Title of Fic: Strange Eyes

Name/alias: Furry Elf

Rating: PG-13

Pairings: Gambit/original character, but more a brother-sister thing.

Slight Summary: Gambit finds this girl that needs his help. He's in the middle of re-thinking his life at the moment so he agrees to help her. He sees her as a way to start making up for all the wrongs in his past. His saving grace, so to speak. Warnings: hmmm...I might put in a big fight scene or two but nothing gory. (I'm not good at writing gory stuff)

Disclaimer: Ok, let me check in my files and ownership manuals and junk....uh, NO I do NOT own Gambit or any other Marvel characters. Because if I did, Gambit would be MINE ALL MINE! Sight belongs to me and you MUST ask VERY nicely if you want to use her and I MUST proof-read any other stories with her and she will NOT have any R or X rated type things...got it? ok, nuff said.
~thinking~ *actions* telepathy ^flashback^ #dream#
~*~*~*~*~*~*

The time is 1:23 p.m. The day is Tuesday. The month is February.

The room is unbelievably clean. Any floor that isn't covered what can only be imported rugs is shining real wood. The lights are dimmed, the thin curtains are drawn to diminish the light further... all in all, the room screamed money.

Something else was screaming as well. The telephone.

Dr. Henry McCoy, called 'Hank' by his friends, sighing heavily, took off his glasses, and stood up to answer the telephone, book in hand.

"Xavier's Institute For The Gifted, this is Henry, how can I help you?"

"I'm calling to talk wit de Professeur, it really impor'ant."

"And who shall I say is calling?"

"Uh...well, we haven't met. But a guy named Warren said I should call y' if

I needed help."

"And you name would be....?" The young boy on the other end of the line hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Remy."

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(About 30 minutes later)
"Then it's settled, we'll have someone come pick you up and--" Remy cut Professor Charles Xavier off, "Remys' friend, she can come too, non?"

"Friend? You only mentioned yourself. To whom are you referring?"

"Remy's friend, de petite need da help more, she can't see. I gotta know if she can come, I hav'ta find her."

"She can't see, yet you don't know where she is?"

"She hides. She has to, Remy don' need to hide as much, but she do. She can come?"

Charles let out a silent puff of air, this might get just a mite complicated if Remy started inviting his friends along.

"We'll have to see once we get there, Remy."

"Oui, I go find her now, merci."

Click. The dialtone rang softly in the Professor's ear as he thought about this Remy and his "friend". Hank, who had been standing by, listening on the other line began, "What about this girl he's talking about?"

Xavier looked up at his blue friend, "I'm not entirely sure. We need to get Cerebro running again, perhaps that will help. Other than that, I am at a complete lose."

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2:20 p.m.

The streets are dirty, unkept. Pot holes everywhere, some with grass growing in them. Clothes hang from windows, that is, the ones that weren't broken.

Several of the apartment-like houses were boarded up, what windows that weren't, were also broken. Grass and weeds looked more like a forest in front of them, and you knew, just KNEW, that, one of these days you're going to walk by and something will jump out and grab you.

To the passerby, the type who doesn't live anyplace like here, the type that doesn't WANT to live here, the type that doesn't NEED to live here, the type that goes down these streets repeating in their minds 'don't look, don't stop, how the heck did I get here?'

Yeah, you know who I mean. Maybe you're one of them.

To those people, these boarded up houses are just that.

Boarded up houses.

But if you stayed here for more than one night, you figure out different REAL quick.

Houses like that, they're infested. Not with rats mind you.... but then again, maybe they are. But not the kind you set little wooden traps with cheese on them for.

No, these rats were bigger. Stronger. And looked a mite too human for a lot of peoples tastes.

But these 'rats' were The Rule around here. When they said 'jump', you didn't ask how high.... You reached for the moon and beyond, and hope they didn't mean anything higher than that.

When you saw a flash of light, and heard a 'bang' in the distance.... or close by.... you didn't say a thing. Not one thing.

Not to your children, not to your neighbor. You kept silent.

You never wondered why the postman was different every week. You never called the police. You never bad-talked someone. You figured out friends from enemies fast and watched your children play--even in the back yard.

Yeah, this was the place to be if you wanted to learn about the streets. This place WAS the streets. You made your friends real quick-- always good to have allies to back you up in time of trouble.

But if you wanted to disappear, to just be there, but not.... well, that was a mite more difficult.

Because you see, even though the people here don't SAY anything. They're still WATCHING.

