Epilogue

The mansion was silent. The exhaustion of yesterday was evident in the tired and sometimes haunted expressions on the sleeping faces. In several rooms, unbeknownst to the adults, teens had doubled up. For comfort or the feelings of safety it provided, depending on who was doing the doubling. The TVs remained on, ignored by all and forgotten by most. Unseen, newscasts of the soon-to-be legendary battle were flashing. Underneath the glossy faces and plastic smiles, was the note of fear. Mutants were feared. Everyone ignore the fact that they had just saved Earth once again.

Rama-Tut lost the battle and Apocalypse once again disappeared. Promising vengeance, Rama-Tut too returned to the time line. Both were not missed. Any thoughts to the funerals that needed to be planned were pushed aside. No one wanted to think. No one wanted to feel.

Jean was taking it the hardest. It was her fault. Everything. Alone in her room, she dreams of the destruction she brought about. Alone in her mind, she can feel the small flame begin to smolder at the images.

Elsewhere, comfort is being given. Piotr holds Kitty as she cries in her sleep for her friend who has left her twice, once by choice, again by death. Kitty clutches to him in her grief, not understanding the foundations being laid at that very moment. Foundations of love that would carry her forever, through the bad and the good. On the bedside table, the picture of her and Rogue gleams in the early morning light.

Kurt sits alone in his room. After the battle, Amanda's parents had put their feet down. She was never to see Kurt again. To put an end to the sneaking about, they were moving. This town was becoming "mutie-ville" any ways in their minds. Kurt seethes where no one will see him. The anger is unsettling from such a peaceful boy. It burns in him and makes him wish for things that would comfort him. Including his now gone sister. Watching his sister die was very disturbing. He yearns to talk to her, but even now she is gone. Picking up the copy of Inferno she left him, he passes his three fingers over the worn cover. Touching it makes him feel closer to her.

Everyone else is in similar states of grief and anger. Wolverine drinks himself into a stupor, but within minutes he's sober again and has to start over. Storm lies in a coma in the hospital part of the mansion, with Evan keeping her company. Most of the recruits are asleep, scarred from the battle and weary in a way such young people should never be. In the chaos following the battle no one notices that most of the time-traveling mutants have disappeared. Wanda and Captain Britain left within minutes of Rogue's death, while Kitty never showed up. According to Wolverine, who did a short reconnaissance before retiring to his room, her scent disappears in the forest. As for Bishop, Sage, and Sean they returned to their time. Gambit had the distinct impression that they would be back.

Packing his things, he prepares to bid his farewells to a place now haunted by the memories of those gone. Though no one wanted to admit it, this place would never be the same. Thanks to Rogue, he had somewhere else to be and didn't have to make excuses for sneaking out the way he did.

Yesterday

"…Remy! Where is Remy?" Rogue called out with the little strength she had left and reached for him. Remy had stooped down to hear what she was whispering.

"Ah remember." His confusion must have shown because she continued. "Ah remember what Ah felt for ya. Ah forced mahself to forget. Don' let her forget Remy. Ya'll…" Rogue wheezed, her breathing became labored. "She's at…" Rogue made one last effort to get what she was trying to say out. "…Cassidy Keep." Rogue collapsed in Remy's arms. She was gone.

Remy stowed his pack on the back of his bike. Turning for one last look at the mansion, he noticed movement at one of the windows. Remy waved a little and smiled at the answering wave.

Kitty watched Gambit ride away. She knew where he was going, or at least who he was looking for. She rubbed at the vague ache in her chest. It was heart breaking to watch those two. They loved each other. She didn't have anyone to love. Lance was a failure, her parents were xenophobic, and all her old friends thought her a freak. She had nowhere to run to. Except…

Kitty picked up the envelope on her desk. She'd been granted early admission to the University of Chicago. She already had enough credits to graduate from high school; she'd only stayed because the professor had thought it would be good for her to be with others of "her kind" for a while. Well, he's gone, Kitty thought to herself. And I need time to myself.

Six Months Later

Rogue steadied herself on the balcony rail. In the last couple of months she'd had to learn to deal very quickly. Sean couldn't be leaned on for anything.

"Mama!" Rogue turned to Elias, who toddled towards her on unsteady legs. Before Rogue could kneel down to lift him up, Sean came up behind and did it for her.

"Y'good, love?"

Rogue nodded and rubbed a hand over her upset stomach. It felt as if there were a million butterflies in there, and all of them were trying to escape. "Ya goin' to see Moira?"

"Yeah! I'm takin' Elias with me so no worries."

"Ah'm more worried for Muir Island. Destructive child." Rogue admonished her grinning son. In the last six months Rogue had grown to love Elias like her son…which technically he was.

