Chapter Ten: Out of Reach
Rogue woke up with a hangover and was completely disoriented about her surroundings. She sat in the bed for several minutes, knowing that it was the only way to stop her head from spinning and put her thoughts together.
The events of the previous night slowly but steadily started to resurface in her mind. It was definitely one Hell of a night. One big, no HUGE mistake. She knew she shouldn't have let herself go, forget about the consequences and just follow her... what? Body, instincts, feelings? Was there something deeper than lust that caused her to let Remy touch her that way? No, definitely not. It was just lust for a sexy male body, okay, extremely sexy, but that was not the point. The point was that it would never happen again.
Coming to that decision she went to take a shower to wash out the smell of Remy that still lingered on her. After shower she put something that Lucy laid out for her. Actually it was a summer red dress, luckily with long sleeves. 'So they know about my problem. Ah wonder what else they know about the whole situation.'
Suddenly she heard the roar of a motorcycle. It was certainly nearing the mansion and then abruptly stopped exactly under her window. For some unknown reason Rogue wanted to check it out. She came out on the small balcony and looked down. The bike was unfamiliar, but the dark auburn hair of the rider was unmistakable.
"Remy," she breathed out, before she could stop herself.
Even if it was said in barely a whisper, Remy looked up and stared. The picture of Rogue with hair and dress waving in the wind, bathed in the morning Sun, will stay engraved in his mind forever. The dead weight of her departure became even heavier. But he couldn't do anything about it, right?
"What are you doing here, Swamp Rat?"
"Came to pick you up and apologize for -"
"Don't bother. Two drunk people can cause much more trouble."
'She thinks I considered her a woman because I was drunk. I wish it was true. Maybe it is better for the both of us to forget it, if only I can forget…'
"You promised to show meh something today, sugah."
"Hop on."
"What do you mean 'hop on'? It is the second store here!"
"Remy'll catch ya."
"You are crazy, you know that?" But Remy already dismounted and stood under the balcony with outstretched hands. The height wasn't more than five meters, so it wasn't exactly life threatening. It was only a matter of trust on Rogue's part. She went back into her room, put on her gloves, then measured up the distance one more time.
"If you peek at mah underwear, Ah swear…"
"Not even a peep," Remy reassured her. He was actually surprised that she considered the jump seriously, but she wasn't an ordinary flimsy girl, she was Rogue. Without further ado Rogue jumped and Remy even managed to catch her bridal style. "You jerk! You looked! And put me down this instant!" Rogue fumed, trying to somehow readjust her ridded up skirt.
"Calm down, chere, you are in competent hands."
"That's what Ah am afraid of," she muttered into his chest.
…
After arriving to the Thieves' Guild Remy led her toward his wing of the house. She was surprised when they passed his personal quarters and entered a narrow, completely stuffed room. It was full of monitors and computers accompanied with folder holders. The adjacent table was covered with all papers imaginable, starting from building's plans and ending with geographical maps.
"Welcome, to Remy's workplace."
"It surely has your style to it. But aren't you, you know, a thief? What can be stolen here? Even if it could be found among this garbage."
"Information, chere. Everything now is about information. If someone knows something important, he can rule the world. Remy wants you to read something," he said suddenly very serious. "This is the contract Remy made with the Prof."
Rogue took the yellow envelope and stared at it. Why must she read this? Can she just take the stuff and leave? "Is this really important?"
"Oui. Especially the last part."
Rogue took out the papers and started reading. The first pages were about legal matters of the contract and the confidentiality. Rogue was astonished how formally the paper was written. She skipped the part about payment and went to the part of mission description:
Your task is to go through the materials of all organizations mentioned below or any other companies and laboratories that research and experiment with mutant genes and technologies which suppress it or eliminate it all together. Thus information about all concoctions and devices must be collected and analyzed.
"So you are giving some folders? That's it?" Rogue asked, looking up from the text.
"Read the last part."
If you come to conclusion that those devices or other research projects may be dangerous or fatal to the mutant kind – destroy all files and possible documentation. Of course it would be preferable to liquidate the physical results of the research, but our abilities do not stretch that far.
Rogue's hands started to shake, but she still managed to read a handwritten note in the end. It read: "All our hopes lie on you, Mister LeBeau. Please, stop this useless war, at least for the peaceful future of your son."
"How can he… how can he give you so much power?" Rogue asked softly. "Who are you to decide? You are just a thief!" she burst out in end. "You know nothing about the war, living here peacefully under the wing of the Guild!"
Remy eyes flashed with anger. "And what happened in the pool bar could be called peaceful too?" he snarled. "Those men beat you up, because you were a mutant. Emilien can't use his power in front of his girlfriend, because he is afraid she will despise him!"
"This is just minor cases! You don't know how is it to sit in a house full of kids and wait out anti-mutant mob's parade or government military forcers!"
"Remy is a thief and Tony is a killer, how do you think they feel after every contract is dialed with? Covering our tracks, thinking of all possible clues that could've been left… One single mistake and we are behind the bars for life! What will then happen to Lucy and Emilien?"
"It was your own choice," Rogue retorted, calming down somewhat.
"The same about you."
"Yeah, it kinda was. What were we arguing about?"
Remy hit several buttons on the keyboard and the monitors came to life, showing pictures of different devices and descriptions of their qualities. "These little buggers. Decide yourself. Remy is just a thief anyway."
'Gives up without a fight?' Rogue thought surprised. She was sure he would try to justify his position, just because he was a man, but he let her win. Why?.. Not wanting to dwell on such minor things, Rogue looked up at the monitors. She went from one to another and with every read word dread and horror settled within her.
