Disclaimer: I'll challenge Stan Lee to a game of badminton (the only thing I'm good at!), winner take all! Until then, he owns the X-Men. But, I'll definitely win, right? I mean, he's just a little old man! Oh, he's going down.
A/N: I really don't have anything to say here… Oh, but thanks for the reviews! Well, that's a given. Responses ahoy!
Aro, Star-of-Chaos, SweetRevenge151, Alyxandria, mollymo, vespie, TheRealMai, Deadhead89, darkstorm5000, EviltwinAlix, enchantedlight, RoguesTale, texasgrrl, cool-chick-rae, LoneWolf422, Silver Ink, and flowerperson – I think I'll start a tropical fruit theme. How about coconuts this time? We can make pina coladas… And get caught in the rain…
melancholic – You want my brain, eh? I hate to ruin your Goddess-like perception of me, but I've got three words for you: quotation search website. Bwa ha ha! So really, I'm just mooching genius off of others.
angyxoxo – Hah, I made you hate Remy just like you almost made me not intensely despise Joseph! It's payback time. And yeah, I tried to tell Remy to stop, but he just wouldn't listen! You know how stubborn he can be. All those feelings of betrayal that he had from Rogue giving up on him might've ruined his mojo or something…
Orage – Glad you like the hurdles! I'm secretly training them for the Summer Olympics. ;-)
Awikie-Wakie-Wokie – Nooooo, not Davey! Anybody but my Davey! (ish goes off to a corner and cries)
Lightspeed Suzuka – Disappoint my fans? You have so little faith in me! I wouldn't do that… Hell, I wouldn't want to disappoint myself either, which is what non-Romyness does to me. Judging from that, I think you can guess what'll happen…
Ladychopsticks – I'm quite upset about them deleting extra exclamation marks on reviews! I mean, how else are we supposed to express outrage and excitement and squealing? Sigh… It ruins all my fun, I love punctuation. Except for semicolons, they're EVIL. That's why I've stopped using them! Hah, take that.
XxFleurdelysSxX – I find it amusing that you can write a whole little dialogue but not a fic… ;-) But hey, you're muse was right, it'll be a LONG while. Gold stars for it. Will that motivate it a little? Wait… is it an 'it'? Or a he? She? Them? Bahh, I'm confused.
Rogue4787 – I know what you mean about Xavier's ethics. I mean, if that were me, I'd be reading everybody's minds and blackmailing them! Maybe that's how he got all the money for his mansion…
Calliann – You cried? Oh, muffin! Would you like a hug? And yeah, Remy was being a little rash. That silly, silly boy… Don't worry, he'll regret it soon enough.
Peace215 and PomegranateQueen – Ooh, you two might be partially right with some of your guesses… Or are you? If so, with which ones? Bwa ha ha, I'll never tell! Oh, I love to be all sly and teasing.
Neurotic Temptress – We'll make sure all of our minions are ready at a moments notice to hand us tissues. Those super soft kind too! Hell, after reading your little email saga, I needed them:-(
Remember, people! From here on in, we're moving backwards through Remy's memories. His mind is strange, uncharted territory, so keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times.
Loved and Lost, or Never At All?
Chapter 5 – Hell
"As memory may be a paradise from which we cannot be driven, it may also be a hell from which we cannot escape." – John Lancaster Spalding
Things whipped by him in a blur. Remy thought he saw an office flash by, then a bedroom, and he could have sworn he heard people talking…"Are you absolutely positive about this?"
"Non, not'in' y' can say will change m' mind."
"Didn' y' love m' enough!"
"If you don' do it, I'll find someone else who will."
"I told her, 'You have to get over this! What else are you gonna do, erase him from your memory?', but she like, took it literally!"
He shook his head - it must have been his lack of sleep. Remy had just arrived back in town that morning, after hours of non-stop driving from New Orleans. He parked his motorcycle at his apartment, and quickly went inside to freshen up a bit. The bed called to him, urging him to take a much-needed nap, but Remy managed to resist. He wanted Rogue much more than he wanted some sleep.
