- Y'all know the dilly yo that I don't own Marvel or any of these characters… blah blah blah…
Author's Note: So, this is a completely new chapter. I actually like it a lot more than the original because in the original, I made Gambit a total wimp. This new version does him justice better. Hmm.. almost tempted to add other element's into this story that wasn't in the first. We'll see how I'm feeling. Anyway, I think I really want to update Shouldn't Be So Hard soon. I recently read a fabulous book called "Can You Keep A Secret?" and I am INSPIRED! We'll have to see how long that lasts. Oh well, enjoy the chapter!
Ludi: Seriously, this story is crap. Well, at least the original was crap. If you read even one chapter of the original you will know how crappy this story was before. Don't even know why you're bothering, but I think I'm re-writing not only for my sake but a little for yours. The original was such crap. Well, Joseph… it would be really fun re-writing him into this story since he was so absent in the first one. I'm just thinking about how to re-write him in since he kind of left and all. Oh well, maybe I won't. Who knows. Enjoy and I hope you did well on your exams! Star-of-Chaos: I like how you think it's cool that I'm re-writing the story. Wasn't the previous version such crap? It was. Just admit it was crap because it was. My only excuse was that I don't really know the psychologies of R&R and it was my first fanfic, but besides that, it was a sorry excuse of a story. So, hopefully, this version will do it justice! Joseph… thinking about that right now… not quite sure what to do with Joseph. Any suggestions? Keebler-elmo: Original version of this story, Gambit was weak and stupid. This one is much much better. Hope you like it! T.: I'm glad you love this new version. I honestly like it too. The old version was such crap! Thanks, T. for always reviewing! It's awesome of you! Ishandahalf: You are too kind with all these pity reviews, but I love ya nonetheless for it! Well, yes, I wrote Joseph in… should I bring him back? He could help Rogue raise the kid… what do you think? LoL. Probably having a panic attack just thinking about that idea eh? This story is pretty much the same… just a lot of re-writing. I understand if you stopped reading.. this story is such crap, at least the original version one was. Oiy… I don't even know why I'm bothering. Oh wells! Enjoy!
A Different Way to a Perfect Ending
The man shifted uncomfortably in his seat and sunk lower in it. Then, he quickly straightened his position by sitting upright once more. Bluffing was necessary in this game, and any sign of weakness, he knew he would lose the ten grand that he undoubtedly would need to mortgage his house if it were to happen. He narrowed his eyes at the man before him, carefree and relaxed – almost too relaxed.
The nervous man glanced back down at his cards and a soft sigh of relief escaped his lips. He had a full house. He had a full house of Jacks. He was safe. He would win. There was no way the man in front of him could have a higher hand. With a little more ease, he looked back at his opponent; his opponent with the unusual red on black eyes.
Definitely a mutie, the man decided silently. The fact that his opponent was one of those revolting mutants only encouraged him to win the ten grand that was at stake. There really was no other choice. If he were to lose the ten grand, his wife would kill him especially when she found out it was to a mutie. She hated muties.
"So, what y' got, mon ami?" The Cajun mutant drawled too confidently for the man's liking.
"Full house Jacks!" The man declared with a tad too much eagerness that merely indicated his desperation.
"Good hand." The Cajun commented, his smirk never even twitched once.
"What ya got?" The man asked more defensively then he had intended.
"Only two pairs…" The Cajun responded uninterestingly.
A huge sigh of relief came out of him as he took in a deep breath. A smile graced his face now as he reached for the jackpot in the middle of the glorious green velvet table.
"Not so fast, mon ami." The Cajun spoke up and stopped the man mid-way through from gathering his money.
"What? I won. You only got two pairs." The man said hurriedly.
"Not if it's two pairs of queens. Four of a kind. I win." The Cajun announced and flung his cards on top of the jackpot in clear view of his opponent.
"Son of a bitch! You cheated me!" The man cried accusingly, while his wife's angry words already filled his head. Her angry words mixed with the image of her holding a machete of course.
"All's fair in a game of poker…or somet'ing like dat." The Cajun rambled on as he was clearly enjoying himself.
"Fuck you! You knew all along didn't you? You're one of those muties with x-ray visions aren't you? I want my money back!" The man exclaimed irrationally as he stood up and took an offensive stance. Before he could even take a step towards the Cajun, two huge men each grabbed him by an arm. They held him back as one of them said sternly, "Nobody treats one of our best customers like that, and Mr. LeBeau is indeed a very valued customer."
"He played me for a fool! My wife is going to kill me! You don't understand!" The man explained as he struggled against the men's hold.
"You understood the risk of gambling here when you walked through those doors. But, now that you are clean out of money, you don't meet the requirements of staying in here." The other bulky man said and dragged the loser out of the grand hall.
