Chapter 10
"I'm sorry, cherie. dis is all my..."
"Forget it, Gambit. But you should go, too. The rest of my crew probably ain't far behind."
"Why not come wit' me?"
"Don't push yah luck, LeBeau. Ah like yah, but Ah haven't forgotten how we met."
"The circumstances were...not de best. But we're like those couples dat get toget'er after surviving da same plane crash, yeah? No one else alive understands what dey've been through!"
"Ah…Ah need some time alone."
"Me, too. We can be alone toget'er, Rogue."
"Yah don't have to call me that, yah know. Rogue is just the handle mah folks hung on meh when Ah used to get intah trouble. My Christian name's Marian...like Robin Hood's girl."
"I'll let you be whoever y' want t' be. You know I got more in common wid y' den wit' y' friend back dere. Y' seen my past! No matter what I done, y' know my heart's always been in da right place!"
"Those memories Ah stole from yah have already faded away, Remy."
"Then I'll give y' more."
"No, if...if Ah touch you..."
"It's all right, Marian. I'm not like ot'er men. I can take de pain…" ~
Gambit and Rogue, right before he takes her in his arms and kisses her - Ultimate X-Men #53
Rogue jumped off of Remy's motorbike, thanked him, and watched him as he sped away. She didn't have the energy to do anything else, so she ran up to her room and slammed the door after her. So many things didn't make sense in her head; she didn't know how she was going to get through the night. Her whole life had been based on a lie, and the worst part about it was that Professor Xavier, a man Rogue thought highly of, knew all along.
There were a million questions flashing through her mind, but the one that bothered her the most was: why. Why didn't the professor tell her? Strangers knew more about her life than she did; surely there was something wrong there.
Rogue sighed. She had paid the price for her dream, who knew that the truth could be used as karma?
"Rogue?" A small voice from the other side of the door called.
Rogue said nothing, she just wanted to be alone right now, but in a school as big as this, that was nearly impossible.
The door creaked open slowly, revealing Kitty Pryde. Rogue chuckled silently to herself; she couldn't remember the last time Kitty had used the door. Neither girl said anything, the younger one walked over to the bed Rogue laid on and sat herself down.
"Want to talk about it?" Kitty asked, breaking the silence.
"Nothing to talk about."
Kitty sighed, she had known it wouldn't be easy, but she was hoping that this time, she'd open up.
"I remember my first day here." Kitty reminisced, hoping to get closer to Rogue. "I was terrified. My parents came with me to look around the school with me. When it was time to go, I clung onto them, scared to let go. The professor managed to calm me down and they left shortly after. For the next month, I phoned them every day, went home for weekends, and kept close contact with them, but eventually, I started making friends, getting to know the place better, and nightly calls turned to weekly calls, and weekend visits turned into holiday visits."
Rogue hadn't seen the point in the story, it was meaningless to her, but Kitty was hoping for an exchange.
"What yah want meh to say?" Rogue asked icily.
Kitty looked away from her friend, fearing that she might have pushed her away before even getting close.
"Fine, be like that!" Kitty snapped, tired of trying. "But know this, one day you're going to need a friend and I just hope that you haven't pushed them all away, for your sake, Rogue."
With that said, Kitty left, slamming the door on her way out. Rogue lay back down on her bed; she'd always have Logan, she told herself.
Gambit parked his red Harley in his space. He'd been coming to the same bar for months now, doubling his earnings, and spending them on drinks and for some lucky lady of his choosing. Remy LeBeau was a stranger to the seedy bar, there was only Gambit. He pushed the door open, and strutted in with more confidence than a supermodel, forgetting his real name, and leaving his morals, the little he had, outside with the Harley Davidson.
His table had already been occupied by keen poker players, determined to win their money back from the previous game. Remy grinned before sitting himself down, and shouting his order to the barman.
"You're late." One man grunted. His jeans were ripped, and he wore a plain black tank top with a straw hat. The man's face was covered in small scars that looked as if they were from a pocket knife. In his lap, a petite blonde sat, her hair in waves, and, like the man who Gambit assumed was her boyfriend, she wore ripped denim hot pants and a brown waist coat with nothing underneath.
"Y' jus' early." Gambit replied, giving the girl a small, half smile. She giggled shyly in return. "Y' bring a belle fille like dat t' a bar like dis, homme? Cherè, y' want someone who gunna take y' t' places worthy of datbeauté."
"I don't know what you just said Gambit, but I don't like the way you're looking at my woman!"
Woman, yeah, she was all woman, top half and bottom half by the looks of it, but she was just a kid really, barely out of High School. Gambit guessed that she was the rebellious type. Unlike the popular cheerleaders, who dated college boys, she dated men, mainly the rough ones. Maybe to get one up on Mommy and Daddy, or maybe because she liked to live dangerously.
