Her mind wandered back to a time when she wanted with all her heart to know what was causing Remy the fear that was in turn driving her insane. She had brought the walls of the old theater down because not knowing what he did was hurting her so much. Now she knew, and she wished whole heartily not to.

The memory was too clear now, it made too much sense. Remy's memory pounded inside her mind as the rain pounded against the windows...violently... endlessly... mercilessly. The memory gripped her, the horror caused her to shiver.

Ah got to face it. Gently she closed her eyes, still clutching the sheets of her bed and her pillow. Her body grow still, darkness surrounded her, people seemed just to flash by her, she could feel his heart pounding, she could feel his stomach turning, she could feel the terror in his heart as he saw the blood on his hands. This would be the one nightmare she would never forget.

Meanwhile, alone in her attic room, Ororo had a bad dream of her own. She stood in a peaceful meadow, it went on forever in all directions. The green grass covered the ground not leaving one barren patch of land. The sun danced happily in the sky, shinning down its warmth to the world. It was paradise... until the landscape became riddled with the bodies of slain Morlocks. In an instant the land became scorched and lifeless, the winds blew dust upon the bodies. Darkness had conquered the day, engulfing the world, blocking out the joy and hope that the day had had. Yet there was a light, in the midst of the dead, two scarlet flames burning bright.

Storm awoke with a jerk, her heart pounding against her rib cage trying to break free. Remy? I cannot believe it. The winds lifted her off her still made bed over to the window. "Hail... Lightning... Snow! May my emotions be released with the elements!" She twirled her fingers and the sky let loose its fury. "As they disperse from the sky may my anger disperse from me, and as they plummeted to earth at an extraordinary speed, may a clear and peaceful mind return to me."

She looked on at the carnage she was inflicting before her. The sky flashed endlessly and tiny craters were beginning to form, only to be filled in with snow. The snow blew unrelentlessly against the house. She could hear the shattering of glass as hail collided against the walls. This is not making me feel much better. All it did was brake a window and give mental brake downs to those in charge of the Weather Channel. I have to stop torturing them...

She wheeled around and took one step and shook her head, "Why do you always have to make things difficult, Remy?"

"Wat de hell is dis?" Remy scurried across the roof as hail the size of golf balls suddenly fell from the sky. "And I 'drought my problem was wid de cold?" He pulled his jacket up to protect his head, didn't need a black eye or more importantly, a concussion at the moment. He tried to curl up the best he could, while still keeping his balance, to protect himself from nature's onslaught.

He felt a growing pain in his back and realized he had been hit. Not a fatal fall, probably just break a few bones... like my back, my neck, all my ribs, good chance for my legs, at least one of my shoulders, and my skull... Suddenly the sliding stopped. Must have gone unconscious or some'din' like dat. Didn' even feel de impact. Opening his red eyes he found himself holding on to the chimney.

Joseph stared vacantly at the loading computer screen. All of this Shi're technology and it takes five minutes to enter into Windows? A cold glare started to emerge on his face as he tapped his fingers on the computer desk. "Lemmings is just not worth this. Maybe I can just read something from DOS. Someone in this house had to have written a story." He slowly typed in the commands and the whole C drive directory appeared on the screen. "What are they saving? 'Cooking with pretzels'? 'Pencils: Friend or Foe'? What is this?" He scratched his head as he continued, " 'Pictures of Leonardo DeCapprio'? Oh no... not him... anybody but him. There must be something of intress here... 'Does saving to the C-drive cost you your soul?' I hope not, there would be an X-Man running around without a soul if that were the case. Well Gambit..." He rubbed his temples trying to comprehend why the mighty X-Men would save any of this, it boggled his mind. "I guess there isn't anything here... wait what is this? 'How to defeat Magneto... Last accessed...' three years ago? I was running a so to speak muck last year! Why wouldn't they look in that file then?" He pushed out his seat and looked in both directions for anybody coming. Quietly, he put a floppy disk in and transferred the file there. "There is no need for them to have this." He placed the disk into his pocket and got up to leave the room flicking his fingers letting the computer shut itself down.

"Maybe I'll go see how Rogue is doing. I think she could use the company." He walked peacefully down the hallway and knocked upon Rogue's door. Waiting a moment he knocked again. She must be sleeping. He opened the door only a sliver and peaked inside. She's probably peacefully lying there, head resting comfortably, sheets gently covering her...

