PArt 4 
	
	After having stifled a yawn Remy pushed back the blankets 
and tried to get his feet on the floor. Magneto had been here an 
hour ago and had kept his promise to bring him some food. Mostly 
soup and fruit, but it had appeased his growling stomach and he 
felt grateful for the other man's care. 
	Suddenly, Remy realized that he wasn't wearing any clothes 
underneath the layer of blankets and he couldn't help wondering 
why Magneto had undressed him. The possible answer frightened 
him and he quickly pushed it away. 
	Hugging several blankets Remy pulled them closer to his 
cold body. Thankfully the floor didn't feel cold and he 
suspected Magneto had raised the room's temperature to make him 
feel more comfortable. What would the man expect in return? 
	Remy carefully avoided thinking about that question, as he 
knew nothing was free in life. There was always a price. Always. 
	Shivering, he remembered another time when he had to pay 
for food and shelter. In a bizarre way, his childhood memories 
sneaked back up on him. Only Jean-Luc knew what he'd done to 
survive and at times Remy had even felt ashamed for telling the 
man, who loved him as a son, the bitter truth. 
	Biting his lip Remy forced himself to place his weight on 
his feet and suddenly he knew he'd made a mistake. He wasn't yet 
up to getting out of bed! But Remy wasn't about to give up. In 
order to take care of himself he had to get out of this place 
before Magneto demanded his reward. 
	But where to go? Going back to the X-Men mansion wasn't an 
option and he couldn't show up at home. He had to stay clear of 
the Thieves and Assassins guild. So why was he bothering to 
escape? Embittered, he chuckled softly. No one wanted ol' Remy. 
	"What do you think you're doing? Get back in bed!" 
	Magneto's tone made him smile, as he tasted concern in the 
words. Remy didn't protest and lowered himself back on to the 
bed. Yes, maybe staying here wasn't such a bad thing after all. 
He could pay Magneto's price. At a young age he had learned what 
a man wanted from him and he'd been through it enough times to 
accept the pain involved. 
	"You still owe me some answers," Magneto pointed out and 
pulled the blankets back in to place, complimenting himself on 
the idea to check on Remy. The young man was in no condition to 
attempt an escape. 
	"Den ask m' questions," Remy replied resigned and closed 
his eyes. 
	"Why did they leave you behind?" Magneto asked curiously. 
He had only seen bits and pieces of the fight. 
	This was it. Briefly, Remy considered lying but his senses 
told him that this man would detect any deceit. "I betrayed 
dem," he said eventually and his accent weakened as Remy 
pondered his words and the way to pronounce them more carefully. 
	"In what way?" Magneto asked with an emotionless expression 
on his face. This was an admission he hadn't expected. But 
before judging Remy he should give the man a chance to explain 
his words. "How did you betray them?" 
	"Before I joined de X-Men I worked for Sinister. Didn't 
know who he was at dat time," Remy tried to explain but couldn't 
find the right words. "I led de Marauders in to the tunnels and 
dey slaughtered de Morlocks." 
	Magneto's expression hardened and Remy mentally prepared 
himself to receive feelings of disgust. He was still blocking 
the charm power, but... he was slowly losing control. 
	"Why did you want the Morlocks dead?" Magneto asked in a 
chilly tone. Had he made such a mistake in judgment? Had Gambit 
willingly killed them? 
	Tasting blood on his lip Remy shook his head. "I never 
wanted dat t' happen! Remy didn' know dey would kill dem!" And 
he couldn't keep back the tears any longer or the guilt as he'd 
realized the terrible consequences of his former actions. "Remy 
didn' want dat to happen!" Tears flowed down his face as he 
remembered the horrible revelation in the eyes of his 
teammates... his former teammates! He didn't notice that the 
charm power was escaping his control. 
	"Calm yourself!" Magneto exclaimed in a similar emotional 
tone. The amount of pain, grieve, regret and guilt suddenly 
flowing in to his mind made him reel. "Calm yourself, Remy," he 
repeated and hoped the young man realized what he was doing. 
