Disclaimer: Still working on hacking into the lawyers' databases… wait, I just got past the second firewall! Success! Wait… what's that little bomb? No… no! I lost it all!

A/N: Hi there. I sound like a broken record but I must say that I'm impressed with myself. Only three months and not five or six like the last few updates. So, enjoy!

"…"- conversation

'…'- thoughts

(…)- extra facts/actions (some)

((…))- author's/my own thoughts

'blah…' -telepathy/what people say mentally

Chapter 51: Battling the Horseman of Famine and Redemption

Hallway #1, Asteroid Evolution, Orbit of the Moon, Milky Way Galaxy- May 17, 12:15 AM

Lucas's black eyes surveyed the scene before him – the two X-Factor members that had once been screaming in pain from the mental images that bombarded their minds were now completely healthy and standing, their guards up, behind Rogue and Gambit… a scene that didn't suit Lucas' tastes at all.

"Now, ain't this a sight," Lucas murmured, his eyes boring a hole into Bobby and Amara, letting out a satisfied laugh when he saw them shiver in fear. He then turned his gaze to the two Southern mutants in front of them. "Well, if it ain't the traitor; ye are a traitor, aren't ye Gambit?" On getting no answer from the Cajun, he turned his attention to Rogue. "And here is the bitch of a daughter of her whore-mother Mystique who was supposed tae be the Horseman of Famine but passed up the wonderful opportunity and gave it tae me… pity."

Lucas was too busy mocking Rogue and her missed opportunity to notice that Amara had overcome her fear of the Scottish mutant and had disappeared from behind Rogue. Using stealth training she had gotten from Logan, Amara carefully moved so that she was behind Lucas. She then formed a large fireball and threw it with all her might at the telepathic mutant. Lucas let out a cry of shock and pain as he felt the intense heat burn him, his neck and hair catching on fire. He spun around to confront Amara, but when he did so, saw nothing. Amara had taken the amount of time for Lucas to notice the fire to sneak away and return to standing behind Rogue.

"Argh, damn it!! Ay'll get ye, ye little bitch!" Lucas screamed using the purple energy he had been readying to send at the four mutants to put out the fire on his neck and hair. He then turned to face the mutants, his eyes burning with anger and a lust for revenge.

"Get ready tae die!" Lucas snarled, sending a powerful telepathic wave at the four mutants, smirking on knowing that the strength of the attack was even enough so that his own father couldn't escape from it. However, the smirk quickly faded from his face when he saw that his attack was not having any effect; in fact, it seemed like the Rogue – the bitch – and the traitor were blocking the attack. Lucas just managed to move out of the way as Rogue and Remy sent his attack back at him with double the original power; a move that made Lucas scared.

'How the hell can they do tha'?! They shouldn't be able tae do it; only Ay should be able tae do somethin' like tha' and yet they're blockin' it and sendin' it back at me with more force than it originally had… wha' the fuck is goin' on?!' Lucas angrily thought, as he concentrated on dodging mental attacks from both Rogue and Remy, who had copied Jean, Xavier, and Betsy's telepathic abilities and were now using them to beat Lucas at his own game; so far, they were succeeding.

"How in the hell are ye doin' tha'?!" Lucas snarled, dodging Rogue's attack by rolling on the ground from one side of the hallway to the other only to have jump back five feet to avoid Remy's attack.

Rogue and Remy chose to not respond continuing their mental barrage on the Horseman of Famine in front of them. Bobby and Amara, during this battle, were merely staring at the two older mutants with envy and shock clearly visible on their faces, both surprised at Rogue and Remy's abilities, knowing that before the whole kidnapping ordeal neither one of them had been able to use telepathic attacks.

'Remy, should we tell Amara and Bobby to help us take out Lucas quickly?' Rogue asked, able to balance her mind between talking to her boyfriend and attacking Xavier's son.

'Remy think so, chére; it will help us a lot if we get dis battle done quickly,' Remy responded, his black and red eyes narrowed in concentration. He didn't notice Rogue's small nod of agreement and, on getting her a mental signal upped the intensity of his attacks, grinning when he managed to hit Lucas in the leg. This caused the Scottish mutant to stop his constant jumping around the hallway and throw up a mental shield due to the intense pain from blocking oncoming attacks from hitting their marks.

