Chapter 4: To Close Your World
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Remy knew he was running short on time, hell he was out of time but he had to make sure that Dawn stayed safe. That she was protected from the war that she would be thrust into. A war he hid her from since he found her as the lone survivor in a genocide meant to take out the mutant messiah. He slammed his hand against the steering wheel in frustration as he was forced to stop for a red light. There should have been more time!
He looked over to see that Dawn was staring blankly out the window, tear streaks on her cheeks, closing herself off to the world with her knees drawn up to her chest. He couldn't let that happen, not when he needed her to be focused and clear minded.
He reached over and pinched her on the arm. She yelped and grabbed the sore spot, turning her wide glowing red eyes to him. He had hurt her...on purpose! "Papa!"
"Don' fall yet petite." he said. "I need you t' stay with me you understand? We have t' pull our infamous disappearin' act. It's not safe here." He glanced over at her and gave her his best devil-may-care grin. "We'll go someplace warm yeah?"
"It sounds fun." Dawn said quietly, wiping her tears away, sniffling as she did so. She put her feet on the floor and twisted in her seatbelt so she would have a better view of him. She looked like she wanted to say something to him but kept quiet for a long time before she asked, "Did I-" she paused. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Non." he replied quickly.
"But all those fires-" she protested.
"Non."
"And what everyone was saying-!" She was working up to a fit.
"NO Dawn." Remy said loudly and firmly. She leaned back against her seat, her eyes betraying her hurt and her accusations. He could see that she didn't believe him. "Dawn not'ing 'bout you is wrong. What happened today no one could have seen comin'; no one could have prevented it. What happened today is not your fault. Understand?"
"It's not my fault." Dawn echoes quietly.
"Believe me Dawn. I'll never lie t' you." Remy brought her hand up and kissed the back and she smiled. "You're my girl."
"And you're my Papa." Dawn hugged as much of his arm to her chest as she could. "I'll love you forever."
"Ha, just wait til you're a hormone bomb of a teenaged girl in love with some snot nosed punk, den let me know how much you love me yeah?" Remy said.
"Ew, gross." Dawn's nose winkled. "No boy will ever come between us Papa." Remy laughed and so did Dawn but their laughter died down after a while and they became silent. It was time to get serious.
"I need t' call Mattie, tell her t' get out of de house." Remy said, pressing the touch screen on the dash, sliding his finger down to the house number. "No tellin' how fast de others will get dere. Gotta warn her."
Dawn looked worried as she sucked her lower lip in between her teeth. The fingers on her right hand started tapping, slowly at first but soon they would be drumming. She was nervous and scared; she didn't want the others to come because Papa had always said that trouble tended to find them no matter where they were and what they did.
"Remy!" Tante Mattie's voice cut through his thoughts from the car speakers and a sigh of relief could be heard from Remy and Dawn. "What's goin' on out there? I hear on the news that there was a fire at Dawn's school and people were shot! Killed even!"
"Mattie, I have Dawn." Remy cut in her rant.
"Oh thank God. Is she safe? How is she?" The relief in her voice could be heard and Dawn smiled as her eyes glistened.
"She's not hurt physically. But she's scared. She don' remember nothin' dat happened." Remy said, glancing over at Dawn, being careful to pick his words. "But dis is too big. Too many people were around an'-"
"Gram we gotta leave." Dawn spoke up. "Papa thinks it's not safe anymore. And-"she glanced over at Remy. "The Bright Lady thinks it's not safe anymore either."
Remy jerked in surprise. Dawn shrugged in apology. This was the first time he heard her say anything about the Bright Lady speaking to her.
"Dawn. She spoke to you?" Mattie asked after a pause.
Mattie and Remy had talked long and hard about this Bright Lady Dawn had spoken about since he had brought Dawn to New Orleans. He had told her about how he found her and what happened when he did. He talked about how she seemed to forget everything that night other than the fact that her momma had died and bad men came. How she spoke about this Bright Lady like she was a real breathing Goddess because momma had always talked about her like one.
