The Time Has Come...
"So you remember everything now?" He was curious to see if the amnesia was finally gone.
A mild sigh, "No, Not everything. A lot of pieces..." She didn't sound frustrated,
she never did, about her memory. The noise level in the diner attached to the
bus station was steadily increasing, the breakfast crowd had started filtering
in. Most of the people were busy with their own concerns, but they got the occasional
smile from passers-by. For the most part, Remy and Marie could talk without
much fear of being overheard. As one of the earlier arrivals, they had managed
to claim a somewhat secluded corner booth. Although she was still a little wary
of close contact, they were both on the same side of the table and his arm was
secured snugly around her. "There was a huge rush of memories back in Quebec
and on the way here. So many I could hardly think straight, but not all
of them were mine. Some, were, you know, from ...other people. It's pretty much
stopped now, don't know when, or if, it will start up again. The hardest part
is keeping them, the memories and the voices, all sorted. I keep hearing Carol's
voice the most, that's not helping. Surprisingly, she's angry with me," again
with the gallows humor.
"Can't you tell her it was an accident?"
"I've tried...She don't want to listen. But I can't really tell her
that anyway, 'cuz I still don't remember what happened" a pause, "...but she's
quiet now, too. Has been for a while, thank goodness. Is that a terrible thing
to say? I don't want to listen to her complain."
"I wasn't there, but I know it couldn't be your fault. It'll get better." He
took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. She would be able to control the
voices eventually, but until then, there was little he could do, except be there
for her. He changed the subject. "So New York? Was that where you wanted to
go next?" Throughout Europe, unless he had a specific reason, they had taken
turns deciding where the next stop would be.
A non-committal shrug "There were limited choices at that time of night. It
was between here, Toronto or Boston. New York sounded good. I figured I could
get a job, try to find an apartment, do normal stuff..."
"Get one of dem fridges?" grinning he had to ask.
Returning his grin, "Yeah, and a stove, too."
He made a face like he was extremely impressed, "Very high class." She laughed,
he reveled in the sound of her laugh.
A kind of shrug, showing he wasn't in a hurry. "We could hang around for a while. Try out the 'fridge and stove' thing. Might be nice to -,"
"Settle down?" she couldn't resist interjecting.
"I did not say that." looking stern as she laughed again. "You're putting
words in my mouth."
'Settling down' sounded quite appealing to her, but she didn't want to spook
him too soon. As if the breakdown shouldn't have done that already. "Maybe....Last
place I remember was living in Mississippi. It was a white house with shutters,"
her eyes got that faraway look briefly, but only briefly... "Speaking of which,
can I borrow your phone, cher?"
He grinned like an idiot when she said that and happily handed over his cell.
Flipping it opened, she punched in unlocking code, "I'm gonna call Mystique
before she follows us down here doing something else crazy."
She said "gonna call Mystique" like she was talking about an annoying friend
or relative and not an international terrorist. This should be an interesting
conversation.
While she was waiting for the other side to pick up, the waitress came over.
Being as his girlfriend, he was going to like saying that, was distracted, he
ordered for her. He was famished. Turns out, falling off a building, driving
all night and pouring your heart out in bus station in front of strangers makes
a body very hungry. The last thing he had eaten was a bagel with cream cheese
and smoked salmon at the airport. One of those actually sounded really
good right now, but he would have to make do with an omelette and hash browns.
Marie had apparently gotten through and was sounding irritated.
"...Where am I? After that stunt you pulled, I ain't sure if I should
tell you that, Momma."
A very interesting conversation, indeed.
"Yes....Well, Toad ain't as stupid as you think he is and I recognized that
face you were wearing.....If you want to explain, then explain, from over there,
without your hairy, friend throwing Remy off a building."
He was really wishing Mystique would talk louder, so he could hear both sides
of this call.
"He's dangerous? I know who your hanging out
with these days. And you have the nerve to call-.....I don't care who told you
what, I trust him. You don't have to, but you and all of your "friends"
do have to leave him be......" she was sitting up now and leaning forward, very
close to starting to pace. Her accent was getting stronger, too. Definitely
annoyed. "Okay, then. I'm listening...No, I didn't know about Grandma Irene.....She's
not-?......Oh......okay......no, it's just unexpected...uh-huh......so what
happened to them?......oh......" she quieted down for a bit, Mystique must have
finally gotten to the "explanation." Good timing too, because the waitress chose
that moment to bring their food. It would have been fun, though, to see the
look on the poor girl's face if Marie had been talking about throwing people
off buildings right then. More muttered uh-huhs and yeahs. For a few more minutes,
that was all he heard. His amor didn't sound as upset as she had been.
