Disclaimer: All characters found within, belong to Marvel.

Notes: I've noticed that some people aren't really following the timeline. Part Three started off taking place at the same time as the end of part two, then ended up fifteen years in the future. This one takes place right after the events of part two. Now that that's cleared up, on with the story!

Special thanx To my editor Soar,
Author of the story: Child's Play.

What the Future Holds
Part Seven
By CRIM§ON

As Wolverine slowly regained consiousness, he became more and more aware of the sound of fighting surrounding him. Looking up he saw that he was partially covered by some sort of metallic debris, in what was left of Hank's Lab. He thought back to what had happened, and remembered the sounds and heat from the explosions that had rocked the med lab. The wretchedly painful heat, the smell of his own flesh burning, oh yes, he remembered. He also remembered seeing Remy turn to him as the flames entered the room. Cecilia had her shields around him, he was safe as were the rest of the X-Men in the med lab, Logan knew however that he had no protection from the flames. Remy must have realised this too, because he started trying to get Cecilia's attention. Just as he did Logan fell and everything went blank. His last thoughts were of the healing factor that had saved him so many times before. If only they could stop the flames. If only...

As the thoughts of memory became too much to bear, he concentrated on the situation around him. The sounds of battle weren't in the room with him. They were up a level, outside the complex. The others... They must have put up more of a fight... Maybe Jeannie sensed them before Gambit and was able to stop them, he thought hopefully. But the sounds of the battle were too one sided. The sound of Gambit's and Jubilee's powers were vocal enough, but Storm's, Cyclops's and Cannonball's weren't. They should have been. If they were still alive they would have been. That meant that it was up to two senior X-Men, one severely wounded, one who should be back at school studying physics and two rookies, against who knew how many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Not good odds, He thought to himself, clearing away the debris and heading out to the battle. Time to go be an X-Man.

He got to the upper level and surveyed the damage. From where he stood, he could see the entire battle field. Angel and Joseph were high up taking out the air forces, while Ice Man was splitting his ice blasts between helping the ground fighters, and taking out whatever aircraft managed to make it past Warren and Joseph. Jubilee was on one side of the field, slowly being pushed back against the mansion as Gambit, Reyes and Marrow were being slowly pushed back onto the frozen lake. From the looks of things, it was Gambit who was leading them all. He was barking orders that everyone, including Marrow, were following.

Logan couldn't hear exactly what he said, but Cecilia started making her way towards Jubilee, with Gambit giving her cover fire and Marrow giving him cover as he did so.

Upon seeing Logan, Gambit nodded to him, with a look on his face that expressed the amount of relief he had upon seeing him, and then gestured to Reyes and Jubilee with his head.

Reyes got to Jubilee at the same time as he did, and gave him a nod of welcome, "You're looking well for someone who just burned to death," She told him as he sliced a large robot to shreds and she took out another with a plasma rifle.

"'M a good healer Doc. What's going on here?"

"We aren't really sure. We don't know why they attacked us, but we do know that there's only about five or six actual people here, other than us of course," She paused to take out a robot that was headed straight for Logan's back. "We- Oh my God!" He turned around just to see some small missiles heading for them all. She grabbed his and Jubilee's arms and put up a shield around them both.

Angel came crashing to the ground in front of them, followed shortly by Ice Man and Joseph, who suceeded in putting up a shield around them all, as he put his hand to a large cut in his head. The six of them converged together as more missiles headed for the ground.

The ice under Gambit and Marrow was beginning to crack as the second string hit. Gambit was throwing charged bone daggers at them as they came, and Marrow was watching his back and handing him ammo. On the ground it was getting quiet, robots leaving to give the missiles more room to explode. It also helped in allowing them to hear the sound of the ice, both it breaking, and Bobby doing his best to replace it.

As they left for their small ship, it became uncloaked. At the same time, they ran to help Marrow and Gambit, and Wolverine saw Gambits head whip towards the ship, which was where the missiles had been coming from.

He then turned to Marrow, and she handed him two rather large bone daggers. He charged them a blazing crimson, that was slowly spreading up his bare arms, his eyes glowing heated fire. Remy held on to the daggers for longer than Wolverine was used to seeing him do, and then threw them with everything he had at the ship. And Cyke questioned his loyalty... As he did, all of the fire dispersed from him and he dropped to his knees, taking in a large gasp of air, as the ship started to explode and fall from the sky.

Marrow helped him to his feet and the two started to walk towards the others, who waited for them at the edge of the lake.

"Good t' see y' breathin' Homme," Remy yelled to Logan.

