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The cloaking tech on the Wakandan spacecraft is so advanced that they don't have to worry too much about hiding, not even from a god. The Elders of the Universe have nothing on Princess Shuri.
They find a small planetoid on the outskirts of the Elder's domain, and they park on the surface of its tiny, misshapen moon. There's a small valley cloaked in the shadow of a mountain range, facing the vibrant surface of the planetoid, that they decide is safe enough. Their moon has no atmosphere, and it's complerely uninhabited from what they can see. They're just stopping to regroup for a bit, come up with a plan before dashing off to do something stupid again.
As soon as the ship touches the desolate surface, Rogue engages the parking mechanism, and steel rope shoots out from the hull and embeds itself deep into the dark gray rock below. Remy activates the artificial gravity, unbuckling himself from his seat so he can stand up. He double checks their cloaking device and their shields before hurrying to the back of the ship without a word.
Rogue stays buckled in her seat, her hands gripping the steering wheel. She stares at the front window—the moon is jagged, pocked with rock formations that signal previous volcanic activity. Now it's just cold, barren, and still. Silent.
She closes her eyes and shakes her head a bit, trying to come back to herself. Her heart is finally calming down from their frazzled escape from the Grand Gardens. The sounds of her and Remy arguing echo in her mind. They're not one of those "we never fight" couples by any means, and they've had their fair share of explosive arguments, but this one felt… different. The universe is a mess, a good chunk of their friends are missing, and their wedding, what was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives, was ruined. Now her powers are going haywire, and not even in the usual way. She drained the life out of their surroundings in the Grand Garden, all of the lush green grass, the leafy trees, the colorful, fragrant flowers turning to rot in seconds before she could even comprehend it was her doing. She's grateful she didn't hurt Remy, at least. But their gateway to Krakoa flickered out and collapsed in on itself, and now they couldn't get home.
Now that I'm even allowed to go home anyway…
She feels her throat start to close up, her eyes stinging at the thought. She never thought Magneto, of all people, would cast out a mutant in crisis, someone who needs help. But she would place everyone in danger. And when the needs of the many outweigh the needs of one individual…
"I will do what it takes to protect my people, no matter the price." She's heard him say it a thousand times, but this is the first time she hasn't been a part of "my people."
She hears a strange noise and her eyes fly open. Her skin is tingling. She looks down at her hands, still gripping the steering wheel, and sees the yellow energy from the chronovium die she absorbed pulsing in a lattice pattern all around her. She panics, her heartbeat picking up again—Remy's in the back, and there's nothing else living around her, but what if she destroys the electronics on the ship? She doesn't know how chronovium even works.
She forces herself to close her eyes and take a deep breath, holds it for five seconds, exhales, holds it for five seconds, inhales, again and again and again until the crackling sound stops and the excess energy fades. She doesn't stop until her heartbeat returns to normal, and only then does she open her eyes again.
No weird pulsating energy, no skin tingles. Nothing destroyed around her. She checks the cloaking tech and confirms they're still safe and hidden on the ship.
Despite not knowing how these new powers work, at least she has a lot of experience in this area.
She can't hear Remy rummaging around in the back, and after a moment she unbuckles herself and goes to find him. Next to the small cargo hold is the ship's little living area, what they've been referring to as their honeymoon suite: an alcove with a bed, and then a tiny kitchenette with a small seating area on the opposite side of the room. The door for the cramped bathroom is on the back wall, giving a peek of the tiny shower and their sink, which they also had to use to wash dishes. It's as nice as it can be—nothing produced in Wakanda has ever been not nice—but it's still a tiny, cramped space in the back of a spacecraft.
She finds Remy sitting on the edge of the bed, shoulders hunched, his head down, staring at the floor. It looks like he stopped in the middle of chaning out of his Thieves' Guild regalia and into his normal uniform. The white clothing is crumpled next to him, and he's got his normal black pants and metal boots on. He stopped short of putting on his pink chest plate—it's on the floor in front of him, waiting to be strapped on snugly to his naked torso.
Rogue pauses in the doorway to observe him for a moment. It's not the lowest she's ever seen him—she's seen him in far, far worse states, depressed or bloody or broken or drunk or crying or unconscious or half dead. And she's still mad at him, but her love for him exists along with her anger. No matter what else she feels for him, her love will always be there too, ready to eclipse any other feeling the moment it begins to subside.
"I'm tryin' to figure it out," she says.
Remy looks up at her, leaning against the doorway, her arms crossed against her chest.
"Why I'm such a moron, you mean?"
Rogue snorts derisively, shaking her head. "You're a lot of things, sugah, but you ain't stupid. No matter how much you'd like to trick other people into thinkin' you are."
Remy carefully presents himself to everyone he meets, masks his true self with his Gambit persona. Keeping who he really is hidden so others thinks he's careless, a gambler, a scoundrel, a good-for-nothing thief with devil eyes.
He's very, very good at it. He's done it his entire life, to protect himself. He still manages to fool Rogue, sometimes, even now. She fell for it hook, line and sinker when she woke up and heard him leaving their room in the Grand Gardens, when she found him and started yelling before he could even explain. She let her emotions take over, and she let herself think the worst of him.
