I promised gore. I WILL GODDAMN GIVE YOU GORE.
-
Remy LeBeau didn't have any more beliefs in gods. He didn't have a fear of damnation. He didn't have a thirst for redemption. He didn't have demons to cower from. He didn't have angels to take shelter with.
What he did have was a scary pair of eyes, a cold black hole that he was positive took up residence in the place his heart used to live, and a life story.
She was confused. In pain. Concerned. Nothing he could work with.
Shame crawled up his spine as he took a light breath, letting the air linger for a moment on his blood stained lips before he had to seal the fate of everyone in that room. He looked down at the girl in his lap. The soft silence ended too quickly with the hard truth.
"Le Diable Blanc was born in a hospital in Louisiana. I could never find out exactly where. For a child, everything is pure and untainted, completely innocent in intentions and values, and I'm sure for a half a heart beat, he had it too. The naivety. The innocence. And then he had to open his damn eyes. His parents wanted absolutely nothing to do with the demon they had created. He grew up on the streets. Thin. Weak. Desperate. Everything was competition. Got as many black eyes and broken bones as he gave. Picking pockets so that you could make your meals and making your meals so that you could pick pockets. Now this boy, this fool of a child, was good at it. He played the street like a game of cards. Called bluffs. Saw tells. Opportunities.
"He died trying to take advantage of one of these 'opportunities'."
She was understanding. She knew what the streets felt like. Being reduced to stealing. Dammit.
"Remy LeBeau sprung into existence the very second Jean Luc LeBeau wrapped his hand around the kid's wrist, and to his never ending shock, grinned. Remy LeBeau was allowed a rarity. A family. Smiles. Warmth. Safety. But not peace. Never peace. But it was close. So close he could almost taste it. And all he needed to get it was a ring. An engagement ring.
"Beginning, middle, end- it didn't work out. Remy LeBeau died the same day he presented that pretty blond with that little gold ring. In the back room, her brother was on the phone with a very important man, discussing the mutant problem.
"Remy was my favorite.
"I miss him."
The pain in her chest tripled as she took a sharp breath, momentarily distracting her from feeling anything beyond white hot pain. One step forward two steps back.
"Experiment number 952643 took his first breath the second he walked out of that house and ran into a man named Victor. 952643 started the fight. Victor ended it. 952643 woke up on 'The Island'. He was there for two years. Getting cut up. Getting injected. Don't know what they were looking for. Don't much care, to be honest. Nights were dark. Days were darker. His life was more of a smudge of pain and blood than an actual existence. Slicing at his eyes. Burning things against his skin. But, he was still a clever kid.
"For scientist, they weren't a very perceptive bunch. He broke off the tip of the needle inside his skin. I suppose they were too busy sticking in more needles to notice. He had to dig it out later. Spent an hour and a half digging deep into his own skin to get the entire damn piece out. The he picked the lock one-handed.
"He died the second he snuck out of that place.
"He just didn't know it yet."
She was shocked and appalled and understanding.
"He hoped that Remy was back. That everything was going to be alright.
"And then Julien Bordereaux had to interfere. Cornered the kid. Decided to put out a cigarette on his arm.
"Julien Bordereaux died the same night that Pawn opened his eyes.
"Pawn needed a little help and was wiling to sell his soul to get it. He was a bastard. Plain and simple. He did everything and anything asked of him in an attempt to square away his debts, which for all intents and purposes, were impossible to be rid of.
"Pawn evolved into Killer.
"Killer grew to Monster.
"All of them had three things in common. They were liars and thieves. They all answered to 'Gambit'."
She was willing. Willing to understand. Willing to soothe.
"I am a liar.
"I am a thief.
"I've caused the deaths of dozens of people. Innocent people.
"I've personally killed a few others.
"I've lied to you."
There. A flash of hurt. A hint of reproach. Remy locked in on it.
"I have enhanced agility and a mild empathy. I was in Baltimore to steal a painting. The scars on my eyes are from the scientists. The burn on my arm is from Julien. The scar on my chest is from a harpoon aimed for my life."
Offended. Insecure. He urged the emotions forward, denying her any control over them.
"I've lied to you and I've stole your time ever since you met me."
Vehemence. He added more fuel to the fire.