Bullets to reverse mutant powers on the mutants, vaccine to liquidate mutant gene in the host organism, projects to keep track on all mutant activities from a satellite and sterilize mutants so they won't reproduce, all kinds of weaponry and prison type facilities to keep mutants under control; and last but not least a device to block mutant power.
Rogue completely stilled. She hungrily read every word in which she believed laid her salvation and freedom. The device description read: simultaneously to blocking all mutant powers, the bracelet sucks it out and stores for further use against the mutants themselves. Next went spatial explanation about the way how to store the extracted power, but Rogue couldn't perceive anything else.
'This can't be happening, all mah hopes, mah goal in life… Crashed… Destroyed, by some mutant hating fanatics…' "Why?.." All other words were muffled by sobs that Rogue couldn't hold. Not anymore. She let Remy hug her without any protest. In a single moment all her willpower, stubbornness and strength she was famous for were taken away and only a helpless girl remained. "Why do they hate us so much? Why do they only want to destroy us instead of helping?" Rogue mumbled into his chest.
"Because they don't understand that we suffer too. They don't consider mutants as humans, just slightly different."
"We have right to exist, right? To be happy, to have a family, right? Why do they want to take everything from us?"
"They can't take what is in your heart, chere."
"You are the strangest person, Ah've ever met, Remy LeBeau. Ah wish Ah had a friend like you."
"You have him, cherie."
…
The next morning Rogue was packing her things, but halfheartedly. In just a bit more than a week her whole life turned upside down, she experienced things that would've never happened to her if she remained in the Institute. The question was if it was good or bad to feel… Just feel. It still wasn't enough though. 'We always want too much, always the unreachable,' Rogue concluded philosophically and zipped up her bag.
She already opened the door to the garage where Remy was waiting to bring her to the train station, when she was stopped by the cry, "Wait, Miss Rogue!"
"Ah asked you to drop it, boy," Rogue scolded Emilien lightly. She waited in her room till the last moment to avoid saying good bye to the boy, to whom in several days she managed to grow much closer than to all her students.
"I am sorry, I just want to say good bye. You will visit us, right?" Emilien said in one breath.
"Visit? Ah don't know. If their will be need in the services - "
"No, I mean simply like friends, you know. We both will be glad to see you."
'What was the emphasis on 'both' for?' "Ah still don't know - "
"But you want to, right?"
'This is the question of the century. Do Ah want to live through all this again? Well, Em is kinda cute and Remy can be really funny sometimes, when he is not flirting with no shame and when he does. And he can be serious too. It is easy to talk to him on all possible topics.' Rogue smiled inwardly. "Ah'll think about it."
"Yei! I am going to plan the whole weekend, or two, no three!" Emilien cried enthusiastically. "Good bye then. See you soon." He stepped closer and looked her over.
"What are you thinking about with such a screwed up face?" Rogue asked with a chuckle.
"How to hug you."
"Oh, that's easy." With great care Rogue put her arms around his shoulders and hugged him. It was kinda awkward, because she needed to avoid ears and necks' contact, but it was still a hug.
"Go now, Pups is waiting."
"Pups?" she asked with highly raised eyebrows.
"Yeah, Remy."
"You call him 'Pups'? Do you understand that this is number one teasing, not to mention blackmail, material?"
Emilien only shrugged.
…..
The train was leaving in half an hour so Rogue and Remy decided to pass away the time in the station café.
"Remy wants you to have something."
"What is it?" Rogue asked, looking at the middle sized box with nothing to indicate the content.
"Look upon your return. Does it feel any different this time?"
"What do you mean?"
"You are living on your own accord. No X-guys around to tell you what to do."
"Are you, in some way, asking meh to stay, sugah?"
"Why not?"
"No thanks, Ah prefer…"
Remy tilted his head, a smirk gracing his lips, as if saying, "What good is waiting for you there?"
"Mah train is leaving. Good bye, Swamp Rat," she said stiffly, not wanting to dwell on the matter any longer.
"Good bye, chere," Remy said in return, kissing the hem of her shirt, millimeters from where her neckline ended.
"This man is crazy," Rogue breathed out, following gracefully retreating form of the said man. With just a peck he maid her blood boil. In a very good way.
….
"Hello, Stripes. How was your -"
"Hi, Logan," Rogue threw, rushing past him up the stairs, but then she stopped mid-step and gave him a long white envelope. "Please, give this to Professor, Ah'll visit him shortly." No hearing his response, she ran away.
"What the Hell is with that girl? And that Cajun stench is all over her! Brrrrrr…"
Rogue sneaked into her room and slowly closed the door, as if hiding a very big secret nobody must know about. She knew she was acting childishly, but she rarely received presents, so…
She rushed to the box and opened it. She was actually surprised to see there the mermaid statue she asked for. But the box was not empty yet. Something was glistening on the very bottom. Rogue took it out and choked on a sob. It was a pair of the thinnest gloves she has ever seen. They were made from some transparent silk material that made the gloves look practically nonexistent on the wearer. In the gloves was wrapped a card of King of Hearts with a telephone number and words: 'Anything anytime. Your friend, Swamp Rat'.
Rogue cried through the whole night, but were they tears of happiness or regret or both she didn't even want to know.
A/N: Basically this is the end of the first part of the story line. The plot idea for the second part was actually the initial idea for this fic, but I got carried away. Hopefully it will be more interesting from now on, more extreme most definitely.