Life After Remy
Okay. I've actually been working on this one for a while, but I've never seemed to be able to get around to finishing it. Either i just wasn't inspired, or i wanted to do something else, or any of that stuff. Eventually I managed to finish it - as you can obviously tell.
This one, unlike my other two in the series, actually has a bit of romance about the pairing. Which was slightly annoying - I mean, I love Romy, but i like Lancitty better and I couldn't do any there. Oh well. I'll just have to try again later for some other Lancitty... once i get inspired.
Disclaimer - I'm a 14 year old girl writing a fanfic story on the internet about a T.V. show that was created around the time i was born. Do you really think that I own anything? Well, I don't.
This one's set just after 'Cajun Spice'.
"So Rogue, what just happened?" Scott asked.
"It's… complicated." Rogue looked at the card.
Queen of Hearts.
"I'll say. You just got kidnapped by one of Magneto's ex-Acolytes and you say it's complicated? You've gotta get more specific."
"Alright." Rogue nodded.
She gave the rescue team a quick summary of what had happened, starting from when Gambit/Remy had kidnapped her and ending with the arrival of the X-Men as they rode along the swamp.
"Oh. That is complicated." Scott agreed.
"Uh-huh." Rogue fingered the card gently.
"About an hour, maybe less, and we'll be back." Logan told them as they nudged gently against the bay.
"Home." Rogue murmured softly.
She yawned. It had been a long, very confusing day.
"So like what happened?" Kitty asked.
"Not much." Rogue tried to brush past.
"Not much? Rogue, you vanish off the face of the Earth and you say that it's notmuch?"
Rogue pushed past and barricaded herself in her room.
It would have worked had Rogue and Kitty been normal girls (or just Kitty), but unfortunately –
"Ro-ogue." Kitty stuck her head through the wall. "Come on, you've gotta tell me what happened. Was it that Cajun?"
"No!" Rogue covered her head in the pillow.
Everything was so confusing…
"Come on Rogue. You've gotta-"
Rogue grabbed a book and threw it at Kitty's face poking through the wall. Kitty pulled herself back quickly.
Bamf!
"Hey Kurt. You know what's the matter with Rogue?"
"Ja. It's the Cajun. Gambit, remember?" Kurt gave her a brief summary of what Rogue had told him.
"So… this is about boy-trouble. Right?" Kitty asked.
"Yep."
"Oh boy." Kitty sighed. "This isn't going to end well."
"Vhat do you mean?" Kurt asked as they began to walk downstairs.
"I mean – do you remember Duncan? And Lance?"
"Hard to forget." Kurt said dryly.
"Well, I'm just saying that us X-Girls aren't exactly the best copers when it comes to guys."
Kurt groaned. "You don't mean to say zat…"
"Uh-huh."
"Ve're going to have to go through that again?"
"Yep."
"But Rogue's a delusional psychopath at the best of times!"
Kitty rolled her eyes. "So she flipped out a little over-"
"Flipped out? She threw her muzzer off a cliff!"
"Kurt." Kitty stopped and looked him in the eye. "Think about this question honestly. If the roles were reversed, and everything that had happened to Rogue happened to you, and you had a hundred voices running around in your head – what would you have done?"
Kurt didn't answer.
"I have a really scary sense of Déjà vu." Scott shivered.
"Uh-huh." Bobby nodded. "But what are we going to do?"
"We've gotta talk to her." Jean stood up. "She's just a little… upset."
"You vere just a little upset after you broke up vith Duncan." Kurt pointed out, leaning against the wall. "And zen you pretty much attacked us. In case you don't remember, me and Scott were unconscious, Kitty and Evan were refusing to go into your room, and Rogue stole my powers and went to Duncan's place."
Jean shrugged. "I was a little upset." She repeated.
"Just curious." Scott glanced at his girlfriend. "What do you call very upset?"
Jean thought about that for a moment. "Homicidal."
"Oh, joy." Scott groaned.
"So who goes first?" Bobby asked, glancing around.
"I vote Kitty and Jean," Scott said. He recoiled slightly from the glares. "Because they've been through this before and know exactly what she's going through."
The two paused. "Okay. I'll go first then." Jean shrugged, standing up.
"Okay! I'll go bake some chocolate cookies." Kitty beamed. "That's a great thing to eat when working out your love-life." She walked into the kitchen.
For a second they looked at each other. "One moment." Kurt said.
Bamf!
Gone.
Bamf!
"Hey! Kurt!" Kitty protested as Kurt dropped her back in the living room. "What on earth was that for?"
