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Chapter 39
Remy pushed a vodka sour toward Belle where she had taken a seat at her father's desk. Her head rested on her forearms, her body face-down and unmoving. The coroner had taken away Marius' body after resuscitation efforts had failed and the Assassin Guild physician was unable to revive him in the compound's medical facility.
Of course, none of that had happened before Belle had brashly ordered a group of late arriving assassins to find Rogue and bring her back alive, though not necessarily fully intact nor unharmed. Remy had known he couldn't intervene without putting Rogue at further risk, but he had at least brokered Theoren's detention. His cousin had been taken away while still unconscious. Regardless of ideology, his actions violated the Five Oaths and from what Remy could tell, Belle wanted to keep the Unified Guild intact. At least, for now.
"Gar ici, petite." He tapped the glass against her forearm. "Y' need it."
Remy could certainly drink himself into oblivion, but he had to stay sharp for this conversation. Belle didn't start at first, so he gently rubbed her shoulder before prodding her again. With a reluctant sigh, she slowly sat up, scrubbed her hands over her face, then picked up the drink and downed it in three swallows.
Slamming the glass down on the desk, she demanded, "Gimme another."
Only too happy to oblige, Remy worked on a second drink for her. After all, a drunk Belle was a loose-lipped Belle. With all the rumors flying and the little Rogue had told him in Geneva, he needed answers regarding what the assassins knew, when they knew it, and how they had planned to use that knowledge against the Thieves in general, and him in specific.
Remy set the refreshed drink in front of Belle, who drank half of it before he could get started on his own whiskey neat. Drink in hand, he walked around the desk where he had righted one of the wingbacks and sat down.
"I wish he'd never brought that putain de chatte home." Belle coherently spoke for the first time in over an hour, even though her eyes were glassy and unseeing.
Remy just watched for a moment, letting her statement hang before he prodded, "Why did Marius adopt her anyway?"
"Some maudite prophecy." She focused on him but waved the question away as if it were as insignificant as a fly.
"Hmm," Remy intoned, watching her take a healthy swig of her drink. "Like Le Diable Blanc."
Belle knew exactly what he was referencing since they'd had the discussion many times in the past, especially after they had been misled to believe each would one day head their respective guilds. While Jean-Luc had been generous in adopting Remy and grew to love him, everyone knew if not acknowledged that he had done so for rapacious purposes and not some grand gesture of charity.
When Belle answered though, she took him by surprise. "No, not at all. Le Diable Blanc says nothin' more than someone wit' yo' same physical characteristics would one day unite de warring guilds, savin' de Thieves Guild, and bring back de ways of de Old Kingdom. Which I guess was true, considerin' de ceremonies that were conducted as part of de Unification."
"So, how's this other prophecy any different? It's all vague smoke and mirrors mysticism, if y' ask me." Remy had never really had any respect for the old teachings, regardless of how much Jean-Luc had tried to drill their importance into him.
"I'm not sure, seein' as how père never told me de whole thing. He was led t' believe Le Poison du Diable was some magical potion. An eternal or external or somethin' elixir. It supposedly had de power t' undo Le Diable Blanc prophecy." Belle took a smaller sip this time, pursing her lips and breathing deeply through her nose.
She knew full well how this had become an External issue, but she wasn't about to let that leak no matter how drunk she got. Now that she had a chance at keeping Remy for herself, she planned to employ any means necessary to achieve one of her greatest desires.
After releasing the breath and sipping her drink again, she continued, "All I know is he stopped lookin' fo' it when he found her."
Remy's brow knit in confusion. That didn't make any sense. Even though he was a mutant, he was just as susceptible to injury or illness as any baseline human. Okay, maybe he could take a harder hit and heal a little faster, but that didn't make him invulnerable or immortal. If Marius had wanted the guilds to remain enemies, he could have easily sent a small army to stop it. He certainly wouldn't have needed some supernatural elixir to…
'Marius only adopted me fer one reason: ta raise me ta kill you.' Rogue's words haunted his mind.
