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Remy was dead. Again. All he could do was wait. That was the thing about being dead, you couldn’t rescue yourself. Someone from the outside—from the land of the living—had to open that door.
It didn’t always work. And, it was a risky venture. You needed someone with a strong bond to you and the willingness to risk following you into the Great Beyond. You also needed a will to keep living. If you didn’t have enough will on your own, then your Other Half needed enough for both of you.
“Ah’m selfish! Ah want better. And so should you!”
Gambit had made it to those pearly gates once before. He was ready to enter. But she had chased him down and called him back. She fought for him in a way no one had ever fought for him before.
“You don’t run out on us so easy! You got no right to call us quits b’fore we’ve had a decent chance t’ get started”
This time, he’d stayed closer. Built up a wall around himself to keep his sense of self from fleeing into the aether. Yes, part of him wanted to let go. Return to the gates, reap his eternal reward. But, he wasn’t ready to leave her yet. There was so much living they had left to do. Together. Over the course of their marriage they’d scarcely had any time together and they were long overdue to write that next chapter.
“Our story ain’t done.”
Last time he crossed these shadowy lands, he waited for her. He wanted to take that final journey together. She dissuaded him from his course, turning him back towards life. Towards hope. While it took time for him to come to terms with his decision to stay, he didn't regret it. Not when it meant he'd been gifted more time with her.
This time, though the circumstances were different, he still waited. Waited for her to open the door and reveal the path. He would always wait for her. He would always fight for her. Defend her. Comfort her. Make her laugh and make her cry. Make her feel. He would touch her and be touched by her. They were bonded together, heart and soul.
It’s what kept him here. Here in this in-between. Though time passed, he had no reckoning if the passage was marked in minutes or millennia. No matter the increment, time felt frozen in this place. Each moment stretched into a long eternity. As strong and as determined as he grasped onto his sense of self, his awareness slowly slipped like grains of sands from his fingers. He refused to let go. Instead he doubled down and held tighter onto the thread of their bond.
He built walls around his psyche to keep it from drifting away. In his memory, he constructed simulacrums to remind him of the man who he was, who he is, and who he will be. He tended to the shrine of his beloved wife. It was a reminder that he fought not only to retain his sense of self, he also fought for her. He fought for them.
When the sanctuary around him started to blur and night encroached upon his vision, a light, bright and bold, broke through the cloying miasma clouding his mind. A vibrant and familiar presence seeped into the in-between. She brought with her color and life. A spark travelled along their bond.
Haunted by ghosts of memories and visions of hope, he almost did not trust his eyes. And yet, he knew it was no lie. Long ago he had memorized every facet of her being. He knew his wife as well as he knew himself and would recognize her in any situation, at any time, and in any place. The sway of her hips as she walked towards him. The brilliant green gleam of her eyes. The snowy white fringe among the cinnamon curls. Each and every aspect of her was known to him heart and soul.
“My Rogue. Mon coeur.” Exhaustion pulled at his body. It would be easier to stop resisting. To give into the pull. To allow himself to stay, to change, to fade away, but he wouldn’t. Not now, not ever. Not when he was so close. “You came for me.”
“Of course, swamp rat.” Her face—so beautiful and full of life—emanated sass and fire mixed with grief and determination. Rogue—his wife, his heart, his soul—was tempered steel, forged in fire. When all else faded, she shone bright and clear. She was home. She was his harbor.
“I told you,”—When she spoke, her honeyed drawl rasped tight over the sharp, raw edge of the emotions bleeding out and through her. The words were so full of determination it oozed out of her and into him. Her presence was a burst of pure oxygen to the flickering flame of hope he’d tended with an adherent's devotion while he waited for her. “I told you, I will always—ALWAYS—find my way back to you.”
“I know. I was counting on that. Counting on you, mon coeur.” Warmth was returning to his fingers. His heart beat more freely. His lungs took in great gasps of air. Like spring flowers after a long winter, he was returning to full life.
Rogue cradled his head in her hand and brushed strands of auburn hair from his face. Her breath was warm against his cooling skin and offset the chill settling into his bones. She kissed him, her powers drawing his wandering psyche back to him. Her absorption only sipped along the surface and drew only a sample of his memories, his powers, into her. His sense of self, bloomed bright and bold. The familiar current buzzed through his veins and sparked at his fingertips.
“C’mon Rems, let’s go home.”
She held out her hand, like she had so long ago. This time, Remy didn’t hesitate. He slipped his hand in hers and squeezed it tight. Instead of flying off and taking her with him, she anchored him to this mortal coil. This time, he didn’t fight her pull.
His Rogue was real. Living and breathing. And so was he.
“D’accord.” Their souls were bonded together. The fate of one was the fate of the other. He would always be grateful that she felt compelled to fight for him—for them. “I love you, my sweet.”
“I love you too, Remy.”
Hand-in-hand, side-by-side, they turned towards the land of the living. Together, just as they were meant to be.
~~~
“But we always keep finding ways back to each other. So that’s what I promise you…that no matter what, I’ll find my way back to you.” ~ Rogue’s wedding vow to Remy (from X-Men Gold #30)
~~~
Quotes:
“Our story ain’t done.”
“You don’t run out on us so easy! You got no right to call us quits b’fore we’ve had a decent chance t’ get started”
“Ah’m selfish! Ah want better. And so should you!”
X-Treme X-Men #18