Remy LeBeau was scared. He knew that the moment he was grabbed after getting away with all that food that he had finally been caught. One of the men that had grabbed him had tied him up in the car and put a gag in his mouth so that he couldn't scream while he watched him in the back of the car. The other one was driving the car. Gambit knew where they were taking him and he didn't want to go back. He'd rather have kept living on the streets before going back. Going back was bound to be the death of him. Remy sobbed.
The man that was in the back noticed and smiled maliciously. "Vous devriez être très peur petit garçon (1)." The man's thick accent identified him as a Cajun. "Especially when de Guild master gets his hands on y'. Y' should've shown some respek. Should've been more thankful for everythin he did fo' y'."
The boy closed his eyes tightly. If it wasn't so close to crying he would have been snorting in amusement. 'Did for me? More like he was using me to do for himself.'
"Count your blessing petit garçon (2), because, for some reason, he doesn't wanna kill you like he would most traitors."
"Voulez- vous arrêter de parler? (3)" Called the driver. "Vous êtes effrayer le garçon! (4)"
The man in the back just shrugged. "Il devrait par puer. Les hommes ont été tues pour moins. (5)"
Remy closed his eyes. He understood what the man said and it was true. Men have been killed for a lot less. Most people certainly have not escaped from the Thieves Guild and lived to tell about it. But that did not make him feel lucky about his fate.
'Quelqu'un m'aider... s'il vous plaît. (6)'
'Quelqu'un m'aider... s'il vous plaît.' It was the thought that Charles had heard from Remy. Although Charles did not understand French, he had a good idea about what the boy was saying. Remy was in danger and he certainly knew it.
'Please hold on Remy,' Charles projected to the boy. 'I promise that help is on the way. Stay strong. We'll come get you.'
Raven began to notice the sad look in Charles' eyes. "What's happening Charles? It's Remy, isn't it?
Charles nodded. "He's terrified... and I'm not sure what I can do to quell his fears. We have to find him as soon as possible."
"We will Charles," Raven said. "We'll save him."
Erik walked over to the siblings and took a seat next to Charles. "She right you know," Erik said.
Alex who overheard the conversation nodded. "Yeah, we'll get there before anythings happens to him and kick some bad guy ass at the same time."
Sean nodded.
"I would have phrased it differently," Hank said. "But I concur with Alex."
Alex began to have a coughing fit that sounded a lot like "Smart ass."
"Just tell us where they'll be stopping Charles and we'll handle it," Erik answered determinedly.
Charles looked around in the team and new family that was recently created. They really could do it.
'Everything will be alright Remy.'
Remy's eyes were closed when the car finally stopped. By the time one of the men had pulled him out of the car he had calmed significantly.
'Everything will be alright Remy.'
Remy didn't know who that voice belonged to. All he knew was that it was a strange voice he had heard and it seemed to make him feel better.
The man that was in the backseat roughly pulled the boy out of the car and shoved him. "Allons! (7)" Remy fell on the ground. The man that was driving helped him up from the ground and guided him to the large house that stood proudly, almost ominously, in the woody area. Remy was dragged into the house, where the men pushed him up the stairs. Remy knew who they were taking him to, and the thought alone made him want to cry again.
Except that voice continued to comfort him. The person kept telling him things would be okay.
'We'll be there soon. We'll get you out of there... all you need to do is imagine where you are with your mind so that I can tell the others where you are.'
The voice was soothing. Remy opened his eyes, hoping to see who it was telling him that. Remy saw no one else except the two men that walked behind him. It couldn't be them. As the voice continued to comfort him, an image of a man with blue eyes began to emerge in his mind. Is he the one that keeps talking into Remy?
'Yes.'
'Who are y'?' Remy asked.
'My name is Charles Xavier,' the voice answered. 'Don't be scared. I am talking to your mind right now. I'm special, like you.'
'Like me?' As strange as it was, it made Remy feel better to know that he wasn't the only one who was a freak.
'Not a freak,' Charles admonished. 'Just special. Quite extraordinary, but never a freak. A mutant.'