"Rex!" Another man warned.
Gambit turned his attentions to the man that just spoke.
"So Eddie, y' back. I would'a t'ought dat y' would'a 'ad enough after y' gambled y' daughter's birthday money away."
"That's why I'm here, I need to win it back." Eddie sulked. He knew he should never have done it, but the temptation was too much. Eddie was older than anyone else around the table; he had three children, two boys, one girl. She was his precious princess, and that's why he had come back.
"Y' should'a folded homme. No one beat Remy yet, an' dat's da way it goin' stay. How old's y' daughter now Edd?" Gambit asked casually.
"Not old enough." Eddie grimaced at the thought of his little girl with the mercenary Gambit. They all knew what he did. People came in and out of the bar asking for a Gambit, they were sent over to the thief's table.
"Not old enough? I seen the rack on your girl and, judging by them, she's old enough." Jimmy, the last poker player chuckled. Eddie held his fist in a tight ball, remembering why he came. He had to win his money back.
The bartender, Derrick, narrowed his eyes at the table. He didn't want any trouble in his bar, but he didn't do anything to stop it either.
"Are we going to play poker or what?" Rex took a swig from his beer, taking a long look at each of the players. Eddie was a gambling addict, he could never bring himself to stop and that's how he ended up gambling away the money for his daughter's birthday present. Jimmy was a criminal, in and out of prison for various reasons that only he knew. Gambit suspected he'd been in for rape because of his perverted tendencies. Rex liked to think that he was something big, wore his straw hat everywhere, and went on about his ancestor being John Wayne. Sometimes Gambit struggled not to laugh at the man.
Gambit pulled a deck of cards out from the inside of his trench coat pocket, he began to shuffle them, but Rex stopped him.
"No, I'm going to deal for a change." Rex shuffled the cards slowly, making sure each of them were in different places than they were before. When they were ready, Rex dealt the cards to the left of him until the final card had been dealt.
"I'm going home in the money tonight!" Jimmy howled.
"We'll see." Eddie retorted, sweeping his eyes over his cards. Nothing, not even a pair.
Gambit remained silent, studying his opponent's faces. He threw a fifty dollar bill into the pile of money in the middle of the table.
"Go on baby, see the man." Rex smiled at the woman sitting on him. She pulled out a few bills from her bra, earning a whistle from Jimmy and a look of curiosity from Gambit. "Well the lady's spoken, I'll raise you another fifty."
Eddie could feel his palms sweating and there was no doubt in his mind that his hairline was soaking wet. He couldn't fold now, he had to get his princess something nice for her birthday, he just had to.
"Fifty? Please. I thought we'd be playing with the big money tonight."
"Y' want'a play for big money, homme? Den we play for big money." Gambit smirked, things had gotten interesting.
Eddie frowned. He didn't have the kind of money the rest of them were talking about. The only thing he had that was worth something was his car.
"Now this is what I'm talking about." Rex nodded, as he threw a wad of money into the pile.
"Y' can waste dat much money, but y' can't take y' fille out somewhere nice?" Gambit counted how much was in the pile of money then doubled it. "Come out wit' Gambit sometime cherè, he'll show y' a good time."
The blonde girl bit her lip; she smiled at Remy, but remained silent.
"You better keep that big mouth of yours shut, Cajun." Rex gritted out through clenched teeth. He turned to his woman and took her lips in a deep kiss, marking his territory, only Gambit wasn't getting the message.
"Wid me, y' wont 'ave t' act as if y' like it." Remy smirked, commenting on the kiss, further enraging Rex.
"If you don't shut up, I'm going to shut you up!" Rex held onto the woman in his lap tightly, possibly bruising her skin. "Now Eddie, you either see it or you fold, it's up to you!"
Eddie's palms had been drenched, as he contemplated whether or not to gamble away his car. It was the only thing on him worth that much money, and if he won, well, he could easily buy a new one, a better one. It was worth the risk. Eddie threw in his keys, breathing heavily as he did so.
"What the hell are these? I thought we played for money?" Jimmy lifted the keys and took a good look at them. Knowing Eddie, they were probably the keys to a storage locker somewhere.
"Keys."
"I know that! What kind of keys!" Jimmy sniped.
"Car keys."
The three men looked around, all deciding if the car could be used.
"Baby, what you think?" Rex asked.
"Well, it's an improvement from your truck."
"Y' drivin' da fille aroun' in'a truck? Chere, y' leave wid me an' y'll be goin' back t' my place in'a Harley Davidson." Remy bragged.
