History Before The X-Men
By Time And Life 21
As Gambit was on his bed, he decided to call Henri to see if there was anything about a woman by the name of Scarlett LaChance. He breathed a sigh of relief that it was Henri and not Jean-Luc.
"Bonjour. This is Henri LeBeau speaking." He heard the familiar voice of his older brother.
"Henri… J'ai besoin d'une faveur." He asked.
"Quoi? Th' great Remy LeBeau 's askin' for l'aide de son grand frère.?" He heard him say over the line.
Remy couldn't help but smile.
"Oui, oui, I need some information." Remy asked as he used his other hand to take out a deck of cards and shuffled them one handed.
"Information, hien? Y' are lucky I'm in de archives right now. Wha'cha wan' me t' look f'r?" Henri asked.
"Scarlett LaChance." He asked stonily as he placed the deck of cards down.
He heard silence on the other line.
"LaChance? As in, 'Queen Of Hearts' LaChance?" Henri said shocked.
"Y' heard of her?" Remy asked.
But Scarlett went by 'Spade'. Not 'Queen of Hearts'.
"Oui. Of course! Pére would tell m' 'bout de 'Queen Of Hearts' when I was young." Henri said as it sounded like he was trying to sort through papers.
"Oh? What do y' know?" Remy asked.
"De Queen of Hearts 's a Master Thief. Sh' would break into Fort Knox and no' trace of 'er. Save f'r de Queen of Hearts card that she left behind. I t'ink Pére was in an arranged marriage wit' 'er back den." Henri said, and then he mumbled something about young thieves not putting away books properly.
"Arranged marriage?" Remmy asked confused.
"Ah-ha! Found it! Grandpére's Journal! H' alw'ys had somet'ing written in 'ere." Henri said triumphantly.
"What else did pére tell y' about dis arranged marriage?" Remy asked.
"Oh, well, Grandpére and the leader 'f de LaChance guild were in a contract that 'f de guilds were threatened, dey would help each other out. Dey thought at de time a marriage would strengthen de guild, but den problems came up durin' Mardi Gras an' involved an oil tanker being blown up. De LaChance guild den said dat dey would still help out, but de marriage was off." Henri said as the sound of flipping pages was heard.
"Wha' kind of problems?" Remy asked curiously.
"Assassin problems! I just turned to a page, an' it said dat der was an Assassin dat was hired to kill de Queen Of Hearts…went by de name of…merde, de name is illegible. Anyways, Scarlett LaChance was with a couple of oth'r people. A woman with white stripes in her hair and a man who seemed to have red skin. Dat was de last time de guild had saw dem. Pére said he met h'er a couple times after a couple of years, but dat was all I can find." Henri said as the sound of a book closed on the line.
"Dat's it? No more information?" Remy asked confused.
"Well, Scarlett LaChance isn't really well known. The strange t'ing is, she always covered 'er eyes. No one in de guild knows of 'er eyes…'cept maybe tante Mattie." Henri speculated.
"Tante Mattie? Does she know anyt'ing'bout Scarlett LaChance?" Remmy asked.
"I'll ask 'er, petite freré. Den I'll give y' a call back. Desole for de limited information." Henri apologized.
" 'Tis fine, Henri. Merci." Remy said thankfully.
"Hey, just a heads up. Bella is wondering when y may be headin' back ta New Orleans. She's driving m' an' Merci crazy with 'er questions." Henri said dramatically.
"I won' be coming down anytime soon, Henri." Remy said as he stood up.
"Adieu." He said to Henri.
"Adieu, petite freré." Henri said as the line buzzed.
Remy put his phone on his desk. He managed to get some sort of information from Henri. But if his Tante Mattie knew LaChance…he wanted more information. He was going to have to get more information from the source himself.
Scarlett LaChance.
Scarlett fell onto her bed after letting Xavier know of what had happened to the mutants and their families in the uptown New York Area. Xavier was disturbed by the fact and had asked her if she and Blaze would be co-teachers with Logan to work with the children and teens in the Institute. She told him that she would think about it. As she walked back to her room, she felt such a heavy weight on her heart. Seeing her son in the hallway with such an angry expression, she wanted to fall to her knees, but her pride as a thief wouldn't let her.
She could feel the tears come to her eyes. She knew she forgot to put on her sunglasses. She felt a headache coming on and she closed her eyes for a nap. But as she did so, a little tune came to her mind.
"Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,
Dormez vous? Dormez vous?
Sonnez les matines, Sonnez les matines
Ding Ding Dong, Ding Ding Dong."
Scarlett was up early in the morning, caring for her 8 month old son. She was wearing levis and a oversized t-shirt, with bright fuzzy slippers that she got from a thrift store. Hey, just because she was a theif, doesn't mean she steals all the time. Currently as of right now, the Elite are in hiding.
