Rescue: Part Two
Remy touched her cheek lightly. "You know, you're much more beautiful widout all de scary makeup."
She bristled and ran her ungloved hand down her cheek. A quick study of her fingers told her she no longer had the white powder she'd applied so carefully on her face. It must have come off during her fall…or he wiped it off for her. She immediately wondered if he touched her skin directly.
"Who asked you, Swamp rat?"
"No one," he replied gamely. "But de point is dat you're scary, n'est-ce que pas?"
"What d'you mean?"
"You got dis real stay-away-from-me vibe. Cause of your powers, I'm sure."
"What d'you know of my powers?"
"It's my job. It's a good ting I knew'r else we'd be in more trouble. What happens anyway?"
"Ah suck the life out of you," she said flatly. "Ah take on mutant powers and memories from both human and mutant, and if ah don't let go, you'll fall into a coma."
"Has dat happened?" he asked quietly.
"This…this boy ah knew. Cody. He was in a coma for three weeks."
He nodded, his gaze sympathetic. "Tough life t'live, Chère."
"All the people ah've touched…they're all in mah head. Some voices are stronger than others, but they're all just there," she explained, not really knowing why she was telling him all this but the words seemed to tumble out of her mouth without her control. "If enough time passes, they fade, but the ones ah've held on to for a long time…they sometimes don't go away. You have no idea what it's like."
"Your precious Professor Xavier helpin' you out with dat?"
"He's tryin' but ah can't really control it, even with his help."
She could feel his pity and hated it. "So, all you can do is light things up?" she said quickly.
He was smart enough to see a change of topic. "Yup. Did a lot o'damage when I first got 'em, but I'm better now."
"That's what you think. Ah bet there was a lot of tossin' those cards of yours into trash cans."
"I would never limit myself t'that. I preferred hanging metal rings from trees on my père's estate and tossin' de cards tru dem."
"Estate? You from money then, huh?"
"My père's Jean-Luc LeBeau," he said hesitantly.
Being a daughter of the south assured Rogue's knowledge of the name. It was the kind of name one whispered and pretended not to know for the consequences of knowing were dire. "The leader of the Thieves' Guild."
"Oui."
"So does that mean…"
Their eyes met.
"Oh," she said. "That's why you left home. Get out of your père's shadow."
"Not really," he said sliding his arm out from under her and moving away to crouch by the fire. He turned his face away from her and poked at the flames with his bo-staff but from what she could see, it didn't need much poking. "More like needin' some freedom from it all. I'm supposed t'marry Bella Donna, de daughter of Marius Boudreaux. He de leader of d'Assassins' Guild."
Rogue couldn't help the sinking feeling in her heart. "Supposed to…does that mean you don't want to?"
He shrugged again. "We been t'gether a long time."
"You love her?" she ventured.
"I respect her," he said firmly. "But marryin' into dat family would be like steppin' into a snake pit wid no shoes on. Bella Donna and I are too much alike and we'd kill each other if we had t'live together. She know dat as well as I do, I tink, no matter how much help de marriage might bring in terms o' relations between de two guilds. I don' wanna carry all dat on my head yet. I'm not even legal t'drink."
"Not that that stops you."
He grinned. "True 'nuff. You got a boyfriend? Engaged t'any cousins in Mississippi?" he baited.
She refused to rise to it. "No. Ah work alone. Besides, what kind of relationship would that be? Ah won't be able to touch him."
Remy's lips curled with mischief. "You'd find a way if you wanted him badly enough."
"Don't you understand, Cajun?" Rogue turned her face away from the light so that he could not see her eyes shining with angry tears. "Ah'll nevah be able to touch anybody for as long as ah live no mattah what anyone says."
He put a hand on her shoulder. "Have faith, Chère."
"In what?"
The smile he gave her was maddeningly confident, but he didn't say anything. Rogue let out a breath.
"You are a pain in the butt, d'you know that? Ah have nevah met anyone as annoying as you."
"I will take dat as a compliment," he said with a small bow, coming back to her side and putting his arm around her as if they were an old married couple. "So what's it like livin' wid a bunch o' goody-two-shoes?"
Despite herself, Rogue smiled. "It ain't as bad as you think. Not all of them are like Scott and Jean."
"Yeah, dose two are somethin' else. I jus' picture you fittin' in better in someplace like de Brotherhood."
She nudged him with her shoulder. "Ah take offense to that. Those losers wouldn't know what t'do with me."
"I ain't gon' disagree wid you dere."
"If it were up to me, ah wouldn't be with anybody."
