These characters do not belong to me. Oh what the hell… I said it the 3 previous chapters. Leave me alone for God's sake!
Tayrion
After a few moments both Kurt and Scott had come around and decided they should go to a more isolated place and talk, before the police was all over the place. A pair of eyes was patiently looking at them from afar as they fled the bar, and smiled.
……………………..
The blackbird was an ideal place to talk privately, especially after putting the cloaking mechanism, which made it invisible to the naked eye. After the brief introductions the 3 X-Men and Remy got down to business.
"So … he was already gone when you got to the outside? Not even a trace?" asked Scott, eyes fixed tentatively on Remy for any sign that would betray a lie.
"I told you mon ami, when Rogue came to see how you fared, I went to de outside where he landed and he was already gone. He was nowhere in sight."
Answered Remy unphased by Scott's questioning stare. "And to save you de question, no I do not know who he is or why he would attack you."
"I was not going to ask you that!" said Scott looking more and more suspicious with every word the Cajun said.
"Non? Silly me den to tink dat you'd have de brains to ask a local boy –moi- if he knew anyting about a stranger who attacked you on my 'turf' … sort of…" said Remy with a mocking smile.
"Anyway… we'll deal with this riddle later. Our mission was to find you and offer you a proposition on behalf of Professor Charles Xavier." Said Scott putting aside for now his suspicions.
"You mean de guy who has dat questionable –from what I heard- school upstate, in NY? What would he be wantin' wit me?" Remy now seemed as much suspicious as Scott was just before.
"What he wants with you Remy, I do not know. All I know is what he told me. It is entirely up to you whether you like to come with us and meet the Professor or not." Concluded Scott.
Remy looked at him with uncertainty and suspicion. "Listen up homme… Lately I've had several people here get suspicious dat I might be a mutant. I've even had attempts on my life, and the authorities not only did noting, but now they're trying to link me with a string of robberies that happened to some rich people around here. And now you come here with an invitation from another rich guy who apparently wants to meet me. How do I know dat dis is not another trap? Dat you set up dis whole bar incident, to lure me in. And seeing as you did your homework on ol' Remy here, even threw in de pretty fille as a damsel in distress, so dat I would be sure to come to de rescue."
Rogue hearing the last part, flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and slight anger at the nerve of the young mutant.
"Believe me Remy, if we wanted to get you by force, we would have long before we even came here." Said Scott trying to sound authoritative and slightly intimidating.
Remy let out a small chuckle. "Sure ting homme. By de way I forgot to tell you, I was really impressed wit how you handled de situation back dere. Oh wait… weren't you de one unconscious on de floor?"
Scott stiffened as the sarcasm hit home. He tried to calm down and let it go. Rogue on the other hand smiled to herself, as she was both amused and a little annoyed by Remy's bravado.
"Ze point is my friend, zat ze Professor vants to talk to you, and if as you say you have troubles here, ze Professor is never one to turn down a call for help." Said Kurt decisively.
Remy remained thoughtful for a while. He turned his attention to Rogue, who was looking back at him expectantly.
"Dis Professor of yours sounds like a really saintly guy chérie." Said Remy as he smiled playfully at Rogue.
"There's one way to find out for yourself Remy." Offered Scott, keeping in check his distrust and annoyance of Remy. Remy's focus though was still devoted to Rogue something that made her blush and avert her look for a moment.
"'r you going to be dere too chérie?" asked Remy with an insinuating smile on his face.
"Yeah" said Rogue all flushed. Remy could sense the effect he had on her and he felt really good, firstly for the obvious reason of having this effect on a beautiful woman and secondly because even for a brief moment he had cast away from her the sadness and loneliness that filled her heart, and replaced them with something different; curiosity, desire, expectation and the tiniest fragment of hope.
"How can I say non den huh?" said Remy as he winked playfully at Rogue.
………………………………….
A tour of the gifted…The Xavier institute for gifted children was very impressive to anyone. It was even more so to a mutant who was used to hiding his mutation and living in a sort of isolation.
Remy looked with gaped mouth at all the children running around the institute free to explore their different mutations, carefree and sheltered from the prying and accusatory stares of the outside world.
"I got to admit, dis is some place you got here Professor." Said Remy to the man in the wheelchair next to him.
"Thank you Remy. I think so myself. I like to think it's a haven for any mutant who wants help and a place to call home." Said the Professor with a satisfied smile on his face.
Home thought Remy. That word was as unfamiliar to him as love or compassion, for he had not met with them before in his short but relatively eventful life so far. Of course he had a place he called home, but he was aware that home was a meaning that did not limit in the boundaries of 'four walls' and a home theater.
"But it is not public knowledge dat you harbor mutants here, is it Professor?"
