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Chapter 4: The faraway voyages.
"I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each other's dreams, we can play together all night." A.A. Milne.
"In dreams, emotions are overwhelming". The Science of Sleep.
"So, p'tite, was dis yer card?" Remy showed an eight of spades for everyone around him to see: Kitty, Kurt, Jamie, Jubilee, Evan and three or four other kids Rogue had absorbed long time ago, when she still didn't understand what was happening to her, what kind of poison had taken control of her skin. One of them was only twelve or thirteen years old.
"How did you do that?!" Kitty shrieked, snapping the card out of his hand and examining it like it was some sort of treasure.
"Easy as pie, p'tite" he laid back on his chair, shuffling cards.
Rogue had been watching them for a couple of minutes, and even though she was behind Remy and damn, inside her own mind, she didn't know either how he pulled that trick off. This time, they were in a white, large room, of edges and walls she couldn't really see; it seemed infinite, with only five metallic tables and some people gathered around them. Scott, Hank, even Magneto and Mystique were wandering around, as well as other… ghosts, random psyches of people she never even liked to think of; let alone, to talk to.
"Havin' fun?" Remy turned around and met her face, a smile on it and a look of expectation in her eyes.
"Wouldn't quite say dat, cherie, but when y' leave poor ol' Remy alone, what else's he supposed t' do?" Kurt was attempting to shuffle cards as Remy had taught him, but he was definitely not succeeding: all of them popped out of his hands, causing laughs and "boo's!" around him. "Hey if y' can't beat 'em, join 'em, non?"
"Ah guess so" Rogue conceded. In the subconscious, in the deepest levels of sleep, truth is almost tangible and so clear. So much, that she had no trouble admitting it to herself: she was glad to see him, too. It felt like being here, hidden in this other universe, was better than reality itself. And even more real.
"Wanna try a lil' somethin'?" he winked at her. She loved it when he did that: when he winked, sure, but also when he introduced her to things she had never envisioned.
"All right, Ah'm up for anythin' today".
"Ow!" he raised his brows: "I like dat".
She laughed, as he led her away from kids and card tricks and wandering people, onto the deep emptiness of this bare white place.
"So, what is it?" she asked and her voice felt strange, maybe because there was no echo in this place; not even for their steps.
"Dere anywhere y've always wanted to go, but haven't?"
"Am…"
"'Cause we should go dere, see, I wanna go where y' want t' be de most. Where y'… dream of". He seemed so determined, so sure of it, of everything. So the slightest doubt she could still have about him, disappeared at the sound of those words.
"Okay, sugah: buckle up".
And they were gone.
So quickly, they didn't realize when Kitty vanished in the air, leaving behind an unfinished four-store house of cards.
(…)
The cruise moved slowly down the river. Rogue sat at the prow, summer's sunlight hitting her bare legs, 'cause she was wearing short shorts. Notre Dame was at her right, colossal and marvelous.
"So, Paris?" he said, making himself comfortable in his seat. Now he wore a white shirt and blue jeans that fitted him… just… perfect.
"Yeah, Paris. Or maybe Ah should say: oui".
Remy smirked at the sound of French in her lips: "Chère, y' say one more word in French an' Remy'll have t' crawl out of dis brain of yours, go kick real Remy in de ass an' tell 'im t' go get y'."
"Oh really?" La Cociergerie was approaching, grey and majestic: "Yah think real Remy'd want me? Yah know, a girl he can't touch an' those little details?"
"Real Remy'd be a gigantic idiot if he didn't want y'. I'm sure he'd be crazy 'bout y'… like I am". She smiled sadly and shook her head, turning to see a group of grey ducks that made their way close to the bank of the river, like small canoes. "What, don't believe me?"
"Actually, Ah do… believe yah, an' that's even scarier", she ran her fingers through her hair, trying to put it in order, but the wind had other plans: "See, Remy… Ah'm not normal, am Ah? Ah know Ah'll never have a guy an'… all those things that happen in movies. It just ain't happenin' for me".
