There was a girl sitting at the end of a dingy bar, swirling her drink slowly, and trying to ignore the little unclassified particles swirling with it. Her hair, unique with its white stripes, was shielding her face from all view, and she wore a long green coat. She was soon approached, as a harmless little girl like her couldn't stay safe for too long. Luckily for her, Remy Le Beau had only the purest intentions. Well, the purest he ever had. Remy Le Beau may have been a thief, but he was a very honourable man. When he wasn't stealing or romancing.
"Bonjour petite. You mind if I sit here?" He asked, smiling at her. She shrugged and didn't look up. "So, at the risk of sounding cliché, what's a pretty thing like you doing in a place like this?" He reached out to nudge her when she scrambled back like a frightened rabbit.
"Don't touch me!" She whispered, her mostly green hazel eyes wide and her pale face frightened.
"Désole petite. I didn't mean to scare you. I won't hurt you."
"Not me I'm worried about." She whimpered. She frantically tugged at her gloves, like she was trying to pull them on harder, further, like they weren't good enough.
"Petite?" He pushed. She looked like she wanted to open up, he thought, and my charm would help. If she could tell me what she wants, I could help her.
"I just wanna go home!" She cried out softly, burying her face in her hands. She hadn't even known this guy for five minutes and she was already a pathetic pile of useless sobs.
"Where's home?"
"Not a where, I could go back, but he's not there. I just want Logan. I just need Logan." She looked up at him properly, staring into his eyes with her large tear-filled ones, her bottom lip quivering as she tried to keep from crying enough to get help. She closed her eyes. "Just Logan, please, no more pain."
Remy frowned. If this petite wants her 'Logan', I shall do my best to get him. Don't know how to find him, but I'll manage. This girl with her big eyes and vulnerability reminded him of the countless mutants he met who couldn't control themselves. He got out his phone.
"Henri? Merci Dieu, I need you to find a man for me. Non, You imbécile, not for me, for une petite fille I have here. By the name of..." He paused and glanced at her.
"His name's Logan. Sometimes Wolverine though." She told him, her eyes shining with hope.
"Hear that frère? Logan, Wolverine as an alias. Bien, merci, merci, au revoir. Oui, give him my number. I'll look after la fille."
"You will?" She looked up at him after he had hung up. He beamed.
"Mais oui, petite. Like I could do anything else. Come on, to my house."
"So, petite, what's your name?" He asked as he set up the guest bedroom in his apartment for her.
"Rogue." She said nervously, her eyes flitting around like a nervous bird.
"You one of them mutant then, oui?" He asked. If she was, it would explain a lot, but she could be just a rebellious teenager.
"Yeah." She whispered, fiddling with her gloves. He finally noticed exactly how much she wore.
"What can you do petite?" He inquired innocently.
She froze and went pale, her eyes flicking to the door.
"I don't mind to be rude, so desole, I seem to have forgotten my manners." He pretended to be unaware of her nervousness. "I am Remy Le Beau, also known as Gambit," he gave her a friendly wink and she giggled, "and I, well I can blow things up." He finally removed his sunglasses as he exploded a card above their heads. Her eyes watched the tatters float down in amazement.
"I came from a school." She began slowly still watching the card pieces. "Logan picked me up, saved me, on the road and we went to a school for people like us. We stayed there for a while, but he stabbed me, and I took his abilities to heal..." She trailed off, tears in her eyes.
"He stabbed you?" Remy burst out in indignation.
"He didn't mean to! He was having a nightmare. But a boy told me the professor was mad so I ran away. Logan followed but he got hurt and I got kidnapped. They used me in this machine, where I got my stripes," here she touched the white hair with a faint smile, as if recalling a happy memory, "and Logan tried to give his life up for mine. I lived but he was dying. It took ages for him to heal and then he left for a while. Lots of things happened when he came back, but at Alcatraz,"
"Alcatraz?" Remy interrupted, surprised. "You are with the X-Men?"
"Yeah, sort of." She mumbled. "He had to kill the woman he loved, and he left after that. I stayed behind, I wanted to let him have alone time, but then the nightmares got worse and I got attacked by Sabretooth-"
"Le chaton? Merde, are you okay?" Remy reached out for her, trying to ignore how she flinched back from his hand.
"Yeah, but I have even worse nightmares now. Logan would want to know what I found out, and I couldn't sleep, and everyone was afraid of me, so I left. I know Storm was upset with me, but I just couldn't- I shouldn't have- It was so- And I mean, Bobby cheated on me- There was no way I could've stayed, you know?" She cried out, stumbling several times over her thoughts and feelings.
"Oui, petite, I know." He smiled at her, nodded and left the room.
Later that night, after Rogue was asleep and still safe- Remy had checked several times- Remy's phone rang. He answered it before it had rung twice with a brisk greeting in French.
"Remy Le Beau?" A gruff voice answered.
"Wolverine?" Remy snapped back before launching in expletives in his loudest whispered tone.
"Listen bub, I don't know why you wanted me, but you had better cut out that babbling before I track you down and gut you-"
"I'm called you because last night I stumbled upon a pretty girl." Remy interrupted. He waited until he heard the other man's annoyed muttering before he continued. "She was very quiet, so Remy went to check on her. Before he got in touching distance this poor fille jumps back and tells him to go away. She had these pretty white stripes. Sound familiar?"
