Chapter 2

Irony Rogue moved purposely around the stem of the node. Despite going up hill at quite a pace, she wasn't tiring or getting sore, or in any way getting any exercise from it. She wasn't thinking about that either. Her mind was too busy trying not to think about the other Rogues from universes similar to hers she'd just been comparing notes with. She hadn't spoken to all of the other Rogues like her, there were far too many for that, but there was enough.

Some Rogues had lost their right arm the same way she had. Some had lost different limbs, or in different ways. Some hadn't lost anything at all, and others had lost limbs in the accident, but the Cure had worn off, and their limbs had grown back after absorbing Logan.

Amongst all the amputees there were divisions again; those who had gotten prosthetics, and those who hadn't. Irony Rogue hadn't. She'd been quite satisfied that had been the best decision until she'd seen some of the prosthetics the other Rogues had. Some had Reaver Tech, which were pretty good; but the arms that Forge had made were so awesome. The fingers could change shape and become different tools. Irony Rogue couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of regret.

"Ooof!"

Irony Rogue fell back on her butt, shook herself, then looked up to see the well dressed Gambit similarly sprawled out in front of her. He wore a tailcoat, waistcoat, cravat, and gloves. The top hat upon his head had goggles sitting around the brim, and in his hand was a cane with a red gem topper.

"Oh, hey, I'm sorry," Irony Rogue said.

"The fault was entirely mine," Steampunk Gambit replied as he stood.

"No, no, my mind was a million miles away," she replied. "I wasn't paying attention."

He reached his right hand out to help her up, paused, upon realising that her own right hand was missing, and quickly switched his cane over to his right so her could reach out with his left instead. She smiled as she took his hand.

"Neither was I," he said as he helped her up, and his eyes landed on her black armband. "So busy trying not think about things in the past, I wasn't focusing on the present. The immediate present."

Irony Rogue smiled. Her eyes flickered down his to black armband for a moment, before meeting his eyes once more. "I know exactly how you feel. I was just comparing notes with the other Rogues like me and…"

"And their Remys are alive?" he asked softly.

She nodded.

"I was doing the same with the other Remys like me. Their Rogues are also still alive," he smiled faintly, "and building an airship."

"An airship?"

"Yes. There's a workshop deck up the top. There's a bunch of others building other ships too. Not ones I'm familiar with, but," he shrugged. "I could picture my Rogue amongst them so easily, which, well, they are all variants of each other so that would make sense." He sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm thinking about things I can't change all over again."

"But that's the stupid thing," Irony Rogue burst out. "These universes are always splitting for any old reason. Why did we have to be in the versions where our soulmates died? Why did that even have to be a possibility?"

Steampunk Gambit nodded. "I know exactly how you feel."

With those words, without really meaning to, the pair hugged. He held her close and she buried her head in his shoulder.

"How did you lose your Rogue?" Irony Rogue asked, the words spilling out before she could stop them.

"Airship battle between the X-Men and the Brotherhood," Steampunk Gambit replied. "How did you lose your Remy?"

"He was murdered by a time traveller named Bishop. He claimed he was saving the world," Irony Rogue snorted. "Then he ran away like the coward he is. If I ever find him I'll…" she cut herself off with a sigh. "Well, it doesn't matter now, does it? The whole universe is gone."

Steampunk Gambit gave her a gentle squeeze. "I passed a deck with a park on it not far back. You want to maybe go sit and compare notes? Our universes seem very different," he pulled back and gave a once over of her leather boots and pants, leather vest, white halter shirt and the single, fingerless leather glove on her left hand. "Might be nice to share stories with someone who wasn't there."

Irony Rogue cracked a smile. "You know, I think I'd like that. I wasn't enjoying talking with the other Rogues and feeling like they had things so much better than me."

"No, neither was I."

Sugah and X-Baby Gambit held hands as they ran around the playground. They let go to climb up the slide, the tallest slide that ever was!

"Whee!"

