He felt like the life was being sucked out of him as he watched her fall. The sight of her limp body dropping rapidly toward the ground paralyzed him with fear. And suddenly everything around him was gone, there were no enemies, no X-Men, no sound except for the lapping of her silver-gray cape as it wrapped around her body as she continued to drop lifelessly. It was only her falling and him watching her fall. Then hands reached out, familiar hands, and he was jolted back to reality.
They were in the middle of a battle. A battle with an enemy they had never seen before. Everyone was busy fighting, busy worrying about their own lives to notice.
The goddess was in the sky, the wind, lightning, and rain surrounding her, making her hair shimmer and her eyes glow with the animosity that was always there when she was free. Because when she used her powers she was free. No one understood why, but they sometimes watched in awe at how her spirit sailed with each gust of wind, each flash and crackle of a lightning bolt. Maybe if they would have looked, maybe if they watched they would have been able to stop it. Maybe they would have been able to see that they were leading her dangerously away from the others. It was as if they were trying to pilot her away from the group on purpose. But that was ridiculous right? Now it seemed so obvious, what his plan was. No one saw the immense surge of power that hit her from behind, no one saw her start to fall. They should have seen it, should have been able to stop it. But they didn't see it, didn't see it until it was too late.
One arm grabbed her around the waist, the fingers digging into her side, the other hand clasped in her now ankle-length hair. He remembered how much pride and joy she had in her hair, she would handle it with such gentleness and care, like she would handle her own child's hair. He used to sit on her windowsill, not speaking, just watching her. She would brush and caress the thick curls of her silky, long, white silver-tinted tresses. It used to mesmerize him and he remembered thinking that it looked like a shimmering snow-white river that seemed to flow and ripple forever.
Now her hair was tangled and knotted, dirt staining the whiteness, taking away the shine. His hand was clutching her hair, tangling in the strands, tugging at it until it brought tears to her eyes. The black and the blue of his uniform mixing with white and silver-gray, the colors that surrounded her, the body that held her seemed intrusive, threatening, dangerous, and lustful.
His mouth opened and he emitted a sound that seemed unnatural of him. His voice was hoarse and cracking with such rage, ferocity, and desperation that everyone turned. "Storm!" And then the enemies allies disappeared. He knew, he knew now what the intruder had come for, and he got it, because they didn't watch the white goddess in the sky.
He was the first to react, running forward. His whole body was extremely hot, the energy of hate he felt in his heart, surfacing through his hands to his card, the ace of hearts, the card that never let him down before. But he blocked it easily. "Now, now watch your temper. Please stay back unless you want me to break her pretty little neck. She is in a state of shock right now, she won't be able to fight me." Wolverine stepped up and pulled him back toward the others. He was helpless, standing there looking as her delicate, beautiful body being held in the arms of their enemy, motionless, lifeless. It was playing with his nerves.
Everyone stood, not moving, eyes wide as the man known as Tempest laughed on, the pure evil of his laughter causing them all to shudder. "Stay there or she dies. We wouldn't want that now would we?"
Wolverine growled, remembering Morph. "Well Cyclops do we want to leave her to die too?" Cyclops only glared at him. Tempest watched rather amused by the spectacle.
"Shut up," he screamed, his leather-gloved hands clenching with anger. "Do not fight wit each other now. If I lose her because of you I will never forgive you."
His face seemed to contort to tenderness when he gazed at the limp Storm in his arms. Then he frowned and looked at the X-Men. "She deserves so much better than you. How could you leave such a beauty unguarded, unprotected from harm. Her beauty is so captivating, she practically radiates it. She's exquisite. Like an exotic tropical bird among these women, these pigeons. None of the women before me now compare to her and yet you let her be captured. I will take much better care of the windrider. I'll make her feel needed." Lifting her head he placed a kiss on her lips ,causing her to whimper and struggle against him. He ran his hand up her body, perversely touching and brushing her.
"Stop!" He screamed, red flashing before his eyes. His fists were clenched and he could feel that his blunt nails were leaving gashes in his palms.
"Now control yourself Gambit. You had your chance with her, it's time for someone else to have a turn. Don't make me hurt her, or anybody else."
Storm parted her lips, "Remy don't, leave me be."
"Yes listen to the beauty," he brushed her cheek. Bringing his hand down he ripped the communicator off her uniform, revealing mocha colored skin. Then he ripped at her X-belt, dropping it to the ground. A photograph was hidden behind the belt and Tempest stared at it before snorting and throwing it to the ground. A single tear ran down her cheek and landed on the crumpled photo before Tempest flew away with her. Away from her friends, from the X-Men, and from the man that had always mattered.
The sky rumbled and split, rain plummeting to the earth below. He stepped forward and dropped to his knees, gazing up at the sky as she disappeared. No one followed, knowing what the consequences of that might be. His eyes focused on the photograph. Picking it up, his hands started to shake, tears brimming his eyes. Eyes that had not permitted the wetness of tears in them for a long time.
It was a picture of her and him dancing in the sky. He was dipping her, one of her legs kicked out. Their faces were so close, lips almost touching and both were grinning widely. She had told him that she only smiled in pictures with him. He hadn't believed her and they spent all night looking at all the pictures they had, Remy proving her wrong because she had smiled in a picture with Logan. Now she was gone, maybe forever. No, he shook his head. She's coming back, she had to come back to him, because he wouldn't be able to live without her.
It was funny how losing her suddenly made him realize what she meant to him, what a big part of his life she was. He was lost without her near him, and he wasn't afraid to admit it. It made him wonder, if Rogue was taken away from him would he feel the same pain, the same emptiness he was feeling now? No, he knew the answer was no, because in some way his Stormy was different, oh so wonderfully different.
Only a day had passed but he was going crazy with missing her. He would pace the mansion, shuffling his cards and mumbling incoherent fragmented sentences. Rogue was worried about him, and he barely said two words to her through the whole day. But he didn't want to talk to her, he wanted to talk to Storm.
"What's wrong sugah?" Damn she cornered him. Sighing deeply he ran a shaky hand through his hair.
"Wat Tempest said was right, all of it." Rogue frowned. She remembered what Tempest had said, comparing her to a pigeon while Ororo was called an exotic tropical bird. Glaring at him slightly she wondered if he meant to make it sound as if she wasn't as beautiful as Ororo. Without a word she walked away from him.
"Why is he so sullen? Ah mean it's not like she's been gone for years. Sure Ah miss her as much as him but Ah'm not goin' nuts about it."
Wolverine snorted and looked at her in disgust. "You are a selfish bitch. I bet you're happy that Ororo is gone so you can have all of Remys attention. Well guess what? What Remy and Ororo have you can never replace, and you've never known what somethin' like that feels like. So don't judge him, because I'm sure if you were in his situation you would be goin' crazy too. "With that he stormed out, leaving Rogue angry and speechless.