Fic: Melting Ice
author: Lucinda
rating: pg this part
pairing: Willow/Remy
disclaimer: I do not own anyone from X-Men or Buffy
the Vampire Slayer
distribution: Charity's site, others please ask
note: this is the sequel to Ice on the Willows.
The trip back from Antarctica had been long and exhausting. Part of it had been by boat and Willow had felt queasy the whole time. Remy had stayed near her, trying to sooth her sea-sickness. Then, once they had arrived in South America, they had taken a series of plane flights that returned them home. The hadn't done much more than go to Willow's apartment, stagger inside, drop Willow's things on the floor, and collapse on the bed.
When they eventually woke up, Remy had gone into the kitchen to see what sort of things there were to cook with. There were no perishables, which made sense. Willow had been gone for over two months, anything that could have gone bad would be very nasty by now. Breakfast ended up being toasted Eggo waffles with maple syrup.
After breakfast, there was no question what would be done with the rest of their first day at Willow's apartment. They had to go shopping. Not only to buy more groceries, but to get more clothing for Remy. He needed just about everything.
He did limit himself a bit on the shopping. Willow was paying for all the new clothing, and he didn't want to spend more than she could afford. They found him some comfortable clothing to relax in, some jeans, and some clothing that was a bit more formal. There was also the necessary assortment of socks, and underwear, and shoes. Remy had grinned and said that she just wanted to know what he wore under his pants, and Willow had turned absolutely crimson. Willow was every bit as ready to go home after the shopping marathon as Remy.
Life was looking up for Remy. He was here with Willow, everyone that was likely to want to kill him already thought he was dead, and all Willow was asking from him was that he save her from her own cooking and help keep the place clean. She was amazingly sweet. He almost felt like a house-husband. The idea had definite appeal.
end part 1.
Willow called to California later that night, wanting to talk to Harmony. She hadn't actually been able to talk to her for months, only being able to send emails from Antarctica. She was slightly aware of Remy listening to her phone call, but figured it wouldn't be a problem. She hoped that he would become a permanent part of her life anyhow.
"Hello? ummm You must be Spike. I'm Willow, a friend of Harmony's."
"Of course I haven't called in a while! I've been at the frozen bottom of the Earth! Antarctica?? I got sent there for my job. I have been sending her emails." Willow was scowling at the phone, apparently annoyed by whatever this Spike had said.
"By that, I assume you mean that Buffy is having relationship trouble again? That's actually about what I'd expect, don't think she has any clue how to have a stable relationship..." Willow seemed a bit calmer now.
"Ahh, Harmony. Good to hear you again. He wanted to growl at me for not calling in the past couple months." Willow was smiling now, happy to hear her friend's voice.
"Xander's dating WHO?!? ohhh...that's ... actually not that surprising considering his history.There was Miss French, Ampata... Cordelia.." Willow paused, listening to the Harmony.
"Yes, I certainly do think Cordelia deserves to be grouped with those other two! She was... you forget, she never liked me, Harm. What's this Spike said about Buffy?"
"She made it to collage? I'm impressed, she must have figured out how to study after all...." Willow paused again, listening. "A teacher's assistant? What went wrong with that relationship?"
There was a long pause, presumably so Harmony could fill Willow in on all the details. Willow occasionally made noises indicating that she was listening, like 'uhuh', 'oooo, that's bad', 'no, really?'.
"Well, things are looking up for me. My boss is happy with my work, and I have a room mate now. He can cook, so I am saved from that particular domestic terror." there was a pause in Willow's words. "I am not! Harmony! That isn't the point, but yes, he is quite handsome. You have a guy, remember? Spike, blond hair, British accent?"
Willow laughed at something Harmony said. "I found him, and he followed me home. He can cook, so I decided he could stay." Remy was smiling in the doorway. It was nice to see Willow laughing and smiling at her friend's words. He had to smile himself at the edited version of what had to have been Willow's answer to where did she find him.
Eventually, Willow's conversation with her friend was over, and she hung up the phone. They went into the kitchen to have dinner, and Remy learned that Harmony was a friend of Willow's from her hometown. Willow had left Sunnydale to get a job with a corporation in their computer division, and later had moved to the electronics research division of the company where she was quite happy. He learned that Harmony had asked Willow about their sex life, and had smiled at her.
" I promise, if that happens, it will definitely be something to tell her about." His eyes had twinkled at her, and she had to admit that he was flirting with her. She rather liked it.
Harmony was the only person she had kept in touch with from home. Willow's explanation had been that she didn't have many friends then, and nobody else but Harmony had needed her company any more.
Remy had the definite feeling there had been more behind her moving to the other side of the country than a job offer, but he didn't press the issue.
He decided that he would call his father in the morning. His father deserved to know that he was alive.
end part 2.
Storm and Logan had been away from the mansion when the Shi'ar had needed help and carried away everyone that had been there. They had gone to make sure Jubilee had been studying for her classes at the Frost Academy. That had led to an interesting adventure... but that wasn't the point. They had ended up on another mission, along with Scott and Jean after that, and had therefore missed the return of the X-Men from Antarctica.
