----------------------Remy Essex Lebeau:  The Road to Forgiveness-----------------

Disclaimer:  I have no rights to any recognizable characters contained with in this Fiction Produced by me, a Fan.  All characters are owned by Marvel Comics.  I will not make any money off the story you are about to read.

Summary:  This is an Alternate Universe where Remy Lebeau is the son of Nathaniel Essex (Mr. Sinister) and Maria Lebeau (Jean Luc Lebeau's sister).  This is the story of his life.  Some events taken place in the actual Marvel Universe, but for the most part this is no specific timeframe to place this in.

Now on with the Story…

--------------------------Chapter 4: We Can be Heroes----------------------------------------------

"That's what I was hoping to hear, for a number of reasons, one, Ororo was very much against holding you prisoner.  Logan stated that we probably couldn't if we tried.  And well, I can't be sure, but judging by Rogue's visit to your bedside last night speaks of anything, it's that she has found a kindred spirit in you.  So I was thinking, Remy Lebeau, would you like to join my X-Men, fight and make the world a better place for mutants.  Protect those that need protection?"  Xavier sat there calmly with his chin placed in his folded hands staring at the young man across from his desk.

Remy stared back at the Professor.  One thought running through his mind.  'Could I make a difference?'  The answer to his own silent question, and that of Xavier's was the same.

"Couldn' hurt t' try."

            That was two weeks ago.  The X-Men seemed like a nice bunch of do gooders.  He had heard of them of course.  But never actually meet someone he could have recognized as an X-Man.  Of course there was Ororo and Logan, but Ororo was not an X-Man at the time, and Logan did not reveal himself to be one, well to be honest Logan was a little preoccupied at the time.

            He never realized what he was missing in the solitary life he had been living over the past couple years until he bared witness to the interaction of his new team mates.  So many mutants here, he wondered if he'd ever feel accepted, of course that didn't matter to him, mainly due to the fact that he was not here to be accepted.  And ironically the likes of Archangel, Iceman, Cyclops, Shadowcat, and Psycloke were determined that he knew it.

            Remy still remembered the first time he felt the loathing coming off one of these five.

***Begin: Iceman and the Danger Room***

^^^The Control Room of the Danger Room^^^

            Cyclops watched from above as these two fought side by side in the Danger Room.  He wondered briefly why the Professor paired 'Gambit' and Bobby up in a session.  For the past week 'Gambit's' sessions have only been with Ororo, Logan, and Rogue.  The two female X-Men were the only ones who opened up to him.  While Logan didn't really open up to him, he also held no malice towards the newest X-Man.

            He understood why Ororo was so close to 'Gambit', but had to yet figure out what Rogue saw in him.  He had confronted her about it earlier, but she went nuts.  He still remembered her exact words when he said 'It's not good idea to get to close to the X-Marauder.'

            'Ya'll maybe mah boss on tha field Cyke, but ya ain't meh boss off tha field.'  And with that she stormed off.  He had not brought it up again. 

            Arguing coming over the speaker brought Cyclops's attention back to the Danger Room.

^^^In The Danger Room^^^

            "Iceman, would y' watch de blasts, dis here Cajun don' like de cold much."  Gambit screamed.

            "Listen Gambit, the X-Men have a goal; save the innocents, not 'murder' them.  Right now there's a thirty-foot Sentinel towering over innocents.  If we were in an actual situation, Trust me, I wouldn't think twice of letting ice hit you, after all what's one less marauder when all these innocents could be saved from that 'sacrifice.'"  Iceman yelled back, voice full of venom.

            Before Iceman knew what happened the Sentinel exploded and shock the ground.  Well in all honesty it shook the entire Danger Room and part of the mansion as well.  A headless Sentinel toppled over and struck the ground with a thunderous thud barely missing the spot where Iceman stood.  Gambit was crouched on the back of the fallen sentinel's shoulder.

            "You could have killed me!  Why didn't you give some warning that you were gonna blow its head off!"  Iceman screamed in rage at the shrug expression of his Cajun teammate.

            "No time mon ami.  Dere were innocents t' b' saved.  And if de cost was 'after party slushies' f'r de survivors, courtesy of a crushed Ice-boy.  Den so be it."  Remy said with out a hint of remorse as he left through the now opened Danger Room doors where miscellaneous X-Men began to pile in; to see what the cause of the sudden quake was.

***End: Iceman and the Danger Room***

            Than there was Nightcrawler, Colossus, Beast, Phoenix and Wolverine.  They didn't go out of their way to be hostile; some of them actually tried to be accepting while others just tolerated him.  Maybe that's why these five Gambit would occasionally call by their real names. 

