28
Remy had been careful upon returning to the thieves mansion. He'd taken the longer and more difficult routes to make sure that, if he was being tracked, the person tracking him would have a seriously hard time following. He was also warey of animals following him which could have been Mystique in disguise. The longer, more tedious route also gave him time to think and come up with some sort of plan with the new information that had come to light regarding Rogue.
When he was sure he was in the clear, Remy made his way towards Rogue's room, needing to be sure that she was still with him. When he opened her bedroom door, he was immidantly disappointed.
"Where's Rogue?" Remy asked his brother, Henri, who was stood in the center of the room with Merci.
"Dat be just de question we were askin'," Henri responded.
"Y' didn't keep watch like I told y' to?" Remy asked, but the way his voice edged dangerously, it sounded like more of a statement.
"She be in de library last time I check, wantin' t' be left alone after y' blew her off," Henri said, letting his irritation and disappointment show.
"She ain't anywhere else t' be found," Merci chimmed in. "Must'a taken off in t' la ville. 'though, ain't heard anyone confirm it."
Remy cursed under his breath and headed straight to the next person he knew would keep tabs on Rogue. Remy burst into Jean-Luc's office, finding him sat at his desk.
"Y' know, we maybe used t' breakin' in t' places, but knockin' still be polite," Jean-Luc said as he glanced up at his son, irritated.
"Where is she?" Remy demanded to know.
"Hmmm?" Jean-Luc hummed.
"Don't play dumb wit' moi!" Remy snarled.
"I'm guessin' y' referin' t' Rogue?" he asked.
Remy's firery stare answered his question.
Jean-Luc sat back, unphased by his son's temper.
"Tell moi Remy, what is it y' get from her?" he questioned.
"I ain't playin' Jean-Luc," Remy warned his father.
"Yet, here y' be 'cause y' realised y' took y' eye off de price," Jean-Luc said.
"Where is she?" Remy replied, slowing his words to make each one of them clear.
"She be exactly where I want her t' be, an' she be more than happy t' be there," Jean-Luc responded.
Remy, feeling his hands sizzle with burning energy, placed both his fists onto the desk in front of Jean-Luc. The pink glow from his hands travelled into the desk. Jean-Luc showed no response of being intimidated.
"She ain't anyone's play t'ing. She's a person!" Remy said.
"A person who turned t' us for help which I be more than willin' t' provide at a cost," he said.
"Non! She turned t' moi!" Remy answered back.
"An' where were y', hmmm?" Jean-Luc asked. "Y' had y' chance wit' her, an' y' blew it. Might as well face de facts boy."
Seeing as he was getting nowhere with Jean-Luc, Remy stood up straight and took off out of the room. He began to rack his brains, trying to think where Jean-Luc might have sent Rogue. He was cursing himself for having retaliated so soon against Etienne and the other thieves and letting Rogue talk him into seeking that revenge with him. It had been too gorgous to turn down at the time, especially with her eyes a flame the way they had been. But now he knew he would have a tough time having any of those thieves tell him what Jean-Luc's plans were for Rogue and where the hell she was. He might have had Henri and Merci to help him out, but Jean-Luc was cunning. Very cunning and very sneaky. It was going to take time to unravel where it was he had placed her. And if he didn't find her soon, then Mystique might get to her first.
Remy slipped out his phone, debating his decision. That was when Henri appeared.
"Merci headed off in t' town wit' Jacs an' a few others. See what dey can find," Henri informed him.
"They travellin' in pairs?" Remy asked.
Henri raised his eyebrow at this.
"Usual formation." He responded.
"Get dem t' stick t' each other like glue. No one outta sight at any point," Remy commanded.
"Guessin' there be a reason?" Henri asked, not liking his brother's tone or implications.
"Oui," Remy said, still glancing down at his phone.
Henri saw the clogs ticking behind his eyes. He knew pushing Remy for an explination to his answers would result in time wasted, but it didn't take much to be able to know there was something seriously troubling that was forcing his brother's hand.
"Had a word wit' Emil before. He mentioned Theo's heist been moved up t' dis afternoon. He, a few others an' y'self be de only ones t' leave 'fore Merci," Henri informed his brother, wanting to find Rogue just as much as him.
Remy glanced up at Henri, his mind glancing over the previous night.
"Who went wit' em?" he asked.
"De assigned, though, Emil didn't actually see dem leave," Henri informed Remy.