They returned to the mansion feeling tired, cranky, and hungry. The air was filled with the smell of fried chicken. It appeared they had got home in time for dinner. The whole team appeared to be seated around the table.... wait, someone was missing.
"Where's Gambit?" Logan was the one to ask the question.
His words made it clear that he had noticed the absence of Gambit. They hadn't ever seemed particularly close, but Storm considered Gambit to be her brother, having essentially adopted him. Rogue seemed oddly calm, considering the absent Cajun was supposed to be her great love.
"He didn't make it. Could you pass the potatoes, Betsy?" Warren had never liked the Cajun, but this was not right. There was a slight twitching of his feathers as he spoke, as if he was repressing something. He seemed to casual about it. Most of the others at the table seemed to share his determined unconcern. Warren had never liked Remy, their personalities clashing, but this wasn't normal.
"What do you mean he didn't make it?!" Storm's voice was upset, demanding an explanation from someone, anyone. The various people looked awkward, uncomfortable at being forced to discuss this dark mystery. People shifted in their seats, not wanting to answer.
"The citadel was collapsing, and everyone had scattered to get out." Joseph looked as if it was at least a matter of concern, not the look of someone upset by Remy's loss, but at least like he had some feelings. " I only know that I didn't see him on the outside." He was the only person willing to meet Storm's eyes.
It turned out that the last person to see Remy had been Rogue. Logan frowned. Shouldn't she be upset by the apparent death of her love? "What happened?"
" He didn't come back. Besides, he wasn't the man we thought he was." Rogue sounded far to composed, as if she were trying to turn off her feelings. She also sounded as if she were repeating a line that she had used so often it had become rote, empty words stripped of meaning. She wouldn't meet their eyes. She was definitely hiding something.
" That damn Cajun betrayed us all!" Warren finally shouted. "He worked for Sinister! He led the damn Marauders down to slaughter the Morlocks. It's because of him that I lost my wings, that several X-Men nearly died down there in the tunnels! He didn't deserve to live!" His wings flared out behind him, lending emphasis to his feelings.
" I left him there. It's up to him to decide if he makes it or not. He didn't deserve anymore than that." Rogue's voice broke the silence that had followed Warren's explosion. Her voice was a soft whisper, something that should have been lost in the dining room. She was stabbing her fork into a piece of chicken, mangling it without eating any.
Storm had a brief flashback to Warren, his face twisted with anguish and despair, leaving the mansion. The next time she had seen him, his skin was blue, his eyes empty of all warmth or hope, and he hovered at the side of Apocalypse, renamed Death of the Horsemen. He had participated in a rampage of destruction and terror that the X-Men had barely been able to halt. He had pleaded with the team to be allowed back, to be given a chance to fight for his redemption.
This was followed by images of a younger Rogue, her hair short, standing at the side of Mystique, threatening to destroy a munitions storage facility, causing an enormous explosion if Mystique's demands were not met. How the young woman had on another occasion been attempting to steal a military aircraft until Ms. Marvel interfered. Rogue had not taken the plane to complete whatever plan she had intended, but instead she had drained Ms. Marvel of all her powers and memories - gaining her enhanced strength, flight, and resistance to all physical damage. Rogue had come to Xavier, not to make amends for her crimes, but in hopes to learn a method of controlling her power.
"He didn't deserve more than that?" Logan's voice was different than anything the X-Men had heard from him before. He didn't have the slight roughness of his normal self, nor the deeper growl that warned of him loosing his temper. His words were accent-less, and flowed like frosted silk. "I suppose that a wanted terrorist that had been responsible for the destruction of billions of dollars in property damage and the death of probably a hundred people who's only crime was to be near somewhere that the Brotherhood of Mutants chose to destroy deserves more? Someone that deliberately sucked the powers and memory from a hero trying to save lives deserves better? You were a damned terrorist before Xavier brought you in here, Rogue. You never should have been made an X-Man. Now, you sit there, pretending that your hands aren't stained with the blood of your own victims, that you didn't commit those acts of terrorism, and say that Gambit didn't deserve to be an X-Man?" Logan looked at the now silent group sitting at the table, their food forgotten.
"You are all sickening. You claim that the X-Men will give a second chance to anyone willing to try to make amends, and abandon one of your own to freeze. Count me out." He turned to go upstairs. His words stirred reminders of Rogue's own clouded past, like poking at the embers of a dying fire.
"Warren Worthington, how dare you call Gambit a traitor! You say that he cost you your wings, that he shouldn't have been here because of his past. You forget yourself. After the loss of your wings, you turned your back on the X-Men and sought out Apocalypse. You sold yourself to him, offered up your honor and your very soul and he took it. You become his Death, killing thousands at his bidding. Eventually, you returned here, and we took you back. You have no room to say that Gambit has betrayed us." She turned and left the room. Thunder rolled outside.
She met Logan on the stairs. He was carrying a box.
"Logan? What are you doing?" Storm felt awkward, as if her sense of balance in the world was askew.
