Hi! So sorry its been so long, but I was putting off writing because of the holidays and then after that I felt like I wanted to leave a super bomb chapter for you guys and it kept coming up as a dud! But super long overdue, here it is. A little jump to jump in small scene format but that is how it came about this time. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed I appreciate it greatly, and love all the follows! Makes me smile! Cheers!

"Alright, Remy. Lets take it nice and slow." Kurt said to the thief as they prepared to reduce the potency of the collar on his neck. Bishop was standing near Remy if he needed some energy to be reabsorbed and Bobby next to him to put out any explosion. This was the third day that Gambit agreed to work on his powers in the danger room. First time he had almost blown up the whole room, if not the whole mansion. Shortly after he tried again, this time keeping the bulk of his powers in. Now he took a deep breath and mentally calmed himself. Kurt's gentle voice cut through his inner mantra. "Ready?"

"I think so."

"Kitty if you would please reduce his collar." Kurt glanced to Cyclops then back to Remy. Gambit had his eyes closed, more from fear than concentration. Kitty dialed down the collar by fifteen percent. Remy remained calm as the power slowly seeped into his body, the familiar itch behind his fingers came back. God how he wanted a cigarette.

"Ok Remy, why don't you try to charge a card?" Scott suggested to Gambit. He knew this was hard on the young man. It had been a few days now, but Remy had mostly stayed in his room below the grounds, only coming up to smoke or get food. He hadn't spoken with a lot of people, Scott and Logan being the only few who were brave enough to approach the younger man. Cecilia and most of the Excalibur members had gotten onto Gambit's good side, but he still had his walls built up.

Gambit charged the card, the glow was sudden. Gambit pursed his lips together in concentration, it grew brighter.

"Good, can you pull it back in?" Kurt ask as Remy already began to pull in the charge. He let out a shaky breath as the card returned to its natural state. Gambit smirked as he turned the card over in his hands, success. He looked up and saw brown hair with a white stripe, she wasn't supposed to be here. His jaw clenched as he inhaled an angry breath.

Remy barely had time to release the card before it exploded. Gambit cried out in anger and pain as he looked at his hand, searching it for injury.

"Remy!" A feminine voice cut through the room but he turned his back to her.

Bobby put a hand on Rogue's shoulder, his eyes showing his sympathy for her. "Maybe you should wait outside, Rogue." After a moment she nodded and left the danger room.

"Damnit!" Gambit shook out his hand as he moved the fingers, it burned but he was fine.

"Are you alright?" Kitty moved to Gambit and turned the collar to full strength again.

"Oui, just a burn is all, I'll stop by the medical bay and get some burn cream." Remy left the room to go find Cecilia. The group who worked with him watched Remy's retreating form.

"Jeez, talk about a step forward then fifty steps back!" Bobby cried out. Scott, Kurt, and Kitty nodded in agreement.

Bishop looked thoughtful for a long moment, his eyes still on the door. "Did any of you feel that? Right before the card exploded? It was like…-"

"Anger? Horrible blinding anger and pain?" Kitty cut off Bishop before he could finish his thought. They locked eyes and nodded at each other.

"Yeah, I felt that too!" Bobby exclaimed as he met the gaze of Scott and Kurt.

"Very strange, its almost like," Scott thought about it for a few moments, "like we felt what he felt."

Bobby exclaimed at moved closer to the group. "Yeah! Oh man, Scott, remember what Sinister said about Gambit's multiple powers?" Iceman didn't wait for his affirmation, he was on a roll. "He said that Remy has more than one power, that one of them was to- how did he put it?"

"Influence people with some sort of charm…" Scott echoed Sinister's words.

"Wait, are you saying he made us feel that?" Kitty asked Cyclops.

"It seems that way, but how did he do it?" Bishop asked the group, still perplexed.

xxx

Remy walked the hall until he reached the medical bay. "Bon Jour? Cecilia? Are you here?" Gambit called as he entered the office. He peaked in and saw Beast sitting on a stool, his eyes turned to the door, the microscope forgotten.

