Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable, it all belongs to Marvel.
Author's Note: I am not following any particular comic series, and have changed various things about the history of the X-Men characters. If that bothers you, then this story isn't for you.
Summary: When the X-Men find a child on the streets of New York it leads an unexpected revelation.
His Reason
The X-Men had been called to an FOH rally in the city. It wasn't anything unusual and they were able to break it up before anyone was severely hurt. There wasn't even that much property damage, the FOH must not have been in the mood for a major fight that day. Or they simply hadn't expected the X-Men to show up.
They found the boy completely by accident, but the timing of the discovery suggested that it had been fated. They had been about to leave when a loud crash caught their attention. They had believed it was one of the FOH members still harassing a mutant that hadn't gotten away yet, so they followed the noise.
Logan saw him first as they accidentally blocked his escape out of the small alley that they heard the noise come from. The child was small, and fast. He ran from them the instant they blocked his path, unfortunately he had no other route of escape.
"Child, we mean you no harm," Storm regally tried to reassure him.
The boy tried to find refuge behind a large dumpster that none of the X-Men would ever be able to fit behind. Logan could hear him breathing in panic as he moved towards the dumpster. "Go away," they heard the small voice plead.
"We just want to help," Jean tried to reassure him.
The two women peaked around the dumpster surrounding the small boy and unintentionally increased his panic. "I don't have anything," he tried to assure them. "I didn't steal anything." He had attempted to crawl into the dumpster in search of food when the pile of items he was using to reach the opening fell. He knew he should have just gone hungry another night, but the ache in his starving stomach wouldn't allow it.
"Alright we move it," Cyclops ordered and motioned for Wolverine to grab the other end.
"No, Scott I'll do it," Jean suggested. Cyclops nodded and she lifted the dumpster with her telekinesis instead.
The boy ran, but Wolverine was much faster. "No, please," the child pleaded. "I don't have anything." His voice was small and he trembled fiercely in Logan's arms.
"We are just trying to help you," Storm informed him once again as he struggled in vain against Wolverine's hold.
"Let me go," he continued to panic, frightened tears rolling down his hollow cheeks.
"Sweetheart," Jean said gently as she stood beside him, "we aren't going to hurt you."
"That's what they all say," the boy informed her.
Jean looked up at Wolverine who shook his head. He didn't know what to do, kids weren't his thing. He wasn't even sure he should be holding this one against his will.
"Where are your parents?" Cyclops asked without approaching them.
"Don't have any," the boy replied. His dirty hair hung in his face as he tried to kick Wolverine with worn out sneakers that his toes poked through.
"If you would just come with us we can get you something to eat and a bed to sleep in, then we'll talk in the morning," Storm tried to convince him.
"Just let me go," the boy insisted.
"Cyke," Logan said trying to catch the leader's attention, "I ain't gonna hold him forever."
The boy had given up his struggles mostly due to exhaustion and they all noticed. "Will you come back with us please?" Jean asked him once again.
He didn't answer her.
"What's your name?" Storm asked him when he failed to reply.
He again remained silent and still in Logan's arms.
"Perhaps my brother can help when we return," Storm suggested.
"Please, will you come with us?" Jean asked him once again.
He nodded because he realized that he wouldn't be able to escape them. He knew that they would most likely take him whether he agreed or not.
They boarded the Blackbird without any further struggle and flew the short distance home to the mansion.
The Professor greeted them in the hanger and their young companion was asleep by the time they arrived. Hank stood beside Xavier with a gurney, he was already prepared to help the child. Cyclops exited the plane with the kid in his arms and placed him on the waiting gurney.
"Did you get his consent before he passed out?" Xavier asked worried.
"Of course Sir," Scott informed him.
The group followed closely behind Hank as he wheeled the gurney down to the medlab. Hank was able to do a brief exam before he awoke. Panic filled him when he realized he had no idea where he was and no hope of escaping all of them. He jumped off the gurney and hid in a corner when he wasn't able to find an easy exit. "Please don't hurt me," his small voice pleaded.
"Where's the Cajun?" Logan asked as he remembered Storm's suggestion, "maybe he could talk to the kid."
"Sweetheart, we are only trying to help you," Jean reassured with Storm by her side.
"Go find him Logan," Cyclops ordered.
"Why me?" Wolverine growled.
"Your suggestion," Cyclops informed him with a shrug.
"No it was Ro's," he corrected.
"She's busy," he countered.
Looking back towards the girls Logan realized that he was right.
"I have already asked Remy to help and he has declined," the Professor informed them with a frown.
"Well in that case Logan, bring him down here any way necessary," Scott ordered.
That made it a little more enjoyable for Logan, "Sure thing," he said with a smile.
Logan didn't receive a response when he knocked on Remy's door but he opened it anyways after a moment.
"We need your help kid," Logan told him without paying much attention to what Remy was doing.
