~ this is it! The last chapter to the very very short part two! Lol . . . things to come . . .

Part 3 Le garçon du futur (the boy of the future) Part 4 & 5 (not yet named)

Things to possibly come . . .

Special Edition: "The Dating Game!" Aimée in MojoVision. Marauders ( a special series on my team of New Marauders)

For info, pictures, dates and more . . . contact me @ amber9000@comcast.net!

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L'homme de la mort

Part 8.

A Not So Happy Ending

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The courtyard was frightening. The sun slowly rose, revealing dead and unconscious bodies scattered to and fro. Xmen lying wounded in dark corners. A tragic whisper could be heard through the wind, as the clouds turned an eerie shade of red. "Blood has been spilled on this night." (oooo Legolas!!) And we find our team gathered together around one sorry victim, her husband weeping over her lifeless body. "Rogue please, please chere wake up. Please! Rogue!" "Remy please, we need to take her to the hospital wing." Jean Grey's soothing voice was of no comfort to him.

"Non! Y'tell me now! Y'tell me why she won' wake up!"

"Remy she's gone." He shook his head rapidly, and turned back to his wife's unconscious body.

"NO! NO! y'lyin'! Ah don' believe ye'h! She's fine, aren't ya'h Chere?" Slowly he touched her forehead, allowing the rough tips of his fingers to caress her soft skin. Nothing happened. Gambit recoiled as if he had been bit by a snake, she didn't kill him, drain his powers . . . she didn't do anything, she just lay there . . . like she was . . . dead. Drawing his knees to his chest the frightened man began to sob. Aimée was sitting at the grass, Abe's arm tight around her shoulder, but she felt nothing. She was numb. Not crying. Not screaming. Just staring at her mother's lifeless body. "I can bring her back."

"What?"

"I can bring her back! Uh uh, Gabriel! Gabriel can bring her back! Everything will be fine. We will be fine."

"Aimée, he is no longer Gabriel. He's the necromancer. He is with Sinister, and will not do it."

"Then we'll make him do it!"

"That is not the way of the Xmen no ma-" "SCREW THE WAY OF THE XMEN!" She was on her feet by then, tears streaming her dirt smudged cheeks, and her hands balled up into tight fists. Aimée glanced down at her father, and her heart wrenched.

"Papa . . ." She said in an unsteady voice, their identical eyes meeting eachother, her tough façade melting away, "Papa!"

The pair shared a tight embrace. They were able to comfort each other in a way no one else could. Sweat and tears, blood and dirt. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it. I didn't know he was bad, papa. I didn't mean to kill her." Remy rocked her slowly as she sobbed into his shirt, finally taking on a more parental role. They were both hurting. Rogue had been the anchor in their ship, the glue that held them together as a family. She was the constant, a wave of serenity. How could they survive without her? Xavier frowned, and signaled for Beast to take Rogue's body to the hospital wing.

"Wait" Logan interjected, stopping Beast before he could reach for the body, "I think we should say somethin'"

"I agree." Jean smiled, standing firm next to him. The recovering Xmen knelt on the ground surrounding Rogue, mournful at the loss of one of their dearest friends. Remy bowed his head, as did all of the other mutants and opened his mouth to speak.

"Unngh." Jean opened one eye, "Remy its okay, just say what you feel."

"I haven't started talkin' yet."

"Then what?"

"Unngh-Remy?"

Every set of eyes flashed open and stared down at the body.

"Chere?" Remy whispered, fearing it was a dream. He reached for her hand and gripped it tightly between his.

"Oh it hurts."

"Baby y'have no idea." He blinked back the tears, as the others watched in awe, "Hank go get a stretcher! Now!"

"What happened?"

"Oh, Rogue, Ah was so scared, Ah t'aught y'were gone. I mean, he killed y', De necromancer . . ."

"Gabriel." Aimée finished, her eyes glazing as she grabbed her mother's other hand. "Gabriel?" she nodded her head yes. "But how?"

"shhh, chere, everyt'ings okay, Beast is gon' go get de stretcher, y'alright we're all alright."

The professor was smiling, but his head was a mess. How had she survived? Aimée saw the necromancer kill her. What had happened?

"An' tha' baby?"

The three words rang out like shattering glass. The baby. Gabriel had taken the baby, not Rogue. The baby was dead.

"Remy? What's goin' on? What t'oah baby?" She sounded panicked by then, but gambit only replied with a blank stare. All of the color drained from his face, as he sadly looked down into her eyes.

"I'm sorry, chere, I don' t'ink de baby made it."

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"Gabrielle."

"Don't talk to me Gabriel."

"Please."

"No," She choked, staring him down with an icy glare. Gabrielle was seated in the back room, her head buried in her knees.

"I hope they didn't hurt you."

"Not anymore then you already have. I can't believe you did this, I can't believe you kidnapped me!"

"What was I supposed to do Gabby? Eh?" He cried, kneeling before her, silently pleading that she forgive him, "You wouldn't see me, and at least this way. I know you'll be safe."

"Safe, Gabriel? SAFE!? You call THIS safe?! In the hands of a madman! Don't you even realize why I never tried to find you, hm? Its because I didn't want to! Ever since you left that day . . . all those years ago, when you left with Mr. Sinister. Curse you Gabriel! Curse you! You left me, I was only 8, and you left me, left me there."

"You ran!"