Logan started to respond, but he wasn't heard over the sounds of the gun fire from the retaliating robots, and the crashing of the mini air fortress. The ground started shaking and Gambit and Marrow fell down on the ice. Laying on his back, Remy saw a robot coming up behind them, headed straight for Sarah and he got up to block it. It hit him full force, without slowing down, knocking the air out of him and smashing them both straight through the ice, before anybody could get to him.

Under the water Remy struggled to get free, but couldn't. The robot had a death grip on him, and it's weight was pulling them both to the bottom. He looked up at the top. No help was coming through, so he was left to fend for himself. Charging the robot was pretty much out of the question. The explosion would probably hurt him more then the pain the robot was already dealing him, so that even if he could get it to let go, he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to make it to the top, and it was even less likely that he would be able to find the hole he fell through before his air ran out. They hit the bottom and his head turned sideways, looking towards the BlackBird. It's so cold, and dere's no air. If I could get t' ol' BlackBird, maybe dere could be an air pocket. Air... So cold, so cold, Hate de cold... No air... So cold... No air... So cold... so so cold... no... no... no air... no... Logan? He opened his eyes to see his old friend directly in front of him. Lo...g'nnn...

He watched as Logan put his fist to the robot's head and popped his claws into it. He then proceeded to slice down until it eased it's hold on Gambit enough for him to slip out. Wolverine grabbed him and headed for the surface. When they hit the top, he sliced through the ice with out even bothering to search for the hole; Gambit hanging limply in his other arm. Then he felt more arms around him, pulling him out. Two sets of strong arms doing everything in their power to help him. Then a set of lips on his. Hard, coarse lips breathing life into his own. A set of hands pushing his chest down hard. Then something inside him snapped, and he started breathing again. AIR!!! Opening his eyes he saw Sarah's face hovering close to his own. He coughed up some water and then put his hand to her cheek, ignoring the bones that were sticking out of it. "T'anks Chere..." He whispered, closing his eyes, and letting his hand drop.

Bobby picked him up off the cold ice and replaced him on the ground. "Oh man, Gambit! I'm sorry! I couldn't keep the ice enforced enough to hold you both! I'm really sorry."

"'S'ok Bobby. Wasn' your fault," He replied as he attempted to sit up. Then he noticed that all of the others were just standing around, and that the fighting had stopped. "What--?" He asked in shocked amazement.

"When the air support dropped off, so did the rest of the 'bots," Bobby replied.

Gambit nodded, as Marrow helped him to his feet. "Dey'll be back. Whatever dey wan'ed, dey wan'ed bad." Jubilee, Warren and Joseph came to join them, and Jubilee gave Gambit a huge hug.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again, Cajun! After we lost--" She cut herself off, tears streaming down her face. It was all right though, everyone knew what she meant.

He smiled sadly at her, and stroked the back of her head but didn't respond. Instead he changed the subject. "We should put in a call to Emma an' Sean. Warn dem 'fore it's too late. If dey come af'er us, dey might go af'er dem too."

"I don't believe so," Joseph told him, anger colouring his voice, "I watched what they went after just before they left. It was something in your room. Something in a small chest." He ripped the two apart and held Gambit by the throat at eye level. "What was it?" He asked simply, in a very articulated tone, filled with quiet anger. A light blue aura started to cover the two of them. As Wolverine jumped forward, he was thrown back away again.

"Wolvie!" Jubilee exclaimed running to him.

Wolverine growled and got to his feet.

Bobby looked at the two, not really knowing what to say. Behind him, Cecilia stepped forward to say something. "Why don't you put him down and give him a chance to explain."

Joseph put him down, but didn't give him much room. Still holding on to his shoulder, he said in a very boiled voice, "I think you have a lot of explaining to do Gambit. You show up at the mansion unannounced, coming from Antarctica, then the X-Men are attacked by someone from Antarctica. After that, you are brought into the Mansion, and the security systems go down, enabling more people to come in and kill almost all of the X-Men! Perhaps Bishop was right about you all along!"

Gambit's eyes blazed with anger. "Your theory is good. But it has a lot of holes in it, non? I was only IN Antarctica, because YOU ALL abandoned me t' die. If I show up at de Mansion announced, YOU gonna let me in wit' a big smile on y' faces? I t'ink not. As for Sauron? If it weren' for me, Sauron woulda' killed you all any way. If I wan'ed you dead, Why didn' I just let 'im do de job? And so what if I was in de Mansion? I was brought in unconscious! When would I 'ave had de time t' shut down de systems? 'Sides, it wasn' very smart o' me, seeing as how if it weren' for Reyes, I'd be dead right now. Same for Logan and Sarah. Not too bright t' be placin' y' life in de hands o' de ones y' plannin' t' kill, now is it? And de death o' de X- Men? I lost my Best Frien's in dere Homme, Ma'be de only ones I ever 'ad, so don' you DARE tell me dat you t'ink dat dis was my fault! I may o' done some rotten t'ings in de past, but I NEVER turned traitor on de X-Men, which is more den I can say for you!" His eyes were filling with tears and he looked more hurt than any of them had ever seen him before.

