The Road to Forever

by simba317

HIATUS...Rogue and Remy remember the events that lead up to their marriage. It's a fluffy Romy, so just read it, because we all need fluffy Romy. There are other couples too, but are minor...it's a major Romy with some humourous guests...

3. And So It Thickens

Disclaimer: Guess what? I made about billion trillion dollars and bought Marvel and Evo! Not, like I'd ever be rich enough. I don't own Marvel, any characters or X-Men Evolution whatsoever. I can dream right?

Author's Notes: Well, I updated A Mutated Existence after a long hiatus and had time to spare, so I started working on this fic. I had most of it done up to the middle of this chapter, so I just had to do a little finishing up. I'm sparing Underground Resistance X, until this chap is finished, because well, I wanna write something nice and fluffy where it all ends well, and Underground Resistance X is gonna have a few twists and turns, until Rogue and Remy get together. My priorities after I finish this chapter and the next to Underground Resistance X will be a finishing half of a one shot and then working on A Mutated Existence again. So you'll be seeing tones of updates from me in the next while. Luckily, I'm now working on four fics, three once I finish the one shot, but three fics should be enough for me to juggle around so that I don't get lazy and bored typing stuff out; that way, I'll type out more stuff. The updates will be a little slower now, becaue I'm taking Psysics 20 in summer school, but never fret, they will come.

And I first worked on this around April or May, so I don't quite remember writing some of the stuff, so rereading it, I was just like HOLY CRAP, WOMAN, that is fluffy, mushy, romantic, angsty and both heart wrenching and heart stopping. I really just needed a refresher to finish the other half of this chapter, and this all was supposed to be a one shot, but then it got ridiculously long, so I started to divide it into chapters, and now, I'm purposely lengthening it, I think.

On a side note, JULY 1st, HAPPY CANADA DAY! I'm Canadian, I can't help these things…

Shout Outs:

Ishandahalf: Hey Ish, on 'A Mutated Existence', by the time I did realize that Emil and Lapin were indeed the same person, Emil Lapin, ie, the day before I typed it, I was too lazy to change it, because of the fact that I wrote Emil and Lapin with Remy when it was explained that Henri was stabbed by Julien in Chapter Four to protect Remy, and for the sake of continuity, well they're two different people, sorta…plus, I didn't want to have Etienne, I figured he died for more Remy angst…Plus, I must of got the whole Emil/Lapin thing confused from fanfic, where let's face it, Emil and Lapin are made separate people all the time, so, I'm sorry I got them mixed up and confused for so long, but for sake of continuity and the fact that it's my fanfic where anything weird and bizarre can happen, I've made Emil and Lapin twins…yeah. Plus, I've decided that they've left Theoren to be in charge of looking after Jean Luc, who if you've noticed isn't mentioned in the car…Damned fanfic continuity…Oh well, sorry about that.

I'm really honored to know that I'm helping you get inspired again. I really want to see another chapter to Symbiotic so I hope you get into the groove soon. When I wrote wedding Nazi, I didn't know that so many people would love it, but weird totally random stuff like that just comes to me. Plus, I just had to have Remy be all weak and ask her out in a hospital gown, and who can totally work that gown to be sexy better than Remy? The date and dress were just something I've always seen them in…And Remy sticking cards in for luck, just seemed natural for him to do that. I'm glad you liked it. Plus, what else is Tessa honestly gonna use that brain of hers for besides analyzing outfits for awe factor, honestly? It's like her primary job for any inhabitant of the mansion. And who doesn't love Guild members, they're so fun. I probably fell in love with them thanks to From the Shadows by Black Queen…I just loved that environment with both the mutants and Remy's family.

So here's some more wedding insanity and hoopla, plus a few memories thrown in. I love your reviews, so thanks for another one. And all Remy stories should end up with them marrying. I probably shouldn't tell you this, but that's what I plan on doing, sure it'll take a LONG period of time, but I'll try to marry them off in every fic I do, they'll probably end up being series…Anyway, Thanks a whole bunch.

Rogue14: Thanks for the bribe, I mean review…You're not the first to think I need more reviews for my fics, so thanks, you're really sweet, and well, reviews tend to be lazy for me, it makes me sad, but when people like you really give me a good review, with long words, it really makes up for it, and the hostage taking has worked with more than three times the reviews. And you're sweet, although, don't get caught with the fake ids.

I tend to write long, so with reviews and chaps, it's expected of me to do so. I'm crazy like that. My art projects end up three to four times bigger than everyone else's, at least. It seems I just do things, bigger and longer than everyone. Everybody loves hospital gown Remy, gotta remember that, and pregnant wedding Nazi Jean, Wanda crazyness, and Bishop getting freaked out. I just had to do that to him, just because it's most probable for him to do that, and he's just so stoic, so that just had to happen for him. What's so wrong with writing long reviews? I'm insane I know, but hey, you improve your writing and reading analysis skills. That's my excuse to my mom…it's stuff to improve my English. And I don't get that much time, I'm just a computer hog, and insane, I guess, but I know that authors appreciate it, so the shout outs make it all worth it return. My policy is that if I want long reviews, I should write them, that and I'm crazy like that.

CF: OMG, I've converted you. I love it. Oh and sweetie, you haven't seen a long review until you've checked out my reviews for Hellfire and Brimestone, Symbiotic and Between Life and Death, by Agent-G, Ishy and slickboy444, respectively. But I loved this, you're my first person who's really made my policy come full circle. (If you want long reviews, write long reviews in return) Ah Pixie Stix, good to see you still have them around…and I like that I've converted someone to long reviews…hehehehe…And tell the squirrels that I say hi to them in return from Underground Resistance X.

Everyone seems to enjoy the phrase wedding Nazi, I quite love it myself, and I never expected that sort of feedback from it though. Yeah, Remy is definitely dedicated, and I just couldn't help, but write him taking a knife for Rogue, not to mention a collapsing building. I guess the guy just likes to take a beating for his girl, but yeah, he definitely loves her, he just won't tell it completely to her yet. Just in case you didn't know, they admitted their feelings, but not specifically 'I love you' to the other, I just don't think they're ready for that yet right now. I'm glad you liked my romantic bits, I guess this is a way to show everyone what will eventually happen for them in my other fics, like yes, they will get together, in due time of course. I've got much more room to work with torturing them and showing their relationship progress. And From the Shadows is one of THE best fics ever, I'm so sad that it hasn't been updated. And I just couldn't resist killing off Sabertooth along with other characters that I've never really liked on Evo, it was very satisfying actually, I mean he died from being experimented on…hehehehe. I'm glad that you liked the Johnny parts, I just had to write him like that, and give him those lines. Remy is probably the few men in the world who can look like shit, but still make it look incredibly sexy…like Remy in a hospital gown would get me so totally worked up. I do love that mental image, as do many of you. I just had to stick Timmy's in there, that and the perfect use for Tessa's brain. Plus, I just had to pull that jab at Bishop. And nothing is wrong with insanity, except to poor Lucas. Everyone really do love the Guild and also the date as well. I just couldn't help but make it totally sweet. Must be a girl thing. And on the touch thing: yes, as of now, in the wedding part as in present tense, they CAN touch, but in their memories, they haven't gotten there yet, but don't worry, they will.

Oh, and as for the cliffie on A Mutated Existence, just know that I despise Belle's interference with Romy. I really loved this review. It really brightened my night, when I read it really late too. SO THANKS! I loved it.

Thanks to: Tempting Sweet Poison, Blood Huntress, Guarded Secrets, Thanagarian Angel, Rogue gaL, ragincajunlover, SweetRevenge151, keegan FluidDegree and IvyZone: Glad you guys like the fluffiness, the wedding, detail, Remy's dashingness, my writing, flashbacks and quickie updates. Oh, and it's good to see you, ragincajunlover, I loved Southern Hearts, and you too SweetRevenge151, Music When the Lights Go Out is one of my faves. I really hope you guys get back to writing soon.

Thanks everyone for your kind reviews. This is one of the most reviews for one chapter in any of the fics I've written thus far, so I extend my gratitude to all those who reviewed, because I appreciate them immensely and hope that you continue to do so. Thanks for supporting this fic as well as the others that I write.

Here we go, more fluffiness, wedding hoopla, guests and memories…Oh, and some angst too, but it'll be offset by some nice fluff. It isn't for the faint of heart, and those who don't trust in me, but I promise there will be a happy end to it, at the end.

CHALLENGE: simba317 will not update until she has received 15 reviews. Two/Three more from the 12/13 she received. She knows you guys can do it. She has learned the power of ransoms…hehehehe…

Here's another chapter to The Road to Forever. I present to you..

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CHAPTER THREE: AND SO IT THICKENS

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"Bonjour, petite frere," greeted Henri as he entered and enveloped his adopted brother in a big bear hug.

"Bonjour, frere," exclaimed Remy happily, "how is Mercy?"

"Very well," answered Henri.

"Have you seen mon cherie?" asked Remy.

"Oui," said Henri avoiding the question with a sly smile.

"And…" urged Remy, trying to get more out of his brother.

"I am not one t' say, desole," said Henri slyly.

"I should've known," muttered Remy, causing a hearty chuckle from his brother.

"You're just trying to find out vhat meine Schwester's dress looks like," said Kurt.

"Well, y' already know what it looks like," replied Remy.

"Yup," said Kurt happily.

"It's a sad sad day," announced Henri, "the self-proclaimed King of Hearts, ladies' man of New Orleans, is getting married, leaving the broken hearts left in his wake of destruction and heart stealing permanently shattered forever."

"A rather unexpected twist, that the prince of thieves got his heart stolen from under his nose," grinned Lucas, "I never thought I'd see the day you'd finally settle down. I honestly imagined you over 60 finally settling down with someone exceedingly younger…"

"A very creepy thought, bub," said Logan.

"Y're one t' talk, y' like over 120 years old and married to Ororo, who's like what 32 now?" said Remy.

"Shut it, bub, or Rogue's gonna getta groom in pieces," threatened Logan.

"Jus' makin' a point," said Remy with his hands in the air showing no harm.

"Moving on," said Henri chuckling at Logan's expression and Remy's insinuation, trying to diplomatically move away from the conversation.

"Good thing his Sheila can keep him in line, mates," started John moving the conversation away from Logan's age, "Otherwise he'd be ego inflated about his female fans."

"Yes, although he does actually love her. Strange as it is, I am happy for you comrade, to have finally decided to allow yourself to be with a woman for longer than a night and truly fall in love," said Piotr.

"Yeah, laugh it up, hommes," said Remy.

"Quit whining like a two year old, Cajun, and get your ass ready," barked Logan, as he surveyed the non working scene in the room.

Remy mumbled something incoherent and went on to fixing his easily mussed hair.

"Well, it's about time dat someone got m' frere in line," said Henri with a grin, which caused Remy to aim a demonic glare in his direction.

"Let us move, comrades," said Piotr, trying to get the work going diplomatically.

"Ya just don't wanna see ya Sheila upset if tha wedding is messed in any way, because she'll feel it's her fault, since she helped tha red head plan it with Remy's Sheila," said John.

"Well, maybe," conceded Poitr.

"Women," scoffed Lucas.

"Ya wouldn't be saying that if your girl weren't Tessa," said Pyro.

"Da, comrade, you're very lucky, she's so analytical and can expect what you'll do and get you to remember not to do things," said Piotr.

"That, and you're so totally whipped, mate," laughed John, causing Lucas to shift slightly, upset that he was being brought down by the insane pyromaniac.

Remy laughed at his friends' exchange. He had always loved how his strong, quite introverted, quiet, sometimes unemotional friend, Lucas could be teased so easily and his reactions to it as they were always quite humorous. He'd either shrug it off or become annoyed and get his feathers ruffled.

He was truly content with Rogue. He'd only ever experienced true happiness and pleasure with her. Even when they couldn't touch, he'd always known that she was the one for him; maybe even since the day they first met, but hidden away in his subconscious. The bond he shared with her was profound. It enveloped all his being and gave him something he never thought he'd ever have in someone. He had an eternal love. She was just so compassionate and could see who he really was outside the thief everyone saw him as. She saw someone good in him, someone that he had never truly wanted to be until he met her. Rogue had made him want to change, to be better, because he always felt inadequate for her. To him, she was perfect, an angel, and he was the unworthy demon after her affections. However, if he ever asked Rogue, she'd tell him that he was the only person to first see more than that lonely Goth girl. He was so considerate for her, always wearing gloves, just to touch her. He saw who she could be, who she was and because of it, she always felt so insufficient for him. She felt weak, desolate, bitter, lonely and abandoned, but Remy saw her as strong, independent, beautiful and kind, things she never saw in herself until him. She was not fit for someone who so understood her, was so willing to go the distance just to see her smile.

He remembered the very first time that bond was put to the test, about six months after their first date. They were an official couple and their relationship couldn't be better, despite the odds and all that could drive them apart it seemed that their love was stronger than all that and shone through all their doubts about it, made it so that their issues with the past was in the backburner and that the love that they had for each other drove away the dark of their pasts with a pure light. After all, they couldn't even touch. However much it mattered to her, he cared about her, well loved her, because she was smart, brave, sassy, witty, loyal, kind, caring and sweet underneath at her core. She was scared too, and insecure as well, but he didn't care, as long as he could be with her. And made sure she knew that, everyday, after her mental barriers broke and allowed the psyches to flood her after her blocks had weakened during a battle with one of their enemies.

It was easily their enemy's best strategy. In the chaos of her mind, and all she tried to do to gain back the control, she withdrew herself into her mind, to rein them in, and in doing so, removed the last obstacle which stood in the way of the psyches' manifestations for the simple wish for freedom and control again. She was a mess. She was lost. She couldn't think, must less try and shepherd them back into the recesses of her mind. The hurricanes whipped in her mind and the psyches' screams echoed forever and she couldn't go back to gain control of her body…she was too far in, and the way out was too blocked now. She was trapped.

