Remy looked at the ground, there wasn't much he could say now. The truth of it all was that he considered Magnus a friend. He was almost afraid that when Eric remembered everything, the friendship that they now shared would be lost. Magnus had a similar checkered past. Remy was trying to do the right thing, but it was so much harder than anything he had done before. Magnus had gone through that. Magnus had done a lot of terrible things, but he lived with them and Remy hoped that when he got his memory back maybe, just maybe, he could find out how Eric could live with it all. And maybe he could give Magnus back some of the life that he sacrificed through the years.

"The images that come to me are all the same. Death, horror, pain. My life has been so full of rage and terror and death it's a wonder to me that I haven't choked on it." A bitterness that had recently been absent in Eric's voice crept back in. "What sort of life have I led? What is my legacy? Those people in South America fled in terror when my power flared. They screamed the name Magneto and fled. I am Magneto. My name strikes fear into people. Why? Is it just because I'm a mutant or because I have created a legacy of terror? Tell me LeBeau, what good have I done?"

"Eric, I never knew you." Remy said softly. "All I knew was what I'd been told. All I knew were your acolytes. They took the worst of you and turned it into a philosophy. When I finally saw you it was because you had taken it upon yourself to protect yourself and the people who had sworn themselves to a cause you no longer believed in. I guess as far as good dat you've done...well, from what I understand, you've always tried to find a better way. You tried your path, you tried Xavier's path." Remy shook his head. "Neither of them seemed to work so you just left, and hoped to create a place where mutants could live without fear. We can't seem to live in peace, so maybe if we just found a place to live on our own it would work out."

"We can't live in peace Remy. We never could before. It's a useless dream and one that I can't be a part of." He turned and found Xavier looking at him a harsh look on his face.

"Hello Eric." Charles sent a look Remy's way that was obviously disapproving.

"Charles." Magnus looked down at the other man. "Still hoping to convert me to your cause?"

"I'll never give up on you Eric. You believed once, I think you can believe again."

Eric shook his head. "You are blind as you ever were, Charles! I tried your path and it didn't work! I'm not like you, I've had the horrors of the world shoved down my throat since day one! The only dream I can believe in is that we can stop the world from getting any worse!"

"And you are as stubborn as you ever were. You continue to use your past as an excuse! The dream is worth fighting for. Why can't you see that?" Xavier's voice rose.

Magnus knelt down next to Xavier's chair. "Don't you dare tell me my past is an excuse. You never had to suffer as I've suffered. Of course we all know yours was hardly a fairy tale childhood but at least you didn't live a nightmare. When you have clawed your way out of a pit full of the corpses of your family then you can tell me I use that as an excuse. But don't sit there and lord over me as if we didn't know better! This world is a mass of hatred. It was there before mutants and it would be there even if the world were inhabited only by mutants. We will always find a reason to destroy each other Charles. Do not kid yourself. What is left to us? Damage control! We can't fix fear and hatred, we can only hope to contain it. That's the truth, Charles, so do NOT preach to ME!"

"I thought I had made it clear that Magnus was to be contained," Xavier was looking out the window of his office. Scott and Ororo were standing behind him.

"He deserved to get out in the open again - " Scott began.

"Because you didn't follow my orders, he had regained his memories and seems to be as against our dream as he ever was. I can't begin to tell you how damaging that is to our work."

Ororo pursed her lips together, feeling anger well up within her. "Not everyone will agree with you Charles. Maybe if you let him regain his memories gradually he will see them in a different light. Remy says that -"

"Gambit I'm sure has been involved in this fiasco from the very beginning. You should have realized he was the biggest threat and acted accordingly."

Ororo's cold silence spoke volumes. "Remy was right! Magnus worked by our sides and he deserves far more than to be treated as a prisoner. He came to us for help! He didn't know where else to go and we are supposed to keep his life from him? How many of our own number have been manipulated in such a way? Jean, Elisabeth, Warren..they've all had their lives stolen from them and we have all been furious with those responsible, and we have condemned them for their actions. But it's okay if we do it? No. We are supposed to be better than that. I for one will certainly not take part in this farce any longer!" Ororo turned on her heel and walked out.

"Sir.." Scott began.

"If you don't mind, Scott," Charles' voice was weary. "I think I need a moment to myself."

