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June 17, 2026 Rogue/Gambit Week prompt —I can’t feel you.
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men characters. All rights belong to Marvel Entertainment and I am not making any money off this story.
86,400 Seconds by BookwormDoll
Anger and hurt are flowing through my veins as I break the metal Erik encased Remy and I in and fly towards the new Mastermold. I see Remy start to follow me out of my peripheral vision, but he then stops. ‘Good,’ I think. I don’t want him stopping me. ‘Just let him stay safe…please,’ I chant in my head. I’m nearly to Mastermold when a large object, a large charged object, hits me on my left, knocking me off course. I fall to the ground a decent ways away from the huge sentinel and force myself to sit up and clear my vision. That motorcycle was kinetically charged, meaning…’Remy,’ I think and immediately look up to the sentinel, who is now aiming for the top of a nearby building where I’m sure other mutants were stranded. Then I hear something that makes my heart stop.
“Gambit see your bet,” Remy’s deep, Cajun voice echoes out and I can already feel my arms shaking, “and raise it!”
“No,” my voice comes out as a low rasp, “Remy, please, no.”
“’Cause ‘de cards always be in my favor!”
I then hear this awful ‘squelching’ sound, and a sob breaks out of my throat. Mastermold brings one of his tentacles in front of his face, in my line of sight, Remy hanging from it with the tentacle buried into him.
“REMY!” I scream, my throat closing and my heart stopping.
“The name’s Gambit, mon ami,” I hear him say as he charges the entire machine that’s impaling him, “Remember it.”
Then Mastermold blows up and my vision goes black.
There’s an eerie silence when I come to. Once my vision is clear, my mind catches up with what just happened. Mastermold is dead, hopefully for real this time, but…Remy.
“Remy?” my voice is hoarse as I push myself to my feet and force myself to walk to the giant crater in front of me. The only thing remaining of the sentinel was metallic shreds embedded in the ground, and even those were few. I finally limp my way to the edge of the crater and peer down to the bottom. I immediately start sobbing. For there, in the very center of the destruction, was Remy. Unmoving. I run down to him and fall to my knees beside him. His whole body was burned, his shirt completely singed off, revealing his bloody torso and the wound where Mastermold punctured him. His pants were torn, unveiling more cuts. And his face…it beared the most burns, his hair was gone in an arc around his now chipped-on-the-edges left ear. I reached my hands out but then hesitated. I tenderly placed a hand on his cheek. A gasp accompanied my sobs. He felt so…cold. I pulled him into my lap, arms shaking.
“No...Remy, no, you can’t be…no…” but no surge of power flowed through me, and all of my memories were my own.
“Sugah,” I cry, “Ah—ah can’t…feel you.”
Everyone had left, either looking for more potential survivors or taking the ferries provided by the President back to the U.S. mainland. Me? I was still in the crater holding Remy’s cold body close and crying as if my life depended on it. I never imagined this day would come, or that it would hurt so dang bad. I’d cried so much and so hard by now that my head and my throat hurt. I opened my pink, puffy eyes and lifted my head to look at his blank face. I ran my hand down the side of his face and then traced my fingers over his lips.
“Remy…” I sob, my voice a hoarse whisper, “I’m so sorry…I’m so sorry. Please come back to me…Come back to me. You were right…some things are deeper than skin…like us…I was a fool for not seeing it and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…” my voice breaks and I start screaming, grief slowly turning into anger, “Come back to me! Dang you, Gambit, don’t you dare leave me like this. Ya hear me!? COME BACK TO ME!” I then break out in fresh tears and bend over, burying my face into his bare chest. Then I suck in a breath because it moved. Up, then down and up, then down. And slowly, the eerie cold turned to a comforting warmth. And then a hand, battle worn and calloused, rested on the bare part of my back and still my power was dormant. I lift my weary head and find those familiar red-on-black eyes staring at me, that annoying crooked grin on Remy’s very-much-alive face. He moves his hand away from my back and brushes away my tears. And this is why I love this man; he knows what I need. He takes my hand and places it on his chest, above his heart, and a gasp escapes me as I feel his heartbeat.
“Remy…I’m so—”
“I know,” his voice is clear, as if nothing ever happened.
“How are you alive?”
He sat up, still holding my hand, now in his lap, “By bargaining with death.”
“You…made a bargain…with death?”
“Mmmhmm.”
“What kind of bargain?”
“He said I can live…but after 24 hours…”
“He’ll take you back…”
Remy nodded in confirmation.
I look down at our hands.