'Like dat sounds any bettuh,' Remy thought to himself. One of the guys who had tied him up grabbed him by the arm and pushed him into through an open door that led to some stairs that he almost fell down. Looked like a basement. The two guys quickly followed and pushed him towards some chains, igniting his fears. Remy struggled against their grip, fearing what they would do to him... what he would do to him...
Despite his struggling, they managed to chain his hands above his head. They also strapped a metal collar around his neck that connected to a nearby wall before they turned and left. Remy was trapped; couldn't get away now. This scared him. Even when Charles tried to comfort him.
'Help me,' Remy begged. 'Please Charles.'
'I'm coming, Remy. I promise that I will come for you. Please tell me where you are right now. Who has you? You just have to send his image to me... I'll stop him.'
Remy did his best to think the image of the man who was doing this to him... Scar on his face... brown eyes... a cigarette... Remy felt better knowing Charles was coming for him. If only he would just hurry.
Remy suddenly felt tired; so sleepy. He decided to close his eyes and just give in.
"Alright, we're close now," Hank said. "We're minutes away from landing."
Charles nodded his head. They were close and he could feel it. That's why he was able to make Remy fall asleep the way he did. He looked at the man he considered his partner in crime of sorts. "Are you ready for this?"
Erik raised an eyebrow at the question. It was the same question Charles had asked him in Cuba, Erik remembered with a pang. "Let's find out."
Hank landed the X-Jet. It was time to talk to the team before they went in. Everyone needed to understand that this had to be done in a certain way.
"Alright everyone." All of them looked at Charles; their unofficial leader. "This is really important that we all understand that this is a rescue mission only. I just want to get in, get Remy and get out. I will be guiding all of you with my mind and once Remy is recovered, I will handle the men inside." Charles didn't have to explain further; they knew exactly what he was capable of. "Is that understood?" Everyone nodded. It was time to go.
Remy sat in the cell, waiting for the inevitable. Tears of frustration slid down his dirt covered cheeks. 'Where is Charles?' Remy asked. He promised that he would save Remy; get him away from here.
'It's all in y' mind,' the traitorous side of his young mind thought. 'Charles was nevuh real. You made him up... you're goin' crazy.'
Remy angrily shook the thought away. Charles was real. He was like Remy and they were special. Charles would come and get him out of here and save him. He had to. Remy angrily wiped the tears away. Charles will come.
At that moment, the basement door opened. The two men who had grabbed him earlier were coming down the stairs. He felt his skin get cold, knowing just what kind of trouble he was in at the moment. As those footsteps got closer, Remy struggled harder to get out of his restraints, but to no avail. By the time those men were standing in front of him, he was no closer to escaping than he was before.
One of the men forcibly grabbed him while the other released him from the chains before handcuffing his hands behind his back. "He would like to see you now," the second man whispered harshly into his ear. Remy whimpered.
"Jus' hurry dis up so we can go." The first man said, pushing Remy up the stairs. Remy tried to run but no matter what he tried, it never seemed to be enough to get away from his jailers, who herded him up the stairs. 'Charles help me!' Remy thought fiercely, hoping the man in his vision would just materilalize in front him at that very moment.
'Don't worry Remy.' An image of the very back forest of the mansion he was being held prisoner showed up. Charles was already here? Remy barely held in a sigh of relief. Other images started coming in front of his eyes. Images of different people, some of which didn't look like anything he had ever seen. Did they have blue skin? They will come to help you. There are like us as well. Don't be frightened by them. They will come during the dusk, when the sun is almost down. Be brave... we will be there.
Knowing that his rescuers were so close to him made him feel better. All he had to do was get through the very end of the day and then he would be able to get out of here. 'Tank you.'
A warm feeling seemed to bloom from nowhere inside of him. 'Think nothing of it. Be brave until we get there.'
Remy wasn't sure if he could be brave. The man that he would be facing was scary, was the leader of one of the most powerful guilds in Louisiana and could kill him if he didn't do what he wanted.
