The Adventures of Gambit, Methos and a cursed one-eyed cat named Xander

Genre: crossover, series of related ficlets

Characters: Gambit (X-Men), Methos (Highlander), and Xander (Buffy)

Rating: R (to be safe – each ficlet varies)

Disclaimer: I don't own any character from any of the various fandoms. I'm not making $ from this.

Summary: Gambit's life takes a turn for the surreal. Then stuff happens.

91 – Wild Ride

Gambit wasn't sure that he was going to survive this insanity. His body felt as if it had been stretched out beyond the breaking point. He was squashed thin as paper and he was willing to swear that his head was at least forty feet away from his boots. It was painful in the most bizarre way, because it also felt good. All his nerve endings were jangling, unsure if they were signaling pain or pleasure.

Xander was screaming inside of his head, one loud long wail of emotion. Pleasure and pain, fear and joy crashed onto the shores of his mind in rushing waves that threatened to drown him. It was all he could do not to get lost in it, to become a part of it. Gambit was terrified that the stress would trigger a body-swap and having Xander loose control of his charge now would kill them all. It might even backwash through the portal and kill Albus, Minerva and Filius.

Methos was screaming in his ear, one long loud wail of emotion. The immortal was gripping the steering wheel of the SUV, but it too was being stretched out of shape. Elongating like the humans, the vehicle's body shrieked and creaked as metal and plastic complained of the abuse.

Colors and light began to strobe violently and Gambit's stomach churned even as his sensitive eyes throbbed. Gravity hiccupped and let go of them all and he was suddenly grateful that Methos insisted that he buckle up. His long hair floated all around his face and he knew with certainty that the seatbeat was the only thing keeping him from bouncing around the inside of the vehicle.

"Ohhhh Helllll!"

Methos' shout was his only warning before gravity reasserted itself in a dramatic way, slamming his body down against the seat. In an instant, the stretched out feeling disappeared and his body slammed back into its normal shape and size. His nerve endings sizzled in both relief and pain, his limbs twitching with muscle spasms.

One last flash of light followed by a deafening crash of sound and the SUV shot out of the portal like a rock from a sling-shot. They soared through the air to land with a huge bounce and the groaning of metal. Methos fought the wheel, his feet working the gas and brake petals franticly as he tried to wrestle the huge truck into submission. Clumps of grass and dirt flew up from the ground and the SUV almost tipped over, but with much swearing and cursing, Methos was able to bring it under control.

Slowly, they rolled to a stop.

The headlights shone brightly against a white marble fountain that was a mere two feet from the front bumper. Shimmering water flowed in a beautiful cascade from the top and down into the pool below. Beyond that, the nighttime vision of a lush landscaped yard full of sweet scented flowers and neatly trimmed hedges gave way to a large multistory mansion with three main wings. It was a perfect picture of wealth and class.

"Home." Gambit looked around with wide eyes and a growing smile. "Gambit finally home."

That's when the alarm system went off. Blinding floodlights washed over the yard and a loud computerized voice announced their presence.

"Intruder Alert! Tesseract activity detected! Perimeter breach on the East Lawn! Intruder Alert! All teams; scramble, scramble, scramble!"

92 – Welcoming Committee

"Merde!"

Gambit scrambled to unbuckle his seatbelt and turned startled wide-eyes on his friends.

"We about t' have some company. Whatever y' do, don' attack. Let me talk t' them. De X-Men won't hurt no one if they just visitin'. We just set off de alarms though, so…"

Gambit opened the door to the SUV and stepped out into the blinding bright floodlight and held his hands up, arms wide. Storm, Phoenix, Angel and Rogue flew over the lawn from four different directions. Cyclops, Wolverine, Bishop and Iceman came across the ground from the mansion.

For half a moment, Gambit was extremely aware of his two friends standing just behind him and the vast power and skill rushing at them. Then his eyes alighted upon Storm and a wave of homesickness washed over him followed by a huge relief. He had missed her so very much.

