A/N: First of all, I want to thank the readers who reviewed the story. It's amazing to know there are people who are enjoying this and letting me know. Thank you, you're awesome!
I know this is a short chapter but I hope it's worth the wait (next chapter will be twice as long).
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For hours, they waited in a dark wet cave.
It was cold, so cold.
The noises of the storm were earsplitting. Rogue had to fight the urge to cover her ears with her hands, like a frightened child under her blanket.
They were still in shock. Dry throats, irregular breathing, heart beating fast. Something was wrong; the rain could not be natural, it did not resemble anything nature could create. It seemed to have a life of its own, chasing them there.
Although sheltered, they did not feel safe. Thoughts of the cave ceiling crumbling down on them would not let them loosen up. Repeatedly, their eyes turned to the entrance as if expecting to find Apocalypse.
They took refuge at the back of the cave, where it was dank and nasty, and feared that other small creatures did the same.
The drops falling from the ceiling along with some water that pierced through the barrier that was the fallen tree at the entrance formed puddles in the ground. The fire that Gambit had rigged up died out after few minutes. After various unsuccessful attempts, he recognized that he was not going to be able to relight the fire, not with that much humidity and lack of dried twigs to feed the flames.
The water that inundated the ground, though not particularly clean, was used to wipe off some of the dried mud on their skin. Their hair, however, stayed filthy. Only after cleaning their feet, they realized how sore they were. As they ran barefoot, they stepped on stones and twigs. There were small cuts on the soles of their feet, though none that required urgent care. If some of the cuts had bled, the blood had already dried. The cold made them numb to the point of not feeling any other kind of pain.
The storm went on as intense as before. From afar, thunders clapped and lightning lit up the cave entrance often enough to make their bodies stiff.
"It's still around five hours till dawn" he said. In a rare moment he could not hide his tension.
Rogue barely heard what Gambit said. After they split up, so that he could try to start another fire, she crouched on a rock that seemed to be smooth enough to sit on. Now, she hugged her own body as she swayed back and forth, in a fruitless attempt to blunt the cold.
"We need t'get warm" he said, seeing the cold breath coming out of his mouth.
Rogue was pale and her lips slightly purple. It felt as though Gambit had blinked and the former Rogue had materialized in front of his eyes. Even her dull eyes were back again.
Gambit got to her and made her stand up, hugged her and rubbed her back and arms. Felt her shivering in his arms. He himself could not stop shivering. Moving away just enough to look her in the face, he called her name, and again, and again, and again, until she finally looked up.
"It's all gone" she whispered. "All—" the next words got stuck in her throat.
"Anna... listen. We jus' have to hold on for a few more hours. It'll be morning soon, it'll get warmer, and den we can get outta here" he continued to rub her arms.
"And go where?" she questioned. Her voice tremulous and mournful was an indicative that she came to herself at last "The house... was swept away."
There was so much more behind her words. It was not about the house alone, it meant the end of their lives there. Even though they knew their time there together would eventually come to an end, it was hard to accept it after it did, and in such brutal fashion.
She finally brought herself to say the words they feared. "Do you think Apocalypse has found us?" fear turning her blood cold.
"I dunno" he all but whispered. His head sorting out ways to get them out of there. If the worst case scenario came to be, he hoped to be ready for it. He would turn anything that he could put his hands on into weapons. He would not let Apocalypse get to her. He would not.
Noticing his face had hardened, Rogue put her arms around him. Their body temperature went up, even if almost imperceptivity.
They were silent, holding each other for what felt like hours.
They picked their clothes up, wrung them out, shook them, and rubbed them until they seemed to be only humid and put them on. Uneasy feeling, but still preferable to waiting nude for whatever it was that was coming.
They tried to keep their heads occupied by talking about anything so that they would not focus on the cold and on the desperate situation they were in.
Hours went by tortuously slowly. Roughly three anguishing hours later, the rain at last died out. It ended just as sudden as it had started. The downside was that without the lightning, they could no longer see anything.
Feeling his throat dry, Gambit picked a rock up and charged it, which provided a dim light, and walked to the opening; Rogue right behind him.
They tried to look outside, through the leaves, but saw nothing but darkness. Despite their combined efforts, they were not able to move the tree aside; the log was just too heavy. Gambit cogitated to blow it up but feared the side effects. The only way out, they deduced, would be by pruning the smaller branches first so that they could leap over the log without getting hurt.
They proceeded to break the more fragile branches with their bare hands, learning right away that it would not be an easy task. They ended up with scratches and splinters under their skin. Gambit still had his hand bandaged; the dry blood under the stopgap bandage was visible. They got an idea. They tore off pieces of their clothes and swathed their hands. Although it was not enough to keep them from completely hurting their hands, it made the process less painful. They moved slowly, patiently.
After the smaller and more fragile branches were out of the way, Gambit started to charge the bigger ones, careful not to accidentally blow the whole log up. With a lot of concentration, the tactic worked and the branches were gone one by one. When there was all but the log left, it was almost dawn. With the sun rising it was possible to distinguish shapes.
Despite of themselves, they hesitated to step out. It was not completely bright yet, and all they could see was destruction. There did not seem to be one tree left standing. They halted and stood back. There was nowhere to go. Once again, they waited.
And then, in the midst of so much uncertainty, a sound filled their ears.
A familiar sound to Rogue. "Ah know this sound" she said, pricking her ears up. Hoping it was not only her imagination playing tricks on her. "Do you hear this, Remy?"
"Oui, chérie, I do" his tone of voice indistinguishable.
She moved closer to the entrance. Her heart beating fast.
"Guess our rescue's here, after all" he said, standing next to her. There was something in his voice now, sadness. Rogue was so anxious, however, that it went unnoticed.