Unable to block these feelings Magneto tried to examine the 
emotions. If was obvious Remy hadn't known about Sinister's 
plans and suddenly he understood the mistake the X-Men had made. 
They'd assumed Gambit had willingly betrayed the mutants, but 
the poor kid had been tricked. 
	"What?" Staring in to his eyes Remy saw his own pain 
reflected in them. Merde! It was his charm power, cut loose, and 
he quickly pulled the pain back in to his mind where it 
belonged. "Je suis désolé. S'il vous plaît me pardoner," Remy 
whispered, lapsing back in to French, asking Magneto to forgive 
him the intrusion in to his mind. He had lost control too often 
lately. 
	Remy didn't understand the pitiful look Magneto shot him. 
Raising a hand he quickly dried his tears. He hated being this 
emotional, but after what had happened lately... 
	"I misjudged you," Magneto sighed and knew what he had to 
do. 
	Remy tried to cut him short, to tell Magneto that he didn't 
deserve any leniency, but the older man's eyes silenced him. 
Breathlessly Remy waited for Magneto to address him again and 
inwardly he cringed. 
	"I assumed you had =willingly= betrayed our kind. But you 
were tricked by Sinister. He's my enemy as well." Magneto drew a 
deep breath and composed himself. He truly felt sorry for this 
young mutant. "This... charm power of yours is unsettling," he 
added, relieved to feel it flow away. 
	"Oui," Remy agreed and tried dealing with this admission. 
Tricked by Sinister... if it only were that simple! The X-Men 
would never see it that way and Warren certainly wouldn't 
believe that! "C'est ennui." 
	"What kind of trouble?" Magneto asked and then raised his 
hand as if trying to remember something. "When I brought you 
here I felt deeply protective of you... even attracted to you," 
he whispered and hoped he had reached the wrong conclusion. 
	Remy swallowed the lump, which had formed in his throat. 
What could he tell Magneto? How much? Magneto leaned in closer 
and breath caressed his brow. If he lost control now Magneto 
might go mad with lust and he tightly controlled it. 
	"Sex," Magneto said softly. "I smell it on you." It was 
only an educated guess but one that hit target. 
	That remark coming from Magneto scared the hell out of 
Remy. He was certain he was controlling the charm power, so how? 
"Oui," he replied intimidated and wondered if the other men had 
also smelled sex on him when they had tried to convince him to 
go home with them in exchange for money. 
	"And you can't control it," Magneto added thoughtfully. 
Suddenly everything made sense. 
	A wave of pity and compassion spiraled down at Remy and 
Magneto was the origin. Confused he looked up but avoided 
Magneto's eyes, certain the man had figured out what 'trouble' 
it had gotten him in to in the past. 
	"I'm not going to touch you," Magneto stated suddenly and 
backed a few steps away. "I'm in control of my emotions." Even 
without the charm power Remy must have been an easy target and 
he vividly remembered the things he had seen the guards do to 
prisoners during his time in the Nazi camp. The soldiers had 
often hit on orphans or kids whose parents or siblings were ill, 
and he had seen those children's eyes after they had returned 
with food or medicine. Remy's eyes carried that same expression. 
	Remy knew with certainty that Magneto had guessed the truth 
and hid his face underneath the blankets. Suddenly the charm 
power broke loose, as he no longer had any strength left to keep 
it locked up inside. 
	This was what he'd been afraid of the entire time. A warm, 
=warm= hand caressed his hair and he flinched at the touch, 
knowing what would follow shortly. 
	"Remy?" Magneto said gently as he recognized the alien 
emotions in his mind. He didn't allow them to affect him though, 
clinging to his memories instead. 
	"Non," he sobbed suddenly. "Pas encore. Il endommage." He 
simply couldn't accept the pain again, a pain he had thought of 
as belonging to the past. 
	"It hurts?" Magneto translated. "I understand. I better 
leave you alone then." For their sake he had to put distance 
between them and to recompose himself. 
	In disbelief Remy listened to retreating footsteps. 