Rex ignored the Cajun, despite the fact that it was extremely hard for him, but he managed it. He had been to the bar many times before, played poker with Gambit even more times, but only once he had brought his woman with him.
The stakes had been raised much higher. Eddie had been forced to fold, after gambling away his car and his gold wristwatch. Jimmy had been determined to bluff his way through the first round, but he had no idea the stakes would be this high so fast, so after Eddie put his gold watch down, he bitterly folded. There was only Gambit, and Rex left in the game, and Rex was running out of money quicker than he'd like, Gambit knew this.
Rex studied his cards, two aces to play off the board, which already had two aces down. Four of a kind, he couldn't give up now, but he had nothing left to bet.
"I tell y' what homme, I raise y' five t'ousand." Gambit threw another wad of money into the middle. Eddie wondered why someone would be carrying that much money around with them.
"I don't have the money with me." Rex sighed.
"Den Gambit's goin' be generous. Y' raise me wid dat fille of y's."
Rex looked at his cards, to the girl on his lap, and then at Remy. Four of a kind, he had a pretty big chance of winning. There was only one other hand that could beat him right now.
"You're on." Rex agreed without even asking the young woman. He grinned as he showed his cards to the poker players. Two pocket aces to play off the cards in the middle, A A K 10. His hand was golden.
"Four of a kind." Gambit commented. Rex nodded. "Royal flush." Gambit smiled at Rex's unbelievable reaction. He was about to collect his earnings, when he heard someone ask for him the other side of the bar.
"Remy LeBeau?" A mysterious man asked the barman. He had his yellow trilby hat on low, so that it shadowed his face. The hat matched a yellow suite and the man looked like he was some big, bad gangster.
"Never heard of the guy." The barman answered, unfazed.
"Gambit?" The man didn't even have to think, if he wasn't going by the name Remy, then he was definitely going by Gambit.
"Over there." The barman grunted, nodding at the table in the corner.
"Mercy." The man thanked.
Gambit pocketed his earnings and got up rather quickly, too quickly for the men's liking. Normally, Gambit was one to gloat, buy everyone a drink or two, he'd never just take his earnings and go.
"Cherè, I was never one t' disappoint a femme, especially one as belle as y', but in dis case, I'm gunna have t'." Gambit took a quick glance at the door, he couldn't make it. The man had already passed it, there was only one way out, the rest room window.
"Le Diable Blanc!" The man called from afar.
That name, that voice, that accent.
"Looks like t'ing's 'ave changed, cherè, if y' don' mind waitin' f' me, dis shouldn' take long." He didn't wait for a reply, didn't even notice Rex taking a stand.
"Henri? Is dat y' frère?" Gambit asked, unsure. He hadn't seen his brother in years, not since he left New Orleans.
"Qui." Henri answered. The brothers hugged, but their embrace was cut short by Remy's curiosity.
"Il a été quoi? Quatre ans? Que vous apporte à la grande pomme?" /It's been what? Four years? What brings you to the big apple?\
"Je voudrais pouvoir dire que j'ai été ici pour vous voir Remy, je le fais, mais j'ai peur que ce n'est pas la raison pour laquelle je suis ici." /I wish I could say I was here to see you Remy, I do, but I'm afraid that's not why I'm here.\
"Den why are y' 'ere?" Remy knew his family. Business, it had always been business. That was the reason Jean-Luc took him in as his own, because he could pick pockets well.
"Vous avez besoin de revenir à la maison. Pa 'a pas eu le sentiment de bien à tous, et il ya une merde en cours avec les assassins, il est trop malade pour y faire face, et je ne peux pas le faire seuls." /You need to come home. Pa' hasn't been feeling well at all, and there's some shit going down with the Assassins, he's too ill to handle it, and I can't do it alone.\
"Bella, she been lookin' f' me." Remy told him.
"Belladonna still pissed wid y' mon frère, she be wantin' blood since y' left, y' blood."
"I can handle Bella." Remy confessed, earning a laugh from Henri, and he knew why. He could remember the time he and Bella were engaged, she'd been out with a few of her friends and he'd been out with his, only he'd come home with someone totally different. He heard Bella come in through the front door and, in a complete panic, he climbed out of the window, leaving the naked woman in their bed for his fiancé to see.
After that night, he hadn't gone home for days. Bella was livid with him, leaving hundreds of messages, and telling all the casino owners and bar owners to tell her if they saw him. In the end, Jean-Luc had found him and dragged him back to his fiancé, screaming that he was not going to screw this up for him.
"I ain't comin' home, Henri. Now, if y' excusez-moi, I 'ave a fille t' entertain." Remy winked.
"Elle vous y trouverez" /She'll find you\ Henri warned.
"I know."