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ludi-ling · 19 days

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Prompt 1 - Heroes

I knocked out prompt 1 like a rabid little plot bunny. 🐇 Thanks @lovethelebeaux for your suggestion!

Got a prompt? Post it in the replies of this post.

Happy Easter everyone! 🐤🐰🐥🥚

The prompt:

The story:

Heroes

It’s a beautiful night.

Warm, and sultry, like the woman he’s just spent it with.

He slings his trench coat over his shoulder and whistles a dissonant little tune as he heads up the grassy incline to the mansion.

He’s jumped the walls. He prefers not to trigger the cameras. His indiscretions are his own. In any other place, he wouldn’t care. But he does here, in this place where there are responsibilities, and truth, and justice.

He doesn’t fit in. He knows this already. He won’t ever.

I’ll be sad, if you go, Stormy tells him. But if you must, you must.

I ain’t cut out for this, he replies. I ain’t like all’a y’all.

And she raises a gentle eyebrow at him, says; After all we have seen, all we have been through together, you can still say such a thing?

We had some fun, p’tit, he concedes with a grin. But look at ya now. Ya all grown up, Stormy. You’re an X-Man. And I’m still just a thief.

He’s worse. But no one here has to know that, and he doesn’t want them to know, not ever. Guilt is a heavier burden, in a place like this. You weigh your soul against the goodness of others. Stormy figures he can find some sort of redemption here. But she doesn’t know the sins he must one day atone for.

Earlier that day, he’d started packing. But he hadn’t been able to resist one last hurrah before hitting the road once more.

He’ll go back to his room, have a shower. Sleep what little he can, before a new day rises.

Then he’ll bid his adieus and be gone.

He skirts by the lake, and as he does, he hears a nearby splash of water. Once, twice.

It’s too early in the morning for birds. He pauses. He steps around the dense trunk of the cedar tree and follows the sound.

He stops when he sees her.

Floating on her back in the water, eyes closed, her silver and cinnamon hair fanned out like a halo around her.

She’s never like this.

Rogue is brash and loud, and when she’s silent she’s sullen… sometimes sad. But she’s never like this. Calm. Peaceful. At home with herself.

He looks aside a moment, feeling like he’s encroaching on a moment, and not knowing how to extricate himself from it.

Truth be told, he doesn’t want to.

He’s been avoiding her. Not because he doesn’t like her, but because he likes her too much. She’s a reason to stay, and yet a reason to go. He wants to touch her, but he can’t. He doesn’t stay for things he can’t touch, he can’t steal. What’s the point in stealing a heart from a body you can’t touch, after all?

He hears her splash again, and his eyes move back to her.

She’s standing waist-deep in the water with her back to him, her hair a coppery sheen down her back. She lifts her arms and wrings the water from her locks.

She’s naked.

His heart is thudding in his ears.

He knows a thing or two about beauty, but something about hers stirs him every time, in places he doesn’t know could be stirred.

He slinks back into the shadows of the tree, and when he hears her begin to the leave the pool, he turns aside and quickly leaves.

He feels as if he’s intruded on something he shouldn’t have seen, that she would never have let him see. The sentiment has never stopped him before, but he tells himself this is self-preservation. If he sees her and she sees him, it’ll invite him to break a boundary he doesn’t dare articulate. After Belle, after Marissa, after all the women he’s fallen for, there’s too much at stake.

There’s too much.

He marches up the slope to the back entrance. He’d thought he’d worked out all his urges and then some tonight, but she stokes fires in him without so much as even throwing a look his way. Tugs at him with the memory of her kiss, one he can’t ever relive again.

He reaches the flagstone steps, and walks up onto the veranda. The need hasn’t gone, and so he pauses in the doorway and lights up a smoke to calm his nerves. He closes his eyes and breathes. When he opens them again, he sees her walking up the hill towards him, dressed in nothing but a blue, terry-cloth robe, her feet bare. She ascends the steps, oblivious to his presence, and when she sees him in the shadows, she starts.

“Gambit,” she almost exclaims.

“Rogue.” He steps forward a little, into the porchlight. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean t’startle ya.”

She says nothing. For a moment they stare at one another, a little awkwardly, a little something more. He hasn’t spoken to her for about a week now; but he’s sensed her eyes on him, sometimes, across the dinner table, or from the other end of the Rec Room. He’d pulled away from their banter and light flirtation because he’d slowly been coming to the conclusion that it was better to leave, but here, now… he doesn’t want to go without saying some sort of goodbye to her first.