"'Ello, padnat." His smile was wide enough to split his face as she landed before him. "Bon Dieu, Gambit has missed his Stormy. So good t' be home."

She looked shocked and reached out to run the fingers of one hand along the side of his face. Gambit leaned into the touch.

"Oh Goddess, Gambit…" her voice shook slightly. "Is that really you?"

"Oui Stormy."

Gambit frowned slightly. He could feel shock, confusion and suspicion radiating from all the X-Men.

"Y' didn't think Gambit let a lil' thing like a dimensional portal stop him from comin' home, did y'?"

"Wolverine?" Cyclops' voice was like a whip.

Logan glanced over at the X-Men's field leader, grunted and stepped towards Gambit. Xander stepped closer and growled low in his throat, his eye narrowing as he watched the feral mutant closely. Logan eyed him right back before leaning forward slightly and inhaling deeply.

"Smells like Gumbo." He stepped back and Xander stopped growling. "Other scents mixed in, but it's the Cajun."

Several people gasped and Phoenix's voice rang out, "But how?…"

Someone shifted through the crowd of X-Men until they could stand in the light. He was tall, had deep auburn hair and wore a long dark trench coat. He tipped his head up and exposed his burning red on black eyes and smirked.

"Dat's what Gambit would like t' know."

Gambit's jaw dropped open in shock. It was like looking into a mirror. Well, almost. The imposter was slightly different. His hair was very long and tied back in a ponytail. Gambit hadn't worn his own hair that long for a few years. He also seemed leaner, with the longer muscles of a thief instead of the bulkier and heavier muscle of a fighter. It was like a glimpse into his own past.

"Remy?" Xander's voice was both confused and ironic. "You didn't tell me you had an evil twin."

93 – Gambit on Gambit

"Gambit don' have a twin, or a lil' brother or anything like that." Gambit gestured to the long haired version of himself. "This be an imposter. Maybe a skrull."

"Moi?" The other Gambit's eyes went wide. "A skrull? Y' de one that drive outta de Tesseract like de bats of hell be after y'. Maybe y' a phalanx?"

Gambit waved the very idea away and turned his head slightly to bitch at Cyclops.

"Oh, this a very nice welcome home. Gambit fall into de portal an' get sucked away t' a different reality. He spend months workin' t' get back wit' two unplanned detours. De first through zombie hell an' de other through insane magic world only t' finally make it back an' find that a skrull be sleepin' in his bed."

Wolverine pulled a cigar from somewhere and growled, "Quit being a drama queen, Cajun." He pointed at the long haired Gambit with the cigar. "He ain't a skrull. I'd smell it if he was."

Gambit waved his arms in the air and huffed out a deep breath. "Then what de hell, Logan?"

Wolverine shrugged, seemingly unconcerned.

"Maybe," Methos' voice was very controlled as if he was very tense and on edge. "we landed in the wrong timeline? Or perhaps in the future?"

"He's got a point," Xander said. "Each dimensional reality has a multitude of timelines. We were aiming for the timeline you got pulled from, but maybe we missed?"

Gambit considered it and then shook his head. "Non. This is home. I can feel it."

It was at that point that Beast bounded over.

Methos and Xander blinked at him. "Whoa." Xander muttered. "Big and blue."

Methos snorted lightly.

Beast came to a stop next to the group, looked from one Gambit to the other Gambit, reached up to adjust his glasses and then looked back and forth again. "Oh my stars and garters."

"Okay people," Cyclops' voice took on that tone that said he was about to issue some orders. "We need to get to the bottom of this mess. I can handle dimensional travelers; I can handle time travel too. Imposters and spies are something different, so we need to get the truth of the matter straightened out."

Gambit glared at other Gambit.

"Fine, mon ami. Bein."

Other Gambit glared back and then stepped over to Rogue and put his arm around her. "Come on, Chere. We go wait for Scotty t' tell us t' kick their asses for bein' spies."

Rogue, looking very shocked and confused simply nodded her head and allowed herself to be led away.

94 – The Nicest Prison Ever

"I so totally don't like this place."