"I'm using you."
Fury. He pushed her emotions farther out of control.
"For what, I'm not to sure of. You almost made me feel human. More like a Remy, less like a Gambit.
"Don't matter.
"Sins are still sins when there's an explanation for them."
Disgust. He pressed forward.
"Face it, chere. You laid your trust in a bastard."
Malice.
"And it ain't gonna get you anywhere but dead."
Anna Marie D'Ancanto was thoroughly pissed off.
Logan 'The Wolverine' Howlett was thoroughly pissed off.
John 'Pyro' Allerdyce was thoroughly pissed off.
Bobby 'IceMan' Drake was thoroughly pissed off.
Only Piotr Rasputin and Erik Lensherr kept their cool.
Rogue's body had gone completely rigid while he was talking. Her muscles locked, her bones set, her teeth clenched, her breath held. The throbbing of the pain in her chest echoed her heart beat, pushing the blood throughout her body so that it seeped out of the cuts in her skin. Pooled in the bruises all over her body. None of these pains compared to the burning in her head.
How dare he! She snarled. Her fists clenched tighter.
Logan fumed silently. Dangerously.
Sonofabitch! John was itching to get his hands around Remy's throat. For the first time in perhaps history, Bobby was in complete agreement.
Calm yourselves! Erik snapped. The boy is obviously trying to manipulate a response. He said he had empathy. Your emotions had been forced into this state.
Which is just another goddamn thing we owe him for. Bobby griped, completely unfazed by this logic.
But now he has told the truth, Piotr tried to argue. He is not lying to you any more.
Rogue felt herself calm slightly of her own accord.
Remy struggled for a tighter grip on her emotions.
The anger flared back up.
Whispers. In her head. In her thoughts.
Aww, isn't that cute. She really liked him didn't she?
Poor, poor, little Marie.
Did the big bad boy lie to you, Marie?
Remy watched her brow crease familiarly. Her eyes press shut painfully. His plan was working. As much as it was hurting him it was working. Slowly, mind you, but working.
She fought again to gain command of her emotions, but Remy pushed them farther out of control.
Told you he wouldn't miss you, Marie.
He doesn't even like you, Marie.
Who would?
The metal around her wrists distorted almost imperceptibly.
She squeezed her eyes shut harder.
Remy watched her anxiously, wincing every time her emotions spiked, black eyes filled with pain. Even though he'd forced her there, her hatred still hurt.
Rogue bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.
Remy kept his eyes on her, even as Blockbuster hustled his way back in through the door.
"As fun as this story time has been," Sinister cut in, having been at ease to watch Gambit hurt the only person who was giving a damn about him at the moment, blissfully unaware of his plan. Sinister had a vague grasp of the normal person's state of mind, something that came in very handy when he was manipulating. He was very sure that he had Gambit pinned down like a butterfly corpse on cork. Tacked up on a wall to be manipulated to the owner's whims. He knew Gambit was expecting him to make the final move in the game of wits he'd engaged in. End it. Once and for all. Sinister just assumed this was a desperate move from the man to have a clear conscience before it was over.
He was half right.
"We have to be moving on." He continued, smirking as he opened his palm, waiting for the mammoth man to drop the small box he had just retrieved into his hand.
Poor Poisoned Marie.
Lusting after Liars.
A strangled sound escaped Rogue's throat.
Remy cringed as he felt the new emotions pile on. Added shame ran through his center as he urged them out of control.
His plan was working.
But not fast enough.
"Tell me, Gambit," Sinister lifted a syringe out of the box. Remy's blood ran colder than it already was. "Do you remember what you were being tested for on that island?"
Silly little freak, Marie.
Remy ground his teeth together and tried to avoid looking at the pointed tip of the needle. "Something' 'bout mind control." He growled, trying to buy enough time.
It escaped everyone's notice the small amount of fog that billowed from his lips.
"You're very close." Sinister smirked.
Vampiric monster, Marie.
"The X-gene reacts uniquely to certain toxins and chemical introduced to the system," He continued to explain, unaware of the ticking time bomb. "Making previously implausible opportunities, such as thought reform, become incredibly conceivable."
The dull throbs of pain in her chest started to fade.
