FYI:
~Personal thoughts~
"Normal Conversation (Duh)"
{Musical Lyrics}
Save Me--Remy Zero
ROGUE
"Holy shit, Mystique?!?! But how, Ah mean…you're dead." Ah couldn't believe it Ah was drivin' around with a dead woman in mah passenger seat.
"Not everything is what it seems and you should know by now that I don't take to kindly to traitors." Ah swerved an' pulled over on the side of the road. Ah pushed open mah door an' started to get out. "You aren't going anywhere, child." Everything began to swim an' get dark as Ah passed out.
GAMBIT
Logan and I drove straight to an old warehouse building. "Better watch your back, Gumbo, Mystique's around here someplace." I got off of my motorcycle and began walking towards the dark building. Logan grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the side of the building. "We'll make our own door. Do your stuff, Gumbo." I placed my hands on the brick wall in front of me and concentrated my energy into blowing the wall out. It disintegrated and we walked in.
{I Feel My Wings Have Broken In Your Hands, I Feel The Words Unspoken Inside}
The building was actually some kind of base that seemed just as complicated as Magneto's. Logan started sniffing around and walked off to the right. I followed close behind but I kept a few playing cards handy. Logan must have heard something because he stopped abruptly and extended his claws. Somebody was walking towards us and when they turned the corner it was Rogue.
{When They Pull You Under, And I Would Give You Anything You Want, You Were All I Wanted}
"Rogue! Are you ok?" I ran up to her and held her so that I could see she wasn't hurt. She looked beautiful as always but her eyes looked different. They weren't the same brilliant emerald green I remembered. Logan came up and threw her across the hall so that she collapsed and slid down the wall. "What did you do that for?!?!" But as I spoke Rogue changed into Mystique and a knife clattered to the floor from her limp hand. ~Shit, if it hadn't been for Logan she would have tried to kill me.~
{All My Dreams Are Fallin' Down, Crawlin' Round And Round And Round}
"Get going. Find Rogue, I'll take care of her." Logan had picked Mystique up by the neck, but I didn't stick around long enough to see what came next. ~If Mystique tried to kill me, she might have tried to hurt Marie!~ I turned the corner to find a door a jar. I entered it to find Marie lying on the ground unconscious.
WOLVERINE
"All right, bub, where is she?" I picked Mystique up by the neck and pinned her to the wall.
"Wouldn't you like to know." The last thing I saw was Mystique's foot connecting with my head as I blacked out.
GAMBIT
"Cheri! Wake up, you've got to get up." I heard somebody coming up from behind me and nearly blew Logan away with a card before I saw him. He still had his claws extended which was weird, because when I'd left him Mystique had been unconscious.
{Somebody Save me}
"This is all your fault, Gumbo. Now you're gonna pay." He jumped me and pinned me to the ground. "I never should have let you near her." I'd never felt anything like the pain I was experiencing right then. I could see his claws going t'rough my shoulder but it was almost as if my shoulder was on fire, not the peircing feeling I'd expected. All of a sudden, he screamed in pain and as he pulled back his claws exploded. ~Now I know I'm delusional, I can't blow up adamantium steel.~ But I wasn't delusional because as I passed out I could see that it hadn't really been Logan, but Mystique. ~Doesn't she ever just quit…~
ROGUE
When Ah woke Ah found both Remy an' Mystique lying on the ground unconscious. ~What the hell just happened? How did Remy get here?~ My head hurt, but Ah'm sure Ah'd been a lot worse off if it hadn't been for Logan's healin' powers. Ah moved over towards Remy an' lifted him up into a sittin' position. Ah could see that he was bleedin' badly from his shoulder so Ah tried not to move him too much.
{Let Your Warm Hands Break Right Through Me, Somebody Save Me}
He stirred a little an' opened his eyes. "I must be dead for the most beautiful of angels has come for me."
{I Don't Care How You Do It, Just Save Me, Save, Come On, I've Been Waiting For You}
"Shut up, won't ya." He was really weak an' he sounded like he was comin' from a million miles away. But he somehow managed to kiss mah cheek. In that moment that his lips brushed across mah cheek all of his thoughts an' memories started to flood into mah head. It made me dizzy an' Ah almost dropped him because mixed in with the thoughts of me were ones of his past, so horrible that Ah wanted them to stop.
{I See The World Has Folded In Your Heart, I Feel The Waves Crash Down Inside
And They Pull Me Under, And I Would Give You Anything You Want}
Ah didn't even have time to figure out what was going on in mah head before Mystique was movin' again. Remy had passed out again from the strain so Ah gently put him back down. "Why did ya come after me?!?! And why'd ya hurt Remy?!?!" Ah was shoutin' at the top of mah lungs at her, Ah was so angry at the moment. But a rush of self-hatred hit me. ~This is mah fault. Ah tried to kill Mystique so now she's tried to kill Remy. Why did Ah think Ah could ever care about somebody without hurtin' them.~ Ah tried to shake the feelin' but Ah couldn't so Ah tried takin' mah anger out on Mystique.