Xander's voice was tight and he paced around the small apartment like set of rooms with a grimace on his face. He radiated tension and Gambit knew that if he had been in his cat form he would have had his fur all fluffed up along his back and scruff. He'd probably be hissing and spitting too.

"It's all weird in my head now. It's like you're there, but not. Ya know?"

Gambit nodded.

"This is a sort of holding cell. Only, not for enemies. It has a dampening field around it t' suppress mutant abilities. De X-Men use it for when mutants can't control their powers good."

"Oh?" Methos' voice was curious, but Gambit could hear the tension underneath.

"Oui. De dampening field can be adjusted t' different levels t' help de mutant learn control. Right now it's on high enough t' effect de psi-link."

Xander paced back towards them, his eye darting back and forth as if looking for some sort of escape route.

"So…why put us here?"

Gambit shrugged.

"Don' know for sure. Think it's a way t' say, please stay here in comfort, but don' use any unknown power t' influence us while we research which Gambit is de real one."

"Well," Methos' sat down on the sofa and leaned back with a sigh. "It really is the nicest prison cell I've ever been in."

Xander snorted and kept pacing. Gambit wondered if he was also mentally poking at the dormant psi-link. The link was still there; but it was quiet, dark. It was unnerving to be alone in his head after so long with someone else there to share his thoughts, feelings and even his dreams and nightmares. It was odd to think back and realize that when the psi-link was first created all he wanted to do was sever it. Now…now he felt strangely incomplete.

"Look Gambit," Methos' calm voice broke into his train of thought, "I know that you like and trust these people, but…they did lock us away in here, so…"

Gambit sighed and ran his hand down over his face.

"I know y' don' know them, mon ami. But Stormy, she won' let anything bad happen t' us. Not just 'cause she love Remy, but also 'cause she believe in justice an' fairness. We did nothin' wrong. Just showed up an' asked for help, that's all."

He tugged at his hair and looked up at the ceiling. "De only reason we in here is 'cause there's a double of Gambit. Cyclops will get t' de bottom of this mess. He's stubborn an' strict an' a bit of a stick in de mud, but he's a good man an' he won' rest until he knows de truth, if for no other reason than t' protect de team."

"Well, I hope it doesn't take very long." Xander snarled and threw himself into an overstuffed lazy-z-boy chair. "I hate it in this room."

95 – Storm

A knocking on the door leading into the suite of power-dampened rooms was the only warning before it swung open and Storm pushed in a metal rolling cart with several covered plates on them. She didn't even make it halfway to the table when Gambit jumped up off of the couch and dashed over to her.

"Stormy!" She giggled as he picked her up in a hug and swung her around in a circle. "Ah, bon Dieu, Gambit missed you so much padnat."

Gambit set her down and leaned forward and kissed her cheek.

"There were times when I doubted that I'd ever see y' again, Stormy. It 'bout broke my heart."

Storm reached up and squeezed his shoulder. "I just wish I had known that you were in trouble. For obvious reasons…well, I'm glad you're home."

She turned and pushed the cart towards the table again. "Oh, and do not call me Stormy."

Gambit smiled widely. "Oui, Stormy."

Storm rolled her eyes and began removing the covers and putting the plates out on the table. They held roast beef, corn and green beans. Next came bowls of salad, four glasses and a pitcher of iced tea. She waved everyone over.

"So, Gambit. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"

"Ah, pardon moi." Gambit grabbed her hand, kissed it and gestured to her while smiling at Methos and Xander. "This is mon soeur, Ororo Monroe, mais everyone call her Stormy."

She elbowed him in the ribs. "Storm, not Stormy." One white eyebrow rose up imperiously. "You would do well to remember that, or you will find yourself up to your elbows in mud helping me fertilize the back garden."

Gambit smirked at her. "Of course, padnat."

He gestured across the table. "This is Xander. Gambit an' he met inside of a dimensional portal. Gambit was fallin' in one direction an' Xander was fallin' in de other. We slam into each other an' fell outta de portal an' land on top of Methos." He gestured to the other man.

