New Beginning
By: Marina StormFire
X-Men: Evolution songfic

Summary: My own version of "Cajun Spice".

Disclaimer: I don't own ANYTHING… except my ideas and a stuffed dog. ^_^;;;

Chapter 2: New Orleans, Louisiana

3 hours later, Remy couldn't wait until Rogue woke up, so he started shaking her gently awake. He was awarded with a soft moan and her clouded emerald eyes blinking open, at first confused, but then cleared with recognition. "Are we there yet?" she asked, as she looked out across the boxcar at the open doorway.

"Nearly. 'bout 'not'er hour yet." He replied, as he helped her sit up from her laid-flat place on the boxcar floor. He remained kneeling in front of her, as he watched her yawn and stretch leisurely. Her green eyes locked on his crimson.

"'S there a problem, Swamp Rat?" she asked, as she saw something in his devilish-red eyes, and then uncertainty. She saw him close his eyes and sigh.

"Remy'll jus' come out wit' it," he murmured, as he moved to sit next to her. "Remy needs y'r help." That last simple statement threw Rogue for a loop. It seemed to her that he was the type to kidnap and use her, not just ask her for help.

"An' what exactly do ya need mah help with?" she asked, suspicion lacing her tone.

Remy knew that she'd been used too many times in the past and couldn't blame her for being suspicious; and stared out the open boxcar door and spilled what he knew. How his older frère had called him and told him that his pére had been kidnapped and had been taken as a hostage into Assassin territory and needed rescuing.

Rogue was quiet and digested the information. After what she did to Mystique… this was a chance to help another help HISparent. She sighed and looked at him. "Ah'm in. It's not lahke ah'm doin' anythin' important." She said, as she tucked some loose strands of two-toned hair behind her ear.

Remy grinned at that statement. It was true, she wasn't necessarily doing anything really important that would prevent her from helping him retrieve his adopted father… just running away from the people that she cared about. Her best friend, her adopted brother, and her father-figure; but he knew that she hated being coddled and protected.

The two of them fell into a companionable silence, until Rogue broke it. "Ah think, as soon as this li'l 'venture is done… Ah'm gonna look up some old friends of mahne." Hearing this statement caused Remy to look at her suddenly, feeling his heart beat loud in his ears like a drum. But quickly recovered his cajun charm.

"Ouch, chere, already plannin' on ditchin' this ol' cajun for som'on' else?" he saw her smile a genuine smile and damn was she beautiful to him just then. Her emerald-green eyes sparkled with mischief and fun, but did very little to disguise the pain that she'd endured for part of her life.

Rogue shook her head, laughing to herself. "Nope. Ah couldn't hahde fr'm ya if ah trahed. It'd only beh wishful thinkin' on mah part if ah could ditch ya in the long-run."

Remy chuckled. She was right, she couldn't hide from him if her life depended on it. "So who's dis friend o' y'rs?" he asked, shuffling his deck absently, as the two of them watched the fast passing scenery.

"Jus' som'on' ah haven't seen ina long tahme." She replied quietly her voice sounding distant to her own ears. Remy looked at her just staring off in space.

"T'is particular som'on' a guy, by 'ny chance?" he asked and was surprised when Rogue laughed out loud, the sound music to his ears.

"Yes an' no." she said, closing her eyes at the memories, but quickly shook free of them. She looked him full in the face, as they both felt the train come to a stop. "Tell ya what though, Swamp Rat. If we both come outta this 'venture unscathed, I'll tell ya ev'rythin'."

Remy grinned and jumped out of the boxcar with Rogue not far behind him with her backpack. They were gonna need someplace to stow it while they were working on getting Jean-Luc out of Assassin Territory. "Remy'll hold ya ta t'at, chere." He said, motioning her to follow him until they were just on the edges of the Mardi Gras parade.

Rogue nearly stopped, and looked around her, taking in the sights and colors of the parade. Shouldering her backpack, she took a few uncertain steps forward, nearly swearing to herself that she saw some familiar faces in the crowd, but shook her head and stuck close to Gambit's side, while he went off and grabbed a Mardi Gras bead necklace for her. She gave him a small smile, and saw him give her a cocky grin. Until she saw an all-too familiar face in the crowd watching her, on the other side of the street. "Hawkeye…?" she murmured questioningly, as she saw the slightly older man grin slightly and nod in her direction and lifted a hand to his shoulder pointing his thumb behind him. She nodded to him in acknowledgement and watched him disappear into the crowds.

Remy noticed her momentary hesitancy, and when he grabbed a necklace of Mardi Gras beads for her- felt his heart jump into his throat when he saw her smile. It was a small smile, but it was still a genuine smile. But then he saw her stare behind him, and saw a slightly older man with dark hair and bangs that hung into his… yellow eyes with slitted pupils? That couldn't be right, not unless the guy was a mutant. "Friend o' y'rs, chere?" he asked, putting an arm around her shoulders, and turning them up the street, when he saw him point his thumb behind him and then disappear.