"I don't know...Give a little time already...How 'bout I call you again later
on, alright?...Okay...Bye." she hung up, releasing a long breath, and handed
him his phone back.
"Alright, so what's the story with Momma? And what does Magneto have
to do with any of this?" He wasn't one to pry, but he considered it a remarkable
triumph of willpower that he managed to wait till she hung up to ask that question.
Another, longer sigh and she seemed to notice for the first time that there
was food in front of her. The plate in front of him was nearly empty and he
was still hungary. "Magneto is still in prison and has nothing to do this. Well,
as you heard, Mystique is my mother. Finding me was personal, didn't have anything
official to do with the Brotherhood or mutant crusades and all that crap. The
only reason Toad and Sabretooth were there was because she knew them and could
coerce them into helping her," picking a fork, but not touching her food yet.
"They're "business associates" not her "friends" she says, and she only brought
them along because she thought you were dangerous. And Grandma Irene
wasn't my grandma,"
"Okay" he said non-committally, having no idea who Grandma Irene was.
"She was...Let me start again, this is gonna be a long story,"
"S'okay, I think I want another omelette anyway...and maybe a doughnut,"
Make New Friends...
"Good evening, Logan." It was late, all of the students in the were in their
rooms, but Storm was sitting serenely in the foyer as Wolverine stalked through
the mansion doors. She clearly knew he had been up to something and if she knew,
the rest of them did as well.
"Figgered it'd be Cyke waiting up to read me the riot act," he grumbled. True
to his unspoken promise, the minute he'd found something incriminating, he'd
gone off to beat answers out of Fury. But that situation hadn't turned out quite
like he had expected.
Storm ignored his insinuation. Truthfully, Scott was in Seattle, following another
lead, but it was probably better to have her speak with Logan anyway. Wolverine
rarely ever agreed with anything Scott said, no matter what it was Cyclops was
saying. Ororo hoped she would have marginally better luck, because, in true
alpha male fashion, Logan was markedly less confrontational with women. "We're
all as concerned about Maire as you are Logan. But you know why we can't confront
Col. Fury directly."
"Doesn't matter. Fury's not involved." shrugging off her comment as he shrugged
off his jacket.
She seemed mildly taken aback, "And how, pray tell, do you know that?" Not sure
she wanted to hear the answer.
"He told me. And relax, I didn't even have to threaten him." Logan actually
smiled, a truly unsettling sight.
Waiting patiently in the blacken apartment, he tensed as the front door
cracked open. The man he knew to be Col. Nick Fury stepped inside and began
to take his coat off. "Fury?" he both questioned and rumbled menacingly. The
other man spun around quickly, his gun appearing from nowhere and unerring pointed
at the intruder. But as soon as the Colonel caught sight of who was standing
there, he inexpiably relaxed.
"Over thirty years in special forces and you're still the only one who can
sneak up on me like." He shook his head ruefully, "I'd offer you a drink, Sergeant,
but you look like you're here on business," actually cracking a smile as he
said that.
"Sergeant?" Logan questioned before he had a chance to stop himself.
"Right, You're probably not a sergeant anymore. Can't picture you as an officer though."
Now she looked confused, "And if I may ask again, why did he do that?" Again
not sure if she wanted to know the answer.
"Because he thought I was with Canadian intelligence, and he wants to help."
Wolverine had the satisfaction of seeing Ororo's look of full-blown shock.
That sort of subterfuge wasn't the type of thing the X-men really thought
Logan was capable of. Not that he could take all the credit for that brilliant
bit of deception, but she didn't have to know that immediately.
"So what does Canadian intelligence want?" he said in an easy,
obliging manner. Logan had no idea why Fury thought he was with the Canadian
government, probably had to do with this "Sergeant" business, but if he managed
to keep his mouth shut and play along he could find out everything he wanted
to know without tipping off the military. It was a smart plan, but he had really
been looking forward to bashing some heads in.
"We hear you lost an agent."