"Uh huh." She sat down primly and spread a napkin across her lap. "At least when you come to visit me unannounced you climb in through the window like a civilized being instead of just dropping down on me out of a portal."

"While I have to admit I would have preferred the two of them coming in through the window as apposed to squashing me and breaking my couch when they fell out of the ceiling." Methos smiled at her. "I still have to ask, since when is climbing in through the window civilized?"

Xander slapped Methos' arm lightly and hissed, "Don't be rude, man. It's a thief thing." He shrugged. "For all we know it might be insulting not to test a person's security by refusing to break in."

Methos' gave Xander an odd look that was half amused and half incredulous. "So you're saying that when in Rome?..."

Xander shrugged philosophically. "When in Rome, wearing bed linens is a fashion must. When in the midst of a den of thieves; climb in through people's windows and steal their shampoo or something. You know, just to fit in and stuff."

Storm giggled quietly, a hand over her mouth. "I wouldn't recommend trying that. It would most likely upset the other residents greatly. Truthfully, I was a thief during my childhood, but have since retired from that occupation. Currently, only Gambit chooses to pursue that line of work."

Gambit smirked. "Be funny though. Imagine Warren an' Betsy discovering that all their beauty products be missin'."

Gambit and Storm shared a brief laugh over that, then Storm's smile faded and she gave Gambit a serious look.

"I feel I should warn you, however. Cyclops is very concerned that there are two Gambit's running around. Tomorrow will prove to be a long day. He has asked Beast to perform several tests to be certain that you are not a clone or someone who has been altered to look like Remy LeBeau. He also plans to have you tell him the entire story of what has happened since you left here. Psylocke and Phoenix have already agreed to sit in on the interview."

Gambit sighed and nodded.

"I figured as much." He looked over at her. "Y' be there as well?"

She smiled and laid a hand gently on his arm. "Of course."

96 – The Med Lab

Gambit felt soft sweet relief roll over him as he stepped out of the power suppression rooms and into the hallway. No mutant enjoyed having their power dampened unless they really were out of control. The buzzing and crackling of bio-kinetic energy sizzled along his skin and down his spinal column even as the psi-link woke up. He could feel the tension in both himself and Xander slowly fade away.

It was a short journey down the metal lined corridors to the Med Lab and Gambit pointed out a few things of interest to his friends even as he flirted with Jean and Storm. Walking into the Med Lab, Gambit smiled even as Methos and Xander drew up short.

"Bonjour M'sieur Bete."

Beast bounded across the room and flashed a fang filled smile.

"Good morning, my Cajun compatriot."

Xander blinked his eye rapidly. "Whoa! Big, blue and furry wasn't just a dream. He's really real."

The big blue furred mutant wearing the stark white lab-coat adjusted his glasses and tipped his head to the side slightly. "Why yes, I am."

Xander smiled and looked over at Gambit. "I guess you're right. They really wouldn't mind if I lost my hold on this form and reverted back into a cat." The smile faded into a worried frown. "I just don't know if I'd be able to get all the way back to human here."

Gambit reached out and squeezed Xander's shoulder in support.

"Don't worry too much about it, mon ami. No one here will turn their backs if y' can' get all the way back t' human. An' this man here," Gambit gestured to the furry blue doctor, "is Doctor Henry McCoy. Hank here specializes in both genetics and virology. If anyone can help unravel de mysteries of de Progenitor Virus, it'd be him."

Beast adjusted his glasses once again and turned a serious look at Gambit. "Progenitor Virus?"

Gambit nodded and reached into a pocket of his trench coat and pulled out a CD. He handed it over to Beast. "Oui. All de information that Methos was able to find on it be on this disk. That's your copy. We can talk about it in more detail later, since Remy know that y' got a bunch of tests planned for him today. For now, just keep in mind t' treat any dealin's wit' Xander as if he has Legacy. De Progenitor Virus is blood-borne."

Beast eyed the disk seriously and then carefully laid it on his desk by his computer. "Indeed. I look forward to studying this and talking with you all about this virus."