She knows better than that. She should have known better than that. With everything going on in the universe, Remy taking on a dangerous job on their honeymoon was just one more thing she couldn't handle. She was so overwhelmed her brain didn't let her stop and think rationally for a second.
Remy prefers it when people underestimate him, seems determined to get people to think the worst of him. It allows him to operate unseen, undetected, in the shadows. The way he likes. If everyone knew how smart, how strategic, how powerful he really was… well, then he'd have a lot more eyes on him all the time. And a lot more responsibility.
Rogue pushes off the wall and crosses the short distance to the bed, sits down next to him so they're pressed together. She grabs his hand, lacing their fingers together and tugging it into her lap. "So why don't you tell me why you really took this job."
Remy averts his gaze, stares at the floor again. "Already told you."
"Nuh uh." Rogue cups his chin with her other hand and turns his head towards her, waits until his eyes meet hers. "The real reason, dark eyes. I know you, and I know you wouldn't take a job this risky just to get me a piece of jewelry, no matter how fancy it is. I want the truth."
Remy holds her gaze for a few moments, searching, before he acquieses with a sigh and a small nod. He turns his head forward again, and Rogue lets her hand drift back to his hair, scratches his scalp softly with her long nails, just the way he likes. He immediately leans into it, and his thumb strokes her hand where they're still clasped in her lap.
"When the time storm hit," he begins, voice low. "At our weddin'. What did you see?"
Rogue furrows her brows, trying to remember. It was a chaotic moment, one that seemed to last hours and seconds at the same time. "Well… it started rainin', and then the rain was… weird, like it was energy, and it would pass straight through me. All the plants died and grew back and died again, over 'n' over. Krakoa and Arakko were fightin', and then they were mergin' into one, and then… Storm was there, guidin' us all through the chaos, steerin' us to safety."
Remy nods. "Yes. I saw all of that too. But there was… somethin' else."
He doesn't continue, looking down at their hands.
"What?" Rogue prods, gently.
"Did you look at me?" he asks. "Durin' the storm. Did you look at me?"
"I…" Rogue stops, thinks. When it hit, she and Remy had been about to have their first dance. When it became clear that something was happening, they had clung to each other instantly. They had weathered the storm in each other's arms, only letting go when they arrived in the new timeline. Rogue remembers her eyes, wild and wide, darting around as she looked helplessly at everything happening, the sound of Remy's erratic heartbeat in her ear as she clung to him.
"I… I guess I didn't."
"I did," Remy says. "At one point, I looked down at you. And I saw you die."
"What?"
"I saw you die. Over and over and over again. You'd grow old and die and then I'd be holdin' your rotting corpse and then you'd come back and you'd have a gapin' hole in your chest and you'd come back and you'd be covered in blood and you'd come back and you didn't have any skin, like you'd been flayed alive and I… I saw you die a million times in an instant, and there was nothin' I could do but watch."
Her heart breaks. "Remy. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was scared. Rogue. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't do anythin'. I can't do anythin' to stop this. I can't… I can't keep you safe. So when the Grandmaster came to me about a job… I thought it might be good to have an Elder of the Universe as an ally. I didn't want to make him mad by sayin' no, either, make everythin' worse. And then, after I did the job, if anythin' happened, I could… maybe he could help us. And the dice he gave me, that he said would turn into your ring… if you have a piece of chronovoium on you all the time, if you knew how to use it, it could protect you. Even if I can't."
"Oh, Remy." She can't imagine what it was like, seeing that during the storm. If she had looked up at Remy and seen him die a million times over… "Sugah, I… I wish you told me."
Remy nods. "I know. 'm sorry. You don't have to stay for this, if you don't want. It's my mess to clean up. You can go home."
"No," she says, firmly. "No. I don't wanna hear it. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. By your side. And we're gonna get through this together, because you're my husband, and I ain't leavin' you here alone."
Remy closes his eyes, squeezes her hand. He drops his head onto her shoulder, and she rests hers on top of his. "Thank you. 'm sorry."
She kisses the top of his head. "'sides, I can't exactly go home anyway right now."
Remy sits back up. "What do you mean?"
Rogue smiles sadly. "Magneto said I can't go back to Krakoa. Not while my powers are like this."
"What?! He—I'm gonna—"
"Hey," Rogue says, bringing Remy back to focus. "We'll deal with it later, alright? Right now, we got us a contract to steal."
"Wh—" Remy sputters. "You wanna go through with the job? The Grandmaster… he saw the contract was a fake, when I gave it to 'im. The deal's off."
Rogue grins. "I know. I have a… kinda crazy idea in mind. I'm thinkin' my new powers might be able to help us. If you're up for it."
Remy surges forward, presses their lips together, and Rogue sinks into him.
"I love you," he says, pulling back just a bit so he can speak.
"I love you too, sugah. More than anythin'," she says back, pressing another quick kiss to his mouth. "Now, we got us a heist to pull."