One by one they shot off the bottom of the slide, much too fast to stop, and landed on a bouncy rubber like trampoline. With a single bounce they were back on solid ground.

"Dis place is the best!" X-Baby Gambit declared.

"Yeppers!" Sugah agreed, and pointed over at the biggest bouncy castle, to scale with an actual castle. "Let's go there!"

X-Baby Gambit didn't need any convincing. They ran over and bounced their way all over the castle, off floors, and walls, and ceilings. There were even some adults in there too, having just as much fun as they were, bouncing off furniture.

Still, somewhere in the midst of all this fun, they couldn't help but wonder if this was another one of Mojo's shows.

Back on the Hospital Deck, Legacy, Amalgam Prime, and several other Rogue with telepathy continued to work with the Witnesses.

On the other side of the deck were all the Gambits in Rogue-induced comas, and one Rogue in a Gambit-induced coma. Swapped Gambit couldn't help but feel incredibly out of place amongst all the other Rogues who were there, sitting at the bedsides of their soulmates.

"So, um, you absorb people," awkwardly asked Nightmare Rogue, who was his nearest neighbour.

"Oui," Swapped Gambit replied. "I guess you do too."

"Yeah. It must be weird to be the reverse of everyone else, huh?"

"I mean, based on what Legacy was saying about how the multiverse works, there's probably a lot more universes out there than are represented here where I absorb and Rogue blows things up," Swapped Gambit replied, "so maybe you guys are the ones who are reversed and this is just a small sample size." He gave her a wink.

Nightmare Rogue chuckled. "So, um, if you don't mind my asking, what happened when your powers manifested? I was at a party and danced with this guy named Cody, and well, he ended up in a coma for a week. What about you? Did you knock…" Nightmare Rogue frowned for a moment, "Bella Donna? That her name?"

"Oh, no, never knocked Belle into a coma," Swapped Gambit replied. "No, I was on a job and got caught by a security guard. Knocking him out let me escape, but then I kinda got all confused with him in my head and ended up going to his place."

"Yeah, I ended up going to Cody's." Nightmare Rogue shook her head and smiled, then her smile faded. "Honestly, that whole night was crap, and I don't know why I brought it up."

"Curiousity, I imagine," Swapped Gambit replied. "That night wasn't all that great for me either. So, did you join the Brotherhood in your world?"

"Yeah, briefly. Then I found out Mystique had been manipulating me, and the X-Men, who had tried to recruit me initially, weren't as bad as she tried to make me believe," Nightmare Rogue replied. "So I ended up joining the X-Men after all. What about you? Did you ever join the X-Men, or are you still with the Thieves Guild?"

"A bit of both," Swapped Gambit replied as he shifted in his very comfortable and not at all hospital-like visitors chair. "When it became clear that I couldn't touch anyone without hurting them, and I wasn't going to figure out how to get control on my own, they realised that the arranged marriage they had lined up for me was in jeopardy. So that's when I ended up getting sent to Xavier's, and I've been living in both worlds ever since. Mind you, the deadline for getting my powers under control is next year, and I've made no progress." He sighed.

"What happens if you miss the deadline?" Nightmare Rogue asked, then shook her head. "What am I asking? It's not even an issue any more, huh?" She looked down at her Gambit.

"No one was really verbalising anything in my hearing, but worst case, the Guild war starts up again," Swapped Gambit said grimly. "Yeah, I guess the universe being destroyed was one way to solve the problem. Not really my preferred option. I don't think reality's really hit me. I feel like I should be grieving for everyone, but there's just a, I don't know, a block, I guess."

"I know exactly how you feel," Nightmare Rogue said with a nod. "I have a five year old son, whom I absolutely love, but I just can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that he…" she trailed off, then said the next few words slowly and thoughtfully, "doesn't exist anymore. Feels so strange to say that. Like the words aren't even real."

They were silent for a moment.

"So, you have a son?" Swapped Gambit asked. "Can you control your powers, then?"

