Part Two
She cackled. It is time for revenge she thought to herself. She looked at the strange man beside her.
"You know what I want," he said.
Their laughter echoed with sinister overtones.
Remy LeBeau sat in his room. On his bed lay a strange collection of the things he valued most in the world. His memories. Among the collection of small items was a doll made from a wooden clothes peg. It was something his Stormy has made for him, when she had been a child and they were running around together.
Sometimes Remy missed those days. Although she had been a child Stormy was the perhaps the only person Remy had ever gotten close to in his life. He smiled as he thought back to those days. It had been them against the world.
And now here he was, against all his better judgement, living a life he was not suited to, and why? Simply because his Stormy believed in the dream. The Professors dream. It certainly wasn't his dream, it never could be. He had seen too much, been hurt and kicked in the teeth by life too many times. He was no longer capable of idealism.
So he stayed for his Stormy. His love for her demanded that he stay and protect her, as he had done when they'd first met. It wasn't a romantic love, more like the love a brother held for his sister, or the love shared by the very closest of friends. Stormy was his closest friend but still even she did not all there was to know about Remy LeBeau. Keeping secrets had started off as a necessity in his life but had now become ingrained habits.
There was a reason why today of all days he was reminiscing. He picked up a card. It was simple yet for him it was perhaps the most treasured thing in his collection. His first birthday card. He had no idea when his real birthday was, or if he'd had birthday cards before life viciously dealt him a bad hand, forcing him to live on the streets. Only his parents could tell him, wherever and whoever they were. No, this birthday celebrated the day he'd joined the Thieves Guild as Jean-Luc LeBeaus adopted son. They had become his family, but they had been too late to save the innocent imagination and idealism of childhood. That had gone with living on the streets. The streets had hardened him until there was almost no way to soften the barriers kept around his soul.
He mourned the loss of that innocence. There would be no visions of a better world for him, he knew better. He laughed. A harsh, bitter sound.
Xavier had his dream of perfect living between mutants and flatscans, but what did he really know of either. He had been brought up with a silver spoon in his mouth, living a sheltered life that comes with wealth. He had never had to kill to survive, to eat. Never had to constantly watch his back for fear of having it literally stabbed or worse. Safe hiding places had been scarce.
His release from that had been Jean-Luc LeBeau. His adoptive father. It had taken a while for Remy to stop automatically hiding himself from everyone, and only to hide himself from those who were dangerous, but Remy had never forgotten the very early lessons of his life.
There was a knock at his door and Remy was startled from his memories. He quickly pulled a cover over his treasures before shouting, "Oui?"
"It's me, Bobby," the door opened and Robert Drake stepped in.
"What you want?" Remy asked warily. He had never gotten on with Bobby.
"We have a training session in fifteen minutes, just checking to make sure you remembered."
Bobby grinned at the look of dismay on Gambits face, then he noticed something sticking out from under a cover on the bed.
He walked over to the bed casually, his curiosity making him ignorant of the danger he could face for his violation of Gambits privacy.
Before Remy had realised what was happening Bobby had grabbed the object from the bed. It was Stormys doll.
"What's this Gambit? Didn't know you played with dolls," he laughed maliciously dangling the doll in front of Remys face.
Remy very rarely lost complete control of his temper, he had learned from experience that this could be deadly to those around him, but all he could see right now, was Bobbys laughing, mocking face through shades of red.
His privacy has been invaded and violated and Remy could not control his reaction to this. His instincts took over. Instincts honed from living on the street. Before Bobby knew what was happening Remy had him, holding him tightly by the collar.
Bobbys laughter stopped abruptly. He looked into Remys face and what he saw scared him. Remys eyes were glowing and actually seemed to be producing sparks, but that wasnšt the only part of him sparking. His whole body seemed to be glowing, and Remys hands were burning him, but what scared him the most was the lack of emotion on Remys face. He did not even appear to be looking at Bobby.
Bobby shouted for help, both vocally and mentally. He tried to turn into his ice form but the heat emanating from Remy prevented that.
Bobbys clothes were beginning to glow and Bobby realised that they were being charged. He would be killed if Remy didnšt let him go.
There was a commotion at the door and the x-men burst into the room. The professor called telepathically to Remy.
*Remy, please, let Bobby go.*
Xavier was unprepared for the blast that hit him. It was both a mental and physical blast that pushed him back against the wall and gave him a painfully sharp headache.
Storm moved towards Remy slowly. She laid a hand on his arm. He turned and was about to blast her back too when he seemed to recognise her.
"Stormy?" he croaked, confused.
"Remy, my friend, please. Let Bobby go."
Remy turned his head and looked at Bobby as if realising only at that moment what he was doing. His face remained expressionless but the charge on Bobbys clothes were reabsorbed into his own body and his body began to cool, no longer throwing off sparks or glowing.
He turned and noticed the X-men for the first time. Their jaws dropped in shock. He realised the consequences of his actions and Before anyone could move or say anything Remy had scrambled out of the window and away from the mansion. With a gust of wind Storm quickly followed after him.
Recovering first Hank moved quickly over to Bobby to check him over.
"A few burns, which should disappear when you take ice form," he stated matter of factly.
Bobby had now recovered from his shock and wasted no time in laying all the blame at Remys feet, "Did you see what he did to me, he would have killed me if Storm hadnšt saved me. He even attacked the Professor."
The Professors face held an expression of wonder, "Amazing. Remy actually manipulated the molecules in the air and used them to push me, and a psychic blast too, he actually blasted through my mental shields. I wasnšt aware Remy had so much power. He never let anyone know did he?"
"Who cares about Remys powers, he almost killed me," Bobby whined protestingly.
"Shut up kid. What did you do to provoke him?" Logan growled.
"Nothing, I just came in to remind him about the practice session and he went mad," Bobby said with a practised innocent look.
Logan growled and extended his claws, "Don't lie to me kid, I can smell 'em and it ain't pleasant."
"Okay so I teased him about a stupid doll he had and he just lost it," Bobby admitted, intimidated by Logans claws.
"I ain't never seen the Cajun lose control like that," Logan said musingly, "seems he's been keeping a few secrets too, like just how powerful he is for one thing."
Jean walked over to the bed and pulled back the cover to expose Gambits treasures.
"Look at all these things. No wonder Remy lost control. They look like very treasured possessions. Herešs a birthday card. Does anyone know when Remys birthday is?"
Beast exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my stars and garters. It seems that our Cajun friend is capable of emitting and withstanding extremely high temperatures. The carpet where he was standing has been completely burned through."
"That's right," Bobby said, "it was so hot that I couldnšt change into ice."
"I hope Remy comes back to us," Jean said worriedly.
"Judging from this episode, maybe wešd be better off without him," Scott said.
"Scott," Jean exclaimed in shock.
"I suggest we leave Remys room. If he comes back I don't think he'll appreciate the fact that we're invading his privacy again. Bobby I want to talk to you in my office now," the Professor said.
Bobby grimaced but followed.
end of part 1
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Part Two