Dismal Angel 2010 – Episode 1

Chapter 6: Remy's Account

             There were a few gasps and surprised curses from the X-Men as they looked towards the man who was standing near the monitor, who'd just admitted himself guilty of murdering Jared Rickman.

             Rogue's mouth fell open, her face turning as ashen as her white streaks, she swallowed nervously, not sure how to respond anymore to this.

             Jean hushed the room, and moved over to Remy, "tell us what happened, Remy."

             Remy threw his head back a little, tossing his hair out of his face, "do you want me to start from the beginning?" he raised an eyebrow, "or just the part where I blew the room up."

             Jean frowned a little, "the beginning, if you please."

             "Sure thing, red," Remy reached up to scratch the bridge of his nose absently, "it was about maybe 1.51am.  I was lyin' half asleep on the bed when I heard the door creakin' open, and I shot up, quick as a flash – even when I had some pain in my back.  In the shadow, I could barely see anythin' 'cause the moon outside was clouded over, no light comin' in through the windows, so the first thing I did was rush to the wall to hit the light switch, next thing I know, I felt some intense pain runnin' through my back – and this time, it wasn't 'cause of my injuries," Remy said, "Jared Rickman was in the room with me, and he had a hold of me, I felt like electric surges were rushin' up my spine, I couldn't pull away, the pain was so incredible it made me scream – and funnily enough no one seems to have heard that," he said with a vicious snarl.

             Logan, who had remained close to Remy, nudged him in the back, "Just finish the damn story," he muttered.

             Remy sighed and looked over to Rogue, "Jared was a fucking lunatic, you didn't have to be a psychologist to know that," he said, "when he let go of me I fell to the floor, and Jared started talkin' about all this stuff, stuff that wasn't true," Remy frowned, "said you were gonna be with him again, said you'd leave me for him, said you told him you loved him," he swallowed, his expression now a little fervent.  "We argued, I told him he was insane, and that the X-Men would never take him back after what he did to Kitty.  He told me what he did to Kitty was nothin' compared to what he was goin' to do to me…" Remy trailed off, he glanced to Kitty, frowning a little, there was a strange look on her face as if she didn't believe him.

             "What then?" Jean asked.

             Remy looked back around the room at them all, "we began fightin', even through all the pain I was in," he explained, "every time I tried to hit my hands sailed right through him, and I didn't have time to grab any weapons," he suddenly stared into space as if he were reliving it in his mind again, he spoke so distantly as he did so, "he kicked me right in the chest, and it didn't phase through me, in fact, it knocked me back so hard that when I landed on the bed I'm sure I heard the wood crack…I rolled off and onto the floor," he explained, "when I tried to get up for moments, I was in so much pain I felt almost paralysed, my fingers were touchin' the dresser," he said, "Jared came over, pressed his foot down on me, and I felt it half phase into my chest…the next thing I know, there are massive sparks flyin' across the room, everything seemed to be lightin' up around us, and I felt like my whole body was alive with electricity…I didn't know I was chargin' up the dresser which was restin' against the wall…" Remy's accent seemed all the more thicker as he told everyone this, "I didn't know when I let go that the whole room was gonna cave in on us…" he looked down to the floor, then remained silent, his fingers at his sides trembling slightly.  "I didn't even know I was capable of emitting that much kinetic energy even accidentally…"

             "So it was accidental…?" Ororo asked.

             Remy shrugged, "I still did it…" he looked at Ororo, "didn't I?"

             Rogue watched Remy's every moment, "he's lying!" she cried at him, "he wants you to think that he's tellin' the truth!  He wants you to think Jared was the bad guy here, but the truth was it was him!  He already knew he was gonna leave that night, and he realised he'd be as well takin' out the only other guy I had any interest in what so ever!"

             Remy frowned at Rogue, "I wasn't gonna leave!" he spat the words out as if they left a foul taste in his mouth, "I was gonna stay – for you!  Only how could I have expected you to want me after I killed Jared?!  You'd have suspected me then like you suspected me now, so I did what I had to, I left the ring you gave me on my daughters grave, and I left!"

             Rogue looked at him, her eyes swimming with the first genuine tears she'd cried in almost two years, "You left because you murdered him deliberately!  Admit it!  You wanted to kill him!" she stood up.

             Remy moved quickly over to the table and slammed his hands against the cold steel, "I did want to kill him!  I wanted to kill him because of all the fuckin' emotional abuse and not to mention the physical pain he put you through whenever he didn't get his own way!  But I wasn't about to risk it because I knew if I did I'd lose you!" Remy's eyes flickered an angry red, Rogue was sure she could see tears forming in his eyes too, but he forced it back with control she'd never seen in him before.  "But what did it matter, I lost you either way!  So what difference does it make if I say I'm guilty or not!?!  Because in your eyes, no matter what I done, I always was guilty, and no matter what I do, I always will be!"

             Logan put his hand on Remy's shoulder, yanking him back from the table, "Easy, bub," he muttered.

             The silence in the room was uncanny, no one dared even breathe, let alone speak, they all stared at each other, and then back to Remy.

             Suddenly, a voice spoke up.

             "I believe you."

             The entire group turned themselves to face Sam Guthrie, who had spoke, his face turning red as everyone turned to gawk at him in disbelief.

             "You…what?" Kitty asked, the first time she'd spoke since the trial had begun.

             "I believe him," Sam said, he gestured towards Remy, he tried to remain confident, but he was quickly losing that confidence to the pressure of their stares, "Jared was a maniac," he said, "I roomed with him, remember?  He was obsessed with Rogue," he gestured towards Rogue who was sitting next to him, "He never stopped talkin' about her, and if any of us ever looked at Rogue the wrong way he used to give us hell for it…I mean seriously…" Sam said, "the guy used to scare us all…he used to listen to death music, he'd talk about suicide as if it were a dinner conversation, he brought drugs into the mansion a couple of times," Sam admitted, "I'm talkin' hard drugs…sometimes you could see he was on stuff, all you had to do was look at him…"

             Hank frowned, "drugs?"