Realization hit Remy in waves of gut roiling nausea. It was a concerted effort to keep his face neutral and his hand from shaking as he raised his glass for a draught to settle his stomach. Le Poison du Diable wasn't some exotic liquid poison. It was Rogue! Or rather, her skin.
Marius wasn't concerned with stopping the unification. No, he wanted the whole damn thing to happen. Rogue was supposed to kill Remy after the wedding. Then with him out of the way, a chain reaction would have set up the former Assassin patriarch to wrestle control of the Unified Guild and eliminate the Thieves. Except Rogue had never gone along with Marius' plans, had never intended to, which didn't make any sense.
After seeing and experiencing her mutation firsthand, he finally understood that at any given time, she could have quite easily disposed of him. How many times had he let down his guard around her? How many times could she have murdered him in his sleep? Yet, she never took the opportunity. Even when Marius and Julien had threatened and physically harmed her, Rogue never capitulated to their demands to take Remy's life. And why was that?
Because she loved him.
Honestly. Truly. Not that puppy love Belle had felt when they were younger. Nor the accustomed affection a stranger in an arranged marriage might develop. Or even the empty seductive passion employed to complete a contract. No, Rogue had had a real, deep, self-sacrificing love for him. And he'd walked away from her and told her not to come home as if that precious bond was worthless.
The realization slammed into Remy like a sucker punch. This time, he didn't try to hide as he groaned and leaned forward to put his head between his knees. What had he done?
"Aww, don't worry, cher." Bella Donna crooned, rising and walking around the desk so she could rub his back in soothing circles. "It's all over now. My assassins will have her back here befo' dawn and we'll be able t' get on wit' our lives. De way it was always meant t' be."
Remy's mind raced as he tried to put all the pieces together. He unintelligently asked for details about Marius' plans.
"Ah can't understand what yo' sayin', Remy, when y' have yo' head down like that." Without waiting for him to repeat himself, she placed her fingers under his chin and coaxed him to sit up.
When there was enough space, Belle slithered onto his lap like a viper. Her arms circled his shoulders and she cuddled closer. "Now what was that 'bout what papa wanted?"
Remy slowly enunciated each word, asking again, "Did y' know that Marius planned t' kill me?"
"Bien sûr! Mais, y' know that's how papa was." Belle waved away his concern. "No one was ever gon' be good enough fo' his princesse précieuse."
He suddenly stood up, unceremoniously dropping Belle on her ass. "Putain, Belle! How can y' be so cavalier 'bout this." He ran his hands through his hair, agitation driving him to pace around the room.
"That hurt, Remy!" She complained, but quickly added, "I don't know why yo' so upset. I never would've let anybody hurt y'."
He ignored her naivety as he asked, "Did y' know 'bout de weddin'?"
A dark look clouded Belle's face before she pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. Dark memories of her abduction halfway around the world and abuse at the hands of Monsignor Renault swam before her eyes. "Non. That was a nasty surprise t' both of us."
"But y' knew Marius wanted t' kill me and y' never said anythin'?" Finally, he stopped pacing to tower over her. "Never thought that might be important information I'd like t' know?"
Not about to be condescended, Bella Donna jumped to her feet. Even though she was several inches shorter than Remy, she stepped into his personal space to shout back, "And I already told you I wouldn't have let anythin' happen! Nom de Dieu, why do y' think nothin' happened t' y' in Atlantic City? It would've been de perfect opportunity t'…"
Remy's eyes narrowed when she trailed off. "T' what, Belle?"
He watched as she chewed her lower lip, her eyes darting around the room. Kinesics maybe tipped him off to her obvious discomfort and deception, but he had an added advantage with his mutation. Almost immediately, he could sense she was hiding something under the waves of drunken anger and agitation radiating off her body. Racking his brain, he tried to figure out what else she could be hiding considering everything that had been revealed in the last thirty-six hours.
"How do y' know 'bout Atlantic City?" He questioned, stepping forward to intimidate her.
