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halfamoon2025-02-02 09:29 am
apachefirecat) wrote in halfamoon2025-02-02 09:29 am
Day 2: Barriers/Boundaries - X-Men - Remy/Rogue - Not Dis Time
Title: Not Dis Time
Fandom: X-Men
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Remy/Rogue, Mystique
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: Remy makes a promise again to Rogue. Only this time he's determined to find a way to keep it.
Word Count: 2,511
Written For: Half A Moon 2025 Day 2: Barriers or Boundaries
Date Written: 2 February 2025
Warnings: Spoilers
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
"Chere, are you all right?" Remy's soft drawl pulls his wife out of her thoughts as she watches Jubilee and the kids disappear in the direction of town. His strong arms return around her, holding her close, and for a moment, she wishes they could just stand there, wrapped around one another, his Old Spice cologne engulfing her, secure in their own little bubble of love... But she knows it cannot be. That is never the way for an X-Man, and it has never been her way, even before.
He's asked her twice now if she's all right, but the truth is she's very, very far from being all right. She doesn't want to voice her thoughts, her fears, even to him, but life has taught her if their romance, their marriage, their bond even, is to survive, they have to be completely honest with each other. Besides, she knows he can feel her shivering in the bright daylight and knows, too, that he can always tell whenever she tries to lie to him.
"Ah've been dreamin' 'bout Momma lately," she whispers, keeping her voice low so as to not be overheard. She knows Logan will hear her nonetheless -- he'd hear her if they were a mile or more away --, but he, of all people, will respect her privacy.
Remy draws her up hard against him not in a moment of intimacy but rather as a reminder that he is there to protect her. "Remy ain' gon' let her get to you, Chere, not unless you say you want her back in yer life."
"Ah don't," she admits, "but she's always there anyway, always just a thought away." She clears her throat and draws from the strength he is offering her. When she speaks again, her voice is both harder and louder. "Are we sure it's a good idea for 'em to go into town this soon? 'specially after what already happened."
"Logan an' I both offered to tail 'em," he reminds her. "You were de one who said 'no', who said gotta show 'em trust if we want dem to stay."
"Ah know," she says, nodding her head slightly against his arm, "an' Ah know we do, but it's not them Ah'm worried about."
"It wasn't dem I was dinki' o' when I offered t'tail 'em. Pretty sure Logan feels de same."
"Remy, we just had two o' our own taken. Jubilee's no beginner. She freed herself from Bastion." He feels her shiver again and knows it has nothing to do with the kids or her momma this time, but everything to do with memories they'd both rather not revisit.
Bastion and his Operation: Zero Tolerance had followed on the tails of Onslaught, backed with government funds mostly persuaded through the fact of everything that had happened with Onslaught. They both knew too well from whence Onslaught itself had raised, and neither of them want to think that he can no longer be trusted. He'd almost had to knock her out to pull her away from the Professor the last time. Everyone had always snickered behind Scott's back about how loyal the Boy Scout had always been to the Professor, but the truth was, the old man had earned loyalty, trust, and faith from every one of them. He was like a father to them all.
He was like a daddy especially to Rogue, Remy realized, feeling a stab of pain. He'd heard her talk about her birth mother on occasion, about the woman who had raised her before Mystique and Irene had taken her in -- not that Remy didn't suspect they, or at least Mystique, had always known the gift they had in Rogue and how they could and would turn her, use her, betray her as a zutting weapon. His beloved had grown to be such a strong woman, but he knew she had been hurt by all her mothers before. None more than Raven, who'd surely looked at the terrified, young mutant girl, recognized her power, and known what a tool into which she could be transformed -- crushed was surely a more apt word -- for her cause. Remy had no use for Mystique and only tolerated her when his wife asked him to. Since even just the date of their wedding, which still wasn't too long ago in the grand scheme of things, the manipulative shapeshifter had acted as a friend and ally to doing everything she could to bring Rogue and himself down. Add that to the practically countless number of times she'd already tried to kill him to get to her "daughter".