"Do you remember what it was like to lose complete control?" Sinister's smile was sharp enough to cut through the waves of horror radiating off of Remy.
Marie…
"Taking orders without a choice."
Remy's coal and blood eyes went wide with absolute panic as he was hauled upright again and pinned to the wall, struggling in vain as the needle was lowered closer to his neck.
"My orders, Pawn."
Marie…
The needle snapped before it made contact with skin.
"My name is not Marie."
"What?" The six standing looked at the girl sitting on the ground with taut muscles and a face composed of stone, confused. Sinister dropped Remy and turned his full attention to the girl.
Her eyes snapped open.
Pitch Black.
The shackles around her wrists and ankles contorted out of place as she wrenched her arms around in front of her, using them to vault herself forward, combat boots connecting with Blockbuster's jaw. The mammoth man tried to get a grip on her, but she twisted out of the way, forcing her hands against the ground long enough it turned to ice before standing and casting out her leg in a arching motion so that it united sharply with the floor.
Shards of ice scattered in every direction, embedding themselves into any flesh or soft tissue they came into contact with.
Blockbuster howled in pain, hands clutched over what had been his eye a few seconds ago, but now was a mess of destroyed tissue, soaking blood, and pieces of ice.
"Bitch!" He shouted, absolutely furious.
He looked up at her with his one eye and felt any feeling other than absolute dread leave him as the welts and cuts on her skin closed seamlessly.
She cocked back her leg and let fly a kick directly aimed at his mess of a face.
The other Marauders scrambled to regain their composure and get at to the girl standing in the center of the room.
Harpoon leapt at her, only to be intercepted by the steel-toed boot of Remy LeBeau, breaking his jaw.
"I do believe you and I have to have a little chat." Remy growled, the welts that the destroyed manacles had left on his wrists were red and raw.
"Been lookin' forward to it." Harpoon slurred, spitting some blood onto the ground.
Rogue stood solidly in the center of the room, black eyes watching the three squaring up around her with cool calculation and outright malice.
"Alright, kid." Riptide rolled his neck, releasing the tension built in his muscles. "Just stand down and we won't have to hurt you."
"I find it a very sad day when my fellow mutants don't know when to fight," Rogue smirked, southern accent converted momentarily to something smoother. "And when to flee for their lives."
Archlight struck out first, fist soaring through the air at Rogue with what surely would have been a killing blow to her skull.
Too bad it never connected.
A metal shaft from the ceiling shot downward, piercing the fist straight through the palm.
"Sonovabitch!" Riptide burst, watching Archlight scream in agony, tugging at the impaled hand, not being able to tear herself loose. Rogue leapt into to the air, Riptide took a step back out of shock at her sudden move. Her hands connected with the ground at his feet as she threw out her legs in his direction, using just her arms to launch herself back into to air, twisting so that not only did she take him out in a spectacularly graceful move, she landed on her feet lightly.
"It's just you and me then," Vertigo grinned, the smoke billowing from her cigarette gave her eyes a scalding glow.
"No," Rogue shook her head. "It's just me."
Vertigo threw out her arms at Rogue.
Her world tilted.
She went to her knees.
"Not so tough when you don't know which way is up, huh?" Vertigo giggled.
Rogue's stomach wretched.
Vertigo's boot connected with her ribs, shattering the barely healed fractures.
"You…" Rogue gasped.
"I what?" Vertigo sneered, knocking the ash off of the cigarette, exposing the red hot end.
"Really shouldn't smoke, shelia." Rogue chuckled. "Those things 'll kill ya."
The end of the cigarette exploded to flames and the shrill of Vertigo's screaming as she was consumed by inferno and the smell of burning hair and flesh became the only things detectable by the senses.
Which is why Rogue didn't notice Riptide get back up until the sharp pain of a bone spike shooting through her leg interrupted her insane cackle.
"You don't know who you're dealing with!" Riptide crowed, bruises already blooming across his face in the shape of her boots
"No," Rogue took a deep, collective breath. "I am thinking it is you who is the one that does not know who they are dealing with."
With a shout of fury and a swirl of mutation, Riptide let fly a barrage of spikes in her direction.
They connected with her stomach with a metallic clang.
The laugh that escaped Rogue's lips as the metal crawled across her skin held nothing short of cruelty.