Nightmare Rogue nodded. "I can now. I completely freaked out when I got pregnant, because I just had no idea how I was going to look after a baby without being able to touch him. But the Professor and Beast came through. At first the plan was just to figure out a power dampening device, but because of how my body was changing, especially on the chemical level, they actually learnt a lot about how my mutation works and were able to devise some training tools. So yeah, full control now."

"That's awesome. Congratulations," he paused, frowned, and then said: "You didn't have control before you conceived?"

"Nope," Nightmare Rogue replied with a shake of her head. "Condom broke. That's how we're in this situation."

"He's been in a coma the whole time?"

"Yeah."

"That sucks."

"It really does, you don't even know the half of it."

"Oh? What's the other two-thirds?"

Nightmare Rogue barked out a laugh, then said: "My son, Olivier, has a few half-siblings. Eleven of them."

"Eleven?" Swapped Gambit stared at her. "But you… You said you had a son, not a dozen kids."

"That's right."

Swapped Gambit looked from Nightmare Rogue to Nightmare Gambit, and then back up at Nightmare Rogue. "Then he…slept around a bit?"

"You could say that. Remy kinda... made himself available to anyone who was interested. It was my fault. We had this stupid fight over, I don't even remember now, but we broke up and Kitty had broken up with Lance about the same time, so they ended up having drunken sex with each other."

"Okay..."

"And they ended up doing it a few more times after too. And Kitty tells everyone how good he is, so that attracts more attention. And then he and I had another fight where we said some really stupid stuff to each other. But I do remember telling him he may as well put an 'open for business' sign on his bedroom door."

Swapped Gambit couldn't help but laugh. "He did it, didn't he?"

"He very publicly informed anyone who was interested that he freely available."

Swapped Gambit laughed harder.

"I'm glad you can laugh. I honestly regret just how childish we were being about the whole thing," Nightmare Rogue said ruefully.

"Sorry, it just sounds like something I could see myself doing. You know, if I thought that sleeping around was actually an option for me."

Nightmare Rogue gave him an understanding smile. "Yeah, I honestly didn't think I could either until Remy and I got together and we started experimenting with ways of getting around my mutation. He was very… He loved me, loves me. And there were some elements of him seeing me as a challenge but not in an objectifying way, more in a, 'nothing worth doing is ever easy' kind of way. I was so special to him, but I was so scared of hurting and being hurt I was constantly pushing him away." She sighed.

Swapped Gambit was silent for a moment.

"You know," he said slowly. "I think I know exactly how you both feel. I also push people away, but I can also see the appeal in just seeing something special in someone that everyone else is overlooking, and wanting to pursue that."

"Is that how things are for you and your Rogue?"

"A little bit. But you should finish telling your story first." Swapped Gambit batted his eyes at her. "So, your Remy made it very clear that he was freely available…"

"Right, well," she paused to regain her train of thought. "Scott and Jean had a fight too, broke up, and Jean went and had spite sex with Remy."

"Ah."

"They weren't particularly subtle about it either."

"Well, I expect Jean wanted Scott to know."

"Absolutely. The really surprising one was Storm though."

"Why is that surprising? I've always found Stormy very attractive."

Nightmare Rogue regarded Swapped Gambit with interest. "Well, in my universe they don't really know each other any better or worse than anyone else. I mean, I suppose they might have more to bond over both being former thieves. Well, whatever the case, none of us expected it. Hell, we never even knew until after the positive pregnancy tests started happening."

"And when did those start happening?"

"Oh, well, that was after the condom broke. See after the Jean thing, Remy and I finally had a mature conversation, and ended up getting back together, and he stopped sleeping around. So yeah, we have our first night together, and this is just one week after we make up, mind you, and that damn condom breaks." Nightmare Rogue sighed. "So Remy's in a coma, and I'm a mess, and then yeah, the symptoms start happening. And one by one, all seven of us are revealed to be pregnant. We thought that Jean's could've been Scott's, but DNA testing proved otherwise. We think the box of condoms was dodgy. I could definitely vouch for the fact that Remy hadn't done anything nasty like stealthing."

