Name story  Ange tombé (Fallen angel), Part 2

	Author  Morgana

	The cold was gone. It was the first thing he noticed when 
he started to wake up, but then Remy realized with a fright that 
he could hardly move. His body was paralyzed and although he 
struggled to open his eyes, fatigue was all consuming so he had 
to give up. Stretched out on some kind of bed he relished its 
softness and warmth, which seemed to caress his brittle skin.
	The cold was gone, and he was no longer alone. Although he 
was still too tired to make an effort to identify the person 
close to him, Remy distinctly felt a presence, a strong one. 
Someone was close. Maybe not in this room, but close enough for 
him to sense it. Knowing someone was looking after him confused 
him, and he apprehensively waited for the things to come. 
Everything was better than being alone.
	Absolutely relishing the fact that the air around him was 
no longer icy cold, he drew in a deep breath. Soft fabric 
covered his cold body and as it moved over his naked skin Remy 
wondered who'd brought him here and why.
	He vaguely remembered a voice, a man's voice, but wasn't 
sure whether the voice had sounded familiar or not. Everything 
he'd heard or sensed when he had been laying on the ice felt 
strangely distorted.
	Shivering, he remembered the cold, the mind numbing cold 
and the loneliness it had brought with it. He'd expected to die 
there after Rogue had dropped him on to the ice pack and again 
the questions circled in his mind.
	Why hadn't she helped him? Why had she left? Had she 
decided this was punishment and had she sentenced him to death? 
No matter how hard he tried he couldn't understand her actions. 
Remy doubted she would ever give him those answers and he never 
wanted to see her again.
	"You should try and get more sleep."
	The sound of a determined voice should have startled him, 
but it didn't. The fact that he hadn't even heard any footsteps 
and hadn't sensed the presence approach told him he was 
exhausted.
	Yes, the voice sounded familiar. If only his eyes would 
open, but they remained stubbornly closed. Whose voice was it?
	"I'll be back later."
	"Wait," Remy managed to whisper in a rough tone. Well, at 
least his lips obeyed him! "Who...?" Then exhaustion struck and 
his voice deserted him.
	"Later," the stranger replied in a soft tone.
	"Wanna know!" he murmured drained, but sleep sneaked up on 
him. Remy tried raising his hand in an effort to stop the man 
from leaving, but his body was made out of ice and refused to 
cooperate.
	Trapped. He felt trapped and his stomach contorted with 
remembered fear. It wasn't the first time he was at someone's 
mercy and he started to panic. He had been trapped before when 
he'd been a kid roaming the streets. A lot of weirdos tried 
taking advantage of a street kid and at times he'd had no way 
out.
	Remy shivered violently as he wondered if this stranger had 
the same thing in mind for him now.
	"Later," the man insisted.
	Sighing, Remy give in. At least his body wasn't hurting 
that badly any longer. It had gone strangely numb. Using his 
last bit of strength he moved his left arm and the movement told 
him that he wasn't being restrained. That knowledge made him 
calm down.
	He'd done a few dumb things when he had been a street kid, 
before Jean-Luc had adopted him. Things he wasn't proud of, but 
he'd needed money to buy food. Going home with strangers had 
also provided him with a place to sleep, but sleeping in a bed 
hardly compensated the pain, which had been inflicted on him in 
return. In those days all he'd cared about had been money, food 
and shelter. That was how he had survived.
	And all he wanted now was company. Remy didn't want to be 
alone, not after they'd deserted =him=, the traitor. As he had 
joined the X-Men he should have realized they would find out the 
truth at one point, but... Remy had hoped it would have taken 
them much longer.
	He had almost forgotten about the stranger as his voice 
suddenly reminded him of his presence.
	"If you won't go back to sleep, I'll have to give you a 
sedative. I'm not a doctor and would hate adding to your 
discomfort."
	Not a doctor... the admission drifted in to his mind. So 
where the hell was he? "Mon Dieu, where did y' take m’?" Remy 
asked in a shaky tone as his teeth refused to stop chattering.
	"You're stubborn," the man replied with faint amusement in 
his voice. "But what else to expect from one of Charles' 
students?"