She reached out faster than a flash, taking a hold of Riptide's neck, the metal coating protecting him from her deadly skin as she twisted.
There was a cull crunch and a wet gagging sound as she snapped his neck.
There was no remorse in her black eyes.
"You bitch!" Archlight yelled, hand still impaled on the metal shaft that was now slicked with blood. "When I get out of here-!"
A triplet set of bone claws snapped out of Rogue's fist and made quick friends with Archlight's jugular.
That's enough! Someone screamed inside of her head. It sounded an awful lot like her voice. No more! I don't want anymore blood on my hands!
The psyches receded back into her mind.
Her black eyes faded back to green.
A sad, empty green.
-
Harpoon wheeled his weapon of choice in his fingers, cocking his head to the side with a stupid grin that went well with the bruise on his chin.
Remy looked around for something he could use as ammunition.
The blade of the harpoon sliced through the air, radiating a red color as it cut deeply through Remy's chest and it felt like he had been burned rather than stabbed.
"Au diable ce!" Remy snarled, stripping off his shirt as he duckedunder another swipe of harpoon, simultaneously charging it to an almost impossible level. He came up twisting violently into a kick to Harpoon's chest, sending the larger man to the ground. Working quickly, he tied the furiously glowing shirt around his neck. "Dites bonjour au diable pour moi," He called, backing up quickly with one hand across his open chest. "il ya des chances que lui et je vais bientôt rencontrer."
An explosion echoed off of the walls, splattering blood across anything that wasn't fast enough to get out of the way.
Panting heavily, Remy LeBeau sunk to the ground. Everything about him hurt.
You- His conscience started, but he shut it down.
Too tired to deal with that. Too much pain.
Goddammit, his chest hurt.
Remy looked around with a quickly blurring sight. He struggled to stand again, losing his grip across his chest because of all the slippery blood smeared across his body.
"Rogue?" He coughed out. "Rogue!"
"I'm here." A voice came from behind him. He turned quickly on his heel.
Rogue looked up at him with empty eyes.
"Chere?" He put a hand on her shoulder and was completely relived when she didn't shrug it away.
"I-." She choked on a sob. "I killed them." She smacked his arm away. "You made me kill them! You manipulated my emotions!"
"It was the only way -."
"No!" She shook her head violently, white and brown hair flying in every direction. "I don't wanna hear it from you! You lied to me and you used me."
"Don't blame the boy." The shadows spoke. Sinister stepped out into the gory light. "You are very good at killing." He observed the mess with a dark smile. "You could be very useful to me. My offer to you still stands."
Rogue looked at him.
Her eyes fluxed to black.
-
Bobby Drake paced anxiously around the cabin of the Blackbird, his ice skin proclaimed him to be very irritated at the moment.
"Where the hell is she?" He snapped, looking out the window down below.
"We're almost there." Storm said for what seemed like the hundredth time.
"Where is 'there'?" Bobby snapped.
There was an explosion down on the ground.
"I'm just gonna take a wild guess and say 'there' is there." Jubilee watched the explosion.
"Aw, shit." Logan slammed his head into the wall.
The Blackbird was immediately landed.
"Y' didn' havta blow up the entire place!" Remy hopped around, attempting to put out the fire on his pant leg.
"You're right." Rogue snapped. "I should have lied and used someone else to blow it up."
Pant leg successfully extinguished, Remy LeBeau was now free to grovel for forgiveness.
"Rogue," He started.
"Rogue!" Bobby ran through the wreckage, putting out fires as he went. Rogue let him put his arms around her, neither accepting nor denying her ex-boyfriend the ability to touch her.
Remy bristled, but kept it to himself. He had no more claim over the girl.
"Remy!" Ororo dashed over what had probably once been a wall.
He looked up, and after a few tries, saw her among his fading vision.
"Remy! You're bleeding!"
"Really?" He looked down at his chest. Which was red. "Well… merde."
The ground pitched forward and he fell.
-
You are now free to consume your fudge muffins.
Au diable ce! - To hell with this!
Dites bonjour au diable pour moi, il ya des chances que lui et je vais bientôt rencontrer.- Say hello to the devil for me, chances are he and I will soon meet.