Sarah is still unconscious when Rogue takes to the sky. She feels like a bag of bones in Rogue's arms, all right angles and pointy ends. Rogue isn't exactly being gentle with her—she almost just died trying to take this bitch out, so she's obviously strong and has the endurance to back it up. And Rogue's still not sure how her powers work, if she's a mutant or magic or something else. She said something during the fight about how her power comes from every living thing around them. Even though Rogue broke her arms and knocked her out using Harvey's telepathic powers, it's possible she could wake up and start swinging again any minute. Rogue keeps a close eye on her as they fly, watching for even the most minute twitch that could signal that she's regaining consciousness.
Nothing.
When Haven House finally comes into view, Remy is waiting for Rogue out on the lawn. She can tell it's him right away, even when he's no more than a little speck on the ground. As she gets closer she becomes more aware of the state of the surrounding area, her eyes flicking over scorch marks and broken trees and craters in the dirt, marking up the ground like bruises. Her heart picks up—they were attacked, too?
She speeds up.
Remy's face is pointed up into the sky, watching her closely as Rogue finally gets close enough to descend. Her feet touch the ground and she sets down Sarah as Remy approaches. Sarah crumples in on herself like a ragdoll, still unconscious, her broken limbs sticking out at awkward angles.
Rogue spares her one final glance to make sure she's still unconscious before turning her attention to her husband, who is still a couple of paces away, taking long, quick strides across the lawn to reach her. Rogue lifts into the air, just a couple of inches off the ground, and flies towards him. Remy opens his arms right before she crashes into him, wraps her legs around his middle and her arms around his neck.
"Scared the goddamn shit outta me," Remy says, burying his face in Rogue's neck.
"Sorry," she says weakly. "Be careful. Not sure how much control I have at the moment."
Remy just tightens his arms around her—one under her ass, holding her up, the other around her back, pressing her close to him.
Rogue presses her face into his shoulder, and the feel of the soft, worn leather of his trench coat is familiar against her skin. She inhales, and it smells exactly like it always does, like Remy. Like home.
But those are one in the same, aren't they? They have been for a long time.
After a while Rogue finally puts her feet back on the ground and pulls away a bit, so she can see his face, but they keep their arms around each other.
"What happened here?" she asks, her eyes flicking around his face and his body, scanning for any visible injuries. He looks a little banged up, but nothing too bad. Certainly not the worst state she's ever seen him in, not by a long shot. "How's Logan?"
"He's fine." Remy frowns. "Well, he's currently… without eyeballs. But he helped us fight, so he'll be okay. It was Sarah's army, I guess. Hundred of them showed up after Kurt 'ported back with Logan."
"Why? Who were they? Mutants?"
"Some of 'em were, for sure… Under some kinda spell, I think. I dunno. I used the Eye on them and a bit later they all woke up, or somethin', and ran off. I'm guessing that's when you took Sarah out?"
Rogue chews her lip, turning her head around so she can look back at Sarah, still crumpled on the ground a few feet away. She turns back around to her husband, looks up into those black and red eyes that she loves so much.
His eyes are beautiful. She's always thought that. Not just because of how hauntingly unusual they are—but because they're his.
"But why were they here? Do you know?"
"Yeah, I… right after we spoke on the phone, I got a call from the Graymalkin warden."
"What?"
"Yeah. She said… Sarah had no interest in you. She wanted the kids. The army was there to kill them."
"The…" Rogue closes her eyes and falls forward into Remy's chest, buries her face in the crook of his neck. Remy tights his arms around her, brings one of his hands up to cup the back of her head and stroke her hair.
"Good thing you told us to stay away, eh? If we had all gone to help you…"
Rogue shakes her head against Remy's chest. "I'm so goddamn stupid," she mumbles, her voice muffled.
"What?" Remy puts his hands on her shoulders and pushes her away so he can look at her. "Rogue, what?"
"She was the distraction. I fell for it… I should have been here, I should have been protectin' them."
"What, and you were just gonna leave Logan to die alone? Rogue, come on. They're fine. They're safe. This is not your fault."
Rogue shakes her head again, looking at the ground underneath them. After a second she feels Remy's hand under her chin—his pointer finger, the one uncovered by his gloves, touching her skin as he tilts her head up.
Her powers don't kick in. She warned him, wasn't sure if she was in control, but he touched her anyway. He always did have more faith in her than she had in herself.
"Anna Marie, listen to me. You did the right thing. You got Logan back and told us to stay here, so we were here to keep the kids and the St Juniors safe. We're all okay, mon coeur."
Rogue nods, feels tears well up in her eyes and her throat constricting. She falls back into Remy's arms and holds him tight. He goes back to stroking her hair, kisses the top of her head as she tries to calm down.
After a minute, Rogue hears wood creaking in the direction of the house. She turns her head so she can open an eye and peeks over at the front porch, where Logan, Kurt and Jubilee have just emerged. Logan still looks like shit—bandages over his eyes, no shirt, covered in blood. He's got both of his arms around Kurt and Jubilee's shoulders, and they support him as they shuffle towards the stairs.
"What happened? With Sarah?" Remy asks.
Rogue lifts her head. "It was Harvey. He helped me."
Remy frowns. "Harvey X?"