Rogue could feel Remy tense beside her, but she was too lost in her own thoughts at the moment to be concerned for him. After all, they might both face nightmares every night, but at least his weren't of the woman he'd called his mother. Remy, on the other hand, gazed with concern at his wife as he realized that he'd never before heard her speak of her father. The Professor was the closest thing many of them had to a dad, perhaps Rogue more than anyone other than Scott, and he'd known that it had to be tearing the Boy Scout up inside to leave the old man behind. Hell, it'd hurt them all to have to leave him behind.
Rogue has turned to look back in the direction the old truck disappeared off into, heading out towards town. She's wrapped her arms around herself, even abandoning his hand to do so, and she looks genuinely cold in the warm air. She's rubbing her left arm with her right hand when she whispers forlornly, "Ah keep dreamin' o' her every night since we came back."
For just a brief moment, Remy shuts his red eyes, mentally kicking himself for not having seen this coming before. Leaving the Professor behind had been one of the hardest things either of them had ever had to do -- he suspects, the only time his chere's only been more hurt by a man was when she threw him away in Antartica, not that he can blame her any longer for that nor should have even blamed her before. He should have told her before, but how do you tell the woman you love that you're responsible for the cold-blooded massacre of a whole gentle people?
He's so lucky she loves him, yet there are still times when she needs him desperately and he's too much of a fool to see it. But now that he understands her doubt, her fears, he's moving fast, wrapping himself back around and pulling her close against him. He chastely kisses the side of her head. "We ain't got nothin' t' worry about -- "
"But don't we?" she asks, looking back up at him with unshed tears in her sweet, green eyes. "Kurt was almost taken too," she stresses. "Jubilee's no noob, Remy, an' mah brother sure ain't -- but they almost took him too."
"Oui, but we got 'em beat back f'r now."
"For now," she echoes. "But there's always so many others. Th' threats we face are pretty much endless, Remy, an' then there's mah mom. When she catches wind o' what we're doin', that we have kids under our protection now -- "
"You're afraid she's gonna go after 'em to hold against you." He's whispering now too and clings more tightly now to his beloved chere. There's been so many times already that that monster in blue skin has almost taken her from him. He'd rather be killed a thousand times over, if he could just save his wife from the torment she's been put through practically her whole life by Darkholme. Rogue had just been a mere slip of a thing, terrified out of her mind, when Raven had found her. She'd been such easy prey to the bitch.
Not unlike, he finds himself reflecting, what Becca's own mom has already put the child through. All of those kids are tough, far tougher than his Rogue was when she was first found by Mystique. None of them, even little Jitter, will be easy pickings for her, but then Mystique is one of the most skilled assassins, shapeshifters, and manipulators in the world. His heart aches, and not just for Rogue now. If Raven finds them -- If she hurts those kids --
But she won't. He didn't let them go into town unprotected, even if he didn't tell his wife. She'll thank him for it later, he's sure. "Hey, speakin' o'," Rogue turns questioning eyes up at him. "Where is Fuzzy?"
Remy smiles. "Caught," he admits with a soft chuckle. "Even faster'n I dought you would."
"Hmph." There's a smile now tugging at the corner of his beloved's beautiful face, and it feels so good to feel her smile again for any reason. "Y'all sent him on into town."
Remy shrugs. "He is thicker wit' de shadows dan even us dieves."
Rogue shakes her head, but then turns in his embrace and hugs him closer. "Thank you," she says, gazing up into his eyes, and when she kisses him, Remy feels like he could own the whole world through just that one kiss, as he always has and does whenever she kisses him.
