Ashes to Ashes

Jim Steinman--Bat Out Of Hell

Cautiously, Kyle knocked on the door to Gambit's room and waited to be acknowledged.

"It's open!" came the response. Slowly, Kyle opened the door and peered inside. Remy looked up at him from his bed, and smiled. "'Ello Kyle."

"Hi Remy," Kyle said softly. He nodded to Rogue who was sitting on the edge of the bed. "Hi Rogue."

"Hi, Kyle," Rogue said, grinning brightly. "C'mon in, maybe you can stop this complaining Cajun for awhile. Gawd, all he's doin' is whining and fussin'."

"I don' like to be stuck t'my bed," Remy pouted, his eyes twinkling. "Is dat a crime?"

"A-am I disturbing you both?" Kyle asked.

"No, little man," Remy assured him. "Come on in."

Kyle walked over to the bed and sat down on the chair beside it. "H-how are you feeling?"

"Like I been hit by a truck," Remy said, looking mighty cheerful for someone who was covered with bandages and casts. "But..." he reached out and put his hand on top of Rogue's gloved one, no easy feat with a cast. "I do 'ave one hell of a nurse here."

Rogue waved her free hand. "Git outa town," she mumbled, dismissing his comment, but still looking pleased.

Remy looked at Kyle, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "Women! Do yourself a favor Kyle an' avoid dem as long as you can. Once you start to pay attention to them, you'll never be free."

Kyle laughed nervously. "I don't believe you."

Remy sighed. "That's the problem... you won't believe me until it's too late."

Rouge pretended to swipe Remy. "You wait till you're up and around, Remy," she said. "I'll get you back for these comments."

"Oh, I can only dream," Remy said, looking up at Rogue with an expression of minor ecstasy. "Just promise me, you'll make it hurt so good."

"I really get the feeling I'm interrupting something," Kyle said, hesitantly rising to his feet.

"No!" Remy assured him again. "We've just been teasing each other. I'm sorry, did you want to talk?"

Kyle sat back down, nodding. "I...I wanted to ask you something..."

"Well, ask away," Remy offered.

Kyle looked over at Rogue. "I-I kind of was hoping..."

Rogue took the hint, rising from the bed. "I've got things I have to do," she said. "So, I'll just leave the two of you alone." She smiled at Remy. "Anything you want when I come back?"

"Just your charming company," Remy said. "And...perhaps a Tylenol..."

"Tylenol, no problem," Rogue said, nodding.

"An' a little glass of orange juice to wash it down with?"

"Orange juice. Got it."

"Fresh squeezed?"

Kyle watched this exchange with an expression of amusement.

Rogue's smile began to fade. "Fresh squeezed orange juice, fine.." She turned and started to walk towards the door.

"Oh one other thing." Remy called out, just as she was about to make her escape.

She turned around and looked at him. "What?"

"Could...could you strain the orange juice so none of the seeds get into it?" He looked at her, his eyes wide and round, trying his level best to look humble and boyish. "I hate seeds..."

Rogue's nostrils flared. "Anything else?" she asked, her voice taking on a definite frosty tone.

"'Ow about a good-bye kiss?" Gambit suggested.

"In your dreams!" Rogue snapped, marching out the door.

As the door slammed shut, Kyle looked at Remy. "Boy, you really pis- I mean, you really got her upset."

Remy grinned. "Don't you worry about her. She'll be fine. Actually, I did her a favor."

"Huh?" Kyle looked puzzled. "This must be some new definition of the word 'favor' I hadn't previously encountered."

Remy looked at him. "Be careful little one, you startin' to sound like Hank. Next thing you be spoutin' blue fur."

"I wouldn't mind." Kyle smiled. "But really, what do you mean by doing her a favor?"

"Ah..." Remy grinned. "See, she doesn't want to admit it, but she's really worried about me."

"Yeah..." Kyle agreed, hesitantly.

"Well, what good is all her worrying gonna do her?" Remy pointed out. "There's not'ing she can do but wait it out an' let me heal. "

"So why did getting her annoyed at you help?" Kyle asked.

"Ah... well, now she's upset wit' me. She thinks I'm being a big baby. So, she'll worry a little less about me, cause she'll figure it this way, if I'm well enough to make a million little demands, then I can't be in as bad a shape as she thought I was." He smiled, looking pleased with himself. "An' I come out the real winner."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to get freshly squeezed orange juice to wash down my Tylenol with," Remy stated smuugly. "Fresh squeezed orange juice with no seeds!"

Kyle laughed. "You're funny Remy."

Remy attempted to shrug, not an easy feat with all his casts. "I'm glad I can bring a little joy in your life. You don' smile much Kyle."

Kyle frowned again. "I know."

"Hey, don't frown now," Remy protested. "Nothing to be unhappy about. You said you wanted to talk, well, pull that chair a little closer an' we'll have ourselves a little man to man talk."

"Isn't that a little difficult?" Kyle asked, pulling the chair closer to the bed. "There's only one man in this room."

"True," Remy agreed. "However, you'll be a man soon enough."

"Me?" Kyle grinned. "I wasn't talking about me."

"Mon ami, you cut deep!" Remy grinned good natured."You 'ave a sharp little tongue under dat cute little face."