"Uh, well…"
"Cookies aren't really a good thing for this situation." Bobby cut in.
"Yeah!" Jean nodded rapidly. "This is more for… chocolate! Lots and lots of chocolate!"
Kitty raised an eyebrow.
"You go out and get some chocolate for Rogue then." Scott agreed quickly. "Get her lots of chocolate. She'll need it."
"Uh, okay." Kitty slowly walked out. Then she spun back around and smiled at Scott and Jean. "Hey! Can I drive?"
The door clicked shut with telekinesis.
"They could've just said no." Kitty muttered, walking away.
Knock Knock.
"Rogue?"
"Go away Jean." Rogue groaned.
"Yeah, see… we had a vote, and I was the one chosen to come up and talk to you." Jean explained.
"Oh. Well then, let me rephrase that. Go away, Oh Mighty Poll Winner."
"Funny. Come on. I saved you from the horror of Kitty's cooking – that at least should get me into the door."
Rogue grimaced. "Alright. Come in."
Jean turned the handle. "It's locked."
"Use telekinesis."
Click.
Jean quietly stepped into the room. She sat down on Kitty's bed.
"You wanna talk about it?"
"Not really."
"Okay."
There was silence for a minute.
"Rogue… you know you can't stay in your bed forever."
"Ah can and Ah will."
Jean raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"
"Jean, Ah am begging you. Go away."
"Sorry Rogue. I can't do that."
Rogue groaned and rolled over onto her back. She stared up at the ceiling. "Why not?"
"Because there is apparently a new school rule in the Institute. When there's a girl upset about boy-trouble, you're not allowed to leave her be until she starts attacking you."
Rogue glared at Jean.
"Sorry."
Rogue stood up and took off her glove. Jean noticed the action and nervously pushed herself back a little.
"Jean. Get out of my room."
"Uh… no. Because I'm your friend. And friends don't let friends wallow in self-pity about a boy." Jean sighed and looked at Rogue. "You want some time alone?"
"Please." The word came out through gritted teeth.
"Okay. Because I know you. You're not going to let some boy defeat you when he's not even here." Jean paused on the way out. "Sorry."
Then the door closed behind her.
"Rogue, you there?"
"Go away Scott!"
Scott tried the handle. The door was locked.
"Look, Rogue, I'm sorry about Gambit."
"Why are you here?"
"Two reasons. A – I'm your friend. B – Jean's already gone, Kitty's at the shops, Kurt's still a bit mad at you and it was unanimously voted that I had better tact then Bobby."
Rogue looked around for something she could use to throw at him.
"Can I come in?"
"No."
"Alright then. I'll just stand out here."
"If you want."
For a full minute there was silence. Rogue wondered whether he'd actually left or was just trying to figure out what to say next.
Click.
The lock opened and Scott stepped in. He smiled at someone, who shrugged. "Don't blame me for whatever happens next." Jean told him, leaving.
"Damn it."
Scott sat down. "So, trouble about Gambit?"
"Scott, it took you a full two years to start dating Jean. Everyone in Bayville but you two knew you liked each other." Rogue looked at him. "Except possibly Duncan. I think he didn't quite realise Jean liked you back. Anyway – you're not the person I'd go to for romantic advice."
"You don't go to anyone for any advice." Scott pointed out. "You're very… independent."
"I do too!"
"Not for anything social. You'll go to people for help with school work – and a lot of the time not even then." Scott looked at her. "You won't talk about your feelings."
"That's because I'd've thought they'd be pretty darn obvious! My only friend who wasn't an X-Man turned out to be Mystique, who turned out to be my Mum. Everyone in the world hates me, and now I've been kidnapped by the guy who I might li-" Rogue shut up, realising how much she was saying.
"The guy you might like?"
"Again, all of Bayville knew and you didn't!" Rogue hissed. "Literally, all. When I was with the Brotherhood there was actually a bet going on when you two would start dating!"
"Wait, what?" Scott blinked behind his glasses.
"Pietro bet five bucks on never." Rogue told him.
"Whatever." Scott waved it away. "The point is, Rogue, you don't talk about your feelings and-"
"I will shoot you with your own powers if you don't go away." Rogue warned him.
"Hilarious. Seriously, Ro-"
Rogue leaped from the bed and grabbed Scott's face with her ungloved hand. Scott yelped and jerked back.
Rogue's eyes began to glow red. "Out. Trust me on this."
"Rogue, you-"
Rogue blasted him.
Scott fell through the open door and smashed hard into the wall. "Ow." He muttered, standing up. He walked over to the railing and looked over where the senior X-Men were talking together.
