Rogue's amnesia was caused from both Betsy's blade and her fall out the window. Her loss of memory made it hard to locate her mentally, so it took the X-Men a few days to find her.
2. Logan was working for Xavier all along. He submitted himself as a spy into Moira's base. Killing Betsy was an unnecessary evil, one he felt he had to do to truly make it look like he was on Rogue's side. In the end he still felt connected to Rogue, and he killed her partly out of his duty and pity for her situation.
3. Kitty was returned to Lance, it just didn't feel pertinent enough to mention. Sorry guys.
4. The last section of this chapter is a flashback, going back to Rogue's second day of spying on Remy.
5. This one is for Antonia: Yes, I have seen the fourth season of Evo. Did you see some sort of resemblance between that and my story?