The other brawny man stayed long enough to say, "I apologize for his misconduct, Mr. LeBeau. I assure you that he won't be welcome here any longer."
"Call me Gambit, Johnson. Oh, and here's a grand for you and Wilson to split." Gambit responded and tossed a few chips over to the man.
"Thank you, Mist…Gambit." With those last words, the man turned and walked away.
Gambit was still smiling contently as he stared at the huge pile of chips in front of him. Nothing felt more thrilling than winning a good game of poker, well almost nothing since every now and then, a woman would come along and showed this Cajun what a real thrill really was. He leaned back in his chair and simply enjoyed gazing at his winnings.
Within minutes, however, the adrenaline ran completely dry from his body. His once animate red eyes now held a dull glaze over them as he turned away from the pile. He opted to look outside the window as that little bit of joy completely disappeared now.
No matter how many games of poker were played or how many beds he wandered through, life would never be the same again, and he was having a tough time accepting the idea. One night changed it all. Actually it was two nights, since the first night was when the deed was done, and the second night was when he paid for it.
And hell, did he pay.
He could feel his palm becoming sweaty as he tried to cling onto her. She looked down at him with pure hatred, but he desperately scanned for some hint of love, a hint of any other emotion. All he saw was hate.
One desperate attempt, he said, "but I love you."
It didn't work.
"You're honest with the people you love, Gambit. Otherwise… it's a gamble." She responded and fittingly let go of his hand so he could face his doom.
He didn't face his doom though. He survived this sick joke that the fates were playing on him. He should have died there and then, but he didn't. They made him live, and life only brought pain and loss. Both of which he had a lot of.
Anger. That was another major element that made up life as well, and he felt the anger.
He was angry with her for saying that she loved him unconditionally when obviously she didn't. But then again, she didn't know what she was loving; she didn't know his part in the massacre of hundreds of innocent mutants.
Then again, that was the only thing of his life that he kept from her. Everything else was as real as he could make it be when he was with her. They had been teammates for years now, and lovers for just as long, so wasn't that supposed to be enough for her to find that strength to overlook his mistake and actually love him for what he was now and instead of what he was then?
Apparently, it wasn't.
He was angry with her for this. He was angry with her for tossing him away, for tossing their love away. He was angry that she didn't seem to know the meaning of 'unconditional'. He was angry that she had pretended to save him at first, only to drop him to his death. He was angry that she didn't come back for him, even though he had stayed in the very spot for another day.
But no matter how angry he was with her, he still wanted her.
He wanted to breathe in the sweet lavender aroma that was her scent. He wanted to hear her melodious laughter. He wanted to taste her honey-like skin. He wanted to hold her against his body and feel everything that she was, like he had that night in the cave.
He was pathetic.
A hollow chuckle came out of him as he stared blankly out the window. Another night he was spending dwelling over her. Another night he was moaning about what could have been. Another night he was yearning for something that was impossible. Pathetic, he was simply pathetic.
The senseless laughter suddenly stopped though as he saw a streak of white flashed across the dark velvet sky. He blinked his eyes and looked more intently again. Then, he saw her.
Rogue.
She was standing on top of the building a few streets over, glancing around the vast city. He stood up and stared at her so fixedly, that he was sure if he blinked she would be gone. His heart jumped and dropped at the sight of her and what it could mean.
She came for him. She wanted to take him back. She wanted him go back to the mansion with her. She loved him. She needed him. All the possibilities swarmed his mind, but it took but a second before he got up and started to go to her.
He knew what her coming meant. He knew it all along.
-xoxo-
The long green cape was what made her stand out from everyone else in the Big Easy. The fact that she had the hood over her head only made her more noticeable. She merely ignored the eyes that were staring at her though as she scanned the streets relentlessly. After two hours of searching all over the city, she was feeling rather foolish. Finding him was harder than she had realized, but it was her own fault as usual. If letting go had been so easy, finding him had to be hard considering she believed that there was always a balance in life.
Ironic it was that she believed so deeply in the concept of universal balance. He wanted to hang onto her; she wanted to let go. Now, she wanted him back and if the forces were true, she should expect the worst to come. Disheartened she became, but then she remembered the child growing within her body and her heavy heart became light again. The child was the reason he would come back. Screwed the forces, he would come back to her because of the baby.
Though, she wasn't sure if she wanted him to be with her out of obligation.
Suddenly, she was completely pulled away from her thoughts as she heard his unmistakable voice. "Chere, your body is way too fine t'keep all dat clothes on…"
The voice came from her right, but before Rogue could even process what she had heard Remy say, she had already turned around and saw him – him with a pretty blonde on his arm. The blonde was giggling as she heard Remy say perverted things to her, not even bothering to lower his voice. Rogue's eyes teared up as she witnessed her baby's father blatantly seducing another woman. She was about to turn around when he noticed her and said, "Rogue?"
