DISCLAIMER: I don't own the X-Men or any other characters, etc. Marvel, etc... I do lay claim to the FOH members, the OC ones, but only with reluctance, and Diana Clayton as well, I guess. I also lay claim to Suzanne and the lousy assassins.


A/N: Sorry it took so long. I have zero time to write. A full time job and three kids (1 of them is now officially a teenager… how did THAT happen?) Anyway, here it is… the long awaited next chapter to prove I am still writing this story!


Chapter Fifty-Three:

Mercy stomps her foot and glares at her cell phone. "Henri LeBeau, y' answer dis phone righ' now or so help me, God, I'll tear y'r head apart!"

The phone rings again. "'Ello?"

"Henri!"

"Yeah, c'est moi. Calm down, chérie. I be okay now. I jus' made it out of France. I'm tryin' m' bes' t' get back t' y'."

"Yeah, I know, mon amour, mais I can' help worryin'. What if dey find y'?"

"Mercy, if dey find me, dey will be de ones come up missin'." There is a determined tone to his voice that makes Mercy shiver.

"Je t'adore," she says.

"Je sais. Je t'aime trop." He hangs up. (1)


Rogue smiles at the summer heat. "Ah sure have missed this place."

Remy nods. "Remy too, chère."

"Y' two make me sick," Belladonna says, rolling her eyes. "Come on!"

Rogue laughs. "We're coming. Just let me stash my bike."

Remy helps her cover it up. She pulls on a new hat to hide her white streaks. He surveys her new look. "Not bad, not bad, mais Remy kinda likes t'e white stripes."

Rogue smiles at him.

Belladonna makes a sound like she's going to throw up. "Do y'all two ever stop? Look, Remy will go by Jacque, and we'll call y' Salope." (2)

"We most certainly will not!" Rogue growls. "Y'all can call me Marie."

"Fine!" whines Belladonna. "We'll call y' Marie." She stands up, sporting a dark brown wig. "I'll still be t'inkin' it, dough."

"Why ya little," Rogue starts.

"Rogue, chère!" Remy says, placing his arm on her. "Calm down. You and Remy bot' know who t'e real salope is."

Rogue glares at him, but turns to Belladonna with a smile. "Alright, then, sugah, should we call ya Putain?" (3)

Belladonna looks like she is about to slap Rogue, but one look at Gambit makes her stop. "Non, y' can call me Adriene."

"Fine," Rogue scowls at her.

"Fine," Belladonna scowls back.

"Le's go!" Remy whines.

Both girls look at him. "Fine!" they say together and take off towards Bella's house.


Graydon looks over to find Diana sleeping curled up on the couch. He's really grateful to her. She's gone to such great lengths to keep up the appearances of dating him. In fact, she hasn't brought up anything professional since the conversation where he promised not to murder anyone. She's just stayed here every night, pretending to be his worried girlfriend, and putting on a very good act. She's even rather pretty.

Harrison walks in. He's smiling. "I just got off the phone with Carl Smidt and he has agreed to blog about your recovery!"

Graydon raises an eyebrow and writes, "Who is Carl Smidt?"

"Only the most popular anti-mutant blogger on the web!" Harrison says excitedly. "He's catching the red-eye to come out here tonight. So, wake up Diana, I want to get our stories straight. We are leaving Anna out of this."

"Out of what?" Diana asks groggily.

Graydon writes, "Big news blog, I think."

"The mutie who did this was insane with anger about the campaign. Got it? Okay. He was a male, 5 foot 8 or 9, black fur… big muscles… Definitely not a little Southern girl with white stripes in her hair. You got it? Good." Harrison continues making up his story. He's good at this kind of stuff. That's one of the things Graydon likes best about him.


Illyana and Jaime sit in the library staring at a book on phonographs. "Why do we even need to know this stuff anyway?" he whines.

"I have no idea," she answers. "You know vhat I think? I think this is punishment for us running off to Limbo."

Jaime rolls his eyes. "I thought we've been punished enough for that. No computers, no dictionaries or encyclopedias… Do you have any idea how hard it is to write an essay on phonographs without any reference material?"

Illyana just looks at him, "Screw the essay. Let us climb on jet and go vith rescue party."

Jaime grins. "Now, there's a good idea!"

She smiles at him. "I am corrupting you good, no?"


He laughs. "Let's go."

Belladonna is able to sneak them into her father's mansion without being detected easily enough. She's been sneaking out of it so long; she knows all the safest routes. Once the three of them are inside, Gambit looks at her, "Okay, Adriene, where is Jean-Luc?"

"Hold y'r horses, Jacque. I'm not sure," she answers. "We need t' get into Père's office."

"Oh, great," Rogue groans. "That'll be a piece av cake, sugah."

"Someone's coming," Remy says.

Actually, two people walk down the hallway. They briefly look over at them and one laughs, "New recruits."

"Wanna take bets on how long dey last?" the other says.

