Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men

Remy had at last managed to fall asleep when his mobile started to ring. He snarled and punched his pillow, before crawling to get the mobile on the nightstand. He didn't recognize the number but the voice that spoke to him… there was no other voice like that in the world, he thought as goosebumps rose on his arms. The voice gave him clear instructions, which Remy didn't dare to question, and hung up.

"Merde." Remy got up from his bed and checked the clock on the desk. Two o'clock in the morning. All he wanted right now was a good night of sleep. But there was work to be done. Dirty work.

He put a shirt and his trench coat on and washed his face to clear his mind. Getting those files was a risky task and he knew that. He had a clue they were in the Professor's office, since his own file was there. When he visited that office for the first time, he made sure to memorize everything he could, including the place where his file was placed.

Remy carefully opened his door and looked to both sides of the corridor, checking if they were empty before walking out. His feet barely seemed to touch the floor, making no noise at all, and his red eyes searched for any movement in the dark. Reaching the ground floor, Remy headed to Professor Xavier's office. The door was locked but he already expected that. He pulled out two clips out of his trench coat's pocket and started to move them as if he had done that hundreds of times before. The door made a clicking noise and Remy opened it slowly. It was darker there since the curtains were closed, but his eyes were very sensitive in the dark, so that was not a big problem. He walked straight to the filing cabinet and went through it with his experienced fingers.

'Grey, Jean…' he pulled it out and kept going through the files. 'Summers, Scott. Done.'

He closed the drawer and walked out of the room with the files in his trench coat. All went as planned until he passed in front of the kitchen.

"Remy?" Rogue called him and he only had half a second to wipe the surprise from his face and look calmly at her.

"Hey, belle. What are y' doing up dis late?" It took a lot out of him to maintain a confident voice, and it didn't help the fact that she moved closer. His heart was pumping in his chest as if he had just run a few miles.

"Just needed some water." She eyed him suspiciously. "What about ya?" she looked back to the way he had come from but Remy quickly approached her, regaining her attention.

"Jus' needed a walk. I usually stay awake at night." He shot her a charming smile, but she still had a serious face on.

"Oh, Ah see… but you know, the Professor doesn't allow us to walk around the ground corridors and class rooms at night. Just the kitchen." Inside, Remy was scared to death that all his effort was going to waste if she told that to Xavier. He would surely find his attitude very suspicious and check his office. He decided using his charm would be the best option to escape this situation.

"Hmm, I guess I forgot 'bout dat. You won't tell him, will ya?" He moved even closer to her and forced Rogue to lean on the kitchen's doorframe so their bodies wouldn't touch.

She seemed confused for a second and Remy took that opportunity to put a hand on her waist. Before he could reach it though, Rogue slapped his hand and stepped to the side. Remy could almost feel her slipping through his fingers and that annoyed him.

"What?" he asked.

"How many times do Ah have ta tell you Ah don't want ya getting this close ta meh?" She tried not to say that too loud, but her face was clearly angry. "It's getting on mah nerves!"

"Does Remy make y' nervous, chérie?" He knew that, if charming her didn't work, pissing her off would. "You don't need t' worry. Dere's only the two of us here."

"Is that supposed to make meh feel better?!"

"Doesn't it?" He smirked. "Jus' imagine, chérie. You an' me, no one t' interrupt, an empty classroom…" As he whispered that, he leaned closer to her, looking into her eyes and turning his empathy on.

Rogue was suddenly very aware of how deep and sexy his voice sounded. The rest of the Institute was immersed in silence and all she could hear was his whisper. The way his lips moved when he spoke was hypnotizing, though not as hypnotizing as his eyes, now that she looked at them. It was like… drowning in those red orbs. They seemed to burn, and her own body seemed to be burning. And it felt so good. But…

'What's going on?' She seemed to wake up for a brief second, as if she was emerging after nearly drowning, right before another wave came in her direction to push her underwater again. But now she was aware of that wave. 'What's wrong with meh?' Rogue blinked twice, took a hand to her head and tried to focus. It was like when the voices tried to gain control over her. She knew that feeling too well. Taking a deep breath, she raised her eyes again, just to see Remy quirking an inquiring eyebrow to her. She blinked again, and had the strange feeling of seeing him through a white curtain, dizziness starting to take over her.

Remy stared at her in shock. 'Is she fighting back?' He stepped back, giving her some space, when he felt her own feelings wash over him. It didn't feel good at all. "Are y' okay?"