Confused, he gathered his senses. He'd unwillingly unleashed the 
charm power and Magneto hadn't taken advantage of it? 
Impossible! No one had ever managed -or was it wanted?- to 
resist the charm power! 
	Slightly reassured he searched the room with his eyes, but 
his senses told him Magneto was gone. Probably to avoid being 
more affected by it. 
	"Vous remercier, mon Dieu," Remy whispered, relieved 
Magneto had been strong enough to leave the room. This time he 
had been spared. 
	Remy spent the next hours listening to his own heartbeat 
and concentrating on feeling the blood flowing through his 
veins. He knew he could recover from being exposed to this 
frozen hell, but it would take him a lifetime. 
	Determined, Remy made a second attempt to get to his feet 
and this time he succeeded. Clutching the blankets he slowly 
made his way over to the doorway and peeked outside. This 
building was bigger than he'd expected. Then he remembered 
Magneto had referred to it as a base of operations and he 
wondered why the door to his room wasn't locked. Magneto should 
know better than to let a thief roam his base! 
	For the first time since this mess had started Remy allowed 
himself a genuine smile. It almost felt like Magneto trusted him 
to not do anything wrong. Stupid man! 
	As Remy wandered the corridor, he wished he knew where he 
was headed. He was going on instinct here, allowing his senses 
to guide him and he felt drawn closer to Magneto, the only 
living presence here. 
	They were alone here? What had he gotten himself in to this 
time? He had to be crazy to actually seek out Magneto! 
	"You should come inside and sit down," Magneto said warmly 
as he detected the soft footfalls closing in on him. 
	Remy leaned against the wall for support and wondered how 
Magneto knew he was hiding there. Was he losing his skills? 
	"I knew your curiosity would take you here sooner or 
later," Magneto explained and switched off the main screen. No 
need to tell Gambit that the alarm system had also alerted him. 
	Remy walked towards the chair Magneto pointed out to him 
and slowly sat down. "Why would I be curious?" he asked 
surprised. Magneto leaned back and studied him. Remy felt 
uncomfortable under that look and wondered what Magneto wanted 
from him. Locked up like this, it was only a question of time 
before the charm power eluded his control and would fully hit 
Magneto. It had happened before... it would happen again. He 
should accept what would happen instead of fighting it. That way 
it would hurt less. 
	"The X-Men... did you tell them of your charm power? I know 
you hid it from Charles but..." Magneto said eventually. This 
question had occupied him for some time. He knew Remy hadn't 
known Sinister's plans, so why hadn't the X-Men believed him? 
	Remy's mouth went dry. Only Jean-Luc knew the absolute 
truth about him. "Non, dey don' know," Remy admitted shyly. 
	"Why are you so intent on keeping this secret?" Magneto 
asked frustrated. "This 'ability' must have caused you pain in 
the past." And was still causing the young mutant pain. 
	"What can dey do?" Remy asked in return. His face had 
turned flustered and he stared at the floor as he added, "Dey 
t'ink Remy is a whore." 
	A silence, heavy and threatening emanated from Magneto and 
it almost caused Remy to frantically leave the room. Only the 
fact that he was still too weak to run kept him back. "Didn' 
t'ink saying dat would hurt so much," Remy whispered and he kept 
the pain, the shame, everything tightly sealed within him. 
	"Can you blame them?" Magneto said with a hint of strong 
disapproval. "You never told them the truth!" A moment later he 
regretted his harsh tone, as Remy didn't deserve that. But the 
young man's statement made him realize the truth. Remy felt 
terribly ashamed. 
	"Don' know how," Remy mumbled. As Magneto suddenly grabbed 
his hands he tried to get away from the older man, but in his 
current state he was no match for him. Panicking, he waited for 
the inevitable. 
