The One I'm Dreaming Of
Chapter One:
Love's Anticipation
By Lady Armandina
Disclaimer: Rogue, Gambit, and the other X-men characters belong to Marvel. I'm just borrowing them, he he he.
Author's Note: I realize that this is set quite a few years ago (Joseph is long gone in the comic book). However, this is something I wrote quite a few years ago as well. I am 22 now and wrote this when I was 16, when all that Joseph stuff was going on. So, anyway, I'm rambling. Just wanted to let you all know that. Enjoy and let me know what you think! I love feedback!
Also: This is still the same story I had earlier posted, only with new chapters and with the old chapters revised. I noticed a few errors that happened when I uploaded it previously, and since my chapters were so short, I condensed some of them. So, if you read to chapter three earlier, and see now there are still only a few chapters, there really is more added! It's just together now!
~*~*~*~
Three years. It had been three whole years since they'd seen each other. This amazed Remy. He remembered a time when it was mere torture for them to stay apart for only a day. And now, well, look at what they had become.
Remy Lebeau stood in front of the full-length mirror to take a good look at himself. Just who was he? He honestly didn't even know anymore. All he knew was the man he once was-Gambit. He knew that man. A man with morals, with ambition, an X-man, a man who could love. But he didn't know Remy Lebeau. That was just a name without a face, an empty shell of who he once was. He longed to have a place in this world, but since he left the X- men, it seemed there was no place. So now, he was going back. After three years, it was time to go back to the only real family he ever had. The only thing he was afraid of was seeing her again.
"Rogue." he whispered softly to himself as he picked up a framed picture of her from inside his drawer. Yes, this was the only woman he had ever loved. His beautiful Southern belle. He began to wonder if she even looked the same. Oh, that long flowing auburn hair with the white streak down the middle, those emerald eyes that had always captivated him, that perfect body and a killer smile. Her smile, her lips, how he'd always wished he could kiss those lips, how his mind was flooded with thoughts and memories of her. Would she be there, at the X-mansion? Or did she start some new wonderful life with that cursed Joseph? He couldn't bear to see them together, if they were. Who knows? Perhaps she's not even alive anymore. Anything could have happened.
Still holding the picture he walked over to the door of his small, three- room apartment and looked back at it one last time. No. He wouldn't miss it here at all. He checked his pocket for the plane ticket and stared down at the picture. Should he leave it? He took the picture from its frame and, throwing the frame to the ground, he folded up the picture and stuck it in the pocket of his jeans. He picked up his bags, closed the door, and locked it. That was it, it was over. Loneliness was gone and it was time to start anew.
~*~*~*~
"Rogue? Are you going to help me with this or not?" Storm's voice called from the room across the hall. "We only have two hours!"
"Ah'll be there in a minute, Stormy. Just hold your horses!"
"What are you doing in there, anyway?"
"Ah'm lookin' for somethin'!"
Rogue hurriedly filed through the box of papers she had stashed under her bed, searching for one paper in particular. A recipe. Did she even still have it? It had been at least four years since she'd even laid eyes on it. But it had to be in there somewhere! So many memories were shoved into this one small box that she had begun to wonder just why she kept most of them. An old rabbit's foot she'd found in Central Park one afternoon, a copy of Gone With The Wind, a movie stub from Disney's The Lion King. Yes, these were all happy memories. Perhaps that was why they all had fit into such a small box, for there weren't many. The day she found the rabbits' foot was the same day about two years ago that she had first touched someone without the aid of the Z'noxx chamber. And Gone With The Wind? Wolverine had bought her that for her birthday many years back. The movie stub, how could she ever forget that? She and Gambit had gone to see that movie together. How could she part with any of these? While pondering over exactly why she had kept a small, strange-shaped rock, something in the box caught her eye. She recognized it immediately. The Letter.
She stared at it for a moment and then decided to read it. There was the plain white envelope with her first name scribbled on the front and next to her name, a little heart drawn on with black pen. She opened the envelope and her heart jumped at the sight of his handwriting. The memories poured back as she read the words:
~
My Dearest Rogue,
There are so many things I need to tell you, where exactly do I start? By the time you are reading this, it will be too late for you to stop me from leaving. Don't be angry, this is something that I must do. I'm not going to stick around and watch you as you leave me behind. I can't begin to explain to you how it feels to see you moving on while I'm still trapped here with nothing but regret. I'm sorry, Rogue, and I love you. You know that, and I don't want you ever to forget it. May you have a happy, wonderful life, and I hope that someday you can find the true man of your dreams. I know now that I'm not the one you're dreaming of.
With Love,
Gambit
~
The letter was dated March 20th, 1997. He couldn't begin to explain how it feels? Rogue knew all too well about regret. He didn't even realize it, but when Remy Lebeau walked out the door he most certainly didn't walk out of her heart. Every day of her life she regretted not telling him how she really felt about him. And now things would've been so different, she could touch again! Rogue didn't want the man of her dreams, she didn't want some Prince Charming. She only wanted Gambit. But it had been too late. She cried for hours after he left and was depressed for months. Life did eventually pick up again, but it would never be the same without him. Never.
But he was coming back now. Or so that's what Storm said. In only two hours from now, Remy Lebeau would be walking back through that door again. Did this mean she was forgiven? Or did he only want to be an X-man again? He did, after all, only speak with Xavier and Storm about this. She wondered if he'd even asked about her. For all Rogue knew, there could possibly be a Mrs. Lebeau and maybe a Remy Jr. But now was not the time to think of these things. She would find out soon enough, perhaps too soon. For the time being, she had to find that recipe. Remy always did love it when she made him turkey gumbo.