Maybe he's even tempted to steal another kiss from her, her powers be damned.

“You’ve been out late,” she breaks the silence first, noting his trench coat and his unbuttoned dress shirt. She’d been aiming for flippant; but the words are a little self-conscious, a little defensive, as if she knows, instinctively, what he’s been up to.

“Looks like you’ve been too,” he responds quietly.

She colours a little, tugging the robe tighter around her, as if suddenly aware of her nakedness beneath it.

“I went for a swim, down at the lake,” she explains, almost in a rush. “It’s safer to do it now, when no one else is about. Don’t gotta worry ‘bout absorbin’ anyone.”

“Hm.” He nods. “Bet it reminds you of splashin’ round in the Mississippi durin’ high summer too, neh?”

She smiles then, a genuine smile.

“Yeah,” she says. “Sure does.”

Silence falls. She swallows. His heart is still crashing in his ears.

He can’t stop thinking about their kiss.

He guesses she can’t stop thinking about it either.

“Listen,” she blurts, after a moment, “I was wonderin’… Wolverine and I gotta trainin’ session tomorrow mornin’. You wanna join us?”

He’s surprised.

“Heh. You want me to hand your ass t’ya again, chere?”

She almost colours again – it’s less the ass-handing that bothers her, and more the kiss that had come afterwards.

“Naw. Ya just been lookin’ so sorry for y’self lately, I figured you could use a distraction.”

He laughs softly.

“Thanks but no thanks, chere. Three’s a crowd. And I know Wolverine don’t like me much.”

She quirks a small smile.

“That old grump don’t like no one.”

“He likes you.”

She looks aside, reflecting on that a moment.

“Well… I protected someone he loved. And in return… he gave me the gift of life.” Her voice had become quiet. “Before that… he hated me. Everyone here did.”

He’s surprised to hear that.

“Why?”

She darts a look at him, awkward again.

“Didn’t Storm tell ya?”

He says nothing, and so she continues; “I was with the Brotherhood. I… I did a lot of bad things. To the X-Men. To other people. To innocents.”

She clutches the robe tighter around her, as if to shield herself from her shame.

“I nearly killed Ms. Marvel – someone who’s a real hero. I stole everythin’ that belonged to her – her powers, her mem’ries – everythin’ that made her her. Her mem’ries ate at me. Drove me nearly t’madness. She was so strong. So strong, I began to fear I’d lose myself. So I came here. Hopin’ against hope that the Professor could help me. And he did. Just not the way I was expectin’.”

The words seem to take something out of her. She sits on the balustrade, still clutching the robe around her.

“When I first came here, everyone hated me. I couldn’t blame them. I’d tried to kill them, hurt them, countless times. But I had nowhere else to go.”

“And you earned their trust,” he finishes the story for her. “You became like them. A hero.”

She smiles up at him faintly.

“Everyone who comes here… somehow… we all end up heroes. Of one stripe or another.”

He laughs self-deprecatingly and grinds out his cigarette with his heel.

“I ain’t no hero,” he mutters.

“You seem to be doin’ pretty well so far.”

He shakes his head and moves to sit on the balustrade beside her. Close… but not close enough to risk brushing against all the naked skin she’s exposing right now.

“You’ve moved on from your past, chere,” he mutters, rubbing his long fingers together. “Maybe I ain’t ready yet t’move on from mine.”

She stares at him. There it is again. Her gaze, like fire on his flesh, in his gut and lower.

“Nothin’ you’ve done can be so bad it’s irredeemable,” she says.

There’s certainty in her voice. She believes it. Everything she’s experienced here, with the X-Men, has taught her to believe it. But he doesn’t. He knows what it is to stain his hands with blood.

“Would ya say the same to the Shadow King?” he asks.

She says nothing for a moment, and he thinks he’s caught her out – but she doesn’t take the bait.

