Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 4
Chapter 2: Remy's Apartment
The apartment Remy had mentioned to Kitty was nothing she had expected it to be, in fact, the building seemed almost derelict and Kitty decided the dirt and grime was probably the only thing holding the place together. The main foyer of the building seemed as if it hadn't been cleaned by any maintenance staff in years, and someone had piled up old car parts in a corner near an apartment door, and there was oil smeared on one of the walls.
Kitty made a face as she followed Remy up a staircase with a rickety iron wrought banister. It was strange how suddenly she realised how lucky she was to be living in a mansion while people lived in a slum such as this. "How long have you lived here?" Kitty asked quietly as they started up a second staircase, she held her breath as the stench of – what could only be defined as similar to – seemed to overpower her, she pursed her lips together tight, following him at a quicker pace.
"On and off about six months," Remy responded, he stopped at a door, it was painted blue, although the paint was peeling and the wood had splintered in some places. A yellow post-it note was stuck onto the door, scrawled in crude black marker. "Fuck," Remy muttered under his breath, he yanked the note off the door and crumpled it up, tossing it over the railing overlooking the second floor stairwell.
"Something wrong?" Kitty asked, watching the note disappear.
"Nothin' serious," Remy assured, "Just stupid landlord, I paid him in advance for three months about a month and a half ago…" he rolled his eyes, "old fart is losin' his marbles," he replied, a slight amused smirk on his handsome face.
Kitty hugged herself against the chill in the stairwell, "this place is pretty shady, Remy… and this hallway really stinks."
"That's probably cats piss," Remy rolled his eyes, "this old dingbat lives across the hall from me, has five cats, she can barely take care of herself let alone the stupid cats," Remy reached up to the top of the high door frame, locating a key hidden there, he pulled it down, shoved it into the lock, wiggled it and with some effort, the door opened. Remy stepped in, dropping Kitty's holdall bag to a spot aside the doorway. Kitty followed him in tentatively.
It was morning, and bright light shone through curtain-less windows in a very small living room that hadn't seen a lick of paint or fresh wallpaper in what seemed like a decade. The top of the wallpaper was peeling and revealed several patches of damp wall slightly cracked and crumbling beneath. Against one wall a very old leather couch – worn and slightly coming apart – was set beside a small crate that was being used as an end table to hold up a lamp. Against the opposing wall was a stack of boxes with company brands. DVD players, VCRs, Digital Camcorders, Kitty even spotted two boxes for Flatscreen Monitors for computers.
"What's all this?" Kitty asked, fearful she already knew – stolen property.
"Merchandise, gotta pay for livin' somehow, nothin' in
life is free anymore, petit," Remy walked over to the windows and opened them
to let some air into the stale apartment.
"Told you it wasn't exactly luxurious here."
"No…its fine," Kitty feigned
a smile, she glanced into another nearby room which seemed to be a bedroom, a
bed was in two pieces, the frame standing up against the wall at its full
height, the mattress resting against the wall nearby. Lining the other wall were what looked like paintings, covered in
dust sheets. Newspapers were strewn
across the floor, several articles highlighted and circled out, photographs of
artefacts spread out almost ritualistically.
Remy noticed her expression, "don't worry, I'll put the bed together," he assured, "you can take the bedroom, I'll crash on the couch."
Kitty felt like crying again, being in this dingy apartment, an hour away from her old house in the suburbs – which was now burnt to cinders – and now completely orphaned.
Remy watched her for some moments as she surveyed the bedroom full of covered paintings, he walked over, "I need to go speak with the landlord…" he put his hand on her shoulder, "will you be alright while I'm away?"
Kitty gave a vague nod, she didn't look to him, she was too busy dwelling on how different her life would be now that she was orphaned. It felt almost like she were five years old and couldn't be without her parents, not a twenty-something young woman as independent as she liked to make out she was.
Remy headed towards the door, "by the way…" he said, "did you leave a note for the others to tell them where were going?"
Kitty nodded, once again, quite vague, she stared into space.
Remy didn't respond to this, he left the apartment silently, and when he did, Kitty slipped into more tears.