Even with Theoren secretly siding with the Assassins, his cousin had been too focused on setting up fratricide. He would have paid little attention to Remy or what he was doing there, other than to provide backup to Etienne if he needed it. Looking back on it, Vivienne was a little too assertive, even for a gentleman's club offering an illegal den of vices to VIPs. After all, any of the other VIPs would have been more than willing to take her up on her services. That meant someone had to have paid her to pick Remy out of the crowd and not take no for an answer. He and Etienne had been screwed from the start!
His voice grew deeper and more menacing as he questioned, "Belle…"
Instinctively recognizing an alpha predator, she backed up a step which created an opening for Remy to stalk forward. She continued to move away from him as he quickly matched pace, until he trapped her against the wall.
"I just wanted some pictures, hein? Maybe a video. When y' wouldn't take me up on my offer at de Cotillion, I thought if she," Bella Donna still refused to say Rogue's name, "thought y' were cheatin', she'd get mad enough that...well…"
"Quoi, Belle? Leave me? Kill me? Putain de fils de pute, Bella, y' set me up!" His voice was as ominous as the expression on his face.
"Oh, don't be melodramatic! Besides, it's not like it would've been any different than when y' were wit' me." Under her breath, she added, "Y' never could keep it in yo' pants then either."
A red haze clouded Remy's vision. Belle's treachery was infinitely worse than any betrayal he'd felt over Rogue's good intentioned deceit. At least his wife had been doing so out of love and an incongruous means of protection. What had Belle done other than to selfishly think only of herself? Acknowledging the truth of his ex's nature snapped something inside of Remy, turning his mind to black sludge.
Without a conscious thought, his hand shot out to wrap around Belle's throat. "Ne me nique avec moi."
"Remy? Cher?" She choked out as her eyes widened in shock, her fingers digging into his flesh.
The familiar glow she'd come to associate with his mutation danced across their hands and set his gaze on fire. Instead of the lively magenta hue, a frightening red bathed them in the color of warm, freshly spilled blood. Pitch darkness bloomed like mold over the skin around his eyes. Something changed about his kinetic charge too. The crackling spark where they were touching felt more like the effervescence of carbonated bubbles popping, as if her skin was disintegrating cell by cell. A coughing fit suddenly overtook Belle, though it originated from deep in her lungs instead of where Remy was crushing her larynx.
"Please," She begged between ragged gasps. "I don't want t' hurt y', Remy cher."
A sick, twisted smirk graced his once handsome features as he laughed, "Then y' should've thought of that befo' y' went meddlin'."
Clearly outmatched against this new and disturbing side of her former lover, Bella Donna's grasp on his choke hold weakened. Letting her arms slump to her sides, she played the victim to his monster. While his grip on her throat tightened, Belle balled her hands and ionized the air between them. Pushing all her power into the superheated gas, she continued to gather the plasma until spots swam in her vision. It was with little satisfaction that she watched recognition and the blue glow from her mutation lighten his dark eyes.
"Désolé…mon amour." She croaked.
With as much strength as she could muster, Bella Donna flung the blast at Remy. As soon as the projectile hit him, a concussive wave of displaced air rippled across his body and sent him flying clear across the room. A sickening smack reverberated in the enclosed space before Remy collapsed to the ground. His body fell forward, the vicious side of his mutation no longer a threat.
Bella Donna sucked in a ragged, painful breath. She was done with Death, but it was not done with her. Sliding down the wall, she realized the discharge had done exactly as she had hoped. What she hadn't anticipated was getting caught by the effects of the blast too. The few times she'd used her newfound mutation, it hadn't harmed her. Clutching her stomach, she realized the force required to push Remy away had dealt some serious damage to her internal organs.
With her sight growing dim and unfocused, she gazed longingly at Remy. She didn't know if he was as injured as she was, but the beast who had attacked her slowly disappeared from his visage. As her eyelids drooped, her failing mind played tricks on her until she saw not the handsome man sitting across from her, but the young boy she had fallen in love with all those years ago. A sad smile lifted her lips while her head lolled onto her shoulder. Reassured that her Remy had returned, Belle closed her eyes and slipped into darkness.
