Group Fic

Chapter 5 by Ace

Ororo woke with a start, gasping for breath as the thought of herself and her two best friends merely vanishing replayed in her mind. She opened her eyes to the sight of water sluicing across a car window distorting the sight of trees as they passed by. As her grogginess subsided she remembered the happenings of earlier that day…

The whole thing was as clear as crystal, she could still feel it all; the hot gem slipping from her body, the wave of strangely cold electricity passing through her. The baby, she wondered, what could this have done to the baby? And then the feeling of empty escape, as the ruby broke and she found herself floating within the realm of her Goddess, things being revealed to her, and to her friends, that none of them ever knew. Things like Rogue's relationship with Logan; even that she had been pregnant with his child, but she had miscarried. She had been seeing him for quite some time it turned out; she had only stayed with Remy because to her he was some type of "prize" a way for her to prove to all of the other women in the mansion that she was skilled, because she had "caught" the elusive Gambit, wooer of all types of ladies—she felt her immature sense of power being jeopardized by Ororo, and Remy's feelings for her. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer…that conniving little snake" Storm whispered.

"You awake cherie" she heard Remy's familiar lilt, which pulled her from her ravine.

"Remy!" Her hand flew over her mouth as she remembered her Goddess showing her how this all began. Remy had left her just before the wedding party began; she remembered feeling his angst and frustration as she floated weightless in a separate plane of existence. He muttered curses to himself as he walked to a large old oak tree behind the gazebo, just out of eyeshot of the wedding guests. His frustration turned to anger, as it often did, and that anger smoldered within him like a passionate rage, for fear of simply vocalizing his rage and being discovered then berated with questions he truly did not care to answer, he forcefully slammed is fist against the tree, but between the force of his fist and his anger he immediately loss control of his mutation, for only one moment.

And in that moment all hell broke loose, the kinetic energy leaving his hand was transferred onto the tree as flame, the wood caught quickly, and he left just as fast, the fire began to spread; and Gambit just stood there in hiding, watching, as his commitment to love went up in smoke. And the rest was all to familiar to Ororo, the amazing release of power that emanated from her—that's what agitated the magic within the gem, that's when it knew Ororo was not present, the power was around it and not inside it.

And that's when it seemed like timed had skipped over itself, Ororo had found herself with Jean and Remy as her attic loft was torn to shreds by a very hell-bent and hypocritical Anna Marie, still in her wedding dress. The young woman screamed her hatred, and it was all Jean could do to protect a weak Ororo from Rogue's wrath.

Ororo I fear you will have to leave this place soon, Rogue, she'll turn everyone in the house against Gambit, then you…you know the type of picture she will paint, the new ones…they'll listen to her, you'll never be trusted by them again. She knew that before Jean ever said it, and Remy knew it too, he could sense it just by the "I'll run you through" look Logan had on his face during Rogue's cathartic "destroying" period.

Ororo didn't want to, but she knew, she knew she couldn't bear to live in the mansion with tension of this magnitude, and she knew Jean was right; Jubilee, Monet, Kitty and most of the other young ones who had been there for some time would understand, but the new ones, they looked up to Rogue, as dire a mistake as that was—and she couldn't lead a team into battle with hatred permeating the situation. "I will miss this place" Ororo sighed, as Rogue's "hissy-fit" ended and she retired to the bulky pillow that was Wolverine's arms.

"I will see you soon my sister." The two women hugged as the three of them left Rogue and Logan to simmer. Kurt bamfed in then, seeing the down trodden group in the hallway, supplying them with even more bad news. "It is utter havoc out there; you both need to get going, far away from here, at least for a while."

"Well if Gambit be leavin' he must ask his Stormy to join him." He said breaking the pattern of silence he held for most of the day.

Storm looked up at him and in a stern yet sullen tone said, "Now is not the time for name-calling and third person point of view, after all you have said to me, Gambit, and the way you have acted, why in the Goddess's name would you want me to go anywhere with you."

He looked serious, sensitive, and contemplative all at the same time; "Because 'Ro, you my padnat, an' nothin' can change dat."

And that's how she found herself in this car, in this dress, with this man, " 'Roro, will you ever forgive me for bein' such an ass today?"

"Well LeBeau, it's not hailing, so I guess you're on the right track".

"Was that a joke chere?" he pondered.

"No, it was a sarcastic remark…and as for ass…that doesn't quite cover what you have been lately."

"I'm sorry, so sorry…it's just, the thought of another man having his hands on you just really—nags at my soul, you know."

"You do not corner the market for adult angst…how do you think I felt knowing you were going to bed with Rogue every night."

"But I'm not having her baby."

Ororo nearly cried, " Could you be more of an oaf Remy, honestly…you should know who fathered my baby better than anyone…Besides, who knows what will happen, the power in that ruby nearly killed me, who knows what it could have done to a child…so quite honestly—fuck you Remy LeBeau!" she spat. They drove in silence after that.

"I would have liked to have a child with you…I still would… Ororo, I love you. I can't not love you, and I certainly can't let you leave me, or let you sit there and not talk to me for the rest of your life. And no matter what happens with any of this I will love you. I'd die before I'd let that change." He spilled all of this out while keeping his eyes on the road, even as they welled with tears.

She sighed raggedly, "I know, and I do so love you Remy, but today, I had so much to think about, more emotions than I could handle being thrown at me, and you added too much to that…but I suppose I don't have to worry about that anymore." He took her hand and squeezed it comfortingly "Where are we now?"

"Someplace in Maryland."

"Where are we going?"

"There are some really mutant friendly places in Florida, and it's far enough away from all this not to worry…besides you won't have to fiddle around to much with the weather." He tried, weakly, to lighten to mood for both of them.

"Florida sounds nice…but how do you expects us to ride all the way there in these get ups" she attempted a half-hearted smile.

"We'll find a way…we always do, padnat."