Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 22

Chapter 6: Been a While

Remy stood watching as Jean Grey drove away in the X-Men's black van with four very unhappy teenagers in the back. He felt bad for them, after all, if he was that age he'd probably be doing the same thing, but a strange feeling of overprotection for those students came over him all of a sudden, and this was something he hadn't even known he'd had.

Maybe I should give up this bullshit and become a teacher, he mused, he almost laughed aloud at the concept. Him as a teacher? It was almost as ridiculous as the thought of Jean Grey becoming a Thief, or Scott Summers becoming an Assassin, it didn't quite fit.

I come from a completely different back ground from the rest of the X-Men, Remy told himself. They had decent educations, they went on and got college degrees, and went to study how to work with kids, while I did petty thieving to keep up with each weeks' rent on crumby apartments I'd hide out in from Sinister, Remy thought dully.

Remy glanced at his watch, it was midnight, and he had almost completely forgotten about Carol. Sighing, he turned and headed back in to the nightclub. Still feeling very uncomfortable with being there. The last time he'd been in there seven years ago, he'd almost killed a man, and now the place felt almost…unwelcoming.

That's probably why Carol chose to come here, she probably thought I wouldn't follow her inside because of the bad memories, Remy decided as he showed a bouncer the skull that had been stamped on his hand when he'd paid his way in earlier.

He stepped back in and travelled along the dark passage way into the main nightclub, he bought himself another beer at the bar and kept an eye out for Carol Danvers, but he saw no sign of her. He was beginning to despair.

Looks like she hightailed it while I wasn't looking, he thought. She probably spotted me when I saw all those kids in here. Still…I couldn't have just LET the kids stay here, what would have happened if I had…one of them might have been attacked or mugged, or raped. You read about this stuff in magazines every day. Kids getting slashed in the face with broken bottles because they don't wear the right clothes, god knows what would happen to that four.

Remy frowned at himself, stop caring so much! He thought angrily at himself. Every time you care about something that's when you get in trouble. Just shut yourself off from caring. These kids don't know you, don't give a flying fuck about you, and you don't know them either, so why give a flying fuck about them? Just stop caring altogether about everything.

He wished it were that simple. If It were that simple, he thought sadly, I could just walk away from this whole thing, never come back to Bayville, not care about what happens to Rogue, or Kitty and her ankle-biter that hasn't even been born yet. Why can't I just be the way I used to be…when did I actually start caring about anything? He asked himself.

He looked around the nightclub, trying to spot Rogue's white streaks from where he stood.

I know when I started caring. It was when I found out Magneto had used Carol…that was when the humanity in me started to show, he thought. And then I met Rogue…and she made me care even more.

Remy felt like screaming in frustration at the situation. I should have never come back, he thought. I've ruined Rogue's life, and…in some way, I ruined Kitty's. She told me she slept with the guy as a favour to get the software…software to find ME. If it hadn't been for me, she wouldn't have gotten pregnant, her life wouldn't be full of angst like it is now. And she doesn't even have the fucking sense to blame me, either.

Why did you come back? Remy asked himself, but he knew the answer obvious. Sinister had threatened the X-Men, and he'd believed him. "You know what you have to do," Sinister had said. "You know what I'll do…"

Remy had suffered more than just the cloning under the hand's of Sinister. A lot of this perhaps was what had fuelled the mental illness that plagued his afflicted mind. The torture had been bad, the mind games, and other things that Remy never liked to think about. Things he knew he could never talk about with Kitty, or even Rogue.

Remy glanced around once more, and then decided to walk around a little more and see if he could spot Carol Danvers. He hadn't seen her leave when he'd been standing outside waiting with the kids, so he felt that she still had to be there somewhere, she was just in another room – and he was determined to locate her.

Remy decided to begin his search on the roof, there was a balcony with a small stairway to the roof. Up there, the music was duller, and the sounds of the streets rose up in the air, the drone of traffic, the sound of the wind. Remy let it touch his face, and it soothed him in some way. His head began to clear, "where is she?" he asked aloud with a heavy sigh. He turned and left the roof, slipping down the staircase and into the nightclub. He slipped into both bathrooms, gaining some strange looks from the women who were cueing in desperation. There was no sign of Carol in there either.