Fury began to look wary, did the 'sergeant' strike a nerve? "Did you? Well,
why does Ottawa care?"
"That depends on what happened?"
Fury shrugged, playing casual. "She was attacked. In her own apartment.
Probably a psi. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it?" Since Logan
had brought up the question, it was natural to assume that he did know something.
This was going to require some delicacy that he wasn't used to. "What was
her assignment? Could the attacker have been someone she was targeting?"
Fury snorted, "She wasn't on assignment. Her unit had just returned from
Afghanistan and she had put in for some leave time to go see her folks. But
she never came in the next day to get the paperwork approved. Disappeared the
night the before. No sign of forced entry or a struggle. Bam, like that and
she was gone. Now she's a vegetable. So what's your peoples' interest in this?"
He had to say something, now. "We lost somebody too. Looks like the same
day."
Now Fury really looked interested, "Same MO?"
"Yep, but we ain't found her yet."
"You believe him?"
"Yeah, I can usually smell when someone's lying. But since Fury's not
involved, that brings us back to square one in looking for Rogue." He had been
so close.
Storm looked thoughtful, this was lot more evidence, or lack thereof to consider.
"Did he say anything else?"
"Yeah," Logan pulled a couple of folded up bills out of his jeans pocket,
"He said, he owed me fifty bucks from a poker game in Da Nang."
To Talk of Many Things...
The waitress returned, left, brought more food, left again, all the while Marie
related the strange story about her two mothers and their attempt to protect
her by hiding her in a human family. As they talked, on the other side of the
diner, a utterly non-conspicuous woman with brown hair and a ratty jacket got
up from her seat and made her way towards the door.
"They were ones I grew up calling Mom and Dad," she finally took a bite of her
probably now cold breakfast. "I remember Irene coming to see me every once and
awhile. I called her Grandma Irene. We would play in the yard, I also remember
my mom not being very happy when she came. Mystique never said how she found
my parents, but the adoption wasn't quite legal. That would leave too much of
a paper trail, so my folks were always afraid she or Irene would come and take
me back one day. I always thought how my mom acted was weird, but I was only
a kid and didn't think about it too much. I was more interested in my bug collection."
Holding a hand up to stop her, "Bug collection?" this sounded good.
Dropping her fork with a clatter, long enough to swat his arm, "I was five!
I liked ladybugs and caterpillars."
"No grasshoppers or cockroaches?"
"No, they were gross," she said properly. Resuming her previous thread of conversation,
"Anyway, grandma stopped coming and Mom told me she had passed away. Which she
had, but not until a few years later. Mystique said that coming to see me was
getting too risky..." her tone turned slightly wistful. "They would take turns,
one time Irene would come, then it would be Raven looking like Irene's."
"I ain't trying to sound disrespectful or nothin', but if Irene could see the
future..."
"Why didn't she know something was going to happen to her? She did. But by then
she had kinda given up. Her visions weren't concrete, she saw strong probabilities.
Mama said she was called "Destiny." The farther out the vision, the more..."
struggling for the right word, "ambiguous... it was. They were hoping when the
time came closer, Destiny would be able to see better what was going to happen
to me. But before that could happen... It was a stroke. She did see it, but
didn't see a good way around it, so she let it come. She was an old woman by
then. Raven's power keeps her from aging, but Irene's didn't. Left a nice long
letter for Raven, explaining everything, saying good bye. Left one for me too.
Momma wants to give it to me...I ain't sure I want it." Without interrupting
her, he noted to himself how she slid in and out of calling Mystique "momma"
or "Raven." "Knowing the future didn't help the two of them...maybe ignorance
is bliss." The fork scraped as she pushed eggs around on her plate. She moved
her breakfast more than she ate it. "Other than all of that, my childhood was
uneventful, until I put my boyfriend in a coma."
He could easily see that memory still upset her, even though she said it lightly.
"I still don't remember my folks reaction to that, but it probably wasn't good,
because I know I ran away. Momma says she's been looking for me since then,
but never did find me. Some of Irene's visions and stuff are written down and
Raven has those books. That's how she finally tracked me down in Canada."
"When is this demon stuff supposed to happen?"
"Momma thought it already did, with my disappearing and amnesia and everything,
but admitted she's not sure. I think it already has, too. Draining the soul,
does that sound familiar? But it wasn't my soul, it was Carol's. Irene saw me
killing her." her eyes went to the formica tabletop and she started to lean
away from him. Gently he pulled her back.
