“Rogue!” Remy shouted.
Looking back once to make sure Jess was no longer a threat, he raced over to
Rogue and the two men. Violently, Rogue shook the men off of her, tossing one
through a window and the other into a booth, breaking it into several pieces.
For an instant she silently scolded herself for throwing them too hard, but
then “they” took her over. Memories that were not hers surged through her mind.
“Oh...my…God!” Clutching
her head in her hands Rogue shot up into the air and through the diner’s roof.
Shards of the ceiling fell
around Remy. He leapt away just as the largest piece of wood landed where he
was standing a split-second before.
“Guess dat’s Rogue’s way o’
tellin’ me it’s time ta go…”
With a last glance around
at the patrons of Roy’s, Remy leapt through the broken window and went running
in the direction he thought Rogue might go.
Blinded by concern for the
woman he loves, Remy LeBeau did not notice the young woman sitting calmly and
quietly in the corner. Nor did he notice how she watched the all the events
that just unfolded with intense awareness. Neither did the young X-Man notice
the evil smile spreading across her face when she realized that her plan would
soon be put into action and her quest for revenge satisfied.
He searched for her
everywhere, taking special care not to be seen by the patrolling law
enforcement.
“Damnit!” he murmured to
himself ducking into an ally as another cop car rolled by, “Dis is just what de
X-Men need. Talk about your bad publicity…Ah, Chere. Where you at, girl? I know
you gotta be in some serious pain. Lord only knows how screwed up your head is
right now. Just hope I find you ‘fore any o’ dese mutie-haters do.”
After almost two hours of
searching, it became clear to Gambit that he needed the others’ help to find
her; or at least Wolverine and his tracking senses. He left the town without
being seen and began the hike up the mountain to the cabin. He figured once he
got within range of Elizabeth’s telepathy, he could call her for help.
“Fuckin’ rednecks,” he spit
out, thinking of Rogue hiding somewhere alone, scared and confused, “I outta go
back and---”
Remy suddenly became aware
of another person nearby. Then he heard her sobbing.
“Rogue?”
Leaping over a fallen tree,
Remy searched the woods for her. His eyes came to rest on her quivering back
almost immediately.
Slowly, he crept slowly over to her, but he made no
effort to be quiet. He wanted her to hear him. He had no intention of sneaking
up on her, scaring her, and have her flying away again. He cleared his throat
loudly. She jumped up and turned to him, alarm clearly evident in her eyes.
“ ’S okay, petit. It’s jus’ me. You alright, Rogue?” he
used his soothing voice in an attempt to relieve her of her fear.
“Gambit?” she croaked, her mind knowing him, though her
eyes – the eyes of the two men she had absorbed - had yet to recognize him.
“Oui, Chere. It’s me. Come on. I take you up to the
cabin to rest and we figure dis mess out.”
“No! You stay the hell away from me you filthy mutie!”
she screamed at him, then a split second later, “Ah’m sorry. I haven’t gotten
them completely under control yet.”
He nodded at her, “You
gonna be okay, girl?”
She shook her head, new tears forming in her eyes, “Ah
ain’t never done that before. Never two at once. Ah thought mah mind was gonna
explode from the overload.”
Again he nodded, “What do you want to do? We cain’t
stay here fo’ long. De cops are bound to start searchin’ de woods sooner or
later. We need to get to the ot’ers.”
“Okay…Remy?”
“Yea, Chere?”
“Are they okay? The two men, Ah mean.”
“Dey jus’ fine. I’m sure dat right now dey are getting’
de best medical treatment available. Don’ concern yo’self wit’ dem, Rogue. We
need ta worry ‘bout you now.”
Gambit extended his hand to her. Slowly she took it. He
pulled her into his strong arms and held her close, carefully avoiding skin
contact, stroking her tangled hair and murmuring Cajun endearments in her ear.
They stood like that for several minutes while Rogue cried out the remainder of
her tears.
After a few moments, she pulled back to look up at him,
“Ah want ta go back to the cabin and take a nice, long, hot shower and then Ah
want ta go ta bed.”
“Shouldn’t we get you back to de mansion, Chere? The
Professor needs ta know ‘bout dis. What if you have some kinda lasting
effects?”
“Tomorrow, Remy. Please? Ah just need to rest right
now.”
He sighed loudly, “Okay…but
if you start to feel like somet’in’s not right, promise you’ll tell me?”
“Promise, Remy,” She almost smiled, “Can we go now? We
got a long walk.”
“Walk?”
“Yea,” she looked embarrassed, “Ah ain’t quite up ta
flyin’ yet.”
“Okay den. Let’s go.”
“Remy?”
“Hmm?” he answered her as the cabin came into their
sight.
“Could we, uh…Do we have to tell ev’ryone ‘bout this
tonight? I mean, cain’t we just wait ‘til tomorrow. I don’t fell up ta dealin’
with it tonight, especially from Logan.”
“Okay,” he agreed after a moment of deliberation.
They walked up
the steps to the front porch. Gambit opened the door and followed her in.
“ ’Bout time you two got back. Where are my cigars?”
“Oh. Um,” Rogue began.
“Yea, sorry ‘bout dat, Wolverine,” Gambit laughed,
“When we was flyin’ back up de mountain Rogue decided she wanted to show off a
little bit and do a little flippin’ an’ divin’ an’…I dropped ‘em.”
“Yer kiddin’ me.”
Remy shook his head.
“This ain’t funny Cajun.”
Remy smiled, “I
ain’t laughin’.”
Logan looked menacingly at both the young Southerners
before stomping out the front door muttering something about going to town to
get his damn cigars.
“Thanks, Rem.”
“Not a problem.”
“Whew!” Bobby came in the front door, “What the hell is
Wolverine’s problem?”
“We lost his cigars on de flight back.”
“Oooh, so I guess he’s not too happy with any of us
then. What took you guys so long?”
“A gentleman never tells, Robert,” Gambit smiled
mischievously.
“We were just checkin’ out the town is all, Sugah,”
Rogue laughed, “Where’s everyone else?”
“Trish and Hank are upstairs in their room. Opal’s in
our room, or I guess it’s her room…anyways, Kurt and Betsy went hiking up the
mountain, War is in the kitchen tying up some loose business ends and
apparently, Logan is on his way down the mountain to find himself a tobacco
fix.”
“Hmm. Well, I t’ink we’re gonna go unpack.”
“I’m just going to hang around down here with Warren.
Maybe watch TV or something. See you guys at dinner. Hank’s going to start
grilling around six o’clock.”
“Okay,” Rogue answered as the couple walked upstairs.
Once in Remy’s room, Rogue collapsed on the bed, “Well, Ah guess Ah’m gonna
have to go home tonight after all. Once Logan gets to town, he’ll figure out
what went down.”
“Well, if he t’inks you need to go home, Chere, den
it’s prob’ly for da best.”
“Ah was just lookin’ forward to this vacation so much!”
“I know Chere,” Remy smiled, “Why don’t you go take a
shower? It’ll make you feel better.”
“In a bit. Ah just wanna lay here a while.”