"I refuse to stay in this place with that pack of hypocrites. I'm packing my things and I'm going to get the hell out of here. You're welcome to go with me, although I don't think we can take your garden."
They packed things from their rooms, and put them into Logan's truck. He fastened his motorcycle to the back next to Gambit's, and they prepared to leave. Storm noticed that Logan had also packed some things from Remy's room.
"Logan? Do you think that what they said was true? Do you think Remy had anything to do with the massacre?" Storm's voice was hesitant. She wasn't certain that she wanted to hear Logan's answer, but she was certain she needed to know.
"I know that he was down there. His scent was in the tunnels. But it wasn't in the main hall. I don't know why he was there. That's something I want to ask him when we find him. Besides, that was before we ever met him. He wasn't an X-Man then, so he couldn't have betrayed us. What I know it that he was there, and he never told us. I want to hear his explanation before I pass any judgments on him."
Logan's words hung in the air. She knew that they would have to find him alive before they could ask Remy any questions. If Rogue had actually abandoned him in Antarctica, the chances of finding him alive were slim to none. Her heart was heavy as they left the mansion behind them.
end part 3.
Willow was sitting on the couch, curled up with Remy. They had been watching Star Wars, and had ended up discussing the probable backgrounds of the various characters. That had been particularly interesting, especially when it had widened to include Jabba, his dancers, and the random Storm troopers.
"Remy? Can you tell me about your past? I know you come from somewhere that has a Cajun accent, but... That isn't much. I'd like to know some more. Please?" Willow looked at Remy, her eyes bright with curiosity, and sparkling with interest. Her fingers were absently twining through his hair.
"You want to know about Remy's past? I tell you now, some of it be very unhappy. There is a lot of it...maybe...I start with a bit, and see how much you still wanna know?" Remy was startled, and a bit nervous. His past... unhappy was one way to describe it. Full of misery, theft, and confusion was another. He had already started to care about Willow, he didn't want her to reject him because of his past mistakes. On the other hand, concealing his past mistakes had already cost him one relationship, and nearly his life... perhaps he should talk to her about his past.
"Lesse...how to begin. Right...long ago, 'bout twenty some years, in Louisiana, there was this man. For reasons I don't know, he stole a baby. I think from a house, but I not certain. Don't know what this man was going to do with this baby, because he got killed in the swamp. Very fortunately for baby me, the basket he'd put me in wasn't hurt. Nice couple took me in, gave me a home. In return, they raised me to be a t'ief, like my new papa. I was taught all sorts of tricks for stealin' things, and in some ways, it was a bit of fun..." Remy began his story, carefully not going into detail on some of the more dangerous or violent encounters of his past.
He mentioned that he had been supposed to marry Belladonna, of the Assassin's Guild as a political gesture to help end the long feud between the two, but there had been a terrible fight, and he had to leave New Orleans afterwards. He told her that Bell had later been killed. He talked about how he had been traveling, and met a blue eyed little girl stealing jewelery and running along rooftops that had brought him out of his thieving ways.
"Stormy... she take me up to New York wit' her. She had some friends there...and she ended up asking me to stay and help with some things. After that, things got very complicated, and I think more be a story for some other time." Remy was a bit nervous about having bared so much of his past to Willow.
"So, turnabout be fair enough. Tell me about your past." Remy smiled at Willow charmingly, hoping to avoid any complicated questions about his time with he X-Men. Or some of his time before the X-Men for that matter.
Willow smiled a little. "My past doesn't start nearly that oddly. I was the only child of my parents, and we lived in a small town in California. I wasn't popular in school, partly because I was very shy. The one thing I did have going for me then was the fact that I'm smart. Computers are my friends, and I was always pretty good with them. Actually, my life was fairly boring until Buffy moved to town in my sophomore year. That's when things got weird." Willow paused, looking thoughtful.
"You know all the stories about vampires and werewolves, and all sorts of nasty monsters? Some of them are real, and they went to Sunnydale. I accidentally found out about all that because Buffy was the one person in all the world chosen by destiny to fight these nasty things. Vampires are real, and we killed a lot of those... I dated a musician who turned out to be a werewolf. There was a demon on the internet, an Inca mummy that sucked the life out of people..." She stopped, looking at Remy. He was looking shocked, slightly disbelieving.
"You don't believe me? Let me show you." Willow reached out with her mind towards Remy. After making contact with his mind, she showed him her memories from Sunnydale. Fighting vampires, Ampata the Inca Mummy-Princess, Oz on stage, and then changing into his werewolf form. Memories of her graduation, where the mayor became a giant snake-like demon and tried to eat the senior class.
Remy was amazed, and impressed. Surviving high school in Sunnydale was much harder than school was ever supposed to be. He had heard rumors of vampires in New Orleans, but hadn't ever seen any. She had faced things that would make most people scream in blind terror, and fought them, all before graduating from high school. It was no wonder that she had such a core of inner strength and confidence.
"Remind me not to read Hansel an' Gretel any more. Don't like the way they looked when they went to California." Remy was still trying to absorb some of the details. "Why did you leave, if you were helping to fight all the dangerous things?"
