Gambit’s role in the Morlock massacre was finally revealed, to Gambit’s horrified and disgusted teammates, after Rogue was forced to absorb his essence again during the trial. Angrily, she wrecked the place, flying Gambit out of the building while Psylocke teleported the other X-Men away. Dumping him in the snowy wastelands outside, Rogue told him they were quits and left him to fend for himself as she flew away, leaving him to his fate. [Uncanny X-Men #347-350]

The situation was dire for Gambit; abandoned at the cold, powerless base without any sustenance. Desperate for food, he even chewed off the plastic of some wires. In one of Magneto’s labs, Gambit found a mutant consisting of green energy. The being joined with him, giving him the strength to survive until he was found and saved by the agents of a mysterious being calling himself the New Son, who wanted Gambit to work for him. New Son claimed that he wanted to save humanity by creating a new world as this one would soon be uninhabitable. Gambit agreed and undertook one mission in the Savage Land: to save an agent of New Son’s – the shapeshifting Jacob Gavin jr. aka Courier and steal some terraforming equipment from the High Evolutionary. Afterwards, they returned to civilization. [Gambit Annual ’99, Gambit Wizard Special #1/2]

Operating out of San Francisco, Gambit accepted a mission to procure the gem of Cyttorak, which was stolen from the Juggernaut. On that mission to South Korea, he crossed path with Storm and Shadowcat, who intended to return the gem to the Juggernaut. Gambit and the two X-Men worked together and, eventually, Gambit chose to give them the gem instead of disappearing with it. While he originally had no intention of returning to the X-Men, Storm persuaded him that the issues between him and Rogue, not to mention the other X-Men, needed to be resolved before they ended up as enemies. Gambit complied but refused to tell them how he had made it back from Antarctica. [Uncanny X-Men #361]

Gambit returned with them to Westchester, but did not move into the mansion, choosing instead to live apart in the boathouse formerly occupied by Cyclops and Phoenix. Wolverine quickly made it clear that, while they were glad to have him back, if he’d play them for fools or break Rogue’s heart again, he’d regret it. Rogue and Gambit tried to discuss their difficult relationship a short while later, but the discussion was interrupted by the attack of a rather odd foe named Kali. Afterwards, Gambit was able to assuage Rogue’s feelings of guilt by explaining that she had left him because of his own self-disgust and hatred she’d absorbed from him. However, Gambit was not able to say out loud that he loved her as she did. This was not so much because of his emotions but because, at that point, he was rejoined by the very jealous, green energy being, who threatened she’d kill Rogue if Gambit ever touched her again. [X-Men (2nd series) #81]

For the X-Men, it was business as usual over the next months, same as for Gambit and Rogue, whose relationship floundered between moments of affection or frustration and angst. This didn’t stop Gambit from having his own missions apart from the team. This included, among other things, stealing certain items for the mysterious New Son, such as a parts of a Celestial spaceship, which he stole from an ancient Chinese temple, and later from an archeological team. Gambit had not much time to wonder what his mysterious employer wanted with those artifacts, as in the process he made several enemies, among them the X-Cutioner, and gained the admiration of the brilliant but naïve archeologist, Sekmeth Conoway, whose life he saved. [Gambit (3rd series) #1]

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