“Negated for the same 24 hours,” he said, noticing my gaze.
I lift my hand to his face and trace my fingers once more over his lips. Then I lean in, realizing touch wasn’t the only thing that I wanted all these years. I wanted someone who would love me despite my powers. And when he finally came along, I was too frightened and shocked to believe it; to believe that this Cajun charmer wouldn’t care about touch. I brush my lips against his and sure enough, my powers didn’t drain him.
I pull back and tears of joy slip from my eyes, “Remy. Remy, Ah can touch you!”
He smiles that big, bright smile that makes my heart skip a beat and brings me to my knees every time. I throw my arms around him.
“C’mon, I t’ink the Blackbird mighta survived the attack,” he says before standing up and swooping me into his arms on his way up, I laugh and keep my hands wrapped around his neck. We make it to the base of the mansion when we flip positions to get to the roof.
“Well,” Remy comments as we land, “I guess I thought wrong.”
For the Blackbird was thoroughly and undoubtedly destroyed. Remy was looking at it with a shocked but thoughtful expression on his face.
I opened my moth to speak, but was promptly interrupted, “Gambit? You’re alive?”
We both turn around to the source of the heavily accented voice.
“For a limited time, mon ami,” he smiles as he and Nightcrawler embrace.
“How?” my brother asks as they pull apart.
“Uh…it’s complicated but main point is I have 24 hours.”
“Oh, wow. Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it.”
“No, wait!” Remy grabs Kurt’s arm and the latter turns back to Remy, “I’m actually glad you’re here. I need your help.”
He leans forward and whispers something into Kurt’s ear and I see his bright yellow eyes go wide before Remy pulls back.
“So, do you still have it?”
“Yes!” Kurt reaches into a pocket in his ripped suit jacket. It’s a wonder the pocket remained undamaged. He then hands whatever the item is to Remy, who then turns to me and bends down onto one knee. I gasp in shock and somehow manage to find more tears to shed as I clamp my hands over my mouth.
“Anna Marie Raven, I’ve waited too long to do this and now that I have less than one day to spend with you, I want to make sure I spend it right. ‘Dere are 86,400 seconds in a day, Anna Marie, and I want to spend every last one wit’you…if you’ll have me. Will you marry me?”
I nod, still crying, and reach out my left hand, “Yes. Yes, Ah’ll marry you.”
He smiles as he slips the diamond ring onto my finger. There’s something different about this smile; it’s not just a flirtatious one, it’s one of genuine joy as he gets up, picks me up, and twirls me in the air before kissing me deeply.
When we break apart, he says to Kurt, “Do it, mon ami,” without taking his eyes off of mine. My brother walks up to us, smiling, and BAMF’S us to the X-Mansion. It takes me a minute to realize we’re in Remy’s room.
“We’re getting’ married in your room?”
“Non, ma colombe. I jus’ need t’change. Cain’t get married wit’ no shirt, now can I?” he smiles and then walks into his bathroom, leaving Kurt and I alone. I look around at the rock music posters on the wall and the filled bookshelves. My eyes land on his nightstand. I walk over to it and pick up what I found. Just then, Remy walked back into the room, wearing a new white suit jacket and pants. I didn’t realize he had two. Hm.
“Where…where is this from?” I hand him the object.
“That’s a picture I got of you shortly after our first mission wit’ the X-Men,” he smiles and hands it back to me. It portrays me with a bright smile on my face out on the basketball court. I was holding the ball in one arm and taking a selfie with the other. The picture was worn, as if it had been in and out of a coat pocket over its lifetime.
“You said we were takin’ selfies,” I stare at the photo, surprised he kept a picture of me with him.
“And we were! I jus’ took an extra,” he winks at me, that grin returning to his face.
“Kurt,” I set the picture down, “take us to my room, please.”
BAMF!
Contrary to Remy’s postered walls, mine are bare save for one picture taped to it beside my mirror. I pull it off the wall and take a look. It was of Remy, same day and same situation. He was wearing his usual sports attire, blue gym shorts, no shirt, and a red bandanna on his head. I smile, remembering that day, and hand it to him, “So did I, sugah.”
He looks at it and smiles before handing it back to me and turning to Kurt, “Take us to ‘de docks, mon ami.”
BAMF!
“Don’t waste time Kurt,” Remy says, leading me to the edge of the docks, where the sunrise casts a faint glow on the two of us.
“Straight to ‘ze vows then?” he asks.
