Ororo Munroe watched the girl shuffle around on her feet nervously and found it hard to believe it was the same girl who had run away a year prior.
The streets had not been kind. She looked so much thinner than Storm remembered, so worn and vulnerable. Her clothes were almost threadbare. Her shirt was torn and spattered with blood. That wasn't the part that concerned Ororo, it's that, if the girl had anything else to wear, she would have put that on. Her eyes were dark, not with make up, but with lack of sleep. The air about her sent a spiked message -Stay away-.The message had been loud and clear a year ago, but now it seemed like almost a threat. She was still the shy, insecure young woman she had been when she tore out of the mansion, only now, it seemed like she understood the evil that was out there, and instead of fearing it, she had adapted.
"Rogue." Storm gently took the younger woman's hand. "It's very good to see you."
Rogue chewed on her lip nervously. Was she afraid of rejection?
"Have you come back to stay?" Storm asked hopefully. Charles Xavier would have wanted to redeem the world in the eyes of this girl, and so, Storm would make it her mission to do so.
"If I can." Rogue said tentatively, still avoiding eye contact with the white haired weather goddess.
"I know that the X-men would greatly appreciate your return." Ororo offered with a smile.
"Really?" Rogue brightened.
Ororo laughed. "I know that Piotr desperately misses fighting someone with the same power as him and I think Warren just wants to drop you on people again."
Rogue laughed and Storm was happy to see a humanizing blush creep into her face.
"Do you need some clothes?" She asked after the laughter faded.
Rogue self-consciously covered up the blood stains and easily recognizable triple slashes in an attempt to protect Logan. She slowly nodded her head.
"Alright." Ororo said gently, knowing that she shouldn't force anything onto her. "Would you like to borrow one of my shirts until we get a chance to get you some new things?"
Rogue slowly nodded her head again.
"Alright," She repeated and purposely wrapped her arm around her shoulders, guiding Rogue out of the room. "Everything is going to be-."
"Chere!" There was a flurry of movement down the halls and Ororo could almost feel the younger girl bloom under her hand with happiness. "I've been havin' a little trouble finding yourroom, and MonsieurClaws won't leave me alone!" The man indicated a Logan-shaped figure creeping in the shadows behind him.
"Remy?" Storm did a double take at the young man.
He turned to her.
"Stormy?" His red on black eyes flicked over her. Yep, that was Remy alright.
He nearly tackled her with a warm, sexless, hug.
"Stormy!"
"I told you not to call me 'Stormy'!" Storm snipped before she could stop herself, Remy always brought out the child in her.
"Oh, please." He scoffed, releasing her. "You love'Stormy'."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
Storm crossed her arms and pouted. "I'm still older than you!"
"I'm still bigger than you!" He drew himself up to his full height, which was a good few inches above Ororo's.
Storm stuck her tongue out at him.
Rogue and Logan stood by, completely stunned by watching the thirty-something headmistress of the Xavier Institute get into a playground fight with a twenty-something man.
Where had the logic gone?
"Are you staying?" Storm asked, still pouting slightly.
"Only if I'm welcomed." He bowed deeply in a gesture of mock formality.
"Any mutant is allowed here." She said. "Unless they happen to be theRemy LeBeau."
"That's rich considering his protégé runs the place." He laughed.
"Protégé?" Rogue asked suddenly.
"What now, chere?"Remy pretended he hadn't heard the girl.
"You called her your protégé." Rogue attempted to clarify. "Protégé of what, exactly?"
"Me an' Stormy go way back." Remy gave her that not-an-answer. Ororo watched him carefully, but decided that it was Remy prerogative to disclose details about his past to his friends.
"Do you secretly know all of the X-men?" Logan snorted at Remy.
"Only the pretty ones." He smiled at Rogue as he slung one of his arms around her shoulder and gave her a light squeeze. "…And you." He said to Logan.
Whoa- Backtrack!
Was Remy LeBeau -the sleazy snake-charmer Storm knew and fought with- flirting with an untouchable girl? She immediately retracted her early thought about it being his prerogative about anything if he was choosing to get mixed up with Rogue.