"Yeah. He… was a lot more powerful than he let on."
Rogue looks back over at the rest of her family. She wants to go check on Logan, and then see if everyone else is okay, too. Kurt and Jubilee look fine, at least. And she wants to see how the kids are doing. And probably apologize to the St Juniors, for… bringing all of this shit to their home.
Rogue tugs her arm around Remy's waist so he follows along as she starts walking back towards Sarah. "Come on. I'll tell y'all the whole story inside. First, let's take care of this one. Gonna need you to call our friend the warden back."
Rogue insists that she gets the last shower. Thanks to Harvey's healing factor, she's actually the least banged up out of the whole bunch, so it's only fair. Haven House must have one hell of a water heater, because the water is still warm when she finally gets her turn.
The house is dark when she emerges, wrapped in a towel with her uniform in her hands. She can hear someone walking around downstairs along with a few voices, so a few people must still be awake. Rogue contemplates joining them for a second before deciding against it. She shuffles down the silent hallway towards her and Remy's room without encountering anyone else. The doors to all of the kids' rooms are shut, but she thinks she hears a few murmurs from behind one of them.
Their room is empty when she slips inside, so Remy must still be downstairs. Rogue closes the door softly behind her.
She chucks her uniform on the floor and heads over towards the bed, unwrapping the towel from her body as she goes. The humid Louisiana air hits her naked skin and she hangs the towel to dry on the back of a nearby chair before climbing onto the bed and slipping under the covers.
She curls up on her side, pulls the covers up to her chin and hugs her knees to her chest.
She can't stop the image of Harvey appearing in her mind's eye, small and pale, drowning in his too-big jacket. Nevertheless, his grin was wide and bright as he helped her fight, as he cheered her on, as he finally got to become what he always dreamed of being. An X-Man.
Telepathy, a healing factor, and precognition. He saw his own funeral. He guided Sofia, Valentin, Becca and Hotoru to them, because he knew they needed help. His help.
That's too much for a dying kid. That's too much for any kid.
The other images he projected to her pop up as well, forecasts of a possible future. Kurt with an extra pair of arms. Piotr, lying in a puddle of blood, surrounded by robotic dogs. Charles putting on Magneto's helmet. A female Cyclops?
That last one is the weirdest. Another kid of Scott and Jean's from an alternate future, perhaps? Actually, considering how many times that's happened, maybe it's not so weird after all.
She didn't tell the others about the images that Harvey showed her. Not yet, at least. She probably will. For now, she just doesn't know what to say.
She hears a thief's footsteps making their way up the stairs and then down the hall, towards her. She knows she only hears him because Remy lets her hear him. If he wanted, he could sneak into this room twenty different ways and she would have no idea until he was right on top of her.
The door cracks open and Remy slips inside, shutting the door just as silently as he opened it. Rogue peeks out at him from behind her blanket, feeling like a little kid waiting for storytime. Remy's face softens when he spots her.
Remy has two water bottles in his hands, and he sets them down on the bedside table when he reaches his side of the bed.
"Doin' okay?" He's wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt, and he looks soft and warm.
"Yeah." She reaches one hand out from below the blanket and makes grabby hands. "C'mere."
Remy tugs his shirt over his head and then slides his sweatpants and boxers down in one fluid motion. Ever since Rogue got control of her powers, unless she's feeling out of control, they usually sleep naked. A small little luxury they indulge in after so many years with barriers between them.
He slips under the covers and settles on his side next to her. Rogue stretches out her legs and scoots over, and he pulls her close, wraps his arms around her, and she does the same to him.
They lie there in comfortable silence for a while. Rogue tucks her head under Remy's chin, places her ear on his chest and listens to his heart beat, feels his chest rise and fall as he breathes.
There's a grandfather clock somewhere in the house, and its rhythmic ticking travels all the way to her ears. The rest of the house has gone silent, now, so everyone else must have retreated to their rooms as well.
Remy presses a kiss to her hair. "By the way," he says. "If your life is in danger, makin' me swear on our marriage ain't gonna work with me."
Rogue exhales a laugh through her nose. "You sayin' our marriage ain't the most important thing in the world, Mr. LeBeau?"
"I'm sayin' your life is the most important thing in the world to me, Mrs. LeBeau. Rather have an ex-wife than a dead wife."
Rogue doesn't know what to say. Remy always does this, says something so sweet and earnest that she's left speechless, floundering like a fish out of water.
"Okay," she finally says. It's all she can come up with. She presses a kiss to his skin, then lifts her head so she can look at him. "Noted."
She leans forward and captures his mouth in a kiss. They're both exhausted and she's half asleep already, so it's really nothing more than their lips pressed against each other. But still, it's nice. A reminder of how far they've come, that they can do this now. That they're both here.
"Let's get some sleep, hm?" Rogue says against his lips. "'fore anythin' else happens today."
Remy hums, sits up in bed so he can reach over and turn off the lamp on the bedside table. The room is bathed in darkness, and Remy returns to her arms quickly, tucks her back under his chin. He kisses her hair once more, and then he's still.
Rogue stays awake for a while, listening to his steady heartbeat. She thinks of a bright smile and a pale little body in a hospital gown.
Remy's breathing evens out, and Rogue lets the rise and fall of his chest rock her to sleep.