(Seven)
He might not have felt it when he fell asleep, but Remy woke a with a start some time later, only to find Babette standing at his window looking out. It was still dark out and he had no idea how long she had been there. Her face was wet with tears.
"What's wrong, mon chere?" he whispered in soft English from the bed, not wanting to startle her. She looked so sad and troubled standing there.
"Upset, Aiden is."
"I tol' you 'e was mad at me."
"No. Outside is he. In tears."
Remy got up and stood beside her to look outside.
This big window gave an excellent view of the patio and swimming pool. Aiden was out there, perched like a bird on his feet atop the stone railing for the steps leading down to the large swimming pool. He was naked and bawling his eyes out, weeping uncontrollably. He let his tears flow freely, they ran down his cheeks in a flood as he sobbed loudly like a child up at the pitch black sky. His hands covered his ears, reminding Gambit instantly of Seth.
"We should go see what's wrong," Remy suggested. Aiden's pain was horrible to watch and he was swamped with guilt. He didn't quite believe this wasn't his fault in some way, Aiden had been furious when he had left him.
"Come soon, our Master will."
At that moment, Trishnar came from the house dressed only in a long silk robe. He walked over to his Siskan, approaching cautiously as if Aiden might injure him in his distress.
Trishnar asked a question and Aiden leapt from his seat on the rail and dove into his arms, breaking down. He looked so tiny there, his Master was easily triple his size in weight. Trishnar held him tightly and petted him, speaking softly and soothing him.
"Why is Aiden so upset?" Remy asked. He had the idea that this had happened before. "Is it 'cause of me?"
"No, not at all. No longer angry was he, when brought him upstairs to bed I did. Stayed with him until he was asleep, me. Not an hour ago did I leave him. Not you this is, my darling Remy. Terrible nightmares Aiden has. It's been a while, but sometimes wakes up screaming he does."
"Do you know why?"
"Sees things sometimes, Aiden does."
"What kind of t'ings, chere?"
"Terrible things." Her reply was very soft.
"Dis 'cause 'e was broken?" Remy knew Kimble often had nightmares. He didn't think it was anything unusual for someone who had been passed through the wringer more than their share of times. His mind flashed on those frightening paintings, on the big bloody battles. Kimble drew his frustrations, perhaps Aiden was painting his.
"Think so yes, me," Babette replied sadly. "Damaged far more than I was, him."
Gambit put his arms around her and let her feel a gentle vibration of loving concern. "How badly was you broken, chere?"
"Three, I had. The Angry One, the Hurt One, and me. The Lover."
"You jus' like my Kimble." The thought of it made him feel a surge of hope. Babette appeared quite normal to him, not like the wreck of a man crying outside in the protective arms of his Master.
"Then lucky are you," she replied, as if she could sense his thoughts. "The Games Master will come and help you, him."
Remy looked outside. Aiden had calmed and was laying against his Master, contented now. Trishnar lifted him with ease and carried him back into the house. The Games Master supposedly had fixed Aiden, too. It didn't seem to be working out too well just now. "How'd dat make you feel after? You okay?"
"Better. Quieter, I guess. Better I am, really. Less confused. Still get sad, me. Sad like Aiden does, if know you must. A hard place this can be, your world. When lonely I get, leave and find fine young men like you to please me, I do," she said with a small laugh.
"And Aiden? What he do?"
Her face fell a little. "Not allowed to leave the house Aiden is."
Babette explained that Aiden was very protective of the house and his Master. He was Trishnar's junkyard dog in the same fashion that Wolverine looked after his X-men. Sometimes he was dangerous. Aiden was a telekinetic she explained, one unlike any other she had ever known. He could make spikes. He had supposedly slaughtered a burglar once without mercy, running him through with those spikes without cease until Trishnar finally pulled him away. He had spent a few days in the box, whimpering and snarling until Trishnar's large doses of love and caring had finally brought him out. Babette explained that Trishnar had a couple of small holding cells elsewhere in the house. The burglar was buried in the yard like trash best forgotten, but because of the violence of the attack, Aiden wasn't allowed to leave the house as Babette was.