“Y’know somethin’, Gambit,” she begins softly instead, “for the longest time I wasn’t sure whether I’m here now, fightin’ the good fight, because it was Ms. Marvel’s mem’ries, her personality, her goodness and sense of justice, that brought me here. Hell,” she exhales a heavy breath, “I still don’t know. Scratch the surface, scratch away all the psyches I’ve ever absorbed… when you get to the core of me, the real me, who is Rogue? Is she a murderer and a terrorist, who became a ‘hero’ because she absorbed a hero? Or was she a good person from the get-go? I genuinely don’t know anymore. Since I was thirteen, all I’ve ever had is other peoples’ personalities layerin’ over mine, over and over, buryin’ me under.”

She braves a look at him.

“Sometimes I get scared that… I’ll wake up one day, and discover the real me that’s been hidin’ underneath all that shit. I get scared I’ll kill everyone in their sleep. That I’m not – and never really was – a hero.”

Her eyes her greener under the porchlight. There’s an earnestness in them that tugs at him more powerfully than her body.

And he can answer her question. Because he knows it. Because it’s been self-evident to him since he first laid eyes on her.

“You’re a hero,” he assures her quietly. You’re somethin’ I’m not. He touches the sleeve of her robe because he can’t touch her hand, and he adds: “You’re a good person, Rogue.” He rubs the fabric between his fingers, because he can’t rub her own. “And… you’re beautiful.”

The earnestness doesn’t leave her eyes. She doesn’t look away.

“I think the same things about you,” she says simply.

She puts a hand on his knee, and he feels the warmth of each finger through the fabric of his pants. His heart is crashing in his chest. A touch has never felt so intimate. He leans towards her, and, Dieu, she’s brave enough to lean back towards him. He wants to kiss her so badly, he thinks he might chance it. He thinks he might chance oblivion, and all his ugly secrets being ripped out into the open, to kiss and be kissed by this sweet creature who swears she’s no angel, yet is nothing but to him.

For a few short, lingering seconds they remain there, a breath away from a kiss. She draws away first. He doesn’t know it now, but in the years to come, it will always be her who will draw away first.

“I… I should go. Gotta get up early for that trainin’ session tomorrow.”

She slips off the balustrade. He is still holding her sleeve, and somehow he can’t let go. She glances up at him.

“Will ya be joinin’ us?” she asks hopefully.

“What time?”

“Eight.”

He thinks about it. He’s been planning to be long gone by then.

“A’right,” he says.

She smiles. He loves her smile, because she doesn’t smile enough, not like the way she is right now.

“Great. I’ll see ya then.” She pauses, adds a little shyly, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

He relinquishes her sleeve, and she pads up to the door in her bare feet, throwing him another smile over her shoulder before she leaves.

He heaves out a pent-up breath.

His senses are burning. She consumes him like the sun. She doesn’t need to touch him to do it.

He gets off the balustrade and goes inside. He climbs the lonely stairs and heads back to his room. He stares at the bag on his bed, the bag he’d packed only just this afternoon.

He thinks of his words. Words so painfully honest he’d never meant to say them until he’d said them.

You’re a hero. You’re a good person, Rogue. And you’re beautiful.

Her hand on his knee. The warmth of its imprint.

I think the same things about you.

He wants to be the person she sees.

He doesn’t know if he can be. But he wants to be, for her.

He makes up his mind.

Slowly, methodically, he begins to unpack.

-END-

#Romy fanfic #Romy #Rogue #Gambit #Rogue and Gambit #Remy LeBeau #Anna Marie LeBeau #writing prompt #canon compliant

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officialtrashbin · 8 days

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Reading preview:

“Why on God’s green earth do ya have an anti-mutant collar under your pillow, Cajun?”

Gambit raises his hands in surrender. “Would you believe Remy if he said it a weddin’ gift?”

“Course Ah wouldn’t!”

Gambit blinks and realizes Rogue has closed the distance between them when he wasn’t paying attention, her other palm splaying over his heart as if assuring it still functions. She might feel it threatening to beat out of his chest just to get closer to her. Close enough to touch.

Her pretty nose wrinkles up at him. “Start talkin’ or Ah’m confiscatin’ it.”

The cursed thing was borrowed, contrary to anyone’s knowledge, from Professor Xavier’s vault of precarious items assembled along the walls like war medals. Science projects. Doo-dads. Gadgets weaponized against the mutant menaces, or something to that headache-inducing extent. Gambit had been raised and honed a thief, and the vault hadn’t been particularly reinforced to prevent a nightly excursion or two.

“It not like anyone else were usin’ it,” he says. “Gambit wanted to see if it help him sleep.”