Straightening his lab-coat, Beast gestured Gambit to the main examining table. With a grin, Gambit hopped up.

"However, you are quite correct in assuming that I have several tests to perform on you today. I will need a sample of your blood and I will be running a few scans as well. This is mostly to compare to older scans that I have of both your unique mutant physiology as well as your unique mutant x-factor in your DNA sequence."

A pained look crossed Beast's furry face. "I will also be testing to see if you show the

damage in your chromosomes which is characteristic with clones and cloning procedures."

Gambit paused and grew very still for a long moment, his eyes lost in thought.

"Bete?"

"Yes?"

"Y' might want t' run de clone tests on de other Gambit."

Beast looked up from the equipment he was gathering. "Oh? Any particular reason why?"

"Oui." Gambit gestured vaguely with his hands. "Didn't get a real good look at de fake Gambit, me. Mais there was something…off. Like his hair. Remy hasn't worn his hair that long since he was a pup. Even now after many months of not getting' it cut, it still only a few inches below his shoulders. Fake Gambit's hair is almost long enough t' reach his waist. Plus…"

Gambit shrugged and pushed his sunglasses up and gestured to his eyes, running a fingertip along his temple. "Hate t' admit it, me…mais Gambit gettin' old. Got lines an' crow's feet by his eyes." A sheepish grin washed across his face. "Too many years squintin' in de bright light, heh?"

His tone turned serious. "That boy couldn't be no more than eighteen or nineteen years old."

Beast shared a long measured look with Storm and Jean, but Gambit was unsure what it meant.

97 – Long Story Short

It had been a long morning in the Med Lab followed by a filling hot lunch. Now Gambit found himself sitting at a table between Xander and Methos with Cyclops, Jean and Psylocke across from them. Storm sat off to one side with Beast.

"So…" Cyclops' visor flashed red for a brief moment, the only indication that his emotions were stirred up by the mess they found themselves in. "Want to give me a brief summary of where you've been and how you arrived here via tesseract?"

"Oui, Cyke." Gambit shifted in his seat to get comfortable. "First thing though, we didn' come t' de mansion by tesseract."

Cyclops frowned and Gambit shrugged lightly.

"Well, not de kind of tesseract that y' used t' seeing. Tesseract is a doorway from one place t' another that warps de space-time continuum. Despite all de work Sinister did t' refine de process, it has its limitations. Can go t' any place in de world wit' enough power an' it can even go backward an' forward in time, though not by a whole lot." Gambit narrowed his eyes in though, "Maybe a week at de most."

"Interesting. Most of that is well known, although the time travel thing has only ever been speculated. What does it have to do with how you arrived? You said you didn't come by tesseract."

"Oui." Gambit smirked. "Came here by portal. De power source was magic harnessed into a specific spell meant t' open de portal which was t' act as a doorway t' here from a completely separate dimensional reality."

Cyclops sucked in a breath of air and leaned back in his chair. Jean and Psylocke both grew still.

"Scott," Jean's voice was a whisper. "I'm not picking up any sense of falsehood from any of them."

He cocked his head toward Psylocke. "No lies and…" she tilted her head and frowned slightly, "I'm picking up an image of the three of them in their vehicle, while an old man with a long white beard is chanting at a growing swirl of energy and light."

Gambit, Xander and Methos all smirked.

"De old man be called Albus. He was a wizard in de third dimensional reality Gambit ended up in."

Cyclops leaned forward again and rested his elbows on the table, folding his hands in front of him.

"Why don't you start at the beginning Gambit. Take us through it bit by bit."

"Well," Gambit tipped his head back and scratched at his chin. "It started right here. Gambit was up on de roof an' tryin' t' decide what t' do wit' de mess that was his life. Things wit' Rogue wasn't goin' so good an' Jake was havin' lots of troubles. Couldn't figure out if Gambit should try t' fix things wit' Rogue or fix things wit' Jake."

"You were brooding."

Gambit shrugged and grinned at Jean. "Was a difficult time. Lots of bad ju-ju goin' on an' Gambit caught in de middle of it all. Just wished that Gambit could disappear an' not have t' deal wit' it."