'Amara, Bobby; listen to meh; Remy and Ah need yah to help us take out Lucas quickly because we're both beginning to tire out; got it?' Rogue mentally told the younger students, hoping that they would follow her orders instead of freezing up on the spot in shock at hearing her speak mentally to them.

Amara and Bobby looked at each other, and, getting identical grins on their faces spilt up, Amara going to Rogue's left while Bobby went to Remy's right. At a mental signal from both Remy and Rogue Amara flared up and shot a dangerously hot lava stream at Lucas' already injured left leg while Bobby iced up and shot an arctic breeze at Lucas' head, hoping to distract him long enough for Rogue and Remy to prepare their final attacks. The double strategy worked – Lucas had to let his mental shield fall due to the pain he felt from a combination of past wounds and the damage that Bobby and Amara's attacks had caused.

Bobby gave himself a pat on the back for a job well done, not noticing that Lucas had launched a desperate attack of revenge at the ice wielder. Bobby's light brown eyes opened to see a fast-moving light purple dagger heading towards him but before he could even think to dodge, the dagger was sent back at Lucas with an unknown speed that caught him off guard. Lucas screamed as his own dagger hit him in the arm, leaving behind a jagged cut that was now oozing blood.

"Damn it…" Lucas cursed; trying to cover the wound with his arm in an attempt to stop the bleeding but failing as his hand slowly turned the shade of the blood he was desperately trying to stop. Lucas was so concentrated on trying to stop his bleeding that he didn't notice Rogue and Remy's approach until he was lifted up from the ground and slammed against the steel wall.

"Well, chére, it appears to Remy dat we have de magnifique (magnificent) Horseman of Famine in our possession, non?" Remy said, making sure to add a hint of sarcasm to his voice; Rogue, Bobby, and Amara all nodded from behind Remy.

"Aye, well, it's not a pretty sight when someone as ugly as ye ends up catching a mermaid like tha'," Lucas angrily retorted to Remy, doing his best to ignore the pain that was emanating from the whole of his body. Lucas immediately winced as Rogue, who had not taken kindly to his comment, punched him in the gut.

"Never say that about Remy again, yah hear meh?!" Rogue angrily demanded her emerald eyes ablaze with anger. Lucas spit out a small amount of blood and merely glared at the Southern mutant, his black eyes remaining full of anger and pain. Rogue's eyes glared into his for a few minutes until Lucas averted his gaze, no longer caring whether or not Rogue and Remy beat him up.

"Why should it matter what Ay do from now on… no one cares about me; no one," Lucas whispered, black eyes becoming hollow as he thought about his current situation: he was pinned up against a wall by an angry Gambit and Rogue, with Magma and Iceman waiting in the background in case he tried anything funny. He knew that Apocalypse would punish him for his failure to detain the two escaped mutants along with the whore of a daughter of Mystique and the traitor Gambit. His mother hated him because he had refused to try and patch things up with his father, leaving him unable to return to his mother in Scotland and to add on to his shattered psyche both Ian and David were still fighting him for control of his mind.

"What do yah mean, yah're all alone?" Rogue whispered, her listening strengthened by Logan, Lexie, and Sabretooth's own advanced hearing.

Lucas looked back to his captors and, snarling, replied, "It's none of yer damn business!" He was going to say more but Remy tightened his hold on the Scottish mutant, forcing him to swallow his words.

"It is our business when tu whisper something that could help us," Remy growled, his ruby on onyx eyes burning a hole into Lucas' solid black ones. When Lucas didn't respond Remy slammed him into the wall once more, rewarded this time by a groan of pain from Lucas as he felt his injured leg hit the wall especially hard.

"Remy, stop; Ah think he's too overcome with pain to really hurt us; be gentle," Rogue told Remy, hoping that he could sense the turmoil in Lucas' mind. Remy looked at Rogue in disbelief, along with Amara and Bobby, all of whom were wondering if Rogue was losing her mind. Rogue sensed their thoughts and snapped, "Ah'm not losin' my mind! Ah know how Lucas feels; it's how Ah used to feel years ago."