Rogue’s eyebrow quirks. “You’re a terrible liar for such a petty thief.”

Perhaps he’s just bad at lying to her (and Storm, because that woman possesses an uncanny third eye for punching straight through his nonsense). She only caught him at all because he was bad at hiding secrets from her, too, and noticed the collar peering out from under his pillow in the middle of an otherwise casual pass to bid him goodnight.

“Maybe you just got a good eye,” he replies.

“Why do ya have it, really? Can't keep avoidin’ my questions, Swamp Rat, or Ah’ll just keep houndin’ ya like a fly to a horse’s rear.”

“Dat sounds promisin’. I quite like havin’ you around, chere.”

Her expression shifts, all at once too sad for him to endure, and to his horror, the honesty reaches her eyes. Bella Donna looked the same way the night he left her behind.

His gut fills with concrete and he catches her hand in his. “Anna—”

“Please, Remy. For once could ya be honest with me?”

The truth: he wears it as needed like a cool hand to a fever, such a temporary relief from the reality of the agony gradually building inside of him, a soda bottle shaken to the edge of expulsion. He’s been enduring too many days lately with his nail under the cap of disaster. A single night with the collar has been enough of a momentary relief to realign his power for a week or two, at least, though sleeping in it has given him such an awful crick behind his shoulder he can’t reach.

The truth: such information will regularly intercept his routine with long days under Ol’ One Eye’s watch and more concerned glances than he knows how to deflect. He neither wants to worry Rogue nor hurt anyone who isn’t himself when the situation inevitably goes tits-up, so the collar has been his long term short-term contingency plan.

The truth: he’s scared of hurting Rogue.

The truth: he’s scared.

#x men 97 #romy #romy fanfic #x men 97 fanfic #they have me in a chokehold your honor

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bananabrain0 · 1 year

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This is not a drill! Alert all Remy/Rogue shippers

Keep Romy alive and not let Remy be forgotten. Here is where you start - by reading the fanfic I have been obsessed with recently.

✅ stimulating storytelling from a Marvel comic enthusiast with close to 2 decades of Marvel comics readership

✅ unexpected turns

✅ wild cameos

✅ even wilder pairings

✅ extremely satisfying resolutions

#remy lebeau #rogue x gambit #rogue xmen #x men fanart #x men fanfiction #romy fanfic

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gimpyhair · 2 months

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Stupid prompt/drabble to the universe:

Levi receives a report on his desk, signed Hange Zoe-Ackerman. He decides to confront Hange about it, banging on their door "Yo, four-eyes, what's the meaning of this!?".

Hange opens the door, kinda awkward, and responds "oh, I didn't mean for you to find out this way-" Levi sees a ring on their finger and is super confused (did he fucking married Hange without realizing it). Hange then happily screams "-but I'm your new aunty!❤️"

Kenny comes out of nowhere and fully kisses Hange on their lips. Levi is speechless, under shock, does not compute, error 404

Kenny gives Levi pocket money and tells smugly him to go buy an ice cream or something to "give the grown ups some alone time". Hange giggles in a very ooc way, then playfully smacks Kenny'ass

Levi immediately wakes up, screaming (a la Kakyoin screaming meme). Hange, who is laying on the same bed, is like "babe, what's wrong, titans again?". Hange is ready to go full comfort-mode like every classic levihan fanfiction. But Levi refuses to talk because of how fucking stupid that nightmare was.

#of course im happy for romi park and kazuhiro yamaji #prompt for anyone who actually want to write a fanfic or do a comic #levihan #hange zoe #snk #levi ackerman #kenny ackerman #hange x kenny #crack #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #hanji zoe #levi x hange #aot #prompt

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roguegambitweek · 15 days

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Rogue/Gambit Week 2024

Hey y’all!

It’s time for what y’all have been waiting for—Rogue/Gambit Week 2024. We’re looking forward to a great week celebrating our favorite Southern couple. Here’s the information you’ll need to participate.

Rogue/Gambit Week 2024 will be held June 16-23, 2024. Yes, that’s right, we plan to have eight days of full of Romy goodness.

