DISCLAIMER: I do not own the X-men. Nor do I honestly see myself owning them anytime soon.
Remy had noticed Bobby Drake walking towards Rogue's room and quickly excused himself from the conversation he was having with Storm. He slunk along the hallway, trying to get as close as he could without being seen.
"Rogue? It's me, Bobby... you wanna, um, go get some ice cream or something?"
Although her voice was muffled, Remy could still make it out.
"No. Go away."
"What? Why?"
"Ah don't want to talk to you."
"Rogue, if this is about what I said to LeBeau..." The bedroom door opened and Rogue came out, her makeup visibly smeared. She had been crying, but Remy could tell that it wasn't from being heartbroken, but rather from feeling betrayed. There was another emotion that he sensed, that told him that it wasn't the first time that she had been betrayed.
"Bobby, Ah said go away."
"Come here" Bobby extended his arms, offering a hug.
"What?! You think that you can talk shit and then just hug me and it'll all be alright? Bobby, you must not know me very well."
"Rogue, I..."
She sneered at him. "Touch me, and you're dead."
She stepped back into the room and slammed the door, locking it. Bobby stood outside for a few minutes, trying to think of what to say. Finally, he gave up and just walked away. Remy stepped out of the shadows and looked towards the bedroom. He smiled.
"He was bad for you anyway, chere."
The entire team assembled later that evening in Xavier's office, so that proper introductions could be made. Remy was seated directly next to the desk, and an attractive blonde woman was sitting next to him. He assumed that she was the other new teacher that Xavier had spoken of earlier, since none of the team seemed to know her. The rest of the group had scattered themselves around the room. Remy noticed that Rogue and Bobby were sitting across the room from each other, and that whenever Bobby tried to approach her, the two girls sitting with her blocked his way. As he surveyed the room, he found the rest of the room surveying him right back. Mostly, they were curious. Bobby was furious. He heard giggling, and looked over towards Rogue, where he saw her two friends, who he assumed were her roommates, looking at him. He winked at them, which sent them into another fit of laughter. The professor noticed the flirting and began the meeting.
"Some of you have already met Mr. LeBeau, but for those of you who haven't, Remy LeBeau is from New Orleans. He will be joining the team and teaching French classes. Next to him is Carol Danvers. Most of you have met her on other occasions. She, too, will be joining the team full time, and she will be taking over some of Dr. Grey's classes. She will also be teaching a journalism course. Perhaps they can introduce themselves and their abilities better than I can. Remy?"
"T'anks, Professor. Well, my name is Remy LeBeau, but most people know me as Gambit. Erm, I'm a t'ief by professon, alt'ough it seems as if dat life may be on hold, after de recent events. When de chief dere found me, I was in de jail. Got set up by de assasins. But dat don' matter here. What else?" He turned to the Professor, shuffling a pack of cards in his hands. The professor nodded towards the cards and Remy held one up. "Oh, yeah. Remy's powers. He kinetically charges inorganic t'ings. Mostly, dese cards." As they watched, he charged up a card, the pinkish flames shooting up before he released the charge, and continued flipping through the cards. "Remy is also an empath. He can sense emotions from people. Comes in handy wit' de ladies." He winked at Rogue and her friends. The professor cleared his throat.
"Carol?"
"Well, as the professor said, my name is Carol Danvers. I've done some work with the government, namely with the CIA. I also served as a Major in the US Air force. I've been called in recently by the government as their superhuman liason on homeland security, given my, well, background. My powers include flight, with speeds up to 700mph, invulnerability, and superhuman strength, I can lift up to about 75 tons, give or take."
Most of the room was utterly shocked. The woman was thin, very insignificant looking.
"Dieu...Suddenly, Remy's resume don' look so impressive, non?"
The rest of the meeting was uneventful. Cyclops outlined the training schedule and Xavier handed out the teaching schedules for the two new instructors. As the room cleared, Remy noticed Bobby approach Rogue again, to which she replied,
"If Ah'm such a baby, that doesn't know what's good for mahself, why don't you try goin' out with that Danvers woman? She's practically Colossus with boobs. That should be right up your alley."
Colossus just happened to be passing by at that point in time.
"Bobby, I didn't know you felt that way..."
Bobby, in his rage, punched Pete in the stomach, which only resulted in him nearly breaking his hand. Remy watched as Bobby whined and Rogue rolled her eyes and walked away. He intercepted her in the upper hallway, just outside of her room.
"Remy heard what happened wit' de Popsicle."
"Gambit, the whole mansion heard what happened."
He took her gloved hand and smiled warmly. "Chere, call me Remy."
She yanked her hand back and stepped around him. "How about ah just call you Swamp Rat? If you'll excuse me, Ah'm going to bed." She walked up to her bedroom and went inside, slamming the door behind her.
