"I've asked you two to come here for a reason." Jean-Luc said in a solemn voice.
Theoren looked at his companion with a slight sigh. His look was returned by a glare of contempt from Gris-Gris. The thieves and assassins had agreed to a truce, to a unification of the Guilds. The unification had been foreseen many years ago, but had not come to pass, even when Jean-Luc and Marius arranged the marriage of their children.
Gris-Gris turned his glare to Jean-Luc. "What do you want, LeBeau?"
"I have a job for de two of you. It's not somet'ing I'm proud of, I don' want it to be done, personally, mais de prophecies told me it must be done, so I don' have a choice."
"What do you need us to do, Jean-Luc?" Theoren asked, ignoring Gris-Gris as pointedly as he could.
"You have to take de contents out of de Casket of All Tomorrows b'fore it's opened by de rest of de Guild. Can you do it?"
"Yeah…" Theoren replied.
"No problem." Gris-Gris agreed.
When Gris left, Theoren and Jean-Luc looked at each other. "I don' want it to go dis way, Theo." Jean-Luc said quietly.
"Why? Because it will ruin Remy's leadership? You know dat when it's revealed de casket is empty, we have to call a vote of confidence. It could very easily lead to him being kicked out."
Jean-Luc looked at Theoren and sighed. "You don' seem to mind de idea too much."
"I'm sorry, Jean-Luc. I don' mind it. I don' b'lieve de prophecies are right, I don' t'ink Remy is de one who's best suited to lead de Guild. Where are you gon' go?"
"Prob'ly Paris. I don' really know. You'll make sure de job gets done?"
"Oui. You have my word.
Two nights later, after Jean-Luc left New Orleans, Gris-Gris and Theoren found the Casket of All Tomorrows and opened it. Theoren was feeling slightly weird about the whole thing, because the only people who were actually supposed to open it were the two Guild ministers, Tome and Hoard. However, as they dragged the casket out and started opening it, he pushed his doubts aside and went on with his job.
They removed the documents and closed up the casket, putting it back where it was, in the exact position, so no one would be suspicious.
"What do we do wit' dese, did he say?" Gris asked, holding up the documents. Theoren shrugged.
"Your guess is as good as mine, Gris. We can' destroy dem…maybe we should hide dem somewhere."
Gris-Gris handed the documents to Theoren. "You're de t'ief, I'm sure you can find a suitable place to put dem."
"Uh…yeah." Theoren took the documents and followed Gris-Gris out of the room with a sigh.
A week later, Gris-Gris and Theoren took part in the Guild ceremony to open the casket. Neither of the two men would look at each other as they sat around the fire with Tante Mattie and Bella Donna, while Minister Tome and Minister Hoard brought out the casket and opened it. Everyone in the room was shocked, except of course for Theo and Gris, who played their parts very well. None of the others suspected the two had already know what the outcome of the opening would be.
Later that night, the two men approached Bella Donna. As viceroy of the Unified Guilds, Bel was the one who took care of things when Remy wasn't around. Or, as in this case, when Remy couldn't take care of it.
"You know what dis means, don' you, Bel?" Theoren said seriously.
"Do we have to?" Bella Donna sighed. She wasn't the biggest fan of Remy, but she also didn't feel like instigating a vote of confidence, something that hadn't been done within the Guilds in a hundred years.
"Oui, Bel, we do. Marceaux and I are calling it right now." Gris said. "We can' waste time."
"Okay den. I'll make de arrangements."
Two nights later, as Remy was out battling the Neo on the streets of New Orleans, the thieves and assassins met at the Boudreaux mansion for the vote. Remy knew what was going on, and even though it bothered him, he couldn't blame them for what they were doing. He knew they didn't have a choice.
One by one, the thieves and assassins cast their votes, with Bella Donna herself going last.
'How even can dis get?' Theoren thought as the votes were cast. Personally, he voted no, but when everyone had voted except for Bel, they were as good as tied. Tante Mattie, Mercy, Genard and Emil had all voted yes, which didn't surprise Theoren in the least, even though he knew Genard had only voted that way because he felt it was for the good of the Guild. Two of the assassins had also voted yes, Singer and Questa. Theoren had no ideas why they did that, but decided not to question. Aside from himself, the others, Claude, the two ministers, Gris-Gris and Fifolet, had all voted no. They were tied.
