Jean-Luc looked up from the papers he was reading. "Oui, Remy?"
"Henri an' Genard told me to ask you to hurry up. Dey said Emil's plane is goin' to be in soon an' dey don' want to be late."
Jean-Luc looked at his watch. "Oh my lord, dat's right!" he exclaimed, slapping himself on the head and standing up. "Come on, petite, we can' keep him waiting, he'll t'ink we've forgotten all about him!"
Remy followed his father out of the study and down to where Henri and Genard were waiting as patiently as they could, which, given the circumstances wasn't all that patient. They hadn't seen Emil in four years and were both anxious to have the entire Three Musketeers together again. "Papa, is Emil nice?"
Henri answered his brothers question before Jean-Luc got a chance to open his mouth. "He certainly is, mon frere. You'll like him. He has a great sense of humor an' he loves kids. Why don' you come wit' us to de airport instead of stayin' here wit' Tante?"
Remy looked up at Jean-Luc with a hopeful expression on his small face. "Can I, Papa?"
Jean-Luc chuckled. "How could I say no now?" He asked. "Oui, you can come. If you promise to behave yourself."
"I will...I never been in de airport b'fore..." Remy told them as they all piled into the car.
"Whoa..." Remy breathed as he waited with Henri and Genard at the entrance to the airport while Jean-Luc parked the car. He hadn't realized that airplanes were quite that large, and as he watched the planes coming and going overhead, he was totally amazed.
Jean-Luc laughed at the expression on his small son's face as he approached. Glancing at his watch he said, "We'd better hurry. If de plane wasn' late, he's waitin' for us."
As they walked as quickly as they could through the crowds of people in the airport, Remy holding onto Jean-Luc's hand so he wouldn't get lost, they thought they'd never make it to the waiting area, but they did. Emil, who was sitting on one of the legendary uncomfortable airport chairs with his luggage at his feet, didn't see them coming.
Snickering, nodding at each other, Genard and Henri sneaked up behind him and grabbed him by the shoulders. Unprepared for their attack Emil let out a yelp and jumped up, whirling around to face whoever was after him. He relaxed when he saw his two friends buckling up laughing at him and he couldn't help but join them.
"Dat wasn' very nice!" Remy exclaimed indignantly on Emil's behalf. The older boys stopped laughing and Emil took a moment to size up the young mutant. Deciding the kid was cute, he knelt down in front of him with a smile.
"No, it wasn'." He agreed. "But, you see, I've known dem for so long now, I don' really expect much else from dem. Now. Unless I haven' been payin' attention, you must be Remy."
Remy nodded, his hair falling into his eyes. He was studying Emil and decided Henri must be right. Emil looked like a cool guy.
Emil looked all around them, as if making sure no one could hear them. "Can you keep a secret?" he asked Remy. Remy nodded again.
"Are you sure?" Emil pressed, looking around again, aware of the snickers coming from Jean-Luc, Henri and Genard. He knew they were laughing at him, but he didn't care.
Remy tried his best to be serious. "I can keep a secret!" he exclaimed.
Emil pretended to be mortified. "Shhhhhh!" he hissed. "Do you want de whole world to know?!" Remy shook his head and waited. "Okay den. Now. While I was in California, at school, do you know who came to de school I was at an' did a concert?"
"Who?" Remy whispered, having no idea at all who Emil was talking about.
"Michael Jackson."
Remy's jaw dropped. "Non! Really, Emil?" he asked.
Emil nodded. "Really. And you know somet'ing else?" he continued, fishing for something inside his coat pocket. Finding what he was looking for, he pulled it out and showed it to Remy, whose eyes nearly bugged out of his head. He wasn't the only one. Jean-Luc, Henri and Genard all had the same reaction when they saw what Emil was holding in his hand. It was a small, white, sequined glove.
Genard was the only one who could speak. "You stole Michael Jackson's glove?" he said in astonishment. "How on earth did you do dat?"
Emil laughed at them. "What can I say? I was bored an' I needed somet'ing to pass de time." he said, putting the glove back into his pocket for safekeeping.
Jean-Luc just shook his head. "You're too much, Emil. C'mon, let's get you home, you must be exhausted."
"Would you relax, Rem? It's not the end of the world." Emil demanded. "And I don' really know what you're s'posed to do. Not'ing like dis has happened b'fore, right Henri?"
"It looks dat way, oui." Henri replied. He didn't think anyone had any idea what Remy was supposed to do...after all, Emil was right and nothing like that had happened before in the history of the Guilds.
It was supposed to be a normal enough day. Well, for everyone except Remy and Bella Donna Boudreaux, daughter of Assassin leader Marius Boudreaux. For those two, it was wedding day. They were only eighteen, but Jean-Luc and Marius had planned it ages ago, in an attempt to bring the two Guilds together. Everything had gone off without a hitch until the end of the ceremony, and then Julian, Bel's older brother had gone and ruined the whole thing. Julian hated all the thieves, and took it into his head to hate Remy even more simply because Remy was a mutant. So, after the wedding was over, hardly before they all made it out of the elaborate church, Julian challenged Remy to a duel, which was normal enough in the world of the Guilds, but it had ended very badly. Now, Julian was lying on the ground, dead, the Assassins were furious, and the Thieves were trying to figure out what to do next.
