Hey gang, I'm back. I'm not in my best of moods, so "Laissez" will still have to wait a while. I felt like a bit of angst and bad events turning out, though, so I went on with "Sixteen"… So here it is, friends, chapter 13. Finaly! Darn, I'm really slow with this story, am I? Oh and I wanted to post up asap, so I didn't really check-read it. Sorry for mistakes that might pop up, I'll correct those later. Now, I'm heading to bed.

When it rains…

I looked again at the young man sitting next to me in the Blackbird and repressed a smile. Nearly as tall as Remy and Scott, Antoine (or Aeros, whatever) was startingly handsome, with chin-length, straight ebony black hair that made hard contrast with his deep blue, almost purple eyes. I had to admit my daughter had nice tastes, and probably took them from me. I chuckled to myself, and Remy looked at me from his seat in front of me, and I waved to him with a small smile. I looked back at Antoine, and had to admit he probably didn't look at his best, though. He had been surprised with a warm welcome from most of the X-Men, with the exception of Wolverine, of course, who had proven to be a jerk with the young man, unsheating his claws and brushing Antoine's throat with a warm 'you touch the kids and I kill ya, bub'. Well, that was as close as warm we would get with Logan.

I sighed, the general atmosphere in the Blackbird heavy on my shoulders. Everyone was nervous about heading back to Antartica, where Antoine had told us Sinister was hiding, and keeping Louis captive. We were fairly sure Louis was unhurt, he and Josée being physicaly connected, and them being able to feel the other's pain. But I was still worried about what was going to happen. And Remy was worried too, no wonder why. To go back to Antartica was bugging him, of course, but I knew he was more than afraid that Louis and Josée could learn more about his past. About his mistakes that had almost cost his life, and the truth about his true father he was more than willing to relinquish in the dark parts of his memory.

We travelled in silence until the Blackbird landed in the deep white snow. We all got off the jet, squinting our eyes against the bright sun flashing on the iced surface. I looked around, watching my friends' reaction to being back in Antartica. Wolverine was sniffing the air around, Jean was hugging herself against the cold wind, as were Ororo and Nightcrawler. The Beast and I were waiting for Cyclope to come off the plane, followed by Antoine and Josée. I sighed when I saw her. We haven't wanted her to get on the mission, but that girl was as stubborn as her father. The father in question was standing in the deep snow next to me, his trench coat flapping against his legs in the cold wind, his face carefully kept blank. He looked at me from the corner of his eyes, a brief flash of red, then turned his head towards Antoine.

"Where's de place?" he snapped, though maybe just because of the bitting cold. No wonder he was uncomfortable in this place, and I felt a pang of guilt again, one I hadn't felt in a long time. Antoine looked around, and shook his head.

"Wait a second." He lifted his arms and his eyes glowed an eerie purple, and the wind blew hard around him. A cloud of purple fog twirled around him, and his feet left the ground as the air around him lifted him in the air. My jaw dropped, and I heard Storm's voice behind me.

"He can fly?"

"I knew he could. He took my advice." I looked at my left to see Josée, watching Antoine who was already coming back down. I swear I saw a smile on her lips, but maybe she was just grimacing as the cold wind blew in her face. Antoine landed softly in front of us, and pointed east.

"It's over there, about three kilometers à l'est."

"Good" said Cyclope. "We can get there by flying. How many can you take with you, Aeros?" I noticed the code name, and smiled.

"As many as I can lift up by moving the air around…" Antoine half shrugged. "I've never really tried… three or four, je crois."

"Okay then you take Josée, Nightcrawler and Gambit with you. Rogue, you take the Beast and Wolverine. Jean and I will go with Storm." I nodded and grabbed on Beast and Wolverine's arms, taking off.

~~

He watched in amazement as a thick purple fog surrounded him, Josée, Nightcrawler and Antoine. His feet left the ground, and he could feel the air in constant movement around him, the wind drumming in his ears, lifting his weight as Antoine squinted his purple glowing eyes, concentrating on lifting them higher. It wasn't as comfortable as a ride with Rogue, but he felt the power the young man was using, lifting people in the air without even having to hold on to them, and looked at him in appreciation. He turned his head to the left and saw a small building, snuggled between two snow dunes. He narrowed his eyes, the red irises glowing slightly. Sinister wanted to kidnap his son? He had news for him.

**

The landing was smoother than he expected, and they arrived a second before Rogue. Antoine swayed and landed on his knees next to him, and he leaned down, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Ça va, Aeros?" Antoine looked up, and nodded, grabbing his arm to get up. Once on his feet, he swayed again, but closed his eyes and got his balance back. Antoine opened his eyes, and made him a small smile.

"Je vais bien, merci. That was kinda hard."

The others arrived shortly, and they all turned to the metal door in front of them. But Cyclope didn't look like one to loose some time, and blasted the door opened. Antoine looked at him warily.

"I could have opened the door, you know. I know the codes." Jean turned to him.

"Or maybe not. Sinister surely noticed your absence by now." Antoine opened his mouth to answer, but didn't say anything. Remy looked back at the gaping hole in the door front of him. Of course Sinister would have noticed the boy's dissapearance. But he knew how Sinister dealed with deserters, and he guessed Antoine knew about it too.

"We'll split in two teams" said Cyclope. "Aeros, since you know where to find Louis, you'll go with Rogue, Gambit, Josée and Storm. Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Jean and Beast, come with me." His brow drew together over the visor, and his fists balled. "We're going Sinister hunting."