"Sure, I t'ink de girl wit' de dark brown hair be dead in a week," the first one says. Then they are out of hearing range.

Bella is furious. "Oooo, I could just strangle Jean-Pierre!"

Remy and Rogue are both trying not to laugh at her.


Sinister sits on a bench in a baby store holding Siena's purse. He is not happy.

"Oh, and I think this is just perfect!" she says to the sales person.

Sinister is trying to figure out how he got here. Dinner had gone well. The night after had gone really well. They decided to go sightseeing after breakfast. They were passing the baby store, when Siena said she 'just wanted to look at a couple of things, please.' The next thing he knows, it's three hours later, and he's stuck holding her purse while she practically buys out the store.

"You can have it all shipped directly to our address in Bayville, New York? That's wonderful!" she squeals.

Of course, she does look rather happy, he thinks. Unfortunately, he is still stuck sitting on the bench in a baby store, holding Siena's purse. He leans his elbow on one knee and puts his head in his hand. He sighs. They will be leaving Paris soon. In his opinion, the sooner, the better…


Everything was going smoothly for the three would-be-heroes as they sneak around Belladonna's house. "Come on, Jacque, Marie," she whispers softly, "Père's office is dis way."

"T'ird door on t'e left," Remy remarks.

"Everyone knows that," Rogue agrees.

"Well, if y'all t'ink you can jus' waltz righ' in dere wit'out my help, feel free!" Belladonna makes a rather annoying and stubborn pouting stance by crossing her arms and stomping her foot.

"Wow, does that eveh work, sug?" Rogue asks with one eyebrow raised.

Belladonna narrows her eyes and glares at the girl who stole her boyfriend, "It been working all my life, darlin'."

"Well, it ain' workin' right now, so grow youh butt up and start actin' yer age!" Rogue growls in a harsh whisper.

"Would you two stop? You both givin' Re-Jacque a headache!" Remy interjects.

"Aw, Ah'm sorry, sugah," Rogue says sweetly to him, loving the way Bella grimaces at her words.

"Ah hope y'all both rot in hell," Belladonna growls.

"Then why in Heaven's sake did ya come to get us in the first place?" Rogue demands in a lighter tone, for Remy's sake.

"Ah wish Ah knew, Marie," Belladonna replies, "Ah wish Ah knew." She sighs and heads towards the third door to the left. Remy and Rogue follow after her.

They seem to be in the clear when an all too familiar voice rings out, "Rogue, dat y', belle?"

The trio freezes. They all know the voice and it can only mean trouble.


The phone rings and Pyro answers. "'Ello."

"Is Vanda there?"

"Yeah, but she's kinda busy right now…" Pyro looks over to where she is pouring glue solvent over Sabretooth's purple fur. He hears Kurt sigh over the phone. "Somethin' wrong, mate?"

"Rogue and Gambit took off, and the Professor can't find them," Kurt answers.

"Really?" Pyro laughs, "Hey, babe, Rogue and Remy skipped out on the X-Geeks too!"

"What? Why?" Wanda asks.

"Wanda wants to know why," Johnny repeats to Kurt as Wanda rubs the solvent in. She's wearing long rubber gloves and is glad her father is not going to see the mess this is making. Emma is also helping with this task.

"No one knows. Zis blonde girl randomly appeared at ze mansion yesterday and told Kitty she vas an ol' friend of zeir's and ze next zing ve know zey are gone."

Pyro nods as if he thinks Kurt can see him. "Some blonde shelia showed up from their past and they just took off without tellin' anyone," tells Wanda.

"Blonde girl?" It takes Wanda all of two seconds to understand. "Belladonna! They went to New Orleans! Something must be wrong!" She stops rubbing solvent into Sabretooth's fur and stands up, taking off her gloves and throwing them onto the floor.

"Hey, Where – are – you – going?" Sabretooth tries to growl at her!

"My sister's in trouble!" Wanda says with a growl of her own, "I'm going to help!" She has forgiven Rogue instantly. "Johnny, come!"

"I guess we're headed to New Orleans, mate, bye!" He hangs up on Kurt.

"You – can't – leave – me – like – this!" Sabretooth tries to shout after them.

Emma watches them leave in shock, "guess it's just you and me, then…"


Kurt hangs up the phone and runs to Cerebro. "Professor! Professor!" He ports into the room with a BAMF.

"Kurt!" Xavier cries out, taking off his helmet with an annoyed look on his face. "You broke my concentration!"

"I know vhere Rogue and Remy vent!"

Charles steeples his fingers and looks at Kurt expecting him to go on.

"I called Vanda to let her know vhat happened, but she didn't answer. Pyro did, but she vas right by ze phone so he vas telling her vhat I vas saying, and telling me vhat she vas saying."

"Get to the point!" Xavier says losing patience.

"Right! Sorry," Kurt says, looking down at his feet. "Vanda knew vho ze girl vas and said zey vent to New Orleans."

