Aaaahhhh! I've been bitten by the Romy bug. I can't write anything else. Must finish other stories, but cannot concentrate...sigh. Oh well. This is a fic staring my favorite marvel couple, Rogue and Gambit. I felt inspired when searching through my CDs, looking for something, so its sort of an extended song fic. Or like an album fic...except they weren't on the same album. Maybe you could think of it as a fic with its own soundtrack...

ANYwho, thank you V. much to all the people who reviewed Strangers,in spite of my messy pasting job! As far as Strangers goes, I'm planning something...yuppers. Not sure what yet, but something. Some people mentioned them meeting at school. If anyone has any ideas/suggestions for a continuation of that story is free to email me (wouldn't you please? Eileenblzr@yahoo.com). Tell me what you'd like to see, so I can um, write it.

Please Read and Review!!!!




The Freedom Caper
By Eileen Blazer
January 2003

Prologue: What If I Never Knew You

He would lie down on his bed of straw, and Dorothy
would lie beside him and put her head on his soft,
shaggy mane, while they talked of their troubles and
tried to plan some way to escape
-The Wizard of Oz






The room was bare. Steel walls closed in on every side, making it a cage. There was little light, except for the soft glow that poured in through a small slit on the ceiling.

To the right, a young man leaned against one wall, his head drooped to in slumber, his arms cuffed at the wrist. The sound of his breath filled his tiny prison.

A girl, having slipping in though the door when no one was looking, crept closer to him, occassionally brushing away a tangle of red and white hair.

It wasn't fair, Rogue knew, that he should be confined while she walked free.

But then again, if life were fair, a lot of things would have been different. Still, Rogue disliked any implication, any suggestion, that she -or he- had been a victim of circumstance. Everyone got dealt a few bad cards, it was how well you recovered that made the difference.

Damn card analogies -been spendin' too much time with Remy, she thought, kneeling down. She carefully lifted his arms and dropped them back down around her.

As if he had heard his name in her thought, the warm lump beneath her moved, making her smile as she felt the familiar ripple of muscles under her gloved palms. Remy Le Beau: her personal pillow.

Rogue pulled back a bit, as much as the cuffs would allow, to stare at his face. Marvled at how angelic he looked. The impish grin had given way to a more innocent gape of the mouth, demon eyes hidden by two thickly fringed blankets. His auburn hair was tousled, and her fingers itched to run through it, like barefoot children in the dewey grass. Cuddling closer, Rogue snuck her head under his neck and sighed.

"Y' shouldn' be here, mon Chere," Came a gentle whisper. Her green eyes peeked open, meeting his own crimson pupils, and she smiled weakly.

"Ah didn't mean ta wake ya."

"But its a good t'ing y' did, non? Else y' might've stayed de night."

Rogue placed her palm on his cheek and shivered when he turned his head slightly and kissed it. "Ah ain't jus' gonna leave ya."

"Y' don' have t' be here, Roguey. Y' can go home an' be happy."

"Ah can't be, Remy. Not without ya."

"Y' were, once."

"Nevah."

Remy watched her, so beautiful, and thought of the girl he'd come to know quite well. The wild but gentle spirit. The kindred soul. If he could have, he might've broken free, stolen her all over again. Ran, until they couldn't be followed. But the time for running was over now. "Please, Chere? Try." He gave her his best pout. "Y' wouldn' deny a dyin' man, would y'?"

"Ya ain't dyin'."

"Dat's not true. I started dyin' when dey came an' took y' away."

"All the mo' reason fo' me ta stay."

The Cajun opened his mouth to protest but ended up squeezing her close to him. In the cold, barren cell, she was the only warm thing. "Dey gon' find y' here in de mornin'."

"Ah don't care."

"Dey not gon' look at y' de same." He laughed a little. "Dey gon' have all sorts of ideas."

"Let 'em.They're always goin' on and on 'bout justice an' integrity. Let 'em figure out how ta be fair and just ta us."

Remy stroked her back and nodded. "Y' right, Chere." That was nothing unusal. Her impulses, knowledge, and hunches had been their salvaton many times over.

"Why did we let 'em catch us? Why don't ya break out now? This time around we'll avoid 'em like the plague."

He licked his lips, thinking. "I 'tink we were tired o' movin' 'round all de time. Bein' alone. It be fun, if its jus' a game, but when y' start really feelin' 'tings, y' wan' tell everyone y' know. Y' hope dey be happy too."