The psyches whipped around her, attacked her soul, and destroyed her essence, her being. She was disappearing. Lost to her mind, she couldn't find the forefront of existence, and thus she was fading from reality. He was losing her again. And he knew that this time would be forever. She was cradled in his arms. He was begging her, begging her to please come back to him. He couldn't live without her, not anymore. The more he tried to call her back, the more she seemed to diminish. He could feel it with his empathy, the core that was in the hurricane of psyches, that was her, was withering. He told her his feelings for her then that he loved her, and that if she were to go, he'd had to die with her, because he couldn't be without her, but she still continued to dissolve.

He knew he had to reach her. He held on to that core with his empathy, sent to her all the things he made her feel. In that moment, something miraculous happened, something that had never happened before. He was given passage through to her mind with his power. He entered the pandemonium in her mind. He saw the chaos in it, how it was nothing more than the psyches spinning faster than a hurricane, screaming their heads off, fighting for control. She had tried to break it up, so that she could gain control, but it was an impossible task. He couldn't see her, but somehow he could sense her, sense where she was in the whole mess. He followed his instincts, struggling through the wind and whiplash of the psyches as they overpowered her and soon enough he was rewarded with finding her, buried under the mess of yells.

She was cowering in fetal position, barely conscious, if there at all, she was translucent and becoming more transparent as the time wore on, her body was worn and battered with many injuries, and she was clutching her head, trying to shut out the voices. The psyches could be seen picking at her, taunting her, injuring her, basically hurting her in any way possible. He didn't know how or why, but the second he yelled at them to get away from her they did, he told them to shut up, to leave her alone, and to back away. For some reason they did for the time being. The psyches had been rooted to the spot, surprised when he spoke and confused too. He used the opportunity to go over to her, talk to her. Remy held her close, and soon enough, Rogue started to respond. She became clearer and sharper. He told what he felt for her, his love. She was in disbelief. He told her that she had scared him thoroughly, so much so, that he felt that he was losing his soul and that he'd never be able to live without her, so would she like to clean up this mess and come back to reality with him?

He remembered that she had laughed, said that she'd loved to, and that she loved him too, for everything and more, and then kissed him before he could react. Though they both knew that it wasn't real and that once they got out, she wouldn't be able to touch him again, they savored it and poured all their love and passion for each other into it. She broke away, smiled and then told him that they should get to work, earning a sour look from him, making her laugh. They continued on and imprisoned her psyches, locked them up, then reinforced them with walls reinforced with his empathy. She would forever remember him her savior, in more ways than one. He was her sanity, her reason for existence, the one who saw her soul, and the one she loved and loved her in return. He was the one who was her light, who could save her from her pain and misery, like he'd do back when they were on opposite teams just talking late at night. She could reveal all that she felt to him, and he was the only one who could give her some peace of mind and comfort. He was the one who saved her in every way a person could be saved.

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"SAVE ME FROM INSANITY!" screamed a voice, as it dashed through the door of the room where Rogue and her wedding party were getting ready, and darted beneath the vanity.

"EMIL MATHIEU LAPIN! WHAT DE HELL ARE Y' DOIN'?" screamed Mercy at her cowering relative.

"Sh-Sh-She's out t' get m', Mercy, y' don' understand," whined Emil from under the vanity.

"Who?" asked the curious bride, who spoke for all the women surrounding her.

Emil peeked from under the vanity carefully and looked around as if looking to make sure there was nothing evil in the room, upon seeing seven women in the room, he nearly passed out, but he quashed those feelings and uttered a word so softly, that the women had to strain to hear, "Wanda."

This caused the women to burst out laughing at Emil's misfortune. There was not a dry eye in the room, they could barely stand up and their faces were going a deep shade of red.

At this point, Emil had stepped out from the vanity and looked incensed, "Y' WOULDN'T be LAUGHING if y' had to deal with dat---dat MONSTER!" he bellowed. This only caused the women to laugh harder.

"I can't believe dis, I am insulted. No one understands me," he muttered to himself.

He threw his hands in the air and looked to the sky, "Why ME, God, why me? What have I done t' deserve this? Sure dere was dat one time in Grenada wit' de—" but he was cut off by Mercy.

"Why don' y' jus' go change int' y' tux, b'fore y' make y' self look like even more o' an idiot, Emil," she suggested.

Emil looked indignant, "FINE, don' believe me, dat's jus' fine. And by de way, all women are evil." He pointed his finger accusingly around the room and glared at them all for affect. It took all their will power not to burst out laughing.

"Emil, just go," shooed Mercy with a waving hand gesture, as she kicked him out from the room, annoyed.

"And Wanda strikes again. That would be four males now, even John. I wonder how Scott is doing," mused Sage, "he's got an 82 chance of fleeing in the next fifteen minutes that increases by 3.8 as each consecutive five minute interval passes."

"Well, that was uh, interesting," commented Jean.

"Will he be okay?" asked Kitty.

"Don' worry, Henri will give him a bourbon and he'll be fine," said Mercy with an off hand wave.

"Oh, and for tha record, he was totahlly eyein' Zoe," said Rogue of one of the wedding guests from the Guild.

"Yup," agreed Mercy, "so y' can jus' ignore dat whole, 'women are evil' thing," she air quoted, "he has outbursts like dis all de time. Y' get used t' it."

"Must be from the fact that his last name means rabbit. It's got to be scarring on a kid," mused Kitty.

"Hmm…Well we did call him Bunny when he was little, so I suppose so," said Mercy.

"The memories must be affecting his adult life," said Jean with a laugh, having picked up on them over the years she'd seen him, being a telepath.

"No kidding," said Rogue.

"Interesting…" trailed Ororo, with a raised eyebrow, which caused the women to share some more laughter.

"You sure don't see that everyday. You know my life used to be pretty normal and free of insanity induced outbursts, evil villains, lynch mobs, super powered teenagers and parental disapproval before I met mutants. Kinda makes me wonder…" said Amanda with a mock serious face with her eye brows scrunched as if thinking, looking towards the ceiling and a finger tapping her chin. It caused the women to laugh.

Seeing Emil reminded her of her second trying time in New Orleans with Remy. It was awhile after their relationship really strengthened and took off from when she lost control. They had been able to destroy their adversary successfully after Remy helped her out. The two of them just had such a strong bond after that. They felt like they were unbreakable, invincible even, and their relationship was near perfect. One of the only flaws was her inability to touch. Even so, they were happy, blissfully so, after about a year since they started dating from when Remy asked her out in a hospital gown. (You guys really loved that.) She was 18 then, and had known Remy for more than two years. She had graduated from high school with flying colors. Rogue was just about to turn 19 and had been going to university in New York, where she'd commute from the Institute everyday from the bullet train that passed through Bayville. Remy was 21, going on 22 soon, and had been studying at the same university she had been when she was in high school and he was working for Magneto. John and Piotr went there too, as did Kitty and Kurt. Scott and Jean had gone to a prestigious university out of state.

She had been making strides to controlling her mutation with the professor and Sage's help as well. She was on the brink of being able to control it and Remy was more than happy for her and encouraged her all the way. They were so blissfully happy. Remy had helped her make strides to reconciling her relationship with her estranged adoptive mother, as well as Kurt. She had ended up staying at the Institute with them and helping out. They both had finished classes for the day and decided to get coffee and walk around New York. It had been a good time, as usual. They laughed and had so much to say to each other. It had been a perfect day. After strolling New York, they had eaten dinner. Just as they were about to take the bullet train back to Bayville, Belladonna struck. They were taken captive quickly and efficiently with knock out gas and negation collars, to further Belle's thirst for power.

When they awoke, they were in a cell in New Orleans, in the basement of the luxurious mansion of the Assassins Guild. The cell was dark, cold and dank. It was composed completely of cold dirty stone, with barred gates. However, that disguised the high tech features of it, such as the key pad, electric field between the bars and many others. It blended tradition with modern security, making it both uncomfortable and inescapable. They were not alone, in the cell with them were Henri and his wife Mercy, as well as his cousin Lapin. Rogue had awoken first and was told by Mercy Belle's plot and the engagement. It was Mercy who comforted her when she cried over the fact that Remy had lied to her and never told her about the engagement. In that situation, she had comforted her, and became her friend for it, ironic considering that she was Remy's brother's wife. Emil had tried to make her laugh during the whole ordeal and Henri tried to make her see Remy's side of it, but to no avail.

She remembered feeling hurt that Remy would keep something so major from him. He had kept secret an important factor of his past. The reasons he had joined Magneto, his family and his life in New Orleans. She could remember him telling her countless hilarious tales from his childhood in New Orleans, but would avoid topics about the current state of his family and most recent past with them and the reasons the Assassins had taken Jean Luc that time he had abducted her. Everything had made sense then, and she had realized that he had lied to her every time that she'd asked him about the painful topics. He'd avoid the question, make an excuse and talk about something else. There had been another woman in his life, he was engaged, and he had never told her. When he awoke, she refused to talk to him, despite the wishes of the others and it was then that she realized that he'd lost all her trust and that he'd broken her heart.

Remy was engaged to Belle in an attempt to end the longstanding hate and war between the Guilds. In his childhood, when they were very young, he had once thought that he loved Belladonna, until she broke his heart by cheating on him, and it was then he realized that he only loved her platonically, and that the relationship was not real. He had realized that she had never loved him in the first place and was just toying with his feelings and emotions, being the type of person she was.

The Assassins however, had never wanted peace in the first place, they had just wanted to be able to have the power that would come with getting both Guilds' power. On one of the meetings with the Assassins and Thieves that would allow Belle and Remy to officially associate them together, Belle had attempted to stab Remy and kill him, since the marriage pact was signed by both parties, if Remy were killed, she would have been able to have control of both Guilds. However, he plans were thwarted as Henri stepped in and took the blow for Remy. The wedding and union of the Guilds had been called off, but the agreement was never made void, which was why Belle could still marry Remy and gain control of both Guilds. Everyone knew, however, that after the wedding, she'd kill him and gain sole custody of the Guilds.

Belle had tried this ploy once before, but it had failed as Remy's powers had evolved and gone haywire the moment that the Assassins tried to kidnap him and Henri's family. He had ended up charging a whole alley way. Luckily, Henri acted quickly, and was able to pull Remy and herself out of the alley before it exploded, killing all the Assassins that were still in the alley way. The time that the Assassins kidnapped Jean Luc and Remy used Rogue to find him was another attempt by Belle to make him wed her. He had eventually reconciled with Jean-Luc after they had a long talk. Jean Luc had then realized that he had been influenced by the Assassins to be greedy, vengeful, and ignore the needs of his sons. After that, it was open season for Remy and the LeBeaus as long as Remy stayed in New Orleans, so he left to protect his family and ensure that the Assassins not harm them. His powers were uncontrollable, though and he was unable to know when he'd charge something. Nothing could control them, not even training. So upon leaving, he was given the chance to gain control again, by a scientist named Nathaniel Essex. Remy, being desperate, sought out his aide and after an operation, he could once again control his mutation. However, he was forced into employment by Essex to repay the debt of doing the experiment and had to do many dirty jobs.

(A/N: Just to let you guys know, this is probably the only time I'll EVER have Belle and or Sinister mess up the Romy relationship. I just can't stand it when outside forces mess up their relationship. It just ends so badly for them. They can do so on their own. I like it when you let their angst, trust and other issues really strain their relationship, instead of Sinister or Belle because it's just more organic and plausible. However, I'm doing so, because it's a bit of a throw back to Romy and what it is, and what usually happens in them. Like I said in my Author's Notes in the first chapter, this is sort of a back bone to what I feel should happen in the Romy relationship. So there's gonna be that up down rollercoaster affect. In fact all my Romy fics will try to have it there. And here, I've just sorta tried to show the angst and issues, with a little spin on it as well as fluff and humor. So this is the one and only time. Oh, and my Remy and Belle's story and relationship will be done differently in A Mutated Existence. I have a different idea for that.)

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There was a loud banging on the door to the room where the men were getting ready for the wedding. A loud string of curses followed, and then whoever was outside began trying to open the door to no success. More banging could be heard, then this time on the door handle followed by more explicative language. Then a gun could be heard cocking.

Henri ran to the door before his cousin could do more damage and yelled, "EMIL MATHIEU LAPIN, PUT DOWN DAT GUN!" He then proceeded to pull the door open. The same door Emil couldn't open because he pulled instead of pushed open.

Emil had spotted Wanda upon going to the room where all the other men were. He had freaked out. Again. Thus, he had fled the scene, before the horror of Wanda could see him.

What he saw made him burst out laughing and all the men who came to the door to see the commotion burst out laughing as well. What they saw was Emil with his gun still in hand, in a shaking grip. His eyes were bulging out and he looked like he'd just seen bloody murder. He was leaning against the wall and looking left and right, seeing if there was someone after him.

"I've forgotten zhat zhe only person who Vanda scares more zhan Lucas is Emil," said Kurt between laughter.

"Bub looks like he's gonna shit his pants," said Logan with a hearty chuckle.

Remy and Henri began damage control with Emil to calm him down.

While approaching Emil like he would a frightened animal, he avoided eye contact, kept a non threatening stance and walked slowly, making no sudden movements.

"Get de bourbon, Remy," hissed Henri in a stage whisper.

Remy, struggling with laughter, grabbed a bottle of bourbon on the counter in the room and opened it, approaching Emil in the same way that Henri had. Once he was in this state, it was better to make sure the only people who surrounded him were those who'd known him as a child, as he was hysterical.

Oh, God, she tried to kill me," he said frazzled running his hand through his red hair, still holding the gun.

"She's evil. I found a hiding spot, but they laughed at me…Women are evil, vile creatures," continued Emil about to burst into tears, "No one understands me."

"Calm down Emil," said Henri, when he got to within an arm's length away from him, "It's alright, it's all over. De 'evil' women can't get y' now."

"Y-Y-Y' sure, Henri?" he asked grabbing onto him like a drowning man would a life preserver, giving him an innocent puppy dog look like a little kid. Henri patted him awkwardly on the back.

"Y're safe now, Emil," said Remy with some of his empathy power, sending him calm feelings, making his eyes glow slightly. He handed his cousin the open bottle of bourbon that he had bought along with him.

