Note : Remy, Rogue and Essex belong to Marvel. All of the other insignificant humans in this chapter are my inventions. Thanks for the reviews. And thanks for telling me what you think would suck (to use the words you used *grin*) in this story. Don't worry, I don't want Remy to be burned either *other grin*. They'll find a way outa this! It just took me a lot of time finding it. Chapter 9 is a little bit more complicated to write, and my husband's joining me in vacation, and the sun has finally come up after a week of rain… I hope you're not getting to dependent on that story, as I have grown on other fanfics. Hope you like this one. Oh, and I'm sorry for the bad joke. You'll see.
Enjoy.
Chapter 8
Joys of travel
I cursed under my breath as the men around us. We needed to get out of there, and quick.
"Can't ye fly us outa here, Rogue?" He said under his breath.
"No" I replied. "The Professor did tell me to take my pill at all time…" The men were getting closer. Remy would have to use his powers shortly. To hell with being discreet. We had our asses to save. It seemed he had reached the same conclusions and he extanded a hand to me, motionning me to handle him an object. I took a fruit in the basket on the counter and gave it to him, and he lost no time in charging it. Although instead of throwing it to the menacing (but afraid, I could see it in their eyes) men, he simply tossed it in the air in front of them. It exploded in pieces, sending hundreds of apples bits on the mouth gaped men. Remy grabbed my arm and headed to the door.
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It seemed to him he kept getting into trouble each time he wanted to save her. She was getting a lot of attention from men and it looked like he was going to have to get used to see men drooling at her and trying to kiss and rape her. His eyes blazed at the thought of that disgusting, dirty looking man that held her waist… He tighten his grip on her arm and went throught the door. His space awareness warned him and he dodged the blow a man aimed at his head. They took many paces back and he gasped when he saw about fifty bad looking men around them. He knew it! They had programmed this all along, since they came into the inn last night. The innkeeper must have seen his eyes, and now the whole city was after them.
"It's the witch and her demon! Kill the witch! Burn the demon!" someone yelled in the crowd, and it roared in chorus, eager for blood.
His own blood ran cold when he felt Rogue's arm going limp and he saw her body fall to the ground. A man was standing, a big wooden stick in his hands and a bad look on his face.
"The démon, hey? Dat what ya want? Dat what ya'll get!!" His eyes blazed with fire as he bent to pick up fist size rocks on the ground. He stood up and threw the charged rocks at his oponents. The crowd withdrew fast, but some of them were understanding really fast he needed something to throw in order to keep them at a distance. Besides, he couldn't leave without Rogue, and couldn't throw anything while holding her in his arms. A few men threw themselves at him. He was a good fighter and he was fast and powerfull. But he wasn't able to fight against dozens of men armed to their teeth with pitchforks and wooden clubs. As he threw a man against a wall, he felt a presence behind him. A blow exploded behind his head, and the world went black.
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He slowly woke up. He was lying on his back, and felt dirt between his finger. He could smell dirt, too. His back hurt. His arms hurt. His head hurt, and so did his nose. And damn, he could even feel his hair hurt. There was a weight on his stomach, and he put a hand to check it out. He felt hair, and popped his eyes open. He was in a hole, about as big as a closet. Rogue was lying beside him, unconscious, her head on his lap. He lifted his head and saw the opening, about twenty feet above. He grimaced, having no trouble imagining they had trown him into the hole. The sun shone throught the opening, and he knew it was about middle afternoon. His stomach told him so. He looked back down to look at Rogue. She was pretty pale and her breathing was very slow. He gently shook her shoulder, with no results. He sighted and gathered her closer. It was quite cold in the hole and her body was hot. He let his fingers run in her hair. He gasped when he saw blood on them, and bent to look. The bastards had hit her behind the head and she had a bad wound on her skull. His eyes first watered, then blazed. The salauds would pay. He cupped Rogue's cheek and put her head onto his shoulder. She had to wake up. She couldn't be badly hurt, couldn't she? He closed his watering eyes, feeling helpless.
Suddently his head began to turn, and he smiled a bit. As he felt Rogue's waking powers entering his mind through his hand on her cheek, he knew she would be okay. It was the last thing he thought before he lost consciousness.