With caution, Gambit leaped over the fallen log, offering his hand to help Rogue.
Outside was the Blackbird.
The crew on the Blackbird was tense. Wolverine did not say a word the whole time. Shadowcat, tired of trying, shut up too. Cyclops, in his turn, kept himself focused on piloting the jet. His arms and jaw stiff, because even though the storm had ended, the feeling of danger lingered.
"We're drawing near" announced Cyclops from the pilot seat.
Soon, they saw the destruction down on the ground.
In silence, Kitty prayed for Rogue to be unhurt.
Cyclops landed on the fallen trees as best as possible. Stepping out of the ship, they spotted two figures approaching while holding hands.
Upon seeing Rogue, all the perils they had gone through by literally flying in the eye of that abnormal storm dissipated. Of course, they had all agreed to take the risk. Luck was on their side, for had Gambit not used his powers hours earlier, it would have been nearly impossible to find them in so much destruction.
"Rogue!" Shadowcat yelled. She ran to meet her but recalled, halfway through, that Rogue could not be hugged.
"It's fine, Kitty" Rogue stepped forward and hugged her friend. "Ah'm so glad to see you, too."
Kitty stood still, dumbfounded. Perhaps Rogue's showing affection was even more astonishing than that fact she could touch.
And as surprises were yet to end, Logan walked up to her and put his arms around her. "You okay, Stripes?" he asked as he pulled away, holding her arms.
She nodded, speechless.
"You're going home now, Rogue" said Cyclops.
Gambit, who had fallen back, watched in silence. No one had even glanced at him, as if he were invisible. Was not expecting to win a medal for his heroic acts but did not deserve to be ignored.
"Let's go, Rogue" shouted Wolverine, heading to the jet. Kitty's eyes shot open as she knew Wolverine would leave Gambit there if given the chance. She approached him self-consciously and greeted him: "Hello, Mr... Gambit."
"De name's Remy, petite" he introduced himself with a campy nod of his head.
Rogue walked up to them, rolling her eyes. "You get used, Kitty, believe me" pulling Remy's arms. "Come on, you chivalrous boy."
Gambit put his arm around her waist as they moved towards the jet.
Wolverine growled but said nothing; he would ignore it for as long as he could, which did not mean he was blind to their skimpy clothes and stolen touches.
Everyone dutifully settled, the Blackbird took off. When Rogue and Remy looked through the window, in an unfortunate moment, they both saw what was left of the house where they lived for weeks. Now, there was nothing but debris.
As soon as it was allowed to stand up, Rogue went to the lavatory to take care of her hands and face. Kitty knocked on the door and handed her a towel. Rogue moistened it and tried to clean herself as best as she could. Leaning over the sink, she scrubbed her arms and legs, trying to rub off the dry mud that insistently stuck to her skin.
Kitty stared at Rogue, baffled by seeing the girl's wearing shorts and a tattered tank top. Her hair, slightly wavy, looked good on her, softened her features and made her look almost vulnerable. Kitty at last broke the silence. "How is this possible, Rogue? I'm mean, you can touch, that's... totally awesome. How did it happen?"
Rogue shrugged. "Ah don't know. When we fell on that beach, mah powers… they were gone" she paused what she was doing to look at Kitty's face. Sighed. "We think when..." a lump formed in her throat. It was hard to speak of Apocalypse. "Something happened when we were teleported" she said, cutting her explanation short. Kitty did not insist.
Meanwhile, Gambit sat silently, staring with a harsh expression on his face. Wolverine, sitting across the aisle, two seats behind, burned him with his furious eyes.
Rogue returned and laid her hand on the young man's tense shoulder. "You can go clean yourself, Remy."
He nodded and got up. As he passed by Wolverine, the latter murmured: "This doesn't end here, Acolyte."
Gambit gathered all his will power to brush it off. When he returned, he sat down on the same seat, next to Rogue, and the expression on his face was still grave. Only when Kitty gave him a bottle of water he noticed how thirsty he was. He thanked her with a smile.
Rogue laid her head on Remy's shoulder and closed her eyes, exhausted. She decided she was not going to ask about Apocalypse. For now, all she wanted was to rest and bid farewell to the life that had come to an end. Felt Remy's soothing arms wrapping around her. Obliging, Kitty fetched a blanked and laid it down on the sleeping girl.
Gambit thought of how fortunate Rogue was to have friends like them. She would never be alone. The thought made his chest tight. From that moment on, she would not need him anymore, she probably never did.
Putting the jet in autopilot, Cyclops stood up, passed by Kitty, who was trying to distract Wolverine, and walked up to Rogue and Gambit. Saw the man he had learned to call an enemy caressing Rogue's arm, his lips brushing her hair and forehead, and how protected and safe she looked nettled into his arms.
Gambit looked up. "Can I help you?" he asked with contempt. Never really cared for the goody two-shoes boy scout.
Cyclops moved uncomfortably, shifting the weight of one foot onto the other foot. "I'd like to thank you, on the X-Men's behalf for... you know, keeping Rogue safe."
Gambit stared without blinking, and then said rudely: "You know nut'ing of what's happened."
"I know that Rogue looks fine. I'm sure that, at least in part, is thanks to you" Gambit did not reply. "Anyway... thanks" and turned to leave.
"Scott? Is dat right?" the other young man nodded. Maybe the boy scout was not as bad as Remy had made him out to be. "Don' mention it. I did what any of you would've done in de same circumstances."
Scott assented before going back to his seat.
The trip back to the mansion took hours. Rogue slept almost throughout the trip while Gambit had a short sleep. As if feeling the mansion was near, Rogue woke up.
The Blackbird's returning was much anticipated.
Once Rogue stepped out of the jet, barefoot, it felt as though she was touching that floor for the first time.
To be continued…
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