Emil grabbed the bottle, like Gollum would the Ring and took a great gulp of the dark amber liquid, moving away from Henri, loaded gun still in hand.

"She's just so insane. She's a freakin' dictator," he'd started pacing.

"Uh, Emil, de gun, please?" asked Remy following his cousin slowly as he took another gulp.

"Not'in' is good enough for her! I hope you and your femme are happy t' have created dat—dat fiend," he shouted pointing his gun at them for affect and shaking it as well to try and come up with the right word. He took another sip. As he had stopped walking, he slid against the wall into a sitting position, running his hand through his mussed hair with the gun as well, the other hand holding his bourbon, taking another large sip. He looked a broken man. The suit he had worn to come to the locale was wrinkled, the tie hung loosened around his neck with his shirt buttons unbuttoned. His shirt was also only partially tucked into his equally wrinkled slacks. His leather shoes were untied and it was amazing that he hadn't tripped yet. The jacket was strangely missing.

"It's okay Emil, you won't have to see her again until de wedding starts," soothed Henri, coming beside his brother who kneeled before Emil. He kneeled down as well and patted his shoulder, "Now hand Remy de gun."

Emil handed his gun to Remy with shaking hands to which his cousin immediately unloaded.

"Good boy, Emil," said Henri as Emil sipped some more bourbon.

"Promise me, cousins, dat you'll prevent her from harmin' me," requested Emil with wide blue eyes, begging them, clasping onto both men before him. It would have been a touching scene if the circumstances weren't so ridiculous.

Remy sighed and smiled at his cousin to give him reassurance, "O' course, Emil. Now finish up y' bourbon," he said tapping his shoulder soothingly.

Emil nodded and chugged down the bourbon. Soon he became lucid and normal again.

"Uh, why are de deux of y' touching moi?" asked Emil with a distasteful and confused look, as well as a raised eyebrow.

"No reason," replied Henri vaguely.

"Well den let's get movin', we have Remy's wedding to get ready for, after all," he said, back to his cheery self, thumping Remy on the back, "Who woulda thought dat de King o' Hearts would be getting married?"

The three of them got up and went back to the room, where the men were snickering and trying to hold in their laughter.

"What are dey laughing at?" asked Emil curiously.

"NOTHING!" said Remy and Henri at the same time as they followed Emil into the room, glaring at everyone, to make sure they didn't provoke another episode.

"Hmm…strange…" said Emil as he went to put on his clothes to match the other groomsmen. Everyone else in the room burst out laughing to the surprise and confusion of Emil.

"Moy Sheila is one of a kind," commented John dreamily with a sweet smile.

Seeing Emil with Henri stirred some painful memories of when Belle had abducted his brother, his brother's wife and Emil, along with himself and Rogue to see to it that he wed her, so that she could wield the power of both Guilds. Belle had told him that if he didn't marry her, and hand over the power of the Thieves Guild, then she would kill Rogue, Henri, Mercy and Emil, the ones that were most important to him and still had their whole lives to live. She had told him that he had already broken Rogue's heart and asked him if he really wanted to have her die hate in her heart for him as well. She told him to let her live to find someone more worthy than scum like him. He remembered watching as Belle gagged him so that he could not speak and put him across from Rogue in a private room with only the three of them, where Belle told Rogue everything that he had done under Essex's employment as well as what he had done to Genevieve Darceneaux. (Sinister is a lame name, NO, I'm not EVIL, my name is SINISTER, for crying out loud.)

He had tried to make her understand him, to believe that he had no choice in those things and that Belle had put a spin on those things with his eyes, but she didn't trust him anymore. The one thing he would always remember from that, was the heartbroken look in her eyes that were usually so strong. Belle finished by saying that he'd joined Magneto to get protection from Sinister after he abandoned the madman and ran, after he was made to do things too vile for imagination.

He had been trapped then, trapped and lost everything that meant anything at all to him. Rogue's trust in him had diminished and he had to make a choice, his life for theirs, and he knew he had to. He couldn't let Rogue die distrusting him like this, maybe if he died for her, she'd find it in her heart to forgive him and move on to someone better than him, though he loved her more than she'd ever know. She was his world. He had agreed to Belle then. If it would save her then so be it. He'd sacrifice his life for her, and now he was doing so. When Belle locked him back into the cell after agreeing, that was when it all ended badly for her.

Kurt, Kitty, Tessa, Lucas, John Wanda and Piotr had come to liberate them, despite the orders of the X-Men as they didn't have enough information and the result could be disastrous. Using the resources that Kitty and Tessa had hacked into to find the hidden dungeon in the Assassins Guild's mansion's basement, they had infiltrated the home and freed the five of them from the cell. A job even the Thieves Guild could not do due to the war doing so would stir. However, the Assassins found out about this, and soon a battle ensued. Just as they were about to win the battle, Belle trained her pistol at Rogue, and threatened to kill Rogue on the spot if he left and nullified their agreement. Remy was caught and at that moment, he had to make a decision, one that would ultimately hurt her no matter what he did. His longtime archrival Julien began to taunt him, and suddenly, the evolved form of his powers kicked in again. He found himself charging Julien's clothing and unable to stop and revert the charge, soon Belle too became charged, her clothes the gun, the pain from it brought her to her knees, and Rogue moved out of shooting range. The other Assassins began to get charged as well and they fell to the floor writhing in pain.

It was then that his powers began to get worse. The entire basement began to be charged, and the team knew that soon, even more of the building would be charged and Remy had no control of it. They'd all die. So in desperation, Piotr knocked out his friend out of consciousness and hefted him onto his shoulder as the mutants and Remy's family all escaped the Assassin's Guild after navigating the dangerously charged halls and finding a window. Just as they made it a hundred feet outside of the mansion, the lower levels gave out and blew up, taking with them, Belladonna, Julien as well as the Guild Master of the Assassins Guild, Marius Boudreaux, as he was wandering the lower levels at the time going over planned assassinations with his guild members. In that instant, Remy LeBeau had eliminated the threat of the Assassins Guild, but he felt no happiness, nor did any of those surrounding him, or would the elite members of the Thieves Guild who knew him best. His father would mourn for the son that had to face yet another hardship in his young life. (Yes, Rogue is devastated that he never told her about Belladonna, but hey, she's dead now, so you can be happy about that, and it was an accident. Okay, so it was an accident on Remy's part, not so much on mine. I wanted to kill her…it's very satisfying, anyway…back to the story. Is it just me or am I eliminating all the characters that I despise? Like Sabertooth, for example…)

Since the Assassins had taken hostage many of the top royal members of the Thieves Guild and tried to make such a heinous deal with Remy all for the sake of power, they didn't start a war with the Thieves Guild, as it would be suicide now that their underground facilities and resources were destroyed and because none of the guild members wanted to fight with the Thieves anymore. The war that had been going on for so long was just a product of the greed that the royal family of the Assassins. Only the guild master and the royal family had wanted the power, the rest of the members had simply wanted to do their jobs and end the fighting that had gone on for centuries between the two Guilds.

In the aftermath, the mutants and Remy's family had all recovered from their ordeal with the Assassins at the mansion where Remy grew up, the heart of the Thieves Guild. The professor and Logan flew down to see all those recovering and to support Rogue and Remy. Rogue who was heartbroken and Remy whose powers had reached a whole new level of lethalness. After some carefully crafted classes with the Wolverine, whose temper was kept in check, and the professor, he was able to regain immediate control of his newfound abilities that had increased ten fold from the last time that his power had increased. The part in his brain that Essex had once cut out to lessen his powers had regrown and strengthened. One of the worst memories he had of the entire nightmare was of when he was passing the room where Rogue was staying in, only to hear her racking sobs and Logan trying to comfort her.

---

"Wah didn't he ever tell me, Logan?" she cried, completely tormented, "I thought he trusted meh enough. I thought he loved me more than that."

Logan sighed, "He did, and he does still. I think he wanted to protect you, Stripes. He's done a lot of bad things in his life, things he's obviously not proud of, and I guess he thought that by not telling you, darlin' he'd save you the heartbreak of when you realized he wasn't all you thought him to be, that he wasn't the great guy yeh thought him as."

Rogue laughed through her tears, it was a humorless, hollow sound, "You know what the saddest part is? Ah still see him as that 'great and wonderful' guy despite everything. Ah still love him, even though Ah shouldn't. He just didn't trust meh…" she trailed off as her tears fell again.

The usually unflappable Wolverine, sighed again, "I know, Stripes, I know," he gave her a hug, "It'll work out. You'll see."

"Ah'm not shure if Ah want it to work out," she whispered.

"I think you need some time away from all this before ya make that decision, Rogue, because you'll regret it, if you're not clear on it," advised Logan, "Just remember that Gumbo never meant ta hurt you."

She nodded as he said that, "Can Ah have some tahme alone. Ah realleh need ta think and Kitty's been suffocating meh for tha last few days now. It's lahke she won't leave meh alone."

Logan nodded, and headed out her door, but not before giving her a sad smile and saying, "Good night, kid."

Remy had known from the moment that Logan defended him that he knew that he had been listening in. Perhaps the old Wolverine thought it needed that the girls mourning in her bedroom know how her love's reasoning from a neutral party. He came out from the room and shut the door, moving down the hall to where the depressed Cajun now sat on a bench.

"You hurt her. I hurt you," he said sadly, almost humorously, there was no threat in it.

"I know, but what would y' have done in my position?" he said, asking for advice, anger, anything from the Wolverine to take him away from the misery he felt.

Logan sighed, wearily, "the same."

"God, how did it get so messed up?" sighed Remy running his hand through his hair.

"It's a funny thing, love. It works mysteriously like that. Just when ya think that it's all perfect, it throws shit like this atcha. And the outcome will show whether that love was true and strong enough to survive, or just a flash in the pan," said Logan sagely, maybe out of experience, before walking away, leaving behind an upset and confused Cajun. (I hope Wolvie's not too OOC, but I think he'd see the helplessness in the situation and that Remy really did have Rogue's best interests at heart, though they were misplaced, and I think he realizes how much they mean to each other and wouldn't act rashly once he knew the situation.)

---

He remembered his desire to talk to her, just to see her and tell her everything, because he couldn't stand the way things were between them right now. He needed to tell her that he was sorry, but most of all, he wanted things to be the way they were before the whole escapade. The situation with Rogue wasn't the only thing that bugged him, it was the way all his friends and family seemed to walk on eggshells around him, and Rogue too, it was getting on his last nerve.

He eventually found her in the gardens of the mansion the night before they were about to leave to go back to Westchester. He would end up staying in New Orleans though, due to a conversation he had with Rogue there. It had been a beautiful night, the moon was full and the stars were bright. The mansion's gardens were truly beautiful. Hundreds of exotic and beautiful blooms covered the beds with trimmed grass, intricate stone benches, arches, statues, fountains, pools and other beautiful objects. He had found her sitting on a bench, near the back of the mansion, her back to facing the house, in front of the luxurious and beautifully carved marble fountain where, ironically, his father had proposed to his mother and Henri to Mercy. He approached her hesitantly, needing to talk to her. She had been wearing a black long sleeved shirt, gloves and print flannel bottoms, her sleep wear.

---

"Chere, I need t' talk t' y'," Remy said and grabbed her arm.

"No," she said resolutely, "How do Ah know you're not lying?"

"I deserve dat, but please, I need t' explain m' self," he begged.

"We both know it's too late foh that, Remy," she said with sad eyes.

She had begun to walk away from him. He ran to catch up with her.

"Chere, I'll die if you do dis," he whispered, his eyes burning into her soul.

"Ya shoulda thought about that before and be honest with meh," Rogue said back to him, not looking into his eyes, those beautiful eyes that she loved so much.

"I was honest wit' y'," he said.

"Secrets are tha same as lies, Remy, you had so many chances to tell meh, but ya didn't. Ya never told meh that you were engaged," she cried, tears beginning to fill her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, chere, y' got t' believe me, but please don' do dis. I was tryin' t' protect y'," replied Remy trying to brush away her tears, but she flinched away from his touch.

"Ah know that ya sorry. Ah am too, but Ah didn't need ya protection, just ya honesty, Remy," whispered Rogue.

"What about your past, Rogue? Ya never told me about dat either," he said in defense.

"You wanna know why? FINE!" she yelled, "Befoh Mystique adopted meh, Ah was born ta teenage parents. When my momma got pregnant, she was disowned as was mah dad. They ran off and eloped. Mah dad had ta work t' put food on tha table and died in a work related accident. Mah momma was a prostitute until she remarried ta a jerk who she thought was gonna be great in her desperation. He was at first, but then he ended up an alcoholic and beat us. One day, he went crazy when momma was puttin' meh to bed. He came home drunk wit' a gun, yellin' lahke crazy. He sought mah momma out, and proceeded ta beat her. When she fought back, it got ugly, she was thrown around and there was so much broken. She broke a lamp ovah his head, knocking him unconscious. She went up ta get meh, and we packed our stuff. Just as we were about tah leave, he woke up and shot her in the back of her head. She was bleeding so much and Ah couldn't wake her up. Mah step father started beating meh and dousing tha house in gasoline and lahghtin' it on fahre. Just as he was about tah shoot meh, tha cops showed up, when tha neighbours called in a disturbance. They took one look at tha scene and shot him dead on saight. They pulled meh from tha house just as it burst inta flames. I was put inta social services where Mystique adopted meh. HAPPY?" She was hysterical and practically crying, though the tears wouldn't fall yet.

"I'm sorry, but, Rogue, dis life here, me b'fore Bayville, it made me do terrible t'ings, t'ings dat I jus' can't tell y' because dey are jus' so bad, because o' Belle an' de arranged marriage, de war between de Assassins and T'ieves and m' powers goin' haywire. Y'd turn away from me if y' knew," whispered Remy back, "I joined Magneto even though he was backmailin' me t' make sure m' family would be alive, so I didn't have t' marry Belle and dat no one would get hurt anymo' because of me."

"Ya didn't know that Ah'd turn mah back to ya, Rem, ya jus' assumed and ya jus' don't trust meh either, because if ya did, y' jus' woulda told meh, and trusted meh t' not judge ya. And ya hurt m'," she whispered moving further away from him, the moon casting light on her features making her look fragile, yet beautiful at the same time.