Everybody's watching you. Even the dark windows with the curtains drawn. You just KNEW that, somehow, even they were peering out at you. Judging you.

Remy knows this. He grew up in place a lot like this one. Strange that he would choose this area to hide in.

Remy, however, is not looking at the windows, or the old houses, he is running. Running down the street to one of the alleys. He isn't too much of a strange sight in this neighborhood, longish hair, calf length coat, sunglasses. The only way anyone would know he didn't belong there was if they heard him speak. Remy runs from one alley to the next, ~ She's gotta be 'round here somew'ere. ~ Finally, at the third alley, he stops for a minute before walking calmly in. Or at least, he just LOOKS calm. Inside, he's checking out every shadow, sound and shape in the alley, preparing to fight if he needs too.

There was a sound.

Glass.

Then something small and furry streaked by him.

~ Whew, dat one had Remy goin' f'r a min'. ~ " Petite, Remy talked wit de Professeur, he say we can talk. They comin' to da house at 3:30. "

A shape detaches it's self from the shadows. A stooped figure, wearing a long full covering robe stands up. The robe is almost monk-like; sleeves that go well past the hands, and a hood that completely covers the face.

The voice that answers him is one that you would expect of a boy. Very little was feminine about her voice. A bit scratchy, coming from the back of her throat.

"What time is it?"

"2:30 now. They comin' for us at 3 at de house, we need to git back."

"Are there many people out yet?"

"Non, but lots people come out if we stay talkin' in here longer."

Remy walks quickly to the girl and takes her arm and 'guides' her to the sidewalk where they head back in the direction of the house. Remy is constantly looking around to see if people are watching.

~One thing 'bout run down areas of cities like dis, you can always count on someone bein' at de wrong place at de wrong time to make the wrong assumption of a right situation. If someone had seen Remy walk into the alley and come back out with de girl, for sure they would t'ink drugs or stealing was going on.

Course, in Remy's case the stealing part is mostly true, but dat was months ago, and Remy, he's trying to go straight for the girls sake, but it been hard you know? ~

He had grown up around stealing; stealing was his life not to long ago. But he had met this girl who needed help and everything changed. He got into a lot more trouble than normal for him with the police, and his 'family' started to get on his case about it.

He left his birth home with the girl for the first time in 16 years to get away from the city and it's dangers. He knew that if he stayed, The Guilds would turn against him, he also knew that if he left, he could never return to his home without being labeled a traitor and a price on his head. He saved/stole enough money, he and girl had hoped a few trains, and they made their way to New York, where they had met a guy named Warren Worthington III, a man with an amazing ability. He could fly. He had beautiful angel wings, and he mentioned a group of mutants that wanted to help other mutants.

Remy had thought about this many times and he and the girl had decided that they should give it a try. So, he called and found out about them, and now they were on their way.

He sincerely hoped they hadn't made a mistake. Mistakes could, more often than not, be deadly for Remy. The girl was putting a lot of trust in him. He couldn't let her down. If he let her down, he would be letting himself down. The girl was his saving grace. He had a chance to do something right for once and start making up for all the wrongs he had done in his past.

But the saying that one of his old friends had recited when he told him about his plan was still ringing in his ears: " 'Once a t'ief. Always a t'ief,' Remy," he had told him. "No matter how hard y' try, y' still gonna be a t'ief at heart, and not'ing, not'ing y' try to do will ever change dat."

Remy had been defiant at the time, coming back at his friend with a lot bravado and smart remarks. But now that bravado was gone. A candle in the wind. Snuffed out like the lie it was. ~ Remy, he a coward. All t' eives are. Remy just did a good job of hidin' de fact from himself. Courage or no courage, I've got to help her with everyt'ing I've got. She's all I got left. ~

Remy and the girl got to a run down house without anyone approaching them. Remy thanked the Mother Mary for that. He had been thanking her a lot more recently, for her protection.

Especially from the gangs here.

At 3:30 a red and white corvette with the top down pulled up to the old house.

There were only two people in it. A tall black woman with solid white hair and bald man. Remy came out of the house to meet them alone.

~ Merde! Remy gonna haveta watch de car! ~

The man spoke first. "Hello, Remy, I'm Charles Xavier, this is one of the teachers at my school, Ororo Munro." Charles held out his hand and Remy shook it. "You come to de house, please? Talk wit Remy's friend like I asked, I'll watch car from de window for y', ya shouldn't stay out here f'r long."