Unfortunately, something went bad on their radar and SHIELD had the audacity to move them to California.
California.
The Golden State.
"Freaking California." Scarlett frowned.
There wasn't anything that was that bad about California, she just didn't like being near the Hollywood part of it all. At least SHIELD has them hiding out in the suburbs. She took the baby bottle out of the pot of water and tested it on her tongue. It was just the right temperature for her son. She spoke French around her son quite a bit, not wanting him to speak English just yet.
"Remy! J'ai votre bouteille prêt pour ..." She trailed off.
Not seeing her son anywhere near the high chair he was on. She dropped the bottle and frantically searched diligently for her son.
"Remy! Remy! Où êtes-vous?" She shouted.
She looked in every room of the one floor home. She checked the Living room, the family room, and a few of the bedrooms. She couldn't fin her son anywhere. She panicked.
"Remy!" She shouted as she went into a small room that served as a library.
She saw Azazel with the red-on-black eyed baby, giggling cutely as he was trying to catch the tail of the crimson skinned mutant.
"You found him!" She cried as she went over to her son.
She kneeled on the floor and pouted at the chubby baby.
"I not find him. He found me. Then proceeded to bite tail." Azazel frowned, as he had to gently pry the spaded tail out of the infant's hand.
Scarlett giggled and spoke to the baby as she gently placed him into her lap.
"Desole, Azazel. I was just warming up his bottle when he got out of his high chair. The little sneak." She cuddled her son.
His happy gurgles as he was still focused on the tail that was on the floor.
"Hmph, he may be as much thief as you are." Azazel chuckled. Scarlett rolled her eyes.
"Scarlett, I think you are missing this." Scarlett heard the southern voice of her best friend and greatest ally, Hanna, or often known as Renegade.
The wavy dark brown and white striped haired woman came into the library with bottle in hand. She was wearing levis as well but instead of a shirt, she wore a yellow and green tank top.
"Here you go." Hanna said as she handed off the bottle to Scarlett.
"Merci, Hanna. This little guy is becoming an handful." Scarlett sighed.
She did a lot with the baby she had. He would wake up at 3 in the morning like clockwork, cry for an hour, diaper change in another hour, and want food at 5. She would be up all night, but she did so with dignity. She is a single mom, and She will take it with pride, damn it. Hanna would offer to help take the night shifts to help her out with Remy, but Scarlett, being stubborn, said no.
"He is my child. He is my responsibility." She had said to Hanna one to many times.
Remy's little eyes lit up as the sight of the bottle and hastily reached out for it and making little pouting sounds.
"What an eager kid." Hanna said as Scarlett fed her son.
"My brothers were the same way, Hanna, mais il n'était pas en désordre comme ils étaient." Scarlett said as she propped her son on her arms.
Hanna chuckled.
"Well, you are doing pretty well so far. I say you get 'Mother of the Year.'" Hanna smiled.
"Yes, because we all know how great a mother Devil Eyes is." A British voice carried through the room.
Thomas Montmorency came into the room. He was dressed in everyday clothing, the addition of gloves were on his hands. He had that cocky smirk on his face and strode over to the group that had conglomerated in the library.
"At least I'm a better mother than yours, she didn't even teach you manners." Scarlett snapped back.
"My good manners only gravitate towards ladies. And you Scarlett, are not a lady." Thomas bantered, thinking he had the upper hand.
"Oh, I'm not a lady…I'm a woman." She smirked.
For the moment, Thomas was dumbfounded. He didn't have a comeback for that one.
"Uh-huh. Scarlett: One. Thomas: Zero." Scarlett quipped.
Hanna laughed at the assassin and thief.
"Okay you two, put aside your rivalry for a bit. I think someone is tired." Hanna pointed out.
Scarlett looked down at her son and he was starting to get fussy and wiggly. He kept rubbing his eyes.
"Yup. Mon fils is tired. He was up all night." Scarlett said sighing.
She got up with her son in arms and headed out of the library.
"See you later. I won't be awake until 5 in the evening." Scarlett chuckled.
"Mére!"
Scarlett turned sharply around as she saw her 1 and a half year old son shouted and reached out his arms to be picked up.
Scarlett's face light up like fireworks and grabbed her Polaroid camera. She took a picture of her son and placed the picture on the table top before swooping in and hugged her son close to her.
"Bonne! Hanna! Mon fils vient de dire son premier mot!" Scarlett said in glee.
"He said his first word!" Scarlett had so much joy; she thought her heart would burst.
"I heard." Hanna said as she was cleaning the kitchen up.
The men had the turn today to make dinner and it turned into a disaster area. She was still working on the oven. Hanna looked at Scarlett with a bright smile. "I'm going to teach him Frére Jacques next!" Scarlett said as she sat down on the floor (that is cleaned up) and Scarlett looked into her son's eyes and gently took his hands and moved them along with the song.