	"You've got to stop feeling sorry for yourself, Remy and 
face who and what you are. Trust me," Magneto said in a choked 
tone, "I know staring your demons in the eyes is hard. I've been 
there." Maybe if he shared some of his history with Remy, the 
young man would be more inclined to open up. It was imperative 
that Remy started to deal with this. Why hadn't Charles insisted 
Remy learned to handle his ability? Had his friend thought that 
it would only do more harm than good without Remy's voluntary 
cooperation? 
	"Never t'ought you possessed a conscience," Remy confessed 
in a shaky tone, surprised by the sudden change in conversation. 
	"I've seen fear, Remy. I've felt pain, witnessed the 
holocaust. I have a fairly good idea what happened to cause this 
hurt. Some children didn't have much of a choice in the camps. 
And you..." Magneto hoped Remy would truly listen to him this 
time. 
	"Camps?" Remy repeated, wondering what Magneto was talking 
about. Was the mutant actually discussing his past with him and 
what could Magneto have seen that came close to his childhood? 
	"World war 2. I'm Jewish," Magneto sighed, seeing the 
genuine compassion on Remy's face. Some of it was even seeping 
in to his mind. 
	Blinking his eyes Remy cocked his head. "Y' survived?" Yes, 
perhaps Magneto could picture his youth. 
	"So did Charles." Unwilling to address this issue any 
further Magneto said, "You can stay here until you've regained 
most of your strength, but then I'm going to take you back to 
Charles." He had managed to arouse Remy's interest and that had 
to do for now. They had to do this in small steps or he would 
chase the young man away. 
	"Non," Remy pleaded in a broken tone, "I can' face dem! 
Stormy..." Utterly surprised he looked at Magneto who chuckled 
at that name. Apologetically, Remy shrugged his shoulders. 
	"Stormy? And you get away with calling her that?" Magneto 
said truly amused. 
	"Oui," Remy replied and couldn't repress a grin, but then 
reality hit him again. "She's de leader of de Morlocks... she'll 
hate Remy now." 
	The sadness in that statement echoed in the room and 
Magneto squeezed Remy's cold hands. Somehow he had to redirect 
that pain, distract Remy. There was too much pain in those red 
eyes. "Do you always do that? Speak about yourself in third 
person when you're upset?" 
	Baffled, Remy mentally replayed that question. Only Jean-
Luc had ever asked him that. "Oui." Feeling tired, Remy's 
control started to slip and sleep made his eyes close. 
	"You do realize it's a way to detach yourself from whatever 
you went through as child? Making it seem like those things 
happened to Remy, not to =you=... thinking like that is a 
defense mechanism." Magneto said softly. Several survivors of 
the camp he had been in had reacted the same way once the war 
had been over. 
	"Y're psychologue now?" But Remy realized there was truth 
to his words. He just didn't want to acknowledge it vocally. 
	"The war taught me many things," Magneto acknowledged in a 
saddened voice and placed his hand on Remy's brow to check on 
the fever. 
	Remy grew nervous. A touch like this one usually spelled 
trouble. Had to be the charm power acting up again and he 
resigned to Magneto's intentions, whatever they were. 
	"You're afraid of me... because of the things other men did 
to you?" Magneto asked, already knowing the answer and he hated 
seeing the fear in those red eyes. 
	Remy simply nodded his head. This was deja vu. He'd been 
here before. "Y' want Remy's body, oui?" he offered, knowing 
struggling would only increase the pain. And suddenly he 
realized Magneto was right. He was trying to distance himself 
from what he was about to do. Magneto's reaction baffled him 
though. 
	He smiled gently and said, "Non, je peux résister vos 
charmes, Remy." 
	"Resist?" Remy repeated deeply touched. Calm spread through 
his mind, originating from Magneto and he drew in the assurance 
that he wouldn't be touched against his will. Then, on a lighter 
note he added, "Y' speak French too?" 
	"I grew up in Europe, Remy and yes, I know some French." 
	"Merci," Remy said deeply grateful and relieved he closed 
his eyes, finally convinced he was safe here. 
	"Yes, sleep," Magneto whispered, pleased with the results 
he had achieved so far. "You'll need all your strength when you 
finally decide to face your past." 
	
	
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