Live Long and Prosper!

RogueStar

Note: This Story is set after the Trial of Gambit (D'Oh). It is my opinion as to how they could fix the horrible, tragic mess they've created. Sniff . . . pass the Kleenex.

Note 2: I was going to call it Homecoming but Joe Kelly stole my idea! (He also stole another idea I had for another story, but that is a complete other story.) :-)

It is cold here. Snowflakes settle in his eyelashes and his breath mists on the antarctic air. So very cold here. The snow melts against his skin, glowing as it does, leaving wet streaks down his face. It releases a little warmth. Not much, but enough to prevent hypothermia from setting in. Throughout his short life, Remy leBeau has used his power for many things. To assist him on a pinch, to save the world, even to impress the odd woman or two. Never before like this. Never before to *survive*. He looks up, ignoring the bite of the cold against his skin, and searches the landscape for the citadel from which he had previously escaped. The white line of the horizon provides him no comfort and
tears trickle down his cheeks, melting the snowflakes. He is exhausted, sustained only by spite and pride, and even that is running out. When he set out on this journey, his steps seemed like defiance of his fate, defiance of the fate to which she sentenced him. It was as if he said that he didn't care for her judgement or her condemnation - he would carry on. To where is still a mystery to him. He can't go to the mansion, nor to his home guild. He is unwelcome at both those places. Or is he? Renewed hope pushes him forward. It was only Rogue who said that he had no place with the X-Men or with her. And in the long run, despite how much her words hurt him, he need not listen to her. A smile settles across his face. He will return to the place which was once like home to him. The Xavier Institute of Higher Learning.

Rogue pushes the empty carton of chocolate ice cream away from her and reaches for another one. She is numb now, barely tasting the flavor or feeling the cold. It has been a few hours since the Trial and all she wants to do is forget. The young man, Joseph, sitting opposite her is silent. He doesn't know what to say - after all, what do you say to a woman who sentenced the man
she loved to death?

Storm sits on the roof, watching the skies. Her best friend is out there in the cold of Antarctica and she wonders how he is doing. Whether he still is alive. The thought disquiets her, as does her helplessness, so she does the only thingshe can. She prays.

"Protect him, mother, if only for your humble daughter's sake."

"It's still so strange." Jean says as she pours coffee into a mug and hands it to
her husband. "Gambit's gone."

Scott Summers nods, "I don't agree with what Rogue did, if that's what you
mean."

"Why?" Her blue eyes are curious.

"To me, the X-Men have always been about second chances, both for the
world and the individual. By condemning him for his crimes, we haven't given
him a real second chance to make things better."

"I never thought you liked the guy."

"I don't." He sips his coffee, "But that doesn't mean I think he deserves to die."

"It's . . . difficult when one of your own betrays you."

"That's where I think you're wrong . . . Remy has *never* betrayed us."

The citadel. He crawls inside, drained of any energy. It has taken all his
strength to get this far and he collapses in the atrium. Tomorrow, he will see if
he can salvage anything from this place; but for now, he sleeps . . . .

To be continued -