Xander sucked in a deep breath and snapped his head around to stare at him. The psi-link fairly hummed with his focus of attention. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could Jean reached out a hand towards them and gasped loudly.

"Oh my! Gambit! You have a very strong psi-link with your friend." Jean turned to face Psylocke. "Can you feel it?"

Psylocke frowned and raised one hand to her temple in concentration.

"Oh! It's unlike any link I've ever seen."

Gambit frowned and looked from one woman to the other. "That's part of de reason that Gambit want t' get back here so bad. De psi-link wasn't formed by telepathy. It was born from a magic spell gone wrong an' now it's doing things that we can' control. Gambit an' Xander body-swapped. Need help wit' it."

"Wait!" Cyclops held up one hand. "This is all interesting and we will investigate the psi-link for you if you feel it could be a danger. However, right now I want to find out about how we ended up with two versions of the same person."

Everyone settled back a bit except for Xander. He was still staring at Gambit hard.

"Gambit, you never did tell us exactly how you fell into that first portal." Xander's mind was tightly focused and his voice was intense. "Just now you were saying that you had been up on the roof and you wished for something. Do you remember exactly what it was you wished?"

Gambit frowned and tried to think back. He shook his head. "Sorry, mon chat. Been too long an' I can't remember exactly. Just know that I was wishin' that I didn't have t' deal wit' all the crap that was goin' on. Then some strange mutant showed up an' opened de portal under my feet. I fell in it an' slammed into you."

"Gambit, that might not have been a mutant. It sounds like you ran into a vengeance demon. They grant wishes to people, but they always do it in ways that make freaky hellmouthy kinda stuff happen."

"You ran into him inside of a dimensional portal?" Cyclops' tone of voice suggested that the explanation sounded insane.

"Oui. Xander was in a battle on his own world. He fell into a portal too. Gambit and Xander meet in de middle, then we both fell out of de portal onto Methos." Gambit gestured to the immortal. "It took a while t' find a way t' open up a dimensional portal, but somethin' went wrong. Instead of ending up on Xander's world, de three of us end up in a post-apocalyptic world full of virus born zombies."

"Uh-huh."

Gambit rolled his eyes at Cyclops' incredulous tone of voice.

98 – Wolverine

A hard bang on the door drew Gambit's attention right before it swung open and Wolverine strode in pushing the same metal meal cart that Storm had used the night before. This time it held several cups and a carafe of coffee, a few plates of pancakes and eggs and several glasses of orange juice.

Gambit smirked and gestured him further into the room.

"Come on in, mon ami. Long time no see, heh?"

Wolverine snorted and pushed the cart over to the table just as Xander wandered into the main room from the bathroom. Instantly, both men's heads snapped around to stare at the other. A low rumbling grow emerged from Xander and Wolverine's eyes narrowed.

"Um…" Gambit's eyebrows rose up as Xander sidled across the room, angling himself to always be able to keep his good eye on Wolverine. He worked his way over so that he had positioned himself between Gambit and the table and with Wolverine standing on the other side of the table from them both. Confused, Gambit reached out and placed a hand on Xander's bare shoulder.

"Xander," Gambit was a bit surprised by the sudden attitude. He couldn't figure out why Xander would consider Wolverine a threat when he'd easily dismissed everyone else they'd met so far. "This is Wolverine. Or Logan. He's a friend an' teammate. He won't hurt Gambit."

Xander's growling stopped, but he didn't step out from in front of Gambit.

"Logan, this is Xander. He's a friend from another dimensional reality."

Wolverine shifted slightly and Xander's whole body tensed up and he shifted as well. Logan's eyes narrowed again.

"There a reason you're acting like I'm gonna attack one o' my best friends, bub?"

The throaty growl started up again. "Dog. You feel like a big, mean dog."

Wolverine peeled back a lip to expose his fangs and growled right back. "I'm not an animal."

Gambit's eyes widened and he tightened his hold on Xander's shoulder.