Xavier smiled at him, though it was a small one. "That won't be neccessary, Remy."

When everyone was seated in the living room, close to the fire Remy had started, the girl addressed Professor Xavier first;

"My name is Tate, I don't know if Remy told you that or not."

"Hello Tate, I am Charles Xavier, this is one of my teachers, Ororo Munroe."

Tate nodded in their direction. Behind the hood, she was smiling; people always sounded so stiff and formal round her.

"Remy tells me that you might have a place for us at your school. Is this true or is it another game that so many adults like to play?"

Xavier and Ororo seem surprised at her boldness.

"No, this is not a game, child," Ororo replies. "The matter of life and death as a mutant on the streets is never a game. To call it so is foolish."

"Are you saying that you believe me to be a foolish child who knows nothing of how to survive on the streets?" Ororo started to speak again but Tate continued, "If that is the case, then one must wonder how in the world I managed alone for the first 7 years?"

Ororo looks again, surprised at the young girls' words. She glances at Xavier who narrows his eyes for a moment.

Tate stiffened at that exact moment, And Professor X jumped in his chair at the harsh mental shove he received from the girl.

"Don't try to get into my head again, Xavier. You would not like what you found there. I can detect a telepath, and block them out. But if you tried really hard, I just might let you in...." she looked at Remy, "However, whether or not you could get out again would be an entirely different matter."

Remy smirked. Tate loved freaking people out.

She looked back at Xavier. He felt she was seeing him, somehow, but he couldn't see how that was possible. Remy had said she was blind. Yet she had needed no help getting around the house, she seemed to know where everyone was seated and kept looking at each one when she talked to them.

What's more, he couldn't get into either ones mind. He couldn't even sense their presence in the room. If they hadn't been talking, he would have barely noticed them at all.

"Very well, I shall cut to the chase then. At the mansion, you can continue your education, train, be protected, and live as normally as possible. After a while, if you choose, you might become a member of our team, the X- Men. Either way, you would still train with everyone"

Ororo took over, "You could go to school if you wanted, or learn at the mansion, the Professor and others, including myself, do encourage the students to attend public school, as a part of training in a way."

Remy looks at Tate who is silent and still for a few moments, then nods and rises.

"We will go with you. I know Remy wants to go, I will see for myself what your school is about. After that, we will decide." She left the room then, and went upstairs.

Remy was left with Ororo and the Prof. He leaned back in the couch and pulled out a deck of cards and began shuffling them, a habit he had when he was nervous.

Ororo broke the silence by asking him where he was from.

"Nr'leans," he told her, not looking at her. Still shuffling the cards.

"That is quite a ways away, how did you end up here?" Remy stiffened, "None of y'r business."

Ororo was silent, ~ Seems I touched a nerve, ~ she though. She was about to try again when Remy sat forward, a smile on his face.

"Wan' see a trick?" Remy fanned the cards out and was holding them, face up towards her.

Ororo smiled and nodded. "Pick a card." She reached forward and pulled out the ace of hearts. "Now, hold it in y'r hand, and watch..." Remy said cryptically. She did so and he placed a finger on the card...Ororo looked up at him quizzically and received only a nod at the card from Remy in return.

She looked back down at the card and saw it was starting to glow orange, then red. Remy then took the card out of her hand and lightly tossed it toward the ceiling.

It exploded with a soft pop and at the very last moment Ororo could still see the heart before it burnt. She smiled warmly, "That was impressive, can you control the intensity of the charge?"

Remy's smirk turned into a smile. "Only a 'lil bit. What's your power, chere?"

Ororo quirked an eyebrow at 'chere' but said nothing about it. "I can control the weather."

"Show me?" She smiled and beckoned him to the window.

They were looking at the car, which still had it's top down, Ororo smiled at the look Remy was giving her as her eyes went from brown to milk white. She pointed to the clouds, which were gathering together and darkening quickly. The rain started soft then slowly turned to a light snow.

Ororo let the snow continue to fall for a few a minutes before banishing it.

Remy turned and grinned at her, "I think maybe, you forget about the de car, non? Dis be some'hing new, we all gonna ride ina sn'wmobile." The wind rider only smiled and said, "Look again."

Remy did as she said and found that the car had not a drop of water or snow on it. He laughed for the first time in a long while. Having long since giving up on finding anything to be happy about.

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Yea! Chapter one re-posted! *does the happy dance* I think it makes a 'lil more sense this way. ~Furry Elf