"Reach out t' Theo. See where he be at," Remy said, marching passed his brother as a greater picture of the current circumstances came to mind.
Before either Henri nor Remy had to lift a finger, they heard the front door to the mansion open and a few voices flooding in. Without a second thought, the two made their way towards the front enterence.
Remy eyed every thief that entered. There was five of them all together. Two walked off one way, followed closely by the third. They had a slight buzz from the heist and were egerly lost in the moment.
His eyes shifted to the last two who entered. Rogue was smiling and her face was lit with a positive glow. Theo had a small smirk on his face as he listened to Rogue. There was a gleam of pride in his eyes. One that was usually brought on after a heist went extremely well. It was unique on Theo's face and Remy was sure from that expression alone that he was not Mystique.
Remy made his way down the stairs and towards the pair, who acknowledged his presense. He watched how words backed up in Rogue's throat, before she joined her lips and kept silent.
"T'ink we may have de makin's of a new master thief on our hands," Theo said.
Remy glanced at Theo, watching the gleam fade as he read Remy's expression.
"Best be reportin' back," Theo said to Rogue, nodding his head in approval at her and heading the way Remy had came.
"Chérie," Remy said, turning his attention back on to her. "We need t' talk."
He watched as Rogue folded her arms and rolled her eyes, the after glow of the heist quickly fading.
"Oh, so now ya wanna talk? Well, sorrah, can't. Got things ta do," Rogue said, taking off past Remy in a hurry.
Rogue acknowledge Henri on the stairs, but she read the stern look in his face. The same one that Remy seemed to have. Rogue read their faces as them being disappointed in her taking up Theo's offer at trying a heist, but she told herself she didn't care.
She wanted to know what it was like. Wanted to know what life she could be offered as a thief since Remy had run off on her earlier and the window to accessing her past seemed to be getting smaller. She didn't want to run off to Bayville. She wasn't ready. Not even if some of the thieves disliked her at the moment. She had her reasons for doing what she did. A reason that Remy, definetly, wouldn't like as it went against his side of the deal he'd made with her, but one, she hoped, Henri, Merci and Tante would come around to accepting. She gathered they might be insulted that she'd decided to give in to the thieves' life and not trust them when they told her that they'd keep her safe and present regardless. But she just didn't want to take that chance. Besides, she wanted to know, out of her own curiousty, what the thieves' life would be like if she decided to go through with it and that heist told her everything it needed to.
When she had been out on the heist, she had actually been with some of the thieves she'd scolled earlier. They had given her a wide berth to begin with and she'd feared all of them would throw her into some form of trouble and run out on her, but, as they got closer towards their mark, she noticed the change in the thieves. They were there for her, dispute what had happened earlier. Refusing to leaving her and constantly being within reach encase something went wrong. They treated her as one of their own and looked out for her as they would any other thief. Somehow, the thieves came to respect her quite a bit after she'd put her neck on the line and trusted them with her safety. She wasn't too sure why, right that second, she had put herself in harms way and trusted the thieves so deeply to pull her out of it, but she guessed it had something to do with proving herself and she felt extremely liberated afterwards. Right till she'd returned to face Remy and Henri that was.
She had been the decoy and, according to Theo, although she could do with a lot of practice and quite a bit of improvement, she was fast on her feet and had a good instint for what was going on around her that could definetly be worked with. She now had a tale to tell when she next went out with the thieves and just that connection alone had filled her with such joy. Joy that she was a part of something and not just the girl who burdanded the mansion and was taking up residence for free. She felt accomplished and, as soon as she'd walked through the doors, she felt as if that had been taken away from her by two thieves who had ulterior motives for her presense. Well, just as she had made herself clear to the other thieves, she was going to make herself clear to the pair she was close to. She was no one's pawn.
As Remy took two steps at a time to catch up to Rogue, he paused to give Henri the order to ensure none of the thieves were followed. Henri, although in the dark still about what had happened to put Remy so on edge, nodded his head and proceeded to follow after Theo. He definetly wasn't happy about what was unfolding and wanted to go after Rogue himself to make her see sense, but he reckonged he'd give Remy the chance to straighten things out with her and experience what it was like being in his shoes for a change. He'd had many of the same conversations over the past few years with his brother that he was going to have with Rogue now. It was about time his brother got a taste of what he'd been putting him through.
xxxxx
French Translations
La ville - Town
Moi - Me
Non - No
Oui - Yes
Chérie - Darling