"Thank you, Kurt. I will inform the others. Let's ready the jet."


"Jacque, Adriene, keep going; Ah'll handle this," Rogue whispers.

"Jacque doesn't like t'is plan," Remy whispers with narrowed eyes.

"Jealous, sug?" Rogue whispers back with a smirk. "This ain't about us; it's about Jean-Luc."

"Right," he agrees with a nod, and starts walking with Belladonna as Rogue slowly turns around to face Julien.

"What are y' doin' here, Rogue?" he asks.

"Aw, Jules, ya even have ta ask that?" she answers, batting her eyes and making his heart flutter. Please let this work.

"Last time we talked, y' said…"

"Ah know what Ah said, but…"

"Y' ran off wit' dat diable!"

"He's a charmeh, fer sure…but… Jules…" She sighs. "Look, Ah know ya're angry with me."

"Aw, Rogue, how can I stay angry wit' y' when y' look at m' like dat?" Julien shakes his head. "What do y' want anyway?"

"What makes y'all thank Ah want anythan' at all?"

"Y' wouldn' be here if y' didn't." He says crossing his arms.


Meanwhile, Remy and Bella slip carefully into Marius' office. It's guarded by a couple of men, but Bella makes short work of them. She blows air out of her mouth, "Such a waste, dey had so much potential, too."

Remy, however, is thrilled because they've had a bit of luck… Jean-Luc is sitting in the middle of the room, tied up very intricately. "Shut up, Bells, and help me untie mon père."

Jean-Luc is in shock, "Remy, y' came back!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't make too much of it, but Remy couldn't leave you to die by Marius' hands, now could he?" Remy says, frowning at his father's black eye.

Belladonna has not come to help untie Jean-Luc, but has instead been monitoring the security cameras. "Uh, Rems, could y' speed it up a lil'? We're about t' have company… and I jus' hope y'r Rogue can calm my brother down before we do…"


"Oh, ya think Ah only come around ta use ya? Is that right, Jules?" Rogue says, conjuring up some crocodile tears.

"Now, don't cry, Rogue…" he sighs.

"Ah do care about ya, Julien," she lies, crying harder for effect.

"Rogue, please stop crying." She just shakes her head and sobs. He sighs and walks over to her. He places his hands on her shoulders. "Please?"

"No!"

"Rogue?"

"What?" She looks up at him through tear filled eyes. He leans in and kisses her. Naturally, he falls on the floor unconscious.

Rogue stops crying immediately, smirking down at him. She picks up his body and carries him into the room Remy and Bella are in.

"What de?" Belladonna cries out. "What did y' do t' my brother?"

Rogue rolls her eyes. "Don't worry none 'bout your idiot brotheh. Ah told ya, Ah could handle him. He'll be fine in a couple av minutes."

Remy and Jean-Luc stand up about then. "Let's get out of here."

"I'm stayin'," Bella says. "Père's gonna be mad as a hornet wit' me, but I might as well get it over wit'."

"Okay," Rogue sighs and grumbles, "Here's somethang Ah neveh thought Ah'd eveh say in a million yeahs… Thank ya, Bella."

"You're welcome, ya little tramp," Belladonna answers.

Rogue looks at Remy, "Ah hate her. Ah really, really hate her…"

"Remy know…"

That is just about the time the door opens and Marius steps in.


To be continued . . .


A/N: (1)c'est moi = it's me, mon amour = my love, Je t'adore and j t'aime = I love you, trop = too

(2) salope is French for slut

(3) putain is French for whore

Will Apocalypse take over the world? Will Charles find them? Will they save Jean-Luc? What will happen when Marius finds out Bella helped them? What will happen to Lucas/David/Ian? How long will Graydon take to heal? Will Jaime ever find out what his title means? Will Henri make it back from wherever he is now with the Rippers on his tail? Will Siena marry Sinister? Will Sinister get out of the Baby Store? Will Ororo ever find out who the baby's real father is? What is up with those spheres? Will Scott stop acting like he's got a pole up his. . . er, never mind. . . Will I ever stop making up these ridiculous questions? All these answers and more as A Split in Reality continues.

Please Review! :) Pretty Please, with sugar on top. :) And a cherry! And nuts. . . And Chocolate sauce! And Whipped Cream! And a banana! And butterscotch! And, um, gummy bears! :) ! And candy corn! And um, peanut butter? Jelly? Um, raisins? And M&Ms! And. . . um. . . Marshmellows! And Gummy Lifesavers! And Stride Gum! And Cinnamon Toothpicks! And Pixy Sticks! And Dr. Pepper! And a spork to eat it with!

Seriously, though, the more reviews a chapter gets, the guiltier I feel about taking forever to update. . . the guiltier I feel the faster I write. . . lol And every so often, a particular reviewer makes me feel REALLY guilty… and I really do get off my butt and finish a chapter… so, Y'all can all thank Tubagirl2007 for this chapter coming out before September! Please review!