"Remy!" Hank stated in surprise.

"Is Cecilia here." Gambit's voice was cold to the doctor.

"Uh no, no sorry. She went into the city today. Is there anything I can help you with, Remy?" Gambit looked down the hall, debating if he wanted to just ignore the pain and wait till Cecilia got home.

"How long will she be gone?"

"Probably until tonight. Really, my friend, is there something I can do for you?" Hank's eyes went to Remy's injured hand. "My goodness, Gambit, your hand!" Beast shot up from his position and went to the first aid kit. "Please, sit down, I will apply some burn spray and lessen the pain." Gambit thought it over for another moment then went to the bench, he leaned against it but didn't sit down. Beast began to work quietly on Remy's hand. After a few moments, Hank decided to try to open the conversation, very carefully.

"I take it the training did not go too well." Remy snorted at the furry man's statement.

"How astute of you, Beast." Gambit pinched the bridge of his nose with his uninjured hand.

"You seem very stressed." Hank took his time cleaning and dressing the burn. Who knows when Gambit would sit and converse with him again. "Have you been sleeping well?"

Gambit shook his head but said, "Yeah I guess."

"You guess?" Beast pulled out a bandage and started covering each finger. "What do you mean, Remy?"

"Look- Hank, its nothing I cant deal with alone. I don't need you poking in on my business."

"I understand that Remy, I would never want to intrude on your privacy. But you are not alone. We are here for you." Hank had asked Remy to join him so many times, to get a nightcap, or watch some television. All the X-Men had offered to spend time with Remy but he kept excusing himself to go to his room, saying he wanted to acclimate to his newly restored powers.

Remy was silent as Hank finished his task. As soon as the doctor was done Gambit walked to the door. He stood there stupidly for a moment. "Hank…" A long pause followed then Remy left the doctor to his research.

"I am here for you." Hank sighed and returned to his work, even though he had a hard time focusing on it.

xxx

Remy's hand screamed from pain but he just couldn't put it down. He gritted his teeth, and was pretty sure he couldn't see anything. Were his eyes open now? He heard a voice but ignored it as a sharp pain cut through the black state he was in. He only knew one thing at the moment, but with each passing second Gambit was approaching clarity. His armed moved on its own and his jaw flopped open in shock.

His eyes rolled into focus and went straight to the scientist. Remy's brows furrowed for a moment then regained their neutral state. What had he been doing? What was going on? Something hurt but it didn't matter, the only thing that was important was the man staring at him intently. Doctor Essex seemed mad, he approached his thief quickly and backhanded him across the face with merciless strength. Gambit's nose bled and his ear was ringing, but he stood his ground. Creed gripped Remy's right arm gently but Gambit made no move to free himself. He had no need to. Mr. Sinister did not command it.

"LeBeau?" Remy waited for Essex to speak again. "Drop the knife." Gambit's white knuckled hand released the blade and it fell to the hard floor with a clang, drops of his own blood shaken from the sharp edge. "Come." Remy LeBeau stepped over the blood and the knife and followed his master.

xxx

"It was like I was lost." Gambit said slowly, his mouth suddenly dry. "I couldn't figure anything out, not one little thing without his voice to guide me." He looked at Xavier's face for only a second then turned to the window again.

"Go on." The professor said gently. Finally, after almost a month, Gambit agreed to talk with the man about his experience with the mad scientist. Remy had been unable to sleep in several nights and Charles had suggested he opened up about his enslavement as a way to seek inner peace. He was still struggling with control of his powers, but had made some progress. But now the progress was stunted from Remy's estuation, his focus wandering.

"I still don't see this being helpful." Remy figuratively dug in his heels. He got up and paced the small office but did not leave. "We know what happened already."

"No, Remy, only you know what happened. We do not. We keep trying to ask you questions, spend time with you, but you push us aside."