Willow shifted a little, feeling a bit unsettled after bringing up her past. "Everyone was wrapped up in their lives, and didn't have as much time for me. But the worst was Oz, the guy I was dating. I found him in his van having sex with someone else. I couldn't stand to be in Sunnydale anymore, so I left. I tried to stay in touch, but everyone but Harmony just eventually stopped writing back."
Remy wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. "Remy will be here for you, as long as you want me to. Even help you scrub your back, if you want me to."
"You are such a flirt, Remy." Willow was smiling again.
end part 4.
It had been a few days since they had discussed their childhoods. They had started going to the local gym, and Remy was convinced that he was severely out of shape. He was in far better shape than most people, and Willow had smiled and teased him for vanity. They had also started sparing with each other. Willow wasn't the same level of skill as most of the people on the X-Men had been, but she did have an idea what she was doing. Remy found her interesting to spar with, and for more than just the fact that she looked wonderful in spandex and turned a bright red every time he told her so.
They had gone back home after the gym, and Willow had her thoughtful expression. Remy wondered what she was thinking about. He didn't have to wait to long.
"Remy? You seemed very nervous about telling me what happened in your past, and I know you didn't tell me everything. Since you probably don't want to tell me the rest of your deep dark secrets, will you at least tell me why you don't want to tell me? and did that even make sense, because I'm pretty sure I'm babbling again.." Willow's voice trailed of into contemplation of her tendency to babble.
Remy just smiled, he liked the way her thoughts just spilled out. He sat down on the chair, pulling Willow into his lap. " I don't want to tell you all my dark secrets yet, but I suppose I can tell you why." He shifted slightly, and wrapped his arms around Willow. " Much better."
"Most of the dark secrets happened between the time I left N'Awlins and when I met up with Stormy. All I gonna say right now is that there were a lot of things I wish I hadn't done, and I wanted to hide them. Turned out Stormy was one of the X-Men, and she talked me into staying and joining up to fight evil an' all that. It was very exciting being an X-man, but not very safe. While I was there I got involved with this woman, called herself Rogue. She wouldn't talk about her past any more than I would, an' she was very pretty. I thought maybe..." Remy paused, trying to focus his thoughts into a coherent story.
"On the last adventure I went on wit' the X-Men, we got captured by the bad guys on the way home. Somehow, this guy had found out about one of the dark points in my past that I hadn't told anyone. He set up this trial, with the rest of the X-Men as the cast, an' me as the defendant. They found me guilty, an' as the place fall down, Rogue manage to pull me out before I get crushed. I thought maybe it meant she would give me another chance. She dropped me in the snow an' left. If you hadn't found me, I would have been dead." Remy's words were thick with emotion, and as he spoke, his accent had thickened. His eyes sparkled with tears that he refused to shed.
"I was afraid that if you found out what I did in the past, then you wouldn't want Remy anywhere near you. Everyone on that mission, I thought I could trust. I thought I was part of the team, and you don't abandon your own team. Except, they did. They left me to die, and I was afraid that I couldn't tell you or you would reject me like they did."
Willow's response was to hug him tightly to her, and say "This Rogue was an idiot. You're past is over, and everyone has made mistakes, choices they wish they hadn't made. I won't throw you out based on the mistakes you made years ago."
end part 5.
Remy and Willow had decided to go out for dinner. They had gone to a nice little Italian place. There was dinner, and pleasant music. They had a nice evening, and Remy managed to convince Willow to go out dancing. She had blushed, and tried to argue that she couldn't dance. She hadn't had any luck, and now the two of them were dancing at some club filled with smoke and music and laughter.
Some blond that reminded Willow of Buffy tried to lure Remy off with her, but Willow had leaned over and whispered something to her 'You try to lure off my guy and I will hurt you severely'. and the blond had left.
Eventually, they had made their way home, dropping together onto the couch, still smiling over their evening out. Dancing and dinner and sweet smiles... it had been fun.
"So.." Remy smirked at Willow. " I'm your guy now?"
Willow went crimson, surprised that he had actually heard that. " You ahh, well, if you want to be mine, anyhow."
"I think I'd like that. No problems about the mutant issue? or my secret past?" Remy smiled at Willow, feeling very content.
"In case you hadn't realized, I happen to be a mutant also. I'm an Empath and a bit telekinetic, otherwise I never would have been able to haul your frozen self back with me. You being a mutant isn't a problem, as for being a former thief, the key word is former, and you didn't hurt people, and as for your secrets... I might tell you that you did horrible things, but you aren't the same as you were then. I have known people with nasty things in their past, it didn't stop me from being their friends. You are my friend Remy. Hopefully, we can be more than just friends." Willow was looking at him with what he now knew was her resolve face.
His arguments didn't stand a chance, and he was happy about it. His past was over, now he could look into the future. A future with Willow should be interesting.