Remy's mind was reeling. Aiden. "Aiden does so enjoy toying with his prey," Trishnar had said. Good lord, it was Aiden who had chased him from this house all those years ago! Remy had thought he was being chased by a malevolent spirit, it had shrieked at him in a harsh foreign tongue and tossed invisible weapons at him. No, it was merely a very protective Siskan 'gram shouting at him and tossing telekinetic spikes. A Siskan as talented as Kimble. What a small, crazy world this was.
Babette seemed not to notice Remy's mind was a million miles away. "When too upset, Aiden gets - like tonight - Trishnar and I tend to him, us."
Remy came back, thinking of how tenderly Trishnar had given comfort to Aiden. "You ever lay wit 'im?"
She smiled wistfully then. "With Aiden? Sometimes." She glanced at Remy. "Try him yourself, you should. Very curious about you is he."
"He ask you about me?"
"Yes. Not understanding, Aiden is, why you keep refusing him."
"Je suis de'sole, mon chere. Gambit's strictly a ladies only man."
"Very good is he," she teased. "Gentle. A Master with the Kundatesh, him."
Remy just laughed."What's dis Kundatesh, hien?" He wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"This," she said and touched him. Again he felt that surge of glorious pleasure wash through him and make him shiver. He was instantly aroused and hard against her. He staggered, in shock from the rush of lust that burst through his brain. He wasn't sure, but he thought he heard Shi'ow-ri cry out in happiness, a sound that made him shiver even harder.
"Sweet jumpin' Jehosephat, chere! You gonna give a boy a 'eart attack!" he gasped.
She snickered softly and brushed her fingers over him,making his whole body shudder at once. He thought he was going to explode with desire. He snatched at her, made crazy now, and she let him have his way, knowing he was lost. He dragged her back to the bed and fucked her, fucked her like crazy, making her laugh and laugh.
When it was over, when he woke from the blackness that always followed these thunderous climaxes, Remy lay spent and exhausted on the bed, not quite sure what had just happened. He knew one thing as fact, he finally had a name for Kimble's special charm power, for that's what this surely was. The Kundatesh, she had said. The "good feeling" it meant in Siskan. How very true. With one touch, she had made him insane. It was wonderful, intoxicating, this rush. He was buzzed now, high for certain. His mind was adrift, floating away on a white cloud of bliss.
He had felt this before, when she had first laid with him. It was the same with Kimble when he "felt" Remy to assess his moods and try to make him understand something when he couldn't explain it any other way. Kimble had never assaulted him like this, but Gambit had the idea that maybe he could have at any time. Perhaps Kimble had held back because he respected Remy and didn't want to take advantage of him. He wanted Remy to love him awake and on his own initiative.
On the other hand, this is what Kimble surely had used with Carnya and Hayden back in the Siskan pleasure room when he and Remy had shared files. Kimble had used this to make them all climax at the same time and then backwashed the rush to take their pain. Kimble had used this to soothe Bruce's pain and helped him pass on, a kindness.
Gambit had an idea it was this rush that had drawn Sabertooth to the pilot and made him refuse to hand Kimble over to Jael as he had been paid to do originally. The Kundatesh was "the glow" as Creed had come to call it. Gambit could see how this might be addictive. How it might make a monster like Creed think he was in love. Oh, his Kimble was in trouble if that were true. Remy felt he was right to warn Wolverine, Kimble's former Master was sure to return if he had survived Zander's savage treatment. These thoughts were still rolling around in his head when he finally relaxed enough to fall asleep.
(break)
At the same time and many miles away, Molly sat at one of the computers in the War Room, her cheeks wet. It was two days since she had seen the Lion Man and she was still badly shaken. Karen and Logan had been there for her, but there was really only one person she wanted - Remy.
It was difficult to explain what she felt for the wayward thief, she knew he was too old for her and that she had a terrible crush on him, but none of that stood up to the fact that they were bonded by blood and scars. A Lion Man had torn them both and right now, she felt he was the only one who could truly understand what she felt the moment Sabretooth had looked at her, how it had sent her into an uncontrollable frenzy. Karen had been here for her, but there were times that Molly thought Karen just didn't believe her, not completely, not the way Gambit had seemed to during their rooftop conversation. Now Molly felt isolated and there was only one person she wanted to understand her the way she needed. Unfortunately, he was being difficult to find.