"Y' shouldn't be so sure of dat."
"Why not?" she shrugged.
"'Cause someone might love y' so much as t' find a solution for dat. Dere must be a solution".
"There isn't".
"Dere must be!" He leaned closer to her: "Cherie, we're in Paris right now! Y' bring a whole roller coaster out of nowhere, an' so on. See all y' can do with yer mind? Maybe it's more mighty dan y' think".
Rogue looked away again:
"Ah don't know".
"But I do know" he sentenced. She couldn't avoid his gaze anymore after this: "An' listen, I know y' won't r'member any of dis t'morrow when y' wake up, an' I don't even wanna think 'bout my real, stupid self, who has no clue y' exist. But…" The cruise passed under a bridge, and its shadow covered them for few seconds, the sound of small waves against the stone pillars echoing everywhere: "But dere's dis one thing I gotta do".
"What?"
"As I said b'fore: trust".
And she didn't see the Eiffel Tower approaching, her vision sinking in him, in his lips on hers and how warm they felt, because they didn't feel like a ghost's. This was reality, this was a dream, this was his stubble on her chin and his hands gently holding her neck, while the whole wide world, real and unreal, spun and disappeared in perfect madness.
"X-Men, this is a blue code call. I repeat: a blue code call."
"Uh…?"
(…)
"X-Men, this is a blue code call, I repeat: a blue code call. Ten minutes".
It always startled her to hear Professor Xavier's voice inside her head; how is anyone supposed to get used to something like that? Especially when you are sleeping and it's…
"2 a.m.? Oh God!" Kitty complained, rubbing her eyes.
After taking a deep breath, Rogue jumped out of bed. Oddly enough, her head felt light and fresh, like she'd just slept ten hours straight, instead of only two or three.
Fifteen minutes later, the two girls hopped on the Black Bird, which was getting ready to take off.
"You both are five minutes late". Logan's greets were always so warm and welcoming.
Rogue opened her mouth to reply but Cyclops didn't let her:
"We'll discuss that later. Everyone to your seats, now".
It seemed everyone only included Scott, Jean, Storm, Logan, Kitty and herself.
"Where's everybody else?" Rogue asked, as she fastened her seat belt.
"For this mission, we've only called strictly necessary forces" she heard Scott's voice coming from the front of the plane, in the controls.
"Lucky us, then". She said this out of habit, but the truth is that she didn't feel annoyed at all, as she usually would have. There was strange feeling of excitement, running all over her body.
"Now, please listen carefully," it was Storm who started to speak this time: "We are heading to a Federal facility, where the government keeps top secret information about mutants: names, location, associations…"
"Even our underwear, they keep it in there" Logan huffed.
"And that's why it should not be in the wrong hands".
"Stormy" he added: "They classify us like lab rats. When they stop doing that, maybe, and only maybe, I'll start considering them as the right side to be on".
Storm glared at him before continuing: "The Bureau for Mutant Research or BMR, in a clandestine organization that indeed and literally treats mutants like lab rats, or worst. We have learnt they have even performed experiments on mutants." Rogue saw Kitty crossing her arms tight across her chest at the sound of this. "That is why we must avoid them to have access to this sort of information". The Black Bird flew so steadily, it seemed like they were still on firm ground. "Unfortunately, some mutants do not care about this."
"In the screens in front of your seats you will see the person who is now entering the Federal Building we're going to. We need to stop him from getting the info, because we think he will sell it to the BMR" Scott pointed out.
An image was uploading in the small touch screen in front of Rogue's seat.
"Wait a goddamn second!" Logan grunted: "I've seen this cretin before."
"Do you know him?"
"Yeah, he was in the middle of my way in that mission, couple weeks ago. Remember, Stripes?"
The image was already there, in front of her. And even though she never saw his face, she knew who Logan was talking about:
"Yeah… Ah think".
"His name is Remy LeBeau" Storm added: "Or… Gambit".
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