Elsewhere in New York, an unusual pair had united in their desire to learn the truth about their friend and team mate. Storm and Wolverine wanted to find Remy, and find him alive. They were prepared to search to the ends of the earth if that's what it took to find the answers they needed.
end Melting Ice.
author: Lucinda
rating: pg this part
pairing: Willow/Remy
disclaimer: I do not own anyone from X-Men or Buffy
the Vampire Slayer
distribution: Charity's site, others please ask
note: this is the sequel to Ice on the Willows.
The trip back from Antarctica had been long and exhausting. Part of it had been by boat and Willow had felt queasy the whole time. Remy had stayed near her, trying to sooth her sea-sickness. Then, once they had arrived in South America, they had taken a series of plane flights that returned them home. The hadn't done much more than go to Willow's apartment, stagger inside, drop Willow's things on the floor, and collapse on the bed.
When they eventually woke up, Remy had gone into the kitchen to see what sort of things there were to cook with. There were no perishables, which made sense. Willow had been gone for over two months, anything that could have gone bad would be very nasty by now. Breakfast ended up being toasted Eggo waffles with maple syrup.
After breakfast, there was no question what would be done with the rest of their first day at Willow's apartment. They had to go shopping. Not only to buy more groceries, but to get more clothing for Remy. He needed just about everything.
He did limit himself a bit on the shopping. Willow was paying for all the new clothing, and he didn't want to spend more than she could afford. They found him some comfortable clothing to relax in, some jeans, and some clothing that was a bit more formal. There was also the necessary assortment of socks, and underwear, and shoes. Remy had grinned and said that she just wanted to know what he wore under his pants, and Willow had turned absolutely crimson. Willow was every bit as ready to go home after the shopping marathon as Remy.
Life was looking up for Remy. He was here with Willow, everyone that was likely to want to kill him already thought he was dead, and all Willow was asking from him was that he save her from her own cooking and help keep the place clean. She was amazingly sweet. He almost felt like a house-husband. The idea had definite appeal.
end part 1.
Willow called to California later that night, wanting to talk to Harmony. She hadn't actually been able to talk to her for months, only being able to send emails from Antarctica. She was slightly aware of Remy listening to her phone call, but figured it wouldn't be a problem. She hoped that he would become a permanent part of her life anyhow.
"Hello? ummm You must be Spike. I'm Willow, a friend of Harmony's."
"Of course I haven't called in a while! I've been at the frozen bottom of the Earth! Antarctica?? I got sent there for my job. I have been sending her emails." Willow was scowling at the phone, apparently annoyed by whatever this Spike had said.
"By that, I assume you mean that Buffy is having relationship trouble again? That's actually about what I'd expect, don't think she has any clue how to have a stable relationship..." Willow seemed a bit calmer now.
"Ahh, Harmony. Good to hear you again. He wanted to growl at me for not calling in the past couple months." Willow was smiling now, happy to hear her friend's voice.
"Xander's dating WHO?!? ohhh...that's ... actually not that surprising considering his history.There was Miss French, Ampata... Cordelia.." Willow paused, listening to the Harmony.
"Yes, I certainly do think Cordelia deserves to be grouped with those other two! She was... you forget, she never liked me, Harm. What's this Spike said about Buffy?"
"She made it to collage? I'm impressed, she must have figured out how to study after all...." Willow paused again, listening. "A teacher's assistant? What went wrong with that relationship?"
There was a long pause, presumably so Harmony could fill Willow in on all the details. Willow occasionally made noises indicating that she was listening, like 'uhuh', 'oooo, that's bad', 'no, really?'.
"Well, things are looking up for me. My boss is happy with my work, and I have a room mate now. He can cook, so I am saved from that particular domestic terror." there was a pause in Willow's words. "I am not! Harmony! That isn't the point, but yes, he is quite handsome. You have a guy, remember? Spike, blond hair, British accent?"
Willow laughed at something Harmony said. "I found him, and he followed me home. He can cook, so I decided he could stay." Remy was smiling in the doorway. It was nice to see Willow laughing and smiling at her friend's words. He had to smile himself at the edited version of what had to have been Willow's answer to where did she find him.
Eventually, Willow's conversation with her friend was over, and she hung up the phone. They went into the kitchen to have dinner, and Remy learned that Harmony was a friend of Willow's from her hometown. Willow had left Sunnydale to get a job with a corporation in their computer division, and later had moved to the electronics research division of the company where she was quite happy. He learned that Harmony had asked Willow about their sex life, and had smiled at her.
" I promise, if that happens, it will definitely be something to tell her about." His eyes had twinkled at her, and she had to admit that he was flirting with her. She rather liked it.
Harmony was the only person she had kept in touch with from home. Willow's explanation had been that she didn't have many friends then, and nobody else but Harmony had needed her company any more.
Remy had the definite feeling there had been more behind her moving to the other side of the country than a job offer, but he didn't press the issue.
He decided that he would call his father in the morning. His father deserved to know that he was alive.
end part 2.
Storm and Logan had been away from the mansion when the Shi'ar had needed help and carried away everyone that had been there. They had gone to make sure Jubilee had been studying for her classes at the Frost Academy. That had led to an interesting adventure... but that wasn't the point. They had ended up on another mission, along with Scott and Jean after that, and had therefore missed the return of the X-Men from Antarctica.
