Deamon Lover

Rogue stood on the balcony of the hotel room she shared with Kitty and Jean and watched the
crowds of people stroll by. The past five days had been a blast for her and she wasn’t looking
forward to leaving in two days. She and the others had done the usual touristy things like swamp
tours, hitting the jazz clubs, shopping in the outdoor bazaars near the French Quarter- stuff like
that. But everyone had admitted an hour ago at breakfast, that they had enjoyed doing those
things. Rogue was secretly pleased because she had suggested most of what they had done. If it
were up to Scott or Jean, they would have spent most of their vacation helping old ladies across
the cobblestone streets and rescuing kittens from the wisteria trees that grew on the shores of the
swamps and rivers.
“Hey Rogue!” Kitty stepped out onto the balcony and squinted as her eyes adjusted to the bright
light, “It’s like, so totally bright out here. Remind me to grab my sunglasses before we leave.”
Tossing her hair over her shoulder Kitty propped her arms up on the railing and looked down at
the crowd that Rogue was watching. “Scott wants us to be ready to go in ten minutes.”
Rogue looked over at Kitty and grinned, “Does he want us ta be in formation and saluting?” Kitty
returned the grin and laughed, “Maybe not saluting but I’m so totally guessing that seeing us in
formation would, like, bring tears to his eyes.” The two girls giggled at the image of tears leaking
out from behind Scott’s glasses as they stood at attention. After a moment or two, Rogue walked
back into the room and tossed Kitty her sunglasses. “Let’s go salute the general and see if his eyes
short out.”
***
“Hey you two,” Scott called back to Rogue and Kitty, “Stop with the saluting and lets get going.”
Turning to Jean, Scott frowned. “Do you know what that’s all about?” he asked gesturing
towards the two giggling girls. Jean smothered a smile and shook her head. She patted Scott on
the shoulder sympathetically and he shrugged. He checked his pocket for his wallet as he stepped
out the doors of the hotel and walked out onto the bustling sidewalk. Not two seconds outside
and Scott felt a thump and was knocked to his ass. After quickly checking that his sunglasses
were in place he looked up to see an unfamiliar hand reaching down to help him back to his feet.
Scott squinted through the bright sun to see a cheery face smiling apologetically down at him.
Seeing his bewildered expression in the reflection of the stranger’s sunglasses, Scott was tempted
to laugh. The feeling quickly passed like it usually did. “Sorry homme. Remy not be watching
where he be going.” Scott grabbed the proffered hand and hauled himself back up to his feet,
briefly wondering why this guy referred to himself in the third person. Once again standing, he
returned the stranger’s friendly grin. “It’s all right. I wasn’t paying any attention to where I was
standing,” he said in an attempt to be clever. The stranger’s grin widened and he walked on down
the sidewalk as Jean slid her arm around Scott’s waist. Kurt grinned at Scott, “And I tought I was
the klutzy one.” The three of them chuckled as Kitty bounced out the hotel doors with Evan and
Rogue trailing behind her, “Hey Scott,” she called out, “I don’t have any pockets. Can you keep
my money in your wallet?” Scott reached for his wallet, “Yeah sure Kitty.” When his hand found
nothing but air in his pocket he frantically searched through the rest of his pockets. He looked up
at the group with wide eyes (though none of them could tell), “My wallet’s gone!” A second later
something clicked in his brain and he started running in the direction that the Remy guy had
walked off in. Behind him he could hear Jean say, “It must have been the guy who bumped into
him.” As he dodged through the crowded sidewalk Scott heard Kurt exclaim, “I’ll get him,”
which was quickly followed by a loud *bamf*. About a block ahead of him Scott saw Remy
swaggering along through the crowd. He ran harder and was less than ten feet away when Kurt
stepped out of an alleyway and grabbed Remy by the shoulder. “Hey dude,” Kurt said cheerfully
as Scott skidded to a stop, “You wouldn’t happen to know vere my friend’s wallet would be,
would you?”
Scott grabbed the kid’s other shoulder to prevent him from running off but he didn’t need to
worry because Remy just stood there and grinned. “Say, how’d you get ahead of Remy so
quick?” he asked.
Scott blinked at the kid’s calm demeanor. ‘Maybe I’m just overreacting,’ Scott thought uneasily,
‘Maybe my wallet just fell out when he knocked me over’ But that thought was dismissed when
he heard Jean’s voice inside his head saying, ‘We just looked for your wallet on the sidewalk. It’s
not here.’ He glared at the stranger and growled, “I want my wallet back now.”
“Now, you not be t’inking that Remy here took your wallet, no?” Remy grinned but that smirk fell
when he saw someone walk up behind Scott. “Merd’,” he muttered crossly before hastily looking
at the people strutting up behind Scott and smiling. “Bon jour officers. How are you both on dis
fine day?”
***
Rogue followed behind Jean, Kitty and Evan and tried to avoid touching all the people in the
crowded sidewalk. ‘There’s so many of em,’ she thought, slightly panicked. Quietly she repeated
her mantra, ‘must not touch ae,’ e,’ as she skittered through the mass of people. Rogue was
extremely grateful when a pocket of open space appeared. Then she saw what was happening and
she took a step back in shock. One policeman was talking to Kurt and Scott and taking notes
while the other officer was shoving a very familiar person into the backseat of a squad car. “Hey
Rogue,” Kitty’s voice pierced through the vale of bewilderment that had instantly fogged Rogue’s
brain, “Doesn’t that guy so totally look like the guy from your painting?”
Rogue’s jaw dropped and she tried to make sense of the situation. ‘There is no way that that guy
is Remy,’ she thought. But then Rogue watched in horror as the guy in the squad car turned
around and lowered his sunglasses to reveal the red-on-black eyes of her dreams. They stared into
each other’s eyes for a moment and he mouthed ‘Ma cherie?’ Rogue continued to stare at the face
that she couldn’t quite believe was there. The one question that had been bothering her for weeks
slipped from between her lips before she could stop it. “Yer real?!?” she exclaimed. Before he
could answer, Rogue watched as the cop car pulled away with the guy of her dreams inside.
Whirling furiously around she stomped over to where Scott and Kurt were congratulating
themselves. Her glare silenced their self admiration and they shrank back from her. The ragesideside boiled up and Rogue could barely contain her fury “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU TWO
DO?!?”