Marvel Characters their property. Setting is mine. This is an elsewords type story. It takes place in Europe during the English Regency period.

Chapter 2

1810 Manchester, England
Remy grinned, "Got a big haul this time." as he tossed a bag on the scarred and stained table.

Logan looked at the youth that 10 years hence had become part of their "family". Turned out the boy had been the son of a French count and his commoner second wife. The count and his wife had fled when the Terror had reached even to their door, far out in the provinces of Brittany. The heir, the count's son by his first marriage, being of age, had stayed behind to defend the estate. Remy's parents made it to England and bought an estate in Carlise with a combination of their wealth and sympathy from the English nobles. Remy was born about a year later. His parents got along well with the locals and soon had one of the most prosporous estates in the parts. Count LeBeau had all of his debts paid off and was making a nice yearly profit. Unfortunately that attracted the notice of a Baron, a land hungry one. It didn't help matters that the Lady LeBeau was a pretty thing too. When Remy was about 5, Lord Magnus got the kid's father to challenge him to a duel by implying that he had taken liberties with the Lady LeBeau. According to Remy the guns were rigged, his father's misfired and he was killed. The Baron Magnus then pressured the Lady LeBeau to marry him. She was pretty but very weak willed. She married Magnus and died less than a year later in childbirth to a stillborn infant. That was when Remy ran away.

Logan wasn't surprised though, he had never heard anything good about Magnus. He made no effort to find Remy. Logan figured Magnus thought a 6 year old noble boy wouldn't survive long on his own, and the populace wouldn't be all that up in arms because the boy was French after all. Magnus wouldn't be directly responsible for the kid's death and the land would be his free and clear.

Remy still wanted revenge but was going to wait for a good chance at getting it now. Remy had found out more information on the guy and had increased the "family" nimbers at the same time. Three of Magnus's illegimate kids.

The oldest, Anya, had some information about him through her gypsy mother, Magda. Anya was a prostitute. Remy met her a year ago when rescuing her from some toughs. Anya and her younger siblings, twins Pietro and Wanda had quickly thrown in with him and joined the family. They had no love lost for Magnus either. Their mother had fled from him after witnessing some act of cruelity.

Only later had Magda learned she was pregnant again. The twins were born 7 months after she had fled from Magnus. Only gypsy medicine had saved her life. Once she wasd healthy though, the gypsies had kicked her and her three children out of the camp. She was permanantly unclean to them. She had spent several years as a mistress to a nongypsy, added to that fact was that she had left her people and had come with her lover to another country. She had violated gypsy law by forsaking family for her own desires.

The gypsies had accepted the children somewhat as they became older, especially Wanda, who was the only one of the three children to look gypsy. Wanda recieved some training in the secret gypsy ways. She survived by doing fortune telling.

Pietro did work on the docks, loading and unloading ships. He had a quick mind and a sharp tongue. Of the three children he had the largest hatred of his father. He blamed the conditions they lived in and the shame his mother and sister endured squarely on Magnus. Pietro was glad to participate in anything Remy could come up with to bring Magnus down.

Remy had brought in more than Magnus's three illegimate kids, he had brought in a number of people, and had spread out their connections to respectable quarters, the boy's few years as a pampered noble kid gave him the charm to sway more than a few women, and some of those women had signifigant connections. And Remy was still a boy, all of 16.

One of the other people Remy had brought in was Logan's current lover, a beautiful African woman, Ororo. They met three years ago. Ororo had been lured from Africa when she was 12, by an unscruplous man that had promised her many things, none of which he had provided. Instead he had displayed her as a freak- An African with straight white hair and blue eyes. Three years ago his interests had turned more intimate. Ororo stabbed him, and set the other freaks free. As she walked away, she heard the others finishing the job she had started on the owner. His killers were never found by the police. They didn't search especially hard since the circus owner wasn't of the noble class. Logan thought the guy was scum and was glad he was dead. Nearly as much scum as his and Silver's half brother Victor Creed. Unfortunately he was of noble blood, legimate noble blood.