"Well why should I have to sit here and spell it out for you?" He snapped angrily. Xavier sat calmly as Remy built himself up. Charles had heard it all before, it was a very valid point that Gambit kept on repeating. The X-Men never trusted him, they betrayed him, and dishonored him. He had expressed his anger, but now was the time to get past the anger and move onto a next step.

The older man looked at Remy as a wall silently fell- a tear slid from his black and red eye. Gambit angrily pushed it off his face, but another one escaped shortly after. Remy turned from Charles and rested his forehead against the window pane. "Why did everyone stop caring?" Remy faced the man, "I was there for six months. I was with him, with that monster, taunting and laughing at me for six horrible long months. He told me you weren't going to come for me. He said the X-Men didn't care."

"Did you believe him?" Xavier asked. Remy thought for a long time, did he truly believe him… Did he think that his own team would leave him to fend for himself against the crazed mad man?

"Yes. He was right too, you didn't come. You didn't care."

xxx

Ororo had been almost in hiding for the last month, only coming when her duties truly required her too. She was mad at herself. It took almost all of the four weeks to realize that was were her anger truly lay. She tried to be angry at Rogue, then at Sinister, then the team members who left him, but in the end it was herself.

"Remy?" Storm stepped off the elevator and into the lowest level of the mansion. "Remy are you here?" She turned the corner and saw-

"Oui Ro, what is it?" Gambit was doing sit ups at a furious pace, sweat was dripping from his forehead to the floor, his grey shirt darkened with his sweat.

"Shouldn't you be resting, Remy? I have heard you are having difficulties sleeping."

Remy stopped and stretched out his upper body from the physical strain he had just placed upon himself. He went onto his knees and started doing push ups. "Cant sleep," Remy grunted to her, "trying to tire my body out." He went up and down quickly. Storm was silent as she watched him. "You need something, Ro?"

"Remy. I just came to tell you…" She trailed off and Gambit stopped what he was doing and looked at her.

"Que?" He went up and down again, faster, close to angry.

"I came to so tell you that I love you. I had never stopped loving you, and no matter how much you hate me, I will always love you."

Remy stopped his push ups and looked at the goddess. She met his gaze evenly and silence followed them for a long moment. He rocked back on his haunches and sighed.

"I didn't hate you." he whispered. "I don't hate you, chere. God I tried too, I tried to hate you. To convince myself that I don't care for you. But I loved you from the moment I met you, padnat, and even now I still love you."

"Oh Remy." She held him, wrapping her arms around his upper body, his head pushed into her stomach. His arms reluctantly went around her waist. "Your forgiveness means the world to me."

Gambit was silent. He didn't have the heart to tell Storm that he did not forgive. He may never forgive. But for now it felt so good to have someone hold him, to feel loved once again.

xXx

Shadow cat's hand reached the phone on the third ring. "X-Mansion, this is Kitty, how may I help you?"

"It is only a matter of time." A gruff voice whispered through the ear piece. Kitty couldn't place the voice, but it seemed so familiar.

"What?" She barked into the receiver.

"You may as well hand him over now, save yourselves a whole lot of pain."

"Who is this?" Kitty whispered and turned her back to an inquisitive Scott, Logan, and Hank.

"Are you sure he will be worth it?"

"I said who is this?" Kitty blanched and gripped the phone tighter in her grip. Just then the front door swung open reveling Gambit coming in from his afternoon smoke. He looked at Shadow cat's face and strode over to the phone, snatching it too quick for her to turn.

"Who is this?" Gambit barked into the phone.

"Well, if it isn't LeBeau." Remy's eyes widened but he didn't disconnect the call. "You know what's going to happen, don't you Remy? They are going to toss you to the side again." He whispered the poison into Remy's ear. "Once they see me and Sinister and the Marauders coming for you they will surrender you faster than you can say 'LeBeau, umbrella, Romeo, mi-" Gambit threw the phone against the wall, affectively ending the conversation.