To his surprise, she doesn't ask him, as she had when both he and Logan had offered to tail the kids, what the children will say when they catch the Elf following them. She just seems relieved. It is true that there are few better cloaked in the shadows than Nightcrawler, and no other who knows her mothers better. Besides, they all have faith in the Elf, just as they all have faith in one another. Just, he can't help thinking, as they'd all had faith in the Professor once... "We'll get 'im back, you know," he finds himself saying and winces inwardly, knowing he must stop making promises to his wife he may not be able to keep.
"Ah know," she agrees in a hushed breath, "but it's more'n that worries me, Cajun. Mah mom..."
"Is a monster, oui," he tells her, and for once, she does not argue with him. She's tried so many times to form an adult bond with Mystique, something beyond being the tool the manipulator crafts, and every time they or at least someone has barely survived the experience. "But we'll survive her t'gether."
Again, she looks off into the distance. This time, she's not gazing in the direction of town. He wonders what she's looking at, suspects it's nothing the eyes can actually see, and knows she'll tell him when she's ready and not one moment before. It may be something she's scared of voicing, but the fact that she's no longer trying to defend Mystique at all -- That surely is a big step in the right direction. She's set boundaries now, and unlike every time before, this time, at long last, he trusts she'll not let the evil mutant break them. She may have claimed to be her mother, but they both know mothers don't act like she did.
Again, he finds himself thinking of little Becca, who reminds him of his Rogue in so many ways. His own da' was a piece of work too, but despite Belladonna and the other Cajun women around whom he'd grown up, Remy had always thought his mother would have been better. If he'd ever known her. But here were two femmes who had been hurt terribly and beyond repair by their own mums. At least Raven had been adopted. Becca's mum, on the other hand, was her blood mother and had hurt her just as much as his wife had been hurt by her adopted mother.
"Y'know," he speaks softly, cautiously, "she's not de only parent we gonna have to look out fer."
"Ah know, but she's not mah mothah. Not really." She gazes up into her husband's face, then cups his grizzled cheeks tenderly in her gloved hands. "Ah'm so sorry Ah evah let her hurt you like that, Remy." She's sorry, too, for the pain she's caused him like leaving him in Antartica.
They have grown so much together. Their marriage is strong, loving, and a blessing to them both. But she still cannot help feeling guilty sometimes for all the pain she has visited on poor Remy, especially after all the pain she herself has endured at the hands of those who claimed to love her. She'd been scared to love Remy -- to truly love him as she has come to do so with all her heart and soul and not hide that love from anyone. She'd knew he'd become a primary target for Mystique when that day came.
And now these children, these precious children upon whom so much pain has already been visited... Despite the fact that they are mutants too, she knows her mother will make them targets as well, just as she has kept hurting and threatening the man Rogue loves, the man who, along with the Professor, were largely instrumental in freeing her forever from Raven's demented clutches. She will hurt the children, or worse, if things she can devise a way through doing so to force Rogue back to her way of thinking. But she won't go back to her or that lifestyle ever again, no matter what.
"Remy," Rogue leans her forehead on his neck and deeply inhales the mingling scents of his cologne, his aftershave, and the remains of the breakfast he'd cooked for them all this morning. He smells wonderful -- feels wonderful -- but then, he always has.
He wraps his arms around her. His embrace feels warm and reassuring, almost strong enough to keep out the whole rest of the world. But her mother has never known any barrier that could keep her away for long. Heck, there'd even been a time when Rogue had likened her to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. She's surely able to twist and coil any way necessary to get in any place she wants. Between having to leave the Professor, hearing Becca's whispered and sometimes shouted words of concern about her own mom, and truly beginning to enjoy her life again with her husband, it's no wonder she's been dreaming of Mystique every night. It's no wonder she suspects at any moment to reveal her true face while having hidden amongst them as someone for whom they all care and destroy everything, everyone, around her.
Remy holds her tight. "I promise you we won't let her hurt 'em. Not dis time, chere. Or us." He'd kill her first if he had to, and he's got Logan ready and waiting to help him do it and cover up the body before Rogue can discover the truth. That is one secret he'll have to keep from her if and when it happens. But Mystique will never hurt her, or them again. This time, with his friends and her brothers, he'll make damn sure of it.
