Disclaimer: Marvel's, not mine.
Thanks to the reviewers!
……………………………..
Remy knew that what he was in the process of doing was ruining his entire life.
He glanced in their front window. He watched her sit, eyes unblinking, coffee cup in hand.
She was beautiful.
Had he not been born into this life, he would have had a chance.
He looked to the gutter pipe that ran up the height of the house. He climbed with silent movements.
Their relationship was never supposed to get this far. Remy had held off as long as he could with this plan.
But if he held off any longer, it would be hard for him to stay alive.
Remy moved agile to the nearby second floor window. There was a tiny balcony meant only for plants that he had used many times.
The window was open. It was cold out and he was surprised. Grabbing the brick ledge above the window, he swung himself into the dark room.
He wished that what he needed had been located somewhere else.
Not her room.
Remy moved on swift feet to a mirror in the corner of the room. It was antique, and by pressing three buttons on the side hard enough, it would reveal a safe behind it. Rogue had never discovered this.
As his fingers glided round the dial of the safe, his other hand reached behind and blocked the arm from the woman behind him.
Swinging around, Remy twisted her into a cornered position. She looked average, an older blond woman with a few strands of gray.
He could feel her smile despite not being able to see her face.
Slowly her skin turned blue, her hair red, and in a matter of seconds she was out of his grasp.
She pulled a small gun from her boot and pointed to towards his heart.
"Glad to see you're still alive. Making my daughter suffer downstairs."
"Your daughter doesn't even know who you really are," Remy smirked as he looked her up and down. He had heard about Mystique, but had yet to see her true form.
"Apparently she didn't really know who you were Remy."
Remy's hands were in the air as a sign of peace.
"You did though, didn't you Mystique?"
She gave a guttural laugh, a look of bemusement on her face.
"Every thief knows the name LeBeau. But I had you checked out when you started dating my daughter. Nothing came up."
"De Thieves Guild did a good job o'covering it up."
His eyes never once looked towards the gun. They remained on her yellow eyes with a sense of calm reserved only for those not afraid to die.
"That man at your funeral wasn't your real father." It wasn't a question. This woman wasn't stupid.
Remy simply smiled.
"You're Jean Luc's son?"
Remy parted his lips, unsure how to respond to favor his position.
"Oui."
She faltered then, he watched her arm start to lower, but just as quickly it was steady again.
"Prince of Thieves." She smiled genuinely then.
"Y'gonna shoot me now?"
"I was very close to your father Remy. A long time ago. Just tell me why you want the disc in the safe."
"Dere's a price on my head. If I don't get dat to de man I owe, den I'm as good as dead."
"There's important information on that disc Remy. Do you even know what's on it?"
"Not exactly. Ain't my problem."
Mystique gave a loud sigh, and lowered the gun.
"I can break into nearly any facility Mystique. You don't let me take it now, I'll just steal it later."
He had such arrogance. A smile that could charm anybody, one that had infected her daughter and left her in ruins downstairs.
"I'll give you the disc Remy. Just leave Rogue alone. Let her believe you are dead. Forever."
Remy's eyes sweltered, changing to a more orangish color. She had hit the only soft spot Remy had ever known.
He pursed his lips, but turned around and opening the safe, grabbed the disc.
"Rogue won't ever see me again."
Mystique smiled, as if she had been proven right. She put the gun back into her boot and morphed back into the mother figure Rogue had known.
She stopped a short distance from the doorway.
"I've been alive a long time Remy. I've seen love at all different angles. Yours only took you as far as it would service you."
Remy nodded.
"I love Rogue, always will."
Mystique looked him in the eye, standing still.
"No Remy, you love yourself."
She left the room, and Remy looked down at the disc in his hand. His fake death would save his life. But it would destroy Rogue's.
Remy's eyes turned cold as he walked to the window.
Mystique was right.
…………………………………………………
Rogue went straight to her room when she got home, thankful not to run into the girls on the way.
She sat on her bed, and looked at her cell phone. Slowly she picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Mom?"
"Rogue, I haven't heard from you in awhile sweetie."
"Mom, Remy's alive." She spit it out because she didn't know what else to do.
There was a silent static on the other end.
"Rogue, are you having visions again?"
Rogue tried to stay calm as she thought of throwing the phone against the wall.
"No mom. You can even talk to Betsy or Jean. He showed up here. They saw him too."
"Is he there now?"
"No."
"Rogue," her mother paused. "Why don't I come up for a visit? Help you through this."
Rogue felt her eyes watering, and she muffled her next response.
"That'd be good."
……………………………………..
When Mystique hung up at the other end she was fuming.
Not only had Remy disobeyed her direct request, he had given the disc to the last person on earth who should have had it.
Maybe she had been wrong about Remy's love.
But she doubted it.
He was back on his own agenda. People don't change.
Mystique opened a trunk from her closet and pulled out her old uniform.
There had been days, long past, when mutants had led a much different life. Now she was being forced to re-open old wounds.
……………………………………………….
They were lying in a field.
This was their pastime. Although she supposed it had been many couple's.
They were waiting for it to get dark enough to see the first stars.
Tonight was a night of shooting stars. It was August, warm and sure.
"You know, we should probably get to Ororo's show."
Rogue pressed herself closer to Remy.
"We haven't even seen one star yet."
He leaned over and kissed her forehead.
"We can do this any day chere."
Rogue nodded, mostly to herself as she stood up with Remy and he shook out the blanket.
"You don't get too many nights with this many shooting stars you know."
"We should support our friend though Rogue."
She didn't feel like arguing, so she took his hand and they walked back to the car.
"You really need to start feeling comfortable around dese people Rogue."
He was referring to his friends.
They acted more sophisticated than everyone else. Really, they seemed to try too hard, as Remy was doing more and more these days.
The car ride was silent, and the walk into the bar washed a disconnected feeling over Rogue as she felt Remy's hand slip from hers to greet his friends.
Ororo was already at the piano. It was the only part of the night Rogue would enjoy. She had a beautiful voice.
Her songs had a sense of melancholy about them. Ororo was a happy woman, and her songs surprised Rogue.
Rogue sat at the booth, on the edge, with the rest of Remy's friends. She ignored their unimpressive banter and watched Ororo sing.
Remy would ignore her the rest of the night. It was how it always was. Sometimes he would put an arm around her shoulder. He would buy all of her drinks.
But she was more like his doll than his girlfriend.
So Rogue looked disenchanted at Ororo, and felt like she might cry. The piano was seeping into her heart, taking Remy's place.
He would never notice. He should have felt his heart twitch, like hers was.
She had hoped to tell him tonight, under the stars that she was pregnant.
And that she was scared. That she didn't know if she could keep it.
He would hug her. His eyes would water with empathy and happiness.
But Remy wasn't that man. She lived in another world, in another relationship when she was left alone to her thoughts.
Everything had been dissolving around her lately.
She was so scared, and she gulped down her gin tonic like water.
The piano lifted up and down, it's rhythm spiraling Rogue's emotions.
One week later, Remy would leave her.
Five days after that she would miss carry.
And he would never know. Not one detail.