This computer had been upgraded for her use as a mute and once more she activated the special phone program on the computer that allowed her to speak. She had it dial up Gambit's number and waited. She had been trying all day and it was now quite late, still he hadn't answered or called her back. She had left a pile of messages on his voice mail, certain that he would respond immediately. It didn't happen then or now. Again she got the automated voice mail message, not at all the one she wanted to speak with. Molly covered her face with her hands and sobbed.
"Hey, you okay, Sugah?"
Molly turned to see Rogue standing in the doorway. While she didn't know Rogue all that well, she was upset and automatically reached out in her frustration, signing, No, I'm not okay.
Rogue came in the room, dressed in shorts and a sports bra with a large fuzzy towel around her neck. She had been working out late in the gym, but happened to hear Molly on the computer as she passed by on her way back up to room.
Rogue's mind had been on Remy was well. She had gotten his invitation to go down to New Orleans and was flattered he had asked, but as much as she wished to be by his side, didn't want to go. She had a strong aversion to death and funerals, something he knew very well. Anytime there had been a funeral or memorial service here at the Mansion, she never attended, she took her grief and spent it in the Danger Room instead or in some sort of community service if the family of the deceased had requested it. The truth was, in her position here as an X-man, she had seen far too much death to be comfortable with it. She didn't think Remy would see her refusal as anything other than it was, she had sent a generous wreath of expensive flowers in her place with her condolences.
The fact that he had thought to call her in the first place did fill her with a confidence that he in fact did still desire her. It had been a while since he had made some kind of overture to her and she figured he was taking his time getting over her leaving him for Manny. Perhaps now he was ready for them to reconcile. They had done this dance before so many times in their on again/off again relationship that she had fallen back into a familiar pattern of playing hard to get. It wasn't done out of pure maliciousness, she long knew that with Remy, the getting was just as much fun as the win at the end, he liked the hunt. She didn't want to appear too eager and so she had waited to return his call, using the fact that she was never big on funerals as cover. She expected him to call her again, begging for her as he had done before, but it didn't happen. She waited a little longer and called back, but by then Remy was gone. Now she was fearful she had waited too long and blown her chance to get her wayward thief back. Like the others, she didn't understand where he had disappeared to.
Rogue came in and came over to sit next to Molly. They didn't know each other well and her sign language was a bit rusty, but Rogue didn't like to see anyone in pain. "What's your trouble, girl?"
I've been trying to call Remy and he's not answering.
"Well, ain't that a surprise," Rogue said gently, trying to take the sting out of her words. She was a bit surprised that it was Gambit Molly was crying over but then the two had been pretty chummy lately. It occurred to Rogue then that there might be another reason Gambit hadn't returned her calls, one that filled her with a sudden dread.
They had been playing their game a long time, she and Remy. It had begun almost from the day they both understood there was an attraction between them. It had evolved on its own, fed by her insecurity and his childish desire to play and be in control. He kept his secrets and so played on hers, turning their relationship into a perpetual game of cat and mouse. Most of the time it was fun, but not always. While Rogue might toy with the idea of cheating, Remy actually had. Now, he never brought it home, his conquests were all dealt with on the outside but Rogue was well aware that they existed. She used to console herself that he needed the actual touch of a woman – she could at least understand that much – and that he had always come back to her readily enough. As soon as she let him in, he never left her side, but when it got to be too much and she pushed him away, he would vanish at night like he never once lived here. He be there in the morning for practice, fresh but not exactly sober with the occasional lover's mark on his neck, something he had never tried to hide from her. For years now Rogue had dealt with this game as mutant life just being mutant life, but this time was somehow different. Remy had been cold, Remy had been distant, and now she was face to face with another girl who seemed to be suffering as she was.
Gambit, that rat bastard, had moved on and was toying with someone else.
Rogue might have the constitution to put up with his games - she took it a sign she was the only one strong enough to really be his girl – but she would be damned if she would see Remy put another girl through it. She had to do something about this, she had to end this now. Rogue took a deep breath and boldly said, "Remy. That ol' swamp rat just can't be counted on when ya really need him around."
He's always answered me before. He didn't even call when it was my birthday yesterday. Maybe something's wrong.