As he peered in he heard Rogue mumbling something in her sleep. He couldn't tell exactly what it was but it wasn't something that someone "peacefully lying" would say, there was a sense of urgency in it. He looked in and saw her clasping her sheets, tossing and turning.

Joseph swung open the door and pulled Rogue into his arms. "Wake up Rogue, wake up..." he rubbed her back trying to get her awake, "you're having a nightmare, wake up." Rogue started to stir, still speaking to herself. He tenderly nudged her and her eyes flared open, not knowing where she was or who was holding her. She struggled for a moment to get free, still believing that this was part of the dream. "It's okay Rogue, it's just me. You were dreaming."

She looked up at him and let the sheet fall back to her bed. Instantly, she wrapped her arms around him and tried to calm dowm. "It was horrible...."

"It's okay now, it was only a dream..."

"But Joseph it wasn't. It happened." She looked into Joseph's blue eyes, a slight bit of confusion had settled into them...confusion, not to mention concern.

"What do you mean? Tell me."

"Ah relived the massacre through Remy's eyes..." As she spoke he brought her all the more closer. He knew that she was afraid, he could feel her heart pounding, he could feel her still breathing heavily. He whispered gentle words into her ears as he brought her head to his chest. "Ah saw everything he saw, felt everything he felt...it was too much...Ah..." A single tear fell down Rogue's cheek and was quickly brushed away with a tender touch. Joseph lovingly rocked her in effort to soothe her racing heart.

"It's okay. I won't let anything hurt you, be it your memories, 'the Friends of Humanity,' evil space aliens from a planet far, far away, I won't let anything hurt you." He tenderly lifted her chin to gaze deeply into her timid green eyes. "I can't let them hurt you, then I wouldn't be able to see your beautiful smile..." A tiny smile snuck onto her face. "That's better. It's passed Rogue, whatever you saw and whatever you felt, it's passed. And if it caused you such distress that you can not take a nap, then I will not let it return." He took the sheet and wrapped it around Rogue's shoulders as if a royal robe and led her carefully to her back. Without a second thought, Joseph took Rogue's hands into his own and said, "Rest."

Why do you continually do stupid things in which I have to wonder if I should support you or not? Ororo paced across the aged wood floor, creaking beneath her. As her foot landed she could almost hear Remy saying not to creak the floor. She could hear him say that since she was a thief she should be able to walk the length of the attic without making one sound. She rose one inch off the ground and smirked but quickly that small smile turned upside down.

What am I going to do with you, Remy? Less than an hour before she had been quite certain that she was on Remy's side, but now it seemed that she was doubting her faith. She couldn't see her friend involved with any sort of killing, except for people who deserved it: Sabretooth, Sinister, Kathie Lee, but not innocent people. She tried and tried but the image wouldn't register, the closest she could do was him standing in the midst of it, maybe with blood splashed on him, not actually killing anybody. She knew him too well.

But did anybody actually know the Cajun? Or did they just think they did?

Frustration began to set in for poor, stressed out Ororo, it hadn't been a very good day for her at all. Maybe I need to talk to someone...I definitely need to talk to someone about this. She walked to her door and stopped dead. Who am I going to talk to? Usually when I have a situation like this I go to Remy! Who can I possibly...

"How de hell did I fall onto de chimney? I should a fallen down not up!" Remy looked about to see if it were some kind of trick his mind was playing on him. Maybe he had hit so hard that he had developed brain damage and that's why he had broken almost all the laws of Physics instantly. "At least de hail stopped, just need de snow to stop now." He tried to clear a spot to sit down but the snow was falling all the faster. "Forget it, I'm gettin' down. Not goin' inside , just gettin' down."

A soft knock fell upon the wood of Wolverine's door. A normal person wouldn't have even have heard the knock, but Wolverine wasn't normal. He was a mutant and even to them...he wasn't normal. "Who's there?"

"Ororo, can I come in, or are you busy?"

"Not do anythin' 'Ro, come on in."

"Are you sure? I do not want to walk in and see you skinning some poor defenseless animal again."

"Don't worry, can't do that anymore, Chuck says it'll stain the floors."

When was the last time he listened to Chuc...Charles? Ororo, still cautious, pushed open the door and to her relief saw no stray animal inside. To her surprise she saw him reading some book, he put it away to quickly for her to see the title.