Remy's eyes showed the battle that raged inside him; should he listen to Rogue and let Lucas go so he could help them or should he do what he thought was right, which was to keep Lucas prisoner so that he couldn't harm anyone? After a few moments, along with Rogue pouting, tears forming in her emerald eyes, Remy groaned and let Lucas fall to the floor; however, not gently enough for Rogue who hit him in the shoulder in retaliation.

"Merde, Rogue," Remy muttered, rubbing his now sore shoulder amidst the snickering of Amara and Bobby behind him. Rogue ignored her boyfriend and fellow deity and knelt beside Lucas, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. Lucas looked up at Rogue and she could see the confusion in his eyes. "Ah trust yah, Legion… Lucas. Ah know that yah have been tricked into being Apocalypse's servant and as such yah are regretting your actions. Yah feel like yah're not wanted; that no one cares enough about yah to try and save your life; am Ah right?" Rogue told him, smiling in reassurance, and when she saw Lucas give a small nod yes her smile grew.

Lucas looked at Rogue and saw honesty in her emerald eyes. As he continued to stare into Rogue's eyes – not noticing the jealous glare of Remy – he suddenly found his mind cleansed of all the turmoil that he had been feeling inside for years. Lucas clutched his head in pain as images of his father, mother, Apocalypse, David, and Ian flew through its depths.

(INSIDE LUCAS' MIND)

Lucas widened his eyes as he saw his father sitting in front of a bay window, awaiting a call from his mother as to Lucas' whereabouts. When the phone rang, Xavier quickly answered but the hope that he saw on his father's face quickly vanished, leaving a heartbroken man. Xavier hung up and Lucas, realizing that neither one of his parents knew where he was, saw Xavier put his face in his hands, hiding the tears that Lucas could swear he sensed falling from his father's eyes.

"Father…" Lucas whispered, reaching a hand out to try to comfort Xavier, to reassure him that he was there and he was alright, but Lucas' hand passed right through Xavier. Lucas pulled his hand back, shocked. "What have Ay become?" he whispered, looking at himself from his family's viewpoint. "Ay'm... Ay'm a monster…" Lucas whispered, hearing a chorus of agreements from his alter egos David and Ian.

Lucas looked up and saw himself standing in front of his mother, Gabrielle Haller. She was sitting in a chair in her study, working on some paperwork. Lucas watched in confusion as she stopped writing and, opening a drawer in her desk, took out a picture that Lucas' alter ego David recognized as a family portrait, just the two of them, from when he was about ten years old. She looked at it and silent tears rolled down her cheeks, splashing the glass barrier between the actual picture and the air around Gabrielle.

"David… Ian… Lucas… whoever ye are at this time Ay pray that ye come back to me safe and sound." She placed a feather light kiss on the picture than placed it back into the drawer from whence it had come and continued to work, holding back the tears that threatened to fall.

"Mother…" Lucas whispered, feeling his psyche break and David take over for a few moments.

"Look what you've done, Lucas; you've made our mother cry. How could you?" David accused, dressed in faded light blue jeans, a faded, long-sleeved green shirt, and white sneakers, his short-cropped light blond hair neatly combed. Ian appeared beside David, dressed in the same outfit but merely nodding in agreement and glaring at his older looking counterpart, his hair the same length as David's, but messier. Lucas looked at his two other personalities, feeling their pain and confusion from what he had done and feeling David's love for Gabrielle and Ian's love for Xavier; he realized then and there that he had been manipulated by Apocalypse indirectly for years, and as such hadn't been acting like himself.

Lucas fell to his knees and yelled, "Ay'm such a bastard; Ay let meself be controlled when Ay claim tha' Ay'm uncontrollable. Ay've hurt the people Ay loved time and again and Ay've let anger and depression control me… Ay'm sorry… Ay'm sorry…" Lucas pounded his fists into the ground in frustration and anger at himself and his actions, David and Ian looking at each other and, nodding, moved to comfort their counterpart.

"Don't worry Lucas; we're here to help," David reassured, Ian nodding in agreement. It was then that Lucas realized what he had to do.