The End
Fandom: X-Men
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Remy/Rogue, Mystique
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: Remy makes a promise again to Rogue. Only this time he's determined to find a way to keep it.
Word Count: 2,511
Written For: Half A Moon 2025 Day 2: Barriers or Boundaries
Date Written: 2 February 2025
Warnings: Spoilers
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
"Chere, are you all right?" Remy's soft drawl pulls his wife out of her thoughts as she watches Jubilee and the kids disappear in the direction of town. His strong arms return around her, holding her close, and for a moment, she wishes they could just stand there, wrapped around one another, his Old Spice cologne engulfing her, secure in their own little bubble of love... But she knows it cannot be. That is never the way for an X-Man, and it has never been her way, even before.
He's asked her twice now if she's all right, but the truth is she's very, very far from being all right. She doesn't want to voice her thoughts, her fears, even to him, but life has taught her if their romance, their marriage, their bond even, is to survive, they have to be completely honest with each other. Besides, she knows he can feel her shivering in the bright daylight and knows, too, that he can always tell whenever she tries to lie to him.
"Ah've been dreamin' 'bout Momma lately," she whispers, keeping her voice low so as to not be overheard. She knows Logan will hear her nonetheless -- he'd hear her if they were a mile or more away --, but he, of all people, will respect her privacy.
Remy draws her up hard against him not in a moment of intimacy but rather as a reminder that he is there to protect her. "Remy ain' gon' let her get to you, Chere, not unless you say you want her back in yer life."
"Ah don't," she admits, "but she's always there anyway, always just a thought away." She clears her throat and draws from the strength he is offering her. When she speaks again, her voice is both harder and louder. "Are we sure it's a good idea for 'em to go into town this soon? 'specially after what already happened."
"Logan an' I both offered to tail 'em," he reminds her. "You were de one who said 'no', who said gotta show 'em trust if we want dem to stay."
"Ah know," she says, nodding her head slightly against his arm, "an' Ah know we do, but it's not them Ah'm worried about."
"It wasn't dem I was dinki' o' when I offered t'tail 'em. Pretty sure Logan feels de same."
"Remy, we just had two o' our own taken. Jubilee's no beginner. She freed herself from Bastion." He feels her shiver again and knows it has nothing to do with the kids or her momma this time, but everything to do with memories they'd both rather not revisit.
Bastion and his Operation: Zero Tolerance had followed on the tails of Onslaught, backed with government funds mostly persuaded through the fact of everything that had happened with Onslaught. They both knew too well from whence Onslaught itself had raised, and neither of them want to think that he can no longer be trusted. He'd almost had to knock her out to pull her away from the Professor the last time. Everyone had always snickered behind Scott's back about how loyal the Boy Scout had always been to the Professor, but the truth was, the old man had earned loyalty, trust, and faith from every one of them. He was like a father to them all.
He was like a daddy especially to Rogue, Remy realized, feeling a stab of pain. He'd heard her talk about her birth mother on occasion, about the woman who had raised her before Mystique and Irene had taken her in -- not that Remy didn't suspect they, or at least Mystique, had always known the gift they had in Rogue and how they could and would turn her, use her, betray her as a zutting weapon. His beloved had grown to be such a strong woman, but he knew she had been hurt by all her mothers before. None more than Raven, who'd surely looked at the terrified, young mutant girl, recognized her power, and known what a tool into which she could be transformed -- crushed was surely a more apt word -- for her cause. Remy had no use for Mystique and only tolerated her when his wife asked him to. Since even just the date of their wedding, which still wasn't too long ago in the grand scheme of things, the manipulative shapeshifter had acted as a friend and ally to doing everything she could to bring Rogue and himself down. Add that to the practically countless number of times she'd already tried to kill him to get to her "daughter".