	"Y' know m’?" Remy was fighting, fighting hard not to fall 
asleep. If he only could convince his eyes to open! And where 
had he heard that voice before?
	"Yes, Gambit, and now you're going to sleep."
	Hearing his name Remy apprehensively wondered whether he 
was in trouble again. If the man knew his identity, he might 
also know he'd betrayed the X-Men and Morlocks... Why had he 
walked in to Sinister's trap? When he had recruited the 
Marauders he hadn't known Sinister planned to wipe out the 
Morlocks with his help.
	If only he'd known back then what he knew now! He would 
never have agreed to help Sinister. The name still sent nervous 
shivers down his cold spine and a terrible feeling of regret 
overwhelmed him. He was responsible for so many deaths!
	Unexpected, sleep crashed in on him and he suspected the 
stranger had lived up to his promise and had fed him sleeping 
meds. Looked like he had no choice now. He was going back to 
sleep whether he wanted to or not.
	"I'm going to contact Charles," the stranger announced 
determined.
	"Non!" Remy exclaimed in panic, uncertain where he had 
gotten the strength from to make that statement. "Non, don' do 
dat!" The plea sapped the little strength he'd left and hurled 
him in to a deep sleep.
	
	"I'm going to contact Charles now..." The words kept 
ringing in his mind and Remy desperately hoped the man hadn't 
informed the X-Men that he was still alive. Shifting 
uncomfortably on the bed he slipped in to a state between waking 
and unconsciousness.
	The cold returned and his teeth chattered, as he pulled the 
blankets closer to his shivering body. "Non, don' contact him!" 
he whispered unwillingly. Remy didn't want them to know he was 
still alive. He didn't even want to know why he was thinking 
like this.
	All he wanted was to feel warm and to sense this presence, 
which radiated life and... concern?
	Suddenly feeling a lot more awake he focused on that 
emotion. Concern? Why would anyone be concerned about =him=? 
Maybe the man didn't know what he had done in the past? That 
might explain it. Even Rogue had felt it necessary to leave him 
out here.
	So many times he'd tried to show her how much he loved her. 
He had even kissed her... and had paid for that folly as she'd 
learned bits and pieces of his past. Remy had even been prepared 
to deny himself her touch... something which had always been 
hard for him, to deny himself touch.
	Touching skin was... beyond words. Skin contact enabled him 
to perceive someone's emotions more clearly. He craved soothing 
their worries or when it had been a lover touching him, to send 
back the pleasure he was experiencing. During such intimate 
moments he had often wondered if the other realized what he was 
doing. If they ever did, it had never showed.
	Did the professor know about his charm power? It had never 
occurred to him to tell Charles Xavier about it and he didn't 
want people to know all his tricks, even if this power 
frequently got him in to trouble.
	Remy vividly remembered one time when he'd drunk a little 
too much of the bubbly and suddenly Logan had been eying him 
appreciately. Remembering the expression in Logan's eyes still 
made him chuckle mentally.
	He had learned to control it to a certain degree, but when 
he'd lived on the streets it had only brought him trouble. 
Sinister elements had found themselves drawn to him and all he 
had been able to do back then, was to run for his life... and 
run hard!
	Slowly he regained his senses and opened his eyes, hoping 
the light wouldn't blind him. Peeking through half closed 
eyelids he sighed relieved at the sight of dimmed lights. It 
took great effort to cock his head and take in the room. It 
certainly didn't look like he was in a hospital.
	"I'm not a doctor," the stranger had said and that 
revelation only confused him more. Where was he and who was this 
man who had taken him in?
	Sensing the now familiar presence coming closer he quickly 
closed his eyes. No need to give away the small advantage he'd 
got. This man didn't need to know he was awake.
	Noise emerged from the right and he realized the stranger 
had put something down on the table. He tried hard and focused 
on this person's emotions and again a wave of concern and... 
curiosity hit him. But there was no hint of malice. Slightly 
reassured he cracked open his eyes.
	"So you finally got tired of pretending you're asleep?" the 
man said approvingly.
	Baffled, Remy stared at his face and at first he was 
convinced it was Joseph, the Magneto clone Rogue had shoved 
under his nose some time ago. Then he understood his mistake. 
This wasn't the clone. This was the real thing!