"Next!"
"Hey, Rogue? You okay?"
"Bobby! Go away!" Rogue yelled at him.
"Yeah, see, the thing is… we're not allowed to." Bobby said. He tried the door handle. "Can I come in?"
"No."
"Come on Rogue. Open the door and…"
Rogue groaned. "Bobby, I am warning you…"
"Look, I'm your friend. Come on, just let me in."
Rogue stood up, walked over to the door and opened it.
Then she blasted Bobby back with Scott's powers.
Bobby crashed hard into the wall. Looking up, he saw the door slam shut. A clicking noise told him she locked it.
"Okay, Kurt. You're next." Jean said.
Kurt groaned. "Can't Kitty do it?"
"She's still getting chocolate. Look, Kurt – she's your sister. Sorta." Scott said. "And I know you're still mad at her, but are you really going to let her wallow in self pity?"
"What's wrong with zat?"
"Don't try and pretend you don't care about Rogue." Jean said. "You were the one trying hardest to find her. You were the one who noticed she was gone. Face it, you really do care about her."
Kurt glared at Jean. He opened his mouth, and then his anger faded away a little. "Ja. I care about her. But I'm still not just going to forgive her like zat."
"Look," Bobby cut in. "I get why you're angry at her. I can understand that. But Mystique wasn't the best maternal figure was she? You only found out she was your mother after you joined the X-Men."
"Which you weren't there for." Kurt shot back.
"And Rogue's had your back for ages." Bobby ignored him. "She's always been there for you."
"She locked me in a parallel dimension." Kurt said.
Bobby blinked. "She did? When?"
"Before you joined us. Come to think of it, before she joined us. Long story short, it's how we met Forge." Jean told Bobby. Then she turned to Kurt. "She was part of the brotherhood then. And it was an accident. And she tried to get you back as soon as you vanished."
Kurt scowled.
Ring ring. Ring ring.
"Oh, sorry. One moment." Jean ducked out. She pulled out her phone. "Oh, hi. How are you – what? There? You're kidding. Really? I'm on my way." She hung up.
"What's up, Jean?" Scott looked at her.
"Oh, uh, just a slight problem with… finding the chocolate." Jean said. "I've got to go help Kitty." She raced out the door.
"Okay then." Bobby blinked.
"Look, Kurt." Scott sighed. "It really just boils down to this. Forget about family loyalty – it's Rogue or Mystique. You're going to have to choose soon."
Kurt looked at his feet for a moment.
Bamf!
Knock knock.
"Rogue?"
"Kurt?" Rogue blinked.
"Can I come in?"
"Uh, sure I guess…"
Bamf!
Kurt appeared on Kitty's bed. "So, do you vant to talk about it?"
Rogue bit back the sharp comment.
"Not really." She said, trying to keep a civil tone.
Kurt sighed, bringing his feet up onto the bed.
"Look, I'm sorry about Mystique Kurt. Ah really do regret what I did." Rogue began before Kurt cut her off.
"Rogue, I'm not here to talk about Mystique. I'm here to talk about Gambit. So what really happened with you two?"
"Ah already told you." Rogue said truthfully. "He wanted me ta help save his father."
"So why do you keep looking over ze card he gave you?"
"Because… well, I don't know." Rogue fingered the Queen of Hearts. "He uses this card when he only needs to. It's special, apparently."
"Okay zen." Kurt looked at her. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just kinda… need some time alone."
Kurt nodded. "I'll go then."
"Thanks." Rogue smiled.
Acting on impulse, Kurt quickly hugged her, then let go.
Bamf!
Rogue blinked. Then she smiled to herself.
It took about an hour before the next person came.
Rogue had begun reading a book by then. A romance about a ghost falling in love with the boy living in her house.
Knock knock.
Rogue put down the book. No-one was left. Had they sent up a New Recruit, an adult, or had they done it in a rotation? Or did Kitty just want to get back into her room?
"Who is it?"
"It's me." Kitty said.
"Come in. Door's locked but that's not a problem."
There was silence for a moment. Rogue felt a presence enter the room as she continued reading the book.
Wait… more than one presence.
The goth girl looked up to Jean and Kitty standing there.
With Remy LaBeau lying unconscious between them.
Rogue's jaw dropped as she put down her book. "How did you…?"
"He turned up in Bayville again." Kitty shrugged. "I found him in the shops. Called Jean, and then we…"
"You're not the only one who can put people unconscious, Rogue." Jean grinned at her.
"But… why?" Rogue managed.
"Because you helped us when we needed it." Jean said, smiling at her friend. "And so we decided to return the favour."