"There was a crazy white beast knocking at our door! What was I supposed to do!?"

"He isn't all bad."

"You're lying."

He did not respond, and in their silence he place his arm around her shoulders.

"I love you."

She shut her eyes tight, and took a deep breath.

"Then how can you do this to me?" It came out as a whisper at first, but steadily grew stronger and stronger, "How can you deny me of a life? Sent me to be some prisoner, in this monster's prison."

"Gab-" "No Gabriel! No! I don't want to hear it." Her eyes slowly met his, "But I want you to know . . . that I will never forgive you, as long as I live. I hate you, brother of mine, I hate you."

Gabriel felt like he had been stabbed in the heart. "Get out. Get out right now."

He regretted it then, all of it, everything he had done. All of the lives he had taken, all of the families he had ripped apart with a smug smile on his face . . . it was then that he regretted it, and Gabriel knew he would do anything to win his sister back. He stood to leave, turning one last look at his baby sister, but she had turned her attention back to the ceiling, silently willing him to go away.

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The test only took a matter of seconds, the results, mere minutes . . . but that moment, that moment of anticipation, that lasted forever.

"I'm sorry Rogue, Gambit, he's gone."

"It was a boy?"

"Yes."

"Mon fils" The words caught in his throat, and Remy reached towards Rogue for an embrace.

"Naturally we will have to perform an operation to remove the baby, unless of course you would still like to go along with a natural birth.

"What's tha' point? Its not like ah'll have him t'hold in ma'h arms afterwards." "Oh momma"

"No, Ah don't want t'hear it. That bastard took ma'h son . . . ma'h baby. Ah'm so sorry Remy, please ah need t'be alone." Rogue stood and left the room, her long brown curls swishing after her. "Papa?" Aimée asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Don' worry, she'll be alright. Jus' give her time."

"And you?"

"I'm not so sure 'bout dat, but we'll survive."

"We always do."

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Gabriel sat in the corner, fiddling with his thumbs, his mind racing.

"Are we almost there!?" He spat, sitting up. There was an air of impatience around him. His black hair was disheveled, long pieces dangled before his eyes.

"three hundred miles" Wrath grunted from the front seat, causing Gabriel to moan in protest. He fell back on the bench with a thud, pressing hard on this temples. "Geez Gabe! What's your beef?" He glared at the redhead, and shut his eyes. Her face popped into his head . . . those long dark lashes, full red lips, and dark tumbling hair. Aimée. He missed her already. "Reminising about the lost love?" Prudence stood above him, her mouth titled in a slight smirk.

"Bugger off. I'm not in the mood."

"Fuck that. Mr. Sinister is meeting us in a moment and I don't want anyone on my team acting all mopey over the Xmen. So get yourself together *SNIKT* or else there'll be hell to pay."

"Since when is this your team!?" He spat back, jumping to his feet, "Madelyne is in charge of us, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that I was the first recruit to the team! I'm the leader here Prudence, and you take your orders from me."

"No way, Necro. You broke the rules, tried to switch sides. I'm in power now."

"What!?" "It's true." Sinister smiled from the doorway, his dark blue cape sweeping the ground. "NO! M'lord I am fully capable-" "No Gabriel, I'm afraid you aren't. You have been demoted to second command."

Letting out a furious exclamation, Gabe slammed his fist into the wall of the jet.

"Calm down Gabriel, we don't want an incident."

"Don't worry M'lord, I'll protect you *SNIKT*" "I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! I COULD KILL THIS ENTIRE TEAM IF I WISHED TO! I AM THE MOST POWERFUL OF ALL OF YOU!" "Let it out! Let out the rage!" Sinister smiled, maybe this was the trigger Necro needed to reach his full potential.

"I hate you! I hate you Sinister! You took me from my family! My sister, hates me! and worst of all . . ." His eyes grew glassy, " Because of you, I just drained the life out of the mother of a woman I really cared about."

"YOU DID WHAT?" That was different, and it certaintly wasn't what Mr. Sinister wanted to hear. "You heard me, I killed the Rogue. Damn wench didn't even satisfy me." Gabriel was reverting back to his old self.

"You didn't kill her." "Yeah I did, silver wisps, regeneration. Angry husband and daughter, the whole shebam. And God dammit! I made Aimée cry!"

"Your sick you know that?" Prue hissed, staring at the cigarette he had just placed between his teeth. He was back to normal. Arrogant, careless, cruel, and devastatingly handsome. "Gabriel! NO!"

"What!? What purpose did she serve?"

"Not her . . . the baby inside of her!"

"Ba- ba- baby?" He sputtered, the cigarette landing on the ground. "Yes baby! The prodigy child! The mutant from the future that we needed you sister to capture! YOU FOOL! You killed him!"

"I didn't mean t-" "Imbussile!"

Prue smiled. The future mutant was all Sinister would talk about, and now that he was gone, she was still # 1. However, Madelyne Pryor was about to spoil all that. "Sir, if I may interject, why don't we just travel back to right before he killed the baby, and then to the future?"

Sinister paused, with a 'why didn't I think of that?' look on his face. "NO! Gabrielle is too weak" Gabriel spoke up again, looking panicked. He looked from Gabriel to Madelyne, and then to the back room. "Gabrielle! Take us back to 15 minutes ago! And then 15 years into the future!"

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~The End

-Foo