"I'm begging y', please don' do dis, Rogue," he pleaded of her.

"Ah'm sorreh, but Ah just don't trust ya right now. Ah-Ah-Ah need tahme away from ya, to think and space too," she told.

"Chere-" he was cut off.

"Ah just can't do this right now. Ah'm sorreh," she choked out.

"But I love y', Rogue," he whispered with all his heart and soul.

"Ah know, Ah love ya too, but sometahmes, love ain't enough, shugah," she said brokenly.

With that, his heart shattered, and she fled from him in the garden, tears marring her face, the moon weeping for them as its silky white light shone down on them. Her heart had been broken the moment she found out all that he had kept from him. So she ran. Her hair which had grown out flapped in the wind as she ran, in all directions. The constant pounding on her feet was soft compared to the racking sobs she cried and the tears flowed freely from her face. He stood still behind her, like he'd forgotten how to move, to breathe. He couldn't feel his heart anymore and the knots in his stomach seemed to bunch up. He looked forlorn, lost and dead. His red on black eyes lost their lustre and in the night the glow seemed to ebb and fade. Remy LeBeau, king of hearts, had his heart broken.

(A/N: It killed me to write this. I nearly cried. It sounds so Antarctica, I know. I hated that whole shebang. I was near tears writing this, but I hoped it was done well.  This ended up being dialogue because when I wrote it just as narration it sucked. This has more impact, I think. There's just something about hearing them speak. I'm going to be using quite a lot of dialogue in this chapter, because I think it fits better, for the memory portion. I know this will upset you guys, but there's a happy side to this at the end, trust me. I was so upset writing this, that I took the time to write the happy ending in at the bottom, because I know you guys wouldn't like to be left hanging like that. This part, and the part with Logan were really hard to write, because of the obvious pain they feel, and just that I hate it when they have problems like that, but easy at the same time, in that all the words and dialogue just came out. You can blame No Doubt's Simple Kind of Life and Don't Speak for this.)

---

"Hey, guys, how are you?" asked Bobby, as he, Ray and Sam entered the room swiftly.

"Great," responded Kitty, "hiding from Wanda?"

"Are we really that obvious?" asked Ray.

"Yes, you are, the semi-scared facial expression, the sheepish look upon entering, like you saw Wanda and escaped her before she could order you around, and just happened to be in front of this door, are just some of the indicators," said Sage taking in their body language.

"Well, she's very demanding, and franklah, she's also scarring Lance and Pietro, and they've lived togethah the longest with her," said Sam. Lance, Pietro and Wanda, the surviving members of the Brotherhood and joined the X-Men soon after the death of Todd and Freddy, upon the ending of the conflict which caused them their deaths. They did so in their memory, so that no more mutants had to suffer in the way they did at the hands of the kinds of people who despised mutants. They had found that they indeed wanted Xavier's dream because the alternatives which they saw were anything but appealing and Magneto's former dream of mutant superiority had it's faults.

"Basically, you figure that by being here, you won't ensue her wrath," said Jean.

"Okay, fine, yes, we figure that if we're here, she can't make us put things together, and she won't get angry when we don't do it the way she wants," admitted Ray. He wore a pair of loose black trousers that practically touched the ground and was worn low on his hips with his black dress shirt tucked into it, with a deep red belt with a silver belt buckle, a silvery white tie, and a long black blazer with red thread in it, giving the black a red tinge. The blazer had white accents and he had a white handkerchief tucked into the breast pocket. He also had a pair of large boots with buckles on them to complete his outfit. Ray's cherry red Mohawk had been brushed back, however, his orange stripes still hung in the air.

Sam wore a classic black suit. However, the pants were a little longer and looser. A pressed white shirt was underneath the black blazer and a shiny black tie was tied around his neck. Sam had his longish blond hair combed back nicely. He wore a pair of black leather shoes as well as a simple black belt. Bobby wore a deep blue suit. He had the same style of pants as Sam, though in deep blue, and the same style of blazer in deep blue as well. He had on an ocean blue shirt underneath with a shiny light blue tie. On his feet was a pair of black leather shoes. Bobby's hair was simply gelled slightly so it was a bit spiky.

"Is Wahnda reallah that bad?" asked Rogue, disbelievingly.

The three boys looked back at her, insulted, like they'd been slapped in the face, "YES!" they said in unison.

"Wanda is so doing my wedding!" announced Kitty.

"She'll be doing everybody's wedding at this rate," said Ororo thoughtfully.

The boys in front of her looked absolutely horrified, it was absolutely priceless.

"Ah don't think we can handle another wedding with her tahking charge, and Ah thought Jean was going' ta do tha final arrangements," said Sam.

"Well, Sam, she is more than seven months pregnant," said Amanda.

"Well, she's better than Wanda, and Wanda's not even pregnant and all hormonal!" blurted Bobby.

"Umm…pregnant, hormonal woman right here, Bobby," said Jean with a raised eyebrow. Everyone laughed at his expense as he turned red.

"But seriously, she's just bad," said Bobby, "I mean, Remy's cousin, Emil, had a nervous breakdown. I've never seen that happen and it was scary. He threatened to shoot someone."

"Ah, how was Emil?" asked Mercy curiously, "What happened? We only saw him when he ran here t' hide from Wanda."

"Well, before he hid from Wanda, you could tell he would be the first to really break," said Ray, "We knew from the moment he arranged the seat covers a little off to the right that he was doomed."

"Yeah," said Sam, elaborating, "She inspected his chairs, and started ta yell at him. He yelled back about how she was being controlling and how her expectations were totally off base. And that was the end of it, Wanda screamed and then hexed him, and that's when he broke down and ran off."

"And by ran off, he means fled the scene like a maniac, with Wanda hexing him all the way. I've never seen a man run so fast. And he kept mumbling something about women being evil," said Bobby. The women laughed at that.

"He was being really hysterical," said Ray, "He got about ten times worse when he was going to Remy's room to get into his suit, because he saw her inspecting the halls. He hid behind a pillar while she was inspecting, and all you could hear was this whimpering."

"Oh dear God," said Mercy laughing her head off, "He's never going t' live dis down."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Sam enthusiastically.

"I'm starting to wonder how John does it," said Bobby.

"Well, Bobby, he's just as insane as Wanda, not that there's anything wrong with insanity."

"No kidding," said Kitty, "I guess we can safely say that all the people there are afraid of Wanda."

"You would think that, but the rest of the girls have been just as demanding, just not to Wanda's level…it's the classic wedding syndrome," said Ray.

"And ta think," started Rogue, "Kitty's getting married in six months."

The boys all groaned, which caused all the women to laugh.

"Don't remahnd meh," said Sam.

"Well, if you guys are good, I may think of not siccing Wanda on you," said Kitty with a chuckle.

"We'll do anything you ask," said Bobby.

"I'm going to enjoy this power," said Kitty with a mad laugh.

The boys groaned some more.

"And to think, said Jean," they've got at least ten more weddings to go, what with all the relationships."

"I'm beginning to think that they'll work very hard at making the relationships last, just so that they won't have to go through anymore weddings," mused Ororo.

"Or, they may just elope," said Sage, sagely.

The boys began to look horrified at the thought of getting married.

"Oh, c'mon, we all know you'll propose one day," said Amanda.

"Uh, sure," said Bobby.

"One day in the far, far, far, future," said Ray.

"Oh how cute, he's thinking of proposing," said Amanda, teasingly.

Ray only blushed as red of his Mohawk.

"Rahne shall beh proud, Ray," praised Rogue, "although I'm not so shure about Jubes and Tabby."

"Oh, God," said Sam shaking his head.

"I can totally see Sam and Tabby eloping when they both turn nineteen," giggled Kitty. Sam blushed a new shade of deep red.

"Oh mah God, Kit, yah're so raight," laughed Rogue.

"So Sam, so you see yourselves doing so in Las Vegas, or in one of those private church affairs?" teased Jean to the horror of Sam.

"Umm…uhh…" he said.

"Actually, he'd either elope with Tabby, or wait an insanely long time to propose, just like Bobby would," said Tessa with a wink.

"Bobby is such a total commitment phobe," said Mercy, "I know dat, and I've only seen him periodically."

"It took him ages to tell Jubilee that he loved her. All he'd do was spit and splutter. It was the most hilarious thing ever," said Amanda.

"How do you know that?" asked Bobby.

"Kurt and I were on the balcony and saw you two in the gardens," elaborated Amanda.

"SO that's what that snickering sound was," thought Bobby out loud. He realized what he said and blushed as the women laughed.

"We are so telling everyone!" exclaimed Ray, to a groan from Bobby who ran his hands through his hair and groaned.

"Well, Rogue, ya look beautiful," commented Sam.

"Thanks," said Rogue sweetly.

"Ya welcome," he said.

"Someone's really trying to get in the good graces of the bride," commented Bobby.

"Well, she is looking good. Damn good. Rogue, Remy is going to die a happy man. That or he'll forget all his words and just stare at you at the alter," said Ray.

Rogue laughed, "Thanks Ray."

"No prob," he said.

"Thanks for making me look like an idiot guys," said Bobby sarcastically.

Ray and Sam smiled and said, "Thank you, Bobby."

All the women laughed.

"But seriously, you do look gorgeous. All of you do," said Bobby.

"And Bobby Drake manages to sneak in more points than Sam and Ray combined," said Jean.

"Thank you, thank you, it's an acquired talent," he said.

"Ah'm shure it is," said Rogue.

"I'm starting to think that you boys should probably return to your jobs before Wanda finds you and ensues her wrath," said Ororo.

"Thanks for the advice, we'd better get there before she converts tha rest of the girls to her ways," said Sam.

"We really should," said Ray, "but I just don't want to leave, it's safer here, and there's beautiful women."

"What about Rahne, Ray?" asked Bobby obnoxiously.

"I'm not sure if I'm willing to risk my health, even for her, but hopefully, she'll be able to protect me from Wanda. She's the only one who's not being nitpicky. Frankly, I think she finds the whole thing amusing," said Ray.

"You're probably right, Ray," said Storm.

"Well, let's save the girls from Wanda's conversion," said Bobby.

"We'll see you all, latah," said Sam with a wave as they said their good byes and bravely trudged out into the open to face Wanda and continue helping make sure everything was in place.

"Well that was interesting," commented Rogue.

"Very," said Tessa.

Seeing the way all of her friends interacted and talked reminded her so well of the time when she and Remy had a break in their relationship when prior to being abducted to New Orleans by Belle. As it turned out, the entire mansion had learned of Remy's plight and what would happen to their relationship as Tessa and Lucas had to tell the X-Men of Belle's relationship with Remy and the whole workings of their engagement and what happened after. The two of them had hoped that Remy would have told Rogue sooner, and had hoped in time he would come clean with his past. She should have heard about it straight from Remy and not under the circumstances that she did. As Tessa and Lucas had explained that it wasn't truly Remy at fault, just that he was placed in poor situations where he couldn't make the right decisions and that Rogue would ultimately be hurt by it. Knowing this, the mansion gave Rogue her space and didn't really blame Remy for any of it, as they had all come to think of him and the new mutants that had joined up as family.

Rogue was extremely upset and depressed when she came back to the Institute, sans Remy. She stayed in her room most of the time and avoided eating with the rest of the Institute at meal times. She seemed to hit a brand new low, and even her roommate and best friend, try as she may, could not make her come out. Kurt too tried his best, but his adopted sister would not fold and leave. She would not talk about her issues with Remy to either of them no matter how hard they pressed. In her despair, she had reverted to the way she was before Remy showed up and turned her life around. In the Danger Room, she was a monster, she pushed herself harder than anyone else and it really took a toll on her body. Her mind was a mess and she seemed to lose all the confidence that she had gained with Remy around. Everyone noticed her change, and she had the entire Institute worried. It became a ritual to exchange worried glances at the dinner table when she didn't show up. She became angry and snappy. She buried herself in university, the Danger Room, missions, her work at a local music store, her books and music and was avoiding the subject of Remy. She was caught in a rut and no one knew what to do to remedy it. Everyone in the mansion took turns trying to talk to her, to see if she would respond better to someone else talking to her, but she didn't.

Rogue had felt that Remy betrayed her. However, she got over that about a week after coming back to the mansion from New Orleans. What really got her anguish was that she had turned away from Remy, and not swallowed her stupid pride, and tried to see his side when he tried to explain everything to her. She had been too caught up in her feelings of betrayal at the time to notice that she had been at fault as well. She had too much pride to admit it to anyone, though, and she was too foolish to call him, to make it right again, because she thought that Remy hated her for leaving him, for abandoning him, when he was trying his hardest to make everything right again. Besides, she told herself, he'd probably moved on from her anyway. He was too hurt to ever come back to her. But in her heart, she knew it wasn't true, and that he was just as hurt by everything as she was. Her guilt at everything began to eat at her, thinking that the one she loved hated her truly wore down on her soul. She felt like she couldn't make everything right again and she blamed herself to no end.

Logan, and the rest of the adults tried to help her too, but she wouldn't listen. She still blamed herself and everyone could see that it was eating away at her. She also began driving herself to the ground with her training with the professor to finally be able to touch, using her time with the professor for control as a way to try and remedy all that went on with Remy. She was in the mentality where she thought if only she could get this one thing right, everything would be fine. Kitty, Kurt, John, Piotr, Tessa and Lucas hated seeing their good friends like this, so they tried a little divine intervention. They called up Remy through Henri Mercy, Tante Mattie, Emil, plus a couple of Remy's cousins and the band of them tried to set Rogue and Remy back together again, by telling them how miserable the other was without each other and how miserable they were right now and get them to talk and work things out, but they were too stubborn. They were in too much guilt and only blamed themselves for what happened between them. It seemed that no one would be able to get them out of their funk. It was making the people who surrounded them very worried and anxious about their well being. Even hearing orders from his father would not deter Remy from his moods.