"Alright, love. See ya in a week." Rogue leaned over so Sean could kiss her cheek and rubbed her finger down Elias's nose. She watched as they left and contemplated making herself some fried chicken. On the other hand, some fried pickles sounded good.

Rogue turned back to the magnificent view she was afforded in her new home at Cassidy Keep. It was only fitting that she gets a great room; she was the mother of the heir to this great castle.

Six Months and some change ago

"Ah have a proposition for both of you. It would require tha' ya take care of something for meh. Somethin' tha' is a part of both of ya's. It would require ya both give something up but Ah guarantee ya both that ya would gain somethin' far greater in return. Will ya consider it?"

"Ah guess it wouldn't hurt anythin' to hear wha' ya wan'." Rogue said as Sean nodded with her.

"Alright, here's the thing, Ah have a son. Mah son has been foretold by Irene to be a great influence on this timeline. He'll become one of the leaders of the world and will in turn bring mutants in society. He'll herald the arrival of acceptance for mutants. Tha's the reason Apocalypse wants him to die. Ah can't stay here and protect him, so Ah need someone else to take care of him, someone he'll recognize and someone who will love him like Ah do."

"What does that got to do wit' us love?" Sean asked leaning forward. They both already had a good idea of where this was going.

"Ah want his parents to raise him."

Rogue looked in shock at Sean. This was her future husband AND the father of her child.

"No, he's not the father. Or…well, he's not the only father."

"Excuse me?" Rogue asked incredulously. Great, she thought, Ah'm a slut in the future.

"It's complicated." Rogue said as she maneuvered herself onto the chest of drawers across from them. "At first, the father was Remy. And don't ask me how he got meh pregnant because all Ah'm sayin' is that it involved a hell of a lot of spandex and latex. The point is he knocked me up, and then died. Ah was at Muir Island when Ah found out. Ah'd just started datin' Sean. Ah told the doctor there and he got worried…ya know because of mah power? Well, it turns out Ah should have been worried. The only person Ah absorb during the first trimester of mah pregnancy was Sean and that affected the fetus. His DNA was grafted onto the baby's by mah power. In essence he became the second father to mah child. The doctor ran tests and found all this out after Ah had an accident in the field."

"Cool, I'm going to be a daddy."

"Now, comes my deal. Y'all take Elias and leave this place. Raise him somewhere quiet, safe. Ah, in turn give you something y'all wouldn't get any other way."

"Like what?" Rogue asked.

"For ya, touch. Ah can give you the ability to touch."

"And me, babe?" Sean asked, confident that there was nothing she could give him.

"Ya had the measles when you were small. It made you impotent and took away your inheritance. No heir, no Cassidy Keep. Ya'd give anythin' to stick it to yo' cousin Black Tom. Ah'm givin' ya a son." Rogue paused for dramatic affect. "Ah cannot decide for ya."

Rogue and Sean nodded. "Let us think about it?" Sean asked. At her nod he rose and left. Rogue just sat there for a few minutes, absorbing it all.

"There's somethin' else Ah need to ask of ya. Ya have to leave Gambit."

"What? Ah won'…"

"Yes, ya will. Don' ya get it? Ah've been in his head. He's nothin' but a playboy! He'll leave us eventually!"

Rogue stood. "Ah don' believe that!"

"If not for that, do it for Elias. Ya know the Remy is mixed up in all kind of Thief Guild/ Assassin Guild shit. Do ya wan' to endanger your child's life? What about ya's? We've already had it happen…it will happen again!"

Rogue shook her head. "Ah gotta think." She stormed off.

Rogue watched her younger self walk away. She wouldn't leave this proposition on the table for long. Her younger self knew that she could give her something no one else could.

"That was harsh."

"Tha' was necessary, Kit."

"Don' call me that."

"Sorry. You headin' out?"

"Yeah. Got stuff to do, you know?"

Rogue smiled at Katherine. "See ya later?"

Katherine nodded. Both knew they'd never see each other again.

Rogue leaned into the spray of the ocean. It was glorious. When his hands snuck around her she leaned into those instead. She knew he'd come. He'd never leave her alone. That was what her older self had never got. Love didn't abandon you.

"Back ache, chère?"

"No, ya son is kicking up a storm."

Remy laughed as he began to massage the large swollen stomach on Rogue. "More like our daughter is dancin'."

"Son."

"Daughter."

"Don' make me kick ya ass Remy."

"Try it bébé."

Such a sweet end! Gotta love those two. Reviews...PLEASE! I need to know what you think!

As for this next chapter…it's a preview for "A Time For Destiny." Major Kiotr in this next one, but Romy will be heavy in there too. It focuses on Ms. Kitty, and Mr. Piotr. Kitty receives a diary from a certain seer, and all hell breaks loose after. She calls her "good friend" Piotr and…well, you'll see.