"Doubt it. His papa's dead. Knowin' Gambit, he's drownin' his sorrows in the arms of a Cajun whore and a bucketful of whiskey."
Molly balked a little at that. Of all the possible reasons for him not returning her call, that hadn't even crossed her mind. Being a such a young and naive girl, she couldn't help but show some jealously as she signed, He uses prostitutes?
Rogue snorted. "Of course, Sugah. It don't take much to turn that boy's head. He's looser than a goose, darlin'. He gets around. He knows all the girls for hire in Salem Center by name."
Wow. He never said anything to me about it, Molly signed, uncertainty making her frown.
"Why would he? You're just a kid. He's got no reason."
We're very close friends.
Rogue clicked her tongue in mock sadness, but inwardly she was elated. She could already see her plan was working. Yes, Molly would be upset now, but then she would get over it. Here was a golden opportunity to spare this girl some pain later. "Remy doesn't have any close friends, girl. He doesn't let anyone in. Ah was his girl for four years. He wanted me, but only at arm's length. Ah know you like him some, but he doesn't ever really let anyone in."
Molly didn't quite believe. She recalled the panic in Remy's eyes when he first brought Kimble home, how he'd been so terribly frightened that he couldn't stop his friend's pain. He's close to Kimble.
"Of course he is, dear. They're lovers, too."
No, they're not! Molly protested with a snort. She knew they were close, but she felt confident in her own abilities that she would have known if they had been more than friends. But some voice in the back of her mind cried out that she had seen just how upset Gambit had been in the Mens' Room that day. That had been no ordinary fit of rage.
Rogue saw her indecision and was all over it. "What? Did he tell you they were just friends? You poor dear. Remy keeps his secrets. He likes you some so he won't tell you the truth. He isn't about to say anything to make ya run, girl. He'll play you and hook you in like he does to everyone else. Don't you know why he calls all the girls 'chere'? It took me a while to figure it out, but then someone told me a story of how their father used to run around with loose women behind his wife's back. He had so many of them he couldn't remember all their names so he just called 'em all 'Honey'.
"Ah hate to be the one to break it to ya, girl, but Gambit's some real bad news, just like that other guy. All he does is lie about everything and hide all the bad stuff he's done. Why do ya think Ah turned him loose? Ah just couldn't let him keep hurtin' me like he was. He can't be trusted. No one here really trusts him."
Why? What did he do that was so bad?
With much ceremony and a voice heavy with sadness, Rogue proceeded to tell Molly everything. Rogue knew on some level she shouldn't be doing this, it wasn't really her secret to tell, but she would spare Molly this pain and if she could keep Molly from being used by Remy as she herself had been, it would be worth it. And so she detailed the Massacre, Remy's various thieveries, his Guild association, and again, his fondness for loose women. She could see Molly's heart was breaking, but felt only satisfaction. Really, Molly was much too young and fragile to handle a firecracker like Gambit. He would certainly only rob her of her virginity and then throw her away. She was doing Molly a favor. Of course, unspoken, was that with the temptation of Molly's obvious innocence removed, Gambit was certain to come right back to her when he returned, he had called her to come down to New Orleans after all.
Molly was quite shaken as she heard was she was being told, she had no idea that Gambit had done all these things. She had heard of the Massacre of course, there were few mutants living in this area who hadn't. She'd only been ten at the time, but already a runaway living on the streets. She had overheard other homeless people talking about it and later when she was in detention at the SHIELD facility, had learned even more about it. Some of the Marauders had gone through there, processed as criminals.
Molly's sense of smell was just as acute as Wolverine's. She perceived some insincerity in Rogue's concern for her, but she wasn't lying about the facts she was now doling out. Molly couldn't sort the mess in her mind, she just didn't understand how someone as charming and sensitive as Gambit could do these horrible things Rogue had said. Rogue was quick to point out Remy's talent as a con artist. He could talk the knickers off a nun, she said.
Molly wasn't totally naive. She knew Rogue and Gambit had broken up recently and that it wasn't out of the question of some treachery on Rogue's part here, but the woman wasn't lying. Whatever Rogue's motivation might be, Gambit had really done these things. Rogue even went so far as to pull up some of Henry's files. Here were hard facts about the Massacre. This wasn't planted evidence, this was real.