~~

We followed Antoine in the dark corridors. I couldn't see further than my nose here, but I held on to Remy's arm, as did Josée and Ororo on his other side. He had great night vision, and I knew he could see and feel everything around him. As for Antoine, he seemed to know his way around, carefuly avoiding the surveillance cameras and quickly making his way through the building. He stopped suddently in front of a door, though, and turned to us. "It's here" he said, and glued his ear to the door. "There's no sound, maybe they've moved him somewhere else…"

"Stand aside, den." Remy moved to the door, and put his hand on the doorknob. "Could it be locked?" Antoine shook his head, and Remy opened the door. We all flatened against the wall, waiting for something to explode or someone to jump at our throats, but nothing happened. I was the first to make a few steps, and carefuly enter the room. I gasped, surprised, but then let out a sigh of relief.

Louis was there, sitting on a chair, his hands ans ankles tied up by some invisible bounds. His head was tilted to the side and his eyes were closed, his longs brown locks shading his face. I walked to him and kneeled down next to the chair, which seemed to be grown out of the floor itself, and gently pushed away the hair from his face with my gloved hand. There was a bruise on his left temple, already healing well, but otherwise he looked undamaged. His eyes slowly opened, then went wide as saucers as he recognized me. I smiled, a little shakingly. "Yah feelin' okay, sugah?" He nodded, and swallowed hard.

"Yeah" he croaked. "I'm really glad you weren't lying, Aeros" he continued, looking up at Antoine. "I was beginning to wondering when you'd find me." Antoine smiled, but didn't have time to answer.

"Can'y untie him?" Remy asked Antoine. The boy shook his head.

"It's Sinister's mind that's holding him. The only way to untie Louis is to break Sinister's grip on him."

The moment he said that, the bounds flashed red for a few seconds, then became invisible again.

"What just happened?" Ororo asked.

"Sinister almost released him" Antoine said. "Something must have happened." Remy smiled devilishly, and turned to the door.

"Cykes must ha'found him."

**

We ran back through the dark halls, trying to get any signs of comotion. Remy was trying to get to Jean with his small telepathic abilities, but she wasn't responding. "What do yah think it means?" I asked him, a bad feeling in my chest. He shook his head, still running.

"Nothin'. Dere's probably a device of some sort dat prevents telepathic communication. It would be too easy. Attention!" He stopped dead in his tracks, and grabbed my arm. Caught in the momentum, I felt my arm jerk in his hand, but he held on tight and I fell back, just in time to see a fist slamming in the wall beside me, instead of my face. The lights turned on, and four young men were standing in front of us. Remy snorted.

"Dat's what's left o'de Marauders? Four kids?" One of the young men walked forward, staring at Antoine.

"You traitor! You left, and put your alegeance with the ennemy?" He smiled. "I'm going to enjoy what Sinister's going to do to you."

"Sinister's ain't hurtin' anyone while I'm here" Remy groaned. "You better show us where he is." The young man laughed.

"You think you're frightening, Gambit? Or maybe you prefer being called Remington, no? Since it's your real name." I snapped my head at Remy, who now had his poker face back on. His face was carefuly kept blank, but his eyes were burning in fury.

"Shut up" he hissed in a cold voice.

"Remington?" asked Josée in a small voice. "That doesn't sound like a French name…"

"That's because it's English, dear child" said a deep, cold and thickly English accented voice behind us. I shivered and turned on my heels, meeting red glowing eyes and thin, dark lips, slowly streching in a devilish smile.

To be continued!

nessie : Oh, I love Remy torture too, and I can't wait for the next chapter, it's going to be sooo bad. I think you can guess that from the end of this one… Oh, and a thousand thanks for referring me to "Giddy". I also read "Love of my Life", and these had to be some of the best Romy's I've read in a long time. Thanks again!

ishandahalf : Oh, okay, so this wasn't really the last chapter, and the next one probably wont be either. Still, it IS longer than the last one… I think I can find a way to put some fluff in that one too, but not right now. Fluff is not on my priorities list these days, sorry.

Tammy : I wish I could update faster with this story, but I'm having trouble with my action scenes. It actually makes me very nervous…

KatLeBeau : Well, from the end of the chapter, I think Remy will have some explaining to do, or maybe someone else will do it for him… Will Remy's past with Sinister stay a secret for his kids very long? Mmmmph…

Lucky439 : Sorry I don't update often… I hope this will make you a little patient, while I work things up in the next chapter…

Becki : Oh, don't be worried… I've just been suffering from the writer's block lately, and had some bad events in my personnal life these last days… But I'm trying to get closer to my computer right now, at least as much as I can before the semester begins…

Yasei Raiden : Okay, I can tell by that review that you're dissapointed… Sorry about the last very short chapter… More coming soon, of course.`

Talia458 : Well yeah, I also think Antoine should have gone with Josée, it would have saved him lots of trouble. But understand that he's young and was afraid of his powers, and Sinister appeared to him as a man who could help him… The mistakes you make in life are what you learn from though, and I think Antoine might learn a lot in this.

Foofighta : I'm so glad you reviewed my stories! Yes, Josée is a lot different from your Aimée, but the twins were lucky enough to have both their parents by their sides while they grew up, unlike Aimée, who grew up without her father, and with her mother's angst about her drowned relationship with Gambit. I wanted Louis to ressemble Remy, and you pointed out the fact that his childhood was easy, unlike Remy's. As for their powers coming out at 16, I'll say that puberty starts around 12 or 13, but it can last until 16-17 years old… Yeah, they got them late, I know, and the twin explanation fits me right. Oh, and I like Antoine a lot too. I actualy based his physical appearance on one of my ex's *drool*, but I made him intelligent. LOL! Oh, and have fun with "Laissez les bons temps rouler"… I love this story too, and I hope I'll get the final chapter up soon *sigh*…