"Yeah. Some'ne that knows some'ne who knows how ah can possibly control mah mutation; Ah ain't gonna set mahself up t' beh used ag'in." She said, enunciating the 'possibly' and cautiously glanced up to gauge the older teen's reaction.

Remy whistled his admiration. "Y' mus' know some people 'n high places, chere. Remy's 'mpressed." To his surprise, he saw her shrug her shoulders, but caught a grin on her face.

"Eh, here an' there, Swamp Rat. Don' beh too surprised though. Ah don' have THAHT many surprises 'n store."

There was silence between them as they just walked along the street. Just as Remy was going to break it, Rogue beat him to it. "Ah always loved Mardi Gras. No mattah who ya are, ya fit in." he nodded in agreement. 'Think it's time t' show ma chere a little trick o' th' trade.' He thought to himself, and saw a horrendously costumed man pass by. Bumping into him, snatched his wallet.

"First time I've been ou' here wit'out workin'." He replied, and smirked at her confused expression, and held up the shanghai'd wallet. "Gettin' by."

Scowling, Rogue snatched the wallet from him and ran back to the man, saying, "Sir! Here, ya dropped y'r wallet!" and quickly made her way back to Remy.

All of sudden, between the two of them, their stomachs growled in hunger, and Remy glanced down at the younger girl. "Y' hungry, chere?" he asked, as he guided her to a what appeared to be a jazz club. Rogue could smell something delicious emanating from the building. "T'at club ov'r there, I hear, serves da bes' jambalaya in the French Quarter."

"Oh yeah, ah could eat." She said, as he led her inside. Both glanced around and found an empty table that they could see the entrance from, in case they ran into their expected visitors- the Assassins. They both ordered jambalaya and sweet tea each. After their orders arrived , they started small talk, taking turns asking questions and getting answers.

"Ah almos f'rgot how much ah reallah miss these kahnds o' places." The southern Belle said in a wistful tone, as she looked around the club. Remy nodded, grinning slightly.

"Not'in' quite like 'em up North." There was a momentary silence between the two, before Rogue spoke again.

"So," Rogue began, after taking a sip of her sweet tea. "ah'd been meanin' ta ask, what's with y'r cards? Is it a fetish or somethin'?"

Remy shook his head and swallowed his food. "Non, no' a fetish. T'ink o' it dis way: 's like havin' 52 li'l explosives a' 'n one li'l pocket." He flipped a card out of his coat sleeve. "Remy always save her for last."

Rogue took a glance at it and raised an eyebrow. "The Queen of Hearts?"

Kissing the card, he smirked at his rather cynical companion. "My lucky lady. She's gotten dis ol' t'ief outta a whole lotta jams."

"Looks like ah need a deck o' those." She said, giving him a rather sultry look. Remy chuckled, and asked his next question. "Wha' 'bout y'self, Rogue? Who was dat 'cross da street, da guy wit' th' yellow eyes an' slit-pupils?"

Rogue had just taken a hearty bite of her jambalaya, when the former acolyte asked about the mystery man. Swallowing, she gave her dinner companion a mysterious grin. "He's mah eye in th' sky, if ya will. He'll probably go an' let th' others know ah'm in town an' ah'll probably get grilled f'r not keepin' in contact wit' 'em." She said, hinting at her mysterious past before Mystique. "Mah turn, Swamp Rat. Have ya always been a thief?"

Remy almost cringed. Almost. "Oh… dat. It sorta runs in da famille." Giving an absent wave of his hand, like he was telling her to drop the subject. Rogue wrinkled her nose and pressed on.

"Yah mean lahke y'r father?" and knew that she'd hit a rather sensitive nerve, when she heard him scoff and look away.

"If y' c'n call 'im dat." He said, and scanned the club for the Assassins. "he… nev'r really…" he searched for the right word to describe Jean-Luc. "acted as a real pére would. Basically jus' usin' me-"

"F'r y'r pahwers?" Rogue finished, and saw his red on black eyes flash with what looked like anger and resentment. She nodded her head in acknowledgement of the feeling. "Mystique did th' same thang ta meh too. Ah guess we c'n put ourselv's in th' same boat, huh?"

Remy nodded, he knew that the two of them were similar, just not HOW similar. All of a sudden, the two of them heard the entrance door bang open and roughly 6 or 7 Assassins enter, counting their leader. "Julian!" he exclaimed, as he and Rogue both stood up from their seats.

Julian Bourdreaux was a tall broad-shouldered, light-brown haired man, with chiseled features… and would've been handsome if not for the hardness in his dark eyes. He smirked when he saw the Prince of Thieves. "Well, well, well, if it t'ain't Le Diable Blanc," he said, taking out his bo staff. "this saves meh from havin' ta hunt'cha down and skin y' alive."