(X)-(X)-(X)
Excruciating pain, unlike any Remy had experienced in his life, lanced through his head. He felt as if Death's sickle had pierced his skull and remained lodged in his brain. His whole body ached while he struggled to take a breath.
"He's comin' around!" A prettyish, silver-haired assassin shouted.
For the second time in only a few days, Remy tried to remember what had transpired. The last thing he remembered was Belle saying something that triggered a wrath so consuming that only a black void remained in its place. The harder he grasped at the elusive memories, the more they slipped away. A vague sensation of the wind being knocked out of his lungs tickled at the edge of his brain and explained why it was now so hard to breathe. With a groan, Remy tried to sit up, but his caretaker pushed him back down.
"Y' have t' lie back." They applied gentle pressure to his shoulder, easily putting him in a prone position. "I'm Questa. Can y' tell me yo' name?"
Questa? The name sounded familiar, but only as an assassin he would have met in passing. He hadn't really interacted with them to know if the androgynous featured person before him was really one of the Assassins' inner sanctum.
"Quelle? Pourqoui?" The request didn't make any sense to him. Why did he need to tell someone his name? "Everyone knows who I am."
"Please, imperator," Questa begged, "I need yo' name."
His brows crinkled together as he gave an answer laced with confusion, "Remy LeBeau."
"Bon." Their shoulders slumped in relief. "Can y' tell me where y' are right now?"
Remy looked around the room to make sure he was where he last remembered. Confirming his memories, he answered, "De Assassins' compound. Marius' office."
"Très bien! Now what happened here?" They asked, though he couldn't possibly know Questa was not only testing his coherency but also fishing for answers about what had transpired.
"There was a fight…" Remy trailed off, trying once again to remember. His brain felt as if it was swollen larger than the confines of his head, which created a throbbing pressure that ached with every breath. "Julien and Marius died."
"Yes sir, but what happened after that?" Questa prodded.
"Belle was upset. We were talkin' 'bout her père and," He paused as he searched for a reasonably vague explanation of the guild secrets they had discussed.
"Et?" A gleeful sheen sparkled in Questa's eyes, excited at the prospect of knowing something the other assassins didn't. Something they could gossip to the others.
"We were talkin' 'bout her père and daily guild operations." Remy flatly repeated.
The shine quickly faded as Remy waved them away and carefully climbed to his feet. Behind him, the assassin protested his movements and repeated their first aid instructions, but he ignored them. Surveying the room, he searched for Belle only to find a second medical team working on her unconscious form.
"Where's that damn medic wit' de AED? I am not losin' another member of this family!" Dr. Bouchard, the assassin physician, swore as he started another round of chest compressions.
Panic squeezed Remy's heart, but he could barely muster a slow, zombie-like shuffle to Belle. Each interminable second that passed could mean the difference between life and death. And while Remy knew that he no longer held romantic love for her, neither did he wish her dead.
Finally reaching the edge of the small crowd, he hovered over the scene and whispered, ""C'mon, Bella. Breathe!"
Dread settled low in his gut as the time ticked by. Bouchard finished the count and leaned down to give rescue breathing at the same time as the medic arrived with the crash cart.
"Outta de way, imperator." Remy barely avoided being mowed down by another assassin, this one sneering not only his presence but the position he held as duumvirate over the Unified Guild.
As if seeing a medical drama rather than real-life play out in front of him, Remy held his breath while watching the resuscitation efforts. Bouchard prepped the defibrillator as the medic cut away Belle's shirt and then her underwire bra. Even though Remy had seen it all before, he felt sick as he watched goosebumps rise on her exposed breasts. This wasn't something Belle would have wanted this many people witnessing and yet, he couldn't tear his eyes away or issue orders for the others to leave.