One dark stormy night, with the mansion darkened under the blanket of night, about a month and a half after the second New Orleans incident, the mansion was attacked. It was attacked by mutant geneticist and madman, Nathaniel Essex. (I'm calling him Essex because Sinister is the lamest evil villain name ever, for reasons stated above.) He abducted the majority of the students in their sleep, so no had any real chance of escaping. Rogue couldn't sleep again, as dreams of her last meeting with Remy haunted her subconscious. She woke up with a start to see commando like garbed men standing over her bed. She warned Kitty and the two of them tried to fight off the men, screaming as loud as they could to wake up the others. However, there were too many men, and by the time Lucas and Tessa came in to help after rescuing John, with help from Piotr and Kurt, it was too late for the two girls. They'd both been darted with power suppressants, as well as sleeping darts by the time they entered their room. They were surrounded by captors and they had no choice but to fight their way out to regroup and save the rest of the mansion. They couldn't reach their friends with such overwhelming difficulties. With Tessa's strategic mind, and their powers, the five of them were able to fight off some of the onslaught and escape the mansion, due to Tessa cloaking them in one of her psychic illusions. They drove off to the only place where they knew they could seek help and safety, the New Orleans Thieves Guild. It would be a sombre and depressing drive, knowing their friends and family were in the clutches of a madman hell bent on mutant superiority through genetic superiority. They had been monitoring him, but were unsuccessful in finding out that he would attack them. However, they did know what he was capable of from Remy's experiences, and that did not sit well with them. They knew that they would need Remy's assistance to fight Sinister, since he knew the man the best.

Being back in captivity brought terrible memories back to Rogue from her time taken hostage by the FOH two years before. Luckily, she shared a cell with Kitty who was able to calm her down. It was terrible, she had been experimented on, tortured, abused and beaten and it had been Remy who had rescued her and helped her get over the fear and apprehension. And that was one of the things that killed her the most. There would be no Remy this time to save her, she'd ruined things so badly and she felt that they'd never be repaired. She had lost the love of her life and he hated her, he didn't care that she was once again getting hurt and violated as a guinea pig. She was so sure that she'd die never having reconciled the situation with Remy and that was what killed her the most. Remy would never know how sorry she was, and how badly she wanted to end everything that hung between them negatively and be together again, despite everything. She confessed this all to Kitty one night in their dark cold cell.

---

"Kit, ya awake?" whispered Rogue from her small cot.

"Yeah, Rogue," Kitty said back, "you okay?"

"No, Ah don't think so, not anymore, Kitty," she said sadly and Kitty knew that she wasn't talking about just their current situation and how the majority of the mansion, with the exception of Kurt, John, Piotr, Tessa and Lucas had been taken, and they were being subject to cruel treatment and extensive medical examinations that really tried their will and patience in the presence of Essex. He had drawn blood, made them take tests and they knew that only worse would come. They had seen the bodies, and body parts, both preserved in tanks and left in the open in his lab. It was enough to make stomachs turn. And the most disgusting part was that he thought he was actually doing the greater good for humanity and so on. He was a madman.

Kitty sighed and went over to her friend's bed where Rogue was sitting up and gave her a hug. She didn't have to worry about her absorption powers due to the power suppression collars.

"Everything will be alright, Rogue, you just have to take Kurt's advice and have faith that it will," she said. Kitty felt that her friend was finally ready to talk about all that lay between herself and Remy, let it out and stop torturing herself with it.

"No it won't, Kit, it's just way too messed up," she said dejectedly, "Ah messed things up so badly. He trahed ta explain things ta meh, but Ah jus' ignored it. Ah felt so betrayed bah him, Kit, and Ah ran away from him befoh he had tha chance tah reallah say anything. Ah blamed him so much fo' not tellin' meh that Ah turned away from him and rejected his apology and him. Ah practicallah told him we were breaking up, that Ah couldn't be with him anymo'. It's all mah fault that everything's tha way it is. He's probablah moved on bah now. Ah completely ruined any chance at happiness with Remy. He doesn't love meh, anymo', because Ah hurt him and Ah guess it's just all mah fault. Ah'm so dead and it feels lahke I can't breathe anymore without him," She had started crying slightly and Kitty held on tighter to her friend.

Kitty had let her friend talk her peace, but she couldn't let her friend surround herself with such negative thoughts of herself, "No, Rogue," she said looking her best friend hard in the eyes, "you can't believe any of that."

"But-" Rogue started, but Kitty cut her off.

"No, Rogue, you have to understand that none of this is your fault or Remy's and you can't blame yourself for things you couldn't have controlled, if anyone is to blame, it's Belle. She was the one who tried to kill him on more than one occasion, who threatened him and blackmailed him, that led him to turn to Sinister for help, and to Magneto eventually for protection from Sinister when he left," said Kitty.

"Most of all, you can't believe that he doesn't love you, because he does. I know, because I've seen the way he looks at you, and the way you look at him too. From what I hear on the phone with Mercy, he's just as miserable as you are and he's blaming himself for everything just as you are. You were feeling betrayed and he did lie to you, Rogue, so don't blame yourself for wanting your space to think things through, if anything, it was a good decision, because it got you away from making worse decisions in your current state of mind and making things even worse than they were. He did try to protect you, even though he chose the wrong ways to do so. He should have told you, and you had every right to be upset and angry. You both realize your mistakes and know what you did wrong, and I know that it'll work out in the end for the two of you, so don't worry. I'm sure that John, Piotr, Tessa, Kurt, and Lucas are asking Remy right now to help get us out of here," said Kitty reassuringly.

"Thanks, Kitty, Ah realleh needed that," said Rogue, "Ah realleh should have called him and made up."

"Why didn't you?" she asked.

"Pride," said Rogue, "but most of all, Ah guess it was fear. Ah was afraid that he'd reject meh, tha same that Ah did him, and Ah was just so convinced that Ah ruined everything and that nothing would make it better."

"I guess realizing that you may never see him again really got you to admit things," said Kitty. Rogue nodded.

"Thanks for not pressurin' meh ta tell ya everything," said Rogue.

"I knew you'd tell me and get it off your chest when you were ready to," said Kitty, "and I just know that the guys are doing everything they can to get us out."

"Ah knew yah're mah best friend for some reason," teased Rogue with a smile, the first Kitty had seen in a long while.

Kitty smiled back, "We'd better get to sleep before we get in trouble."

"Yeah, good night, Kitty," said Rogue as Kitty returned to her bed.

"Good night," said Kitty in return as she snuggled into the thin white sheets.

---

"Hey, Badger!" exclaimed Tabby as she, Jubilee and Rahne entered the room where the men were getting ready.

"Hiya Wolvie!" exclaimed Jubilee as well.

"Hey guys," said Rahne amusedly.

The Wolverine groaned at the ridiculous nicknames the girls gave him. The men laughed at his discomfort.

"What? It's only fair, Badger, you call us strange things," said Tabby. The other girls and the men in the room nodded at that.

"Hey, wot are ya Sheilas doin' in here?" asked John.

"Trying to find our boyfriends who ran away from your girlfriend," said Jubilee.

"Ahh…Wanda…" said John dreamily, "She's one of a kind."

"He loves her more zhan fire," said Piotr.

"Now that's saying something, bub," said Wolverine.

"Omigod, Wolvie, you're wearing a suit," exclaimed Jubilee.

"Ae honestly dinnae think that they'd get ye inta one o' the things," said Rahne.

"You said it, girl," said Tabby. Wolverine just shrugged and the men laughed at his antics.

Lucas waved his hand in front of John, "Hey, John. John…Johnny Boy…JOHN!" he got no response, "There's a fire in the room!" No response whatsoever.

"Don't vorry, he'll come out of his Vanda induced trance, soon," said Kurt, "It happens all zhe time."

"Is Wanda really dat bad?" asked Henri, "I mean Emil has breakdowns at de strangest t'ings. Dere was dat time wit' de orange when he said it was looking at him funny."

"Yes, Henri, she really is dat bad, and y' didn't have t' deal wit' her, because y' were too busy wit' Oncle Jean Luc and de business," commented Emil, now fine from his breakdown.

"Well?" asked Henri of the girls.

"Aye, ta totally demanding and perfectionist standards, lads. Nay, ta being all out crazy," said Rahne diplomatically.

"Well that's because you're women and like that sort of thing," said Lucas.

The three of them shrugged.

"Besides, everything looks absolutely amazing, so you shouldn't say anything bad about her," said Jubilee.

"Well dat's true," said Henri, "It's looks like we stepped int' a bridal magazine."

"Complete with the hormonal wedding coordinator, the perky best friend, the crazy best friend, charming groom, blushing bride, a huge extended family and hundreds of guests," said Lucas.

"Zhat is completely true. Zhe veddings zeem to get more extravagant zhe more ve have zhem," said Kurt.

"Remembah Wolf Man and Weather Goddess' wedding? It wos so simple. We wore sport jackets, thare were no ties and we had in tha rose garden of the Institute. Now we're wearing ties, in freaking Scandinavia because tha couple came here and wos loyke, 'Hey, lookit that, it's the perfect spot for our wedding, in tha middle of tha coldass wintah,' and yah're Southern too, that's just weird," said John. Remy shrugged.

"Dis place is perfect," said Remy.

"Okay, fine, so it is, but it's cold," said John.

"We figured if we were goin' t' have a wedding in de winter, we'd make it count, and go somewhere warm for de honeymoon," said Remy.

"Oh, and for Scooter and Jeannie's wedding, we went to that woodland church a little ways off from Bayville last fall. It was so sweet and rustic," said Tabby, "and we all wore much simpler stuff. We all look like freaking millionaires."

"That iz zo true," said Piotr, rubbing his fingers on his chin.

"So why do we all look like freaking millionaires?" asked Tabby.

"Well dat's because all y' girls wanted an excuse to dress in your most expensive dresses, since y' don' have de prom anymore." The girls nodded.

"And m' famille wanted a nice place," said Remy looking to his brother, cousin and Lucas for elaboration. They nodded.

"Dat's true, Tante Mattie would kill y', if y' two didn't do any less and Pere would scoff de whole wedding if y' didn't, because he's been t' hundreds of elaborate ones, like dat one we went t' where dey had a boat made o' glass floatin' on de middle o' de ocean wit' about a hundred different flowers, and even jewels floatin' in de wine glasses."

"Or dat one dat was done with everyone sitting on top of elephants in a meadow with about 300 oriental carpets handmade from China and India, gems imbedded in de trees, and tons of exotic cats in cages," said Emil.

"I'll always remember that wedding we had in the dungeon with all the torture devices, decayed bodies, and aged tapestries," said Lucas, "It was by far the creepiest."

"Yeah, Torrence and Lizette are odd," said Remy.

"Although Henri's in Paris was big too, although less out dere," said Emil.

"Thank God," said Lucas, "I think we've gone to too many weird and extreme weddings."

"Very true," said Henri.

"And who's weddings are these, lad?" asked Rahne disbelievingly, as everyone was starring at them in awe.

"Jus' random thieves, crime lords, relatives and other people," said Remy.

"You know some weird people," said Tabby.

"Dat we do," said Emil, "De best parts were always when Tessa would rate them for extravagance, outrageousness and strangeness. Some of de best t'ings ever said, happened at dose."

"Trust me, when I say that this is no where as big or as bad as most of the weddings we've been to. LeBeau's done a good job, nice, but not over the top, simple, but not cheap and it's done as more of a union between two people than a Hollywood extravaganza as weddings should be."

"How true," said Piotr, "Comrade, zhe location for your vedding is beautiful." They were at a gorgeously restored castle, privately owned by one of Remy's family members. It sat surrounded by tree covered mountains which showed the scraggly rock underneath in some places. Everything was beautifully blanketed with thick layers of snow. It sat near a wonderful lake, which hadn't completely frozen over yet, letting everyone see its spectacular blue green water. All this was in Sweden.

"Vell, on de topic of beauty, you girls look lovely," said Kurt sweetly, "I know you've been dying to hear zhat."

"Thanks, Blue/Fuzzy/Kurt," said the three girls separately as they gave him a hug.

"How d'ya do that, mate?" asked John.

"What can I say, chicks dig da fuzzy dude," said Kurt.

"Amanda would know that well, Kurt," said Jubilee. Jubilee wore a long flowing pale yellow dress with many layers in the skirt made of a floaty taffeta and silk. It was one shouldered and had silver Asiatic dragons embroidered on the top half of her dress covering her torso. The skirt had silver accenting and a large embroidered silver Asiatic dragon on the lower right bottom of the skirts. Around her neck was a simple silver necklace with a diamond pendant given to her from Bobby, diamond studs and silver bangles on her slender wrists. Her dark hair was pulled into a simple updo with the ends of her hair flowing in all directions in the back. Side parted bangs framed her face. On her feet were shoes that were kept on with pale gold ribbons around the ankle.

"Yah're a sweet one, laddie," replied Rahne. She wore a 50/60s vintage, slightly punk styled dress. It was hunter green with spaghetti straps which made an X at the back. The bodice was simple with a slight V cut and had a black rose pinned on the left above her heart. She had a black sash that was wrapped around her waist. The full thick many layered skirt fell to mid calf and showed off a bit of her legs. It had a large black rose embroidered on the bottom left close to the hem. The first layer was sheer hunter green and ended at her knees. She had on a pair of velvet black pumps. Short, black lace gloves that ended at her wrists completed the look well. Around the neck was a black satin ribbon style choker with a green emerald embedded in silver given to her by Ray. Her short almost shoulder length dark red hair was left straight and down, but slightly flipped out.

"You really are, Blue," said Tabby. Tabitha wore a long rich red satin dress that clung at her curves, and was fishtailed at the skirt. The dress was black spaghetti strapped and V cut at the bodice, but did not showed a modest amount of cleavage. Black lace went overtop the entire dress giving it a sophisticated feel. Long silk black gloves that went passed her elbows helped complete her look. She had tennis bracelets on her wrists. A simple pendant given to her by Sam was around her neck on a simple chain with a diamond in it. Her blonde hair hung down several inches past her shoulders and was curled. She wore a pair of strappy black stiletto heels on her feet.