             Kitty gaped, "oh my god…you're right," she admitted, "he did bring drugs in…me and Rogue caught him nicely one day, he was smoking pot in Remy's room…" Kitty admitted, "and then later Rogue told me he had MutantX…"

             Professor Xavier frowned a little, "in seven years, why have you two decided to neglect to tell me this?" he asked of both Kitty and Rogue.

             Kitty chewed her lip, Rogue didn't give any indication of feeling sorry at all.

             "Who did the autopsy on Jared?" Ororo asked, her voice stern, but somewhat caring at the same time.

             Hank opened his folder and searched through the papers, "I believe a Doctor Harris from Bayville General Hospital performed the autopsy.  Autopsy report was never officially released to us, because the death was apparently from head injury," he explained, he ran his finger down a passage of text on the paper, "Yes, here it is, Doctor Jeremy Harris," he said.

             "Could you please get in touch with Doctor Harris and request those results, please, Hank?" Professor Xavier requested.

             Hank stood up, nodding, "at once," he replied, sounding delighted, and he left the room quickly at a fast pace.

             "Okay, now everything is just getting really confusing," Bobby said, his arms folded, he was leaning back casually in his chair, "what difference does it make if the guy was on drugs or not?"

             "Will you shut up?!" Kitty threw him a disgusted look.

             "At the moment, we do not have much evidence surrounding any of these facts," Jean admitted.

             "You want evidence?" Remy's dark eyes swung in Jean's direction, he looked at her, eyes slightly narrowed, "what more evidence could you need than my own memories, red?  Wanna get inside my head?"

             Jean clenched her teeth, "I'd rather not."

             "Afraid you might see somethin' you don't like?" he raised an eyebrow.

             Professor Xavier moved over slowly, "I will do it," he stated.

             "Ah, wait," Remy paused, and turned to Rogue, "let her do it," he gestured to Rogue who was sitting, her expression horrified at his suggestion.

             "Excuse me?!" Rogue demanded angrily, she was still standing.

             Remy looked at Rogue, "You're the one who's gonna take the most convincin', Chere," he remarked.  "it'll be nice to finally prove you wrong."

             "I'm not your 'Chere', anymore."

             Remy walked around the table towards her, surprised when she stepped back to avoid him.

             "Scared?" Remy smirked a little

             "Not of you," Rogue frowned.

             "Of the truth, maybe," Remy moved towards her again, faster this time, and she found herself pressed against a wall, looking at him, "I'll make it easy for you," he grabbed a hold of her wrist swiftly and yanked one of her brown cotton gloves off, "I'll even give you some incentive," he looked at her, "if you do this…and find out I'm guilty once you absorb my thoughts…" he let his eyes lock onto hers, "you can do to me what you will," he looked at her pointedly, "kill me if you like."

             Rogue frowned, he sounded so confident about it, and she wanted to prove him wrong, "Deal," she muttered, she tensed as he let go of her wrist and stood before her readily.

             Remy kept his eyes on her as her fingers reached towards him, her bare fingertips touched his forehead and he felt as if he were being pulled out of himself, it weakened him, left his legs feeling much like jelly and his nerves raw.

             Rogue jerked her hand back as the memories came sailing through her, not only memories, but the pain he'd felt seven years previous came with it.  Visions soared past her eyes like a videotape on fast forward, colour and thoughts vivid and precise, as if they might have only happened yesterday.  She lurched and staggered across room, holding her head as the memories besieged her. 

             Remy stood, breathing heavy, leaning against the wall for support.  The room had grown silent once again, waiting for Rogue to answer.

             Rogue finally slammed into a wall and slid down it, holding her head, she found herself suddenly sobbing hysterically as the emotion overwhelmed her, "he's innocent."

             At that moment Hank McCoy stepped into the room, looking rather enlightened, "I've just gotten off the phone with Dr Harris…it appears that Jared Rickman had been using a vast amount of Lysergic acid diethylamide…"

             "What is that?" Bobby raised eyebrows.

             "LSD," Kitty remarked.

             "Anyone who knows enough about drugs will tell you it can make you violent in extreme circumstances," Hank admitted, "they also found slight traces of an unknown drug as well…which may have well been MutantX – it may explain why Jared was able to push Gambit without phasing through him completely," Hank explained.

             "We've just confirmed his innocence, Hank," Kitty murmured, to keep Hank up to date since he had not been there to witness Rogue's revelation.

             "Ohhh," Hank nodded, "all is good then?"

             "It will be once you get the police off my back and clear my criminal record," Remy said, "it's the least I think you can do."

             Professor Xavier seemed sullen, but realised Remy had a right to request this, "very well…we'll do what we can, in the meantime, I would advise for you to stay here until we do so.

             Rogue, who had been sobbing near the corner, glanced up to look at the Professor, was he serious?  Have Remy stay in the mansion after all that'd happened?  This seemed too much for her to bear, but she didn't have the emotional strength to argue with anyone about this right now.  She simply hugged her knees and rested chin upon them as her tears began to run out.

             "Fine," Remy stated, "but please can I get a better mattress in that prison cell?" he joked,  "I've slept on rocks that have been softer."

End.

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******Authors Note******  Thanks to all the people who freaked out over the end of Dismal Angel and reviewed pleading for it to not be the end.  Remember people, KEEP REVIEWING, even if its just to ask a question or whatever, reviews let me know I'm doin' okay, or that people are ACTUALLY still reading and that I'm not putting stories up for a phantom audience that doesn't exist…lol.