When the physician started applying the electrode pads to her body, a figure that Remy had not previously noticed materialized seemingly out of the shadows. With smooth movements as if he were floating instead of walking, Gris Gris glided toward him. A fine gray mist enshrouded the assassin who held special rank with both the assassins in general and the Boudreax family in particular. The sensation was disorienting since Remy knew his eyes were trained on Bella Donna, but he could "see" Gris Gris' approach from off to his side. If he didn't know better, he would swear he was hallucinating.
Growing up with the guild, Remy knew the man by two of his more ominous monikers: First Kill and Besider. However, he found it difficult not to trust Gris Gris knowing he was one of the only people from whom Rogue received any kind of decency and humanity when she was younger. Then again, growing up in the guild should have taught him by now that things were rarely what they appeared on the surface and no one was honorable.
As Gris Gris came to stand beside him, the gray mist coalesced into a dense white colloid that suddenly flew into Remy's face. The force of the particulates hitting his skin was enough for his eyes to reflexively close, but not before some of the powder hit his dark sclera. Temporarily blinded by the drying effect, Remy pressed his palms into his sensitive eyes. The drying effect was so intense that his lids shut as soon as he tried to open them. Tears leaked from the corners, his eyes watering with the intensity of the assault.
"I don't know what happened here t'night, boy," Gris Gris sneered, "But a presence black as pitch is hangin' on t' y'. Somethin' so dark that it can swallow a man's soul. Ain't nothin' good gon' come of it, especially when she wakes up."
He nodded toward where the medical team was still working on Bella Donna. Remy's eyes suddenly cleared, though he now questioned whether he was concussed as he witnessed more of the strange delusion.
"Clear!" Bouchard shouted before he activated the AED.
As if responding more to Gris Gris' warning than the electrical jumpstart to her heart, Belle arched straight up. A wretched howl tore from her throat before her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed to the floor again. Remy's jaw dropped in shock when a bluish glow emanated from Belle's figure and her body took on a double image effect. The translucent version separated from her corporeal existence as she gracefully stood up, then hurtled toward him.
"Dieu vous maudisse, Remy LeBeau! Y' best be gettin' gon' fo' what y've done t'night!" The vision of her body was shouting in his face, but her voice echoed through his head.
"Fo' what I've done?" He pointed back at himself. Anger rose his hackles as he prepared for one of their legendary arguments. "Way I remember it, I tried t' keep de peace!"
"Oh, no. No, yo' not gettin' outta it this time." Belle balled her fists at her side, wishing they could do damage on the physical plane. "First, y' didn't let me get rid of that pute after de Cotillion, like I wanted. Then, she murdered mon père and frère, but y' denied me my privilege t' code duello by lettin' her get away."
Remy interrupted her tirade with, "N'importe quoi! We both know y' wanted vengeance, not retribution."
"Peu importe," She waved off his assertion like a bothersome gnat. "It don't matter! My rights were violated when y' attacked me. Alljust because y' finally realized de truth 'bout de guilds. It ain't some stupid poker game where yo' bettin' yo' hand is better than de other players. De guilds have and always will be about machinations, subterfuge, and exploitation, not petty squabbles in de streets over territory. Ma famille knows that. Yo' famille knows it. L'enfer, even yo' femme knows it. De only one late t' de party is you. And now, it's gon' cost y'."
"How's that, Belle? I'm de leader of de Unified Guild. Yo' nothin' more than one of de Council's Enforcers. Even yo' père held no power after de unification." The answer may have been cocksure, but Remy was confident in his position.
"Wrong. Yo' only half de Duumvirate leadin' de Unified Guild. De other half earned exile if not a death sentence wit' her actions t'night. And wit'out both of y', there is no unification." Belle crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for his predictable response.
"De Five Oaths say otherwise. Considerin' everythin' that's happened, I'd say that yo' famille violated four in de last three days alone."
"And who's gon' uphold those charges in de Council? Wit' only de Thieves representin' de Unified Guild, who's t' say they aren't false charges?" A self-satisfied smirk tugged at her lips, waiting for Remy to fall into her web.