            Stormy was another matter.  She of course accepted him, and they spent much time together.  He rarely called her Storm or Ororo, which was quite to her displeasure.  He acknowledged her as Stormy.  She didn't condemn him like some of the others.  She didn't forgive him either as she said a couple days after he joined the team.

***Begin: Stormy and her garden***

            "Y know Stormy, I've always wondered what would happen if y' and ole Remy met up again?"  Remy said to Ororo as he helped weed her garden.

            Ororo replied as she concentrated small rain showers over the plants that needed water.  "Yes, Remy…it was something that I always hoped for.  It is good to see you my friend."

            "Y' not ashamed o' Remy, are y' Stormy?"  Remy asked quite hesitantly looking down into the flowerbed.

            Ororo turned to face her long lost friend.  She walked towards him and lifted his chin so his eerie Red on black eyes, met her bright blue ones.  "Ashamed of what Remy, your profession…I can be hardly one to judge that.  For I used to delve in the arts of thieving myself."

            "Not dat, y' know what I'm asking 'bout.  Dose mutants I helped kill.  Are y' sure dat I'm not an embarrassment t' y' in front of y' teammates."  Remy replied still trying to avoid her gaze.

            Ororo placed one hand on his cheek to keep him from turning his head away.  Now forcing him to keep eye contact, she spoke sternly.  "Remy, I have never known you to care so much about what another thinks of you.  But I will tell you this, the Morlock Massacre was horrible.  The morlocks were people I swore to protect.  They are dead now, and I guess you are partly to blame.  But I also know that you would never have done such a thing if it could have been avoided.  I cannot forgive you, for it is not my place.  But I will not judge you.  It is not in my right to do either of the two.  That right remains to the goddess herself."

            Remy looked deep into Ororo's eyes, he could sense her sincerity, he could feel her friendship.  He than pulled her close to him and whispered something very softly that if you weren't Ororo, you would not have been close enough to hear.  "Stormy…I promise you, I will spend every day of my life trying to be the man you think I am, the man I want to be.  I will become a friend, you can be proud of."

            Ororo whispered just as softly, "I have no doubt you will become that man…because you already are."  She than let out a sigh before she continued speaking, "But Stormy is not an acceptable name."

***End: Stormy and her garden***

            And than there was Rogue, the lovely lady her sat across from him at this very moment.  Ever since that first moment he saw her as she answered the door, he felt attracted.  Her perfect southern drawl, the exotic white strip of bangs.  Her face was all smiles.  Than the night that they talked in the infirmary.  She listened to him and even told a few stories of when she was on the wrong side of the game.  Her foster mama, Raven was an old associate of his, and to see that she raised such a polite and respectful young woman, well it was a brain bender.  He had noticed that she seemed to have inherited Raven's temper.  Over the course of these past two weeks, he had noticed several times when she blew up at a fellow X-Man.  He did not want to upset this super strong lass, that was for sure. 

            Remy was broke of his train of thoughts when Rogue called attention to his wandering mind.  "Remy sugah, am ah that boring?"  She asked.

            "Non chere, Remy just b' tinking about how I don' fit in at de mansion."  Remy sighed as he looked down into his cup of coffee.

            "Sugah, ya' know ah didn't fit in either, not until ah proved mahself.  It just takes time."  Rogue said as she sipped her coffee.  The atmosphere of the place was beautiful; it allowed her to forget about all that troubled her, namely her powers.

            "I don't know cher, Remy don' think it'll work wit time.  Y' and Stormy, y' two b' de only ones dat seem t' want me around, and sometimes I wonder why y' talk t' me."  Remy said as he flagged down the waitress.

            "Now Rem, Ah know ya'll ain't pulling dat self pity trick on meh.  Yah forget ah be tha one thaht perfected it.  Ah went through tha same thing when ah first joined.  Puhlease, ah tried ta kill tha X-Men on more than one account."  Rogue said as she reached her glove hand across the table to squeeze his gently.

            Remy paid the waitress and stood up.  "perhaps we b' heading back now, de other's might t'ink dat dis here Cajun kidnapped y'.  After all we only told dem we b' out f'r a cup of coffee, not six?"  Remy said as he pulled her up and flashed her, what he believed was a charming smile to get off the topic they were currently delved in.