Swapped Gambit nodded. "Wait, you said seven? But there's twelve kids?"

"Yeah, me, Storm, Jean, Tabitha, Jubilee, and Kitty all had one each, and Rahne had six," Nightmare Rogue replied. "She calls it a litter. It amuses her."

Swapped Gambit cracked a smile. "I find it amusing too. How's everyone been coping with all the childcare?"

"It's definitely been a group effort, and we're all very grateful to the Professor for hiring help."

"I'll bet."

"So, um, how'd your Rogue end up in a coma?"

"Well, my Roguey's in the Brotherhood. She blows up buildings and other important stuff, not all the time, but certainly often enough to have everyone running scared. I've stopped her a couple of times by absorbing her," Swapped Gambit looked down at his Rogue. "She's not the monster everyone makes her out to be. She'll pull fire alarms so that people have a chance to get out, and she refuses to target hospitals and stuff. She's tough as nails, but has a really beautiful heart."

Nightmare Rogue smiled.

"The last few times we've gone to intervene, I've tried talking to her rather than trying to absorb her straight away," he went on, and smiled himself. "We've actually started building a rapport. And then two days ago we, the X-Men, got into a big fight with the Brotherhood. Rogue and I gravitated towards each other like we've been doing. She charged up my clothes and then she kissed me, but she tried to make it look like I'd kissed her to try to steal her powers. She wanted me to absorb her. The Brotherhood was planning something bad that she wanted no part of, and this was the only way she could think of to stop it. I held on for longer than usual just to give her what she wanted."

He sighed, his eyes full of regret.

"There was no way for you to know the world was coming to an end," Nightmare Rogue said softly. "You did what you believed was the right thing in the moment."

"Poor consolation," Swapped Gambit said, and looked over at where the telepathic Rogues were hard at work with the Witnesses. "You'd think with all that power, they'd know a way to wake someone up from one of our comas."

"I suppose we spend so much time trying not to put people into comas in the first place, that it probably never occured to any of us to try."

The elderly Rogues and Gambits were gathered on their own little desk of lovely little homes and beautiful green gardens. A couple of them were so far gone mentally that they didn't understand that their universe no longer existed, and couldn't understand why there weren't any nursing staff around.

Most of them understood, however. In fact most of them found it rather sad that there was relatively so few of them as compared to other age groups (not including the ones capable of longevity). It seemed to suggest that it was rare for them to reach this age.

"Oh, I remember that accident," said Elder Rogue, a sprightly woman of about 80. "Only it was my Remy who was driving, not me, and it killed him."

"Remarkable," Elder Gambit replied, also in his 80s and looking sharp. "We've had so much of our universes in common that it would seem that's the major difference between them."

"Perhaps that's even when our universes split," Elder Rogue suggested. "When we made the decision on who was driving that day."

Elder Gambit nodded thoughtfully. "You may be right there." He reached over and took her hand. "I often wish she was still with me. Sometimes I even forget and expect her to walk in through the door..." He sighed.

"I hear his voice all the time," Elder Rogue said. "And I don't just mean that because I have him in my head, or because I'm listening to you right now. Sometimes, I just hear him."

"Yes, I know exactly what you mean," Elder Gambit replied. "I miss her very much."

"I miss him too."

There were several decks dedicated to gaming. This particular one had numerous poker and pool tables, dart boards, and a fully fledged bar. The bar was the centrepiece of the deck, and functionally pointless as no one could drink.

"Next time we see Hodge," Leverage Gambit said as he dealt out the cards, five apiece, "the cops are walking him out in handcuffs. We're all just leaning on the wall, watching as he goes by. He sees us, and you can just see the moment of realisation when he puts the pieces together."

He was dressed in a black bodysuit with a long grey coat. Next to him was a stylishly dressed Rogue.

"I do just love that moment when they work out they got set up," Leverage Rogue said smugly as everyone picked up their cards. "Hoisted on their own petard. It's glorious."