That same red haze that had blinded him earlier started creeping into his peripheral vision. In a dangerously low voice, he answered, "Y' know as well as I do they are not false. And what y' just suggested is itself a violation of de Third Oath."
The astral projection of her body closed the distance between them. Though it should not have been possible, he felt her presence make contact with his body.
"Then I guess y' can just call me 'Li'l Miss Oathbreaker', 'cause de only way t' salvage de Unified Guild is t' condemn yo' femme, issue de contract fo' her life, and marry me t' keep de peace. Otherwise," Here, Belle looked around the room at the gathering assassins who were starting to eye Remy with hostility, "this famille will wipe out your famille. And that is not only a promise, but also a flagrant violation of de Second Oath."
"Dieu!" Remy swore. "I knew y' had delusions of grandeur, Belle, mais I didn't think y' were psychotic."
"Yet, yo' de one talkin' t' yo'self in a room full of assassins." She smugly stated.
The black sludge started to overtake him again, blooming across his clenching fists. Except this time, he had nothing upon which to inflict his wrath. Belle's astral projection protected her from a physical attack and if he were to take her words to heart, Gris Gris wasn't really there either. With no other output for the rage building inside him, a toxic green smoke started swirling around his exposed skin before wafting outward.
From his left, Gris Gris shouted, "Brises!"
A concussive blast hit Remy from his right, pushing him back with enough force to drive him through Gris Gris' image. Once again, he crashed not just into the wall, but through the sheetrock. Shaking off the red haze, he looked up to see another one of Marius' inner circle, Fifolet, standing down but not fully relaxing his stance. While Remy knew the assassins trusted most by Boudreaux's were the best of the best, neither he nor anyone in his family had been aware any were mutants like him. Something had occurred, and recently, for the assassins to be suddenly so powerful. There was no way any one person could have kept all these secrets, much less the group that now circled around him.
"What say y', Remy, cher? Y' gon' do as I say or back down like de coward y' were in Geneva?" A malicious grin split her features, turning her beauty into a thing worthy of repulsion.
"You knew! Y' putain de salope, y' knew what was gon' happen and y' did nothin'!" Remy accused her. Rage so dark it enshrouded his corner of the room flowed through his veins.
"Oh, mon loulou," She clucked her tongue to shame him for his naivety. "I planned Geneva."
Before Remy could respond, Belle's apparition wavered, and her astral form was sucked backward into her body.
"Vitals are stabilizin'. She's comin' 'round." Bouchard declared as he continued emergency treatment.
A palpable sigh of relief breathed through the room. With the focus on Belle, Remy was able to assess the situation. Not only was he not in the wall, the one he had hit was pristine considering all the chaos that had occurred. A more corporeal version of Gris Gris was standing where he remembered being before the encounter with the Boudreaux inner circle. Fifolet was speaking quietly to another assassin in the far corner, too distant for him to have crossed in a matter of seconds and still look so calm. Next to him stood Questa, still prodding him for responses.
"Imperator, y' must answer de question. Will y' be stayin' wit' us?" The question easily could be taken to mean medical care or reiterate Belle's ultimatum.
With no other frame of reference, Remy wasn't sure what the hell had just happened. What was reality and what was hallucination? In all honesty, it didn't matter. There was no way he was going to stick around to be Belle's lap dog, not that he could do it after everything that had been revealed. That included her reference to knowing more details about Geneva than he had imparted with her. If anything, it solidified that he needed to find Rogue.
In the last several days, he had gone from being utterly smitten by her to feeling betrayed only to have it all revealed as not only meddling but master manipulation in both his and her lives. If the roles were reversed, he knew Rogue might have initially reacted the same way, but she would come to her senses and try to find him. That's what he needed to do now. Even if he broke her faith in him, even if she didn't trust his attempts, he had to at least apologize and let her know what a terrible mistake he had made turning his back and telling her not to come home.
Remy needed to find his wife.
