Preparations

Disclaimer: Characters and Premise are borrowed from the Marvel, I'm not making any money.

Remy woke slowly to the languid heat of a New Orleans morning, the moist air cooled only marginally during the night and his skin already gleamed with a faint sheen of sweat. The sounds of Henri and Mercy's voices raised in cheerful banter drifted up from the kitchen below as they prepared breakfast.

Remy heard footsteps passing by his door and the sharp creak as their owner stepped on the loose floorboard at the head of the stairs, he instantly recognized them as Josette's. His mother was the only member of the household not trained as a professional thief and consequently she walked heavy. For a few moments Remy amused himself by picturing the slender, lithesome woman being heavy enough to justify those footsteps. He started by comparing her walk to the utter silence of Jean-Luc's. His uncle was still an inch taller than Remy even after his growth spurt that summer and solidly built, Remy estimated he weighted 190 lbs easily. With that comparison in mind Remy decided Josette should weigh at least 300 lbs given the way she moved. Remy grinned to himself at his picture of her as a clumsy, lumbering elephant and made a mental note to call her that the next time they fought.

Then Remy's mind jumped to trying to recall what sort of plans he and Lapin were working on and how much trouble he should be prepared for if they were caught. He wondered if he should seek out Belle or just be expecting her to ambush him. He decided against wearing his coat, it was already hot, more importantly Belle simply took too much delight in destroying his clothes and the coat was a gift. He could roll a pack of cards in his shirtsleeve for defense.

Remy rolled out of bed and stretched, reluctantly opening his eyes to the day's first assault on his night-adapted vision. A beam of sunlight had snuck its way around the thick drapes in his room; it illuminated the two rings sitting on his nightstand like a spotlight.

Remy bit his lip holding back a choked gasp of pain as the last few weeks crashed down on him with all the subtly of a wrecking ball through a house of cards. Barely two short weeks since he'd left New Orleans for Westchester but his whole life had been rearranged before he'd returned.

Warren rising from his nightmares of the past like an avenging angel and dragging him into hell. Magneto's war against humanity unleashing their hatred of mutants to the point where an obvious mutant like Remy needed to fear mob attacks for simply appearing in public. Waking up imprisoned in some sort of medical lab...

Remy's eyes clenched shut, holding back tears... Scott dead, Wolverine his killer. Remy's breath came in ragged gasps, pain and rage tearing at him equally. Hating Scott for dying almost as much as he hated Wolverine for killing him. His grief over Scott's death no less painful than the knowledge of Logan's betrayal. Logan had known he loved Scott like the older brother he'd never had. Logan had known that in spite of Remy's stubborn refusal to do anything Scott told him to without an argument his respect for the older boy had bordered on awe. Logan had to have known that killing Scott would destroy two of the cornerstones of the stable life Remy had slowly been forging for himself. Logan was his friend, mentor and confidant, but Logan wanted Jean and next to that Remy didn't matter.

Remy wondered why he was even surprised. Grey Crow had been his friend and teacher as well; another hard-edged assassin who'd seemed to have a soft spot for him. It hadn't stopped the man from hounding him across the country at Sinister's command, even though Scaplphunter had known what the mad geneticist had planned for the boy. It hadn't stopped him from leaving Remy alone with Scrambler.

Remy felt his power burning beneath his skin like acid, building like the water pressure in a blocked pipe, as his emotions spiraled out of control and he lunged for the crystal hidden beneath his pillow. It wasn't the one Essex had given him when he had first been fighting to control his powers, just a chunk of cut glass stolen from a chandelier but the cool weight of it in his hands was familiar and the hypnotic play of light in it's depths was close enough to fool his senses into believing it was the same.

Remy sat cross-legged in his window seat, staring into the abstract depths of the crystal cradled in his lap, severing the ties between his emotions and his powers, pushing the emotions down into locked boxes at the back of his mind where the pain didn't matter, forcing his power back into the controlled streams of his blood from which he could call it at a moment's notice.

Twenty minutes later Remy set aside the crystal, showered and got dressed in the suit Jean-Luc had bought for him only two days ago. Casually he scooped up the rings that had triggered the rush of memories thinking that, honestly Belle's pregnancy and their impending marriage wasn't anything next to the other changes in his life, just two more difference and not even bad ones.

Remy met Lapin halfway down the stairs, the redhead looked disappointed to see him. "I was jus' comin' to wake yo'," Lapin said, explaining both his disappointment and the bucket of ice water in his hand. "Couldn' have yo' bein' late to your own weddin'. 'Specially not when yo' consider de bride's temperament an' profession."

"An' yo're takin' your duties as bes' man very seriously," Remy said with a glance at the ice water.

Lapin grinned and shrugged, unashamed. "I'll get yo' some other time," he said and the two teens headed downstairs together.

"Yo' 'membered de rings?" Mercy asked as they entered the kitchen. Remy pulled them out of his pocket for her inspection.

"Bes' hold on to dem yourself 'til jus' 'fore de ceremony," Henri advised. "Lapin misplaced his loot durin' his tillin'."