They returned to the mansion feeling tired, cranky, and hungry. The air was filled with the smell of fried chicken. It appeared they had got home in time for dinner. The whole team appeared to be seated around the table.... wait, someone was missing.
"Where's Gambit?" Logan was the one to ask the question.
His words made it clear that he had noticed the absence of Gambit. They hadn't ever seemed particularly close, but Storm considered Gambit to be her brother, having essentially adopted him. Rogue seemed oddly calm, considering the absent Cajun was supposed to be her great love.
"He didn't make it. Could you pass the potatoes, Betsy?" Warren had never liked the Cajun, but this was not right. There was a slight twitching of his feathers as he spoke, as if he was repressing something. He seemed to casual about it. Most of the others at the table seemed to share his determined unconcern. Warren had never liked Remy, their personalities clashing, but this wasn't normal.
"What do you mean he didn't make it?!" Storm's voice was upset, demanding an explanation from someone, anyone. The various people looked awkward, uncomfortable at being forced to discuss this dark mystery. People shifted in their seats, not wanting to answer.
"The citadel was collapsing, and everyone had scattered to get out." Joseph looked as if it was at least a matter of concern, not the look of someone upset by Remy's loss, but at least like he had some feelings. " I only know that I didn't see him on the outside." He was the only person willing to meet Storm's eyes.
It turned out that the last person to see Remy had been Rogue. Logan frowned. Shouldn't she be upset by the apparent death of her love? "What happened?"
" He didn't come back. Besides, he wasn't the man we thought he was." Rogue sounded far to composed, as if she were trying to turn off her feelings. She also sounded as if she were repeating a line that she had used so often it had become rote, empty words stripped of meaning. She wouldn't meet their eyes. She was definitely hiding something.
" That damn Cajun betrayed us all!" Warren finally shouted. "He worked for Sinister! He led the damn Marauders down to slaughter the Morlocks. It's because of him that I lost my wings, that several X-Men nearly died down there in the tunnels! He didn't deserve to live!" His wings flared out behind him, lending emphasis to his feelings.
" I left him there. It's up to him to decide if he makes it or not. He didn't deserve anymore than that." Rogue's voice broke the silence that had followed Warren's explosion. Her voice was a soft whisper, something that should have been lost in the dining room. She was stabbing her fork into a piece of chicken, mangling it without eating any.
Storm had a brief flashback to Warren, his face twisted with anguish and despair, leaving the mansion. The next time she had seen him, his skin was blue, his eyes empty of all warmth or hope, and he hovered at the side of Apocalypse, renamed Death of the Horsemen. He had participated in a rampage of destruction and terror that the X-Men had barely been able to halt. He had pleaded with the team to be allowed back, to be given a chance to fight for his redemption.
This was followed by images of a younger Rogue, her hair short, standing at the side of Mystique, threatening to destroy a munitions storage facility, causing an enormous explosion if Mystique's demands were not met. How the young woman had on another occasion been attempting to steal a military aircraft until Ms. Marvel interfered. Rogue had not taken the plane to complete whatever plan she had intended, but instead she had drained Ms. Marvel of all her powers and memories - gaining her enhanced strength, flight, and resistance to all physical damage. Rogue had come to Xavier, not to make amends for her crimes, but in hopes to learn a method of controlling her power.
"He didn't deserve more than that?" Logan's voice was different than anything the X-Men had heard from him before. He didn't have the slight roughness of his normal self, nor the deeper growl that warned of him loosing his temper. His words were accent-less, and flowed like frosted silk. "I suppose that a wanted terrorist that had been responsible for the destruction of billions of dollars in property damage and the death of probably a hundred people who's only crime was to be near somewhere that the Brotherhood of Mutants chose to destroy deserves more? Someone that deliberately sucked the powers and memory from a hero trying to save lives deserves better? You were a damned terrorist before Xavier brought you in here, Rogue. You never should have been made an X-Man. Now, you sit there, pretending that your hands aren't stained with the blood of your own victims, that you didn't commit those acts of terrorism, and say that Gambit didn't deserve to be an X-Man?" Logan looked at the now silent group sitting at the table, their food forgotten.
"You are all sickening. You claim that the X-Men will give a second chance to anyone willing to try to make amends, and abandon one of your own to freeze. Count me out." He turned to go upstairs. His words stirred reminders of Rogue's own clouded past, like poking at the embers of a dying fire.
"Warren Worthington, how dare you call Gambit a traitor! You say that he cost you your wings, that he shouldn't have been here because of his past. You forget yourself. After the loss of your wings, you turned your back on the X-Men and sought out Apocalypse. You sold yourself to him, offered up your honor and your very soul and he took it. You become his Death, killing thousands at his bidding. Eventually, you returned here, and we took you back. You have no room to say that Gambit has betrayed us." She turned and left the room. Thunder rolled outside.
She met Logan on the stairs. He was carrying a box.
"Logan? What are you doing?" Storm felt awkward, as if her sense of balance in the world was askew.
