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"Scars"

Scars

Warnings: Mature themes throughout the story, dealing with rape, torture and the psychological traumas of imprisonment in a concentration camp. Sexually explicit scene in Chapter 23.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Epilogue
Author's Notes

Scars

PART 7

It should have been simple. Routine even. Go in. Get Rogue. Get out. Remy winces as he rolls onto his back. Now that his basic needs are being met, he finds his thoughts returning to the beginning of his torment. Disturbing thoughts that perhaps his actions carry more responsibility for his condition than Rogue's inaction.

He punches the pillow, then bites his lip against the pain as the skin of his fingers pulls against fresh stitches. Tears of frustration sting his eyes. It was all a set-up. He had suspected as much at the time. After all, the source of his information was Mr. Sinister who was certainly involved only to further his own twisted schemes.

With a groan, the young Cajun rolls onto his other side, unable to find a comfortable position.

He had been careful, hadn't he? He had tried, against his better judgment, to contact Amnesty International and check on Rogue's whereabouts. He had been told she was away on a mission. He had been told she was a week overdue. And suddenly Mr. Sinister's information that Rogue was imprisoned in a New Genoshan concentration camp wasn't so easy for him to dismiss.

Remy chokes out a bitter laugh.

What was you gon' do, boy? Tell de others dat Rogue be in trouble? Tell 'em dat you know dis 'cause Sinister say it so?

He could never have explained his involvement with Sinister. Never. Instead, he gambled on the information being true and went after Rogue on his own. Gambled, and lost. His heart turns cold. He had only lost a few months of his life. Nicola and his child lost their lives.

"Remy?"

Even without rolling over, he recognizes the voice. Tseidel Romanov. She speaks his name softly, with a distinct accent derived from her combined Russian/German heritage. She is a good woman. A survivor. Remy owes his life to her many times over. He opens his eyes to see her shadowed against the doorway.

"Dey treat you okay, chere?"

She nods.

In six months of forced proximity, they have learned to read each other well. Wordlessly, he throws the covers aside and moves over. Tseidel joins him. Remy wraps his arms around her as he as done for the past six months. Only then, there were three of them forced onto a single cot, huddled together for what meager warmth and comfort might be found in hell. She shivers. Remy takes her hands in his, warming them.

Tseidel looks down at the line of stitches crossing the webbing of his thumb. Her tears dampen his skin. Remy tightens his hold, offering whatever protection his broken body might still provide. And finding solace in knowing that she alone truly understands how he feels, because she was in New Genosha with him. He bites back a yelp as she suddenly turns over, jarring tender muscles.

"These people, they have much love for you."

He snorts in response. She strokes his cheek. Even in the dim light, he can see the confusion troubling her gray eyes. He knew it would come to this sooner or later. Knew that it would be Tseidel's innocent curiousity that would throw everything back in his face, forcing him to make a conscious decision to pursue revenge or leave the past behind.

"The woman who rescued me, her name is Rogue, yes?"

"Oui."

"When you first arrived in New Genosha, you spoke fondly of a woman named Rogue. For many nights, over many weeks, you spoke to us of your plans for a life, a family, with her. This is not the same person? This is not the woman whose memory you cherished?"

"Dey only one Rogue."

"Do you so easily forget--"

"Go t'sleep."

Tseidel rolls onto her back, staring at the ceiling as she considers his words. In her heart, she knows he is wrong to push this woman away. She remembers, even if he would try to deny the truth of their ordeal. The survivors of New Genosha had lived because of their dreams, because of their willingness to believe in a future life beyond those walls.

For Nicola, it was feeling her child grow inside that sustained her. Tseidel kept her sanity by mentally reviewing the ingredients and preparations of native German delicacies.

Remy had eventually turned to Nicola for comfort, but initially it had been thoughts of Rogue's voice telling him all would be well that urged him on. It had been Rogue's imagined hands caressing the aches from his bones. Rogue's body that curled next to his each night.

Remy turns onto his side. He's momentarily surprised not to find Nicola's face next to his. He feels the warmth of Tseidel's body against his back. But his hand reaches out to nothingness on the pillow next to him. Again, the tears. Again the bitter, frustrating anger wells up. In the darkness, Remy LeBeau finds comfort in thoughts of Rogue, and of how she will react when he has broken her as thoroughly as he has been decimated.

 

Continued in Chapter 8.

 


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