"You're not worried about them making a scene?" Coffee Shop Gambit asked as he looked at his cards. He was in his 50s and comfortably dressed in smart casual.

"Sometimes they do, and no one ever takes them seriously," Leverage Rogue said. "Going around saying 'she tricked me' or 'that's the girl I thought I killed', is not going to do your case any good. Hmm," she considered her cards. "Check."

"I bet one of these," Coffee Shop Gambit said, and separated out a red chip. "I take your point."

"Did Hodge make a scene?" asked Noir Rogue, who looked a lot like a femme fatale right out of a classic film noir. She paused to check the number on the chip Coffee Shop Gambit had played and picked up a matching one from her own piles. "Call."

"Call," said AIB Gambit. He appeared to be in his 20s and yet, something about his eyes suggested he was much, much older.

"Call. No, he just stared at us silently," Leverage Gambit said. "I'm sure he realised it wouldn't do him any good, and would probably only hurt his case."

"Call," said Leverage Rogue, and looked at her boyfriend as she separated a couple of cards from her hand. "Two please."

Coffee Shop Gambit and Noir Rogue both traded in two cards as well. AIB Gambit asked for one, and Leverage Gambit hated that he couldn't figure him out at all. Leverage Gambit traded in one card of his own and the next round began.

"I bet," Leverage Rogue said as she put in a green chip.

"Call," Coffee Shop Gambit said, and added in his chip. "So, what happened to your client? Did you manage to clear their name?"

"Yep, got their job back and a nice fat compensation cheque," Leverage Gambit said. "And more importantly, they were reunited with their daughter."

"Fold," said Noir Rogue as she turned over her cards and moved them into the middle. "Good. If anyone tried taking my son away from me, there'd be no corner on Earth they could hide from my wrath."

"I feel exactly the same way about my two kids," Coffee Shop Gambit said agreeably. "Although, I get the impression you might be better equipped to take out that threat than me."

"Raise," AIB Gambit said.

"We don't have any kids. We're just not that far in our relationship," Leverage Gambit said as he regarded AIB Gambit thoughtfully. "I hate that I can't read your poker face at all."

AIB Gambit looked steadily back at him. "I get that a lot. I've had a lot of practice."

"I'm a little afraid to ask how old you are."

"I stopped counting after 100."

Leverage Gambit slid his facedown cards into the middle. "Fold."

"I think he's bluffing," Leverage Rogue decided, and picked up chips. "Raise."

"Call," said Coffee Shop Gambit. "Do you have any kids?"

"Five, to four different mothers. There's a 43 year age gap between the oldest and the youngest," AIB Gambit replied. "Call."

"Four Kings," Leverage Rogue said, turning her cards over. "Grandchildren?"

"Flush," Coffee Shop Gambit said as he revealed his cards.

"Eight so far, and one great grandchild," AIB said and turned his cards over to show a hand that was one card short of a straight. "You caught me, I was bluffing."

"Ha!" Leverage Rogue said delightedly, and reached in for the pot.

"So, did your Rogue had one or two children?" asked Noir Rogue as the cards were gathered up.

"None," AIB Gambit replied, a hint of bitterness in his otherwise bland tone. "She died long before I became a father. We never got past being friends who got a bit flirty. Then she got infected with the Legacy Virus and well, lets just say the death toll was high. I married my wife because I'd given up on ever falling in love and she was in a very bad situation she couldn't see her way out of. We had one kid. The other four were born while I was still living on Earth while Apocalypse was in power. I love all of them, but admittedly, they were mostly born as cover. I was working with the Resistance, and it was pretty common for other male mutants of my social standing to father a few children amongst their…harems."

Leverage Rogue paused in her shuffling. "You had a harem?"

"It was strictly for show. I only slept with three of them, and only with their full consent."

"Only three? Of out how many?"

AIB Gambit shrugged. "The numbers changed. They came and went. I let the Resistance manage that. Most of the women in the harem were there so they could be protected. I had sufficient social status that I could actually protect them, so I did. Then we started being able to get into space and were able to escape the anti-human oppression on Earth. Apocalypse had a hard time enforcing his hold on us once we could physically escape his domain."