"Maybe not, mon ami. Mais, Xander is an animal. A cat t' be exact."

That startled Wolverine into stopping his growling and his eyes widened a bit. "Really?"

"Oui," Gambit started to pet the back of Xander's neck and wished that they weren't in the power-suppression rooms. He would love to be able to use the psi-link to help calm and reassure Xander that Wolverine wasn't a threat. "Xander a shape-shifter. Normally, he's an eight an' a half foot tall panther."

Wolverine grunted and stepped back a single step. That seemed to let Xander relax a little bit and the growling stopped again.

"Does your cat always react to ferals this way?"

"Hey!" Xander's voice was indignant. "I'm not his cat! Gambit's my mutant."

Gambit rolled his eyes and grinned. "Oui, mon chat noir, Gambit be your mutant. Just don' be gettin' in a fight wit' Wolverine, heh? He a good guy."

He turned his attention back to Logan. "I think you're de first feral he met, homme."

Wolverine grunted again and considered Xander for a long moment. "I ain't gonna give ya grief for wantin' t' protect the Cajun. He's got plenty o' enemies and it's a good thing that he's got another person in his corner." Wolverine's expression hardened then. "But I ain't one o' them and you'd do best t' remember that, bub."

Xander stared back, unfazed. "You don't attack Gambit or Methos and we won't have a problem. You come after them and I'll suffer through the indigestion caused by swallowing your corpse down bite by bite."

Wolverine nodded his head. "Fair enough. The same goes for you though. You hurt the Cajun and I'll be using your body parts as compost in 'Ro's garden."

Xander nodded as well. "As long as we understand each other."

Wolverine grinned and stuffed a cigar in his mouth. "Enjoy your breakfast. Scooter will be down later t' talk t' ya."

With that, Wolverine turned and walked out. Gambit reached up and ran his hand down his face in exasperation. "Oh, mon Dieu…what Gambit do t' deserve this?"

99 – The Video

"It was something that you said the other day."

Cyclops was looking right at Xander. His friend's eyebrow rose up over his eye-patch even as he tipped his head to the side. "Oh?"

Cyclops gestured for the three of them to sit down at the table in the War Room and then nodded towards one of the screens which showed a stilled image of Gambit sitting up on the roof in the fading light of the setting sun.

"When Gambit was explaining how the portal he fell through wasn't a true tesseract, he mentioned making a wish. You said that there was some sort of beings that granted wishes."

Xander nodded his head, an odd look flickering over his face.

"Yeah. Vengeance Demons. Uh, well, they prefer to think of themselves as Justice Demons, but…" He sighed sadly. "They're demons. The granting of wishes is in the form of a curse, not a blessing. That means that things tend to go…well, badly for both the recipient and the victim."

"Demons?" Iceman's voice wasn't disbelieving, just…shocked. "We don't get a lot of that here. Evil mutants, yeah…but not demons."

Xander shrugged.

"Pretty common in my world, then again back home the dimensional barriers have a few weak spots that lead to hell dimensions." Xander grimaced. "I guess my world is just mystically closer to the infernal realms."

"The reason I asked is because we were able to save a recording of Gambit falling into the portal on our security system. We thought that the woman who opened the portal was a new member of the Marauders and that she was using a modified tesseract."

Cyclops paused, took a deep breath and turned to face Gambit.

"We raided a few of Sinister's bases. We found your double in one of them. He was in some kind of machine that kept him in suspended animation. We freed him and brought him home."

Gambit sighed and closed his eyes. "He a clone?"

"We don't know yet. Beast was able to determine that you are not a clone, nor are you someone else that's been surgically altered to appear to be Remy LeBeau. He's going to run the same tests on the other Gambit."

Gambit nodded and he felt a wash of concern and support over the psi-link. He offered up a tiny smile to Xander.

"So what did you need us to do? Why, exactly, are we here?"

Cyclops turned to face Methos, the light glinting off of his visor.

"I was hoping that Xander might be able to tell if the woman in the video is a Vengeance Demon. If she is, then maybe we can find out why she targeted Gambit and why she sent him to you."