He broke into a storage closet in the restricted area of the nightclub, where staff were only meant to be allowed to walk. God, you're so stupid, he thought at himself. What the fuck would Carol be doing in a storage closet? He asked himself shaking his head and leaving. There was a staff room, and a small kitchen he also searched. He was surprised he went unnoticed, although he realised he was being filmed on security cameras which were up near the ceiling. He didn't care. All he was doing was looking, they couldn't really arrest him for that, could they?

One last door he hadn't checked stood out in a small hallway, an unmarked door. The lights in that particular hallway were fusing, and flickering on and off wildly, and shadows did a crazy dance across the door as he stepped towards it and tried the handle. It was locked – seemingly from the inside.

Remy wasn't about to let himself be put off by this, he took out his lockpicking kit and quietly and carefully picked the lock, not making so much as a sound – despite if he did it would have never been heard due to the loud music coming from the nightclub dancehall itself. The lock made a soft click, he felt it more than heard it, and he put his hand on the doorknob slowly, and turned ever so slightly, so that it might not make a sound as he did so. The door began to move forward as he pushed it open ever so slightly, that was when he heard the moaning.

At first, it didn't occur to him who was moaning, because it was the only thing he had not expected to find at all tonight. He thought he'd simply stumbled on some random young couple having a fling in a staff bathroom – he saw the guys back reflected in a mirror on the opposite side of the room from where he glanced in through the door which was slightly ajar.

Remy felt sure he was going to throw up, nausea rising from his belly to his throat as he saw the woman legs wrapped around this stranger, her hands upon his shoulders. The moaning seemed to grow louder and louder with every thrust of the man. Remy swallowed back some of the queasiness, staring in absurd fascination with absolute disgust. What he was seeing should not have been possible, and yet…there it was.

The face of the woman came into clear view in the mirror, her head tilted back as she was moaning louder, face twisted somewhat with pleasure and pain. It was Rogue's face he was seeing.

This isn't possible, he thought, he shook his head at it, No…this isn't possible…

And then he saw them kiss somewhat drunkenly and sloppily, seeing a flash of tongue, Remy's breath caught in his throat as if he couldn't breathe anymore, as if he were choking on the very air he was breathing. He felt as if he were dying. His heart felt like a vice-like grip were around it, about to rip it right out of his chest cavity.

The moaning died down, and the man against Rogue's half-naked body remained still for some moments, and then moved away to pull his pants back up.

"Been a while," said Carol, sounding particularly stoked, she let out a happy sigh, Remy saw her smile from the mirror.

As the man turned to face the mirror to fix his hair which Carol had so obviously messed up, Remy felt a strange tingle run down his spine. He had to wrack his brain as to why the man seemed so familiar. And then it came to him. The man he had seen before. Wearing a pirate's costume, and in this very nightclub seven years before when Remy had tried to kill him.

The man had raped Rogue seven years earlier, Remy felt like his heart might explode. He got up and ran, and he could not stop running. Pushing through the crowds in the main dance hall, and then through the exit, along the downtown streets of Bayville, a car almost hit him and he rolled across the hood just in time to avoid being killed – although he wished perhaps it had killed him.

Why is she doing this?! He demanded once he'd run so far and so fast that his legs ached and he had to stop to try and gain back some breath, his heart thudding chaotically in his chest that he almost felt as if he might be having a heart attack.

This was the last straw, he thought. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. He'd been willing to wait and come up with his own solution to this problem with Carol in Rogue's body. But now, he didn't HAVE any more time to waste. Something had to be done, and it had to be done now.

(The End – Or is it????! Mwhaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah).

As usual thanks to everyone who reviewed to the last episode, I wanna name you all, but I have a lot of other things to do at the moment so I can't do it at the moment (because I can't remember everyone and I'd have to do a lot of checking and it'd take ages). I have to get this uploaded in like five minutes, and then do some housework, and a lot of other mundane stuff – anyway, thanks everyone, you're all stars.

- Ash