"All of you guys look incredible…" trailed off Tabby as she caught sight of the groom as well as Rahne and Jubilee.

"What?" asked Remy.

"If I weren't taken, I'd jump you," said Tabby to the laughter of the rest of the men at her forwardness. Jubilee and Rahne nodded in a trance like state at him. Remy only smirked at Tabby, Jubilee and Rahne.

"Damn, Remy, how do you do it?" asked Lucas.

"It's genetic, a LeBeau t'ing," said Henri.

"He's adopted," pointed out Lucas.

"True, but he's still a LeBeau and LeBeaus have dat affect on all de femmes," said Henri.

"Except for Rogue and Mercy, bub," said Logan amusedly.

Henri shrugged and rubbed his neck sheepishly, "True enough." Everyone laughed.

"Pfft, frere, I know fer a fact dat Rogue is charmed by me," commented Remy.

"Ja, and all zhe yelling you got and zhe beatings, zhey were just meine Schwester being charmed…" said Kurt. All the men laughed.

"Face it, Rem, she's tha only Sheila crazy enough ta put ya inta place, and resist ya," said John.

"She's zhe only vone zhat could keep his interest for longer zhan ten minutes," said Piotr.

"She's de only fille dat challenged him in every way and was his equal, too," commented Emil.

"I resent dat, and she was intriguing t' me, still is," said Remy.

"Rogue really did make ya a one woman man," said Jubilee.

"No kidding, lass, she totally cleaned him up, surprisingly," said Rahne.

"She's a lucky and special girl," sighed Tabby.

"Dat she is, p'tite," said Remy, "She was de first person t' really make me want t' be better."

"Aww," said Jubilee, Tabitha and Rahne at the same time.

"Rogue is zhe only girl he has ever told zhat he loves," revealed Piotr.

"Meine Schwester is his one and only," said Kurt.

"They're the only ones crazy enough to put up with each other, bubs," said Logan and everyone laughed.

"Hey, we better go find tha lads before Wanda gets suspicious," said Rahne.

"Yeah, we really don't want her to kill them, so we'll see you all later," said Jubilee.

"Don't forget to all dance with me at the reception," shouted Tabby as they exited the room.

The men said their goodbyes as the girls left to look for their boyfriends.

Being with all his friends and hearing their support reminded him of how much they had tried to support him when he was so distraught over the situation with Rogue after the events which occurred with Belle, his former fiancée. He was completely depressed and heartbroken after she left and even with all his women, he had never felt this way, so completely and utterly horrible, like his world was ending. He was confined to his room and refused to come out except for the occasional meal every now and then. He didn't really talk to everyone at all. It was obvious to his family he was absolutely and utterly depressed over the situation with Rogue. The last time he had talked to her, everything had ended up so wrong. He was sure that she hated him and had stopped loving him by now. He should have told her, but he didn't and because of that, she was gone forever. She was the one that slipped away from him. He became completely angry towards everyone, that or depressed. His family became exceedingly worried, but he wouldn't talk to anyone, despite their best efforts to talk to him. It came to such a point, that he didn't even enjoy being in his own house. He felt like he was being pressured to talk about something so painful for him and he just wasn't ready to talk about it.

Remy buried himself with thefts, making no room for other activity except brooding in his room. True he'd always been the best of the best when it came to thieving, but he reached new levels of success. He put too much of a focus of thievery to take him away from his pains. Even Jean Luc noticed, and he reduced all the thefts his son could do, because it simply wasn't healthy for a man to bury himself in work like that. So Remy drank like there was no tomorrow. His stupidity had caused him the one person he never wanted to lie to. She had made him want to be better, but he was unable to tell her the one thing that would really make him a better person, because he would have admitted to it. He hid a terrible secret from her, one that he should have told to her in the two years he knew her. She was the one who trusted him completely and he didn't trust her enough to think that she wouldn't turn away from him once she realized the wrongs he did. She had accepted him for who he was, so much more than anyone else. She was the one who absolutely loved his eyes, demon eyes which he had despised in his childhood, but had come to love because of her. She had made him the good person he was at heart and for all she did for him, he didn't trust her enough to tell her his darkest secret.

It was one night when he had reached the bottom of his despair, at a bar that he finally told his brother exactly what was wrong, after a month and a half of avoidance. He just couldn't take it anymore. He had never felt so alone without her. In the time away from her, he'd realized just how much she meant to him. How she was his air, the one thing that had began to sustain him. He had never known how much he was searching for someone to love him like she did until he experienced her love. The bar he and his brother went to was musky, and dark. It had an air of mystery and oldness to it. Henri had to convince his brother for hours to leave the confines of his room and the house.

---

"Petite frere, doncha think, y've had enough t' drink?" questioned Henri worriedly at the sight of his brother waving for yet another drink.

"Non," said Remy, "I don' feel anywhere near tipsy yet, and I'm planning t' get mo' den tipsy."

"Frere, Y' really haven't been okay lately," sighed Henri, "y' need t' stop blaming y'self fer everythin' dat happened between y' and y' femme."

"It's all m' fault an' everything is completely gone and ruined wit' her. She was de one femme who I've ever loved, and she's gone," whispered Remy in despair.

"No, she's not, frere. She's not dead. She's still alive and while she is, and while you are, dere's still hope fo' y' t' be toget'er again. I know you'll be t'get'er again, y' just gotta have faith in de fact dat it'll all work out in de end, like Tante Mattie always says," said Henri.

"No it's not. It was my fault, everythin'. I should of trusted her more, and told her, but I didn't because I was stupid and thought dat she would just turn her back on m' if she knew. I hurt her mo' by not telling her my past. I broke her heart. She's been betrayed by lies and secrets so many times and I'm no different. I kept a big secret from her. It was my fault dat she was captured by Belle and made to hear all de t'ings I was supposed t' tell her from Belle. It was my fault dat she was captured and her life put in danger. She's been captured and abducted so many times. She don' deserved dat. She deserves so much better. She hates me now. I lied t' her, I hurt her, and most of all, I didn't trust her. She doesn't love me anymo'. She probably moved on. I feel so lonely and empty inside, barren and gone. Dis is pure hell," explained Remy drowning his sorrows in a glass of bourbon causing his older brother a long sigh at him.

"Damn it, Remy, look at me!" shouted Henri, getting his brother's attention. Henri never raised his voice like that.

"Y' stop dis right now, frere. It was not y' fault dat Rogue was captured, dat y' were tryin' t' protect her from de truth, because you though she'd be hurt worse if y' did tell her. It's no y' fault dat Bella took y' two and blackmailed y' t' marry her. It's not y' fault dat she made y' life hell fer de last few years wit' de engagement. If anyone's t' blame, it's Belle. She be de one who'd insane and tried t' kill y' in de first place. It's not y' fault dat she's a power hungry bitch. It's not y' fault dat y' powers evolved dat day and hurt people dat day, when our lives were bein' threatened. Y' protected us. And it's not y' fault dat y' wanted t' protect y' family, and left when y' powers were insane only t' be employed by Essex afterwards t' control it. It's not y' fault dat y' were blackmailed by him t' do bad t'ings. It's not y' fault dat y' were blackmailed by Magneto afterwards fer protection from dat sinister man. All dis is Belle's fault and she got what she deserved when she died, and y' can control y' powers now," said Henri.

"Henri-" he started, but was cut off.

"Remy, listen t' me, and y' listen good. Rogue, y' femme, she loves y'. I know dat Rogue love y' still. You two have too strong a love fer her not t'. Besides, Mercy has been talking t' her best friend, Kitty and she's been tellin' her dat y' fille is just as dismal as y' are being without y'. She blames herself just as much as y' do. Jus' be glad dat y' let her go t' think t'ings through, so dat neither o' y' did anyt'ing stupid in de moment, when y' weren't thinkin' straight. Y' didn't do anythin' dat y'll regret later on. Dere's still hope, mon frere, so hold onto dat, evert'in' will be alright, y'll see," Henri told his younger brother.

"Merci, mon frere, I need t' hear dat. I really did," said Henri, coming out of his rut slightly. He was on the road to recovery, making his brother smile at relief, he'd never seen his brother like this and he knew that his brother truly loved Rogue because of it.

"I'm gonna call her when we get back home," he said.

"Good, why didn't y' call her sooner?" asked Henri.

"I guess I was afraid it would make de situation worse and dat she didn't love me anymo' and would reject what I said because I hurt her so badly," said Remy.

"I should get y' drunk mo' often, y' talk mo' and it sinks in too," said Henri.

Remy smiled, a true smile, a smile that hadn't crossed his face since the day that the whole nightmare happened, "I've never felt dis way about any ot'er femme, she's really special, one of a kind and I love her."

"I know, frere, y've never been depressed t' break up wit' one o' dem, and y' didn't even really break up wit' her," commented Henri, "y' do truly love her, dat I'm sure of. Plus, she be de only one crazy enough t' deal wit' y' and put y' in yo' place."

Remy just nodded with a small smile. He finally felt better about things and was ready to work things out with her directly, instead of feeling miserable and brooding, "Let's go back, now, I want t' call her."

"Alright," said Henri happily at seeing his brother finally bounce back from his rut.

They exited the bar and after a twenty minute drive made it back to the house. However, they quickly realised all was not right upon reaching the front drive. There was a car from the Institute parked on the front. The pair of brothers ran into the house to be greeted by an anxious Mercy.

"What's wrong, Mercy?" asked Henri.

Before Mercy could answer, they saw in the sitting room beside the grand entrance was sombre looking faces in Kurt, Tessa, Lucas, John and Piotr. They looked tired and beaten with minor injuries from the battle to get out of the mansion. They had driven straight from the mansion with no breaks in between. No one wanted to stop the car for fear of being found and anxiousness at helping their captured friends.

"What's goin' on?" asked Remy immediately upon seeing everyone's anxious faces.

No one would answer him in the beginning. They were all too ashamed of something like this to happen to them. It was Kurt who spoke up first, "It's very bad, Remy. Zhe Institute vas attacked by Nathaniel Essex or Sinister as he'd known around, last night. Zhey took all of de people, except us because ve escaped. Ve don't know vhere zhey are now, or what has happened to zhem, but ve know it can't be good. Ve came here for help, because it's zhe only place with zhe resources to zave zhem."

"Everyone else was taken, even Rogue?" asked Remy worriedly.

Kurt looked at him dejectedly, his ears drooping and his tail lowered unmoving between his legs, "Ja, meine Schwester vas taken."

Remy looked at them all with a determined look in his eyes, some of his old self returning in the face of adversity, "So what are we waitin' fer, mes amis, dey won't get saved with us sitting here like idiots."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief for it weighed in their hearts that Remy might deny them help in his state of turmoil and feel possibly that he wanted Rogue to suffer. However, in seeing him so fearful and afraid for her, they knew that he blamed himself for everything just as Rogue did and that he had been most definitely despondent. So they worked through the night with little rest in between and with the help of all the resources in the Guild headquarters, they were able to find their missing friends. A plan was formulated, and they would save their friends come nightfall the next day. They would fly in the afternoon to a secret lab located in the heard of the Mojave (pronounced Moe-haa-vee) Dessert of Nevada.

---

"Hey, Rogue," said Amara as she entered the room where the majority of the women had nearly completed getting ready for the wedding. She entered the room with the former Weapon X-23 or Sarah as she was now called and Danielle who had joined the Institute almost two years ago.

"Hey, guys," greeted Rogue happily to the girls.

"You look really beautiful," commented Danielle, "all of you do."

"Why thank ya, hun," said Rogue, "You look beautiful yourselves."

The girls smiled and blushed. Sarah wore a sparkly long black dress with spaghetti straps that hugged her body then flowed out into a flared floaty bell skirt. She had simple silver jewellery and black strappy sandals. Her long brown hair had been left down and straightened. Danielle wore a lavender coloured halter dress that had a slight v-neck and a skirt that flowed out in floaty layers. She wore a pair of strappy sandals of the same lavender, dangly earrings, and a charm bracelet. Her hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail. Amara wore a asymmetrical blue dress with one spaghetti strap that went diagonally from right to left, that was lighter blue at the top and darker blue at the bottom. It was made of silk and hugged her curves. It had sheer fabric over top the whole gown with sparkly beads sewn on. The skirt part flared outwards. Her hair was tied into an elegant twist. She wore a chocker with a sapphire on it from Roberto and bangles on her wrists as well as drop earrings and blue strappy sandals.

"So why are you guys here?" asked Kitty warmly.

"Oh, we're here to tell you guys that everything's all set and that we're just waiting for the hundreds of guests to arrive," said Sarah. She emphasized the hundreds part.

"How do you two know so many people?" asked Danielle.

"Well, hon, there's all the people we met from university, on missions and just travelling. Then there's all of Remy's family and members of the Guild. Plus everyone at the Institute that came too," said Rogue amusedly. The Institute had long since expanded from the 20 odd students that Xavier had recruited during the time they were in high school. Xavier had recruited many more students after all the senior X-Men had entered university. Currently there were about 60 or so odd students of a variety of ages and they had all been invited and shipped off via X-Jet to the wedding. The Institute had gotten louder, bigger and oh so much more obnoxious and those that lived there thanked God for the fact that the dorms, classrooms and cafeteria were away from the original house where they had grown up together in over the years, though the rooms they had lived in and shared stilled belonged to them in the same way they had all those years ago, with some shuffling of course to accommodate all the couples. Many more teachers were hired too, that lived in the main mansion, as well and all the buildings in the Xavier Institute were connected by underground tunnels.

"Well asides from waiting for all the guests to come starting in about 30 minutes, the food for the guest's lunch, our lunch, the areas for taking photos, the banquet hall, and reception areas are all set up," said Amara, "and I can't wait for yo to see it because it's just so perfect beyond words!" The rest of the guests, asides from Remy's main family and the senior X-Men, had been booked to stay in hotels in the town near the castle the wedding was in, while those closest to the couple stayed in the castle itself.

"It's absolutely incredible!" commented Danielle, "and you guys have the cooks going at the kitchen like crazy to cook all the food for all the meals and stuff."

