Title: The Gathering Night
Author: May
Chang
Genre: slash, action, AU(fantasy)
Pairings: Havok x Polaris,
Northstar + Iceman, past Gambit x Storm
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer:
"X-Men" is the property of Marvel.
Author's Note: This
chapter is filled with flashbacks, but it does address some events
that has happened in the past in the comics.
Edit: It has come to my attention that I've gotten Remy's father's name
mixed up so I've uploaded the chapter again with the correct
name. Thank you Stefbug for pointing that out to me:)
Chapter Three
The path of life is filled with passing storms.
- Sayings of the Storm Goddess
-
-
It had been good money when the man gave Remy the job. Help him look for some runaways and get paid like a king. Remy needed to get out of the city to begin with, to make sure that none of the watch would be able to get to Scott or Alex. It had only been a week and already, Remy was worried about Alex's powers and how Scott was doing.
The man though gave Remy the creeps and that was saying something. Remy had seen a lot of strange people during his life as a thief, but this man, with his pale skin and red-on-black eyes so much like his own and a smile that looked like a demon's grin...
This man was evil.
Squashing his fear of the man, Remy did eventually find the runaways. He had been surprised to find them in underground and even more to find children with them. He wasn't sure why his employer was so adamant on finding them, but money was money, and he was done with the job. He returned with the information and a few days later, the man called upon him once again, this time to lead a group of people down there. The pay was double of the last job and Remy agreed with a slight hesitation.
"Why?" Remy asked, frowning in confusion.
"To bring them back to the world above," the man said with a smile. Remy suppressed the urge to shudder at the smile and just nodded in response. He stood behind the man that night, facing a group of armed men and listening to the man speak.
"I've hired you all," the man started as the people all quieted down, "to look for some runaways of mine. From what my source here has told me they are currently hiding below the city."
"Anything else we should know about them?" one of the men asked.
"They're all sorcerers," he replied. Remy blinked at that and wondered how he could have missed that. He had just assumed that the runaways were former slaves of the man.
"No wonder he's willing to pay us so much," another armed man muttered.
"Good luck to you all," the man said, and Remy left with the others below the city. For some reason though, he felt that the man was looking at him as he walked away.
"So who was that guy?" he asked as he glanced back at the man.
"Some alchemist turned sorcerer," a man replied with a grunt. "Calls himself Sinister, and trust me, that name speaks the truth about him. You don't want to cross him, y'know?" Remy nodded mutely in response; Sinister was a good name for him.
"Runaway sorcerers?" Scott asked, his brow furrowing. "I haven't heard anything about them."
"You wouldn't," Remy said. "They don't trust people, so they have their own underground city and all."
"So what happened to them?" Alex asked.
"I led the men there and they took care of the runaways," Remy said airily. "My job was done, I got paid and then I moved on to the next city."
Trakia was hot and Remy wondered why he decided to come to the city. He knew that he was really doing to master his thieving skills since different cities had different types of guards and thieves, but dying of heatstroke hadn't really come to his mind until now. Making his way through the marketplace and keeping an eye on his purse, he finally made it to the inn. Stepping into the room, he glanced around to look for the man who had hired him for his next job, spotting him in a darkened corner towards the back of the room.
"Damn hot out there," Remy said in greeting as he approached the man. He noted the bandages that covered half of the man's face from mouth down and wondered what had happened to him.
"It's always hot in Trakia," he replied. "I'm Chamber."
"Call me Gambit. What's the job?" Remy asked as he wondered how Chamber was able to talk to him through his bandages. Chamber leaned forward, handing over a few parchments to Remy and a key.
"You need to get inside this bank and pick up the items in this strongbox. The key will unlock the strongbox," Chamber said, watching as Remy unrolled the parchment and skim through the contents. "I need it by night on fourth-day."
"No problem," Remy said as he rolled the parchment up and tucked it away. "Anything else I need to know?"
"Don't think so, but all the same, watch yourself," Chamber said with a shrug. "I'll see you on fourth-day."
The next night Remy was on the roof of the back, looking for an entrance. It was, after all, a bank so it was heavily-guarded. Dropping down onto a balcony, Remy lock-picked the door and entered the room, closing the doors behind him. Looking through his map, he found that the vault was on the first floor. Remy made his way towards the vault, although he stopped by some of the offices and the area behind the counters for some spending money.
Rich people always did like to leave things outside, Remy thought with amusement as he continued on to the area of the vault. Taking stock of the area, he noted that the guards weren't really paying attention to the area behind them, and that there was actually another way into the vault from above. Moving through the shadows, he found a walkway above him. Remy climbed up the wall and silently stepped onto the walkway. He lock-picked another door and stepped in, making sure that no guards were there.