"Don't think that way, chere," he whispered fervently into her ear.
"Don't you think I got off kinda easy for having my soul eaten or drained or...whatever."
He could think of some counter arguments to that, but didn't. IF the demon thing
already happened, she had nothing more to worry about. But Mystique didn't act
like that. "Does Momma think I'm this demon person?"
"Wouldn't put it past her, though she didn't say it to my face. She's says she
was just worried."
"Do you believe that?" despite her motherly claims, Marie still hadn't any reason to trust Mystique.
"I don't know...She is a terrorist and a criminal, but she still my momma. I remember that, I guess I should at least give her a chance to prove herself.""You remember that face, chere," he said gently. "She is a shapeshifter."
"I thought about that, too. But it's more than her face, I remember her. And why would she make up a story like that? What good would it do her? But I promise to be careful."
He couldn't really ask for more than that. As long as 'Momma' didn't bring around any more of her 'friends' around, he would happy. Heck, she could bring a whole platoon of her 'friends' and he'd still be happy. He had Marie leaning back against his arm and her head resting on his shoulder, he would be happy if the world ended this moment.
"Enough about Momma," continuing with this conversation would only make her upset. "We're in New York, let's do something." He pulled her a little bit closer "I don't know about you, but I feel like celebrating," he said looking into her eyes.
Her cheeks blushed furiously and she smiled shyly, which was a new expression for her. In between all the trauma was finding true love part of the day. " I guess this is kinda our first date." Her smile went slightly crooked, " Probably not how you pictured it."
"It's perfect," he replied with utmost sincerity bringing his other arm around her. "But I don't want you to think I can't do better than this. I know a great place for dinner tonight, I can get us tickets to a show, anything you want to see... Maybe this morning we can go to the Statue of Liberty?" She had loved to tourist spots in Europe.
Her brow crinkled, "Actually, I violently do not want to go to the Statue of Liberty." Then she shrugged, "Don't ask me why."
"Oookay. Bad memory?"
"Probably, and when I remember it, I'll really wish I hadn't. That seems to be the pattern," that sentence came out more wryly than depressed, her mood was improving.
Just to cover all his bases, "Does this extend to all of New York or just -,"
"Just the Statue of Liberty, I'm pretty sure," A mild deva ju was stirring, but she could recall any images or details. It felt like something was there, pounding against an invisible wall trying to get out. Not a wall, a really dense, solid fog, through the haze was...something..."Hello?" The fog evaporated and she saw a hand waving in front of her eyes.
Shoving Remy's hand away, "Stop that." More irritated with herself than with him.
He was playing light, but concern crept in around the corners when he said, "You zoned out on me. Impossible as it may sound, something can take your attention from moi?"
"Actually, it not hard at all, let alone impossible," trying to sound very annoyed.
"Aww..you don't mean that, you love me too much."
"Am I gonna regret telling you that?"
"Probably."
She made as if to get up and walk out of the booth, but let him catch her arm.
As he pulled her into him again, she giggled and almost knocked over a plate
because of not paying attention.
"How 'bout the Empire States Building?" she nodded absent-mindedly; she appeared
to be concentrating.
"You still trying to remember?" not sure if that was a good idea or not.
Finally giving up, "Doesn't matter, I still can't. Maybe it was someone else."
A flash of oddly inspired insight, "That Toad guy, he could have been there
when Magneto tried to blow it up."
Her brow furrowed again, perplexed, "Why would Magneto want to blow of the Statue
of Liberty? How does that help the mutant 'cause'?"
His jacket moved up and then down again as he shrugged, not knowing or caring
how guys in helmets minds' worked. "I don't know, there was probably some crazy
people logic. Guess you could see if Toad knows, but if you think too hard about
him, you might turn green again."
Spinning around on the bench, she questioned playfully, "Would you still love
me if I was green?"
Replying with great mock suspicion, "This is a test isn't it? What if I say-,"
"Would you still love me if I started craving insects and watching Dr. Who?"
Involuntary laughter burst free. "Dr. Who? Are you serious?" It was hard
to picture wanted terrorist as a sci-fi geek.
Trying to sound a little indignant, "Hey, people in glass houses shouldn't throw
photon torpedoes, Mr. Trekkie."