"So what do you propose we do with him?" Kitty asked, nudging the Cajun thief with her foot. "I mean, it's your choice."
Rogue blinked. Then she glanced around at her room. "Ah have an idea." She walked over to her dresser and rummaged around.
A moment later, she came back, holding a selection of make-up.
Jean and Kitty's faces split into grins.
Rogue jumped down to her knees and began to apply lipstick. Kitty picked up the blush and gently moved it across his face. Jean telekinetically made the mascara pick up.
"Excellent. But it needs more." Kitty said after a minute when he was lying on the ground, make-up across his face. Rogue finished putting the eye shadow on and nodded.
"How about a manicure?" Jean picked up the nail-polish with a gleam in her eye.
"Works for me." Rogue grinned. "Has anyone got any hair-dye or something?" She touched a lock of his hair with a smirk.
"No, but I've got hair-gel. We could style it." Jean mused. "Not much to style though. Pity he doesn't have a pony-tail or something."
"I've got some of that spray-on stuff." Kitty shrugged. "It washes out after one wash, but it'll be a great touch."
"That'll work." Jean nodded as Kitty left.
Rogue had taken off Remy's glove and was busy giving a manicure to the unconscious man. "Do you think he'd look better with black nail-polish, or purple?"
"What about both?" Jean grinned, taking off the other glove. "And Kitty's got pink and blue, plus I've got green… and purple, but we've already got that. That's a colour for every finger."
Rogue grinned and went to Kitty's side of the room. Jean telekinetically brought the nail-polish out from her room into Kitty and Rogue's.
"Looking good." Kitty said as she phased back into the room.
"Never looked better." Rogue smirked.
Kitty shook the bottle. "Wait a moment." Jean placed a towel under his head. "So you don't spray the carpet."
"Would be hard to explain." Kitty agreed, spraying his hair.
A few minutes later, Gambit's chestnut brown hair had transformed into silver.
"Still missing something…" Jean mused.
"Yeah." Rogue agreed. "Has anyone got a dress that they don't mind never seeing again?"
"I've got a skirt I never wear." Jean shrugged.
"And I brought this shirt online but they messed up the sizes." Kitty said. "I was going to donate it, but this works just as well."
"Okay." Rogue hesitated. "Let's keep his pants on though, just in case he's not wearing underwear."
"Eeew." Kitty winced at the image.
"So let's see…" Jean left the room while Kitty started moving through her cupboard. Rogue took off Gambit's trench-coat and shirt.
They pulled the skirt on and the top. Since none of their shoes fit him, they left his boots on. Plus he looked funnier with combat boots and a skirt with pink and purple flowers.
"Love the taste in fashion Kitty." Rogue grinned, looking at the light blue shirt with hearts dotted all around it.
"Should we cut the pants off so that you can't see them under the skirt?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah." Jean agreed. She picked up the scissors and carefully began to cut across the legs. She pulled the bottom half of the trousers off.
"We should do make-overs more often." Rogue grinned.
"So, let's get him downstairs." Jean stood up and picked him up.
"Sure. Just out of curiosity, how'd you get him up in the first place?" Rogue asked, taking his other arm. Kitty pulled his feet up.
"Telepathy. Not just reading minds, you know." Jean smiled, dragging Remy out.
The boys were sitting in the lounge, watching television. Scott glanced up when he heard them.
He looked around. "Rogue, are you feeling… better?"
His eyes fell upon the unconscious man hanging between them.
"Yeah, thanks." Rogue smiled.
Kurt and Bobby stared too. "Uh, what's going on?" Kurt asked.
"Well, Rogue was upset. We helped her get over her boy-trouble." Kitty smiled sunnily. Then the three girls marched past them.
"Scott?" Kurt said after a second.
"Yeah" Scott still sounded stunned.
"Do yourself a favour. Never break up with Jean."
Gambit moaned, sitting up on his back. "What happened?" He asked aloud.
The last thing he remembered was going into Bayville shops to buy some chocolates for Rogue. Then he'd seen that one girl talking on her phone, and the next thing he knew another girl had turned up and…
Suddenly he remembered the girls.
Jean Grey and Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde.
Remy rolled his eyes. "Just my luck. Run into two femmeswho just happen to be X-Men."
Then he glanced down at himself.
"Qu'est ce que…?" (What the…?) He jumped up, staring at his clothes in astonishment.
He was wearing a lilac shirt with dark blue hearts all around, and a knee-length skirt with pink and purple flowers. Judging from the tightness in his face, he was wearing make-up.