Prompts:

Day 1 - Sunday, June 16 - Alternate First Meeting | Robin Hood AU

Day 2 - Monday, June 17 - Roof Top | Steampunk AU

Day 3 - Tuesday, June 18 - MojoWorld | Merfolk AU

Day 4 - Wednesday, June 19 - Rogue and Gambit are physically separated | Fantasy AU

Day 5 - Thursday, June 20 - Legacy as a Concept or Character | Noir AU

Day 6 - Friday, June 21 - Space Adventure | Pirates AU

Day 7 - Saturday, June 22 - Reunion | Power/Role Swap or No Powers AU

Day 8 - Sunday, June 23 - Free day!

Alternate Prompts

Alt 1 - T-shirt Collection

Alt 2 - Hair—Braiding/brushing/cutting/etc.

Alt 3 - Vow Renewal

Rules:

This is a celebration of all things Romy! Your fanworks may cover any point of their relationship—from their early flirtations to their life together as an old married couple, from friendship to lovers.

Rogue and Gambit do not need to be in a romantic relationship (friendship is great too!), but their relationship should be the primary focus.

Feel free to draw inspiration from any medium which they appeared (the comics (any corner of the Multiverse), the animated series (XtAS, WatX, Evo), the movies, etc.)

Please tag your posts #rogue/gambitweek2024 or #rogue/remyweek2024 within the first five(5) tags so they can be easily found and re-blogged on the Rogue/Gambit Week blog. You may also tag our posts @roguegambitweek . (This often makes finding posts easier).

Fanworks are not limited to fanfic, fanart, and fanedits. However you create, that is also a part of what makes a fanworks week successful. Yes, fic, art, and edits are the most common, but I’ve seen amazing fanworks accomplished in other ways. In our fist year a short video was shared concerning what Gambit keeps in his pockets. In another fandom, I’ve seen someone share why a particular musical score reminded them of the couple. I’ve seen people make text conversations between characters focused around that day’s prompt. Handcrafts, music, photography, cosplay, and countless other creative ventures can also be part of a fanworks week. Have fun creating. Please feel free to share your talents and Romy-love with us.

The fanworks you share should be created by you.

Any NSFW content must be placed under a ‘read more’ break, otherwise it will not be re-blogged.

You don’t need to post something for every day/every prompt. Feel free to participate in as many days as you you feel inspired. If you have created something, but are unable to post it on the assigned day, please post it when you can. It will still be re-blogged.

You may combine days (as in cover two or more prompts with the same entry).

‘Regular’ prompts may be set in an AU universe. ‘AU’ prompts could be set in a canon universe. Let your creativity run wild and have fun with the prompts.

Have fun. Try something new. Create something new for an old favorite. Remember, the goal here is to share the Romy love and create more Romy content for all of us to enjoy.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send an ask.

Have fun creating!

#rogue/gambitweek2024 #rogue/remyweek2024 #rogue #gambit #romy #fanworks weeks #fandom appreciate week #anna marie lebeau #remy lebeau #fanfic #fanart #xmen #prompts

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rogue-gambit-fan-zine · 23 days

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X-Men'97 got you craving more Rogue and Gambit? Come check out Home & Harbor, a charity Romy fanzine! Preorders are still open!

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applejacks1552 · 23 days

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#Fanfics on Ao3 for Erik Lensher/Rogue: 78

#Fanfics on Ao3 for Remy LeBeau/Rogue: 1066

The people have spoken @marvelentertainment

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ilargikat · 2 months

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Romyfanzine is coming!!

After a long time the Romyfanzine is almost finished. It is a zine made from the love for this couple that gives us so much joy. We had a lot of fun doing it. Don't miss it, it's full of talented artists and writers. You're going to love it! we have everything from wonderful fics, to fan art, comics and merch!!!

and all profits will go to: https://www.heroinitiative.org/comic-creators-need/

Here is a little snippet of my contribution

"Do you want me to rescue you from that evil villain, sweetie?" she asked without moving from her spot, mesmerized by how adorable and terribly sexy he looked.

Remy swiveled the chair around and looked at her with a disdainful gesture.

", I've been looking up info on Gariga for hours and all you've done is look sexy in that robe," he punctuated with a mischievous grin.

Also, the fic will feature the wonderful illustrations of Koryndr

check out her portfolio is all about talent

https://www.koryandr.com/portfolio

Please… share, share, share!