But Charles would come and save him. That means that everything would be alright. That was what he kept telling himself until his guards opened a door and pushed him inside before closing the same door behind them. Remy had barely kept himself from falling on the floor. As soon as he was done straightening himself up, he noticed the man that sat in a large chair, behind a large wooden desk. With his gelled back dark hair, his expensive suit, Jean-Luc Lebeau looked liked an ordinary business man, nothing like a leader of a crime syndicate should look, even with the scars on his face. Unless you've been around him long enough, you would never recognize the dangerous glint in his eyes. The one that old you revealed his guise as a terrible hoax; that the eyes belonged to a man that was hiding in sheep's clothing.
"Glad t' have y' back," Jean-Luc said, maliciously, "son."
'Really? Because I ain't glad t' be back.' Remy wished that he had the courage to say that out loud, but he didn't. Not with Jean-Luc looking at him like that. No, the silence was really the best policy when dealing with Jean-Luc.
"I can't say I ain't disappointed with y' Remy," Jean-Luc continued. "Aftuh y' tried t' rob me, I welcomed y' int' my home as m' own. Fo' seven years, I raised y' right next to m' own son an' this is how y' goin t' pay back my kindness?"
"Kindness?" Remy guffawed. "Just because y' made me go with y', don't mean y' treated m' with kindness. You only kept m' around so y' could use m'. I nevuh aksed t' be part of y' family," Remy spat without a second thought.
Jean-Luc said nothing. He just looked behind Remy, at one of the men that stood behind him. Suddenly, Remy felt a sharp pain in his head and fell, face first, to the ground.
"You should learn t' be tankful fo' everythin I evuh did fo' y'," Jean-Luc said, anger lacing his words. "I saw somethin useful in y' and I took y' off dem streets." Jean-Luc got out of his seat and stood in front Remy's crumpled figure. "I told y' dat y' would do m' biddin and I meant it." Jean-Luc then addressed the men that had brought Remy into the room. "Take him t' de othuh basement. Y' know the one I mean. Time t' teach Remy a lesson."
Remy looked up from the ground at Jean-Luc. 'Not dat room. Anythin but dat.' Remy felt the men's grip on him, so he grabbed Jean-Luc's clothing to make sure he wasn't dragged out. "Please no! Please don't let dem take m'!" The men started gripping him harder, pulling him harder. "Mo chagren(8)! I promise t' be good. I promise y', just please." Remy's fingers slipped from the material of Jean-Luc's pants. Remy felt hot tears slide down his eyes. "Mo chagren!"
Jean-Luc said nothing, only watched silently as the men grabbed the boy from the floor with open disgust. All that crying and whining. At Remy's age, Jean-Luc knew how to take his punishment silently.
Pathetic.
Charles almost jerked out his wheelchair. Erik walked over, concern marring his hard features. "Charles?"
"Remy is in more trouble than I thought," Charles said, not bothering to explain further before he addressed the rest of the team. "We have to move now!"
Erik quickly looked out of the window. The sun had just finished setting; it wouldn't be long before it was gone completely. He mentally shrugged, no time better than the present. "X-men move out!"
No one, except Raven, moved to do what Erik had ordered. The boys seemed to ignore him and looked towards Charles and, considering the events that took place before, Erik couldn't say that he was surprised. They were still resentful about what happened.
On the other hand, Charles was not having any of it at the moment. "X-men move out!"
NOTE: This is the lists of translations for French. I used Google translate so if I got something wrong, I apologize but please, take it with a grain of salt.
Vous devriez être très peur petit garçon: You should be very scared little boy
petit garçon: Little boy
Voulez- vous arrêter de parler?: Will you stop talking?
Vous êtes effrayer le garçon!: You are scaring the boy!
Il devrait par puer. Les hommes ont été tues pour moins: He should be scared. Men have been killed for less.
Quelqu'un m'aider... s'il vous plaît: Someone helps me... please
Allons!: Go!
Mo chagren: I'm sorry