"Hmm." She managed to respond as she suppressed the tears as well as she could. It didn't work.
His eyes softened ever so little as he could see her cry, but he remembered what he had to do and what she did to him and his eyes became hard and cold once more. Instead of letting go of the blonde, he grabbed her tighter to him, while he casually draped an arm over the blonde's shoulder with a hand resting on her right breast. The girl merely giggled shyly.
"What brings y' down t'de Big Easy? Planned to drop…whoops… bad choice of words. Excusez-moi." He said bitterly and glared at her.
She swallowed a gulp of air as she tried to regain her composure. She was finding it an extremely difficult task to perform. Thus, she looked away from him and said softly, "Ah think we need t'talk… in private."
"Well, Remy'll love t'talk, chere, but as y' can see, I'm kind of busy here wit' ma belle cherie." He said and purposely emphasized the last word in order to prove to Rogue that the pet name wasn't exclusively hers.
"Ah can see. But we really need t'talk. Please." She requested ever so softly again, and found the strength to bring her big green hurt eyes to look into his hostile red ones. Yet, one look into her gorgeous pained emerald eyes, he couldn't deny his love for her any longer. Even if she had left him in Antarctica, he still loved her enough to know she didn't deserve the punishment he was giving her now. Thus, he whispered a few sweet nothings in the pretty blonde's ear, which she immediately giggled and turned back towards the hotel.
"Thanks." Rogue whispered, not wanting to speak up any louder for fear that she would completely break down in front of him.
"Didn't do it for you." He lied and lit a cigarette he took out from his pocket.
Silence draped over the two as the former lovers stood awkwardly next to each other. Despite the smoke of the cigarette, he could smell her lavender scent, and he was almost tempted to reach out and touch her. She stood next to him uncomfortably as she tried to dry her tears. Obviously, he was over her and had moved on. Maybe she shouldn't have come back after all, but then she rested her hands on her abdominal and remembered her motivation for seeing him.
"Remy… ah'm…"
"Sorry? Heard it b'fore, chere. Words don't mean much coming from y'." He scoffed bitterly.
"That ain't fair…"
"And y' thought leaving me behind was fair? Y'thought it was fair dat y' dished out my punishment? Y'thought it was fair dat I should die a horrible freezing death? Life ain't fair, Rogue. Y'taught me dat much. Ain't it about time, y'learn from yourself?" He stated coldly.
"Ah get that ya hate me, and ah don't blame ya. But, please believe me when ah say ah'm sorry. Ah tried to look for ya, Remy. Ah went back every night…"
"Just didn't look hard enough, n'est pas vrai? [1]" He purposely interrupted her, for he feared that if she said anything more, he might lose his will power and forgive her.
Rogue bowed her head down as the tears dropped to the ground. She wasn't even sure why she was even bothering anymore. It was clear that he didn't want her or have anything to do with her. He wanted to sever her out of his life once and for all, and if she told him about the baby, he would never get his freedom. He would always be connected to her whom he hated with an immense passion. She couldn't live a life like that; he shouldn't have to live a life like that; their baby doesn't deserve a life like that.
"Remy…" she started her last attempt only to be cut off again.
"Don' y' get it, Rogue? You were de one who ended it. You were de one who turned your back on our love. You were de one who let go. So, I don't see why you're here now. I doubt you're here to rekindle dis dead relationship. Perhaps, you're here t'clear your conscience. Just t'let y'know, you won't find de redemption here." He stated colder than even he had intended. As soon as the words spilled out of his mouth, he immediately regretted it, but he knew as well as anyone that words couldn't be taken back.
The tears fell uncontrollably, but she straightened her poise and held her head high. This was her punishment for throwing away their love and she was going to face it with dignity, if not for herself but for her baby. At this point, she knew that it was useless to tell him about the baby. He didn't want anything to do with her, and she was going to give him that. She was finally going to let go.
"Ah'm sorry, Remy. Ah'm sorry for everything, but ah won't bother ya again." She murmured and before he could even respond, she flew off, leaving him looking after her with his mouth opened and ready to say something. But, she wouldn't be around to hear it and perhaps that was what could have made all the difference, though the two would never know.
"Je suis desole, chere. Je t'aime toujours. [2]" He murmured and stood there wishing that he could turn back time to merely five minutes ago. It was impossible though. When it came to his and Rogue's relationship, everything always seemed impossible.
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[1] Isn't that right?
[2] I'm sorry, chere. I love you always.