"Frère Jacques, frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous ? Dormez-vous ?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Ding, daing, dong. Ding, daing, dong."
She heard the giggles from her son as she kept singing the song over and over, but she never noticed the look on Hanna's face of happiness turning into sadness as her eyes turned gold.
Scarlett never noticed.
She was too engrossed in her son's giggling and smiling that she was oblivious to the outside world, and focused on her son, who is her world.
Scarlett's eyes turned murderous and glowing. She tossed cards at the Assailants that had come after her.
The Marauders.
Somehow, Essex had found her in California. A bounty on her head, and they wanted her son. She left Remy back with Hanna as Scarlett laid false trails over the country. Even popping over to Japan to shake them off. It was no use.
Arclight had a grin on her face as she punched the ground, shockwaves heading towards her. Scarlett took her staff and gathered enough energy in her body that her nose started to bleed. She slammed the tip of the staff into the ground, blowing up everything around her in sight. She was thrown back into a tree and she let out a shout of pain.
She coughed and coppery blood trickled out of her mouth. She had tears going down her face. She let out a choked sob. She shakily got up onto her feet and turned tail. No doubt that Arclight won't be getting up soon, but Scarlett was in pain.
She had lacerations on her body, a dislocated arm, possible broken ribs, and a twisted foot. She limped, but she kept going. She was never going to let Essex use HER son as a pawn in his sick twisted game. He has sent low-level thieves to kidnap her son once. The thieves that she had caught up with, she made sure that they were punished accordingly.
No one takes a member of the LaChance Family, and get's away with it. That was when she begged her team to help her leave false trails. She had a brilliant idea. She would take her son to New Orleans. It was the only place that Essex had never checked. It was official. She needed to go somewhere safe first then make some calls. She knew of only one intel that she knew was from her Guild that can take care of her son.
More tears flooded down her face.
When she had Remy, she promised him that she would raise him to be a great thief and man worthy of the LaChance family name…now…that dream and promise was shattered.
She kept on limping. She was low on her arsenal. She leaned on her staff for support. She was down to three cards, one dagger, and a few nails. She remembered begging Hanna to manipulate the future enough so that she could keep her son. She even said that she would break away from The Elite to raise him somewhere in the world that would be safe from Essex. Hanna had a look on her face that showed pain.
"Even if I could make that future work, it's impossible. I have tried that before. You know a metal cable that can only get stretched so far before it snaps back at you…and rips you to shreds." Hanna had said.
Scarlett had cried silently for many nights while her son was sleeping. He had turned two three months ago. She tripped and fell to the ground. She could feel the dirt scratch into her hands. Blood and tears mixed together.
"Spade!"
She heard someone up ahead. She looked up with bleary eyes and saw Renegade running to get to her. She jumped at her and as she connected with her body, the shadows surrounded them and teleported them out of the dark forest and into safety.
It was a rainy dark night. She never told the others where she was going, (Hanna might have an idea, she can see the future after all.) She was in the slums of New Orleans.
She was meeting up with Fagen. He was a high-level thief, who acted lower level. He preferred it that way. Fagen was basically the LaChance guild's informant; he would basically take in orphans and others and teach them how to survive on the streets, if they are lucky, the Thieves Guild would take them in. Tears were falling down her eyes and she held her sleeping child to her body, making sure he was still warm. She really didn't want to do this. She wanted to run away to Africa if that was the case and raise him, but she was still be hunted down.
She went near an abandoned warehouse and knocked on the doors three times and then two short raps. The door opened up and there was Fagen. He was an old man. Hunched over and dressed dirty, with yellowed teeth and a sneer. That was his disguise. She walked in and faced him.
"Fagen." She said as she held her child closer to her body.
"Miss Scarlett…nice to see de heir of de LaChance Guild. Y' must be desperate to come to m'." He said smiling mockingly.
Her eyes glowed dangerously.
"I came here to make sure mon fils will not be killed. This is his chance to survive." She hissed as she shifted the weight of the baby bag on her shoulders.
"Yes, yes, don' worry, princess, I'll make sure he won' gets killed." Fagen said nonchalantly.
"You better. Because you know what would happen if I find out." She smiled chillingly.
Fagen's relaxed stance suddenly tensed.
"Wha' are y'? An Assassin?" Fagen said with a slight fear in his voice.
"Maybe, but I will kill you if anything bad happens to him. Do you understand?" She said still smiling.
Fagen shivered and nodded. He then held out his arms for the receiving of her son. She looked down at his peaceful state; she was giving him up to save him. One day…she will come back for him. She gently kissed his forehead before reluctantly handing him over. Fagen was holding the child as if he was a glass item. She placed the baby bag down by him and nodded at him, the tears still streaming down her face. Her throat was tight and she didn't want to leave Remy with this low-life.