Kyle's grin was one of embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry... I just couldn't resist."

"No need to waste a good apology," Remy said, dismissing the whole thing. "Wait till you really screw up. Now, what did you want to talk to me about, little man?"

Kyle frowned again, his brows furrowing. "I wanted to ask you about the guy in the car...the one who almost killed you."

"It was a man?" Remy said. "Hm....I thought it might be, but I wasn't sure."

"Yeah." Kyle nodded, a double confirmation of his words. "They found the car a couple days ago... it was in the papers an' on the news. The car must've spun off the cliff an' blew up when it landed. The..the guy was pretty badly burned but, the police were able to identify him. It was Joe Richardson... Doug Richardson's kid."

"Would make sense," Remy said, thoughtfully. "If the son is anything like the father. Do the police think it was an accident? Do dey realize this guy was tryin' to kill me?"

"They don't even know about you," Kyle informed him. "The road is pretty quiet. We came and got you before anyone else knew you were there."

"Hm..." Remy puzzled over that one for a few moments. "He was trying to kill me, Kyle, of that I have no doubt."

"He's the guy who's been killing all the mutants," Kyle stated. "He killed that girl in town, Kerri an' he's killed a lot of other mutants too."

"Do the police know datt?" Remy asked.

Kyle squirmed for a moment. "No... but it would make sense, wouldn't it? Why else would he be trying to hurt you. Also, um... Logan an' Jean were talking about it and they think that it's the same guy too."

"I suppose," Remy said.

Kyle twisted his hands nervously in his lap. "Um... anyway, I wanted to ask you, what would have happened to this guy... Joe Richardson, if he was caught. I mean, like if he'd lived and the police found him."

"Since I wasn't on the scene, probably not'ing." Remy shrugged. "All they would know is that he'd been in an accident. Is that what you're asking, Mon ami? Or are you askin' what would happen if they knew he was the one killing the mutants?"

"If they knew he'd been killing the mutants."

Remy frowned. "They'd arrest him, probably. An' once he was better, they'd make him stand trial."

"Do you think he'd go to jail?"

"I don' know," Remy answered honestly. "He should go to jail, that we know, but the courts always don' look at what's right. His father is a powerful man. He might be likely to hire the right lawyers to get him off. Or else, they'd say Joe was insane an' therefore couldn't be responsible for his actions. Then they'd probably put him in some nice mental institution till they could say he was 'cured.' an' let him back on the streets."

"Do you think someone like him can be cured?" Kyle asked.

Gambit frowned. "I don' really know. I doubt it though. If he really was the one killin' mutants, considering who his father is, he's probably too far gone to heal."

"Do you think that would be fair, even if they could heal his mind?" Kyle probed. "I mean, he did kill those people. Just cause they could cure him, doesn't mean he should be allowed to get away with what he did, does it?"

"It shouldn't," Remy said, his brow furrowed. "But unfortunately, the world don' always work the way it should." He looked over at Kyle, his frown changing to a grin. "Why you askin' all these questions, little one? The man is dead, what does it matter?"

"I was just curious." Kyle said quickly. "I just don't think someone who commits murder should be allowed to go free."

"I agree."

"Can I ask you one other thing?"

"Sure. It ain't like I'm goin' anywhere."

Kyle looked into his eyes. "What if you hadn't been hurt? What if he'd hit you, but you'd been fine, an' he still spun off the cliff. Would you have called an ambulance?"

"Probably," Remy said. "I mean, I didn't really know that he was the one killing all the mutants."

"But what if you did know?" Kyle persisted. "Then what would you do?"

Remy hesitated. "What are you asking, me Kyle?"

"Would you have killed him?" Kyle asked. "If you knew who he was and what he'd done and you saw him, all banged up and bleeding, and you knew that if he lived, he might walk away from everything he'd done, Scott free and able to keep..killing people."

"That's a tough question," Gambit said, looking more and more puzzled. Why is this kid askin' this stuff? he wondered.

"Is it really so tough?" Kyle asked. His eyes were still fixed on Remy's. "Forget for a moment that you're an X-man. Forget that you're suppose to be 'one of the good guys.' You're all alone with this guy an' he's hurt real bad an' he'll die anyway without help. and you know he's sick in the head. You know that he killed all those innocent people and tried to kill you. What would you do?"

Remy stared back at him. "I would probably walk away," he finally said, after a minute of hesitation. "An' let de fates take dere chances with him."

"Isn't that the same as killing him?" Kyle asked.

Remy bit his lower lip. "Yeah, I suppose it is, in a way, but he might be found."

"But if he wasn't, an' he died, wouldn't you worry that your soul was now doomed?"

Remy smiled. "Many people would already say I've earned my place in Hell. So, what difference would dat make?"

Kyle chewed his lower lip thoughtfully. "I-I guess you're right."

"Ah, little man, you worry too much for someone of your years." Remy shook his head. "You should be enjoying life more and worrying about solving the world's problems a little less, no?"

The smile on Kyle's face was geniune. "I guess you're right, Remy."

"When am I not?" Remy asked.

Kyle squinted. "Don't make me answer that one!"