"I refuse to stay in this place with that pack of hypocrites. I'm packing my things and I'm going to get the hell out of here. You're welcome to go with me, although I don't think we can take your garden."
They packed things from their rooms, and put them into Logan's truck. He fastened his motorcycle to the back next to Gambit's, and they prepared to leave. Storm noticed that Logan had also packed some things from Remy's room.
"Logan? Do you think that what they said was true? Do you think Remy had anything to do with the massacre?" Storm's voice was hesitant. She wasn't certain that she wanted to hear Logan's answer, but she was certain she needed to know.
"I know that he was down there. His scent was in the tunnels. But it wasn't in the main hall. I don't know why he was there. That's something I want to ask him when we find him. Besides, that was before we ever met him. He wasn't an X-Man then, so he couldn't have betrayed us. What I know it that he was there, and he never told us. I want to hear his explanation before I pass any judgments on him."
Logan's words hung in the air. She knew that they would have to find him alive before they could ask Remy any questions. If Rogue had actually abandoned him in Antarctica, the chances of finding him alive were slim to none. Her heart was heavy as they left the mansion behind them.
end part 3.
Willow was sitting on the couch, curled up with Remy. They had been watching Star Wars, and had ended up discussing the probable backgrounds of the various characters. That had been particularly interesting, especially when it had widened to include Jabba, his dancers, and the random Storm troopers.
"Remy? Can you tell me about your past? I know you come from somewhere that has a Cajun accent, but... That isn't much. I'd like to know some more. Please?" Willow looked at Remy, her eyes bright with curiosity, and sparkling with interest. Her fingers were absently twining through his hair.
"You want to know about Remy's past? I tell you now, some of it be very unhappy. There is a lot of it...maybe...I start with a bit, and see how much you still wanna know?" Remy was startled, and a bit nervous. His past... unhappy was one way to describe it. Full of misery, theft, and confusion was another. He had already started to care about Willow, he didn't want her to reject him because of his past mistakes. On the other hand, concealing his past mistakes had already cost him one relationship, and nearly his life... perhaps he should talk to her about his past.
"Lesse...how to begin. Right...long ago, 'bout twenty some years, in Louisiana, there was this man. For reasons I don't know, he stole a baby. I think from a house, but I not certain. Don't know what this man was going to do with this baby, because he got killed in the swamp. Very fortunately for baby me, the basket he'd put me in wasn't hurt. Nice couple took me in, gave me a home. In return, they raised me to be a t'ief, like my new papa. I was taught all sorts of tricks for stealin' things, and in some ways, it was a bit of fun..." Remy began his story, carefully not going into detail on some of the more dangerous or violent encounters of his past.
He mentioned that he had been supposed to marry Belladonna, of the Assassin's Guild as a political gesture to help end the long feud between the two, but there had been a terrible fight, and he had to leave New Orleans afterwards. He told her that Bell had later been killed. He talked about how he had been traveling, and met a blue eyed little girl stealing jewelery and running along rooftops that had brought him out of his thieving ways.
"Stormy... she take me up to New York wit' her. She had some friends there...and she ended up asking me to stay and help with some things. After that, things got very complicated, and I think more be a story for some other time." Remy was a bit nervous about having bared so much of his past to Willow.
"So, turnabout be fair enough. Tell me about your past." Remy smiled at Willow charmingly, hoping to avoid any complicated questions about his time with he X-Men. Or some of his time before the X-Men for that matter.
Willow smiled a little. "My past doesn't start nearly that oddly. I was the only child of my parents, and we lived in a small town in California. I wasn't popular in school, partly because I was very shy. The one thing I did have going for me then was the fact that I'm smart. Computers are my friends, and I was always pretty good with them. Actually, my life was fairly boring until Buffy moved to town in my sophomore year. That's when things got weird." Willow paused, looking thoughtful.
"You know all the stories about vampires and werewolves, and all sorts of nasty monsters? Some of them are real, and they went to Sunnydale. I accidentally found out about all that because Buffy was the one person in all the world chosen by destiny to fight these nasty things. Vampires are real, and we killed a lot of those... I dated a musician who turned out to be a werewolf. There was a demon on the internet, an Inca mummy that sucked the life out of people..." She stopped, looking at Remy. He was looking shocked, slightly disbelieving.
"You don't believe me? Let me show you." Willow reached out with her mind towards Remy. After making contact with his mind, she showed him her memories from Sunnydale. Fighting vampires, Ampata the Inca Mummy-Princess, Oz on stage, and then changing into his werewolf form. Memories of her graduation, where the mayor became a giant snake-like demon and tried to eat the senior class.
Remy was amazed, and impressed. Surviving high school in Sunnydale was much harder than school was ever supposed to be. He had heard rumors of vampires in New Orleans, but hadn't ever seen any. She had faced things that would make most people scream in blind terror, and fought them, all before graduating from high school. It was no wonder that she had such a core of inner strength and confidence.
"Remind me not to read Hansel an' Gretel any more. Don't like the way they looked when they went to California." Remy was still trying to absorb some of the details. "Why did you leave, if you were helping to fight all the dangerous things?"
