Chapter 6: Bitter Revenge

             "REMY, NO!" Rogue squealed, though after the loud music blasting from all directions and the noise of people chattering, he wouldn't have heard her.

             Kitty and Rogue both witnessed the tall vodka glass seemingly shatter right in the Rapist's hand, they both realised it had been a swift spin of Remy's bo-staff that had done it.  Rogue felt as if she'd faint, her mind beginning to drift, she felt as she did then, dizzy, breathing becoming too difficult to be involuntary.

             "What the fuck are you doing, man?!" the Rapist demanded of Remy, he grabbed his hand, already bleeding, the glass having shattered right in it.

             Remy pulled the shades off, and tossed them aside, despite his slight drunkenness, he felt dangerously alert, he held his bo-staff above his head, and spun it, "take your shot."

             The Rapist looked as if he would walk away – at first – but then he spun around and threw a punch straight at Remy.  Remy dodged to the side, and brought the bo-staff down on the guys head, it made a dull thwacking sound as it did, and Rogue felt strangely sick hearing it.

             Rogue felt helpless, the two began to fight, and Remy was far too dangerous to lose, she dropped to her knees, feeling dizzy, the stress coming over her.

             Kitty pulled her up, "we need to get you – and him – out of here…"
             Remy threw himself backwards as the guy swung at him again, the guy was a lousy fighter, and Remy was far too agile to let himself be hit – even with six beers in his system.  He caught himself on his hands, and thrust his lower body upwards, catching the guy in the chest with a hard kick.

             Rogue's head was spinning, her body shaking violently, she looked up to Kitty, "stop him, please!" she pleaded in a pained sob.

             Kitty dived between the two men, "stop!" she screamed.

             Remy swung his bo-staff at Kitty – she barely phased in time for it to miss her, "don't fuck with me, Kitty, get out of the fucking way!"

             Kitty suddenly realised Remy meant business, her eyes were wide with front, he'd took a swing at her.  Suddenly she felt something cold against her neck, and she gasped, the Rapist had her from behind, a knife against her neck.  She somehow felt so afraid, she could barely move – the thought to phase suddenly didn't seem like an option.

             "Let…her…go," Remy said loudly, his eyes flickering a brilliant red against the black, his hair was hanging down over his face in sweat tinged tendrils. 

             Kitty closed her eyes, concentrating, she fell backwards into the guy, phasing through him, she rolled out of his reach, and hit a wall with a dull thud, she groaned, "ow…"

             Remy reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of playing cards, holding them up, they began to glow a brilliant shade of pale yellow, so bright it almost hurt to stare at them.

             Rogue groaned, "Remy…" she whispered, she grabbed onto her stomach, pain rushing through her.  "Remy…don't…"

             Remy LeBeau could not hear her, and even if he could have, he probably wouldn't have succumbed to her plead.

             "Remy, don't!" Kitty cried at him, she suddenly became aware of the patrons all standing watching the fight – no one seemed intent of stopping them either.

             "Tell me why I shouldn't!" Remy glanced towards Kitty, "You know what that bastard did to her!"

             "You've hurt him! Now lets go!" Kitty grabbed onto his arm.

             "Not until he pays!" Remy tried to shake Kitty away from him.

             The distraction was enough for the guy to catch Remy off guard, with a punch to the side of the head, Remy was thrown off balance, the cards fell from his hand to the floor, and exploded upon impact, sending half of the floor and the nearby wall into debris flying towards the patrons, they ducked out of the way, gasping, the music stopped.  The explosion was massive, some of the ceiling coming down as well, a few ceiling lights come down, and part of a speaker.

             Rogue tried to pull herself up, a large pile of debris, all that remaining of where Remy LeBeau, Kitty Pryde and the Rapist had stood, no sign of her best friend, nor the man she loved in sight.

             "Remy…" Rogue gasped, "Kitty…" she pulled herself up slowly, but dropped in pain, her stomach in turmoil.  She felt her consciousness slipping away.

             "Rogue…Rogue…are you alright?"

             Rogue blinked her eyes open wearily, she glanced up at the ceiling, it was dark, she could barely see anything, yet instinct told her she was in the X-Men's van – in the back.

             "Kitty…?" asked Rogue, she reached out to feel around.

             "Yeah…" Kitty reached up to the vans ceiling and turned on the small light, "jeez, we were worried…what happened to you?" she asked.