"Really? No one can stay alone forever."
"You nevah know until you try."
"Jus' cause you can't touch nobody don't mean you have t'be alone."
"It's easier. You don't know how hard it is to want to be close to someone but nevah be able to."
He made a sound that she couldn't comprehend. They lapsed into silence, lost in their own thoughts. Outside, the wind howled and the snow continued to fall thickly. Rogue's eyes felt unbearably heavy no matter what she did and she caught her head falling forward several times. Surprised that Remy wasn't protesting, she tilted her chin up to look at him and saw that he had fallen asleep. The warmth that had settled between them was nearly gone and she wondered if expending his power in that way was exhausting to him. It probably was but with the creeping cold, she had enough sense to know that his sleeping would not be a good idea either.
"Eyes open, Swamp rat," she said loudly in his ear.
"Damn," he muttered, opening his eyes a crack. "I t'ought wid you knowin' my name and all, you'd use it."
Rogue scooted forward without standing, reaching for a piece of firewood and tossing it into the fire. She could barely feel the heat as the temperature had dropped dramatically in the last half hour and she wiggled her toes just to make sure they were still there. Her nose felt like a block of ice and as she moved back to Remy's side, she ducked her face into the top of her parka, taking a few experimental breaths to warm her face.
"Y'alright?" Remy asked, his brow furrowed.
"It's too cold," she said. "How you doin'?"
"I been better," he agreed. "Maybe we should move over t'de back of de cave?"
"What if the mouth gets blocked off?"
"I can blow it up lickety-split."
His bravado made the corners of her lips quirk upwards. "Can you?"
"I can, Chère," he said, taking out a card and charging it. "You trust me?"
"'Bout as far as you can throw that card."
He arched an eyebrow. "Dat's far."
She pointed a finger in his face. "But not far enough. Let's start movin', Cajun."
Bracing herself against the wall, Rogue managed to get into a standing position and the movement got her blood flowing again. Her ankle ached and she didn't dare put her weight on it. Remy put a secure arm around her waist and with slow steps, helped her further back. He murmured something in French to her that she didn't understand, but she guessed them to be comforting words as she was clearly having a lot of trouble moving. Finally, with a low mumbling, Remy scooped her up in his arms and marched her to the back. She clung tightly to his neck, surprised and a little bit excited that he'd done that.
"Don' get used t'dis," he warned playfully. "I can't be carryin' you 'round cause I got tings t'do."
"Picking up the mornin' paper for Magneto?"
He threw her a disgruntled look. "I wouldn't pick dis particular vulnerable time t'be a smart mouth."
He put her down gently, despite his words, and Rogue crossed her arms and curled her legs against her body. It was painfully cold in the back of the cave and she started to shiver. Remy was transporting what was left of their fire, not seeming to pay any heed to sparks landing on his coat. Rogue took her gloves off so that she could warm her hands against the growing flames and was tempted to take her boots off so that her toes could get a piece of the action.
"What ah wouldn't give for a cup of hot chocolate right now," she mumbled.
"Cup o'hot chocolate? Try a warm bed."
Rogue rested her chin against her bent knees and stared into the fire. She'd avoided thinking of a warm bed because of how tired she was, but that image invaded her mind now. She could picture her soft comfortable bed with its oversized pillows and big down comforter. She sank when she laid down in it and that's the way she liked it. She could imagine climbing into it and cuddling up against Remy's warm body…
Rogue's eyes flew open and she could feel her face redden. She was lucky that Remy was busying himself with coaxing a few more flames out of the fire so he was paying no attention to her. She tried to clear her head of any residual Remy images, but the harder she tried, the more they came at her.
Remy playing pool with Logan and Scott, goading Scott and making Logan laugh.
Remy manning the barbecue and telling everyone that to him, burnt meant good home cooking.
Remy sitting at the foot of her bed, shuffling his cards, and watching her put her makeup on, all the while complaining that there was too much of it.
Remy holding her in his arms and telling her to trust him as his head dipped lower to touch his lips to hers…
"You tinkin' 'bout dat cup of chocolate?" the real Remy asked, breaking into her thoughts.
She didn't answer, keeping her eyes on the fire. He shrugged and put his arm around her again, holding her close to his side. Rogue leaned against him, resting the side of her head against his shoulder. Her eyes fluttered shut and before she lost herself to sleep, she felt his cheek come to rest against the top of her head. In the back of her mind, she remembered something about not falling asleep but the thought flew from her head as warmth enveloped her and she fell fast asleep.