By Lady Armandina
Disclaimer: Rogue, Gambit, and the other X-men characters belong to Marvel. I'm just borrowing them, he he he.
Author's Note: I realize that this is set quite a few years ago (Joseph is long gone in the comic book). However, this is something I wrote quite a few years ago as well. I am 22 now and wrote this when I was 16, when all that Joseph stuff was going on. So, anyway, I'm rambling. Just wanted to let you all know that. Enjoy and let me know what you think! I love feedback!
Also: This is still the same story I had earlier posted, only with new chapters and with the old chapters revised. I noticed a few errors that happened when I uploaded it previously, and since my chapters were so short, I condensed some of them. So, if you read to chapter three earlier, and see now there are still only a few chapters, there really is more added! It's just together now!
~*~*~*~
Three years. It had been three whole years since they'd seen each other. This amazed Remy. He remembered a time when it was mere torture for them to stay apart for only a day. And now, well, look at what they had become.
Remy Lebeau stood in front of the full-length mirror to take a good look at himself. Just who was he? He honestly didn't even know anymore. All he knew was the man he once was-Gambit. He knew that man. A man with morals, with ambition, an X-man, a man who could love. But he didn't know Remy Lebeau. That was just a name without a face, an empty shell of who he once was. He longed to have a place in this world, but since he left the X- men, it seemed there was no place. So now, he was going back. After three years, it was time to go back to the only real family he ever had. The only thing he was afraid of was seeing her again.
"Rogue." he whispered softly to himself as he picked up a framed picture of her from inside his drawer. Yes, this was the only woman he had ever loved. His beautiful Southern belle. He began to wonder if she even looked the same. Oh, that long flowing auburn hair with the white streak down the middle, those emerald eyes that had always captivated him, that perfect body and a killer smile. Her smile, her lips, how he'd always wished he could kiss those lips, how his mind was flooded with thoughts and memories of her. Would she be there, at the X-mansion? Or did she start some new wonderful life with that cursed Joseph? He couldn't bear to see them together, if they were. Who knows? Perhaps she's not even alive anymore. Anything could have happened.
Still holding the picture he walked over to the door of his small, three- room apartment and looked back at it one last time. No. He wouldn't miss it here at all. He checked his pocket for the plane ticket and stared down at the picture. Should he leave it? He took the picture from its frame and, throwing the frame to the ground, he folded up the picture and stuck it in the pocket of his jeans. He picked up his bags, closed the door, and locked it. That was it, it was over. Loneliness was gone and it was time to start anew.
~*~*~*~
"Rogue? Are you going to help me with this or not?" Storm's voice called from the room across the hall. "We only have two hours!"
"Ah'll be there in a minute, Stormy. Just hold your horses!"
"What are you doing in there, anyway?"
"Ah'm lookin' for somethin'!"
Rogue hurriedly filed through the box of papers she had stashed under her bed, searching for one paper in particular. A recipe. Did she even still have it? It had been at least four years since she'd even laid eyes on it. But it had to be in there somewhere! So many memories were shoved into this one small box that she had begun to wonder just why she kept most of them. An old rabbit's foot she'd found in Central Park one afternoon, a copy of Gone With The Wind, a movie stub from Disney's The Lion King. Yes, these were all happy memories. Perhaps that was why they all had fit into such a small box, for there weren't many. The day she found the rabbits' foot was the same day about two years ago that she had first touched someone without the aid of the Z'noxx chamber. And Gone With The Wind? Wolverine had bought her that for her birthday many years back. The movie stub, how could she ever forget that? She and Gambit had gone to see that movie together. How could she part with any of these? While pondering over exactly why she had kept a small, strange-shaped rock, something in the box caught her eye. She recognized it immediately. The Letter.
She stared at it for a moment and then decided to read it. There was the plain white envelope with her first name scribbled on the front and next to her name, a little heart drawn on with black pen. She opened the envelope and her heart jumped at the sight of his handwriting. The memories poured back as she read the words:
~
My Dearest Rogue,
There are so many things I need to tell you, where exactly do I start? By the time you are reading this, it will be too late for you to stop me from leaving. Don't be angry, this is something that I must do. I'm not going to stick around and watch you as you leave me behind. I can't begin to explain to you how it feels to see you moving on while I'm still trapped here with nothing but regret. I'm sorry, Rogue, and I love you. You know that, and I don't want you ever to forget it. May you have a happy, wonderful life, and I hope that someday you can find the true man of your dreams. I know now that I'm not the one you're dreaming of.
With Love,
Gambit
~
The letter was dated March 20th, 1997. He couldn't begin to explain how it feels? Rogue knew all too well about regret. He didn't even realize it, but when Remy Lebeau walked out the door he most certainly didn't walk out of her heart. Every day of her life she regretted not telling him how she really felt about him. And now things would've been so different, she could touch again! Rogue didn't want the man of her dreams, she didn't want some Prince Charming. She only wanted Gambit. But it had been too late. She cried for hours after he left and was depressed for months. Life did eventually pick up again, but it would never be the same without him. Never.
But he was coming back now. Or so that's what Storm said. In only two hours from now, Remy Lebeau would be walking back through that door again. Did this mean she was forgiven? Or did he only want to be an X-man again? He did, after all, only speak with Xavier and Storm about this. She wondered if he'd even asked about her. For all Rogue knew, there could possibly be a Mrs. Lebeau and maybe a Remy Jr. But now was not the time to think of these things. She would find out soon enough, perhaps too soon. For the time being, she had to find that recipe. Remy always did love it when she made him turkey gumbo.