	"Magneto?" Remy stuttered amazed and realized he was dire 
straits.
	"Ah, you recognize me. Eric Magnus Lensherr," he introduced 
himself with a nod of his head. "Or, Magneto, to others." 
Carefully, he studied Gambit's expression. The young man was 
stunned and Magneto decided to take this slow. Gambit had been 
near death when he had found him on the ice. It actually amazed 
him that Gambit was recovering this quickly.
	"I don' understan’," Remy muttered.
	"Of course you don't," Magneto replied and inclined his 
head. "I tried hard to keep this base secret." And he wasn't 
going to give up its location now. Gambit didn't need to know 
its exact location. He had doubted his decision to help the 
young mutant, but had found it impossible to turn his back on 
Gambit.
	"Base?"
	"Are you going to repeat every word I say?" Magneto said 
and pulled up a chair. The look on Gambit's face was hard to 
decipher, but his instincts told him the young man was clinging 
to too many secrets for his own good.
	"I'm no cook either, but this will have to do," Magneto 
said and offered Gambit the soup he had warmed earlier.
	Speechless, and that was something that didn't happen 
often, Remy stared at the bowl of soup Magneto had brought 
along. Steam floated through the room and he craved feeling that 
hot liquid running through his throat. As Remy moved his hands 
underneath the blanket they stung in pain and he had to seize 
the action.
	"Reduced to a nurse," Magneto quipped, smiling weakly at 
the sight of Gambit's pain filled eyes. Shaking his head he 
placed the bowl at Remy's lips. "Drink this slowly."
	He swallowed obediently and coughed as the burning liquid 
made its way in to his stomach. Never before had he felt 
anything this warm... "Why are y' doin ’ dis?" Remy asked, 
trying to recall everything he'd read in Magneto's file. The 
professor had told them to study it extensively, but Remy had 
never been good at following orders and had slept late instead.
	"You're a mutant," Magneto said, placed the empty bowl back 
on the table and rearranged the blankets. "I protect my kind." 
It was the truth. Although Charles and he had different opinions 
in how to help mutants he would never turn his back on a mutant 
who needed help, even if it was an X-Man.
	Again he wondered about the feelings flowing through him as 
he stared in to red on black eyes, so clearly marking Gambit a 
mutant. He'd fought the X-Men before, even knew Gambit's file, 
but had never felt attracted to him. His instincts were telling 
him something odd was going on and that he had to remain 
extremely vigilant.
	"Dat simple?" Remy muttered mystified. He'd never thought 
Magneto would help an X-Man and certainly not him.
	"Yes," Magneto said with a hint of confusion as something 
urged him to protect the younger man. He made a mental note to 
find out what was going on. "But I've got a lot of questions for 
you to answer." Magneto never expected Gambit to panic at 
hearing that remark.
	"Non," Remy objected as fiercely as he could muster. "Not 
aujourd'hui."
	That French again, Magneto thought fatigued. Closely 
observing Gambit he registered the growing anxiety on the man's 
face and realized with a start that it was also affecting him. 
The first thing he was going to do was try and get more 
information on this man. "In English please," Magneto requested 
as the meaning of the French word eluded him.
	"Today," Remy whispered and wanted nothing more than to go 
back to sleep, still unable to believe Magneto had found him in 
that frozen hell and had cared enough to rescue him. The look 
the man was giving him caused goose flesh to appear all over his 
body.
	"I'm willing to let you rest a little longer. When I found 
you, you were barely alive," Magneto said, giving in for now. It 
was apparent Gambit was nervous, perhaps even scared and he 
didn't want to aggravate him. But... the young man's features 
were handsome and his eyes compelling. Startled by his line of 
thought, Magneto recomposed himself. It wasn't like him to feel 
sexually attracted to a stranger. Was Gambit somehow 
manipulating him?
	"Merci," Remy mumbled and closed his eyes again. He sensed 
Magneto's intensions were genuine and as he drifted off in to 
this chilly sleep Remy wondered upset whether Magneto had 
informed the X-Men or not...
	Magneto halted as he reached the doorway and gave Gambit 
one last probing look. There was more going on than met the eye 
and he was going to find out what it was!
	 
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Normal.dot 	Page 1
	03/01/00