Molly's pain melted away and her anger grew. She had been toyed with. Gambit was using her for something, she was now sure of it. No one who could murder hundreds of Morlocks could be as sincere as the way he had presented himself to her. And to think she had offered herself to him! The thought of it now made her ill. She thanked Rogue for all of her help and left. There would be no more calls, there would be no more messages.
Rogue watched her go, satisfied with her work. It had been hard, but she had done a good job. Molly would be spared the agony of a Gambit heartbreak. Another virgin had been saved from his lecherous clutches. That had to be what Remy was sniffing about for, this girl's innocence was a lure. It couldn't be her looks, Rogue reasoned, Molly wasn't all that pretty with her shaggy blonde hair and claws. He would never want a scrap like her for anything more than a quick tumble. Gambit tended to lean towards the finest of female flesh, it was why he found herself so attractive. She patted herself on the back and went up to her room, closing her eyes and sleeping the sleep of the justified.
(break)
The next day when Remy awoke, Babette was still with him. He had slept deeply after their frenzied coupling and was now quite relaxed and comfortable, his body sated. They were stretched out together on his huge canopy bed, his head on her breasts while she was teasing his hair with her fingers.
"Chere?" he asked softly.
"Yes, my love?"
"Can you 'elp me, s'il vous plait?"
She chuckled softly. "With what?"
"Dis power you 'ave, de Kundatesh..."
"Have it, too, you do. Something we share, this."
"Gambit don' 'ave it like you."
"Yes, you do," she replied, cupping his chin and raising his head to look at her. "It's why so responsive you are. Not telling me that didn't know this already, you? Felt it the first day we met I did. A silly notion you had - that use it against me, you would. To learn of my Master."
He swallowed nervously, caught. "Sure, but Gambit don't 'ave no control over it. It comes, it goes. It talks to me sometimes, makin' me crazy. I gave de voice a name, just to keep me from losin' my mind. Shi'ow-ri."
"The Whisperer. How very appropriate, this. Assure you I can, that this feeling is not unique. The same it was for us all. Teach you shall I, my love?"
He blinked up at her, his heart thundering with hope. He had thought that his only relief would come from instruction from Kimble. Now he could see he might be able to find his answers here. "Oui, chere. Dat'd be a real big favor," he said, stunned that she would do this for him freely. "Gambit would owe you one."
Babette laughed softly at that and began to softly whisper to him. "The Lushna-esk are we. The holograms that can "feel". When born are we, the power doesn't come immediately. A whisper, it is, like your Shi'ow-ri. A trickle of feeling. Starts out small it does, then builds in intensity. The vibrations caused by the emotions of others come on us. Smaller, then larger after a while. Without proper council make us crazy they will, and lose control of our own emotions, do we."
This meant something to Remy. It was a very good description of what he had been going through these past months. This power didn't come on him all at once. It started out as a sensitivity and a seeing of shines when he was with Vanessa. Then more intensely with Rogue. When he first reached out with his power as a deliberate act with the whores in Boston, that's when things tumbled downhill for him. He was swamped with vibrations all around and began losing control of his anger and frustration. He would be angry one minute then cold and shaken the next, lost in a melancholy so deep, it was going to swallow him whole. He was hungry, he was wound, he was starving for something he couldn't identify, nothing seemed to satisfy. The power inside him seemed to be driving this strange insanity. After that first time he had laid with Babette, that power now had a voice, a real one that he could clearly hear. This voice wasn't to be feared, Shi'ow-ri had become his helper and a good friend in a way. He was glad she was there, but all this was baffling and disturbing to one who didn't expect these things to happen.
Babette continued her instruction. "Stayed with our Creator - with Quishnalay - some of us did. Got special training for this sensitivity, us. Normally a teacher who had the power themselves was used. Formed a bond with us they did. Reached into our minds and became a guide. A Lushna-esk for my teacher had I, and he taught me well, him."
"How 'e teach you? Like a class?"
She laughed. "No, not exactly. Made love to me he did. Inside my mind and out. Doesn't have to be done this way it is, but the best way it is, because we of the Lushna-esk use the Kundatesh mostly when we serve clients, us."
"So 'e lay wit you and den you know everyt'ing?" he asked, unable to hide a small bit of sarcastic teasing in there. That sex could cure everything seemed to be a common theme among the few Siskans he had met.