"Rogue," Storm was suddenly serious again. "Go change your shirt. Remy, I need to see you in my office. Right. Now."
Remy mumbled something about how he would rather go with Rogue to change her shirt, but followed her nonetheless.
The echoing of Logan's growl reverberated around the halls as Storm slammed the door to her office closed.
"Remy LeBeau!" Storm barked as soon as the door shut. "I don't know what you're doing here, but you're leaving this instant! There is no way I am going to stand back and let you play your game with that girl!"
Remy kept his damn irritating cool, leaning against one of the walls next to the window; the sunlight glanced off his hair, as if in an attempt to make him look angelic. A vision that was significantly marred by the spark in his demon eyes.
"I don't know what game you're talking 'bout, Stormy."
"Yes you do!" Storm nearly shouted. "I've seen you play it with women ever since I can remember! You make them fall in love with you and then you just leave them in the dust, because everyone just has to be as miserable as you, don't they? That girl, the one you were flirting with out there, has been through more levels of hell than you could even comprehend, and she doesn't need you to add to it."
"Like Bobby did." He tacked onto the end of her sentence.
"Yes." Storm sighed. "Like Bobby did."
Remy waited for her to say something else.
"Look," She obliged finally. "You know that I would have no problem with you here if I knew you would listen to me and leave her alone.But, I know you. There is a better chance of snow in hell than Remy LeBeau taking orders." She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "The last time she finally started trusting someone, we lost her for a year when he betrayed her. Now the only person she trusts enough to touch is Logan, and Logan would never hurt her. I want a chance to help her, and that's not going to happen if you're around."
Remy contemplated this.
"Wrong." He said after a moment.
"I'm sorry?" Storm tried to understand his meaning.
"Since I met that girl I've seen her steal, run, and bleed. Do you know how many of those things were my fault?" He demanded. "None of 'em. All of those things happened because of her 'friends'. I haven't done a single thing to hurt that girl- In fact, she touched me."
"She… touched… you?" Ororo was stunned.
Remy held out his hand as if it were proof.
Storm looked up at him suddenly. Her eyes were white. Lightning crackled above her head.
"You haven't even told her about Belle, have you?" Her tone offered no space for him to interject his own words. "Or Jean Luc. Henri? Mercy? Etienne? What about all of the things you've done?"
"Well, it hasn't really come up yet."
"If you hurt this girl, Remy, I will personally shoot you with lightning in a veryunfriendly place, shortly followed by-." Her threat was cut short by a bright red light, but there had been breathing room in that threat, an 'if'.
Storm literallygrowled at Remy while she picked up a small piece of technology that had been laying on her desk and Remy was reminded of a mother bear about to kill something threatening her young.
Good lord, that woman is frightening.Remy thought to himself.
Maybe she's right.His conscience mumbled. She's probably be better off with an all- American boy scout then a Cajun thief.
Shut. Up.Remy responded roughly. You see, this is why I ignore you. Trying to put these bad ideas in my head. I am not leaving ma chere alone with these people. They already messed up once and it nearly killed her.
Storm slammed the little x-shaped device back down on the table, before picking it back up, slamming it down several more times in a fit of rage, holding it back up, clicked it open and regained composure before putting it to her ear.
"Logan," She said into the 'x', still not acknowledging Remy's existence yet. "Grab Rogue and get suited up. We have an issue. Get Bobby, Piotr, Warren, and Kitty While your at it."
Pause.
"What do you mean Bobby's unconscious?"Strom's eyes were completely white.
And now, for Remy LeBeau's graceful exit!He thought while backing up to the window.
"Don't you dare move!" Storm glared at him. Suddenly her smile turned honey-sweet. "If you're going to be staying here, you are going to have to earn your keep." She tossed him a device similar to the one she had just tried to destroy.
He caught the silver 'x' deftly and began to fiddle with it. It looked like a communicator…
"Welcome to the X-men, Remy LeBeau."