Gambit walked slowly away into the darkness, his eyes flickering with disgust. As he trailed behind Mesmero he continued to think of a way out of this situation. But none came. Everything seemed hopeless. What was he supposed to do?

--

Rogue sighed as she watched Mesmero's castle from a distance. Somewhere in there, Gambit was trapped. She knew it. He could either work with Mesmero or have Rogue killed. Rogue was beginning to think the only way out of this is for her to die. Gambit would be safe everything would be over. He would do the same for her. Wouldn't he?

"Rogue," Tabitha said softly, noticing the blank look on her face, "Are you okay?"

"We should be in there, helping him." She said without taking her eyes off the castle.

"I know but right now we just can't risk it."

"The other shou' be 'ere in a few minutes." Pyro said. But somehow that wasn't good enough for Rogue.

She got up and headed back towards the castle.

"Rogue? What are you doing?" Tabitha ran up to her, "You know we can't go in there alone.

Rogue turned towards her, her eyes glistening with tears, "This is something I have to do, Tabitha. I have to help Gambit. I promised him I wouldn't let him do this alone. And I intend to keep my promise."

Tabitha studied her carefully then smiled, "Okay, just promise me one thing. Whatever you decide to do, make sure it's the right decision. I won't stop you Rogue. But please, just be careful."

Rogue returned the smile, "Thanks."

Rogue took a deep breath and opened the doors softly, entering the castle.

--

"Gambit. I need to talk to you." Mesmero said slyly, "I told you many times before, you are not to be interfering with the other X-Men." He said sternly.

Gambit remained calm, "After what you did to my friends I'm still debating the concept of chopping your head off."

A smiled pulled at his lips, "Very amusing. But you know what would happen if you didn't kill me on the spot."

Gambit glared at him with his cold, red eyes and walked right past him, "What did you drag me down here for?"

"To tell you something. I knew that if I let your friends go then they'd signal to Xavier who'd come in with more of the X-Men. Exactly what I wanted."

"I can't take out all the X-Men at once."

"Gambit, did you honestly think I thought you could even take out one? Your job was simply to make them believe that you were being possessed or whatever and that I was still alive so they would come falling straight into my trap. The three that are already out there will be the first to die. Then when the rest come in they will suffer the same fate. You see…Apocalypse isn't in Egypt right now. He's here, waiting to tear you friends from limp to limp. Including your precious Rogue."

Gambit jumped at him and slammed his fist into Mesmero's face, "You bastard!" He snarled, landing his other fist into his face once more. Mesmero jumped to the side and wiped the blood away from his mouth.

"You know the consequences for what you have done."

Gambit stood still waiting for Mesmero to make his move. But instead he pulled out the button.

"I warned you. I really did. Don't make me angry. I…"

"Don't flatter yourself. Go on ahead. Press the button. Kill Rogue. Lets see it."

Inside his mind he cursed himself for saying those things. But Gambit knew something Mesmero didn't and it was enough to save Rogue. Just as Mesmero landed his finger onto the button…

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Cliffies are fuuuuuun. Kind of a short chapter. It's taken me a while to update. Again! So I'm planning on doing nothing but writing this story all day and post as I go along. SO check back soon. The next chapter will be up as fast as I can write it and spell check it! That is if I can log in...:P stupid traffic. Please review!!