@rogue-gambit-fan-zine

#roguegambitfanzine #romy #gambit #remy lebeau #rogue #x-men #x-men97 #fanzine #fanart #ana marie lebeau #rogue x gambit #fanfic #share #@koryndr

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dominimoonbeam · 6 months

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...the Milo/Darlin fic that might turn into a Milo/Darlin/Asher/David fic NO ONE ASKED FOR, just hit 4k.

My other 5+ fics are all glaring at me.

#redactedverse #fanfic #the heart fics what it wants #milo/darlin #it's beautiful #<3 #Romi don't look #dominimoonbeam

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dayenurose · 1 month

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Alas, I am almost a month late for Valentine's Day. But, the story is finished and meant to be shared. I hope you enjoy a bit of (belated) Valentine fun. <3

written for 'A Very Romy Valentine' @roguegambitweek

A Year With Romy: February - (He)Arts and Crafts by DayenuRose

Summary: When Remy comes home to find Rogue has turned the dining room into a craft room. He has a few questions. Written for 'A Very Romy Valentine' – mon cœur/hearts

Excerpt:

“Mon cœur, I’m home.” Nothing but silence greeted Remy as he announced his arrival. The silence was odd, but nothing to be worried about. Though both her car and her motorcycle were parked in the garage, it wasn’t like they were her only means of transportation. She could fly, for crying out loud. Still, her favorite boots were left in a half-hazard pile beside the door. Perhaps she was upstairs taking a bath or reading in one of the far corners of the house. He unlaced his boots and placed them beside Roguey’s. “Oh, Roguey, ma Roguey…” While it wasn’t that he expected his wife to greet him at the door, she usually hollered back in response to his greeting. Her honeyed southern drawl had the power to draw him to her like a bee to honey. It just meant he’d need to seek her out and let her know he was home. Since things had been quiet around the X-Mansion, he decided to come home early and surprise Rogue with a particularly southern home cooked meal. The need to find his wife itched at him in a way it didn’t usually haunt him.

Read the rest on [ao3] or [ff.net]

#romyvalentine2024 #rogue/gambitweek2024 #rogue #gambit #romy #anna marie lebeau #remy lebeau #fanfic #my fic #otp: home and harbor #otp: mon coeur

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avengersfan6 · 1 month

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Help I lost a fic! X-Men evolution

I've been looking for 3 fanfics all from X-Men evolution. Tow of the fics were 'Giddy' and 'Love of my life' by seven sunningdale. They were originally posted on Fanfiction.net but were removed. I don't know where or how to find them and if anyone has a copy please let me know.

As for the third fic I don't know the name or the author but I know it's from ff.net as well. In the fic Rogue is raised by the assassin's guild leader Marius and becomes Julian and Belladonna's sister. She and Remy become friends as kids which leads the two guilds to start making peace negotiations. They plan an arranged marriage but with Remy and Belladonna because they thought that if they married Remy and Rogue it would ruin their friendship, but they were already falling in love and Remy's engagement to Belle hurt them both. Belle was also very jealous of Rogue and had a crush on Remy. I remember Remy leaving because he didn't want to marry Belle. I don't know if Rogue's powers went out of contro, but the X-Men do show up. It's revealed that Logan is Rogue's father and Bell said something along the lines of 'now that she knows who her father is she can go with him to her real family' they all knew Rogue was adopted but Marius and Julian didn't care she was their daughter/sister regardless of blood. I don't think the fic was completed.

So if anyone knows anything about it please let me know.

#xmen #x men #rogue x gambit #romy #rogue #remy lebeau #gambit #lost fic #lost fanfiction #lost fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #xmen evolution #x men evolution #x-men evolution

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ludi-ling · 1 year

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how do you think remy reacted when he first found out about rogue being caught in terrigen mist and when he realized rogue wasnt in a good place mentally when she was in avengers?

Sorry it took so long to (at least half) respond to this. I needed to wait for the creative inspiration to strike, so to speak. Covid over the holidays is great for sitting round and waiting for your muse to rock up.

I hope you still get to see this anyways, anonymous asker. Merry Christmas. 🎄

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Next-of-Kin

Avengers Mansion, dead as a doornail, quiet as a mouse. Everythin’ packed up and ready to be sold or auctioned off. Anythin’ here worth stealin’? Maybe, probably. Very likely.

It’s only out of respect for the person I’m here for that I don’t go rootin’ around to find out.

I turn a box-lined corridor and who should I see but Deadpool, lackadaisically standing guard outside the door I’m supposed to go into.