Rogue could feel Remy tense beside her, but she was too lost in her own thoughts at the moment to be concerned for him. After all, they might both face nightmares every night, but at least his weren't of the woman he'd called his mother. Remy, on the other hand, gazed with concern at his wife as he realized that he'd never before heard her speak of her father. The Professor was the closest thing many of them had to a dad, perhaps Rogue more than anyone other than Scott, and he'd known that it had to be tearing the Boy Scout up inside to leave the old man behind. Hell, it'd hurt them all to have to leave him behind.
Rogue has turned to look back in the direction the old truck disappeared off into, heading out towards town. She's wrapped her arms around herself, even abandoning his hand to do so, and she looks genuinely cold in the warm air. She's rubbing her left arm with her right hand when she whispers forlornly, "Ah keep dreamin' o' her every night since we came back."
For just a brief moment, Remy shuts his red eyes, mentally kicking himself for not having seen this coming before. Leaving the Professor behind had been one of the hardest things either of them had ever had to do -- he suspects, the only time his chere's only been more hurt by a man was when she threw him away in Antartica, not that he can blame her any longer for that nor should have even blamed her before. He should have told her before, but how do you tell the woman you love that you're responsible for the cold-blooded massacre of a whole gentle people?
He's so lucky she loves him, yet there are still times when she needs him desperately and he's too much of a fool to see it. But now that he understands her doubt, her fears, he's moving fast, wrapping himself back around and pulling her close against him. He chastely kisses the side of her head. "We ain't got nothin' t' worry about -- "
"But don't we?" she asks, looking back up at him with unshed tears in her sweet, green eyes. "Kurt was almost taken too," she stresses. "Jubilee's no noob, Remy, an' mah brother sure ain't -- but they almost took him too."
"Oui, but we got 'em beat back f'r now."
"For now," she echoes. "But there's always so many others. Th' threats we face are pretty much endless, Remy, an' then there's mah mom. When she catches wind o' what we're doin', that we have kids under our protection now -- "
"You're afraid she's gonna go after 'em to hold against you." He's whispering now too and clings more tightly now to his beloved chere. There's been so many times already that that monster in blue skin has almost taken her from him. He'd rather be killed a thousand times over, if he could just save his wife from the torment she's been put through practically her whole life by Darkholme. Rogue had just been a mere slip of a thing, terrified out of her mind, when Raven had found her. She'd been such easy prey to the bitch.
Not unlike, he finds himself reflecting, what Becca's own mom has already put the child through. All of those kids are tough, far tougher than his Rogue was when she was first found by Mystique. None of them, even little Jitter, will be easy pickings for her, but then Mystique is one of the most skilled assassins, shapeshifters, and manipulators in the world. His heart aches, and not just for Rogue now. If Raven finds them -- If she hurts those kids --
But she won't. He didn't let them go into town unprotected, even if he didn't tell his wife. She'll thank him for it later, he's sure. "Hey, speakin' o'," Rogue turns questioning eyes up at him. "Where is Fuzzy?"
Remy smiles. "Caught," he admits with a soft chuckle. "Even faster'n I dought you would."
"Hmph." There's a smile now tugging at the corner of his beloved's beautiful face, and it feels so good to feel her smile again for any reason. "Y'all sent him on into town."
Remy shrugs. "He is thicker wit' de shadows dan even us dieves."
Rogue shakes her head, but then turns in his embrace and hugs him closer. "Thank you," she says, gazing up into his eyes, and when she kisses him, Remy feels like he could own the whole world through just that one kiss, as he always has and does whenever she kisses him.
To his surprise, she doesn't ask him, as she had when both he and Logan had offered to tail the kids, what the children will say when they catch the Elf following them. She just seems relieved. It is true that there are few better cloaked in the shadows than Nightcrawler, and no other who knows her mothers better. Besides, they all have faith in the Elf, just as they all have faith in one another. Just, he can't help thinking, as they'd all had faith in the Professor once... "We'll get 'im back, you know," he finds himself saying and winces inwardly, knowing he must stop making promises to his wife he may not be able to keep.