"But they weren't."

"Some o' dem were. Kinda knew de 'ol magnet wasn' gon' let me off dat easily, d'ough. We can't run from dis, either. If we're gon' have a decent chance, we gotta face de music here first."

"He's not gonna hurt ya, Remy. Ah won't let him."

That was a sweet sentiment, he thought, as he whispered words of comfort to her in french. A moment later, he felt a dampness in his shirt, and frowned. "Are y' cryin'?"

"No."

He wanted to lift her chin up high, where it belonged, wipe away her worries, but his hands were tied -literally. He settled for trying to blow them dry. "Dere's no reason t'."

"How can ya say that? The minute that sun's up, they're gonna take ya to him." Rogue had endeavored to suppress her fears, yet they grew in intensity and number by the second. There was an ever growing ache in her heart. She had finally found someone who knew her, understood her, even *loved* her. And they were going to let power hungry mutant steal that. Her tears flowed freely until at last she was sobbing. "Ah'm sorry, Rem, Ah'm so sorry. This is all muh fault. If Ah hadn't been tryin' ta get away in the first place, then..."

"Then what, Roguey?" Her words had hurt him. Was she willing to give up their love, there happiness, for him? He wasn't worth that. "Den what?"

"Well, you wouldn't be heah, for one thin'."

"Qui. I'd be workin' for Magneto, lonely, everythin' always blowin' up in my face, non? I'd have never found what was missin' from my life. I never been so happy, know dat? When we together, I don' even care 'bout gettin' back t' de Bayou. Don' care 'bout nothin', 'cept a pretty girl named Roguey. So don' cry, Chere, an' don' worry none. Y' already saved me." He kissed the top of her head. "It's me dat should be sorry. I got y' into all dis mess."

"Now who's talkin' nonsense. Yeah, Ah'd have been a helluva lot safer, and Ah'd have spent all muh time thinkin' there was somethin' wrong with me. Watchin' the rest o' the world smile and laugh and nevah gettin' the joke."

She turned awkwardly, until her back was pressed against his chest. She tore a necklace away from her neck and placed a tiny object from it in his hand. "This belongs to ya, Cajun. Jus' remember, whatever happens, no mattah how cute Kitty and Jean are, this is real."

He laughed and closed his fingers around it. "When dey come, all hell's gon' break loose on de other side o' d'ose doors. I can wait alone." He had to give her one last chance to leave.

"We'll wait togetha'" She said simply. And they did.

Some time later, the heavy door creaked open and one Scott Summers stuck his head in. He seemed shocked a little, as he saw Rogue draped over the young imprisoned man, but quickly shook the surprise off. He looked down, almost ashamed, and in a quiet, apologetic spoke to Remy.

"They're ready for you."



If I never knew you
If i never felt this love
I would have no inkling of
How precious life can be
And if I never held you
I would never have a clue
How at last I'd find in you
The missing part of me
In this world so full of fear
Full of rage and lies
I can see the truth so clear
In your eyes
So dry your eyes
And I'm so grateful to you
I'd hve lived my whole life through
Lost forever
If I never knew you
If I never knew you
I'd be safe but half as real
Never knowing I could feel
A love so strong and true
I'm so grateful to you
I'd have lived my whole life through
Lost forever
If I never knew you
I thought our love would be so beautiful
Somehow we'd make the whole world bright
I never knew that fear and hate could be so strong
all they'd leave us were these wHispers in the night
But still my heart is saying we were right
Oh if I never knew you
There's no moment I regret
If I never felt this love
Since the moment that we met
I would have no inkling of
If our time has gone too fast
How precious life can be...
I've lived at last...
I thought our love would be so beautiful
Somehow we'd make the whole world bright
I thought our love would be so beautiful
We'd turn the darkness into light
And still my heart is saying we were right
we were right
And if I never knew you
If I never knew you
I'd have lived my whole life through
Empty as the sky
Never knowing why
Lost forever
If I never knew you


Confused? Then I've done my job! No seriously, things will begin to become clearer as the story actually starts. At the beginning. So keep reading. And reviewing, 'cause the more you review, the faster I write. Unless, of course, you don't want me to write anymore, in which case, um, don't review. But then you'll never know why Remy's in the cell, why he and Rogue have such a close relationship, and, er, other stuff.
Questions? Comments? Coconuts? I'm at Eileenblzr@yahoo.com