Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 2
Chapter 2: Accident or No Accident
Remy LeBeau glanced down into his glass of beer as he sat at a lonely corner table in a small earthy bar about two miles down the road from the Xavier estate known as 'Joe's'. He wasn't drowning out his sorrows, but to be honest, he wasn't exactly celebrating his innocence either. He lit a cigarette and took a long drag, the smoke filling his lungs, he closed his eyes, momentarily soothed by the tobacco – which right now felt like his only friend.
"Bonjour, Monsieur LeBeau."
Remy raised his ebony and ruby eyes as Hank McCoy approached, or rather, a very human looking Hank McCoy, who was obviously wearing an image-inducer to hide his true mutant form. Remy watched Hank take a seat, Hank's large muscular bulk seemed out of place at the very small table. Remy leaned back into the bench he was seated upon, and gave Hank a slight nod of acknowledgement.
"You know, you really shouldn't leave the mansion until we've had a chance to clear everything up for you," Hank suggested, "you're still a wanted man," he glanced at a waitress who was in her forties who had happened to be passing, "Miss, if you please, two beers for me and my companion," he smiled kindly.
She seemed taken aback by his politeness, Hank realised of course that 'Joe's' wasn't a place where people said 'please' very often. The waitress disappeared off, Hank turned towards Remy once again.
Remy really didn't know how to respond to Hank's comment, he didn't really want to admit he was finding it hard being back in the Xavier mansion with the rest of the X-Men, he didn't want to admit he still felt their suspicions upon him every time they looked at his face. He'd told Kitty he didn't care, and to some degree he didn't, but when everyone was doing looking at him that way, thinking things about him, it was more than he could stand, at least for now.
"Seven years is a long time, Remy," Hank said, as if realising what Remy was thinking just by the look upon his face, "things change…drastically for someone who just suddenly comes back into the picture after so long – you must be finding it difficult. Is it bothering you much?" he asked sympathetically.
Remy swallowed the last dregs from his beer glass, "on the contrary, I couldn't give a rats ass," he responded.
A few moments silence fell between the two men, and the waitress returned with two beers, placing them on the table, not caring for the slight spillage she caused with her carelessness. Hank paid and tipped her, and let her go on her way. He raised the overflowing glass to his lips and took a small draught, then put the glass back down, reached for a tissue from his own pocket, and began to mop up the spillage from the table. Remy watched him with absurd fascination, this was the kind of behaviour that could get a man severely beaten up in a bar such as this. Luckily, there weren't so many patrons here tonight.
"Are you going to stay with the X-Men?" Hank asked, his blue eyes raised to Remy for a moment as he continued to dab the last of the spilled beer.
"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't, I got…" Remy paused for the word and thought of what Kitty had said earlier that day, "obligations."
"What obligations could a Thief possibly have?" Hank raised a thick well groomed eyebrow, staring at the man through his rectangular spectacles.
"You'd be surprised, Mon Ami," Remy responded, a slight smirk playing around his lips, and he suddenly felt more at ease than before.
"A woman?" Hank queried curiously, he tossed the beer soaked tissue into Remy's empty glass, then picked up his own glass and took a large swig.
"Many," Remy said, "but that's not the reason I won't stay," he picked up his own new glass of beer and took a drink.
"Ah, I think your claim of obligations is a falsity," Hank admitted, his voice clear and enthusiastic as ever, "I think you don't want to stay because of Rogue."
Remy's eyes widened a little on the mention of her name, but composed himself before Hank had the chance to see the effect it had on him, "why should Rogue bother me?"
"Well…you two were in love once," Hank pointed out, "and there must still be some hard feelings between you two despite your new acclaimed innocence."
"We were kids, Hank, just stupid kids," Remy glanced at his watch curiously, as if he had somewhere important to go soon.
"Kids you may have well been," Hank leaned on the table, he his blue eyes fixed on Remy all the while, "but you still loved each other – so much you were determined not to let anything come between you," he pointed out.
Remy shook his head, "but I did, didn't I? I let Jared come between us, I let his death come between us."
"You should not have run," Hank admitted.
Remy looked at him in disbelief, "I couldn't exactly stay, Mon Ami…" he took another large drink from his beer glass, "accident or no accident," he cleared his throat a little, "Rogue was gonna hate me either way – and if I stayed what I'd done would loom over her for the rest of her life," he looked at Hank, he stood up, "Thank you for the beer," he said quietly, "Au revoir."
Rogue picked half-heartedly at her the slice of Pizza on her plate, she and Kitty were sitting in a Bayville Pizza Hut, sharing a large vegetarian pizza. Rogue wasn't hungry despite she'd spent most of the day exercising and had probably burned off more calories in two hours than she'd done in a life time.