“Oui,” Remy won’t take his gaze off me, and it makes me blush, “Rogue, you know my past, my history and habits, yet you stay with me. No matter what or who tries to pull you away from me, you come back every time. That will never cease to amaze me. So, my promise is to always be here, with you or waiting for you. I will always be in your heart if you’ll have me.”
“Rogue,” Kurt prompts.
“Remy, Ah…Ah cain’t believe you’re doing this after what I did to you, what pain I know I put you through. But I’m glad. Ah lived my life thinkin’ I wanted someone who could touch me, like Erik, when really, I wanted someone who would love me despite my powers. Like you. But when Ah met’you, I thought for sure you’d want a woman you could touch…but you just stuck around, in the good and the bad, you stayed by mah side. I always said and thought that I couldn’t feel you, but…I could, I did, and I just didn’t realize it. I was scared too, Ah guess. That’s why I always strayed from you…I was afraid that I would go too far and end up hurting you. So, I promise to stop being afraid and just enjoy you for you, not you if you could touch me. No more straying…I’m stayin’ by your side forevah, sugah.”
Smiling, Kurt continued, “By the power invested in me, I now pronounce Remy LeBeau and Anna Marie Raven as Husband and Wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Remy cupped one hand behind my head and the other at my waist and pulled me in closer, kissing me like I had never been kissed before.
“So,” Remy muttered once we broke apart, “where shall the honeymoon be, Mrs. LeBeau?”
“Surprise me,” I say as we each take Kurt’s hand.
“New Orleans.”
BAMF!
“Enjoy,” Kurt smiled.
“Thank you, mon ami,” Remy gave Nightcrawler another hug, “for helping us, helping me.”
Kurt just nodded, still smiling, and teleported away.
“Now!” Remy exclaimed, “Time for our honeymoon!”
I laugh at his energy, “Where to first?”
“Depends,” he looks at a watch he must’ve placed on his wrist back at the mansion, “Do you want many short t’ings or a couple long things? It’s 8:30 am right now; my cutoff time is 10:03 pm.”
“Let’s do many short things,” I smile, a small part of me wishing he didn’t remind me that I’ve lost my chance for forever with him.
He placed his arm around my waist and leads me into the heart of the city, where vendors are selling a multitude of goods; food, clothes, jewelry.
Remy insisted upon purchasing two necklaces that had engraved rings hanging from the chains. He asked for them to be personalized. The vendor, a sweet elderly man, started working as Remy pulled out his wallet and pays for the two pieces of jewelry, handing me mine and holding onto his. I look at the engraving: “Mon Coeur” with a small pink opal embedded on the opposite side. He showed me his which had an emerald and an engraving of “Sugah” on it. I smiled as Remy helped me put mine on.
We spent the entire day shopping and taking pictures at monuments or just for the fun of it. We ate lunch at a restaurant called ‘Délices de la Louisiane’ in the middle of it all.
Late in the day, Remy took me to an open field for a picnic dinner. After we finished eating over sunset, we just lied down on the blanket Remy laid out and gazed at the slowly appearing stars.
Remy got up and positioned himself over me, bracing his hands beside my face and leaned in, mouth centimeters away from mine, “I love you, Anna Marie, always have and always will.”
I smile, “I love you more, Cajun.”
“Impossible,” then he closes the gap, kissing me softly at first, then we go deeper, trying to memorize this moment, this feeling.
“I’m glad I got to show you my home,” he breaths, “but I’m even happier that I got to do it married to you.”
He smiles as he lies back down on the blanket and we continue stargazing.
“How long have you been having Kurt carry around these rings?” I ask, twirling my ring.
No response. “Remy?”
When there’s still no answer, I turn to him, looking at his watch: 10:03 pm.
“Nononononono,” I sit up and shift on my knees, leaning my side against him. I cup his face in my hands crying. Then I feel something wet on the side leaning against him. His wound from Mastermold returned. Holding him again, knowing he’s really gone this time, is hard, but…somehow, I feel a peace and gratitude under the pain.
I rub my thumb in circles against his cheek, “Thank you…thank you, Remy,” I choke out, “for saving me in every way that matters.”
I grip his hand, cold once again, and find a piece of paper in it. He must have grabbed it out of a pocket just before he…died. ‘So, I would find it,’ I think as I open it and read:
Anna Marie, I’m sorry we didn’t get more time together, but I have one final request: Don’t let this break you. You’re a strong woman, inside and out. We will see each other again someday, one way or another. I love you with all my heart ma Chère. –Remy
I smile, a tear falling on the letter.
“Ah love you too, sugah,” I brush one last kiss against his lips, “always have, always will. Goodbye…for now.”