Part Eleven
written by Soar
email ksg3@le.ac.uk
now expertly edited by Jeanne Kalvar!!!!
The Professor and Jean walked in front of the children. Ororo followed along happily, humming to herself, while Remy followed a little further behind, watching constantly.
*He seems to have taken to you Jean,* the Professor spoke telepathically to her.
Jean gave a mental smile. *It actually wasn't that hard. I think deep down he still wants to trust someone.*
*It is easy to see why Remy has become the man he has, he has had so little in his life to believe in. I would hope that his time spent as an X-men has been a good experience for him,* the Professor replied.
*I know. The thing that makes me angry is the fact that someone could have abandoned him. We know Ororo's parents died, but Remy is such an adorable child. Why would anyone have wanted to abandon him?*
*You forget, Jean. We know nothing of Remy's parents. They too may have died; we just do not know. Perhaps the only person that can tell us is Remy, and even he does not appear to remember. Of course, it is hard to find out much of anything from him because he hides behind his defences.*
*I almost wish we could keep Remy like this, help him to start his life over. He would never remember his former life and he could grow up the way a child should, with happiness and laughter and people who love him.* She gave a mental sigh.
*Yes. I know what you mean, but we cannot. If we can find a way to return them to their natural state, then we must.*
Remy watched the two adults. Occasionally Jean would smile at nothing, but they both looked distracted. He wondered what is was they were doing.
Ororo was oblivious to the adults' preoccupied state. She was telling Remy about the X-men she had met.
"And there's a blue man with big metal wings too."
Remy stared at her in disbelief, "Dere ain't no such t'ing as blue people wit' wings, chere. Maybe you be wrong, non?" he said, conveniently forgetting his blue furred doctor.
"No it's true! His name is Warren, but some of the others call him R Canjel." Ororo stated solemnly.
Remys eyes widened, "What kind o' name is dat?"
"I don't know, but I saw him with a woman with purple hair."
Remy shook his head, "Dis place be full o' strange people, chere. Maybe we should t'ink 'bout gettin' back to de streets. Dese people still ain't said what dey want from us."
"I do not think that they want anything Remy, they haven't asked me, and everyone's been really nice."
Remy looked sceptical, "Jus' cos dey ain't asked don' mean dey won' chere."
Their conversation had been observed by the two adults, who looked at each other with a sorrowful expression.
*He can't accept that people would want to help him out of the goodness of their hearts.* Jean said to the Professor.
*I don't suppose there are too many good hearts around to help in Remy's world.* The Professor replied.
They arrived outside. Ororo and Remy both gaped at the vastness of the estate.
"It is beautiful," Ororo stated.
The Professor looked at her, "Ororo, could I ask you to do a favour for me?"
"What is it Professor?" she asked.
"There is a friend of mine who takes care of the gardens here. She has had to go away for a while, and I was wondering if you would like to help me take care of the gardens?" The Professor asked, smiling.
Ororo grinned in pure pleasure, "I would love to help you, Professor! Where shall we start?"
The Professor took the enthusiastic Ororo off with him to get some gardening tools, leaving Remy and Jean alone.
"So Remy, what would like to do?" Jean asked smiling at him.
Remy didn't answer; he was too busy taking in the scene around him. He had never, in his whole life, seen so much open space and beauty. He felt awed by it all.
"Remy?" Jean asked again.
Remy was startled from his reverie, "Hehn?"
Jean laughed, "I said, what would you like to do now?"
Remy shrugged.
"How about we take a walk around the gardens?" she asked him.
Remy thought about this for a moment and then nodded.
They walked off towards some trees in the distance. Jean said nothing, and Remy was quite happy to trail along behind her and just look at everything that caught his eye.
They walked around the edge of the trees until they came upon a large, beautiful lake. It had a rocky shore at the end nearest to them, and at the other end was a sandy shore.
Remy's eyes widened in awe.
"What dis be, chere?" he asked finally.
"It's a lake," Jean smiled. "Would you like to walk across the rocks?"
Remy nodded, and they set off to reach the shore. The rocks were of different shapes and sizes. Remy had seen nothing like this before. He had certainly never seen so much water in one place.
He clambered up onto the nearest rock like a goat, and he grinned. Jean had never seen such an innocent expression of joy on Remy's face, ever. His whole face was transformed, his eyes sparkled and the wariness was banished. She climbed up onto the rocks after him, still careful to keep her distance. Remy raced along the rocks with a joy unlike any he had ever known. Such freedom, he thought. A thought entered his mind -- when he left this place, he would probably never experience anything like it again. He quickly pushed the thought away, concentrating on the here and now.
Jean followed after him at a much slower pace. She was content to just watch as Remy raced along the rocks. He was racing closer to the edge of the rocks now, near to where the water hit them below. It wasn't a long drop, but it was treacherous because of the rocks beneath. Jean's heart almost stopped when she saw Remy lose his footing and fall down towards the water. She acted automatically. Too far away to catch him physically, she engaged her telekinetic powers to catch him and lift him to safety.
Remy had not been watching his footing as he raced along the rocks and had been too slow to save himself as he began to fall. He saw the water coming towards him and had almost hit, when he suddenly felt himself floating. He appeared to be surrounded by a bubble of some kind that supported his weight and floated him back up onto the rocks. He saw Jean running carefully towards him; she seemed to be concentrating hard on something. When she reached him, the bubble lowered him down gently onto the rocks and disappeared.
"My God, Remy don't you ever do anything like that again. You scared the life out of me." Jean said.
Her heart was still pounding noisily, and, without thinking, she gathered him up into a hug and pulled him tightly against her.
Remy was too shocked to resist. She had just told him off. He felt her grab him and pull him close. He was squeezed tightly into a hug that threatened to break his ribs, and still Remy was too shocked to protest.
Jean finally calmed down and realised what she had done. She let Remy go and stepped back. She put on her sternest face and scolded him again.
"Young man do you realise you could have been hurt or even killed. Didn't you watch your footing? Come on we're going back to the mansion now to check you over, make sure you didn't do yourself any damage."
She turned and started walking back towards the mansion. He followed her like an obedient puppy, too bemused to do anything. All the time they were walking back, one thought kept going through Remy's mind. The fact that, aside from Ororo, no one had ever cared about what happened to him the way Jean just had. Deep inside his soul, in a dark empty place, a small light shone.
end of part 10
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Part Eleven