Joseph lowered his head, "I'm sorry Remy. I-- I shouldn't have accused you so easily, when my own past is just as coloured. But I must ask why you were here, if it was not to see any of the X-Men."

Remy nodded. "I was here t' get dat box. A frien' of mine gave it t' me in his will. He was de one dat liberated me from Essex... It... It means a lot t' me."

"Furry always was the sentimental fool." The metallic voice came from somewhere in the shadows. At the sound of it Remy's eyes went wide in fear. A low growl emerged from Wolverine's throat as he popped his claws and moved protectively between Gambit and where the voice had come from.

"What do you want here Sinister."

"That's Mister Sinister to you. And I have merely come for what is rightfully mine." He looked at Remy, and the fear on his face, and found himself enjoying the pain felt by his former pointman. "Poor boy. Every time you find happiness, someone finds a way to take it away from you. S.H.I.E.L.D. The Marauders. Bella Donna. Bella Donna again. The thieves. Genevieve. Alexandra. Claire. Henri. Your birth family. Your foster family. And now the X-Men..." Remy started inching towards him, anger once again burning in his eyes. "I'm forgetting someone aren't I?"

"You Bastard..." Remy replied quietly, inching forward even more, Wolverine put a hand to his chest to stop his progression.

Ignoring him, Sinister continued with his musing, "What am I missing? Ah yes, your daughter. What was her name?"

"YOU BASTARD!!!" Remy yelled, running forward. He jumped in the air, intent on taking Sinister down. Sinister however had different ideas. As Remy took to the air, he fired a blinding pulse of energy at him, which struck him directly in the abdomen, and took him down immediately.

As Sinister stepped towards Gambit's barely breathing, badly beaten body, he laughed to himself. "You know boy, you are becoming quite predictable," he told him as he bent down to pick him up.

In response Gambit groaned at him, as he wrapped his arms around his burning sides. "Go to Hell," he spat, blood coming out the corners of his mouth as he did.

For Sinister's part, he just laughed harder, hoisting Remy into his arms. As he did, Gambit let out a pained grunt.

The only people who had ever been able to free his soul had been Henri, Nick and Storm, and now they were all dead. Everyone who had ever been his friend was gone. There was no one else to help him out of this. Then he heard it. The furious sound of Logan's voice as he tried so hard to keep his anger under control.

"Put. Him. Down." Three words. Three words dat, when put toget'er mean so much. Logan's standing up for me. God love 'im! He's actually proposing to take on Sinister in order to help me! And then the others voices.

Jubilee. "Leave Gambit alone." Again just three simple words, but three simple words dat speak how much I mean t' her.

Marrow. "We'll kill ya before we let you take him." Poor little Sarah. Af'er all I did t' her, she still stands up for me.

Warren. "Enough X-Men have been lost here today. No More." X-Men? Did he actually call me an X-Man?

Bobby. "You want him? You're gonna have a lot of trouble getting him outta here, so long as we're still standing." De willingness t' put dere lives on de line for me?

Reyes. "You aren't going to make it out of here alive with him." She doesn' even know me! She know my past, and she still willing to risk it all for me!

Joseph. "Do not think that we aren't willing to give our lives to protect him. He is still one of us." ...?

He didn't really know what happened, but suddenly he heard a loud growling, and he was falling out of Sinister's arms. Then he wasn't, he was more like floating in air. He felt a blast of heat go over him in one direction, then a stronger blast in the other. Next came a blast of cold from the same direction as the first, and finally a very large blast that spread out all around him, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

"Your friends put up a valiant effort LeBeau. But it was all for nothing. You were, are and always will be mine. Never forge-- AHHH!"

Gambit managed to open his eyes to see Sinister grab his head and fall back. What in de name o'--?

It's all right Remy. I have him.

"Xavier! What the Hell are YOU doing here?"

"This is my school. What are YOU doing here?"

"I will repay you for this intrusion at a later time, Xavier. LeBeau WILL be mine again. Mark my words." With that he vanished.

Professor? But how?

It's a long story, Gambit. What happened here? Xavier asked mentally as he came up next to Remy.

De- De government. Dey... Dey....

It's alright Remy. I understand. I can see what it is you're trying to say. Believe me, we will make them pay. As soon as you and the others are better... We will make them pay.

TBC...

Cool. I like this one. Nice little bits thrown in like Xaviers return. Soar