Chapter Text
Rogue stood up, her suit damaged after battling Apocalypse & his Horseman. She looked at the Horseman known as Death, the man once known as Remy LeBeau or Gambit, laid across from her unconscious after being thrown into a building by her. When Apocalypse smugly revealed his Horseman of Death, both Rogue and the X-Men were shocked & devastated to know that it was their former teammate. They mourned for Gambit after his heroic sacrifice at Genosha, with Rogue taking his loss the hardest.
She held in feelings of regret and self-loathing after breaking his heart at the gala, she thought she made the right decision choosing Magneto but after their dance and their shared kiss, Rogue realized that while Magneto could touch her body, he never touched her heart the way Gambit did.
The days that followed the massacre at Genosha seemed like a whirlwind, with Professor Xavier’s return, Asteroid M and the team being displaced at different points of time and managed to be brought back by the help of Bishop & Forge, it seemed like the X-Men never ran out of problems.
“We need tah help Gambit”, said Rogue, “He’s still one of us, we can’ give up on ‘im now”. While Wolverine, Morph and Sunspot were reluctant at first due to dealing with War, Pestilence & Famine earlier and now Death, Cyclops reminded everyone that Gambit gave his life for mutantkind. He was a X-Man through and through and if there was a way to help him then it was the team’s duty to do so.
Rogue approached Death, feeling a mix of emotions all at once. She carried him to the Blackbird and flew back to the mansion where Beast, Forge and Bishop were waiting for them. Rogue never left Death’s side, holding his hand and hoping that there was a way to bring Remy back to her. “Ah can’ lose ya again Remy, you hafta be in there somewhere”, she whispered to him.
Beast was waiting for the team at the loading bay, a stretcher ready for Gambit to be taken to the Medic Lab. “This is unbelievable, is that really Gambit?”, Beast said. As a man of science, the supernatural never ceased to amaze him. Rogue nodded at him, looking down at Gambit. Beast added, “Well then, let us see how we can bring our Cajun back, shall we?”
Down in the lab, Beast began to run tests on Gambit with the assistance of Jean and the Professor, the two telepaths took turns keeping Gambit at bay so Death did not arise and wreak havoc like before. Beast was amazed how Gambit’s body was maintained, the way Apocalypse practically remade him was shocking, yet disturbing.
As the days followed, there were signs of Gambit returning to his former self, Bishop’s knowledge of events in the future & Forge’s technical prowess helped Beast with Gambit’s recovery. Both Xavier & Jean managed to piece together Gambit’s mind, they were helpless at removing Death altogether. Each time they entered his mind, Death would come from a dark corner and sneer at their feeble attempts to remove him. “ It can’t be that easy for you nosy X-Men, I am in places you can never reach. I AM DEATH, I AM INEVITABLE! ”, Death shouted as the darkness washed over the telepaths like a tidal wave.
In the meantime, the rest of the X-Men were busy with missions dealing with anti-mutant hate, The Friends of Humanity became embolden after the actions of both Bastion & Magneto, their words resonated with people all over the world who became fearful of mutants. As a result, more mutants looked towards the mansion for help, a place to stay or for a way forward. The X-Men realized that they needed to return to their original vision: to teach mutants how to control their powers and spread co-existence between mutants and humans.
Magneto was not on board with that decision, he still held the values that mutants were the superiors of the human race and needed to remind humans that they are inferior. That did not go over well with the team and Magneto soon left the mansion. Unfortunately, his words managed to convince some of the students to side with him. They were tired of having to deal with being hated for who they were and wanted to fight back against it.