"What is it about this house that there are never any clean dishes?!" Jean complained. "Someone call Forge and ask him if he's got any self- cleaning dishes in the works."

"What you need, Jeannie?" Logan flicked off the cap of a bottle of beer.

"I need a knife. A clean one."

SCHLUCK! "Here y'go." Logan took a quick slice and his bone claws sliced through the sandwich on the counter.

Jean had a slightly green look. "Thanks, Logan, suddenly I'm not hungry any more."

"Problem?" He grinned at her.

"Clean knife does not normally include Logan's claws. I don't know where they've been now do I? And popping out of your hand like that doesn't make me think it's as clean as I'd like." She smiled, "Maybe it's just me."

"Think so," Logan held his arm out. "Those claws are as clean as they'll ever be."

A hand clamped down on his wrist. "Oh my God," Eric voice was hoarse. He pulled Logan's arm up and stared with a horror-struck look on his face. "Logan.." he rasped. "What did I do?"

A growl deep within Logan escaped him as he recalled every painful moment from the battle on Avalon. "Take a good look Magnus." He spat.

"No.." Eric shook his head. "I couldn't have. No!! Not..this..what have I done?!"

"Tore my life apart is what you did, Magnus. Tore ME apart!!" His face a mask of rage.

"Stop it!! Both 'a you!" Remy forced himself between Eric and Logan. Eric let go of Logan's arm mechanically and moved back a few steps. Remy kept an arm against Logan's chest. "You come to grips wit' it already Logan."

Logan didn't take his eyes off of Magnus. "Yeah, I came to grips with what was done. I haven't come to grips with the man who did it!"

"Logan don't!" Jean's voice was commanding, she moved to the other side of Logan. "It won't do any good. You know that."

"Yeah, I know it," he growled. "But it'll make me feel better."

"Just stop it." Her eyes were fierce.

"I remember. You all came to Avalon to stop me. You were all there." Eric gestured about the room to Logan, Jean and Remy. "And you!" He pointed to Jean. "You and Charles shoved every dark period of my life down my throat. I attacked Logan and Charles...Charles took it all away. He took EVERYTHING!"

He had been kidding himself. Charles knew that his plan for Magnus was doomed from conception. Magnus had an indomitable will. He was destined to reclaim his life. And he was equally destined to walk his own road. Charles admired him greatly, Magnus had at least had the courage to try a different way.

Charles couldn't do it.

Maybe his own dream was doomed for that very reason. He was unwilling to alter it. Unwilling to see how he could make it better.

Maybe it was time to start over again.

Remy found Magnus at the bottom of the entranceway steps. He was uncertain as to whether he should approach him. He wasn't quite sure whether or not Magnus hated them all now for what had happened in Avalon.

Not that he would have blamed him, one way or the other. It was certainly a harsh reality to wake up to. To suddenly realize that the people who had been caring for you may have been the ones responsible for the loss of memory and all the troubles it caused in the first place.

Remy figured that if he were in Magnus' shoes he would be pretty unreasonable about now. But Eric wasn't Remy. He was older and much wiser. He turned as Remy approached and just looked at the younger man with a peculiar expression. "How's Logan?"

Remy nodded. "Calm again."

Eric looked out towards the horizon. "It is time for me to go Remy. I can't be here any longer, there is too much animosity from a past I scarcely remember. I'm sure there is a way to make things better, but I suppose I'm just too much of a cynic to dream."

Remy nodded. "Cynicism I understand. I got dat all through me."

"I separated myself. I built citadels in the Anarctic. I lived in volcanoes and on asteroids. I hid in the Bermuda Triangle and I created my own Avalon. Perhaps it's time I set my feet on the rock and reacquainted myself with the world I was born to."

"Sounds good. I envy you."

"You've known pain as well, haven't you, LeBeau?"

"I ‘spect we all have." Remy looked away.

"What's the saying..Pain shared is pain lessened. Eric looked at Remy with a wry grin. "Besides, it never hurts to have someone watching your back."

It was an offer of friendship and maybe even the chance Remy needed to lay his own demons to rest. A grin started forming at the corner of his mouth. "Dey say dat." He looked into the sky. "Let me say good-bye to Stormy."

Finis

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Dandelion