Remy pulled out his bo staff and leaned on it. He had never been brushed off like that before. And "Swamp Rat" wasn't much of a pet name, either. Usually, women just melted when he turned on his charm. But not this one. He kicked his staff up into the air and caught it, pushing the button that retracted it, and tucking it back inside of his coat. He had never been one to back away from a challenge, and he wasn't about to start now. He heard footsteps and voices coming up the stairs, and he immediately recognized them as belonging to Rogue's roommates. When the two women reached the top of the stairs, they found him leaning against the wall, smoking.
"Hey, new guy. The Professor hates it when people smoke in the house... just a heads up."
"Ah, t'anks..."
"Jubilee."
"Right, Jubilee." He extinguished the cigarette and threw the butt into a nearby potted plant.
"And Storm doesn't take too kindly to people using her plants as ashtrays." The other girl spoke up.
"Don' Remy know it." He bent over and buried the butt in the dirt. "Our little secret, non?"
"Yeah, whatever."
"Kitty, wasn't it?"
"Yep, that's right."
"Hey, not that I don't enjoy having hot guys hanging around my room at night, but what exactly are you doing here?" Jubilee had a very...interesting way of getting straight to the point.
"Remy ain' gonna lie. He came up here to check on Rogue. T'inks that mebbe dere's something he can do for her."
"Hah... doubtful."
"An' why is dat?"
The two looked at each other, both wondering how much they should tell him. He could tell by the way that their faces both suddenly sobered that there was something important that he didn't know about Rogue. Hundreds of possibilities as to what that something might be ran through his head. Kitty's soft voice brought him back to the present.
"She can't touch."
"Pardon?" He wasn't quite sure that he heard her correctly.
"It's her mutation. Whenever she comes into contact with someone, skin to skin, she absorbs them. She basically takes whatever their abilities are. And they usually end up in a coma."
"That's why she's always covered up." Jubilee offered.
"Merde... dat must be tough."
"Yeah. Bobby was the first boyfriend that she had since the guy that she nearly killed when she found out about her powers."
"I see..." He really didn't know what to say. For him, physical contact had always been an integral part of his life. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it must be like to not have that ability. He was beginning to see, however, that this woman was different on many different levels. Not only did she ignore his advances, but if he were to crack that shell, he would still not be able to really have a relationship with her. At least the kind that he was used to.
"So, good luck with that, Remy." Kitty turned and headed towards their room.
"Yeah, and don't worry. We're on your side. But if you hurt her, you will have sparks flying up that cute little ass of yours."
"Jubes!"
"Figuratively speaking." Jubilee was yanked towards the door before she could amend her statement further. Kitty seemed to disappear right through the door itself, but as Jubilee turned the knob, she shot fireworks off in his direction, as if to prove a point. As soon as the small explosions were heard, Kitty poked her head through the door and grabbed Jubilee by the wrist, pulling her straight through the wood as well.
"Remy walked into a madhouse..." He said as he headed down the hall towards his room.
The water began to rise, the flames seemingly taking a shape of their own. In a sudden burst, a gigantic fireball exploded out of the lake, burning, suspended in midair for a short time before shaping itself into a large bird. As the flames continued to lick at the air, as if daring any insects or birds to come near, they slowly began to part in the center of the fiery bird, and the vague form of a woman could be seen. Though in all actuality, the flames should have been consuming the woman, killing her, they seemed instead to be breathing life into her, her body becoming more and more defined as they blazed on. The woman's face began to take shape, and although the eyes were different, filled with not only the fire that surrounded her, but also something else, something deeper, the face, the red hair, belonged, irrefutably, to one person.
"JEAN!" Scott shot up in bed, sweat dripping from his body. He was shaking uncontrollably. It wasn't the first time that he had had nightmares about Alkali lake, but it was definitely different. It was more vivid. It was accompanied by the familiar nudge that came with a telepathic message. It felt more like a projected reality than a dream. He stood up shakily and stumbled into the bathroom. Looking at himself in the mirror, he closed his eyes and removed his glasses, splashing water on his face. Replacing the glasses and seeing the world once again in it's familiar crimson tint, he decided that it wasn't a dream. Never had the sky been that blue in his dreams. It had always been a shade of purple, as he saw it. The only times that he could recall it being that perfectly shaded were the times that Jean had projected images into his mind, the shared moments of sunsets, of perfectly cloudless days. He put on his bathrobe and headed to the kitchen. Maybe some milk would help him get back to sleep. He sank down in a chair and sipped his milk. The image of Jean, covered in fire, yet seemingly thriving, would not leave his mind. He knew that there was only one way to calm his nerves. He tossed the glass into the sink and headed towards the Professor's suite. As he reached to knock on the door, the Professor entered his mind.
"Get Cerebro ready, I'll be down in a moment."
A/N: Well there we go... another chapter. Reviews are more than welcome :-)