Rogue walked into the bedroom of Kitty Pryde hoping to find her friend, who for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, had not come down to Breakfast promptly. In fact, Rogue had found it odd Kitty had not shown up for the early danger room practice. But after all, it had been an optional training session, perhaps she'd chosen to sleep in.
Kitty's bed – which was always made immaculately whenever she wasn't in it – lay with half of the covers on the floor, no sign of Kitty. A few items of clothing, and a pair of pyjamas had been discarded in a careless fashion across the room in a way that was so unlike Kitty. The closet door hung carelessly open.
Rogue headed over to the en-suite bathroom, with still no luck finding her friend, it was strange, she'd been all over the mansion twice this morning doing various errands and hadn't spotted her.
Rogue was about to leave the room when a message caught her eye. It had been written in pink lipstick across the large cheval mirror. The words scrawled in a careless and almost hurried fashion. "Gone to Illinois with Remy. XXX Kitty," Rogue read out, a frown building on her face.
It now struck her as very odd. Why would Kitty want to run off with Remy to Illinois? She drew her breath, "why…?" she asked herself quietly, just as she heard someone enter the room behind her, and turned to find Jean Grey there.
"Myself and the Professor can't locate Kitty or Remy's presences anywhere in Bayville," Jean said quickly, looking worried, she did not notice the message scrawled over the mirror.
"They've gone to Illinois," Rogue sighed, heading for the door, "together."
"Together? That's odd…Remy knows he isn't meant to leave the Mansion until the Professor has his criminal record cleared, he's still wanted for murder," Jean pointed out as she followed.
"Since when has anything stopped Gambit from doing what he wants?" Rogue queried, tossing her hair over her shoulder, "why is Kitty with him though? I don't get it…"
"It can't be a mission," Jean frowned, still staying in tow, "the professor would have told me straight away…"
Rogue shook her head, "its probably some kind of stupid sex thing," she rolled her eyes.
"Don't be stupid, Kitty and Remy?" Jean laughed, her eyes twinkling, "they're the most unlikely pair you'd ever expect to get together."
"Yeah, people said that about me and Remy once too, Jean," Rogue sighed, "but whatever, maybe we'll get lucky and he won't come back when she does…"
Hank McCoy came bounding up the stairs just as Jean and Rogue were approaching.
"Whoah, what was that rule about runnin' in the mansion, Hank?" Rogue stopped him.
"I'm missing two more spiders," Hank puffed, "I went in to my lab and the tank was open and they were gone – I'm such a moron, I must have left it open!" he rushed by, "if you see them let me know!" he disappeared down the hall to look for the spiders.
"What is it with those spiders?" Rogue rolled her eyes, "they can only jump, they'll probably die soon enough anyway," she said as she and Jean headed down the stairway together.
"Well, those are the last two from his experiment," Jean explained, "when they escape, they REALLY escape."
Rogue nodded, "Yeah, he let one out when I went down there to see him, don't think he caught it again."
"It's probably somewhere," Jean shrugged.
"What's the big deal about this experiment anyway?" Rogue asked, "what's the point of mutating a few spiders?"
"It's not so much the mutating them as the un-mutating them," Jean explained, "there may be a way to do it, providing of course poor Hank finds the spiders again," she explained.
"Unmutating…so he could change the DNA in an already mutated creature?" Rogue looked, she felt her hope building for just a moment that perhaps this research might one day lead to her solution to her powers.
"Don't get your hopes up," Jean said, "He's a long way from successfully doing it…" she explained, "and if he doesn't find those spiders, his research will be set back five months."
Rogue made a face, "typical."
Kitty had finally managed to pull herself together, tears ran dry after an hours worth of them, and emptiness filled her. She called her cousin Lucy and arranged to meet her in town in the afternoon to make arrangements for the funeral of her parents. Everything seemed to be happening so fast already Kitty could barely keep up with anything.
There was a small fourteen inch television in the corner, and Kitty tried switching it on, however it seemed the electricity was out. She sighed disdainfully wondering why she had let Remy talk her into coming to stay in this vile apartment. She wondered how a man such as Remy could even reside in such a place – even if it was just for business purposes.
Kitty found the small kitchen and glanced in the fridge, things were smelling bad, milk had gone sour, and meat had been left unpackaged too long. Kitty made a face and shut the fridge in disgust, she'd let Remy clean out his own fridge later.