Mattie didn't think anything of it at first but she soon changed her mind as the nightmares came, the utter dislike of cold weather and snow...it took years to get her to step into the Church much less to get over her fear of the cross. Whenever she was scared, upset or felt anger, she called on the Bright Lady for help. Things happened when she did. Nothing major, a knocked over vase, a broken window, small things but it was enough to convince Mattie, Remy and especially Dawn that the Bright Lady was real enough to be taken seriously.
"You won't be mad?" Dawn asked. Whatever Mattie said next would be world altering, Remy thought, for Dawn her world hung on the words of the people she loved. "She's not bad...I'm not bad for talking to her am I?"
"No cherie. You're my child; I would love you no matter what happens, you know that." Mattie said. "You take care Dawn. I'll see you and your Papa at the safe house."
"Love you Gram. And tell Birdie I love her and will see her soon."
Remy gave Mattie some more instructions and said his goodbyes by the time they reached the temporarily safe house, an old brick townhouse that the Thieves Guild used time from time. It belonged to him now and he was glad he had thought to take ownership of it under a different name so few people knew about it. He rushed Dawn inside and led her to the bathroom so she could shower and change out of her bloodied school uniform.
As the shower ran, he went to the hidden safe near the fireplace and pulled out the cell he had there. As soon as it was turned on, he pressed speed dial and a voice answer.
"Yes?"
"Dawn needs your protection."
"Where?"
"At de town house."
"I'll be there soon. I'll use the terrasect."
The phone call ended and Remy let his shoulders sag, letting himself relax for a moment. He wasn't going to break his promise to her. She was safe now. If something happened to him, she wouldn't be alone. She would be cared for. And for Remy, that was the most important thing in the world.
*And Rogue is certain that the mutant girl is with Gambit.* Emma asked Mindee via telepathic link and shared what she heard to Cyclops. She and the other X-men team were just outside of New Orleans city limits, flying the Blackbird jet.
*Yes. From what I gleaned from the young girl's mind, she believed that the girl is his daughter.*
*His daughter?* This came from Cyclops.
*Correct. Dawn Autumn LeBeau, age 10 had moved to New Orleans four years ago with her father after her mother died. They live happily together with an old woman named Tante Mattie her grandmother. From what I understand, he is a wonderful father who puts Dawn first before everything.*
Cyclops leaned back against his seat, taking in what Mindee had said as Emma stared at him questioningly. So this girl wasn't the girl Cable had taken to the future. She was new and somehow a mutant. A ray of hope for the future of mutantkind. It meant that maybe the Scarlet Witch's spell was fading or that somehow nature found a way around the spell. He frowned at himself. It was too early to make speculations.
They had to get the girl to safety on Utopia before anyone else decided to grab her. But knowing Gambit, he was already three steps ahead of them. He probably already had spirited her away to some hidden place and when he had Celeste and Phoebe search for Gambit's mental signature they were cut off, proving that he thought of psychic shielding against telepaths.
The window of finding him and the girl was rapidly disappearing as each second passed and if they didn't find him now, there was no telling when he would reappear. It could be months...years and Cyclops couldn't let that happen. Because for some reason, Gambit thought it was better to have no contact with the team or anyone else for that matter for all these years. To keep himself isolated and hidden from them and he suspected that it had to do with his daughter.
She needed to be protected. She needed to be among her own kind. Gambit would just have to deal with it.
"Rogue, the Cuckoos have pinpointed an area that is unreadable to them. Head there and search the area. You might be able to find them through a physical encounter. If you do, just talk to him, make him see that Dawn needs to come with us back to Utopia. We will be there soon."
*We're on it.*
Emma ended contact with Rogue and sat back in her seat, watching the expressions on Cyclops' face. Years of living with him and had taught her to read his face while everyone else couldn't. He was suspicious and worried. What secrets was Gambit hiding?
Emma didn't like this. She didn't like this matter at all.