Questa opened their mouth to answer again, but he pushed them aside and rushed for the door. War was coming no matter what he decided. Perhaps there was still a possibility to have Rogue by his side when it started.
"De answer is no." He shouted over his shoulder.
With all the commotion surrounding Belle, it was easy to slip from Marius' office. He felt Gris Gris' eyes on him as he left but couldn't be bothered to care what the Besider thought. The fact that Remy wasn't dead as soon as he crossed the threshold, nor that Belle wasn't screaming at him as he left, was testament the scheme had been fully revealed. Belle was now the mastermind and it would take her some time to assemble everyone. That was time Remy could use to his advantage to warn the Thieves.
Little did he know the mad dash he was about to make away from the Assassins mirrored the motorcycle getaway Rogue had taken earlier in the night. As he weaved in and out of traffic, Remy absentmindedly lost an assassin tails. The behavior was second nature for him, which was a good thing considering his focus was centered on correcting so many, many mistakes.
Arriving at the LeBeau manner, Remy took the stairs two at a time. It was the fastest he had sprinted up the three flights in his life. Cautiously entering his suite, he wasn't surprised by the darkened room. While he honestly hadn't expected anything more, a part of him had secretly hoped to find Rogue curled up in a ball under the covers of their bed. Instead, the room was as pristine as they had left it before Christmas Eve. Even his short nap taken above the covers when he returned from Geneva had been smoothed out by the housekeeping staff. His eyes expertly roamed over the details as he looked for any evidence she had even been there. Nothing looked out of the ordinary until a bright sparkle caught his eye.
Remy strode over to his bureau, snatching up the ridiculously large fancy yellow ring Bella Donna had insisted he buy for her nearly a year ago. Though he'd purchased it and the coordinating wedding band with her in mind, they had only briefly graced her long, slim fingers. Instead, he had come to associate them with his wife, with Rogue. If she didn't have them on, then there was only one logical conclusion…
"She's gone." His father confirmed. Jean-Luc's figure was shadowed as he leaned a little too casually against the doorway of the darkened bedroom.
Remy kept his back to his father, instead playing with the overpriced baubles as he quietly inquired, "Where?"
He knew it was a long shot to get a straight answer, but he had to try.
"Does it matter? De assassins will be on de lookout. If she hasn't already been caught, she will be by mornin' and then we'll be pushed t' sign her death warrant." Jean-Luc spoke aloud the words Remy least wanted to hear. It was one thing for Bella Donna to say them and totally different for his father to confirm them.
"I won't do it." Remy shook his head, finally turning to his father.
Jean-Luc stepped into the bathroom's dim light where it spilled into the bedroom. His brow was twisted in anger, but his voice was deadly calm. "Won't do what? Pick yo' famille's lives over hers? Step up and be de leader y' were always prophesized t' become? Keep de guilds unified by choosin' what's best fo' everyone?"
"That's just it though, ain't it?" Remy argued, the fight just starting to burn inside him. He slowly stalked toward his father. "That stupid prophecy ain't 'bout makin' peace or bringin' back de Old Kingdom. It's 'bout everyone usin' it t' fulfill their own personal agendas. First, it was Belle and now it's you."
By this point, he was standing nearly toe-to-toe with Jean-Luc. Their similar heights created a stare down to see who would flinch first. At this proximity, Remy should have been able to easily read his father's anxiety, even though Jean-Luc had perfected a neutral affectation over the years. Instead, Remy's indignation clouded his observation skills. He was easily led astray by his father's misdirection.
"Don't make me laugh, fils. Marius maybe intended fo' Belle t' lead de Assassins even though he brought Julien t' de negotiation table, mais she don't have an ounce of strategy in that ruthless li'l brain of hers. Marius was always de one tryin' t' manipulate de prophecies in his favor." Jean-Luc answered, a condescending smirk the only fluctuation in his features.
"Funny y' should think that, père, seein' as how Belle's answer t' this whole mess is fo' me t' do as she says, or she'll kill de famille anyway." Remy countered.
