Disclaimer: I own nothing. I am to a spiritual level beyond material possessions. Therefore, I must borrow everyone else's.

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Epilogue to November Rain: Darkness Rising

"Bloody Cajun!" Wisdom yelled and kicked a chair out of his way.

Essex, in a set of clean clothes with his black leather trench over his arm, waltzed back into the broken room. "There's no need to make an even bigger mess. He did what he was supposed to do, even if his girlfriend did cause more damage than I had expected. He forgot the file, but -"

Wisdom rolled his eyes. "'e got the fake file, boss."

The doctor stepped back in surprise. "I didn't see him take. .." Essex scanned the area where he had left the file. Not seeing the manila folder, he smiled. "Gambit is a good thief."

"Doctor . . ." Arclight hesitantly entered the room. "I. . . I didn't mean to let her get away. I went to give her the meds at the time you told me - "

Essex smiled and held up his hand. "You did exactly as I asked. Good job, Arclight."

The bulky woman scrunched up her face in confusion. "You wanted her to escape?"

The doctor nodded. "I had hoped she'd do it in a less destructive manner, but I did want her back at Xavier's. I knew we wouldn't be able to keep her here long. Someone would come looking eventually. So I did what I needed to do to set the plan in motion: accelerated the activation of her latent genes and an extra little surprise for later."

The lanky, purple Gorgeous George piped up, "But I thought activating mutations in one shot was dangerous, like pissing off Scrambler."

"Yes. Another good reason I wanted her at Xavier's. Let the high and mighty deal with it when her powers go haywire."

Movement outside the giant hole in the wall caught Essex's eye. He turned back to his minions. "It's late. This mess can wait until morning."

As the last of the three filed out into the office, Essex called, "Wisdom, help Vertigo to bed. Tell her I'll make it up to her for the unscheduled rough-housing. She can have that new AA she's been eyeing. Oh, and thanks for the redesign on the coat." Essex put his arms through the leather trench. All the material below the shoulders was shredded. "It's much more me now."

Wisdom flipped him off and left.

Once the office door shut, Essex's smile left his face. "What do you want, Mesmero? You know it's not time yet. You haven't even gotten past the second door."

The tattooed slave stepped into the wrecked room. "I still do not agree with you developing your own force. Master would not like that."

Essex raised an eyebrow. "He didn't object to you using other people's teams to fetch the first key. And aren't you planning on using them again to unlock the second door?"

Mesmero's lips formed a thin line, but he did not speak. "Where is the thief?"

The doctor motioned toward the hole in the wall. "You're too late. He left."

The slave fumed. "You were supposed to stall him until I could get here!"

Essex gestured around the room. "The night didn't quite go as planned."

"I need him to open the second door!"

Picking up some papers off the floor, Essex replied calmly, "I still don't think that's a good idea. He works for Magneto now."

"My plan worked out perfectly until you could not keep him here long enough! How am I to find him now?"

Essex rolled his eyes and righted a chair to sit in. "He went to Xavier's. If you find a faster mode of transportation than you used to get here, you might still catch him."

Mesmero left without another word. Essex ground his teeth and rued the day he met Mesmero and his master Apocalypse.

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Once Rogue's breathing became deep and regular, Remy spoke out into the forest. "She's asleep. Ya gonna gut me now?"

Logan stepped out of the shadows with a blanket. "Hand her over, Gumbo. Keep your jacket. I'll put her to bed."

Picking up Rogue's file off the ground he handed it to Logan. "Dat's hers."

Never one to pry into the secrets of others, Logan merely nodded, tucking it away safely.

Remy gently picked up the girl and passed her off to Logan. "Go easy on her. She went t'rough a lot today."

The X-Man wrapped the girl securly in the blanket. He held his breath as she stirred but she didn't wake. Satisfied that she was still asleep, Logan sent Remy an icy stare. "I'm never gonna get rid of you, am I?"

As he slid into his still warm trench coat, Remy smirked. "Doesn' look like it."

"Let's get this straight: I don't trust you, never gonna. I wish that I could be done with you right now, but if I gut you, it'll hurt Rogue. The last thing I need is to make the girl cry or something. So you get to live." Logan headed toward the main gate. As he walked away he called back, "Don't ever go off alone again like you did tonight to be some knight in rusting armor. That happens again, you call me. Can't have you dyin' because you're a cocky idiot."

"You really don' like cryin' girls, do you?"

"Let that be a warning if you ever make Stripes cry."

Remy mock-saluted the X-Man. "Got it, Wolvie."

He watched the two disappear beyond the Institute gate, not noticing the pair of glowing eyes on the tattooed face behind him.

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A/N: How do you like that? Essex spends WAY too much time planning.

This story is complete. The "uncut" episodes of "Self-Possessed" and "Under Lock & Key" fit much better with the tone of the next story so they are going there. Stay tuned for There is a Light that Never Goes Out. Goldylokz, signing off :)