"Remember Fagen, anything happens…I will know." She said trembling.
Fagen gave her a look of pity.
"Yeah, yeah, go. I'll take real good care of 'im." He said gruffly.
Scarlett turned away and headed to the doors. She stopped at the opening and looked out in the rain. If she looked back, she wouldn't have the guts to leave her son on the streets. She let out a silent sob and ran. She ran as if her life had depended on it. She needed out of New Orleans. She was never coming back until all was clear with her team.
The rain came down even more. The droplets were crashing onto her. Her thoughts went back to Remy.
'Was he cold when I gave him to Fagen?'
'Will he eat enough?'
'Will he get by?'
'Will he have a better family?'
'A better mother?'
All these thoughts ran through her mind as she ran all the way to the airport. If she came across The Marauders now, she was done for. Her heart ached and she tripped, falling painfully, onto the gravel and skinned her hands and knees. She cried. She cried loudly into the night. Grieving at that fact that she gave away her son. She sobbed and pressed her hands to her eyes.
She would never forgive herself.
Scarlett woke up on her bed and sat up abruptly. She could feel something wet on her face. Tears? Where are there tears on her face? She left her bedroom to go to the bathroom and saw her eyes. They were puffed up and she couldn't stop crying; all that pain and all that heartbreak.
She knew why she was cold to Remy earlier. She didn't want to feel anything. She wanted control. All those memories came rushing back to the forefront of her mind. A fresh wave of tears ran down her face. She didn't cry out or sob; she just let her tears out. She gripped the counter tightly. She would explain everything to him. She will tell him everything if he asks.
She chuckled bitterly. She knew what he felt. Anger and frustration.
She felt inside of her pockets and she still has his pack of cards and his master's staff. She would give them back. But it won't be easy.
She cleaned up her face and looked herself in the eye and spoke,
"Il est votre fils Scarlett ... même s'il ne veut pas vous écouter et même vous renier, il est toujours votre fils."
She took a deep breath and headed to the library.
She was a LaChance.
If her namesake has any luck, she would need it.
TAL21: Son of a- FUS RO DA! *Lasers go everywhere* Okay…i think i'm done screaming now…i will not let NaNoWriMo kick my butt. Seriously, it really is kicking my butt here…But i'm not giving up! So more of Scarlett and Gambit's past is revealed to you guys (What the hell happened in New Orleans all those years ago?) I literally had tears coming-out of my eyes as i was writing Scarlett's past. Guess what, looks like i'm gonna have to make a good length of chapters between the parents and the children. I never thought that Scarlett and Gambit would take up THREE CHAPTERS! SHOW STEALERS! Anyways, I really hoped you liked this chapter! I worked pretty hard on this chapter and i hope it satisfied you! I had to look back on some of the information for Gambit's background (Let's face it, he has many), so i hoped that it was satisfactory for you! Anyways, things are going well for this story and things are going to be awesome! Now onto the SHOUT OUTS!:
Yuki: Wow! That's actually a really interesting opinion you have there, and i accept it! XD Now i will explain a little bit here. Scarlett was nonchalant, as you put it, to Remy, because she was trying to not be a mess. Scarlett hardly ever breaks down unless she has been pushed to the breaking point. Meeting her son again in that Hall, she made sure to act as chill as possible. Anyways, thank you for your Review! :D
lilywhitlockhaletheblackrose: Oh yes, there will be *Spoilers* and *Spoilers*. Trust me, i'd rather work on Sexy and charming Gambit, rather than angry Gambit. I do real well with sexy and charming men, emotional, not so much. So this is a challenge for me. As for Scarlett's interactions with the Elite Members, i have to include them in, they are a big part of her life. As for Belladonna, she will be coming up in passing. He left New Orleans to get away from being a tool by both guilds basically. Thank you for reviewing! :D
NZReviwer: Hehe…a coincidence huh? Well yeah, it's cliche in a way, but i like the idea. I haven't seen it being used before so why not give it a shot. As for Logan and the others, they will be coming along quite soon. Trust me, it's going to be big! Thank you for Reviewing! :D
ZellaStormz: Yeah, i didn;t want Scarlett to be all, 'Hey BTW i'm ur mom!' Yeah no…i don't go that way. Things are going to be interesting in the next chapter.
TAL21: That's it for the Shout Outs! I hope you guys have enjoyed the chapter! :D The next one is the big moment! What is going to happen between mother and son!? It's going to be explosive and dangerous! Let's just hope that the library can sustain damage at least! Did you like it? Did you hate it? LEAVE YOUR REVIEWS AND OPINIONS PLEASE! :D See you next chapter!
QUESTION TIME!: Why did you decide to read this story? (Ie: Was it the summary? The Plot? The Characters? The Questions?) And Why?
KEEP ON READING AND WRITING! :D