"Oh come on, Rogue, you've like, been picking at that same slice of pizza for the last half hour," Kitty pointed out, she herself munching away quiet contentedly.
"Sorry, not really hungry," Rogue pushed her slice of Pizza in front of her, "this whole thing lately has made me lose my appetite."
"You mean with Remy bein' back and all?" Kitty asked, she took a large swig of her Diet Pepsi, and then continued to eat.
"What do you think?" Rogue asked, she tucked her silky white streaks behind her ear, and looked at her friend expectedly.
"I talked to him today, somethin' tells me he's still in a bad mood with me," Kitty admitted after a moment, she thought regretfully at how she'd handled the situation at the lake earlier that day, "I preferred the old Remy…he was a lot more forgiving."
"I don't think he's changed one bit," Rogue admitted quietly, she looked down to her plate, her cheeks flushing red. "He's still an arrogant asshole."
Kitty glanced up at her, she could still see Rogue regretted having accused Remy of murder, she found herself wondering now if Rogue and Remy had any chances of reconciling now that Remy was proven innocent. "Are you guys going to get back together?" she asked, she was chewing on a piece of pizza crust.
Rogue looked at Kitty with an sceptical expression, "are you mad?" she asked raising an eyebrow, "Kitty, the guy ran out on me, I haven't heard from him in seven years!" Rogue gaped, "and you're asking me if I'm gonna get back together with him? Jesus," Rogue shook her head in disbelief.
"Sorry," Kitty gave an apologetic smile.
"Besides…" Rogue began, and she took a full bite of her pizza this time, and finished eating it before continuing to speak, "I'm not the same girl who used to be head over heels for Remy," she reminded, "he was the phase when I was a lonely little goth girl thinking that I couldn't do any better," she reminded, "And I don't want to sound full of myself here, but I receive offers from men all the time," she explained, "and a lot of them are more gentlemanly than Remy LeBeau could ever dream to be."
"So you feel absolutely nothing for Remy now, then?" Kitty asked, she couldn't really believe that. Somewhere in Rogue's heart surely, her feelings couldn't have really left. Kitty felt that her friend must certainly be in denial.
"Nothing at all," Rogue admitted, she reached over and picked up a slice of garlic bread, although the minute she had said it she had to wonder herself if she had any feelings for Remy. She found herself thinking that if it had been true, and she really did have no feelings for the man, why had she not punched him harder than she had when she'd attacked him in the small prison cell? She'd held back on her punches.
But that was just force of habit, Rogue decided, I always hold back on my punches, scared I might really kill someone.
Kitty saw that Rogue was deep in though, and she flicked an olive at her friend playfully, "what are you thinking about?"
"Oh, nothin'," Rogue sighed, "Just tryin' to remember if it's tonight that my favourite tv show is on or tomorrow," she lied, she glanced over to a couple at a far away table who were kissing unabashedly over a pepperoni pizza, she sighed, wondering when she'd ever be able to live out that part of a romance.
"Something wrong?" Kitty asked.
Rogue shook her head, "Y'know I'm twenty-four years old, Kitty, and I've never really properly kissed a guy," she sighed, "Kinda pathetic, isn't it."
"One day, you will, you know that," Kitty said reassuringly.
"I've been an X-Man almost nine years and I've never yet managed to control my powers, Kitty, it's never gonna happen," Rogue took a sip of her soda, "Sometimes makes me wonder why I'm still even part of the X-Men when my powers are probably going to be out of control forever," she admitted dully.
Kitty felt that Rogue's dwelling on her powers was once again, a sign surely that Rogue was having thoughts about Remy. This problem hadn't affected Rogue for some time, and Rogue rarely brought it up unless it was either Valentines day, or while watching an overly romantic movie.
"Kissing is so overrated, anyway," Kitty lied, she didn't feel this way at all, but she'd say anything to make her friend feel better, "it's not all that romantic, its sloppy, its wet, its…ugh, trust me, you'd think it was gross."
Rogue looked at Kitty, while Kitty hadn't had too many romantic relationships in the last seven years, she definitely had more experience in this field than Rogue had. But Rogue refused to believe that kissing could be overrated, despite what Kitty was saying. Rogue let her mind temporarily drift to a very swift kiss she'd shared with Remy in the Library of the mansion, when he'd been trying to prove how much he'd cared for her before walking out. Their lips had barely touched long enough for it to class as a real kiss – her powers had begun to absorb instantaneously and he'd had to move back – but it was however, the closest she'd ever come to it – save the time she'd given Remy mouth to mouth when he'd almost drowned.
Rogue finished her drink, "c'mon, its gettin' late, lets head back home."