"Yeah, but it's all running really smoothly," said Sarah, "and everything's ready for your inspection Jean."

"Right," said the Wedding Nazi, "I totally can't wait to inspect everything. Everything sounds so great and amazing. Wanda has been a great partner in piecing everything together today. She should really be getting ready now." Jean was almost all done. She knew that after inspecting everything, all she had to do was put on her makeup and with so many skilled women, it would be quick. Jean's hair was put up into an updo with curled tendrils of hair that spilled over the elegant twist up the back of her head. Her curled bangs framed her face.

"Well that's because she's totally overbearing," said Amada.

"Very true," said Jean, "With her overbearing insanity and my hormonal pregnancy, we're quite the team." All the women laughed.

"She's coming here right now," said Amara, "So we'll leave you guys to get ready and welcome in all the guests."

"Yeah, so see you all later and congratulations Rogue," called Danielle.

"Good luck at the wedding," said Sarah.

The rest of the women called out their goodbyes as the three girls left to welcome the guests that would be arriving soon enough.

Just as most of the women were all ready, for they were in the final stages of preparing their hair, makeup etc…, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," said Ororo curious as to who it was.

The door opened ominously slowly, but then quickened its pace to reveal…

"WANDA!" called out Rogue laughing hard, "What did you do to the men to make them fear you?"

"Let's just say that I decided it would be fun to be perfectionist, controlling, yell at everyone and threaten them bodily harm," she said sweetly. Everyone burst out into laughter.

"It was so much fun though, I mean Jean did ask me to take over, and I just acted in the way that I know she wanted to act, but couldn't even in her hormonal pregnant state," she continued.

"I never knew you wanted to instil such fear into the hearts of men, Jean," said Amanda.

"Well, Amanda, I just let myself go into my primal state of being a woman, therefore, controlling, overbearing and dare I say it, bitchy," said Jean, "Why? Because I'm pregnant, damn it and that sorry excuse of a man did it to me."

"Ah, so you're like guilt tripping Scott 'for making you pregnant, because it's just SO awful'," said Kitty.

"Yup," said Jean, "My advice to all of you when you get pregnant is to milk it for all it's worth. It's your one chance to let out your inner bitch, without consequences."

Ororo laughed, "I can just see Logan having to deal with that. The Wolverine will never be the same. His reputation will be shattered."

"Oh mah Gawd," exclaimed Rogue, seeing the mental pictures of Logan having to dote on Ororo, "he'd be so ruined."

"So Jean, if you were letting yourself out, then what was Wanda doing?" asked Sage.

"She was channelling my alter ego, literally," said Jean.

She got puzzled looks from the rest of the women, while she and Wanda caught each other's eyes and laughed.

"What she means is that I was simply acting how she wanted to act with suggestions from her via telepathy," said Wanda, "It was great, I didn't have to hold back, I had a great excuse to let myself go. It was rather freeing."

"Those poor, poor men," said Ororo, "They were dealing with two temperamental women in one."

"No wonder Emil had his breakdown," said Mercy, "I am so goin' t' do dat t' him and Henri once I get pregnant again."

"Gawd, Mercy," started Rogue, "they'll be running for the hills and begging for…mercy." Everyone laughed at that.

"Rogue, when you're pregnant," said Mercy, "Promise dat y'll tape every minute o' it, so dat we can all watch Remy sweat it out. He'll totally die."

"You like totally have to use your power for evil, Rogue," said Kitty, "It's like the ultimate excuse and power that you have to make him pamper you 24/7."

"The poor man will be done for, child," said Ororo with a hearty laugh.

"He will truly worship your power, Rogue, just to avoid your wrath," said Tessa holding her side.

"He'll be reduced to ultimate kiss up mode non-stop," said Amada.

"That he will, if Ah have anything ta say about it," commented Rogue ominously.

"He'll really have to watch his back, won't he, Rogue?" said Wanda.

"Oh, hell yes," replied Rogue.

"Oh and Jean," said Wanda, "Scott's waiting for you in the foyer (foi-yay) to inspect everything. He'll show you where everything is."

"Great, I can't wait to instil even more fear," said Jean.

"Can't he tell that you're only playing with you from your link?" asked Tessa curiously.

"Nope," said Jean, "I keep that secret." All the women laughed and Jean stepped out to inspect the wedding preparations.

"Tell how it goes when ya get back," said Rogue.

"Will do," replied Jean, as she closed the wooden door behind her.

"Wanda, Kitty's gonna have another aneurism, so you have ta work double tahme ta get ready," said Rogue.

"I did not have an aneurism, and you do have to work double time, Wanda," said Kitty as everyone laughed at her words.

"Don't worry, I did my hair and makeup this morning, so I just gotta change," said Wanda. She was currently in a simple blood red slip dress.

"That's good," said Kitty relieved.

Rogue began to become lost in her memories again and she let her mind wander back to a time when she was with Kitty in their cell. Their second day hadn't really been much different than the first. They had been awakened to the sound of guards opening their cell slightly to slide in trays of food. It was bland health food, nothing special. They waited for awhile after finishing the breakfast. There was absolutely nothing to do and it grew boring fast, like on the first day, although, they both preferred boredom to the alternative. They were lost in their own thoughts. Rogue's head was still spinning in guilt and what ifs for she should have called Remy, she should have acted quicker, she should have done a lot of things, but she didn't and she could only hope that it wasn't too late for them. Later, hours after breakfast, they were brought in for more individual testing and examination. Strenuous hours of exercising, being poked and prodded at, and hundreds of notes complied on them. It was then that they observed that they were the only captives in Essex's grasp, the rest, as they found out had all died, and however, Sinister had high hopes for them. All of them knew that all this was preliminary and the true fun would begin later, if the lab was any indication. By the time all of the tests were done, it had gotten very late, and they were shuffled back to their cells, exhausted and given their dinner to await the horrors of the next day. They could only hope that the others would arrive soon and break them out.

They got their wish later that night while they were sleeping to be awakened by the sounds of anxious guards pounding past their cells. Smoke could be seen emanating from the long corridors, causing the guards to pass out quickly. The electric gates to the cell then all opened and they knew it was the work of the Thieves Guild, only they could tap into a system as elaborate as that of Sinister's. It was then that they knew that all the security feeds were most likely disabled and that they were about to commence a full on jail break.

Just as expected, Piotr, John, Kurt and Remy ran down the corridor and motioned them to follow them to the exit that they had secured. Rogue remembered the look that passed between herself and Remy then, that first time they laid their eyes on each other after their last meeting in New Orleans. It was such a quick glance, but the words exchanged with that one look had told each other all that they felt and all that they still had with each other. They could always seem to speak without words and now was no different. In his eyes, Rogue had seen the despair and loneliness that she had handed to him, the pain he had felt, his guilt, his fear of losing her, his longing and misery of missing her terribly, and most of all the love that still burned for her in his red on black eyes as they glowed. She could tell that they needed to talk and soon, but she had also seen the ghost of a smile on his face when he saw her, for he had seen all the same from her in her eyes reflected right back at him, had felt it too with his empathy. She remembered sending him a slight smile back.

They ran down the long corridors of the underground base, passing around keys as they did to unlock the power negation collars that had kept their powers in check. Just as the path that Lucas, Tessa, Henri, Mercy and Emil had cleared with their guns, was in sight, an onslaught of droids began to attack them as well as Sinister himself. A full scale battle ensued. Luckily, the X-Men were all well trained and knew how to handle a situation like that due to the kinds of things they faced in the Danger Room. However, they were not prepared for the powers that Sinister wielded. They had demolished the group of droids, no problem; however, they began to realize that it was all part of a ploy for Sinister to test out the strength of their powers. Essex had originally planned to use knock out gas to take out the X-Men once all the droids were destroyed, but Emil had fortunately done a number on all his computerized functions, and foiled his plans. So it was to be a standoff between the X-Men and members of the Thieves Guild versus the sinister madman. He was not only a madman, he was powerful. He could shoot plasma blasts, regenerate himself, read minds, lift an immeasurable amount of weight, counteract their powers and totally control his body at a cellular level.

It was in no way an easy task to fight the scientist. It would seem that they were getting somewhere that they were winning, when he would bounce back thanks to his powers of regeneration. He seemed to have the advantage in every aspect of the fight. He could be both offensive and defensive, and it didn't help that he could read their minds and was immortal. The professor had stopped trying to break into his mind due to the strange web of mental blocks, and had instead tried to take away his advantage by shielding the minds of his pupils. Their teamwork was impeccable, but they just couldn't get the jump on Sinister. Sage was helping with tactics, but they could see it was a losing battle against a foe as powerful as Sinister.

For a moment, Remy's back was turned as he was helping Kurt back up who had tried to jump Sinister. Rogue saw this and that Sinister had aimed a plasma blast at him that was sure to hit him, and kill him, only Remy didn't notice it, he was too busy helping Kurt. By the time that Kurt lifted his head to see the blast, she knew it would be too late, Remy would be dead, and possibly Kurt too, so she ran. She ran as fast as she could. She couldn't bare it if Remy died thinking that she didn't love him and not being able to reconcile with him. At the last moment, just as the blast was about to hit Remy, she jumped and pushed the two out of the way, just as the blast hit. Because she was in motion, the fatal blast didn't hurt her as much as a dead hit would, but it was close. Her side was on fire, and the pain was unbearable. She just about blacked out.

She remembered the fear on Remy's face as he went over to her, cradled her in his arms and rolled her onto her back and asked her simply why she did it. She had told him it was because she loved him. She could see the pain cross his face then, the anguish, the anger and rage, for they both knew that her injury was awful. It was a miracle she was still conscious. He told her not to leave him before telling Kurt to protect her because there was something he had to do. In that moment all the hate and fury he had developed for Sinister came to the forefront. He was so enraged that the man had hit the one he loved, it would be a miracle if she survived, and he'd never get the chance to make things right with her, and also for blackmailing him, indebting him to his service and making him do dreadful things.

His rage and anger towards Sinister became so uncontrollable that he began to charge up the madman with his newly evolved powers. As usual, his powers became uncontrollable with extreme emotions, and because of the extreme feelings of resentment towards Sinister, it impacted his ability to control his powers. However, he was so focused on Sinister that he was the only thing he charged fully. The rest of the room that he charged glowed a dull red. It was then that the tide changed for them. The intense charge caused the madman to writhe in pain as his entire body, each and every cell was charged. The man was now glowing a vivid red. Remy was channelling all his pain and suffering into the man, he'd made him do some of the worst things in his young life and had hurt the one he loved most in the world before he could make the situation better between them. He was causing the man pain, but he knew it wouldn't be enough to defeat him and the X-Men knew that the only way to rid the world of his crimes against mutants was to kill him.

So in his weakened state he was attacked telepathically by Xavier, Jean Grey, Psylocke and Sage, physically by Havok, Cyclops, Jubilee, Magma, Berzerker, Spyke, Sunspot, Storm, Boom Boom, Pyro and Scarlet Witch, all the while, Gambit charged the man up. The rest of the mutants and Remy's family began to move to the jet they had taken and start it up, destroy the base so that it was no longer functional in any way, as well as preparing to transport their team out of there once the battle was over. Shadowcat and Nightcrawler carefully transported Rogue to the jet while Gambit dealt with his demons and Sinister. Rogue remembered that before Kurt teleported the three of them onto the jet, seeing Gambit finally letting go of his charge, and the others unleashing their full powers on the man, and watching as he disintegrated before their eyes, and then explosion that rocked the area and then everyone hurrying out of the base before it was to be destroyed.

The last thing she remembered, after getting medical treatment from Beast first, as she was the one who was injured worse, was seeing Remy holding her close and the fear and pain in his eyes, begging her to live so that he could make everything right again between them, but most of all, the love that he had for her.

---

"Hey, dudes," greeted one Alex Summers as he entered the room with the men's preparations with Roberto and Jamie. The men already in the room were almost all ready to go, and were currently just exchanging stories and talking in their spare time and eating breakfast as well.

"Aren't you supposed to be supporting your brother as he gets tortured by Jeannie and Wanda, bub?" asked Logan.

"Man, I think he figured out that it wasn't going to happen with me laughing so hard at him," said Alex, "I've never seen those facial expressions from his face, and the fact that it was expressive is saying something, what with his glasses and all." This brought laughter from all the men. Alex wore black slacks and a black blazer with leather shoes. He had a blue green dress shirt on as well with a pale blue tie. His hair was combed back nicely.

"Y' not afraid of Wanda?" asked Emil.

"Nah, I figure she's crazy, but she'd never do anything too painful to us," said Alex.

"That, and he deals with Sarah all the time," interjected Roberto. Roberto wore a deep blue suit with a royal purple dress shirt and black tie with black shoes.

"That's so true," said Jamie as all the men chuckled. Jamie wore a deep brown suit with a light blue shirt and a deep blue tie as well as brown leather shoes.

"Guess zhe only men zhat can deal vith Vanda are zhe ones zhat have zhe crazy girlfriends," said Kurt.

"Again," said Jamie, "very true. Wanda got me worried she'd kill me for awhile there."

"That, or convert all the other girls to be like her, and curse us to a horrible life," said Roberto.

"How do youss do it, John?" asked Piotr.

"Well, she's one heck o' a spitfoyre," said John emphasizing 'foyre'.

"Dat she is," commented Remy, "what are y' doin' here?"

"Oh, we're here to tell you that everything's all set to go, and we're just waiting for the plethora of guests to arrive," said Roberto.

"Dude, you're forgetting that Jean is inspecting everything as we speak, and I've never seen him worship her so much," said Alex, "He's honestly partly afraid of her due to her mood swings."

"Dat is jus' too hilarious t' watch," said Henri, "I can safely say I was never like dat wit' Mercy."

"Yes, y' were," said Emil cheekily, "Y' were totally like dat, because Mercy has a good aim and a temper."

"So true, frere, so true. Tell me again, how many stitches did it take t' close up de head wound from dat vase she threw at y'?"

"Seventeen," deadpanned Henri to the fear of the rest of the men, "and I'd learn t' duck from Rogue if I were y' petite frere."