More laughter came from Babette, trickling into his ears like tiny bells. "No, not like that, but close. Show you, I will." She pulled him closer to her, kissing him passionately as she gently flooded his mind with her power. He shivered as he felt a pull in his mind, a sort of separation. He was here, but yet somewhere above himself as well. She had brought him here, just outside of himself. / Let go, Remy. Fall into me,/she said to him without speaking a word.
He obeyed, closing his eyes and daring to surrender to her will. He called out to her in a vibration of need and startled a bit when she reached out to him with invisible, mental hands, finding him easily. She released him quickly, not holding him long.
/ Now find me,/ she sent, the message coming through to him loud and clear.
He gave it his best shot, relaxing his mind and simply reaching out telepathically, but with his empathy as well. He found her immediately and with much greater ease than he could have expected. The power they shared was like a bridge that he had only to cross to find someone like himself. It was like playing blind man's bluff and finally finding the target. He didn't use his physical self for this, he was like a ghost reaching for another ghost and pleasantly colliding in space. Without their physical bodies to hold them, they wrapped around each other there, laughing and playing like children, drifting on a plane no one else could see.
He had been afraid all this time, he realized. This power was so strange and alien, he had been timid with it, resisting it. With Babette, he could relax enough to surrender to it and let her enfold him in an entirely new and wonderful way. Without the fear, his pleasure was enhanced. He was now set free. It was the strangest and most wonderful feeling. She was all around him, inside and out. He felt her love for him and her joy of his presence in her mind. She was every good thing he had ever felt in his life. She was warm blankets on a cold winter's night, she was hot chocolate, she was cinnamon and whiskey. She was his first kiss and the first woman to ever give him an earth shattering orgasm. She was Rogue's soft laughter in his ear and Seth's gentle smile. She was everything he had ever loved. She was Kimble's arms around him, accepting him for who he was and loving him with all of his heart.
He also couldn't deny how much stronger he felt in the nether. He wasn't completely separate but he did feel much more in control. He had an idea now that if he could keep his calm and relax, he could use this other space as a sort of shield. Babette had given him the first clue in how he might defend himself against mental bombardment if he should get swamped by too many vibrations. He would need practice, but he was now confident this was something he could use given time. This was worth more than any other gift he could have been given. This he could really use.
While Remy was still reeling from how great this was, Babette used her physical body to pull him into her. He was shocked to find his body — which he had thought he had left in the dust in leu of this wonderful new plane of existence - had been aroused all this time without his realizing it. He had been immediately ready for her. He shuddered from the pleasure of her soft silky legs wrapping around his hips with wild abandon as she gently clawed his back with her nails. There were no words to describe what he was feeling, this sense of being in his body and somewhere else at the same time. He was shimmering and giggling like a kid presented with a new toy.
"All you have to do is just let it flow through you," she said out loud, stroking his mind as easily as she stroked his body, building his passion. "Those of us with this power, powerful bonds can we form. The power speaks to us, to each other, in a language far stronger than words. No room for deception there is. Feel me, Remy. Feel all of me."
He reached out, drinking in her moods and riding her building lust for him. He didn't fight the sense of duality that came over him and he let the sensations bombard him. He could hear her breathing and the pounding of his own heart in her ears. It was incredible and wonderful and insane and fantastic all at once. He could once more hear Shi'ow-ri laughing loudly with joy, the sound a very pleasant ringing in his ears.
He cried out and when he started to lose it a little but Babette was there holding him up. / Don't be afraid. This is so good. / She was talking to him again without speaking, her thoughts given voice from Shi'ow-ri. There was no room for deception Babette had said, and she was right. Her shine was pouring into him, licking at his mind. / I love you, Remy. You're so very good, Remy. Love me, please me, oh!
She climaxed and he rode the wave, letting it wash over him. He shuddered as bright lights blinded him without pain and he felt the crash come as his own body thundered in response to hers. A pulse of this power, this Kundatesh, left him and smashed into her, making her shine sparkle brightly. She laughed and laughed, filling his ears with music. Her joy cascaded back into him like a solid, real thing. It swallowed him whole and he was swept away into the darkness once more.
To be continued in The Dreamer