Silver and himself were the children of the late Lord Creed and his beloved Nepali mistress. She had met him when he had traveled to India. The Lady Creed and her young son had stayed behind in England. Lord Creed despised his wife. It had been the typical arranged marriage of the noble class. The lord hadn't cared much for his legimate son either as he grew older. Lord Creed had deep affection for his mistress though. He had brought her back to England when he returned after his two year sojourn in northern India. Logan was born shortly after in the country cottage the lord had provided her with. He visited often and made sure they were well taken care of during his lifetime. Lord Creed had died suddenly and mysteriously just one month before that fateful meeting with the young Remy LeBeau. Logan and Silver had been on their way to try to find out the circumstances of their father's death when Victor hit them with that ambush. They had found out some things afterwards that had pointed back to Victor's involvement in the death, but nothing absolute. So they had no legal recourse at all. Logan's blood still boiled about his half brother getting away with murder.

Carlise, England
"I have sad news, Laurie. Your father has died. He died bravely though, in battle."

"No!" She shrieked at her guardian, her father's friend, Lord Magnus. She flung open the chamber's door and raced down the steps. Her chestnut brown hair with it's distinctive white streak came loose of the ribbon she had haphazardly tied it in this morning.

"That was poorly done, Erik." The woman who was sitting in the shadows smirked, her pale white skin looking blue in the dim lighting, which added emphasis to her red hair and blue eyes.

"The girl is emotional, irrational." Magnus dismissed Laurie's outburst from his mind.

Raven smirked again. The man was a fool. not as much as her late husband or the lover that was the father of her other bastard child. Erik gave their illegimate daughter Vanessa trinkets and such and seemed to believe that Raven still cared for him. Raven let him believe that and would do so as long as it was to her advantage.

Raven always looked out for herself, using whatever angle she could to get what she wanted. When her parents arranged a marriage between herself and Graf Wagner she had no illusion about the marriage, but it did take her from being a baronet's daughter to being a Grafin. Graf Wagner had been a worthless imbecile. A little arsenic took care of him once he became obnxious during her pregnancy. There had been some questions, but she had used her distant relation to King George III of England to get herself out of Bavaria and to England. She was called the "Dark Countess" for her first name and rank, and for the scandals attached to her, but she knew how to use that to her advantage as well. She also had connections to the shader world where everyone went by aliases. Her best known alias there was Mystique. She had all sorts of information on Lord Magnus himself, through one of her former lovers, who called himself Wolverine. She knew Erik had three other bastards by a gypsy mistress. Erik only knew of one child, Anya. The gypsy had fled while early in her pregnancy with twins. Magda ran because she feared him after he told her of his plans to acquire a legimate heir and more lands. Magda knew how to disappear, Raven conceded. Erik's searches turned up nothing. he believed both his mistress and daughter dead. Magda was, but Anya, Pietro, and Wanda were still quite alive.

Also the little French boy that was Erik's step-son was very much alive. He belonged to Wolverine's "family" and went by the name Gambit. That boy, while young, was clever and dangerous. Raven chose to keep this information to herself. She didn't believe in volunteering any information. The knowledge she had was power. She didn't give away power. She knew Erik's plan in becomming the girl's guardian as well. Erik could be so transparent at times. He had wanted control over more land, so he curried friendship with Baron Robert Haden. Robert was a fool and believed Erik's friendship was geniune. Haden was easily led. A few rant by Erik about Napleon's evilness and the value of patriotism and Haden had joined the army and appointed his friend guardian of his land and his daughter. Just as Erik had hoped the fool had got himself killed. Now Erik had full guardianship of Laurie Haden and her land.

Laurie, unlike her father is a bright girl, Raven thought. She knew Laurie was already suspcious of Erik before this. Raven had no qualms feeding the girl's suspcions with vague ineundoes. Laurie must had recieved her quick mind from her Scottish mother, who had died when Laurie was born. The girl had mentioned that she had some relatives in Scotland, before her father left she had seen them often. Since her father went to fight she hadn't even recieved a letter. Laurie suspected the truth, Erik had forbade their visits and had his loyal servants bring him any letters sent to her. She had already confided to Raven that her Scottish relatives had told her to come to them if she ever needed help or was in trouble. Laurie had already said more than once that she would have already gone to them but she didn't know how to get there.

Muir Island, Scotland
"There's three o' our five daughters wed now, Moira," Sean said.