"Ah know," she agrees in a hushed breath, "but it's more'n that worries me, Cajun. Mah mom..."
"Is a monster, oui," he tells her, and for once, she does not argue with him. She's tried so many times to form an adult bond with Mystique, something beyond being the tool the manipulator crafts, and every time they or at least someone has barely survived the experience. "But we'll survive her t'gether."
Again, she looks off into the distance. This time, she's not gazing in the direction of town. He wonders what she's looking at, suspects it's nothing the eyes can actually see, and knows she'll tell him when she's ready and not one moment before. It may be something she's scared of voicing, but the fact that she's no longer trying to defend Mystique at all -- That surely is a big step in the right direction. She's set boundaries now, and unlike every time before, this time, at long last, he trusts she'll not let the evil mutant break them. She may have claimed to be her mother, but they both know mothers don't act like she did.
Again, he finds himself thinking of little Becca, who reminds him of his Rogue in so many ways. His own da' was a piece of work too, but despite Belladonna and the other Cajun women around whom he'd grown up, Remy had always thought his mother would have been better. If he'd ever known her. But here were two femmes who had been hurt terribly and beyond repair by their own mums. At least Raven had been adopted. Becca's mum, on the other hand, was her blood mother and had hurt her just as much as his wife had been hurt by her adopted mother.
"Y'know," he speaks softly, cautiously, "she's not de only parent we gonna have to look out fer."
"Ah know, but she's not mah mothah. Not really." She gazes up into her husband's face, then cups his grizzled cheeks tenderly in her gloved hands. "Ah'm so sorry Ah evah let her hurt you like that, Remy." She's sorry, too, for the pain she's caused him like leaving him in Antartica.
They have grown so much together. Their marriage is strong, loving, and a blessing to them both. But she still cannot help feeling guilty sometimes for all the pain she has visited on poor Remy, especially after all the pain she herself has endured at the hands of those who claimed to love her. She'd been scared to love Remy -- to truly love him as she has come to do so with all her heart and soul and not hide that love from anyone. She'd knew he'd become a primary target for Mystique when that day came.
And now these children, these precious children upon whom so much pain has already been visited... Despite the fact that they are mutants too, she knows her mother will make them targets as well, just as she has kept hurting and threatening the man Rogue loves, the man who, along with the Professor, were largely instrumental in freeing her forever from Raven's demented clutches. She will hurt the children, or worse, if things she can devise a way through doing so to force Rogue back to her way of thinking. But she won't go back to her or that lifestyle ever again, no matter what.
"Remy," Rogue leans her forehead on his neck and deeply inhales the mingling scents of his cologne, his aftershave, and the remains of the breakfast he'd cooked for them all this morning. He smells wonderful -- feels wonderful -- but then, he always has.
He wraps his arms around her. His embrace feels warm and reassuring, almost strong enough to keep out the whole rest of the world. But her mother has never known any barrier that could keep her away for long. Heck, there'd even been a time when Rogue had likened her to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. She's surely able to twist and coil any way necessary to get in any place she wants. Between having to leave the Professor, hearing Becca's whispered and sometimes shouted words of concern about her own mom, and truly beginning to enjoy her life again with her husband, it's no wonder she's been dreaming of Mystique every night. It's no wonder she suspects at any moment to reveal her true face while having hidden amongst them as someone for whom they all care and destroy everything, everyone, around her.
Remy holds her tight. "I promise you we won't let her hurt 'em. Not dis time, chere. Or us." He'd kill her first if he had to, and he's got Logan ready and waiting to help him do it and cover up the body before Rogue can discover the truth. That is one secret he'll have to keep from her if and when it happens. But Mystique will never hurt her, or them again. This time, with his friends and her brothers, he'll make damn sure of it.
The End
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