"Ah'm just… sleepy, Ah guess." As abruptly as the discomfort started, it was gone. Maybe it was the psyches acting out again. By the look on Remy's face, she could tell he hadn't seen many girls with voices in their heads trying to control them lately. She felt slightly embarrassed about it and turned her face. "Ah better go to bed. Good night." She rushed upstairs, hoping the psyches were under her control again.

Remy stood there feeling disconcerted until what happened finally hit him.

'Ok, dat was a bit …' he tried to find the right word for it while walking to his room, but couldn't think of any.

He put the files in his underwear drawer and lay down.

"Unexpected." He whispered. Yes, that was an appropriate word.

'Dis fille becomes more intriguing each time I meet her. Very beautiful, but a sphinx. Never had dis much trouble readin' someone.' He wondered why not even his empathy would work properly around her. It was confusing. With those thoughts, he drifted to sleep.

Thursday came and passed without anything interesting happening and, to everybody's joy, Friday finally arrived.

"Rogue, hurry up or we are going to be late for Hank's test!" Jubilee called Rogue again while poking her arm. They were the last ones to arrive at the kitchen and they had only 5 minutes before the chemistry test started.

"Ok, Ah'm done. Let's go!" Rogue grabbed her backpack and ran out of the kitchen with Jubilee by her side.

"Geez, you're looking like you didn't sleep at all chica. What happened?"

"Nightmares." Rogue simply stated, striding down the corridor.

"About…?"

"Just the usual." Jubilee lowered her sunglasses and crooked an eyebrow, but Rogue didn't slow down, so she decided it would be better not to press it any further.

Indeed, her nightmares were just the usual. Cody and Bobby being drained by her by accident, while she tried to push them away, only to find out that she was actually pulling them closer, tightening the grip on their arms. Both started to fade away and she could hear their voices inside her head, crying of pain and anger. Their voices kept repeating how they tried to escape her but she kept going after them, only to fulfill her desire for energy. At that point, she woke up to her alarm clock, feeling confused and lost.

Rogue sat at her desk in Hank's class, getting ready for the test. She was barely paying attention as he explained what they had to do, and distractedly grabbed the instruments she needed to do a certain experiment. Her mind was still focused in her dreams and its meaning. She assumed it meant that she was selfish, putting all the boys she liked in danger, just to satisfy her need to be loved. She didn't want to hurt them, and yet she wanted to keep them close. 'But Bobby wants to be with me. It's not like Ah'm forcing him. Maybe he shows some discomfort at times but Ah can't blame him. And we are trying to make it work now. We are going out to have dinner together later, and it won't help if Ah keep thinking about these stupid dreams.'

BOOM!

Half of the class screamed in panic and the other half started to laugh as Rogue's chemistry glassware exploded and she fell out of her chair and right onto her bum.

"Whoa!" Hank ran to her side and helped her up. "Are you okay, Rogue?"

"Yeah, a bit scared. What was that?" She asked while pointing to her desk.

"It seems you put twice the dosage of acid you were supposed to…" he said, analyzing the contents of half of the glass that was on the table, containing a bright yellow liquid. "And the temperature is not right either." He gave her a look, turning off the Bunsen burner.

"Oh! Sorry, Mr. McCoy, Ah was a bit… distracted. Ah didn't sleep properly." She looked ashamed at the dirty floor.

"I'm afraid I can't do anything about it, but give you an appropriate grade."

Rogue sighed and started cleaning the mess, while the other students laughed and went back to their own experiments.

After class, all the students left quickly, including Jubilee who had forgotten half of her books upstairs. Rogue took a little while to collect her stuff and pack everything.

"Rogue, may I talk to you?"

"Yes, sure Mr. McCoy." She looked at him, worried if he would say anything about the previous accident.

"You said you didn't sleep properly… is there any reason?"

She was caught off guard with that question and took a while to think of an answer.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound indiscreet. It's just the Professor mentioned he has been worried about you, since he feels your mind a bit insecure and troubled lately. Very insecure, to be honest. So he asked us to help you if you need any advice or maybe just a chat."

"It's ok. Ah just had some nightmares… guess Ah ate too much before sleep. Don't worry about it." She forced a smile to her face, hoping it would look honest.

"Ok, you don't need to talk to me about it if you don't want to. I just wanted to let you know that there are people here for you if you need us. Maybe the Professor is a more appropriate person to talk to, since he knows a lot about how to help people with their thoughts." He smiled gently at her, adjusting the glasses on his nose.

"Thanks, Mr. McCoy. Really." Her smile wasn't forced now and her eyes were warmer.