"I can just imagine how bad her mood swings get," said Lucas.

"They'll be bad. That's foh sure," said John.

"Maybe, but I doubt she'll actually hurt me," said Remy confidently.

"You say that now, Gumbo, but you won't be saying it later," said Logan.

"I guess we'll have t' see," said Remy.

"You do realize that you are so done for if Rogue finds out about this conversation," said Roberto.

"Hommes, y' all are done for is she finds out," said Remy.

"So basically this conversation doesn't leave the room," summarized Jamie.

"It really can't," said Alex solemnly, "Anyway, we better head back to welcome all the guests that will be coming soon and show them to their seats and stuff, and Scott should be here soon."

"Yeah, so we'll see you guys later and congratulations again Remy, Rogue is an incredible women," said Roberto.

"Don't I know it, homme," said Remy.

"You'd better," said Jamie, "or she'd kill you."

"How true," said Lucas. The three boys said their goodbyes and left the room.

"Well, not much longer now, Gumbo, until your bachelorhood officially ends," said Logan.

"Well, as long as it's Rogue, it won't matter t' me," said Remy.

"Wow, she's noyt pregnant yet, and he's alreadah sucking up, or is there something ya noyt telling us?" John waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Ja, Remy," said Kurt, "Vhat are you not telling us?"

"Frere, I am appalled dat y' wouldn't tell me," said Henri.

"I'm hurt, youss promised I'd be zhe first to know," said Piotr with mock sadness.

"What," said Emil mock incensed, "He told me I was the first to know."

"Heh, you too, bub," said the Wolverine thoughtfully, tilting his head to the side, "You've got a lot to explain, Gumbo."

"I am surrounded by ignorance," said Remy slightly annoyed.

"Why do I feel like I missed something?" said a voice from the door.

"Hey Scooter," greeted Logan, "and that's because you have missed something, a lot of somethings."

"Care to fill me in?" asked Scott with a smile already knowing the answer.

"Nope, Gumbo?" started Logan.

"Nope, Piotr?"

"Nyet, John?"

"Nah, Kurt?"

"Neine, Henri?"

"No, Lucas?"

"Sorry, Scott, you're on your own, again," said Lucas with a shrug, causing Scott to laugh at their age old game.

"So, how did you survive Vanda and Jean?" asked Kurt.

Scott entered and said, "Well, Kurt, it took a lot of will power and endurance, but I just remembered that I was an X-Man and that I could do it, and then, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and persevered from the darkness." The men had a good laugh at Scott's description of surviving Wanda and Jean.

"Besides," he continued, "I get the title of being the only man that survived the entire ordeal. And quite frankly, I think they both enjoyed their power a little too much."

"No kidding," said Emil.

"For the record, I have never seen a man run in fear like that, Emil, and that's really saying something, because I've seen a lot."

"She did not yell at y' fer de freakin' seat covers!" defended Emil as everyone laughed.

"Youss should probably get ready now, Scott, ve don't vant to be late," said Piotr.

"That and ya don't want ya Sheila ta get upset and think that tha wedding is ruined," said John as Piotr blushed.

"Don't worry; frankly, I've learned a thing or two about that due to Jean being pregnant. I thank God that there's only a month and a half left.

"Don't let Jean hear dat, homme. And she's telepathic, so y' really gotta b' careful," said Remy.

"Don't worry, I'm keeping this to the grave," said Scott.

Hearing Scott talk about his unique relationship with Jean reminded Remy of his own extraordinary bond with Rogue. He remembered the time when she was so terribly injured that she was practically on the doorstep of death after their second New Orleans misadventure. They had flown the jet directly to the Institute which they had determined that Sinister left intact so that everyone injured could receive proper medical treatment where all their records were. Beast had worked non-stop during the night to stabilize her enough so that she was out of danger, and when it was possible, Logan let her absorb him for his healing factor, holding on for a good long time to make sure that she'd get better quicker, sending him into a day long coma. He was driven to new lengths of grief and worry for her. He didn't leave her bedside and neither did Kurt or Kitty, but he was by far the most stubborn of the three refusing to even eat, or leave for necessities. She just had to; she had to, so that he could make things right with her again.

It had been late at night and he, Kurt and Kitty had been keeping a bedside vigil for the past day after the escape from the lab and Kitty and Kurt had been asleep, when he finally got a little peace of mind. She stirred and weakly opened her weak eyes before whispering a hoarse, "Hey Swamp Rat," to him. He had smiled at her then, brushed some of those fetching white locks off her face and told her that he loved her. He remembered seeing a smile on her face then and then her telling him that she loved him right back. Speaking her peace, she had then drifted back to the sleep her weak and weary body needed. Glad that she would make it, he remembered drifting off into a contented sleep that lasted the rest of the day and into a bit of the next night afterwards. He was just so exhausted from the three days without any sleep.

Later the next night when he awoke, he would find her gone from her bed with the sheets brushed to the side. Guessing where she would go, as she needed to think, he went to the kitchen to grab some leftovers because he was sure she was hungry just as he since they hadn't eaten in over a day, and then headed up to the roof that they had spent so many nights talking on. Instead of climbing from a balcony to get on the roof, he decided to get the jump on her by climbing up from a skylight. When he got up, he saw her small figure sitting near the edge, starring out into the night, where the dark sky with brightened moon and stars looked down on the vast land that stretched on forever. Her now long and wavy auburn hair flapped in the wind, the white swirling with the brown. She was garbed in a pair of black sweatpants and sweatshirt that bore the Institute insignia and a pair of her black and green skate shoes. He was in a pair of jeans, boots, T-shirt and ever present trench coat. (May favourite part next, look down!)

&

I come in peace and bring de food," he said coming up behind her.

"Darn, ya awake and ya looked so cute asleep," she said to him without turning his way, he knew that she was joking by her tone.

"You t'ink I'm cute, why chere, y' flatter me," said Remy as they went into their familiar ways of bantering. He had missed that.

"So what'd ya bring?" she asked eyeing him curiously.

"Stormy's spaghetti, by the looks of it, some chicken, cornbread and juice," he said revealing his arms laden with Tupperware.

"As long as Kitty didn't cook, Ah'll eat it," said Rogue.

"Don't worry, I'd never let Kitty's food get anywhere near y'," said Remy as he sat beside her and handed her a container and some utensils.

"Ah missed ya," said Rogue, the pain evident in her voice.

"I missed y' somethin' worse, too," said Remy, his voice almost cracking.

"Ah'm/I'm sorry," they said at the same time. They then looked at each other and smiled. Remy reached out and brushed a strand of white away from her face, which earned a wider smile from her as she settled into his arms and rested against his shoulder.

"So here we are, bot' o' us sorry," said Remy, "You wanna go first, chere?"

"Shure, shugah," said Rogue, "Ah'm so sorreh ta have left when Ah did and not realleh listened ta ya when ya trahed ta explain things ta meh. Ah was just so hurt and upset at tha tahme that ya never told meh, that Ah didn't listen."

"No, I hurt y' and y' were right, y' did need your time t' t'ink 'bout t'ings, b'fo' we did somethin' stupid dat we'd regret. I'm really sorry, chere, fer hurtin' y' and not tellin' y' about Belle and Essex, it was just dat I was afraid dat y' would turn away from m' and I was so scarred if y'd really do dat. I'm sorry dat ya had t' hear about de t'ings I did from Belle, and dat I hurt y'. Mostly, I'm sorry dat I didn't trust y' t' tell y'. I guess m' fear o' what could happen made it so dat I just couldn't do it," said Remy.

"Ah understand, Remy, and Ah know dat it's realleh hard foh ya ta admit t' that, because it's so bad, but Ah'm glad that Ah know that now an that we have no more secrets between us," she said.

"So does dat mean y'll be telling m' y' name?" asked Remy with a smirk, not expecting her answer.

"Yeah," she smiled and said, "It's Marie." (I don't really like Anna. I think Marie suits her better)

He looked at her lovingly and said, "Marie, it's a belle name."

She smiled and whispered her thanks as her cheeks flushed a bit at his gaze.

"Just don' let tha others know, kay, Rem?" requested Rogue.

"Nah, I like bein' de only one knowin' and it'll b' jus' between de two of us," said Remy with a wink.

"Thanks Remy, you're sweet," said Rogue.

"Don't I know it, chere," replied Remy, causing Rogue to roll her eyes.

"Ah felt so guilty about everythin'. Ah thought it was all mah fault, when it wasn't at all, and it wasn't yours either. Ah'm so glad that it's over," she said.

"I know, I felt dat too. I hope dis never happens again, because the past month and a half has been hell fer me," said Remy.

"Me too," said Rogue. They sat and ate in contented silence wrapped in each other's arms for a long while, just starring out into the night and relishing in the ending of such torment and suffering between them.

"Remy?" said Rogue.

"Yeah?" he replied.

Rogue turned around in his arms to face him, putting down her food and looking into his now contented face and reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, then quickly moving in for a kiss. The surprised Cajun quickly responded after a moment of shock to experience the first of the most wonderful kisses in his life. The kiss was sweet and passionate, breaking only when they came up for air.

"Wow," whispered Rogue as she came up from the kiss, her emerald eyes still closed savouring the moment. She had looked so beautiful to him then.

"How?" Remy asked confused as he ran his hand down the smooth porcelain skin on her face, feeling no absorption whatsoever, his red on black eyes glowing with all the love he felt for her. His handsomelooked at her in awe.

"Well, after Ah came back, Ah was real depressed and unhappy at everythin', so Ah began ta burry mahself with work and such, the professor and Sage helpin' meh with control bein' one of them. It was because Ah felt so guilty about everythin' and Ah just wanted to so badly touch ya, if we were to evah get back together, because it seemed lahke it was tha only good thing Ah could do after everything ta make sure ya didn't move on. Ah got it a few days ago. It's been real interesting," she explained, running a hand down the stubble on his cheek.

"I bet and I could never get over y'," said Remy, "I love you too much, Marie."

"Ah love you too, Remy," said Rogue with a happy smile.

"Mebbe I should leave y' alone mo' often," commented Remy with a smirk.

"Don't ya dare, Swam-" she was cut off as Remy kissed the soft sweet tasting lips of hers that he had been denied so long with all the love and passion he felt for her as he pulled her close and she responded in jest with the same, running her hand through his unruly hair and pulling his face closer to her. He used his tongue to request entrance to her mouth to which she gladly allowed and moaned as their tongues began to rub against each other. He began stroking her cheek to feel that soft skin that he had never felt before that moment, and that kiss would signify all that they had triumphed over. This night would truly be one that they would always treasure. And to them, it would always be absolutely perfect.

---

Both of them would forever be oblivious to the claps, hoots and cheers down below in the surveillance room, where Emil had done some fancy typing to make them to be able to see them as they made up. The people they had tried so hard to get back together had finally come together. They were all crowded in the tiny room like a bunch sardines, staring at the screen intently.

"Finally," said Kitty, "If only they called, then everything would have been over so much faster."

"Ja," said Kurt, "Zhey could have emailed, wrote letters, gone to each other, anyzhing…"

"Well, tha're just too damn stubborn," said John.

"No duh," said Wanda beside him.

"Hopefully, we won't have to try and put them back together again," said Lucas.

"We technically didn't do anything, we just watched them, they got back together on their own," said Sage, she backed down as everyone looked at her and glared.

"Maybe, but dey would have never gotten back together without our support," said Emil.

"Yes, Emil, dey would have been forever depressed if it wasn' for us," said Henri.

"But of course," said Mercy.

"Vell, at last ve can see our comrades happy, again, zey are very annoying vhen depressed," said Piotr.

"That's true enough, bub," said Logan smoking a cigar.

"Well that's because they're happiness has ties to each other," said Hank.

"That's because they have such a strong bond," commented Storm from beside Logan.

Kitty, Piotr, Kurt, John, Wanda, Hank, Logan, Ororo, Tessa, Lucas, Mercy, Henri and Emil soon left the room and went to their respective quarters to sleep before the two on the roof noticed anything amiss soon after. (I just had to write this little end bit. It came out and I had to do it.)

---

Well, this is officially much longer than I originally planned, but you should know by now that I like writing long things…besides, after I threw in the whole Belle thing, I just couldn't leave you guys at a cliffie, because that would be cruel and unusual punishment. I can't promise to kill Belle and Sinister all the time in my fics, so savour this.

So what's next even more wedding stuff. The next wedding bits will be more sentimental to the two of them with inlaws, mentors and family coming into the picture. I think this fic will end up being around five to six chapters depending on how everything goes. I hoped you guys like this so far. It's really fun for me to write. The wedding bits and the memories make me smile as much as you do. Oh, and I killed off Sinister and Belle, well Remy killed them, so I hope you like. I just enjoy having them blown to bits by him. I mean, sure, he killed a guy, it sucks, but they got blown to smithereens and there's no evil psyche thing for them to die, just a big boom. It came upon me to kill Belle, and then I was like, why not Sinister? And it was just so fun and freeing to do so, even though it's not always deserving…okay they are…but I just had to get out my frustrations with them some how and killing off is fun. Killing off characters you dislike is so much fun. Let's see who's been killed off: Fluffy, Fatso, Slimy, Psycho Bitch, and Mr. I'm Not Evil, No Really, My Name's a Dead Giveaway. I never liked Todd and Freddy because I thought their characters were pointless and they were so not defined. They were on Evo just for humour and it made them weak characters.

CHALLENGE: Well this was the last bit of this fic that I typed up before hand, so the rest is in the works, but I've got it all planned out, so it's less spontaneous. But I have a goal for review before I post up the next chapter. My wish is for 15 reviews and I won't update until I get those 15 alright. So here's your challenge, 15 reviews. Tell me what you think, alright?

On a side note, does anyone else find it absolutely WRONG that Mystique is in fact Foxx and that she's after Remy, her daughter's boyfriend? Like gross, not to mention she's trying to seduce him in Rogue's form now! Stay strong, Remy, stay strong. I don't read comics, just summaries, but yeah. I wouldn't want something like that in my house though, honestly…why? The shattering Romy bits.

REVIEW!

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