The precious elixir of life.
What are the odds that something so common should be the beginning and the end of the greatest, most endearing, unearthily beautiful period of ma life...'
Flashback
Rogue looked dazedly
at the blood spilling from the palm of her hands. Shouldn't she be
panicking? It wasn't a big cut or anything...just one gash across her
palm from the kitchen knife. Exactly on the line of life. Funny
coincidence that! Her life was a pain too. Maybe all those lethargic
arguments she had had to endure between Kurt and Kitty about palmistry
weren't bullshit after all. Why was the pain so...so elating? The
voices had all gone mute in her head like someone had pulled the plug
on them. She really was one for the loony bin!
"...so yea mon pere taught Remy alot about knives and deir relative sharpness. So trust Remy chere, wen' he says dat knife ain't nearly sharp enough compared to da...chere?... Rogue?..." Finally realising that Rogue had tuned out of his lecture on knives, Remy jumped off of his perch on the opposite end of the kitchen, a little annoyed by the lack of attention Rogue seemed to be giving him, and made his way over to where Rogue, with her back to him, seemed preoccupied with something.
'Couldn't be mo'interestin den Remy'
Finally peeking over her shoulder a slight shiver crawled down Remy's spine as he saw the blood that was dripping from Rogue's hand and had now accumalated into a little puddle on the counter. However what scared him more was the reaction, or lack of it, from Rogue herself. Gently he reached out for Rogue's wrist. The action seemed to startle Rogue out of her stupor.
"Don't touch meh Cajun! Ah left ma gloves in ma room since it's Saturday night and...ah...Remy..." The blood loss finally getting to her, or maybe it was the tiredness indicated by the dark circles under her eyes, or maybe both; Rogue blacked out and was gently carried to the med bay by a startled, but mostly worried, Cajun.
-------------------------------
Few hours went by with Rogue just laying unconcious in the med bay with Remy sitting by her side shuffling cards and wondering why his Rogue would do something like cutting herself like that. Maybe it was his fault for arguing with her about the sharpness of the damned knife! How was he to know she'd do something like that just to prove him wrong! Besides it was just like any of their usual pointless arguments...
"Swamp rat? Wha' happend? Why ahm ah he..." Rogue stopped mid sentence and moved her left hand to get a better look at where the cut had been. Instead of a gash there was a clean bandage wrapped around her palm.
"Chere y'fainted in da kitchen...care t'tell Remy how y'got da cut?"
"Ah didn't do it on purpose if that's what you're accusing meh of swamp rat!" Rogue shot back annoyed he was acting like her keeper or something. What was his problem anyway? She was the one who had lost blood...not him!
"Rogue, Remy ain't accusin' y'of anything. He jus'wanna kno wat happened." Rogue realised there was actually concern in his usually cocky, self assured voice.
"It was nothing. Ah meant to feel the other side of the knife, ya kno the blunt side, but somehow it turned out to be the sharp side. Ah guess ah wasn't paying attention. And then there was the blood flowing outta ma hand. And ah dunno...ah just...Ah'm fahne now though."
"Chere y'sure? Y'completely zoned out." Silence. Remy was about to repeat the question, thinking Rogue hadn't heard him when she suddenly spoke in a small voice.
"It felt so nice...for once the voices were quite. Ah mean really quite. No faint rumbling. No humming or buzzing. Nothing. There was just peace. And God knows ah haven't had that in so long." Then suddenly turning to Remy, Rogue looked into his eyes and spoke panickedly "Ya gotta believe meh Remy! Ah didn't do it on purpose! It was just an accident. Ah'm not homicidial. Please don't think so!"
"Mon amour, Remy would never tink dat! Shhh y'jus need t'rest for a bit. Seems like y'haven't had a decent night sleep in ages. Y'sure thoughts of a certain sexy Cajun don't keep y'up at night?" Remy joked trying to lighten the mood.
"Maybe...But don't get yer hopes up swamp rat. It ain't you! Ah wanna get outta here. Think ah'll jus head up to mah room."
Just as the words left her mouth, Remy got up and scooped her up from the bed and started to move towards her room carrying her bridal style. To his surprise Rogue didn't protest at all. Infact she just snuggled up closer. Upon reaching her room, Remy carefully layed her on her bed and moved towards the half-open door, expecting his chere was probably asleep by now and he should probably sneak out.
