Chapter Forty-Five:


The sunset played across the surface of the water like a kaleidoscope, rays of orange and pink light dancing across the lake. The warm summer air was cooled by a gentle breeze that carried the soft song of chirping crickets and crooning nightingales.

Rogue sat on the edge of the dock, clad in a pair of cutoff blue jean shorts and a green tank top, dangling her bare legs over the edge, drawing small circles in the water with her toes. Her long, brown hair hung down her back in a loose braid, stray white strands adorning the soft curves of her face. She closed her eyes, savoring the feel of the gentle summer breeze as it caressed her cheeks.

It was so peaceful on the edge of the bay in the evening, which was why she had come there. Sitting by the water, the wind tousling her hair, watching the sun make its final descent for the evening, she was able to find a quietness that had evaded the LeBeau estate over the past few weeks.

Glancing across the water, her eyes found the elegant steeple of the Catholic church in the distance.

Tomorrow is mah weddin' day, Rogue thought to herself, and a stir of emotions swirled to life inside of her. Tomorrow she would walk down the aisle of that church and promise herself to the only man she had ever truly loved. Tomorrow she would make official what she had known in her heart since the moment she first laid eyes on him.

Their first meeting had been in the heat of battle, and somehow that suited them. They were both strong and fiercely determined, and the passion that existed between them had been as intense during that fight as it was today. Despite the fact that he'd been her enemy, Rogue had found her thoughts drifting to the mysterious and handsome Acolyte often during her imprisonment in Trask's base. She hadn't expected to see him ever again, so she'd been shocked when he appeared in her cell, scooping her up into his arms, and carried her out of the living hell she'd been trapped in.

Mah very own knight in shinin' armor, Rogue thought with a wry smile. Except wit' a motorcycle instead o' a white horse.

He'd introduced himself en route to Magneto's base, and her first thought was that Remy was a very sexy name. Of course, it had been inevitable that her next thought was that Remy was a very sexy guy. His looks had only been matched by his persistence, which had baffled and amazed Rogue at the same time. He'd known about the restrictions, the dangers, of her powers, and yet that had only made him want her even more.

In time, it had made Rogue want him, as well, and she'd slowly begun to open up to him, to trust him with her fragile heart.

He hadn't disappointed her.

If someone had told me back on the island that Ah'd be marryin' that swamp rat, she chuckled to herself. Ah'd have petitioned t' have 'em thrown in t' an asylum.

But here she was, about to become Mrs. Remy LeBeau in less than twenty-four hours. She had the perfect dress, the beautiful flowers, the music and the gorgeous reception hall. She even had the dream honeymoon, two weeks in the Greek Isles, getting home just in time to help Bella put the finishing touches on her own wedding plans.

There was only one thing missing.

"Mah family..." Rogue murmured with a sigh. "The only thing missin' is mah family."

"Is that true?"

Rogue jumped, startled, and would have fallen into the water had it not been for her powers. "Ya scared the hell out o' me!" she cried, glaring at Lucas accusingly.

"I am sorry," he replied evenly. "I did not mean to startle you."

"Geez, ya move like a damn cat, ya know that?" Rogue demanded. "How did ya find me, anyway?"

"I was patrolling the western side of the estate," Lucas explained, moving to stand beside her. "I saw you leaving and decided to follow."

"Ya take up stalkin' as a new hobby?" Rogue asked dryly.

"I felt it was a wise decision to keep an eye on the bride-to-be the night before her wedding day," Lucas replied flatly. "I apologize if I am intruding."

"Nah," Rogue waved off his apology. "Yo' right, Ah probably shouldn't have taken off wit' out tellin' anyone Ah was leavin'. Old habits die hard, Ah s'pose."

"That is understandable."

Rogue turned her gaze back to the water in front of her, crossing her ankles as she dangled her legs over the edge of the dock. After a moment she glanced up at Lucas, curiosity getting the better of her. "When ya got here, ya asked if it was true that the only thing missin' was mah family. What did ya mean by that?"

"Simply that you are not without family," Lucas replied, crossing his toned arms over his chest as he stared out at the glistening water. "You may have lost your family in Bayville, but you have one here now, as well."

"Ah know," Rogue said softly. "It's jus'..."

"You miss them."

"Yeah," Rogue confirmed with a nod, wringing her hands in her lap. "Ah really do."

"I am sorry. I wish I could lessen that pain," Lucas said, his rich voice emotionless, as it usually was, but Rogue heard the sincerity behind his words. "My parents died when I was only nine years old, leaving my sister and I with our grandmother. Three years later they were both killed in a fire, while I was out playing baseball with some friends. When I got home it was too late."

Rogue gaped at him in surprise, for she had never heard Lucas talk about his past before, and certainly not like this. "God," she whispered. "Ah'm so sorry, Lucas."

"It was a very long time ago," he responded. "But thank you."

"How did ya get past somethin' like that?" Rogue asked.

"In some ways I haven't," Lucas confessed quietly. "But I have moved on. And I was able to do that by accepting that there are some things we cannot change, no matter how much we wish we could. Sometimes we have to let the past be nothing more than the past."

"Ya think Ah should forget about mah family?" Rogue demanded, her fists clenching at her sides instinctively.

"Of course not," Lucas rebutted calmly. "Remembering our loved ones keeps them alive, keeps a part of them with us for the rest of our lives."

"Then what are ya sayin'?"

"It's been almost two years since you last saw them, Rogue," Lucas said gently. "You haven't stopped searching since you came here, and yet you haven't found anything. Maybe it's time to lay the search to rest."

"Ah can'," Rogue insisted, shaking her head. "What if they're still out there somewhere?"

"And what if they are not?" Lucas retorted. "You can't let the past consume your life anymore, Rogue. Especially not when you're about to start a new life with Remy."

Rogue bit her lip, her eyes falling to her bare legs. Two years ago she would never have dared to wear shorts in the privacy of her own room, and here she was wearing them out in public without so much as a second thought.

"Many things have changed since you left Bayville, Rogue," Lucas said. "Your powers have changed. You have changed. You aren't the girl you were before, anymore than I am the boy I was before the accidents that claimed my family. It's our experiences that shape who we are."

But who am Ah? Rogue wondered. Ah'm not Rogue, not anymore. Ah can't be that girl anymore.

She felt Lucas' hand come to rest on her shoulder. "Perhaps now you should look not to your past," he said gently. "But instead to your future."

He withdrew his hand, and her sixth sense told her that he was leaving, giving her some privacy to think over what he'd said.

It had been a long time since she saw any of the X-men, even Evan and Hank. So many thing could have happened over the past two years. Even if anyone survived the mansion's destruction, there was no guarantee they had survived Trask and his Sentinels. Rogue had followed up every lead she could think of in her searching. She'd tried to contact Alex Summers in Hawaii, but his family had moved away and no one knew where. She'd tried to get in touch with Warren in Manhattan, but she'd been told he had left the country for an indefinite period of time. She'd even tried to locate any of the Acolytes, but nothing had turned up.

If there were any survivors, they'd done a damn good job covering up their tracks.

Lucas was right.

It was time to say lay the past to rest.

"Ah'm sure gonna miss ya'll," Rogue said softly into the sky. "Ya'll were the best family a gal could ask fo', an' Ah'll never fo'get ya." She swallowed past the tightness in her throat, and blinked back the tears welling in her eyes. "Take care o' Kurt fo' me, alright? Give mah love t' everyone."

Wiping the tears from her cheeks, she took a deep, shaky breath.

"Goodbye, Rogue," she whispered. "Hello, Marie."