The only mercy was that his pants were still his under the skirt, but cut much shorter.
"This cannot get much worse." Remy moaned.
"Why are you wearing that?" A little boy tugged on his skirt.
Remy blinked and looked at him. Then he looked around.
To his surprise he was in the middle of Bayville Park's playground, lying on the top of the fort. The slide was right next to him.
"Then again…" Gambit sighed.
"Why are you wearing that?" The boy repeated.
"Because I did a very stupid thing, mon ami." Remy told him. He stood up and managed to go down the slide. The boy followed him.
"What stupid thing?" He asked in innocence.
"Here's a tip for you. When you're older, always be nice to girls who you like. Especially if they have friends." Remy winced, touching his hair. "Especially if they have make-up and hair dye. Which most girls do, now I think about it."
"So were you mean to a girl and she put you in that?" The boy blinked.
"Oui." Remy sighed.
"Wee? What does that have to do with anything?" The boy asked.
"Not wee – oui. It's French for 'yes'." Remy explained. He felt in his pants pockets, wondering if they'd left him at least one pack of cards.
Gambit hated to be away from his cards. It made him feel vulnerable. Yes, there was something rectangular and the right size.
"So why don't you talk in English here and French in French-land?" The boy frowned.
"Oh brother. I don't have time for this." Remy rolled his black and red eyes. "Now go run off to your mother. I've got to go find some clothes to change into."
"You mean boy clothes? Not girl clothes?"
"Definitely." Gambit muttered, pushing the little boy away. "Got to go now." He ran for the safety of the trees.
After a second, he pulled the skirt off. He looked slightly more manly without it – but the make-up kinda got rid of it.
He went into a public toilet and began to scrub hard. Make-up doesn't come off easily without make-up remover, but after a while the worst of it was gone.
Gambit shivered taking off the top, but there was no real choice otherwise. He pulled out his cards and checked if they were cards. They were.
Something black fell off from them.
Remy froze, then reached down and picked it up.
It was a black glove. The silky feel of it between his fingers (oh man, they'd stolen his gloves too – and put on nail-polish!) made him sure who it belonged to.
Slipping it back into his pocket, Remy felt in case there was a note to go with it. No such luck.
"Merci, mon chere." He smirked as he felt the glove.
"So, that was interesting." Rogue mused as Jean drove them back to the Institute in her SUV.
"We might want to be careful never to tell our net boyfriends about what happens though." Kitty thought. "Kinda scare them off, don't you think?"
Jean laughed. "Just a little. Oh man. Scott's so going to be freaked."
"Nah." Rogue shook her head. "We'll only get him if he's a real jerk. Ah mean, I don't think you'll break up. But if ya ever do, he'll be a gentleman about it. Probably."
"Considering what just happened, like, definitely." Kitty rolled her eyes. "Not to mention we showed him the photos of what happened when Jean's actual boyfriend dumped her."
"Hey, I think he liked seeing Duncan's face when that happened." Rogue shrugged.
"Well, it cheered him up." Rogue shrugged. "And he needed it too, after what happened with Mystique."
"What? Me dating him didn't cheer him up?" Jean said in a mock-offended tone. Then she shrugged. "Although I've gotta admit, he did laugh. And put it on the internet."
"I wondered how they got there." Rogue mused.
"Hey, wait. Rogue, what happened to your other glove?" Kitty asked as Jean pulled the car into the drive-way. "You're only wearing one."
"I am?" Rogue blinked, looking. "Oh, it must have fallen off. Caught on a branch or something. Good thing I've got a lot of spares."
"Yeah, sure." Kitty nodded. "Actually, we did end up getting chocolate. Do you want to have some?"
"Nothing gives you an excuse like guys." Rogue grinned. "Just give me a minute to put on another glove."
"Kay." Jean agreed, stepping out.
Rogue slid up the stairs. She pulled on her other glove, and picked up the card.
"A glove for a card, Swamp Rat." She smiled softly.
Then she walked down the stairs and joined the other two girls in Tim-Tams and hot-chocolate.
"Let's hope that we have no more romantic disasters after these guys." Kitty said.
"I don't know. I kinda found them fun." Jean snapped a Tim-Tam in half and began to eat it.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm kinda running out of ideas." Rogue shrugged.
"Don't worry. We'll come up with something next time." Jean smiled wickedly.
"So, if they ever need some more proof that girls can take care of themselves…" Kitty mused, swallowing her hot-chocolate.
"Just come to the X-Girls." Rogue smirked.
"That's if the next boys we like don't run away screaming." Kitty shrugged. "Pass the marshmallows Jean."
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