Remy went through the area and found the way down downstairs, bypassing all of the guards from in front of the entrance. He walked down and eased by the guards before going up to the vault. He lock-picked the gate and eased it open, slipping inside and looking for the strongbox. Quickly finding the strongbox, Remy took the key out and unlocked it.
"So what was in it?" Alex asked.
"Lots and lots of papers," Remy said. "I'm not sure what the papers were about, except the first one said something about the Ahkabah Clan and Dark Riders."
"Dark Riders?" Alex and Scott shared a worried look, which Remy found a bit disconcerting. Kurt, Hank and a few other people who Remy had yet to meet had started to filter into the sitting room to listen to his story.
"Is there something I should know about them?" Remy asked.
"It's probably nothing," Scott said slowly, "but... well, the Dark Riders are apparently a group of people who believe that the Dark God would be coming back and cleanse Gaia of the weak. They also believe that the new world of the Dark God would be for those strong enough to survive the cleansing."
"In other words, they're zealots," Kurt added with a disgusted look.
"Chamber wasn't one of those zealots," Remy mused. "I think he just needed information and couldn't get to it. It was good money though, so after a year, I moved onto the next city..."
"I don't suppose you'd know what the hell is going on?" Remy asked as he and the woman stood back to back, weapons out and facing about twenty armed men. "Because, as pretty as you are, I'd like to keep myself intact."
"Then leave," the blonde replied with a sniff. "I can handle this myself."
"But then I wouldn't be able to ask you out on a date!" he cried as he braced himself for a rush. They moved together, dodging the rush and worked together in defeating all the armed men. With a satisfied smile, he turned and froze at the knife at his throat.
"I'm guessing you don't want to go on that date?" he joked weakly. The woman's eyes narrowed and for a moment, Remy wondered if this was the end for him before she smiled at him.
"You're new here, so I'll let you off with a warning," she said, tapping the blade of her knife gently against Remy's neck. "This is O'leons, home of the Assassin Guild and currently at war with the Thief Guild. If you want to live then get out of here." With that, she turned and left, sheathing the knife and pulling up her hood.
"This is going to be interesting," Remy murmured as he watched her walk away into the night. Smiling to himself, he turned and made his way to The Songbird Inn to meet with Jean-Luc LeBeau, leader of the Thief Guild and his father.
"You met up with your father?" Scott asked in surprised. "I didn't think you'd want to see him after everything."
"I wasn't really planning to," Remy admitted, "but he sent a message wanting to see me. Like I said before, there was a war between the Thief and Assassin guild, and to be honest, I'm not quite sure why."
"Why did Jean-Luc want you to come?" Alex asked curiously.
"To find a way to stop the war," Remy said and sighed. "That was easier said than done in the long run."
Remy stared in surprise at the sight of the woman, who in turned looked equally as surprised. He then turned to look at his father with a confused frown.
"What do you want me to do again?" Remy asked quietly. "And do you really hate me that much?"
"I need you to go with that assassin there and talk to the Keeper," Jean-Luc replied then frowned. "And why do you think I hate you?"
"Remember that encounter I hate a few nights ago with a woman?"
"Yes, it was most inter--oh. Oh." Jean-Luc's face went blank but Remy could sense that his father was now very amused by the situation. He glared at him for a moment before he looked back at the assassins with an impassive expression. The woman had an annoyed expression on her face as she glared at the leader of the Assassin guild.
"So we are agreed to let them go to the keeper?" the leader of the Assassin guild spoke. There were sounds of agreement from both guilds, and Remy and the woman stepped forward. "Good luck to you both." Remy and the woman bowed to the leaders and left the room, making their way through the darkened streets of O'Leons.
"So what's your name?" Remy asked after a time of silence between the two. "I can't very well call you lady all the time, right?" The woman glanced at him with an arched eyebrow and he just smiled back.
"Bella Donna," she replied, looking away. "And what should I call you?"
"Gambit," he replied.
"That's not your real name," she said in an accusing tone.
"I'm not into giving out my real name until I know you much better," Remy responded with a smile. She gave an annoyed snort, but her eyes twinkled in amusement. They continued on to the Keeper's place and Remy raised an eyebrow at the sight of the Storm Goddess's temple.
"You look surprised," Bella Donna said.