"I am not a Trekkie. When I was younger, I had a mild appreciation-,"
She started laughing now, "Younger? Ha! Is that why when we saw that mutant
rights debate on the BBC, the first thing you said was 'Hey, that bald guy looks
like Captain Picard!'"
He mustered quite the evil look for that comment, and gave a surreptitious glance
around to see if anyone had heard her. "It was a statement of fact. That does
not mean-,"
Putting a finger on his lips, she leaned in a little closer and whispered seductively
into his ear, "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." The reason for why
he was annoyed with her disappeared out of his mind. All he could think about
at the moment was how much he wanted to kiss her. Evidently, she could tell
what he was thinking because she backed up a bit as if to say, Don't you
go getting any crazy ideas, swamp rat. A fraction of her playfullyness
evaporated.
"Maybe I should try to find that Captain Picard guy. He was some kind a doctor,
or scientist. Probably got an institute or somthin', he can figure out what's
wrong with me."
"Nothin' s wrong with you. I told you I don't care-,"
"Maybe I want to touch you. Ever thought about that?"
"I thought about it. But I love to hear you say it," tracing one finger along
the side of her face, gloves from last night still on, just for occasions like
this. "Anytime you want, I don't mind." a smile even though he was completely
serious.
"No," not quite as amused, but not backing away this time.
"You need to practice,"he reasoned. "You don't need some crazy doctor guy to
help you with that."
"Crazy?-,"
"Yeah, like in mad scientist- crazy or Magneto's best friend- crazy. Hey, anything's
possible " He got a small smile out of that crack. Turning more serious, sounding
reassuring "You'll work it out. I know you can. Maybe when the rest of your
memories come back."
"And if they don't?"
The mischievous grin was back, "We got plenty of time to make new ones." She
blushed again, but huddled closer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This chapter seemed a little slower
to me. Lots of kinda boring plot-y stuff. But it needed to be said before I
could go on with the rest of the story. A few cutesy moments though. I didn't
make up that Star Trek thing out of thin air. In the Gambit series, (I have
no idea of the issue number) Courier makes some Star Trek joke and Gambit says
he doesn't know who's more pathetic, Courier for making a Star Trek joke or
him for getting it. I thought the idea of Gambit being a closet Star Trek fan
was funny.I have no idea if I spell Da Nang right. If I did and you have no
idea where I'm talking about, it's
the place in Vietnam.
Muccamuk, I told you I love odd
trivia facts. Did you catch the smoked salmon bagel bit?
ishandahalf- (Plays the twilight
zone music here) Way too weird to be a coincidence. Yeah, the "no touching"
is back, but I can't let that get in the way of Romyness. Heck, it's a major
part of Romyness. Ooo a gold star, shiny. Thanks! :) Who could they ever run
into in New York? The Avengers, maybe? Logan, murderously overprotective? Why
would you ever think that? :) And I really wasn't a crack bunny this time. Sorry!
Alwaysright- I like little threads running through a story, makes it more fun.
I will explain the touching thing more in later chapter, but glad you're happy
with the explaination for now. Someone elsewho thinks they might run into the
X-Men. Why would something like that happen? New York is a big state ya know.
coon210-I'm not so fast with the updates. But I did make it!
sphinxchick-
I've never got clapping before, how exciting! How could anyone not like cutesy,
fluffy chapters? Best chapter? No pressure there for the future. :) Mystique
does seems to keep turning up, she'll be around. I love that family.
Girl number 1- Seeing Jubilee in
a mall would be fun idea. Or Jubilee seeing her. I'm picturing Jubes doing a
double take while walking through a clothes store.
Neurotic Temptree-
It really is a toss up between banter and fluff. Tough choice to make. I know
the clapping wasn't the most creative ending in the world. It just seemed so
darn cute at the time! And I really can't resist cute.
Kryptonite-She doesn't go back to the masion yet (that would make things way
too easy.) She has some of her memories, which is more than before. But why
didn't they all come back? She's not insane, but there is a reason.
Rogue151- Hurray! A new keyboard! Rogue 151? I think I'm AJ10 now, dumb numbers, oh well. Jeepers, everyone keeps talking about if Marie will see the X-Men again. What would give anyone a crazy idea like that? ;) Good luck with your story!
Kaitland-They do need to be together. Grumbling about crazy writers who don't understand that.