A/N: All recognisable characters and places belong to the appropriate parties and not me obvs set in the magical non canon compliant time/universe where my favourite x men all live in the mansion together. This has definitely been done before but eh I'll add to the other de-ageing fics out there.

All feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated.

Childs Play

The battle was done and the X Men were the clear victors. No one had been seriously injured and no civilians had come to any harm. There was just one problem. The villain they had been fighting was a magic user/inventor and seemed to have a bizarre sense of humour. He had claimed to have invented a 'de-aging' ray. Apparently it regressed anyone to whatever age he had the beam set to. The person affected would supposedly have no memories after that age and would be exactly as they were. As the mad man had spouted this diatribe Logan had snuck up behind him and managed to claw him before the cowardly villain had teleported away. Unfortunately when the man had been clawed by the deadly Wolverine he had shot off his weapon causing the aforementioned problem. The ray had hit the X man Gambit and now where the once adult thief had stood there was a small auburn haired child huddled in the too large adult sized clothes the prized trench coat crumpled on the floor. The boy clutched the over sized shirt to himself as he looked around at his team with his distinctive eyes wide and confused.

The gathered X Men looked at each other and you didn't need to be a telepath to hear the collective 'oh shit' that they were all thinking. It was a moment before any one said anything; the stunned silence was broken by Jean. The redhead approached the boy carefully hoping that the man they had fought had been wrong when he had said those affected wouldn't remember their adult life. "Remy? Are you ok?" he flinched away from her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "How you know mah name? Where am I?" the telepath sighed internally. Perfect, just what they needed.

Logan considered himself a man of the world. He had seen and experienced a great many things, granted he couldn't always remember them but none the less he knew a thing or two about a thing or two. However, never had he ever seen anything like this. One moment the Cajun had been stood there his usual cocky self laughing along with the rest of them at the very idea of a de-aging ray. Sure they knew some magic users could do such things but some random nut that knew a few spells and could work a wrench? He didn't think so. Now his drinking buddy was a scrawny little kid who they had had to wrestle into the jet to get back to the mansion. The scrappy boy had spit and sworn until jean had gently prompted his mind into falling asleep. At this very moment he was down in the med lab being looked over by Hank. After changing out of his X Man uniform he made his way to kitchen to grab a beer and find out what was being done about the Remy situation. When he entered the others were talking. Scott leaned against the counter sipping from a mug. Warren and Betsy were seated next to each other at the table across from Bobby. Cyclops was speaking, "I really hope there's something we can do to reverse soon. I mean Remy's bad enough usually I can only imagine what a terror he was as a child. Once he gets over the initial shock and fear I bet he'll be worse than Bobby." The iceman gave an indignant squawk at that, "hey! No one's worse than me, I mean, that is I am the reigning prank king and no shrunken Cajun is gonna steal my crown." Logan smacked the back of iceman's head as he made for the fridge, "shut it popsicle, this is serious."

Hank McCoy surveyed the young boy before him, physically he was ok apart from being slightly underweight and a rather impressive black eye which Hank assumed his Cajun friend had gained in the battle. He only gave the child a cursory exam leaving the too large clothes on his small frame. He did not want the boy waking up to a seeming stranger undressing him, the fact that he was blue and furry would be bad enough. Children generally either loved his appearance or were terrified by it. The doctor turned to the worried looking Storm and Jean. "Well, he seems unharmed physically but when he wakes he will no doubt be extremely stressed. He's a young child who one moment was most likely at home then the next in the midst of a fight between the X M en and a lunatic. Perhaps we should see if we can get his father to come here, it may put Remy at ease some." The women nodded in agreement anyone who had heard Gambit speak of his father knew that he loved him deeply although he was adopted it didn't seem to be issue. Ororo spoke up, "how old would you say he is Hank?" the blue scientist pondered this as he watched the stirring Remy, "hmm, I'd say possibly eight or nine years old." He managed to say before the young thief's eyes flew open and he leapt up off the bed.