19

It had been late by the time Remy and Rogue got back. Much later than anyone else. Remy had said that the thieves' mansion wasn't too far away from where they had ended up, but it was far enough to make both Rogue and Remy loss their light banter and begin to suffer from their damp clothes that made them cold.

As they continued to walk through swamp infested waters, they started to feel the chill from the night air. The cold slowed them both down, making their bones ache. Rogue seemed to be suffering a bit more than Remy.

She was shaking viciously as she walked and her lips were starting to turn pale. Remy took her hand, pulling a head and trying to make her move a little faster to warm things up. Rogue had gone quiet, her mind only thinking about how cold her body was in her muddy clothes rather than what questions she could be asking Remy in this alone time they had together. She wanted to squeeze her hand tighter around Remy's, but couldn't. She was just so glad he was there, leading her back to safety or else, she didn't know if she would make it out of the swamp a second time.

When they entered the mansion grounds, Remy pulled Rogue in to him, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and walking in stride with her up to the front doors. When they entered the mansion, Rogue let out a sigh of relief.

When the yelling came in focus for her, she quickly felt guilty. The yelling sounded like it belonged to Jean-Luc and Theo's name was yelled at some point. Remy closed the front door to the mansion behind them and, almost as if the front doors had a bell on them, Tante came straight out of one room in a pace.

"Oh my," she'd muttered, her eyes big and wide as she took them both in. "Mon honey chile," she said, grabbing Rogue's head and pulling her down to take a good look at her. "Y' ain't hurt, are y'? No injuries?" she asked, now searching her body.

"A-ah'm finah," Rogue muttered out, her lips having turned blue a little.

Tante's attention turned to Remy. Rogue felt his arm leave her as Tante made a fuss over him and she hated how much colder she felt without his arm around her.

Rogue glanced up, past Tante, seeing some thieves had peered their heads in.

Tante snapped her fingers a few times and demanded: "Blankets! Blankets now y' tas inutile!"

The thieves that were behind Tante darted off back from where they came.

Rogue noticed Jean-Luc's shouting had stopped and she looked back at Remy, unsure what was about to happen.

"I be fine, tante," Remy said, removing her hands and returning his hand to Rogue's back.

He began to lead her forwards, further into the mansion, moving past Tante. The next person to step into their paths was Jean-Luc.

He'd emerged from one of the rooms on the ground floor and was followed by Theo.

"Remy, y' two be alright?" he asked his son, but was looking at Rogue.

Jean-Luc's eyes lingered on Rogue, looking her up and down. Rogue wrapped her arms around her body more, not liking the attention.

"We're fine," Remy said, his voice stern.

Rogue noticed Remy was saying this more to Theo than his father. Rogue glanced at Theo herself. He looked defeated and rather upset. Theo's eyes turned to her and she shot him a small smile, hoping it would be reassuring. Seeing him like that and hearing Jean-Luc yelling at him, she felt bad for him when he obviously cared.

Behind the pair, the thieves who Tante had ordered to bring blankets came jogging towards them with said blankets in hand.

Tante, seeming unstoppable as she moved to snatch one of those blanket's out of a thief's hand and wrapped it around Rogue's shoulders.

"Come on now chile, let's get y' cleaned up!" Tante said, pushing Rogue forwards out of Remy's arms and towards the stairs.

Jean-Luc's arm shot out, trying to halt them. But Tante's glare was vicious.

"They need rest!" Tante snapped up at him. "Y' can ask y' questions later."

With that, Tante pushed forwards with Rogue, leading her back to her room.

Rogue glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see Remy following them. But he wasn't. He remained stood in front of Jean-Luc and walked off with him into another room.

xxxxx

French Translations

Mon - My
Tas inutile - Useless Heap