"I am," Remy replied. "I would have thought the Keeper would be at a Dark God temple." He automatically took out a few coins and dropped them into the donation box when they walked in, causing Bella Donna to give him an odd look, one which he ignored. They continued on through the halls of the temple until they reached a door to the Keeper's study. Bella Donna opened the door and entered the room, followed by Remy. The Keeper looked up, an old man in a priest robe, and sighed at them.
"No, I don't know who is suppose to be the ruler of O'leons, now stop asking me that question," the Keeper growled. Remy blinked while Bella Donna scowled.
"We're not asking you that," she retorted. The Keeper tilted his head and she continued. "We wish to know where Candra is."
"Candra?" the Keeper asked in surprise before his eyes narrowed. "You would confront such a powerful sorceress?"
"Yes," Bella Donna said immediately. "That woman is the reason for all of the deaths from the war. If we get rid of her, we will be able to restore peace between our two guilds."
"A death wish if I've ever heard one," the Keeper said with a sigh. "Of course I'll give you Candra's location."
"So how powerful was this Candra?" Kitty asked.
"Really powerful," Remy said as he rubbed his temple. "Apparently she was a former Gray Lord priestess who decided to screw around with humans. From what I could get out of the Keeper, she's been playing mind games with them for the past century, and she doesn't look a day over twenty-five."
"What?"
"You're not serious!"
"That's not possible!"
"I'm not lying!" Remy said, raising his hands and looking around the room. His audience had somehow changed to maybe every single student in the Institute and a few guards and servants as well. He even spotted Xavier, Erik and Emma in the back, looking rather amused by the whole event. "Now this Candra was - and I suppose still is - a powerful sorceress who figured out some sort of elixir that granted people long lives. It's what she's been taking, and Bella Donna and I had to put a stop to all her meddling."
"So what happened?" Bobby asked. "Did you fight her and stuff?"
"Of course we fought her," Remy replied, leaning forward a bit. "The tough part about the whole thing was that it was just me and Bella Donna. That woman wields a mean sword, which is especially great when we finally met Candra face to face..."
"How dare you play with us like some puppets!" Bella Donna screamed at Candra as she paused in the fight. The two were surrounded by her minions and Remy was wishing for the first time in his life that he had brought a short sword with him. Zombies were kind of new when it came into a fight and the rotting corpses were really freaking him out.
"Demons and sin, this is scary," he growled out. "We can't keep fighting these monsters for long, Bella."
"I know," she replied, swinging her sword at one and lopping its head off. "This is a little bit out of my league."
"A little bit?"
"Shut up and kill them, Gambit!" Candra just laughed at them, sitting on her throne and watched as Remy and Bella Donna keep the zombies away from them. Remy knew that both of them weren't going to make it through the ordeal without some intervention, so he decided to make one. Pulling some cards out, he charged them up.
"Get ready to duck," he said to Bella Donna. She just glanced at him before sticking her sword into a zombie and swinging it off towards another. "Duck!"
She ducked and Remy launched his cards to his left and right. Explosions filled the room and some zombies were blown up. In the confusion, Remy pulled out more cards and blew up even more zombies.
"Go, Bella Donna," he said. "I'll take care of them. Go and finish off Candra!" The assassin nodded to him and dashed off to the throne. Candra by then had gotten off the throne, an angry expression on her face as she readied what appeared to be a fireball.
"You think you can defeat me?" she asked. "Think again!" The sorceress launched the fireball at Bella Donna, who managed to dodge it. Remy had to do some quick moves to avoid it, although his cloak had still caught on fire. Slipping it off, Remy wrapped the cloak around his staff and used it to ward away the zombies.
"Eat fire, you abominations!" he said, shoving the flaming cloak into one. The zombie burst into flames, staggering back into another and setting that one on fire before it fell and stopped moving. Remy continued to wave the fire around, keeping the dead away from him before he realized that Bella Donna and Candra weren't in the room anymore. "Demons and sin!"
Looking around the room, Remy knew that the only way to get to Bella Donna was to get by the zombies. With that, he pulled out the last of his cards and charged it up.
"This is going to be a big boom," he said with a grin and tossed the cards at the remaining zombies. The explosion was loud and spectacular, littering the floor with body parts. Smiling grimly Remy dropped the cloak and raced off to find Bella Donna. She was lying face down on the ground, a blank expression on her face when he finally found her. Remy could feel his heart freeze at the sight and then he heard Candra's.
"Don't look so surprised, thief," she said, her voice echoing through the room. "This is the price you get for crossing me."
"You bitch!" he shouted angrily. "Come out and face me, Candra!"