Willow shifted a little, feeling a bit unsettled after bringing up her past. "Everyone was wrapped up in their lives, and didn't have as much time for me. But the worst was Oz, the guy I was dating. I found him in his van having sex with someone else. I couldn't stand to be in Sunnydale anymore, so I left. I tried to stay in touch, but everyone but Harmony just eventually stopped writing back."
Remy wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. "Remy will be here for you, as long as you want me to. Even help you scrub your back, if you want me to."
"You are such a flirt, Remy." Willow was smiling again.
end part 4.
It had been a few days since they had discussed their childhoods. They had started going to the local gym, and Remy was convinced that he was severely out of shape. He was in far better shape than most people, and Willow had smiled and teased him for vanity. They had also started sparing with each other. Willow wasn't the same level of skill as most of the people on the X-Men had been, but she did have an idea what she was doing. Remy found her interesting to spar with, and for more than just the fact that she looked wonderful in spandex and turned a bright red every time he told her so.
They had gone back home after the gym, and Willow had her thoughtful expression. Remy wondered what she was thinking about. He didn't have to wait to long.
"Remy? You seemed very nervous about telling me what happened in your past, and I know you didn't tell me everything. Since you probably don't want to tell me the rest of your deep dark secrets, will you at least tell me why you don't want to tell me? and did that even make sense, because I'm pretty sure I'm babbling again.." Willow's voice trailed of into contemplation of her tendency to babble.
Remy just smiled, he liked the way her thoughts just spilled out. He sat down on the chair, pulling Willow into his lap. " I don't want to tell you all my dark secrets yet, but I suppose I can tell you why." He shifted slightly, and wrapped his arms around Willow. " Much better."
"Most of the dark secrets happened between the time I left N'Awlins and when I met up with Stormy. All I gonna say right now is that there were a lot of things I wish I hadn't done, and I wanted to hide them. Turned out Stormy was one of the X-Men, and she talked me into staying and joining up to fight evil an' all that. It was very exciting being an X-man, but not very safe. While I was there I got involved with this woman, called herself Rogue. She wouldn't talk about her past any more than I would, an' she was very pretty. I thought maybe..." Remy paused, trying to focus his thoughts into a coherent story.
"On the last adventure I went on wit' the X-Men, we got captured by the bad guys on the way home. Somehow, this guy had found out about one of the dark points in my past that I hadn't told anyone. He set up this trial, with the rest of the X-Men as the cast, an' me as the defendant. They found me guilty, an' as the place fall down, Rogue manage to pull me out before I get crushed. I thought maybe it meant she would give me another chance. She dropped me in the snow an' left. If you hadn't found me, I would have been dead." Remy's words were thick with emotion, and as he spoke, his accent had thickened. His eyes sparkled with tears that he refused to shed.
"I was afraid that if you found out what I did in the past, then you wouldn't want Remy anywhere near you. Everyone on that mission, I thought I could trust. I thought I was part of the team, and you don't abandon your own team. Except, they did. They left me to die, and I was afraid that I couldn't tell you or you would reject me like they did."
Willow's response was to hug him tightly to her, and say "This Rogue was an idiot. You're past is over, and everyone has made mistakes, choices they wish they hadn't made. I won't throw you out based on the mistakes you made years ago."
end part 5.
Remy and Willow had decided to go out for dinner. They had gone to a nice little Italian place. There was dinner, and pleasant music. They had a nice evening, and Remy managed to convince Willow to go out dancing. She had blushed, and tried to argue that she couldn't dance. She hadn't had any luck, and now the two of them were dancing at some club filled with smoke and music and laughter.
Some blond that reminded Willow of Buffy tried to lure Remy off with her, but Willow had leaned over and whispered something to her 'You try to lure off my guy and I will hurt you severely'. and the blond had left.
Eventually, they had made their way home, dropping together onto the couch, still smiling over their evening out. Dancing and dinner and sweet smiles... it had been fun.
"So.." Remy smirked at Willow. " I'm your guy now?"
Willow went crimson, surprised that he had actually heard that. " You ahh, well, if you want to be mine, anyhow."
"I think I'd like that. No problems about the mutant issue? or my secret past?" Remy smiled at Willow, feeling very content.
"In case you hadn't realized, I happen to be a mutant also. I'm an Empath and a bit telekinetic, otherwise I never would have been able to haul your frozen self back with me. You being a mutant isn't a problem, as for being a former thief, the key word is former, and you didn't hurt people, and as for your secrets... I might tell you that you did horrible things, but you aren't the same as you were then. I have known people with nasty things in their past, it didn't stop me from being their friends. You are my friend Remy. Hopefully, we can be more than just friends." Willow was looking at him with what he now knew was her resolve face.
His arguments didn't stand a chance, and he was happy about it. His past was over, now he could look into the future. A future with Willow should be interesting.
Elsewhere in New York, an unusual pair had united in their desire to learn the truth about their friend and team mate. Storm and Wolverine wanted to find Remy, and find him alive. They were prepared to search to the ends of the earth if that's what it took to find the answers they needed.
end Melting Ice.