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I woke up slowly, feeling Remy's hand slowly slipping from my face. My head felt like it was going to explose into bits and pieces. Fire was burning in my veins, and I knew my powers had come back. My hands were burning like fire with Remy's power and his thoughts and worries danced in my head. And he was worried, and scared indeed.
He was lying by my side, unconscious. We were in a dark hole and the opening was about twenty feet over our heads. I smiled. They weren't going to keep the Devil and his witch in a simple hole for long! I took Remy in my arms and flew towards the opening.
They were gathering wood, I saw, around a post in front of the chuch. A deep shiver ran down my spine and I flew towards the clouds, pushing away the thought of what could have hapenned if my powers hadn't came up in time.
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He woke up to the smell of fire, and jumped to his feet, scared to death. She lifted her head to look at him, and smiled. "Yah can sit down, sugah, and relax a bit. We're miles from crazy town." They were in the woods, and the sky was dark enough to see stars beginning to shine. He sighted with relief and sat down next to her.
"Oh, mon Dieu, dat was almost close. I thought I was cooked, for sure."
"Yah almost was." A shadow crossed her face and she handed him a piece of bread. "They were gathering wood for tha stake, when we left."
"Make it a medium steak*, please." She didn't laugh. "Ah, Rogue, it's over. You said it yo'self, we're miles awa' from dere." She turned to him, emerald eyes glittering in the fire light. He felt his breath go away to see her so beautiful, and felt a stupid smile grow on his face. Her eyes turned angry in a second.
"What yah're smiling about? Yah almost got yahself killed!"
"I was thinking you're very beautiful, Rogue. Ravissante. Magnifique." She raised her brows, and began to laugh.
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I couldn't believe it. Beautiful? Ravissante? Magnifique? I hadn't bathed for days. I had slept in branches and dead leaves and lied in the dirt for a whole day with beetles and spiders. My hair was going in all directions, waving in a cloud of auburn and white around my head like the Medusa. I had dirt all over my dress, and my hands and feet were black. I had filth all over my face. And I was beautiful? I felt an hysterical laugh grow in my chest. He just stared at me, smiling and frowning at the same time, as I doubled up on the ground, holding my hurting tummy and laughing to get rid of the stress of the past hours. After a while, I sat up, wiping the tears from my eyes.
"Oh my Gawd, Remy, Ah'll die laughing staying with yah. And to think Ah could spend hours in tha bathroom, just making mahself pretty for yah. And now, Ah'm covered with filth from head to toes, and Ah'm beautiful?" His grin widened. "Is is true, then, that love makes men blind?"
"Yo women don't understand you're always beautiful. Yo're just even more beautiful when y'have spent hours in de bathroom, using all of de hot water for y'hair." I laugh and he made that heartwarming smile again, opening his arms. I sat on his lap and cuddled close, putting my head on his shoulder, and he sighted with pleasure, putting his arms around me and leaning against a tree. "I love you, Rogue" he murmured in my hair. I kissed my gloved fingers and put them to his lips. He kissed them back and closed his eyes, contented.
"And Ah love yah too, sugah."
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The next day, we decided it was better to fly to St-Johns. We seemed to attract more attention by foot then by staying above the clouds. Besides, they had taken Remy's cloak when we got captured and we had no a lot more money to buy one, but we needed to. I had refused when he proposed so steal one from a local farmer. These people had their problems, we had ours. No stealing. He had shrugged and given me his hands, smiling like a kid that wants you to take him in your arms. We had bought the cloak.
We arrived to a small town in mid-afternoon. We were on the side of the road leading into town when a huge cart pulled by two big brown horses stopped by our side. Remy quickly pulled the hood of his new brown cloak over his head as a young boy shouted some greetings to me.
"Wanna lift, missus? You and your friend?"
"Well sure, thank yah" I said with a smile. Once on board, I tapped on the boy's shoulder. He turned and looked at me.
"A question, missus?"
"Yah, it may sound weird a bit but… What is that town we're going tha?"
"That'll be St-Johns, missus. This's where ya wanna go, right?"
"Raht, Ah thank yah." I turned to Remy and shivered when I saw the look of anger in his eyes.
We were getting closer to Essex.
But not close enough for him.
To be continued…
* **drum beats** As we say here in Québec, scuzez-la! Sorry for the bad pun, I felt like it.