"Why do you care, Gambit?" Candra called out, ignoring his demand. "You're not even part of either guild in O'Leons. Why do you even bother trying to help them?"
"Because thieves and assassin are all brothers of the night," Remy replied. "We answer only to the Dark God in the end." Candra laughed at his response.
"How noble!" she said. "And how stupid!" Remy was hit from the back and he fell forward, stunned by the hit. He rolled away in time from another hit and got to his feet, facing Candra.
"You're in over your head, Gambit," Candra said with a smile. "Tonight will only be like any other night. The war will go on."
"I'm going to have to say right now," Remy said, raising a hand, "I'm not quite sure what happened next. I just know that Candra and I faced down against each other, and in the end I won."
"How can you not know?" a young man demanded. "You were there!"
"There's this thing about fights," Remy said solemnly. "Sometimes you can remember everything crystal clear and other times, it's just a blur. In this case, it's just a blur, but I do remember causing another big boom."
"What happened to Bella Donna?" asked a woman with red hair and a white stripe going through it. "Did she die?"
"Actually no," Remy replied. "I thought she was dead, but it turns out that she still had a little spark of life left in her. Candra disappeared after our fight, but I got lucky and found an extra bottle of that elixir in the room. Bella Donna's been doing fine ever since."
"And the war?" Alex asked. Remy smiled. "There is now a unified guild down in O'leons," Remy said. "We just call it the Dark Guild, since thieves and assassins all worship the Dark God."
"Except you," Scott added.
"Except me," Remy agreed. "Jean-Luc and Marius are heading it, although from what I hear, they'll be stepping down before long. I stayed around to help them with the guild for about three years and then I move on to a new city. That's when things started to get interesting..."
Remy stared as he watched the two strange-looking men literally swinging through the cities. The fact that they were swinging was pretty amazing enough, but when one of the men started to climb up the wall without any equipment at all, Remy decided that this was one of the weirder things he'd seen thus far.
"Who were they?" Remy asked one of the bystanders.
"Daredevil and Spider-Man," a boy piped up before the man could answer. "They're good people and fight the bad people."
"I see," Remy said, glancing down at the child and then back at the man.
"They're fighting against the Fisk nobility," the man said, a smile crossing his face.
"The Fisk nobility?"
"You're a stranger to Neyaeil, I take it?" the man said. "My name is Curt Conners. I'm a doctor here in Neyaeil and this is my son, William." He held out a hand and Remy realized at that point that he was missing his right arm. Remy took his hand though since he felt it'd be rude to not shake hands with the man.
"How do you...? I mean I... Not to be rude..." Remy started before Curt laughed.
"That's okay, he replied. "I'm lucky enough that most of my patients don't really need two hands to help. Besides my colleague has enough hands to spare."
I'm not sure that I really want to know the meaning of that, Remy thought. Curt just smiled and he started to walk away with William. Remy moved to follow him.
"The Fisk nobility is what you would call the ruling family," Curt began. "They're like the monarchy here, even though we have a council who are suppose to be the ones passing the laws. Unfortunately they all seem to be in Fisk's pockets."
"They're the reason dad lost his arm," William said, his tone angry. Curt frowned down at his son while Remy nodded.
"Spider-Man and Daredevil are just a few people who are willing to fight against the Fisk nobility," Curt continued after a moment. "There are others, but those two are perhaps the most popular in the city because they are willing come out in the day."
"I see," Remy said, nodding. "Thank you for telling me this."
"No problem," Curt said. They stopped before a small building and he gestured towards it. "This is my clinic. We live in the back so if you ever need help, we're here."
"Thank you," Remy said. He then looked around. "Would you mind if you pointed me towards an inn?" Curt smiled and pointed in a direction which Remy followed. He soon found an inn and checked in. Sitting in his room and staring out the window, he wondered if perhaps a little thievery from the Fisk nobility was in order.
It was his third night in Neyaeil when he met Spider-Man and the Black Cat. He had decided to do a little scouting around the city that night when he came across the two fighting. Looking around the city, Remy decided to just sit on the side and watch the fight. Both of them were good and while he couldn't really see Spider-Man, what he did see of the Black Cat was rather nice.
"Are you two done fighting yet?" he called out when they parted for a breath. They turned to look at him and Remy wanted to pout at the sight of Spider-Man's masked face. He bet that the vigilante would have the same exact expression of surprise as the Black Cat.
"Who are you?" the woman demanded.
"Just a passer-by," he replied cheerfully.
"Not to be rude," Spider-Man said, "but normally don't passer-bys stick to the ground and not to the roofs?"