After splashing some water from the bathroom sink onto his face, Remy peered at his reflection in the mirror. He looked like hell… He needed a shave and there were bags under his eyes, but that didn't matter. No time to clean up his appearance when his heart was calling out to him. Besides, he thought with a smirk – Rogue would just say that he looked 'rugged'.
He left his apartment, first making his way to the Xavier Institute. Remy hid in the trees at the edge of the property until the coast was clear. Then he sprinted across the lawn and climbed onto Rogue's balcony – he had hoped to sneak into her room and give her a surprise wake-up call. Unfortunately, when he had arrived, the room was empty. That didn't deter Remy at all – he knew where she would be.
He briskly walked to their café, his nerves growing with each step he took. He hoped that she would be there - Remy was desperate, he needed to see her. It hadn't been enough over these past few months to only be able to look at her in pictures, and to only touch her in his dreams – it was like denying him oxygen, Remy simply needed Rogue to live. He wanted to run up to her and crush her in his arms… But a part of him was slightly apprehensive as well. They hadn't seen each other in months, and their last meeting hadn't exactly been pleasant…
Remy pushed those feelings aside. They didn't matter – he'd finally be with his amour, he'd beg and grovel for her forgiveness if he had to, and then they'd be together again, just like they should be.
Before he knew it, Remy stood outside of Le Café Café. Looking up at the familiar sign, he smiled for the first time in… Well, quite a long while. He had made it back to Bayville, and it was just a few short moments until he would be in his chère's arms again. Something told him that she was inside, he just knew it – there was a tugging, a yearning inside of him that he couldn't explain, and it said that Rogue was in there.
But of course she was in there! He knew her well - sometimes he thought he knew her better than he knew himself, so he was sure that she would be in the café. She liked to go there to get away from everything. It was a nice, calming atmosphere that was so different from the commotion of her Institute. Remy also hoped that she was there for another reason – maybe because it reminded her of him? He grinned as he fondly recalled memories of their first date, at what had become "their" table, at "their" café.
Well, there was only one way to find out, and it didn't involve him standing there like a fool.
'Come on, Remy, time t' get movin',' he silently willed his feet to walk, and they did. They moved him towards the door and inside the building, each step bringing him closer to his chère.
He tried to ignore the burst of nervousness he suddenly felt – since when did he get nervous? It never happened. Well, except around Rogue, of course. But that was the good kind of nervousness, the kind that made him feel giddy, the kind that let him know he was really in love.
Remy blinked. He was thinking too much – he could get all sentimental later.
He pushed open the door, and walked inside. The café was just as he remembered, intimate and inviting, with every piece of furniture still in the exact same arrangement. It was comforting to know that some things hadn't changed while he was gone.
He stood by the entrance and scanned the room. There were several customers sitting at various tables, but Remy paid no attention to them - none of them were important. His eyes automatically made their way to table in the back corner, their usual spot, and his breath caught in his throat.
His earlier plan of rushing up to her and wrapping him arms around her was scrapped, as he was frozen in place, just staring at her.
'Dieu (God), did she get mo' belle (beautiful) while I was gone?' Remy wondered, as his chest tightened at the sight of her.
He just stood there, drinking her in. It had been so long since he had laid eyes on her in person… The photographs and memories hadn't been enough, he needed the real her.
Remy took in every aspect of her appearance, from the streaked hair that he itched to run his fingers through, to the luscious lips that he longed to kiss, to the adorable feet that he wished to tickle, just so he could hear her melodious laugh. He noticed how her purple shirt left a tiny bit of her shoulders bare, which just begged to have his kisses dropped on them. He noticed how her black jeans accentuated her long legs, which prompted many impure thoughts to start running through his head, specifically on how he would show Rogue exactly how much he had missed her.