"It was an accident!" Remy had been defending himself since the second it happened. And it really had been. His mutant powers were starting to manifest themselves, and he had very little control over them. He really had not planned on doing more than hurting Julian a little bit. He had had no intention of killing his brother-in-law. Now Bel wasn't talking to him, and no one knew what to do.
"I'm goin' go talk to de others," Henri said. "You guys stay here. And if Mercy comes back from tryin' to talk Bel into seein' reason, tell her I'll be back later." As predicted, Henri and Mercy had tied the knot themselves five years prior to this day of disasters.
Emil nodded and went over to where Remy was sitting. "I have to leave Emil," Remy said sadly. "It's de only way. I mean I don' t'ink anyone has any real love lost over Julian, but dat's not de point. I have to find a way to control my powers an' until I do, I really shouldn' stick around. Someone else could get hurt."
"B'sides, Bel ain' gon' be talkin' to you for awhile," Mercy commented, joining them. "She's pretty ticked off. They all are." She gave Remy a hug. "I'm sorry, kid. We all tried so hard for you guys. Even dey did. Has Henri gone to talk to Jean-Luc an' de others?"
"Oui. He'll be back." Emil replied. Mercy nodded as Remy rose and headed for the stairs. He was going up to his room to pack.
"Remy where are you goin' to go?" Mercy and Emil both asked at the same time.
Remy shrugged. "If I knew dat, I wouldn' be quite so lost, would I?" he inquired cryptically. Remy went upstairs and had his belongings packed and was gone from the house before Henri and the rest of the Guild got back.
Jean-Luc gave Emil and Mercy a curious look. "Where's Remy?" he asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer. Mercy started crying, but Emil gave him an answer.
"He's gone."
"What do you mean he's gone?" Henri demanded.
Emil raised an eyebrow. "What d'you mean, what do I mean? I mean de kid's gone. Adios, bye-bye, have a nice life. What more d'you need?"
"Where did he go?" Jean-Luc asked. He was worried, especially since he knew how angry the Assassins were. If they caught wind that Remy wasn't safe in his home, they might go after him to extract a little revenge.
"If we knew dat, don' you t'ink we'd be followin' him instead of sittin' here talkin' to you?" Mercy asked. "Even he didn' know where he was goin'."
Jean-Luc went over to the window and looking out, let out a sigh that seemed to come all the way from his toes. Emil went and stood beside him. "He'll be okay, Jean-Luc." he said in as comforting a voice as he could muster given the fact that he was worried too. "After all, we taught de kid everyt'ing we know. Dat's gotta count for somet'ing."
Much to Emil's surprise, he was the one who got the phone call from Remy three weeks later. He was in the apartment he shared with Genard, who was asleep on the couch, when the phone rang. Emil grabbed it quickly, not wanting it to wake Genard up. Emil had learned from experience that Genard wasn't the most pleasant person when he first woke up even if it was in the middle of the afternoon.
"'Ello?"
"Emil?" the familiar voice on the other end of the line asked. Emil almost dropped the receiver, but somehow managed not to.
"Remy?! Kid, where are ya? D'you have any idea how worried we've all been?"
Remy sighed. "I can' tell you where I'm at, Emil. Got my powers somewhat under control t'ough, an' dat's somet'ing."
"So come home for cryin' out loud."
"I can', Emil, you know dat." Remy sighed again. "Dey'd kill me an' Bel would lead de way. It's gon' be a long time b'fore I can go back dere. I jus' wanted to talk to you Would you tell de others I'm okay? I'll call Papa an' Henri once I find a place to get settled for more dan a few days."
"I'll tell dem," Emil agreed reluctantly. "Jus' call dem soon, okay? I hope dey don' b'lieve in shootin' messengers..."
Remy laughed. "As if dey'd ever shoot you for anyt'ing, Emil."
"Yeah well, de way t'ings have been 'round here since you left, you'd never know it." Emil replied.
"Look, Emil, I gotta go....I miss you guys..." Remy said softly.
It was Emil's turn to sigh. "Right back at you, kid. You take care of yourself, okay?"
"I will." Click.
The second Emil hung up the phone, Genard woke up. He cracked open one brown eye and looked at his best friend and roommate. "Who was dat?"
"Remy." was Emil's short reply. He almost laughed. The second he said the name, Genard's eyes snapped open and he was wide awake, in a sitting position and staring at Emil like he had two heads.
"Is he okay?"
"He sounded okay. Tired, but okay. Kinda like de rest of us, non?" Emil sighed. "He's not comin' home. An' I'm de lucky one dat gets to tell Jean-Luc dat wonderful piece of news."
"Well, I don' envy you dat job, mon ami. Jean-Luc's not goin' be happy 'bout dat. But it's not like any of us can do anyt'ing 'bout it. We can' exactly go all over de world lookin' for de kid so we can bring him home."
"I know..."