There was silence.
"I thought so. So Remy says, what's wrong? This fille starts getting very upset, says she wants to go home. He asks where home is, she says it isn't a where it's a who. Now I found you because you-"
"Where are you?" The man asked quietly, edging on a growl. Remy rattled off the address, torn between being smug and remaining angry on Rogue's behalf since she was unlikely to be mad at this Wolverine fellow.
Rogue rubbed her eyes as she woke up, stretching slowly until she realised she wasn't in a gutter and she wasn't in a motel. She blinked rapidly, trying to focus but finding it hard while being cocooned in luxurious silk sheets and with the smell of home brewed fresh coffee- Wait. She thought, Coffee? Silk? What did I do last night? She remembered finding the bar with a cage, looking for Logan, that guy with red eyes...
"Remy?" She said, testing the name.
"Oui, petite. Did you sleep well?" He appeared in the doorway holding a mug of the delicious coffee she smelt earlier and a wide smile.
"Did I...cry last night?" She asked incredulously. His smile grew into a grin.
"Oui. Should I take it this is not common for you?"
"More common then I'd like, less common than normal. Why am I here?" She looked around; sipping at the coffee he passed her. Her eyes rolled back. It was heavenly.
"Well, after you started crying, I called mon frère and asked his to find your Logan. I then brought you here so I could look after you."
Rogue looked down. "It's okay. No-one can find Logan, not if he doesn't want to be found. I've been looking for a year."
"Aw, petite, Henri has lots of friends all over the world. One of them will find your Logan." He put an arm around her shoulders and tears ran down her cheeks. She buried her face in his chest and started to cry in earnest again.
Logan was using Scott's old turbo boost button to the max. He was about an hour's drive away from Le Beau's apartment, but he was planning on arriving within ten minutes. He grunted and leant forward, as if pure will power could increase his speed.
He leapt up the stairs to the apartment, three at a time. The elevator was too slow. He felt too guilty to stay away too long. He didn't want Marie to leave the mansion, and he wasn't planning on being away for so long, but he got distracted and every time he thought of coming back he was either plagued by images of Jean's dying face, or Marie's heartbroken one when he said he was leaving again. He couldn't face her after ditching her in her time of need, after her idiotic boyfriend cheated and dumped her. He slammed his fist on the door angrily, interrupting his own thoughts as violently as possible. The more he thought of Bobby the more homicidal he felt and that wasn't a particularly good frame of mind to see Marie in. The girl was like a daughter to him, ever since he met her she had arisen these highly protective instincts in him. There was no way he'd continue to let her suffer with his nightmares and her powers any longer. He never should have left in the first place.
Remy gently detangled Rogue from his chest and smiled at her.
"I'll go get that petite, you stay here."
She smiled weakly, tears still running down her cheeks and sat back on the bed, covering her face. Remy patted her shoulder and moved smoothly to the front door, opening it but blocking the view with his body.
"Bonjour."
Logan growled. He smelt Marie on him and the growl increased in both intensity and volume until he smelt the salt. Tears. He immediately quietened. The damage was done.
"Logan?" Her soft tones carried through the apartment and Remy buried his face in his hands. Logan froze before slowly spinning in the direction of that southern voice.
She stood there staring at him. "Logan. You're here. Really here, and Remy found you...Remy!" She threw herself into the arms of the bemused Cajun. Wolverine began growling again and Rogue rolled her eyes.
"Logan, you're being silly. Remy helped me find you. And he saved me from that horrible bar. He's like...an angel." She gave Remy a squeeze and pulled away to face her Wolverine. Remy shrugged at the irate Canadian.
"Thanks petite. I'll leave you with Monsieur Claws then. Tell me if you leave though, oui? You are still wearing my clothes." His grin was wicked and she blushed violently. Wolverine grabbed her into a fierce hug, unable to hold himself back any longer. She giggled as Remy discreetly left the room.
"Marie?" He whispered. "I'm sorry. I just..."
She leant against him and snuggled deeper into his arms. "It's okay Logan. I understand."
He growled, unable to express himself any differently. She nodded, and sighed.
"So you found a Cajun."
"It's my habit to pick up nice guys when I walk into bars and I'm sad. I think the world has some conspiracy to keep me surrounded by men and happy." She giggled a bit and he grunted.
"You gonna come home with me? I heard John might be coming back soon." He heard that from John himself actually. They'd bumped into each other and John – or Pyro as he now liked to be called- said since Bobby had dumped Rogue, he might pop by to check on her.
"Really?" Her eyes lit up and he cursed silently. He shouldn't be encouraging her getting attached to these hormonal teenaged idiots.
"Yeah." She squeezed him around the middle.
"I suppose I will come home then. Are you gonna hang around?" Her big brown eyes stared up at him and his internal cursing began to make even him cringe.
"Yeah." He couldn't deny anything to those eyes. She grinned.
"Remy? Do you want to come along?"
The devil eyed mutant popped his infuriating head around the corner. "Mais oui petite. I wouldn't miss this for the world."