            Remy and Rogue made their way back to the mansion, but what they found when they returned was shocking, smoke could be seen rising from the Xavier's Estate, it looked as if it had been under attack.  Remy increased the speed of his bike as Rogue shouted from behind him that she was going to take a closer look.  She flew off ahead of Remy to see what remains were left.

            Remy stopped abruptly in front of the ruins of the school.  It looked like a war zone.  Rogue finally came bursting through the rubble holding something in her arms.  At first Remy could not tell what it was, until she landed gently in front of him.  She was holding the limp form of Professor Xavier. 

            "Rogue, we need t' get him medical help, did y' see anyone else?"  Remy asked with a worried tone.  Before Rogue could reply though, a giant aircraft settled on the grounds close to them.  Remy turned his head trying to figure out where the hell that came from.

            Rogue rushed off to the plane though, just as the hatch opened and a barrage of mutants filtered out. 

            "Rogue, what happened to the Professor?"  A young woman cried out.

            "Tabitha, we ain't got time for that.  I want you and Theresa to get to work and see if we can't patch him up."  The young blonde man stood there with goggles on his forehead and a haunted expression that no man so young should ever have to wear.

            Another young boy with a star tattoo over his eye approached.  "Miss Rogue, what happened here?"

            "Ah don't know 'Star, meh and Remy just got back, and that was left is what ya'll see."  Rogue said with a lot of emotion hid in her voice.

            "Sam…Rogue, come quick the Professor is trying to say something."  The blonde girl called Tabitha shouted from the aircraft.  Everyone rushed in, they all gathered around his side.

            The professor looked up, his eyes glanced over each one of them.  First his eyes found Rogue, than they glanced over his two female nurses, Theresa Cassidy, aka Siryn, and Tabitha Smith, aka Meltdown.  His eyes shifted to James Proudstar, aka Warpath and Shatterstar, aka well Shatterstar.  He than looked up at Sam Guthrie, also called Cannonball, before his eyes finally found Remy, he than spoke softly, never once breaking eye contact.  "Sinister, he came, he took them all.  You can save them, you have to save them."  Finally his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell asleep.

            All of X-Force turned to Sam Guthrie, the team meber who has been leading them since the disappearance of Cable, their leader, as if questioning what to do.  Sam in turn, turned towards who he thought was the only full fledged X-Man Rogue.  Rogue wasn't a leader, she never had been, and probably never would be, and her concern was evident.  She flustered a response.  Gambit spoke up, saving her from the dilemma.

            "De Prof mentioned an associate o' his, Dr. MacTaggart?  Some place called Muir Isle?  Maybe we should get him dere?"  Gambit said after thinking a bit. 

            "That's a good plan…ummm I don't know you?"  Sam said after he realized in the confusion of their arrival, this new person was here.

            "His names Gambit, sugah, a new X-Man, we can take ya'll P.A.C.R.A.T, right?"  Rogue said answering for Gambit.  Sam nodded his head, than they all filtered to their seats aboard the aircraft.

            With that they got the Professor strap down in the small medical unit of X-Force's ship, Tabitha and Theresa kept a watchful eye over Professor Xavier while Sam and Rogue took the controls.  Gambit stared solemnly out the window, memories of his father flying through his head.  Memories of his father and the being called Sinister smashed together.  Before he knew it, they had landed the P.A.C.R.A.T. and do to a call ahead, Moira MacTaggert was waiting for them, with enough medical staff to treat a small battalion.  Gambit felt somewhat out of place, so he left X-Force and Rogue to see after the Professor.  He wandered to a cliff near the medical facility and stared out at the sea. 

            He was standing there watching some dolphins playing in the water when Rogue and Sam came walking out, in a deep discussion.  Rogue looked perturbed, almost a little helpless while Sam looked distraught, and slightly scared. 

            "Rogue, don't you understand, whole teams who wear the 'X' have taken on Sinister and failed.  What good is X-Force gonna be?"  Sam let out exasperated.

            "So what ya'll saying Sammy?  Thaht we leave em there?  Ah will not do thaht!"  Rogue said frustrated.

            "Now hold on Rogue, I don't want to leave them there anymore then you do, but since Cable disappeared, I've been thrusted into leadership, I can't lead an assault, I wouldn't even know where to start."  Sam said, before adding, "It's not like I can turn to X-Factor, latest reports has, they headquarters was ransacked just like the Mansion at the same time.  If Sinister was able to coordinate that, X-Force doesn't have the man power Rogue."

            "And ah don't think we'll be able ta find Generation X, Moira said she been calling since we radio'd her and told her what happened.  We're on are own Sammy." Rogue said as she slouched against the rail next to Gambit.