At that last part, two of the assassins grabbed Remy and Rogue from behind. "Hey! Get y'r slahmy h'nds offa meh!" Rogue snapped, when she was grabbed from behind.

Remy's thoughts went by 100 miles a second when he heard Rogue snap at the assassin that grabbed her. Catching her eye, he gave a slight nod and as one, threw their captors over their shoulders; Rogue's captor flying into Julian. He quickly brought out his own bo staff and seeing another assassin behind him, spun neatly around and tripped him up. He noticed that Julian was getting back up to his feet in something of a daze, when Rogue came up and took his bo staff. "Can ah borrow this?"

It happened quickly, and Remy wasn't really sure if he blinked or not, but somehow, he ended up seeing Julian flying right out the club's closed doors. Smirking at the downed and crumpled form of the Prince of Assassins, he mused to himself, as he leaned against the doorway. 'Now dere's som't'in' y' don' really see ev'ry day.'

Rogue came up beside him and handed his bo staff back. "Thanks." She said, as she saw another familiar face, she silently motioned that she had a bag of belongings in the club. She got a hand-signed message back that it would be taken care of and they'd see her soon. Nodding, she kept her eye on Julian.

"Anytime, chere." And watched her move away warily. Apparently, having forgotten they weren't quite out of danger yet, Remy found himself tackled from behind and pinned down, until Rogue turned and gave the Assassin a flying kick to knock him off the temporarily pinned-down thief. Getting up, he backed up and glanced at a nearby parking meter. Smirking, he charged it and suddenly it started spitting out coins at the two oncoming Assassins.

Once more, thinking he had his triumph in the bag- it was short-lived. Again, he found himself rammed from behind and slammed up against a wall. Turning to his assailant, it was none other than Julian. But just when it looked like it was lights out for the cocky cajun, Julian suddenly went down like a pile of bricks with a goofy look on his face. 'Y'r gettin' sloppy, LeBeau.' The Prince of Thieves thought to himself as he saw that Rogue was behind Julian and had apparently touched him to knock him out.

Rogue dealt with the Assassin that had had Remy pinned down, she turned to find that the dumb cajun had gotten himself pinned against a wall by the one that he had called "Julian" and was about to get his lights punched out. Taking off a glove, she came up behind him and touched the bare skin at the back of his neck, trying to prepare herself for the barrage of memories that she was sure to get. She pulled away quickly, feeling dazed and not quite herself. She tried to shake herself of the feeling, barely seeing straight, until she saw Remy in front of her. She nodded to him and tugged her glove back on.

Taking his cue, he grabbed the Mardi Gras beads from around Rogue's neck and charged them, snapping, and throwing them at a couple of oncoming Assassins that had previously been defeated and knocked down. "Time t' go!"

The two of them made a break for it for a couple blocks and turned a corner, and slowed to a walk- hoping that if they had any tails, they'd lost them somewhere. Turning into a nearby alley, Remy leaned Rogue against the wall and shielded her from the street view. At her questioning look, he shook his head, and murmured to her quietly, "Don' look now, but it looks like de x-hommes decided t' come afta ya. They be jus' behind Remy. Keep walkin' down de alley, we should come out de otha end o' de block."

Rogue nodded her head and calming her heartbeat, started walking, completely aware that Gambit had followed closely behind her and had now draped an arm over her shoulder. "Ah know where they got y'r fahther." She suddenly said, as they approached the end of the alley.

Remy nearly stopped, but continued on. "Where?" he asked, as he drew her closer to him, but not too close that he'd accidentally touch her skin.

"Blood Moon Bayou. But y'll nevah get passed their sensors and watah mahnes. So ah'm goin' wit' ya."

"Y'r sure, Cherie? Y' don' have t'. Remy c'n manage-" but was cut off, when Rogue shook her head.

"Gambit, ah had a chance ta do som'thin' lahke this b'f're, and ah didn't. Ah have a chance ta do it now." She said, her voice laced with regret and what sounded all too close to desperation. She hoped that Gambit, no Remy, understood why she had to help him.

Remy sighed and hoped that they both got out of this alive. "Alright. Le's get a move on den. Don' wanna lose any mo'e time than we already have."

She nodded. And the two of them made their out toward the bayous.

A/N: Bonjour, Mes Amis! I do hope everyone has enjoyed the story so far. And jus' so everyone knows, there may be a sequel story to this one- revealing Rogue's past. So I sincerely hope that everyone stays with the story and bears with. ^_^

Don't forget to R&R so I know what you guys an' gals are thinkin'. ^_-

A bientot!

~Mari-Chan~

Did a little bit of editing and adding-to, when I realized there were some things that I missed putting in.