             Rogue leaned up, she felt shaky, a strange feeling had come over, she couldn't explain it, "what…I saw you and Remy die…how—"

             "When he dropped the cards an explosion went off – I was holding onto Remy's arm and I managed to phase us just in time as it did," Kitty explained, she helped Rogue sit up.  Rogue could see the back doors of the van were open, and Remy was sitting, his legs dangling out of the back, his back turned to them.  Rogue could see smoke rise into the air.

             "What about the guy…" Rogue whispered.

             "We…don't know," Kitty chewed her lip, "we…didn't stay around long enough…you were out cold – we didn't know what was going on," she admitted.

             "I don't know either," Rogue admitted, she rubbed her head, "I…I was in pain…my whole body felt so strange…"

             "Maybe you're coming down with something," Kitty suggested, she reached over with her bare hand to feel Rogue's forehead for a temperature.  A flash of pain like electricity flashed through both girls and Kitty yanked her hand back.

             Rogue gasped, Kitty's thoughts and feelings, memories and powers being sucked into her, she pulled away also, "My powers…they're back…"

             Kitty looked at Rogue, "you going to be okay?"

             "I feel…fine now…" Rogue looked to Remy.

             "Do you guys need a minute?" Kitty asked quietly.

             Rogue gave a vague nod.

             Kitty smiled wearily and phased through the wall of the van, disappearing completely.  Rogue moved closer to the back of the van.

             "Remy?"

             Remy didn't turn, "He deserved it, Chere…he deserved to die."

             Rogue put her hand on his back, "I told you not to…"

             Remy turned and looked at her finally, his eyes glowing in the slight darkness, his hair slightly highlighted by the small weak overhead light.  "You don't understand," he sighed, " he needed to be punished."

             "Since when are you the authority on who needs to be punished," Rogue asked, a little edgy, there was something in the way Remy was speaking that was giving her chills – and not in the good way.  She'd seen how dangerous he'd looked, heard the voice of anger in him, and it made her cold, she was frightened of him.

             Remy looked at her, "since he fucked you," He looked away from her, "he fucked you, and because of that if we're ever together, it won't….it won't be special…"

             "It will be…" Rogue put her hand on his arm, "when the time comes…"

             "No, it won't…" Remy sighed, "Because every time I'm near you, you're gonna see him instead of me…" he looked away.  "You'll feel his hands…his lips…his body…" his voice was trembling, "and you'll fear me…"

             Rogue looked at him, "No…that would never happen…I see you when I look at you, and nothing else…just you…"

             Remy closed his eyes tightly, suppressing tears, he'd cried so much, he didn't want to cry anymore.  "I just want the hurt to go away…I can't take it…I thought I could make it go away, Chere…I thought I could…"

             Rogue moved over to him and wrapped her arms around him, keeping her face away from his, knowing now her powers were back she'd maim him, he cried for a time, Rogue remained silent, holding onto him, her head pressed against his shoulder.  "I know, Sugar, I know…"

             Kitty returned, "guys, we gotta go, its late…and we're probably in deep shit as it is…"

             Remy sighed and moved away from Rogue, trying to hide his tears from Kitty.

             "Oh for fucks sake, I've seen a guy cry before," Kitty rolled her eyes, "I'll drive," she climbed into the drivers seat.

             "Kitty!  You don't even have a license!"

             "Didn't stop you," Kitty retorted, pulling on her seatbelt.

             "I'm not the one who failed four driving tests," Rogue shot back.

             "Details, nothing but details," Kitty rolled her eyes.

             Rogue and Remy looked at each other.

             "You gonna be alright?" Rogue asked quietly, they pulled themselves all the way in and Rogue closed the back doors.

             "Yeah," he sighed, "I'll be fine."

             Rogue looked at him, wondering if he really wood, or if things were about to get much worse.  He wasn't just the man she'd thought she'd known – now he was probably guilty of killing a man in some way.  And she began to feel panic spread through her, despite she loved him, she was beginning to seriously fear him – despite what she'd said.

             Leaning against the wall of the van, she sighed, praying she had nothing to fear.  She looked over to him, and he glanced back, those eyes were different to her now.  She wondered how she might get through the rest of her life knowing the man she loved might be a murderer.

The End (Hmmmmmmmm…….or maybe not *grin*.)