Dawn combed her damp hair as she stared at her reflection, curious and in awe with how she looked. She didn't think she would change so much in such a short time but change she did. She didn't look like the girl she saw this morning and she knew it had to do with the color of her eyes. Now that she calmed down a bit and was clean, the glowing of her eyes had died down. They were still red though.
She put the comb down and leaned forward against the vanity, moving closer to her reflection. She pressed her cheeks together, let go, bared her teeth and pulled her lips apart before giggling. She scrunched her nose and closed one eye before widening her eyes in terror. She dropped the look and stuck out her tongue.
"Huh. I feel the same and look the same so I must still be me." She said, putting her hands on her hips as she stepped back from the vanity to get a better look at herself. She was dressed in gray hoodie with a dark blue heavy cotton jacket and torn light blue jeans with black boots. No one would be able to guess she was a girl when she hid her hair and she looked cute enough to pass as a girl when she wanted too. She had the perfect camouflage. "Right?"
"Yes."
"Ok. I'm still me and if I'm till me then I'll be okay. The only thing that changed is...this. whole...um thing that's happening I guess." Dawn frowned at herself. "So what is this whole thing that is happening? I think I'll go ask Daddy. He'll know what's going on right?"
"Uh huh."
"The world had changed, but not me. I'm still Dawn."
"Don't worry Dawn, we'll be fine."
Dawn grinned at her reflection and skipped out of the bathroom, feeling much better now that she talked about it. She found Papa in the kitchen making a plate of food for her to eat.
"Papa." He turned and set the plate down and opened his arms. She rushed over and hugged him, giving a slight jump and wrapped her arms around his neck as he buried his nose in her neck as he held her up. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Dawn pulled back. "I'm okay." she announced.
"Are you sure?" Remy asked as he set her down on the counter.
"Yeah. I talked it out with myself just like Dr. Kajiura said to do and I decided that we'll be okay. We have each other right so everything will be okay." Dawn said, swinging her feet out. She reached for the plate. "I'm starving! Thanks Daddy for making a plate!"
Remy grinned at her and rumpled her hair good naturally as she ate. Dr. Kajiura...god he hadn't heard that name in years, not since he had first taken Dawn to her 5 years ago. She was a specialist who worked with traumatized children. A bonus is that she works specifically with children who had bad experiences with supers. Either kidnapped by super villains or used horribly so. She had worked wonders with helping Dawn overcome her fears and settled down to a normal life. She helped him to learn techniques to use if Dawn had a relapse or breakdown after Dawn was released from her treatment.
Ding Dong!
They looked towards the front door, which could be seen from the kitchen before looking at each other. No one knew they were here...and normally no one ever came to this place except them for times when it needed to look like people lived here.
Ding Dong!
Dawn spoke first. "It could be the girl scouts. Some girls in my class were selling cookies again. And I saw a few of them walking around when we drove here."
Remy gave a grunt as Dawn popped a chip in her mouth. She didn't seem too worried and he knew he shouldn't either but everything seemed to be too laxed given what has happened today. He should take it as a sign for well executed planning, or forward thinking. He did well with planning their escape from New Orleans... no one except a choice few knew they were here.
Ding Dong!
"Want me to get it? I bet they have those coconut caramel cookies." Dawn said jumping off the counter.
"Non. I'll go get the down. You finish eating yeah?"
"Ok." Dawn snapped a carrot in her teeth.
Remy nodded and headed for the door as Dawn walked to the sink to get some water. She raised the glass to her lips when hands covered her mouth and pulled her back. She tried to scream but couldn't.
"Shhh. It's just me!" a low voice said in her ear.
Dawn's eyes widen as she looked up at the person who grabbed her. She grinned and whispered, "It's you! Laurie!"
X-23 nodded and released Dawn enough for her to turned around and hug her tight.
At the door Remy opened the door, a smile on his face that quickly faded as he took in the sight before him. "Rogue!"
"Hey sugah, long time no see." Rogue said with a smirk on her lips.