"Ho it's not Remy. And for the time being, I think it's in the best interest of all these children here that it remains so."
Remy remained thoughtful for a while. A question slowly forming on his lips but hesitant to come out.
"Professor… do you… do you tink you could cure someone of deir mutation?" asked Remy, as hope built up inside him and him trying to keep it in check for fear of it being pummeled cruelly to the ground.
The Professor looked at Remy curiously. There was something about this boy's mutation that kept him from being able to see in to his mind. There were obvious projections of his mind, but they were hindered by static. It was as if a constant movement of energy from within him, made all the images and thoughts emanating from his mind incomprehensible. The Professor concluded that this must be a by-product of his mutation.
"Remy… mutations are not diseases to be feared and cured. They can be gifts!"
"What if de mutation be killing de person who has it?" retorted Remy his frustration, showing the personal nature of the question he was asking.
The Professor was caught by surprise. Was the boy referring to cancer? But he seemed smart enough to make the distinction.
"I have never heard of such a case. Are you sure of what you're saying Remy? Is there any chance that what you're referring to I s Cancer? Because you see, we consider a mutation to be a natural reaction to the body's functions, to compensate for the fast changing environment and the conditions of human life. A sort of evolution. For it to be killing the person, it must be abnormal and foreign to the body and I believe mutations are not." Concluded Xavier trying not to sound too much like an academic, so that his point would come out clearer to the young mutant.
Remy remained silent for a while. If he believes that, then he doesn't know anything about it and wouldn't be much help, he thought to himself.
"Remy, I don't want to be pushy, but it's clear that you have someone close to you in mind with that question. I would like to look into it and help as best as I can. Our resident doctor Mr. McCoy is quite simply a genius and genetics is one of the fields he's really good at. But in order for us to help you, I need you to trust me. I need to know the details to be able to help you." Said the Professor hoping that the young mutant would open up to him.
Remy considered the offer for a while. It was obvious to Xavier that an internal conflict was taking place inside the mind of this young mutant. Remy sensing the piercing gaze of the Professor immediately turned to him smiling. No. It would complicate things a great deal and I cannot afford that now.
"It's ok Professor." He said with his reassuring smile. "It's actually an old story. Someone close to me died in the past, and I always thought that what killed them was their mutation. So it's still kind of hard for me to tink of mutations as gifts. Even my own."
The Professor wondered at Remy's choice of using 'them'. Where there more than one people he was referring to, or was he just trying to avoid disclosing the gender of the person he was referring to, and if he did, why would that be important. He wasn't sure if what he heard was actually true, or at least the whole truth, but decided against pushing Remy further. It was still too soon for that.
"That's fine Remy. But I want you to know that should you decide to be part of the team –and even if you don't- I'm here if you need help. Or even if you need someone to talk to."
With that the Professor left Remy to think things over a little better. For Remy there was little thinking to be done. Ever since he set foot on this institute, the decision was made. He was going to stay. For now anyway.
……………………………………….
Ok guys, I know this wasn't much, both in quantity, and probably in quality, I don't know… it's just that something doesn't quite feel right with this chapter. I spent hours trying to figure out what it was but it was leading me nowhere (in fact it was leading me to more frustration, but that's beyond the point), so I decided that it would be best to put it up before I decided to erase the whole thing and write it again, which obviously would lead to a much more delayed update. Anyway… I guess it's just that there are some necessary steps to be taken for the story to completely unfold, and this chapter was one of them. Promise that next chapter will feature more excitement. A somewhat unpleasant encounter, for Remy on his first day in X-Manor, and a very very dangerous stunt performed by Remy, that was never attempted in the past by him! :) (at least I think so…)
Roguefan1309- Thanks for the vote of confidence. I hope this is soon enough.
Ishandahalf- Did you doubt for a single moment that he wouldn't come to the rescue? Or did he… smiles evilly When I first thought of the story I toyed with the idea of not making them so into each other from the start, but it just made good sense, that they would. Plus it's sort of a background theme to this story –Remy's empathy powers that do not feature so heavily in the comics-.
Just me- glad you like it so far. Sorry but this chapter is a little short on Romy, as I needed to take care of certain things in the story first. Promise I'll try to make up in the following chapters…
Kim- glad you're not mad. Although I'm not sure whether this was long enough. The next one will surely be bigger than the rest.
Mary- I agree. Remy- centered stories are always fun to read and write. But I prefer more the dynamics between Remy and Rogue together. I hope you agree.
Southern Spell- Thanks. As you see my story is focused mainly on Remy- although said focus will sometimes shift throughout my story between him and rogue and sometimes even to the third main addition that my story did on the X-Men films, you know … the dark enigmatic doctor from the first chapter :)