"I already told the Professor, I can't help you," Remy informed him. He was seated on the windowsill smoking. He had gone through a whole pack of cigarettes since his conversation with the Professor only a short time ago.
"Can't or won't?" Logan asked angry. "They are two very different things kid," he insisted.
"Can't," Remy insisted while taking another drag from his cigarette.
"Storm's too busy taking care of a scared 10 year old to be up here convincing you to help," Logan informed him. "I've been told I can carry you down there if you won't cooperate," Logan explained. Logan was angry because he couldn't understand why Remy didn't want to help a kid.
"I can't help," he insisted again while looking out the open window that he was perched on. He had tried to keep his voice steady but was pretty sure that Logan would pick up on his nervousness.
"You were that kid once Gumbo, why won't you help him?" He tried not to sound angry because he undeniably noticed that Remy's previous answer had been broken by emotion. Now Logan was confused and determined to figure out what was wrong.
Remy was glad that his sunglasses were still on his face because it made it easier to hide how much Logan's words hurt him. He didn't want to have this conversation. The X-Men didn't need him; they'd do better with the kid downstairs without him.
"Remy," Logan said his name as he took a step closer to the younger mutant. "What's going on? I'm just asking you to help us figure out how you managed to trust your Pops when he took you in. You were what, eight?" the question was asked as a way to get Remy into the conversation.
It didn't work because Remy continued to stare out the window pretending to ignore Logan. He wasn't able to completely ignore the older man, but he seriously tried.
Logan was just about at his breaking point, he was angry that he had been sent up to get the Cajun, he was annoyed that Remy insisted on not helping and he was confused by his insistence that he couldn't help. He'd be dragging the kid's ass down to the medlab one way or another very soon. "You really want me to carry you over my shoulder kicking and screaming like some brat?" He asked Remy.
"No," Remy said the word quickly and looked back at Logan. "Tell them I can't help. I don't know how to help Logan."
"You're going to need to explain that a little better Cajun," Logan insisted. His patience was long gone, and Remy only had a few more seconds to give him a good answer before he executed his threat.
"I can't help him trust the X-Men," Remy insisted, he hoped that the answer would be good enough.
"I know you don't completely trust us kid, but this isn't about the X-Men. How did LeBeau convince you that he wanted to help you?"
Remy's hands trembled as he tried to light a new cigarette and the action didn't go unnoticed by Logan. He took several shaky breaths to steady himself before turning back to Logan. "He didn't," Remy admitted.
The admission shocked and confused Logan even more and he couldn't stop himself from asking, "what do you mean kid?"
"I made him up," Remy explained.
"Bullshit kid, you have enough stories about that family. . ."
"Oui, I always pretended that they were real. I made up stories about them by watchin other people. Needed to convince myself that there was something to keep livin for." Remy admitted uneasily. "Sometimes . . ." Remy started the thought but then abandoned it quickly. He was going to say, sometimes he even convinced himself that they were real, but he knew Logan wouldn't understand that. He would only see this as one more lie that Remy had told the X-Men.
Logan wasn't sure what to think. He stood still in the middle of Remy's room and was now unsure of what his next move should be. He didn't smell a lie so he was convinced that Remy was telling him the truth. The harshness of what he had just been told had never occurred to him. "How did you survive?" He asked.
Remy cringed, "like anyone on the streets survives." He wasn't going into details no matter what Logan said next.
Logan sat down in the chair by Remy's desk and absentmindedly ran a hand through his own hair. "Why not tell us the truth when you came here?" he asked.
"I meant to," Remy admitted. A long pause followed the short answer as he tried to form his next thoughts into an understandable sentence. He took a deep breath and once again faced Logan, "Someone asked who I was and Remy LeBeau slipped out," he admitted.
"What's your real name kid?" Logan asked.
"I don't think I have one," he admitted. "Maybe Remy's real," he added as an afterthought, "but I never had a real last name."
"I never smelled ya lying when you told me about your family," Logan admitted.
Remy's face twitched into a small, sad smile. That's because they were real to him.
"You've never trusted anyone have you kid?" Logan asked him.
Remy actually wished that he could agree with that statement, "made the mistake once," he admitted truthfully. He had tried to trust once and the disaster that his life became after that convinced him never to give anyone that power again. Why was he admitting all this to Logan?
"Alright," Logan stated which visibly confused Remy. "You've convinced me you can't help," Logan continued when he saw Remy's confusion.
The same sad smile graced Remy's face once again. He looked back out his window and nodded slowly.
"You can trust me kid," Logan stated as he rose from the chair.
That brought Remy's attention back to him but he remained quiet.
"I'm gonna tell them I couldn't find you," Logan informed him.
"They won't believe that," Remy countered.
"You can trust me kid," Logan repeated once again before walking out of Remy's room.