“You’re an Avenger?” is the first thing that comes to my mind, and I can’t help but say it.

At the impromptu greeting, he pushes away from the wall, arms spread.

“Me? An Avenger? Pfft, naw. Who’s dumb idea would that be, to make me an Avenger?”

“My thought exactly,” I respond as I draw near.

“Yeah, well… Stark’s gone bankrupt,” Deadpool shrugs. “Not enough money in the game to make it worth my while.”

“I hear that.” I glance at all the boxes, ready to be moved out. “How the mighty have fallen. Or somethin’.” I run a hand through my hair, expecting the worst, hoping for the best, wanting this to be over with either way. “Thanks for callin’ me,” I say; but he just waves me off.

“Don’t thank me. This was Cap’s idea. Said you were on her next-of-kin list. Told me I should call you.”

‘Next-o’-kin’? I don’t like the sound’a dat. The past few months all I been doin’ is playin’ sympathetic-ex-boyfriend to whatever the hell she sees herself right now, and this feels like an extension of those duties. If she’s put me down to be the executor of her will, I’m gonna be real pissed.

“Is, ah… Is Cap in there?” I ask nervously, figuring Wade doesn’t need to know a damn thing about my current relationship with Anna.

“Don’t worry, Gumboid,” he replies. “The old man said that since you have a warrant out for your arrest, it’s best if he ain’t around if you happen to turn up.”

Whew. Thank fuck for that. Don’t think I could handle Captain Boy Scout hovering over my shoulder at a moment like this.

“Thanks,” I say, reaching for the handle. “And by the way. There are at least 5 warrants out on my head.”

I lean into the door, and I’m just about to open it when he stalls me.

“Hey, Gambit. While we’re on the topic, you know a guy named Chalmers?”

I pause. I level him a look.

“Deadpool, dis ain’t the time for dis kinda shit…”

“I know.” He grins. At least I think he does behind that mask. “I’m just sayin’. You’re a thief. There’s a fun li’l gig lined up for you, if and when you can squeeze one in-between your ‘next-of-kin’ duties.”

“G’bye, Wade,” I shoot acerbically at him, and let myself inside.

I ain’t prepared for what I see on the other side.

Rogue, lookin’ like shit.

I shut the door behind me quietly. I let out the breath I’ve been holding in. I walk to her bedside and see just what the Terrigen Mists have done to her.

“Oh, Anna,” I murmur to myself. “Whatchu gone done to yourself, chere?”

She can’t hear me, hooked up like she is to all this equipment, in what I can only assume is an induced coma. The fact that she can’t hear or see me is the only reason I’m here. We laid out some ground rules for one another after all. I gave her permission to walk away, and she took it. I’m your home, your harbour, I said to her in one of my rare, earnest moments. You’ll come to me when you know that. But don’t come to me before. Which means – for now – don’t come to me at all.

I scratch the back of my head awkwardly at the memory. Those words had felt unnecessarily harsh at the time, for both of us – but it had obviously been what she needed to hear. She had never come back to me. Not once. Sure, we’d run into one another, now and then. Traded kind words, smiled. Hugged. Perhaps even flirted now and then. But she’d never come back in the way that mattered, in the way I wanted, or hoped for, or both.

Y’know, I hear things. I know about Mags. I know about Johnny Storm. Can’t keep things hidden for long wit’ the X-Men. S’like livin’ in some podunk town in the middle of nowhere. Everyone knows everybody, secrets will out. Jubes loves secrets.

I’m a big boy, but there are some secrets I wish I didn’t haveta hear.

I dunno how contagious this disease is, but I’m all gloved up, so I reach out and touch her blistered hand. It’s a simple thing, but how many times has she pulled her hand away from mine? How many times have I only been able to touch her like this? Gloves on, skin covered? The moment she gained control of her powers felt like the moment she started to withdraw from me, like she wanted to try to touch everyone and everything that wasn’t me. That smarts. It stings, when we’re both here, and I’m touching her like this.

I draw up a chair beside her and sit. Again I think about how I’m breaking some sort of rule in being here, this understanding we have, the one I don’t want. The one where I step aside and make way for her to live her life. Where I wait for her to figure out I’m the one she wants.

Fuck that.