(OUTSIDE LUCAS' MIND)

Rogue, Remy, Amara, and Bobby watched Lucas struggling with his mind, moaning or groaning in pain as he did so. Finally, after what seemed to be ages Lucas' eyes opened and he screamed in pain and resolution, a black shadow rising from the Scottish mutant. Remy immediately stopped watching Lucas and using Erik and Lorna's control over metal took the plating off the walls and formed an impenetrable cage. Rogue looked up and asked, "Remy… wha' tha hell is that?"

Remy looked at his girlfriend and said, "Remy thinks dat dis creature be de evil side of Legion dat has been imprisoned inside 'im for years… now it was released and Remy caught it to prevent it from infectin' someone else." Rogue nodded in agreement and after Remy was done constructing the cage, she added her own prevention by using the telekinetic abilities of Betsy and Jean to create a second defense wall that would prevent the creature from escaping and taking over someone else.

While Remy and Rogue took care of the shadow Amara and Bobby were helping Lucas to his feet, each supporting one side of the Scottish mutant. "Are you alright?" Amara asked, her voice holding concern and acting as a balm for Lucas' recently cleansed mind.

"Aye… Ay think Ay'm okay…" Lucas slowly answered, getting used to just talking and not screaming, gloating, bragging, threatening, or muttering; in other words, he hadn't just spoken without any ulterior motives in years. His mind was in utter disarray; David and Ian had been given new places that gave them more control over Lucas' mind or the ability to come out and live in the real world instead of being trapped inside their own psyche. At this time, both David and Ian had agreed to let Lucas have control until they got home to not arouse suspicion among the other Horsemen.

Lucas looked at Amara, admiring her beauty, and she could feel a small blush tainting her cheeks, tinting them a pale pink. Bobby was too preoccupied with needing to find his own girlfriend to notice the looks Lucas threw at Amara but noticed the small blush that had crept onto Amara's cheeks, giving him information to use as possible blackmail…

"Lucas," Rogue said as she and Remy approached, after having placed the shadow inside Bobby's cell with a magnetic and telekinetic charm on the door. "Do you want us ta heal yah so yah can help us?"

Lucas looked from Rogue to Remy and seeing how concerned they were for him (Rogue anyway) nodded yes, adding, "Aye, tha' would be fine. Ay'll help ye find everyone else as long as ye help me with me old man."

Rogue nodded and after nudging Remy to help her, they walked up to Lucas, removing their gloves. Amara and Bobby watched Rogue carefully, wondering why she had taken off her gloves when she couldn't touch. However, both were amazed when Rogue placed her hands on Lucas' face and nothing happened; there were no signs that she was taking Lucas' powers, memories, or life force; she was just touching Lucas' face gently, hoping to help him. Remy placed his tanned hands over Rogue's and together they both began to glow with a white aura, transferring their energy to Lucas. Amara and Bobby both watched as Lucas closed his eyes and sighed in relief as he felt the pain from his injuries disappear, the wounds closing up leaving flawless and unbroken skin, and his mind was at ease for the first time since he was eighteen.

After Rogue and Remy had finished they pulled their hands away and put back on their gloves, looking a little drained but otherwise fine. Lucas took his arms off Amara and Bobby's shoulders and cautiously took a few steps, a genuine grin reaching his face when he found that he could walk without pain anymore. He turned to face the two Southern mutants and, bowing from the waist down, said, "Ay thank ye for helping me tae regain the self tha' was lost long ago. If ye'll follow me Ay'll take ye tae the rest of the hallways tae free the others." Lucas stood up and looked to Rogue and Remy, finding acceptance in Rogue's eyes and a hint of acceptance in Remy's eyes. He then turned to Bobby and Amara, whom he found to be somewhere else mentally, concerned for the rest of their friends.

"Lucas, Amara, Bobby. Come here," Rogue beckoned, and when the three had done so nodded to Remy who, nodding in return, placed his hands on Lucas and Bobby's shoulders while Rogue placed hers on Amara's. With the blink of an eye, the five of them disappeared. After Rogue and Remy explained to the three of them that they were invisible, they were to only speak telepathically, and Remy had gathered up the first aid supplies Lucas led them out of hallway #1 and towards their next destination, keeping up a mental shield to make sure that Apocalypse didn't sense their movements.