Desperado (X-Men - ROMY)

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Jean-Luc and Henri LeBeau were well used to Remy's mood swings; after all, he was a passionate man and rarely did anything by halves.

What they were not used to though, was his moods lasting for so long, nor was it like Remy to be depressed. Angry, loving, incensed, playful, ferocious, merry, irritable, delighted, outraged, intoxicated, resentful and chipper, but rarely was he depressed, and never had it taken him so long to bounce back before.

Remy may not be related to them by blood, but both men loved him as a true son and brother, and both were worried about him.

"Do you know what happened to him?" Jean Luc asked his older son, Henri. He didn't normally interfere in his sons business, they were both grown men after all, and he trusted their judgement. However, he couldn't sit back much longer and watch his youngest son descend even further into this cycle of anger and depression.

"I wish I did," Henri admitted. "He changed after that last job for Sinister, but he won't say what happened."

Jean-Luc nodded sadly, his own attempts at reaching his son having also been rebuffed.

"Is it Sinister?"

"Must be," Henri shrugged, "but I haven't seen him like this since the theatre accident."

Both men sighed, wondering if there was anything they could do to help.

"It's been two months now!" Jean-Luc said, becoming angry. "I simply can't allow this behaviour to continue! He even made Tante Mattie cry earlier!"

Henri looked up, shocked. Tante Mattie was like a mother to both boys since their own mother had died young, and Remy would never willingly hurt her.

"He may be my son, but I cannot show favouritism."

"Père, yelling at him won't do any good, you know that!"

"Then I'll send him away, let the guild in Italy or Japan deal with him."

"You know he can't leave. If we want to help him, we have to get rid of Sinister, or at least the threat that's being held over his head."

Jean-Luc nodded slowly, his anger vanishing almost instantly, which Henri knew to be a sign that he had a plan.

Rogue too had been out of sorts for the past two months, but other than assuring everyone that Remy was a thing of the past, she wouldn't speak of it any further, not even to Kitty.

In an odd reversal, it was now Logan pressing Rogue to reinstate relations with Remy, after himself having been nagged at by Charles.

Just that morning Logan had tried again, at which point Rogue threatened to drain him if dry he ever mentioned that name within her hearing again. Needless to say, Logan doesn't react well to threats, which is how she now found herself locked in the basement with Charles.

Logan had a hard enough time getting himself to believe the professor, so if he was going to get flack for trying to do what was asked of him, then Chuck could do it himself!

Rogue made no attempt to talk to the professor though, she didn't want to see, hear or have anything to do with Remy and this freaky plan to get him to join the X-Men. Unfortunately something must have given her presence away as after about an hour, she found her surroundings turning white and the professor standing in front of her.

"I don't have to be psychic to see that you are in pain," he said sympathetically. The professor was one of the few people that Rogue could accept sympathy from without feeling patronised. "I think I now know what happened during your last meeting with Remy, and-"