"So, this Apocalypse is another mutant?" Coffee Shop Gambit asked as Leverage Rogue began dealing the cards.

"Yeah. He doesn't exist in your world?"

"No."

"I think he might in ours," Leverage Gambit said. "Did he also go by En Sabah Nur in yours?"

"Yeah."

"He owns a mega corporation in our universe called Apocalypse. It's a dream of ours to take him down." Leverage Gambit thought about that for a moment and sighed as he picked up the freshly dealt hand of cards. "Guess we don't have to now. Pity."

"Charlie, my son," Noir Rogue said to AIB Gambit, "he's not my Remy's either. I didn't even meet Remy until 3 years after I was married to Erik. At the time I thought Erik was not just the best I'd ever get, but the only thing I'd ever get. I didn't know what love was until I met Remy."

"Check," said Coffee Shop Gambit.

"Check," said Noir Rogue.

"Ah, marrying someone you don't love because you don't think you'll have any better. I know exactly how that feels," AIB Gambit nodded as he picked up a chip. "I bet."

"Call," said Leverage Gambit. "So, what's the deal with this Erik guy? Wait, his lastname isn't Lehnsherr, is it?"

"It is," Noir Rogue said. "He's forty years my senior, has three adult children older than me, and was the only person I'd ever met who I could actually have skin contact with."

Leverage Rogue gave a low whistle. "Ew. Sorry, but ew. I used to work for Erik, Magneto, in our universe back in my terrorist days. The idea that there's a universe where we got married is… Glad I dodged that bullet. Oh, uh…" she double-checked her cards. "Call."

"Call," said Coffee Shop Gambit.

"I can't say it's a happy marriage. Actually, it's not a marriage at all, anymore. He was murdered a couple of weeks ago." Noir Rogue's gaze landed on the new Gambit that stepped onto the deck. He was greyscale, although to her eyes, everyone was greyscale. "I fold."

She stood and ran over to him. "Remy!"

Noir Gambit's face lit up at the sight of her and he held out his arms. "Chere! I was wondering where you were."

"When I saw the poker tables, I thought for sure I'd find you here," Noir Rogue said, then stopped as her eyes landed on the bloody hole in his shirt. "What happened? Were you shot? It was Bishop, wasn't it? I knew I shouldn't have hired that damn PI."

"Non," Noir Gambit said, covering her hands with his as her hands pressed against his chest around the hole. "It was Toad."

"Toad? Him? Why?"

"He thought I was the one who killed Magneto, of course." He lifted one of his hands to his lips. "Something about an affair with his third wife? Can't imagine what he was talking about." He gave her a wink.

"Hmm." She sighed and pulled him in for a hug. "I don't think we need to keep that secret anymore. Are you sure you're okay?"

His hesitation told Noir Rogue everything she needed to know. "Don't lie to me, or sugarcoat it, please."

"I'm told it's a good thing for me that the universe ended when it did, or I would've died," Noir Gambit replied softly.

Noir Rogue sighed. "Well, that's a good thing for both of us, because if I found out Toad had murdered you, I really would've become the murderer everyone thinks I am."

"I did try to tell Toad that either of us murdering Magsy was pointless," Noir Gambit replied all too cheerfully. "That old fart was bound to croak before long on his own."

Noir Rogue managed a soft laugh, then pulled back, keeping her hands in his. "Come on, I'd like to introduce you to some new friends of mine."

"Are their names Rogue and Gambit? Because I think we've already met."

The Rogues and Gambits, old and young, were preoccupied with their projects, their games, and sharing stories about their lives. Only a relative few, and mostly those on the Rooftop deck, were looking beyond the node to the sparkling multiverse beyond.

Only they noticed the sparkling blue lights that began appearing, moving, growing bigger. The blue lights looked pretty, putting on a show that seemed like a cross between an aurora and fireworks.