Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel. Bah.

Author's Note: I'm SO SORRY! I had to re-write this chapter because people flooded me demanding a sequel (I wasn't planning one before). I don't know about it yet, but I thought I would leave the window open.

Are you still here?

I hope you enjoy the final word.

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Chapter #30: Epilogue

There is a storm brewing. And she has no idea.

Outside my window the air is still. Just as Silence is beautiful, so, too, is Stillness. It keeps me company when Logan is away, and it keeps me sane when Rogue is awake.

Rogue does not yet know, and she does not yet recognize, the signs her body is giving her. But Remy knows. Therefore I know. He can barely keep the smile from his face, and as he goes about helping the women with wedding preparations, I can tell that he is waiting for the day when he can tell her.

I dread this day.

How can she not know? O Rogue…

I have my cynicism. Although she is happy with her white flowers and crystal cups, and although he is happy with a secret he helped create, I cannot escape the feeling of… the approaching rift. Have Rogue and Remy created a physical manifestation of their love, or has Simon Lucus left behind his legacy?

Alas, the trees beyond my windowsill are swaying. The still air is still no more.

Rogue is there, by the lake. Alone.

No… not alone.

How can she not know?

It is strange… the way things work in a world without rules. Evolution may take thousands of years, but a life-altering rift needs only a moment.

It is true that one's life is a fleeting second on the grand scale of Time. Is this why we encourage ourselves to take all that is and compress it into our short existence? If we are so fleeting, do we matter?

Only another fleeting soul can answer this question.

Thinking back on all that has transpired, I have decided that we must continue to live, no matter the outcome of such life-altering rifts. An altered life is a life being lived. A life lived is worth all the rifts in the world.

Or so the author of our lives believes.

Rogue is happy now. Like the pain she has endured this past year, this happiness will last until the next chapter. And then the next, and then the next. Until all the pages have been read.

She will have the support of her family – the X-Men. She will have the support of a friend who loves her, and a man who lives for her.

Simon Lucus was a life-altering rift… but so was Remy LeBeau. It is what we do with the story given to us that determines the outcome of our lives… not matter how fleeting. A moment can last forever.

The question is: now that this chapter has ended, where do we go from here?

-- END --

Author's Note: I would like to thank, from the bottom of my heart, all the readers who have taken the time to read this story. It has taken a long time to post it in its completion, and the journey has been a rough one. This story is close to my heart, not only because it is my first FanFiction, but also because it provided a forum for me to express my own personal thoughts and feelings.

I have continued with each chapter solely because of you all - both the loyal reviewers and the quiet readers. After all, an author writes in order to be read, and I have been fortunate enough to be given an opportunity to share this story.

Thanks for sticking it out with me. You have no idea how much I appreciate you all. *love*