"Who was that?" Logan asked as the pieces fell to the ground.

Red eyes stared at the mess on the carpet. His eyes burned into them, anger pulsating off of his body. "Creed."

"What did he want?"

"Not did, does. What does he want."

"Well?" Scott asked warily.

"Me." He looked at the Kitty and pursed his lips. "I'm going out for a cigarette."

"Didn't you just have one?" Kitty barked at him, frustrated with his newly rediscovered habit.

"Oui." A phantom smirk played on his lips as the door clicked behind him.

xXx

"Lets go from the beginning, Remy." The professor sat as he watched Remy charge a card to a bright pink color. "Good now bring it back into your body." He slowly absorbed the power from the playing card and evened out his breathing.

"Again." He did it once more, this time with a growing difficulty. Looking to the professor he realized that his collar was in the man's lap, in a panic he groped at his naked neck.

"Professor!" Gambit cried at the fear settled into him. "What did you do? Put it back on!"

"No! Do it again, Gambit!" The man in the chair yelled his orders, Remy was able to charge the card as well as his entire outfit. His sweatpants and sneakers popped and sizzled with heat.

"Put it back, please!" He fell to his knees and pounded his fists into the metal floor of the danger room, trying to draw the pain away from his knuckles.

"Pull in the charge, LeBeau!" Xavier's voice ordered the man on the floor, he tried to pull it back into himself but the pain was just to great for him.

"I can't I can't, please, just put it back!" Gambit was almost crying from the strain he felt all over his body. His shirt was burning off his body, leaving painful scorch marks along his back and chest. "Please I'm begging you, put it on." His skin burned and his knuckles ached.

A pair of black boots entered his teary vision, "You call that begging?" Sinister's voice echoed in the bare room, "I think you could do much, much better." Sinister gripped Remy's jaw painfully, "You are mine, LeBeau."

Remy had decided a little over a week ago that life would suck a little bit less if he could stop having nightmares filled with red eyes, pointy teeth, and claws. If he didn't dream about Sinister he dreamt about Creed. Sometimes a marauder or two would haunt his nights, but they were only the supporting cast. Tonight's dream was no exception. He looked at the clock sitting on the night stand. It was a little past 5 AM and after closing his eyes to see a sickening red diamond hiding behind his lids, Gambit decided to get up.

Silently he made his way up the elevator and towards the kitchen, hoping to brew a strong cup of coffee when he heard voices.

"Please, Warren. Come back to bed." the crisp accent of Betsy echoed in the hallway.

"I can't Elizabeth," sighed the winged man. "I just cant stop my mind from thinking about it."

"You have been like this for weeks," a chair scrapped against the floor, "why don't you just talk to him."

"He wouldn't want to hear what I have to say."

"What is the worst that could happen?"

"Remy has every right to hate me, to hate us. We pushed him so far. Its not just Antarctica, Betsy. Its all of it. I hated him so much. I hated even thinking that he used to live here. I hated Storm for bringing someone like that into my home, our home. It seems so long ago since we found out the truth. So long that we have felt this guilt and it hasn't even been four weeks!"

"I know, Warren, I know."

"How can I possibly apologize? How could he ever accept it? I know what its like to think that no one cares. I know how difficult it is to be in a place you no longer call you home. He must feel like an outsider all over again."

"You do know what it feels like, so why don't you try that commonality."

"Hey, LeBeau, so you were brainwashed by a madman, so was I! Lets go fishing! Please."

Remy smirked at the joke, he knew he shouldn't be eavesdropping, but something about the conversation made him stop. Gambit considered for a minute if he should walk into the kitchen, announce his presence and put an end to their discussion. What would happen? Would he forgive Warren and find an understanding that they had both been used by evil. Would it be the end of all the awkward run ins throughout the mansion? If he entered the kitchen now, saw Warren sitting at the table, close to heart broken would it change anything? Or everything?

Instead he went back to the elevator and pressed the button to go down.