"So 'Ro, why the visit?"

"I need to talk to someone."

"About what?"

"About what happened today involving Gambit."

"Surprise, surprise, how'd I know you'd need to talk about this one," Wolverine was tempted to smile but decided it unwise. He had a pretty good idea why she needed to talk. "Darlin' you doubting your faith in the Cajun?"

"I...well... um...yes. He admits to participating in it, how can I not?"

"Listen, let's just say there's a big old van with maybe nine people in it. Seven of them are gathered 'round the driver and the other one's in the back reading a comic book. The eight in the front decide to hit someone and they do. Is the kid reading the comic in the van?" Storm nodded. "Is he as guilty as everyone else in the van for hitting that person?"

"No, he did not do anything. The others planned it without his knowledge."

"The Cajun's the one reading the comic. He was at the massacre sure, but he didn't kill anybody there. The others did."

"We are not talking about a hit and run, we are talking about a massacre of the people that I was suppose to protect!"

Wolverine stood up and looked at her. She seemed the exact opposite of her usual self, calm, peaceful, and sensible. At the moment she seemed agitated, turbulent, and irrational. He firmly grabbed her arm. "Sit down." She, after a moment's hesitation obliged. "The gumbo ain't no boy scout, Scott is, Scott's definitely a boy scout, but the gumbo's not. He's also not a cold- blooded killer. He may be a lot of things, but a killer isn't one of them."

"How do you know that Logan?"

" 'Cause it's not in his programming. Takes a special kind of man to snap out the lights in another person's eyes. The Cajun's just ain't got that mind set. Sure he can take someone down if they attack him or anybody he cares about but he can't get up one day and say 'You know, I want to shoot some rounds into some stranger's head.' He just can't"

"I suppose..."

"The gumbo's feels bad enough and he didn't even do anything, why condemn him any further. He's doing a good job of that himself. So are you going to stand up for him when we make the final decision?"

"I do not believe I should. It would be impossible to remain impartial."

"Darlin' no one's goin' to be impartial. You might be the most impartial one in there. Anyone who wanted the Cajun out but didn't have any reason now got one, and if this goin' to be voted then that's how they're goin' to vote. Not very impartial is it, 'Ro?"

"I suppose so not. He really did not do anything, did he?"

"Didn't even know he was in those tunnels 'til today."

"Thank you, Logan I needed this."

If Charles's legs were not paralyzed he would have been pacing, but hovering back and forth would have to do. He knew in a short while that something unheard of was going to take place; they were going to decide if an X-Man should be exiled from the team or not. He lowed his head in quiet prayer, hoping his students would be some what fair with this matter. He hoped that they took this time to really think everything through, not just to watch TV and wait until the decision would be made. He knew that the time was approaching.

As soon as he sent the message for his students to gather, the time would have come. The decision would have to be made then. Remy LeBeau may not be his favorite student, but he had risked his life for the X-Men and in doing so proved that he was one. He had least deserved a fair trial. The X-Men were about redemption, wouldn't they?

"Logan is right. No matter how I feel about what Gambit did I must stand beside him. He is my friend and none of this was his fault. If he had not been there this horrible event still would have occurred, more may have even died! Even though it is quite easy for me to blame him for all of this and make him the sacrificial scapegoat I will not. I am more mature than that. Those are the actions of a child." Storm floated through the hallway wondering when the time would come for the decision. Why are we not just getting this over with? It wasn't that she wanted the moment of truth to come, it was quite the opposite, she didn't want it to come at all but she knew that that was impossible. She also knew how the rest of the team were going to vote and that only made her worry more for her friend. Where are you now Remy? You should be here.

"How'd I get up here in de first place?" Remy looked down the side of the house where he clearly remembered getting to the roof from. At one time there might have been a ladder or something that he had pulled himself onto the roof with but it wasn't there now, nearly everything had been covered with snow. "Dis is great! No way down!"

Remy waded across the roof for a couple of laps trying to think. I need to get down! He was starting to get rather cold standing in the snow. Maybe I can shimmy down de gutter... non, snap in two, Jubes did dat once. ummmmmm...I can take my jacket, hold over my head, and use it as a parachute...no dat just stupid! I could flap my arms real fast...dat even stupider than the jacket idea... Suddenly with the corner of his eye he noticed a decently sized snow bank directly below the roof's edge. I could jump into dat, it would brake my fall... gonna have to do, dere no better way.