Jean-Luc crossed his arms over his chest and grunted. "Seems like she's more practical than I've given her credit. Belle at least knows her place."
"Y' say that as if Rogue don't have a place, a home, here." Remy flinched, regretting his words in Geneva that would have made her think otherwise. His posture deflated and he took a step away from his father.
"Mais, isn't that exactly what you told her?" Jean-Luc used the narrative of that event against him. Remy opened his mouth to object only to have his father quickly wave it off. "Rogue is an outsider. Always has been wit' de way Marius raised her. Neither an assassin nor a thief."
His logic was sound, but Remy hated hearing it all the same. Just as much as he hated that he'd been doing nothing but reacting since that damned encounter with Saunders. The last several days had been one big string of interconnected events built on Rogue's adoptive family never really wanting her to stay and her married family never really wanting her to go.
"Y' sure seemed t' accept her like y' did Mercy. Like a daughter." Remy was incensed. "Y' mean t' tell me that means nothin'? That don't make her our famille?"
"Make no mistake," His father's normally conciliatory voice took on a dark, disembodied air, "I would no sooner pick Mercy over de Guild than I would Henri or yo' cousins. De Guild must always come first."
Finally, Remy seemed to gain the confirmation he had desperately been seeking throughout the years. Finally, he could be free of the burden he never wanted.
"Perfect! Now y' can pick de Guild over me. Belle has Marius' power and I relinquish mine t' you." He grabbed his trench coat from where he had haphazardly thrown it over a chair earlier.
Since he was more intent on finding Rogue, he didn't bother to pack anything. His father might be pissed at the decision, but he was confident Jean-Luc wouldn't outright ban him. He only needed the clothes on his back to search for her anyway. Storming out of the bedroom and through the sitting room, Remy was nearly out of the suite when his father's words stopped him cold.
"Y' forget yo'self, Remy. You are de Guild." Jean-Luc hadn't called him directly by his name like that since he was a boy.
Without turning to face him, Remy shook his head. "Non, I'm only half. And I'm gon' bring de other half home. Where she belongs."
"Perhaps," His father calmly started before adding, "Perhaps not. She went west. T' Schriever."
Remy's stomach dropped. Aside from New Orleans, Schriever was the next best place to go if someone was leaving not only Louisiana but the South altogether. There were too many stops, too many connections on the way. Rogue could already be so far out of his reach that a million lifetimes would not be enough to find her.
"Then I guess yo' gon' be waitin' a while fo' our return. 'Cause I'm not comin' back wit'out her." Remy swept out of the suite wishing he could slam the door.
For the second time that night, he was doomed to perdition as Jean-Luc shouted, "Dieu vous maudisse, Remy!"
Not that he took it to heart. He was Le Diable Blanc after all and where did the devil belong if not in hell? No, the question now was would he wallow alone in misery or rule in consortium? Unfortunately, his fate could only be determined by Rogue.
(X)
A/N: I know there's a lot to unpack in this chapter. The only thing I'll say is foreshadowing is a wonderful thing.
putain de chatte – (French) fucking cunt
Maudite – (French) damn
Nom de Dieu – (French) For God's sake
Putain de fils de pute - (French) Fucking son of a bitch
Ne me nique avec moi – (French) Don't fuck with me.
Imperator – (Ancient Latin) title of address when only one of two duumvirate legal authorities is present
Dieu vous maudisse – (Cajun) God damn you (as in the literal sense and not the swear word)
Code duello – (Italian) a precise set of rules for one-on-one combat, which regulates fighting to prevent vendettas between social factions. Non-violent conflict resolution must be exhausted before fighting can occur and medical attention must be provided in earnest. Witnesses from both factions must be present to attest to fairness/legality of combat. (Appears in the comics in relation to the Guilds and Julien's fight with Gambit in X-Men Origins: Gambit)
N'importe quoi! – (French) bull shit (has multiple meanings, but this applies when arguing)
Peu importe – (French) Whatever!
Brises! – (Cajun) Break!
mon Loulou – (French) male term of endearment meaning my little one