{You Were All I Wanted, All My Dreams Have Fallen Down
Crawlin' Round And Round And Round}
Ah reached down an' took a stack of cards out of Remy's pocket an' usin' his powers Ah charged them an' threw them at her. She dodged the first few, but one finally connected an' tossed her across the room. Her head hit the wall with a sickenin' thud, but Ah wasn't through with her yet. Ah reached down to pick her up but somebody grabbed mah arm from behind.
{Somebody Save Me, Let Your Warm Hands Break Right Through Me}
"I think we've all done enough for today, Stripes." Ah broke down an' started cryin' on Logan's shoulder.
"This is all mah fault. If Ah wouldn't have tried to hurt Mystique she wouldn't be here tryin' to hurt Remy or Ah right now." Ah was blubbering an' talkin' nonsense but Logan just patted mah back an' tried to tell me everythin' was gonna be ok.
{Somebody Save Me, I Don't Care How You Do It, Just Save Me, Save
Come On, I've Been Waiting For You}
"It's not your fault Stripes, you couldn't have known Mystique was going to come back. Look, lets get outta here and get the two of you cleaned up." He let me go so that he could go over an' pick Remy up off the ground. He was as limp as a rag doll, an' Ah broke into a fresh stream of tears.
{All My Dreams Are On The Ground, Crawlin' Round And Round And Round}
All of Remy's thoughts were tumblin' through mah head causin' me to wonder what was real an' what wasn't. Ah had images of New Orleans an' a blonde girl who was mah age. ~Probably his girlfriend. Why wouldn't he have one? He's sweet an' nice. Besides she's about ten times better lookin' than me, and to boot, he probably doesn't have to worry to much about kissin' her.~ Ah could see things that had gone on with Magneto, an' all kinds of things that were so terrible Ah don't think he'd ever tell anyone about it all. Ah tried pushin' the worst of it out of mah head but it was really hard.
{Somebody Save Me, Let Your Warm Hands Break Right Through Me
Somebody Save Me, I Don't Care How you Do It, Just Save Me, Save Me}
When we got back outside, the Velocity was sittin' there waitin'. Kitty came runnin' up to me with Piotr an' Kurt not far behind. "Like are you alright? Oh my God, what happened to Gambit?"
"Sis, vhat happened?" Seein' them made me realize Ah needed to pull mahself together or everybody would be askin' me questions that Ah didn't want to answer right now.
{I've Made This Whole World Shine For You, Just Save Me, Save
Come On, I'm Still Waiting For You}
"Ah'm fine." And they left it at that.
Ah rode in the back of the Velocity where Storm was applying bandages to Remy's shoulder. At first she looked accusingly at Logan because the wound looked like it had been caused by his claws.
"It wasn't Logan. It was Mystique." Storm looked up for a moment at me an' continued bandaging Remy's shoulder.
By the time we got to the institute, Remy still hadn't woken up so Jean levitated him to the medical ward where Ah'd spent so much time this spring. Ah sat down by the side of his bed an' stayed there for Ah don't know how long. Logan would come in periodically to make sure Ah was ok an' Storm or Beast would come in to check on Remy, but other than that it was just Remy an' Ah alone. All the while Ah sat there Ah held his hand an' just talked hopin' he'd eventually wake up.
GAMBIT
"Remy, why didn't ya tell me about her. Ah woulda understood…Ah think. Ah don't know anymore. Ah feel like ya lied to me, but then how could ya lie if both of us just ignored it. And all these other memories…they're so horrible. Ah don't really blame ya for keepin' from me but still, we have to trust each other. Please, Remy, be ok. Ah wouldn't be able to stand it if somethin' were to happen to ya."
"I didn't t'ink you cared, Cheri." I opened my eyes and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
"You're ok!" She bent over to kiss me, but pulled back before she did. "How long have ya been listenin' to me ramblin' like that?"
"I don't blame you if you hate me. I warned you before t'at you'd no longer like me if you knew everyt'ing."
"Don't ya start thinkin' ya gonna get off easy by mah hatin' you. Ah still care about ya, or else Ah wouldn't have spent the last few days down here with ya."
"Then why'd you pull back, Cheri?"
"Ah didn't want to hurt ya again. Ah guess the professor figured wrong, Ah mean why else would Ah have been able to absorb ya?"
"I believe I can answer that." The professor had just come into the room and stopped at the end of my bed. "When you and Rogue touched in the warehouse, your body was already under a great strain due to your injury. Thus when you touched, your field of energy wasn't strong enough to block out Rogue's powers. Rogue was also in the right to pull back now, because you're still to weak to be attempting more contact." Giving us warning glances, the professor left the room again.
I sat up and smiled at Marie who was still sitting there holding my hand. I was taking the professor's news badly because all I wanted to do was touch her face and know that she really was there and that I wasn't dreaming. "Well, I'm feeling all better, how about a kiss?" I pointed towards my cheek and leaned towards her as if to prove my point.
"Ya just woke up an' ya want me to knock ya out again? You're crazy!"