Methos stared at him for a moment as if trying to read his intentions. Gambit could understand that. Until you got to know him real well, Cyclops was hard to read because his visor hid so much of his face.

"Okay."

It was the work of a few simple keystrokes to start the video rolling. There was no sound, just image. It showed Gambit sitting on the roof. Well, to be accurate, he was crouched down low over his feet, his knees jutting out in front of him with his trench coat and his hair blowing around him in the breeze. He was just staring out into space, a frown turning down his lips when he snorted and then muttered something to himself.

At that point, a woman appeared in a small burst of smoke and flame. For just the briefest of instances, her face looked out from the screen with a serene beauty with bright shining eyes and a soft smile. Then her face changed. It morphed into a wrinkled and twisted visage with razor sharp teeth and mottled skin.

She spoke and then a swirling portal of powerful energy, light and wind opened up under Gambit and he tumbled inside of it. The woman watched with a smirk on her face as the portal spun, sucking in air and leaves as it swirled hellishly at her feet. Then, in a flash of light the portal simply disappeared as if it had never existed and the woman's face melted back into the beautiful features it had first worn.

Shock, pain, confusion and heartbreaking longing slammed into Gambit's brain over the psi-link and he had to grab hold of the table just to keep from falling out of his chair.

"Anya!"

100 – Grief and Confusion

Gambit wasn't surprised in the least when Xander lost control over his form and he shifted into a giant horse-sized panther. Methos' reaction was a raised eyebrow and a frown. The X-Men weren't so calm about it. Especially when Xander knocked over his chair, leapt across the table and pressed his nose against the video monitor and whimpered.

For a long moment Gambit could only hold onto his head and try to purge the massive wave of hurt and grief that was pouring off of his friend.

He became aware of Methos' voice off to the side. Tuning in for a moment he realized that the immortal was trying to explain about all the things that had happened to Xander; the curse, the virus, the lessons to use magic to shift his form back to human. It was a crazy story and a lot to take in, but he couldn't let that be his priority right now.

Instead, Gambit pushed himself out of the chair and walked around the table to where his friend was and leaned into the large shoulder, one hand reaching up to rub gently behind one furry ear.

"*Xander?*"

=Gambit! Oh my God! It was… I think it was Anya.= Excitement, grief, and longing all swirled around Xander's mind and rushed down the psi-link in waves. =The glimpse of her face was so fast and I was so far away. Can you rewind the video and play it again?=

"*Oui, D'accord.*"

Gambit shifted and slid himself between the large upset cat and the monitor and console. A few keystrokes later the image in front of them began to move slowly in rewind mode frame by frame. It didn't take long to get to a frame that showed the woman's face gazing directly into the security camera while she was fully human looking.

=Gods above and below…it's Anya.=

The psi-link hummed with Xander's grief and longing for the woman shown on the monitor, but his confusion was slowly turning to anger and betrayal. Gambit recognized the name Anya. Xander had talked about all of his friends at one point or another, but Anya had been his fiancée, the one he would have married.

"*Xander…I thought y' said that she had died?*"

=She did.= Xander's voice was heartbroken. =She died during the battle with the First when we sealed the Sunnydale Hellmouth and dropped the town into a giant sinkhole.=

They both stared at the still frame of the video. The woman was very beautiful, with flowing dark blonde hair and large shining eyes.

"*Then…maybe this isn't really her?*"

=No…no, it's Anya. I swear, it's her.=

Gambit sighed and leaned into Xander's fur. This didn't make any sense.

"*How does a dead demoness pop up t' conjure a portal t' drop me in? An' why send me t' you? It seems pretty obvious that us slammin' into each other wasn't a coincidence. It had t' have been on purpose.*"

=Yeah. Yeah, you're right. She must have done it for a reason. But why? And why not let me know that she was alive?=

Gambit stilled for a moment and then turned and wrapped one arm around Xander's neck, hugging the giant cat to him as best he could. "*I don't know, mon ami. We find out though. Promise. We find out.*"