"Ah don't wanna be alone Remy. Stay with meh." A quite whisper; enough to halt the theif in his tracks though. He closed the door and returned to her bed side. Rogue moved over to make room for him on her bed and Remy quitely climbed in. The last words whispered were what lulled Rogue into the most blissful sleep she'd had in a very long while.
"Mon amour y'll never be alone. Remy always be dere for y'."
End Flashback
'Him and meh, we fitted perfectly together. He understood what it was like to be meh; maybe because he had suffered through most of the same things too. There were no secrets between us. We matched each other perfectly in combat, whether it be physical or verbal. He knew how to make meh laugh. To say that the time spent with him was good would be an understatement. It was absolutley magical! But all things, good or bad, must come to an end. And so 'we' were destined to die aswell. But Oh God! Why did it have to end the way it did? Why must fate be so cruel to meh? Where did i go so wrong to deserve the torment of the memories that haunt ma soul each and every living moment?'
Flashback
"I'm sorry dear but there's really nothing we can do to save him. He took 3 shots to the chest. One punctured a lung. He lost too much blood before he got here. I'm really sorry Rogue dear." Ororo told the devastated teen.
"Ah...ah have to go..." That said she practically ran from the room in attempt to hide the tears that were threatning to spill from her 'emeralds' as Remy always called them.
With a bleary vision she ran out of the mansion to get away from it all. Perhaps to try an leave the hurt behind. But no matter how fast she ran or how hard she tried to forget there was just no stopping the images of earlier from repeating themselves over and over, like a damned slideshow, in her head.
Remy and herself had gone out on a date. It had been exactly two years ago that her and Remy had become an item after the 'accident' in the kitchen. He had looked absolutley stunning in his black tux. She had downed on an elegant green dress which had silver embrodiery all over the lower portion near the hem line. Her gloves for the evening were silver too. Silently she recalled how Remy had practically dropped his jaw when she had walked down the stairs. He had taken her to a classy resturant and presented to her the greatest gift she could have ever imagined (besides him ofcourse!). A necklace. That granted her the miracle of 'touch'...
But being the understanding gentleman that he was, he had held back any crude remarks that were otherwise a norm of their relationship or tried making a move on her.
Rogue was touched by the gesture. How did a ladies' man such as Remy endure a relationship with the untouchable goth for so long without even once being unfaithful? Sure there was his engagement to Belladonna, but that wasn't exactly his fault. And besides, shortly after telling Rogue about Belladonna, Remy had gone to New Orleans and broken the engagement with her, consequences be damned!
Overwhelmed with emotion, Rogue did the one thing that she had wanted to do forever. She moved closer to Remy and gently leaned in for a kiss. Remy slid his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him and finally their lips touched. And oh wow! The sparks in that one kiss alone were enough to send Rogue into trauma again. Almost. She had sure missed on some amazing experiences. Not anymore though...Never again. They both had a lifetime ahead of them and Rogue would make sure she made up for her loss!
But it seems the thought jinxed the whole dream. As they both exited the resturant, hand in un-gloved hand, a black SUV pulled right across from them. Inside, a furious Belladonna, seated next to her brother Julien, pulled out a gun. She aimed it at Rogue and fired. But Remy plucked her out of its deadly path. He pulled out his cards and was about to charge them, when Julien sensing the threat and without further ado shot him. Rogue screamed as the scene played out in slow motion infront of her eyes. Blood burst from the wounds left by the bullets. However being the fighter that he was, Remy charged the last card he ever would and threw it under the SUV, after which he collapsed to the ground. The card exploded under the gas tank and the unlucky occupants were disentigrated with the blast. Rogue though was oblivious to everything around her. Sobbing like mad, only one thought ran through her mind. She needed to get Remy to the mansion. She pulled out her mobile and informed the x-men of her location. He needed help fast. She could feel his heartbeat ebbing away. Dieing on her. And there was nothing she could do to stop it. His blood was everywhere! Finally they came. Remy was hurried to the med lab. But it wasn't fast enough.
End Flashback
A cold sardonic smile played on her lips as a thought struck her. It had started with her blood. And fate had twisted it so that the end was written in his...