With Bella Donna as the deciding vote, she found herself in a tight spot. But even though she was the once-matriarch of the Assassins Guild, she took her job as viceroy of the Unified Guilds very seriously, and decided to follow the example of one of the thieves. She thought it was in the best interest of the Guild to have Remy as the patriarch, so she voted yes.
"How do you feel? You inspired Bel to actually t'ink of someone other den herself for once." Theoren joked to Genard as the Guild went to help Remy battle the Neo.
Genard smiled grimly. "I did what I t'ought was best for de Guild. I can' help it if she felt de same way…D'you t'ink dis whole t'ing is gon' work?"
"De unification? I don' know. I hope so, after all de work we've been puttin' into it. But if it doesn', each Guild can still survive apart from de other, so not'ing will really be lost."
"Makes sense. D'you want it to work? I mean personally, not t'inkin' of de Guild as a whole. Jus' you."
Theoren sighed and thought about his friend's question as they walked. Finally, he said,
"I'm not sure. I guess a part of me does, b'cause it's what de others fought deir whole lives for. Jean-Luc included. I'd like to see deir dream come true, even if dey can' see it demselves. Mais, on de other hand, I don' like change. An' I don' like de Assassins all dat much either. So I don' know, really, what I want to see happen. What 'bout you?"
"I don' like it either, but if it will benefit de Guild in de long run, I s'pose I want it to work, oui."
Remy was shocked when the Guild showed up to defend him against the Neo. He had figured dey'd vote him out of the leadership. He'd actually been hoping they would, so he could go back to being an X-Man and not have to worry about the Guild anymore. Pulling double leadership duty was giving him a permanent headache, especially considering he also had to deal with the New Son at the same time. He was, however, glad to see the Guild members there and was also happy they had arrived to help him. There was a time, not all that long ago, when half of the people present in the Guild would have rather killed him than look at him. Bella Donna was one of those people.
Theoren caught the look of surprise in Remy's face and almost laughed. He wasn't that fond of Remy, but he had to admit, the kid would probably do a good job if given the chance. Theoren wasn't sorry for voting the way he did; deep down he sort of blamed Remy for his brother Etienne's death. His logic was, if Remy hadn't triggered the silent alarm, Etienne might not have died that day during the tilling. He missed his brother a lot more than he would let on to anyone.
But even though he felt sore towards Remy for the most part, he also found himself hoping that Remy would get the chance to prove himself as Guild leader. 'Irony is a funny t'ing, mais even Remy d'serves a chance. Maybe dat's why Genard, Bel, Questa an' Singer voted de way dey did. Guess dey saw de need b'fore de rest of us.'
Claude stared at Theoren for a few minutes before saying anything, digesting what he had just heard his friend say. He had not known who was responsible for the documents disappearing from the Casket of All Tomorrows. None of them had. It was a shock to him that Theoren had taken part in it.
"Did Remy know?" he asked finally, sitting back down.
"Did Remy know 'bout what?" Theoren replied.
"'Bout de documents. 'Bout de fact dat you an' Gris were de ones who took dem."
"Ah. Oui, he knows. He's not a stupid kid. He called us on it de next day." Theoren explained. He crossed the room and opened his closet door. Reaching up onto the shelf, he pulled out a box. He set it on the bed beside Claude and opened it, taking out a file folder filled with papers. "It's not like I destroyed dem or put dem someplace where dey couldn' be found 'gain."
"Whoa…was he mad?"
"Non. I t'ink he understands de reasons b'hind it, even if he doesn' understand why his father was de one who got us to do it."
Claude tried to stifle a yawn but didn't quite keep it from Theoren. "So! What now? Any more dreams to tell me?"
Theoren smiled and threw a pillow at his friend. "You're fallin' asleep on me!"
"Hey, I resent dat! It's late! Or early! Oh, I don' know…" Claude exclaimed, dodging the pillow and laughing.
"Dere are more dreams, mais, I t'ink dey're best saved for Tante Mattie's ears, if dat's okay wit' you." Theoren replied. "An' b'sides, I t'ink we should both try an' get some sleep, ne c'est pas?"
"Hey, dey're your dreams. An' oui, dat might be a good idea."
When Claude got to the door and was about to leave to go back to his room, Theoren called him back.
"Claude?"
Claude turned back. "Oui?"
"T'anks. For listenin'."
"Dat's what I'm here for, among other t'ings, mon ami. See you in de morning." Claude replied with a smile and another stifled yawn as he closed the door behind himself and walked back to his room, feeling tired, but glad that maybe, just maybe, they had started on the road to getting Theoren's dreams to stop.