He looked down at the snow pile and closed his eyes. Am I really goin' to do dis? With a simple nod he took one step and went plummeting.

Seconds later the snow had lightly covered him. I'm alive? He slowly opened his red eyes and looked around. Guess so. With some struggle he had climbed his way out of the snow bank and made his way to the kitchen window. All he did was somberly looked in...

Joseph watched Rogue's sleeping form with a smile on his face. There. Peacefully lying, her head rested comfortably, sheets gently covering her... He still held her hand, he had not pulled away, he still held them. Knowing that she was scared would not permit him to let them go. "Soon Rogue, soon," he whispered as she still slept, unaware of him, "Soon all of this is going to go full swing and... we will finally be allowed to be happy, not interrupted by other matters, I'll make sure of it." He kissed her tenderly on the forehead making sure not to wake her, he knew that she needed her rest.

X-Men please come to the kitchen, I think it is time to... come to...an agreement on...certain matters.

Joseph shook his head, "If I knew Charles was going to say that, right then, in all of our minds, that loudly, I wouldn't have worried about waking Rogue...oh well."

Rogue slowly began to stir and Joseph pulled her close and kissed her, this time on the lips like he wanted to do before. She smiled and pulled herself up to sit beside him. She didn't want to go downstairs and cast judgment. She knew how he felt and she knew he was sorry for what he had done.

"Are you ready, Rogue?"

"No."

"You have to come down and decide."

"Ah know, Ah'm just not ready."

"I love you, Rogue. That will not change no matter what you pick, I just hope though, you do what is right..."

"Ah will Joseph... Ah'll try anyway."

"Dere dey are, all filing in. Don' know why Warren hanging upside down on de ceiling but dere a story to dat, one dat I truly do want to hear but dat ain't gonna be happenin'. Ol' Claws probably be de only one who vote for me...everybody else decide I'm guilty. Guess it over, bye Wolverine, bye Storm, I'll miss you even if you probably hate me now," Remy lowered his eyes to the white ground, a single tear fell from his eye, "Bye Roguie, I miss you most of all but you be happy wid...Mag....Joe.... him. I love you." He turned and walked a little bit only to look back and realize that this is the second family he can never go back to. "I need a good stiff drink..."

Charles bit his lip as he watched his beloved students fill in all the chairs, a feeling of regret entered his heart, regret that he had to be the one that said that it was time to do this, regret that he had to be the one to organize this. He sensed something about to happen, something was going to fall apart in a few moments.

"My students we are faced with a difficult decision, we must decide what to do with Gambit. He is guilty of being involved in the Morlock Massacre that isn't being disgusted, the issue is should be remain an X-Man or not. If he should remain an X-Man say, 'stay' if he should be forced to go say, 'leave.' I will be remaining impartial and undecided, you are the jury of his peers, I hope you have thought about this." Charles really didn't want to be witness to this, but he had no choice, he had to ask them. "Joseph?"

"Leave."

"Henry?"

"Knowing that charge that we are disgusting is genuine and knowing the appalling nature of the crime I must say... leave."

Charles looked down but contuied, "Logan?"

"The gumbo didn't do anything. Stay."

"Jean?"

Looking dead at Psylocke, "Others in this room have committed worse offenses. Stay."

"Scott?"

Scott's eyes looked up at his wife and in the meekest of voices, "Stay."

"Bishop?"

"Leave."

"Betsy?"

"Leave."

"Warren?"

"Like Betsy said, leave."

"Ororo?"

"Lea....stay! Remy is still an X-Man no matter what stupid thing he has done."

Charles looked around for a moment and a confused look appeared on his face. "Where's Bobby?"

"I suppose he didn't show up." Joseph replied.

"The walking ice cube is the smartest person in this house. Gotta give him credit for that." Wolverine quietly eased over to Storm to grab her, just in case this didn't work out the way that she would want it. They didn't need more unusual weather today.

"Rogue it's up to you then. You can either tie the sides and we would not be able to act until a later dat or you can exile Gambit from the X-Men." Charles hovered over to her and placed his hand upon her tense shoulder, "Take a few minutes to decide, you are in a difficult position."