Feeling the beginnings of what was sure to be a very bad headache, Kitty began to search for some kind of painkiller, realising she'd forgotten to bring any in her haste to get packed and back to Illinois as soon as possible. She located the bathroom - a small square room tiled completely in white. It seemed to be the cleanest room in the apartment. There was a small cabinet above the sink, a cracked and soap-splattered mirror as its door. Kitty pulled the door of the cabinet open just a little, as she did, a corner chunk of the broken mirror fell into the sink, crashing loudly against the porcelain. She winced, and stared at her own distorted reflection.
She looked a mess, her face tearstained, eyes swollen, nose slightly red and runny. The pain of her headache was increasing rapidly. With a sigh, she pulled the door open the rest of the way hoping it wouldn't break anymore of the rest of the mirror that seemed to cling precariously to the door, and glanced inside. No sign of painkillers, just an impressive display of various depression medications, some she recognised, some she didn't.
"Jesus," she whispered to herself, "how long has he been dealing with this?" she wondered aloud, she closed the door with a sigh, her reflection staring back at her, a darkened shadow behind her, she jumped and screamed, spinning around. It was Remy, he seemed slightly startled at her response.
"Jus' me," he assured, holding his hands up as if in defence, "you alright?"
"You scared the fucking shit out of me," Kitty put her hand to her chest, her heart was thudding hard, although she felt this was an improvement, as since the news of her parents death, it felt as if it hadn't been beating at all.
Remy shrugged, "sorry…" he said, "didn't you hear me come in?"
"No…" Kitty admitted, "you've been gone for like an hour and a half, where've you been?"
"I had to chase the landlord half way across the city…long story," he admitted, "what've you been up to while I've been gone – and why are you nosing in my cabinet?"
"I was looking for painkillers," Kitty sighed, "I have a splitting headache," she rubbed her temples furiously, squinting slightly in pain.
Remy walked over and opened the cabinet, peering in with a knowing eye, as if he had every prescription well memorised and knew exactly what he was looking for, he pulled a bottle out, "take one of these," he said, "they're for back pain, but I've used them for headaches and they've worked," he held them out to her.
"Isn't that kind of dangerous giving someone else your prescription?" Kitty queried.
"They're just co-codemol," Remy responded, "they're not that strong…trust me, the stronger stuff would have you drugged up to the eyeballs like a junkie on amphetamines," he closed the cabinet.
"You still have back problems?" Kitty looked at him concernedly.
Remy shrugged, "every now and then I get a twinge…I deal with it. How're you holdin' up apart from the headache?" he asked, leading the way out of the bathroom, and heading for the kitchen to get her some water.
Kitty felt like pointing out the obvious that she was feeling as if her life was over, she chose to keep her words to herself though, "I called my cousin, she's meeting me in town to help me arrange the funeral."
Remy retrieved a glass of water, thankful the water hadn't been turned off as he'd discovered the electricity had been, "how come you didn't wanna stay with her?" Remy asked as he handed her the glass.
Kitty took two pills from the bottle and swallowed them hastily, "she's a nasty bitch, that's why," Kitty sighed, "mom adores – I mean…adored – her…" she admitted sheepishly, "owns her own house, fancy car, she's a partner in a law firm, she has, like, the perfect man – the kinda guy you wanna take home to mom," Kitty rolled her eyes, "You can only imagine."
"I thought your parents were proud of you," Remy opened the fridge, glanced in momentarily, noticed the smell and shut it rather quickly.
"They were, but they always wanted me to be more like her, y'know…" Kitty sighed, "anyway, I guess its not worth worryin' about anymore, after all…I won't have to live up to anyone's expectations anymore…" Kitty looked to the floor, a tear trickling down her cheek.
Remy put his hand under her chin and raised her head so she looked at him, "if they had those kind of expectations, they only wanted you to be happy," he reminded, "when a parent has nothin' to gain from their expectation's of you, Petit, then its real love."
Kitty nodded, but seemed unconvinced.
"Lemme clean up that bedroom, get the bed down for you, then I'll get the electricity problem sorted out," Remy put on a smile just for her, and went to take care of the things he'd promised.