"That's too ordinary," Remy said with a sniff. "It's too nice a night out to be stuck enjoying it from the ground." The woman was starting to smile and Remy decided to turn the charm on to full blast. "Don't mind my asking and all, but why are you fighting?"
"I'm not fighting," the Black Cat said. "I'm flirting with him."
"Excuse me?" Spider-Man shot back. "Trying to knee me in the groin does not constitute as flirting." Remy just sat back and watched as the two began to argue, amused at the way they seemed to be flirting and trying to kill each other at the same time.
"Sorry to interrupt again," Remy said as they paused for a breather once again, "but would either of you happen to know where the Fisk compound is?"
"Why are you asking?" Spider-Man asked. "Don't tell me you're another person with a vendetta against him."
"Uh, no," Remy said. "I just want to rob him blind." Spider-Man and the Black Cat both stared at him.
"You're kidding."
"No."
"You want to rob Richard Fisk, evil overlord of Neyaeil?"
"Rob isn't really the right word. I think procuring items is much nicer," Remy said.
"I think I'm in love," the Black Cat said. "You just spoke the most beautiful words I've ever heard from a man."
"You're welcome," Remy replied with a smile. "So now about the locations of those compounds here..."
"Ye robbed Lord Fisk?" a red-head asked in awe.
"Yes, I did indeed procure some valuable items from him," Remy said leaning back with a smile. "Those were probably the best days of my life, stealing everything from Fisk and selling them all for a pretty penny on the market. Of course, about half of the money went to Curt to help with his clinic."
"That was pretty nice of you, Remy," Scott said softly.
"Least I could do in that city," Remy said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Besides, I didn't really do much. Spider-Man, Daredevil and the Black Cat did most of the fighting against Fisk. All I did was sit on the sidelines and redirect shipments."
"Redirect shipments...?" Bobby asked.
"He means smuggling," Alex replied. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you Remy?" Remy grinned at him.
"So what happened next?" Bobby asked impatiently.
"Well, I only stayed in Nayaeil for two years before I went off," Remy said. "When I left, Fisk had the guards all out looking for everyone, including me. I really didn't like to keep looking over my shoulders so I said good-bye to them and left. I spent the next four years just traveling the world. Ten years would have been enough time for the guards to forget about me by then so I decided to pay my brothers a visit."
"And I'm glad you came," Alex said with a smile. Scott nodded and Remy also heard murmurs of assent from the group. Looking around, he noticed a blue-skinned woman with red hair and a short, stocky man by Xavier's side. Tucking that observation away, he looked out the window and was startled by how late it was.
"Have I been talking the whole day?" he asked in surprise. He hadn't noticed the time when he was telling his story and now that he realized the time, he noticed that he was getting hungry. There was a growl and Bobby gave the group a sheepish look.
"Sorry, sorry," he said with a smile. "Didn't notice the time."
"Same here," Remy said. "Kind of hungry myself."
"Well, you did talk the whole day away," Kitty said as she got up from where she sat. It seemed like a signal to the others as they all got up and started making their way to the kitchen. Remy looked up to see that Xavier and the others with him had disappeared before he followed the others into the kitchen for some food.
-
-
Memories are what makes us who we were in the past, who we are in the present and who we will be in the future.
- Xavier to Magnus
And now for a preview of the next chapter:
Flipping
on top of a section of a well, Remy crouched down on it, a hand down to
support him on the wall and his staff in the other. He studied
Logan, breathing hard and giving himself a general idea on how to take
on the man. Logan was crouched as well, but had a grin on his
face that bordered on maniacal.
"Didn' think you'd last this long," Logan said in a conversational tone.
"Same to you," Remy replied with a smile. "But then
again, I'm more use to taking out people who don't know that I'm here."
"Thought so," Logan said with a nod. "Thieves
always fight like that." Suddenly Logan charged at Remy.
Surprised, Remy threw himself backwards off the wall, flipping mid-air
to land on his feet. Logan jumped over the wall and lunged at
him, claws out first. Remy dropped and kicked Logan in the
stomach before sending him over using his momentum. His leg
strained at the weight of Logan and for a moment, Remy wondered what
the man was eating to be that heavy. Logan landed with a roll and
was back on his feet just as Remy jumped back onto his feet.
"You're heavy," Remy said, raising an eyebrow. "What in the Dark God's name have you been eating?"
"Puppies," Logan deadpanned. "Lots of puppies. They're quite fattenin', y'know."
"Well, for those poor fat puppies' sake, I'll have to beat you up," Remy replied solemnly. Logan just chuckled and attacked again.