"I went back for it," Lapin protested. " 'Sides yo' ain't s'posed to be pickin' on me today, Remy's de one gettin' married."

"Where's Oncle Luc?" Remy asked.

"He an' Josette went 'head to de church," Henri said. "Somet'ing 'bout makin' shor Boudreaux had t'ings set to keep de number of weapons to a bare minimum, jus' in case anyone forgets why T'ieves an Assassins be attendin' a joint ceremony."

Remy nodded. "Guess I bes' be headin' over m'self."

"Tante wanted me to remind yo', don' forget to eat," Mercy said, tossing Remy and Lapin each an apple. "Wouldn' do to have eider of yo' faintin' of hunger today."

At the church Remy and Lapin were quickly herded off to one of the side rooms where they'd be out the way and out of trouble until the ceremony started.

After a few minutes an elderly priest joined them to make sure they stayed put and out of trouble, Lapin thought.

The old man affectionately ruffled Remy's hair. "I t'ought I seen yo' back in de congregation dese las' couple of months," he said. " 'M glad yo're home. I worried for yo' when Josette came back wit'out yo' an ' de family wouldn' say what had become of yo'. Jean-Luc jus' said he'd have yo' back. Not much for faith, that one, mais he does have a way of gettin' life to bend to him."

Remy stared at the old man with polite confusion.

"I s'pose yo' don' 'member me," the old man said. "I baptized yo', caused quite de stir... Mais ever'one was a'ready set to be stirred up; after all dere a'ways was a fuss when Josette was involved. Sweet chile mais a'ways in some mess or de other, a'ways de center of 'ttention. 'Tween de irregularities in her weddin' and some stuff an' nonsense 'bout yo're eyes... De new priest weren' well suited to dis parish, he weren' from 'round here, a'ways bettah to stick to natives in dese parts. Dere's more dan a few born unique. I worry 'bout dose ones, dey have a way of vanishin'... Called to de service of your Benefactress dey say. 'M not s'pose to know 'bout her, mais I lived in dis city for all m' life an' I know de ole beliefs. She be a demandin' one, it's bien, your clans throwed her off."

Tante Mattie bustled in with a respectful nod to the old Priest. She briskly pulled Remy to his feet, a few tugs settled his suit to her satisfaction. "Yo' 'member de rehearsal?" she asked him as she set to re-fixing his tie.

"Oui, I 'member Tante, stop fussin'," Remy sighed. "It's no big deal."

Tante rapped the top of Remy's head sharply for that remark. "Dis be a very big deal boy," she told him turning her attention on Lapin. "Dis be de firs' unbreakable bond forged 'tween de United Guilds an' a scaret institution. S' yo' bes' be takin' dis serious. Yo' too Emil Lapin, no practical jokes, yo' understand me?"

"Yes mama," Lapin replied promptly, Remy caught sight of the crossed fingers behind his best man's back and grabbed Lapin's wrist twisting it sharply. "No jokes durin' de weddin', honnete," Lapin swore.

Tante Mattie's look was satisfied as to his sincerity. In the chapel the sound of organ music began. "Dat's your cue boys. Go on, Belle will be joinin' yo' shortly."

As Remy took his place a distant tremor shook the structure. Remy was less concerned about it than the waves of hostility coming off of more than one member of the congregation. Apparently Tante Mattie wasn't the only one who saw his and Belle's wedding as a tool to cement the Guilds' alliance of necessity into a permanent unification and not everyone was in favor of that. Or maybe they just didn't like him.

Then the music changed tempo and Belle appeared, hand resting lightly on her father's arm, beautiful and confident.

A second tremor shook the chapel and the assembled Thieves and Assassins shifted warily exchanging concerned glances while hands superstitiously crept toward the weapons even Patriarchal decree hadn't separated them from.

Jean-Luc drew Henri close for a moment. The younger man nodded then slipped out of the church with an apologetic look toward Remy. A moment later Belle's brother Julian made a discreet exit of his own.

Marius moved to give Belle's hand to Remy. A third tremor, stronger than the other sent her tumbling into his arms instead. "Goddamn heels," Belle swore earning a disapproving look from the priest. She glanced down demurely.

Remy set Belle back on her feet and Marius took his seat, the pair stood before the Priest, giving every impression of listening attentively despite the occasional tremor and the growing hint of smoke in the air.

The doors to the church crashed open. "It be some of Magneto's troublemakers," Henri yelled. "Dey're destroyin' de city."

Remy and Belle exchanged a quick look. "Yo' jus' wait here Fader," Belle said. "We'll be back shortly." Then she kicked off her heels and took off after Remy at a run, Lapin, Singer and Pierre quickly fell in behind their ring-leaders as Delores headed toward Tante Mattie.

"De kids have de right idea," Jean-Luc said. "What are yo' waitin' for?"

At his command the Thieves quickly took to the streets.

"Dis is our city," Marius said.

"Right!" Fifolet yelled. "Dey ain't de only ones wit' powers."

"Who needs dem if yo' got skill?" Another Assassin yelled back as they headed after the Thieves."

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