"No problem. By the way, you can do your test again tomorrow afternoon. Just make sure you concentrate this time, ok? And don't tell the other students about it or they will all complain about not sleeping properly." He winked and tapped her shoulder.

"Okay." She chuckled and left the classroom.

'Thank god there are decent teachers in this world.' She thought.

Upstairs, Remy left his bathroom with a towel around his waist, followed by a cloud of steam. He put his jeans and a dark red shirt on, followed by his inseparable trench coat. Then he finished drying his dripping hair and threw the towel over his messy bed. Cleaning his room was not something he would do if he could avoid, especially when there were many other interesting things to be done.

He grabbed his helmet and his motorcycle keys and left. Today he was going to pay a visit to Magneto to tell him about everything that had been going on. Just thinking about going back into that hideout made him feel slightly claustrophobic, but he fought that feeling and made his way downstairs. As soon as he stepped onto the main floor, Rogue walked past him in a hurry, checking her watch.

Today he thought she looked quite… mouthwatering. Her hair was kind of messed up and tangled. She was wearing tight black jeans and a white tank top that showed her perfect curves. The only thing in his way was a black coat she was wearing that covered her arms, but still highlighted her chest. He found the look on her face quite entertaining as well, for she looked a bit flustered and distracted, and a delicate frown showed on her face.

Suddenly (or maybe it was God's will in favor of Remy) one of her books fell from her hands and she bowed to get it. Remy felt that everything started moving oh so slowly as she bent down. His eyes glowed a deep red and a silent moan escaped his lips. All he wanted to do right now was to jump in her direction and…

"Hey, get out of the way!" said a teenager boy, pushing past Remy.

Remy realized he had been standing at the bottom of the stairs with a hungry look on his face and a line of kids was forming behind him, trying to get downstairs. He moved out of the way but when he looked back at Rogue she had already entered a classroom and disappeared.

He sighed and went back to his business, heading to the garage and hopping on his bike. He decided after he got his business done, he was going to the city to get some new clothes and stuff for his room. And maybe grab a beer or two.

Remy parked outside the building Magneto had been hiding in and went in without knocking.

"Ohhh-Frenchie-is-back-in-town!" Pietro rushed past him.

"Yeah, better hide your sister." John said lazily from the couch he was sitting at. Pietro ran to his side and slapped the back of his head.

"Watch-it!"

"Hello, mes amis. I see y' all missed dis ol' Cajun, eh?"

"Don't put money on that." John replied, not moving his eyes from the TV. Remy chuckled.

"So, where is y'r sister, Pietro?" Remy smirked at the silver haired mutant in front of him, who just glared at him.

"It's-none-of-your-business."

"It's ok, I came here t' talk to your father anyways." He turned and walked upstairs, knocking on Magneto's office door.

"Come in." A deep voice came from inside.

Remy went in and saw Magneto sitting on a couch with a book in his hands.

"Hello, Gambit. Sit down." He said, pointing at the chair in front of him. Remy sat and got ready for the questions. "So, how is Charles? Alive and well?"

"Oui, very well from what I could see. He doesn't suspect anything so far though."

"That's good. He didn't feel uncomfortable about not being able to read your mind?"

"I guess he did, but probably he thought it was part o' my powers, and not something I can control. He already got me t' train so he could see if my abilities are good enough for the X-Men."

"Now, that is better than what I expected. Make sure you gain his confidence and enter the team. He is testing your abilities, but he will only let you be on the team when he trusts you and your capabilities."

"Don' worry, dat'll be easy."

He stayed in that room for about one hour, telling every detail of what had happened so far to Magneto, when the old man finally let him go. He decided he should grab something to eat in the kitchen before leaving to New York. There, he met Wanda, who was finishing a cup of coffee and staring at the floor, her mind somewhere else.

"Hey, petite. Missed Remy?"

"Yeah, I could barely stand the hours without you." she said sarcastically.

"I know I'm dat good." He smirked and got himself an apple.

She gave him an ironic smile.

"So you and Erik were talking upstairs?"

"Yep." He looked at her in thought. "Why don't y' call him dad anyways?"

She snorted and took a seat.

"Let's say he is not much the dad type and I'm not the daughter type. You'd know about it if you had spent half of your life in a mad house, locked in a white room all day long, in a straight jacket. For my own health, he said." There was a bitter tone in her voice that made Remy stay quiet for a while, thinking about her words and staring at his apple.

"I get it."

"No, you don't." The Scarlet Witch stood up and left.

Remy finished his apple and left the place without saying a word to anyone, heading to the city.

This chapter was highly inspired by a song: Kiss the Void, by HIM. It's absolutely hypnotizing!