"Aye. Though I dinna approve of that young popinjay who's married our Jean."

Sean nods, "But she had her cap set for that Warren Worthington boy, can a father deny his daughter something so her important to her?"

"Nae." Moira smiled at her husband; the girls had him wrapped around their little fingers. "I just wonder if it will turn out as well as ours though, Sean."

"The boy refused to take the McTaggert name like I did, that may cause problems with the clan."

"Ye dinna have to. I was verra surprised when ye did."

"I'm the younger son of an Irish laird, ye the heir o' the McTaggerts. Our children are better off having the Scots. The English are nae so hard on the Scot as the Irish as well now. Besides I was young and in love, acchusla."

"And that explains everything... We were so young...I was all of 15 and ye were just 17."

"Just met each other at the kaille at ye father's home in Dublin..."

"Aye we were still in exile then, only good that came of that, meeting you. Things happened so fast right after."

"Ye had Sarah, ye father died, then Laird Ross invited us back, said things had changed for the better, ye could come home."

"And what a mess this place was when we got here! No roof left except over the dining hall..."

Sean smiled, "Well we showed them we weren't pampered nobles didn't we?"

"I'll nae forget that year, ye dropping down exhausted beside me every night."

"But we had a sound house by winter, didn't we?"

"Aye, we did, for which I was most grateful, I did miss some of the fringe benifits of marriage though..." Moira smiled wickedly.

"Ye saucy wench." Sean laughed.

"And ye love it, nae tell ye dinna."

Sean smiled back at back at his wife, then looked thougtful, "Things have changed no doubt, but the past does still haunt us yet."

"The Guthrie children."

"Eight children, oldest 11 years old, their mam dying after the last was born a week ago."

"An their father dying 6 months ago. If only their greatgrandsire hadna been such a vocal support for Bonnie Prince Charlie."

Sean shook his head. "I'll nae say I understand the Guthrie clan refusing tae take them in. Don't they think three generations of being clanless is enough? The children are blameless for their greatgrandsire supporting the losing side. If their mam hadna been ye younger sister where would those children be?"

"Probably still under our roof acchusla." Moira smiled.

"Aye, ye nae let none o' the folk around here starve or go homeless." Sean said with pride.

"As all good lairds should do, we take care of ours."

"Laird Ross isna happy with our kindheartness though, he complains about our slim profits."

"He's an old fool up in Pitcalnie. At least his first cousin in Edinburgh isna so hardhearted."

"Charles Xavier Ross is a pretty good man. I'm not worried about Madeline marrying his son Scott, even if the boy is blind."

"An the boy's maternal uncle a pirate."

"We've connections to the infamous Corsair, the Scot pirate Christopher Summers." Moira said wryly.

"The English think we're all savages and pirates anyway." Sean laughed.

Dol, Brittany, France
"So Madame LeBeau, how do you like your new home?" Her new husband Lapin LeBeau asked his wife, Belladonna Beaudreaux.

Belladonna barely kept the snear off her face as she nodded demurely. Her family home was much finer, even though they weren't of the old noble class like the the LeBeau's, but a bourgeoisie family who had profited in the the revoltion and come out of the Terror intact. The LeBeau's, despite the fact they were only Comte rank, and had been friendly to the peasants had suffered mightly. This Lapin was the only surviving son of the younger brother of the Comte Jean-Luc LeBeau, who ran away to England with his peasant second wife. The son from the first marriage stayed behind and died during the Terror. If only her father had not held to the deal he had made with Jean-Luc LeBeau that in exchange for land one of Marius Bodreaux's future children would marry one of the LeBeau children. She had asked her father why he still did this since Jean-Luc probably had no living children and he had run away to England. So what did it matter, the contract was meaningless now. The noble families had no power anymore. Marius Bodreaux explained to his 16 year old daughter that it was a matter of honor, he would be dishonorable if he didn't follow the contract. The contract had not spelled out that it would be limited to Jean-Luc LeBeau's children, but any LeBeau child.

She argued then, why not her younger brother Julien.

Her fathered chided her for not thinking rationally. There were no girls near Julien's age, only a 3 year old distant cousin, and a 50 year old widowed sister. Thus she was stuck marrying this uncouth man.

Continued in Chapter 3

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