Unsure as to why, Remy continued to watch her, not making a move. She was sipping her coffee in that endearing way she always did, with her eyes closed and her hands wrapped around the mug. When she opened them again, she looked at the clock hanging on the wall and sighed. Her foot was tapping on the ground. She seemed impatient – was she waiting for somebody?
That question ceased to matter when Remy's thorough inspection of Rogue brought his gaze to her neck. He felt his heart jump for joy when he saw that she was still wearing the pendant he had given her. Surely, that was a good sign – it boosted his confidence greatly. That readied him to march towards her, when suddenly she glanced around the café, and right at him.
He held his breath as Rogue looked him over. She had a curious expression on her face, and he wasn't quite sure what that meant – usually he could tell what she was feeling so easily. Was she happy to see him? Was she still angry with him? As much as Remy wanted to hold her again, he forced himself to stand still, and wait for her reaction. He just prayed it would be a good one…
'Come on, chère, say somet'in', please,' he thought as the two continued to stare at each other.
Suddenly he felt a shove as somebody walked past him, and his gaze was torn from Rogue's.
"Jeez, homme, watch where y're goin'," he muttered under his breath, annoyed at the interruption.
Remy looked towards Rogue once more, only to find her no longer staring at him – her eyes were on the person walking towards her, the person that had bumped into him. Frowning slightly, he followed her line of sight.
He could see the man's back – he was tall, but skinny, and moving rapidly through the maze of tables and chairs. However, what really caught his attention was the hair. It was silver. No, it couldn't be…
Remy's hope was momentarily restored when Rogue glared at the other man, but then it was dashed seconds later when he picked up her hand and placed it to his lips. She smiled at him… Smiled!
Remy's jaw dropped when they both began to head towards him. Now he had an unobstructed view of the mystery suitor, and he was right. It was Pietro.
He felt sick. He knew that Quicksilver once had a crush on Rogue, but he had never expected anything to come out of it! He knew he had hurt his chère, but he had never expected her to do anything quite like this…
They were coming closer, and all he wanted was for her to look back up at him. Remy knew that if she would just look in his eyes, the eyes that she loved so much, that he could get her to drop Pietro's hand and fly into his arms in an instant, right where she should be.
Instead, they continued walking. He thought that he saw Pietro give him a smirk, but all of Remy's attention was focused on Rogue. As they went by him, she moved to let another patron pass, and her shoulder brushed against Remy's.
"Oh, sorry…" she called out as she continued on her way outside, turning slightly to look back at him.
Her eyes met Remy's again, just like he had wanted, only this time what he saw there knocked the wind out of him. Or rather, it was what he didn't see… There was nothing – no love, no hate, no acknowledgement whatsoever.
What… What had just happened? His chère and Pietro? He must have been hallucinating. He turned and watched them walk away, still holding hands. Remy felt like he had just been punched in the gut. This couldn't be real… This was hell, his own personal hell. He thought he had left that behind in New Orleans, but he had just returned to another version of it.
How could she do that to him? She had… replaced him? No. No, no, this wasn't happening. He had come back for her, just like he'd promised, only to find her with Quicksilver? No…
His legs begin to tremble. Remy stumbled over to the nearest empty chair and sat down in shock, nearly knocking it over in the process. He stayed there, just staring at the floor in bewilderment and disbelief, not noticing the café fading away from view.
All of a sudden, he leapt from his seat. He had to go and… Wait, what was he about to do?
Looking around in confusion, Remy didn't recognize where he was. The scenery was blurry, he couldn't clearly distinguish anything. A few seconds later, everything around him disappeared.
Ooh, there we go, memory #1 erased! Dun dun duhh…
Next chapter – The erasing continues. We go back in time, and find out what happened when Remy left New Orleans.
So. As always, reviews are appreciated! But while you're at it, sign your name to something else too – a petition to save Rogue and Remy's comic relationship! I mentioned that at the end of Chapter 1, but now Lightspeed Suzuka has started up a petition to Marvel. It'd be great if we could get you all to sign! Let's save the Romy, just go to my author profile and click on the link.
Toodles,
- ish -