“I get it, chere,” I murmur into the quiet, half resentful, half helpless. “You want me when you’re on death’s door. You put me down as your next-o’-kin so I turn up by your side when you’re so fucked up you don’t even have to be conscious to know I’m there. You trust me with your life. You just don’t trust me with your love.”

It’s infuriating. It’s infuriating to know that’s how it is, despite everythin’. I didn’t make no grand sacrifice, voluntarily stepping away from her, for purely altruistic reasons. I did it because I knew she wouldn’t choose me. I knew she’d choose Mags. And I just hadn’t wanted to be there to see it.

And this is the prize I get. Havin’ the privilege of bein’ with her again when she’s like this.

I link my fingers with hers, raise her hand to my cheek. Careful our skin doesn’t touch. Conscious of how we’ve both played this game before. Don’t touch!—her perennial warning. Me, pushing the boundaries, so damn hard, all the fuckin’ time. All I ever wanted was this. To feel her warmth.

“Guess I should be flattered you put me down on the list of people you wan’ around when you’re dead or dying,” I tell her. Am I sounding bitter? Maybe a li’l. “They tellin’ me they’re workin’ on a cure, that Hank and Stark are optimistic, that you’ll pull through. They don’t need to hide it from me though. They’re worried. Real worried.” I slide her a weary smile. “They dunno how often you and I danced dis tango though, do they, chere? You, on death’s door. Me, sittin’ here by your side, willin’ you to wake up, be strong, get better. And you always do.” I laugh softly, squeeze her hand. “Y’know, for someone who’s ‘well-nigh invulnerable’, you don’t half end up in a coma often, mon amour. Why is dat?”

She don’t answer. She might look like a hot mess right now, but that pretty li’l face of hers don’t even twitch in reply. The soft blip of the heart monitor is the only response I get. I’m used to this. Not gettin’ answers from her. Her, runnin’ away when shit gets real.

Shit’s real now, chere. They tell me you could die. And if you do, would all’a dat runnin’ been worth it?

Not dat you’d be alive to care.

But I’d be. I’d be.

The harried smile drops from my face. I take her lifeless hand between both of mine. I press my lips to my knuckles, cos I can’t press them against hers.

“Lissen, chere. Word is, you could die from dis. Too early to tell yet, nobody knows what dis M-Pox thing means. Me, I think you’re too much of a fighter for this to end you. I know you, chere. But if you don’t… if you don’t get past dis… I want you t’know somethin’. I love you. I put a space b’tween us knowin’ I could deal with it because you were out there tryin’ t’be happy. But if you weren’t out there… if the space between us means you ain’t never comin’ back… I don’t think I could live with it. Livin’ in a world wit’out you wouldn’t be worth livin’, chere. I mean it.”

I pause. As always, no answer.

Go figure.

“So you live, girl. Live, so we continue to get that chance we might never take.”

I gently rest her hand back down by her side. I don’t think there’s anything more I can think of to say. I stand. I give her hand one last squeeze.

“Love you, Anna Marie,” I say, before I leave.

I’m surprised to see Deadpool still standing sentry outside the door.

“You still out here?” I ask.

“Hey, Cap said I should keep a look out for her while you were here. I hear things about you, y’know, Gambit. I know all about your weird kinks!”

I raise an irritated eyebrow at him. Why the hell Cap’s lettin’ him run wit’ de Avengers is beyond me.

“Yeah, well, takin’ advantage of my comatose ex-girlfriend ain’t one of ‘em.”

I turn to leave.

“You goin’ already?” Wade asks.

“Yeah. She looks stable. I’m trustin’ Stark and Hank will take care o’her better than I could. Just make sure you call me again, if things look bad.”

“And if they look good?”

I stop, think about it.

“Yeah. Lemme know. Just don’t expect me to rock up again. She won’t appreciate it if she wakes up and finds me there.”

“Huh. She wants you there when she’s about to kick the bucket, but not when everythin’s all fairy dust and unicorn farts. Sounds like my kinda woman.”

Ugh. I’m outta here.

“G’bye, Wade!” I nearly holler at him.

I’m halfway down the hallway when I think of something. I halt, spin round.

“By the way. That Chalmers job?”

“Yeah?”

I grin.

“Deal me in.”

-END-

#questions answered #Romy fanfic #Romy #Rogue #Gambit #Remy LeBeau #Anna Marie #Deadpool #canon compliant

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