"I guess I'm just crazy about you, Cheri." She blushed as she smiled.
"Look, ya get outta this bed an' Ah'll think about it."
I swung my legs around and went to stand up. "Well, don't t'ink too long." She gently pushed me back down onto the bed.
"Look, school starts in a few days, so ya better get ya rest while ya can."
"What about you? You look like you haven't had a decent night's sleep in awhile."
"Ah'm fine, really. Trust me, this chair is a lot comfier than it looks. Hey, Ah almost forgot to tell ya, ya had visitors while ya were out of it."
"Yeah, any pretty girls?" She frowned when I said this. ~Does she know about Bella now?~ "None prettier than you t'ough."
"Well, Kitty, Kurt, an' Piotr came down to see ya. Piotr didn't say much but he looked really worried."
"He never says much, so don't worry to much about it Cheri." I was still sitting on the edge of the bed and went to make anot'er attempt to stand up. She didn't stop me t'is time, but actually helped me to my fight. I suddenly became self-conscious of the fact t'at I wasn't wearing a shirt an' looked around the room for somet'ing to put on over my bandages.
"Your shirt's over there, Sugah, but it's all torn up an' bloody." She was right, the blue silk was nearly all stained red and there wasn't much left of the right shoulder. "Ah think if we're quick, we can get up to your room an' find ya another one, before we get caught."
"Since when were you afraid of being caught?" She didn't answer but smiled as she led me out of the room and t'rough the maze of halls.
A few minutes later we were standing outside of my room. When we went in we nearly scared the crap out of Piotr because he had been in t'ere reading and probably wasn't expecting someone to pop t'eir head in.
"What are you doing out of the hospital wing so soon?"
"T'ey let me off on good behavior."
"I highly doubt that my friend." Cheri had been digging t'rough a dresser an' pulled out one of Piotr's shirts.
"Here put this on. It's a little bigger than what ya normally wear so it won't hurt ya shoulder." She helped me pull it down over my head because I was struggling with only one good arm. Piotr was trying his best to suppress his laughter.
"Well, I'm glad you t'ink t'is is funny, Messiur."
"I am sorry, but you are quite a sight."
"Ya do look pretty silly tryin' to get that shirt on, Sugah." ~Great, not only is my best friend laughing at me, but so is she.~
"Well, is everybody done getting t'eir laughs?"
"Sorry about intrudin' Piotr, an' thanks for the shirt." She took my good arm and led me back out. "Well, ya're outta the hospital wing. Now what?"
"I t'ink we should just take a walk outside and talk for awhile."
"Well, don't t'ink to hard or ya might hurt ya brain as well."
ROGUE
We'd walked outside an' were walkin' along the edge of the forest when Remy started talkin'.
"Her name is Bella Donna Boudreaux; she's my wife." ~Ok, not what Ah was expectin'. Ah was thinkin' more along the lines of girlfriend, but wife?~ "She's a member of the Assassin's Guild, and our marriage was supposed to bring the two groups together peacefully. It didn't work out so well, because on the day we married, her brother challenged me to a duel to the death…I killed him, Cheri, in cold blood. I was forced to leave New Orleans because of it. I haven't seen Bella since we exchanged our vows." ~Mah God, talk about commitment issues. What am Ah supposed to say to all that. 'That's ok, all is forgiven.' 'cause Ah'm not so sure Ah can just overlook this. Ah mean, he's married for God's sake.~
We walked in silence before he tried talkin' again. "Cheri, I know t'is is probably hard for you to understand, but I don't love her. It was an arranged marriage and she's not'ing compared to you." ~That isn't making it any easier for me.~
"That doesn't change the fact that ya're married. Don't ya think that was somethin' ya probably should have told me? Ah'm not just some girl for ya to date until ya decide to go back to ya wife." He didn't respond to that an' Ah could tell Ah'd hurt his feelin's but Ah honestly didn't care. ~So what if his feelin's are hurt, so are mine. This definitely qualifies as somthin' ya talk about when ya start datin' somebody.~ "Why didn't ya just tell me sooner?"
"I was afraid you wouldn't care about me anymore. I know t'at's no excuse, but please, you have to forgive me, Cheri."
"Ah don't have to do anythin'…but Ah am gonna forgive ya. Just promise me that from now on, ya'll be more honest with me. Ah don't like secrets, an' Ah think if Ah'm willin' to tell ya mah secrets ya could at least tell me some of ya more important secrets."
"Of course, Marie." Ah could smell that he was tellin' the truth, which made me feel a little better.
"So ya ain't hidin' any more wives are ya?" Ah smiled at him to let him know Ah was just jokin'.
"Non." He bent down an' kissed the top of mah head while usin' his one good arm to pull me closer to him. Ah leaned mah head back an' kissed his cheek. Nothin' happened so Ah put mah arm around his neck an' the other hand on his chest as we kissed again. All of those horrible memories Ah'd gotten from Remy were temporarily forgotten as we stood there at the edge of the woods. As we walked back to the mansion, he leaned down an' whispered in mah ear.
"You saved me from myself, Cheri."