            "It's suicide Rogue.  We both know it."  Sam finally said after a five-minute silence.  Sam had his head in his arms, propped up against the rail next to Rogue.  "But we're the last of any X-Team…what do we do?"

I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them forever and ever
We can be heroes, just for one day

Gambit pointed towards the dolphins, and then turned his head towards Sam, the reluctant leader of X-Force, and Rogue, the only other X-Man on active duty beside himself, not in Sinister's clutches.  He said, "Sinister, he'll find us, y' can count on dat.  It seems he's after everyone who wears de 'X'."

Oh I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing, nothing will drive them away
We can be heroes, just for one day
We can be, yes, it's just for one day

            "We can take him, y' and Remy…wit' dere help."  Gambit said as he took Rogue's gloved hand and nodded his head towards Sam to emphasis the 'them' that he spoke.

I, I remember
Standing by the wall
The guns, they shot above our heads
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall
And the shame was on the other side
Oh, we can beat them, forever and ever
Then we could be heroes, just for one day

            "Remy…he…I was happy wit' y' cher, I was happy wit'de X-Men but den Sinister came and screwed m' life all up again.  We can beat him, I can find him."  Gambit said as he pulled an emotional Rogue into a hug.

            "How can you be so sure Gambit?"  Sam asked breaking the silence caused by Rogue and Gambit's embrace of comfort.

            Gambit looked down at Rogue, "Because I have bef're.  Dere's some ting I lied t' y' about Rogue."  Gambit said as he let go of Rogue and tilted her head to look into his eyes. 

            "What?"  Rogue asked quietly.

            "Sinister, he's m' father.  M' birth father, dat's why Remy trusted him about de tunnels."  Gambit said, he turned his head to avoid seeing Rogue's reaction before he said.  "Do y' hate m' cher?"

We can be heroes
We can be heroes
We can be heroes
We can be heroes, just for one day

            "No, sugah, o' course not, meh mamma was Mystique.  Member?"  Rogue said as she pulled his face so he could see the honesty in his eyes. 

            "What do y' think Sammy?  Care t' follow m' into hell?"  Gambit said when he realized that neither of them condemned him for his father's sins.

            "I think…we can be heroes."  And with that Cannonball clasped his hand into Gambit's in a sign of trust, friendship, and respect.

            "If just for one day…" Gambit replied meeting Sam's gesture.


We can be heroes
We can be heroes
We can be heroes
We can be heroes, just for one day

            Moira stood along side Professor Charles Xavier's bed.  She stared out the window in his room, from here she could see the disappearing outline of X-Force's P.A.C.R.A.T., their transportation and mobile headquarters.  She looked down at Charles and studied his sleeping face.  "Deir a fine bunch of lads and lassies.  Dinnae know if ye be proud Charles.  But ye should be."

            Charles eyes fluttered open a second, his eyes sought out the same thing that Moira just commented on.  "I am Moira…trust me."  Charles said before using the last of his strength to send a telepathic message to all aboard the P.A.C.R.A.T.  'Good Luck, I am so proud of you all, I want you all to know…win or lose:  You all are heroes, and even more, you all have always been heroes as well…as well  as X-Men.'  And then the Professor was able to fall into a comfortable sleep, one filled with hope.

            "That they are Charles.  We cannae deny it, Dose young ones are heroes as well as X-Men."  Moira said softly as she patted Charles's hand, and turned quietly and left the room.


We can be heroes
We can be heroes
We can be heroes
We can be heroes, just for one day

To Be Continued

A/N:  Well, this would have been out earlier, but I moved, than had to wait for the Cable company to hook my internet up.  But at least it wasn't as long the last wait huh.  I don't usually use songs, but I thought it fit it the end.  For those who don't know the song was 'Heroes' by the Wallflowers and off the Godzilla Soundtrack.  Anyways, tell me what you think.

For those who review:

Ishandahalf:  Every time you review, it feels like I've been sucked into Adam West World.  Anyways, thanks for reviewing.

Christy S:  I hope you like the direction I took it.

Valiowk:  Thanks for the review.

Darkelf:  It did feel kind of rushed, didn't it, but I only envisioned this fic to have 5-6 chapters, it looks like another chapter than a small epilogue, I do have an idea for a sequel, maybe I'll tell the title out at the end of the story.  We'll see.

RB:  Yay!

Elanor:  How's your head, I know I didn't feel a thing.  Anyways, here was another chapter.