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Choices	By : darqstar Category: X-men Comics > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 1948 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men comics, or any of the characters from it. I make no money from from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
DISCLAIMER:
The X-Men belong to Marvel comics. This is fanfiction written
soley for entertainment purposes. No money is being made off of this.
Denver is my creation, so is Alex.

Author's
Note: I wrote this story over ten years ago, so much of what you
read here has most likely been disputed as time has gone on.
Especially in regards to Wolverine. So, while I do love and
appreciate all reviews, don't waste your time telling me, “This
just wouldn't work, because Logan is much older!” Also, this is
completely a “What if” story and doesn't fit into Marvel
Continuity.

This is not a story of sex that happens to contain a
plot, it's more of a story with a plot that happens to contain sex.
Not a lot of sex, but sex anyway. In Chapter Seven to be specific.

Chapter One

Mutant!

The word echoed in his ears, over
and over again, like a bad dream that wouldn't stop. Mutant!
You're one of those Mutant Scum!

Remy LeBeau, age thirteen, sat up
in his bed. Sleep was not going to come to him on this night, despite
the draught that the traiteur had given him. His hands shaking, he
reached into the drawer of his night stand and pulled out a package
of cigarettes and a book of matches. He knew that if his father
caught him smoking, he'd be in big trouble, but what did it matter?
The worst these can do is kill me, he thought, and
unfortunately, they aren't gonna work fast enough... Trembling,
he put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it, pulling the smoke into
his lungs. He leaned over the bed and opened up his window to let the
smoke drift out.

Voices drifted through the floor
boards of the old house, and into his room. Although he couldn't make
out the words, he knew who was talking, his papa and his brother
Henri and he knew what they were talking about... him. What else was
there to talk about? The weather? Perhaps yesterday that would have
been an interesting conversation, but not today. Somehow, weather
didn't matter when you found out a member of your family was one of
those mutants...

Shivering, despite the warm July
night, Remy continued to smoke. Events of the day drifted into his
head like the smoke from his cigarette drifted out the window.
Hanging his head, he tried to organize these thoughts and make sense
of them.

For a long time, Remy had been
aware that something was happening to him. He felt different, like
something was happening inside of him. His body was changing
physically, and he felt like some sort of....power was running
through him. His eyes were changing too, once they had been a deep,
crystal blue, now they were black and red. They didn't look like
anyone elses eyes he had ever seen before.

He tried to talk to his father
about these changes, but Papa either couldn't, or didn't want to
understand. Remy talked about power and Papa spoke of adolescents.
Papa, if only it was that easy! he thought. Puberty I
can deal with, but this? He shook his head, in a gesture of
despair. Sexual awareness would have been easy to handle. Hell, he
was looking forward to those changes, but this had nothing to do with
sex. Well, at least Papa knows now what I was talking about. He
can't dismiss this one to hormones.

The day had started out so well
too, which made what happened even worse. He and Belle were
together.... Oh, Chere' ! If only you hadn't been with me...

Belle. Beautiful, blond hair, blue
eyed Belle. All the boys wanted Belle and she was more than happy to
flirt with anyone, but truly, she only cared for him. Other boys
could vie for her affections, but it was Remy who she sought out,
Remy who could hold her hand, Remy who could kiss her. Several boys
had tried to challenge him for this honored position and Remy was
more than happy to show them his place in her heart was secure. Remy
wasn't known for starting fights, but he certainly finished them. Not
that being able to beat up anyone who fought him mattered. If someone
had been able to get the best of him, Belle would have run to his
rescue and given the winner a tongue lashing he wouldn't soon forget.

They had been walking through the
woods, and stopped to rest, sitting under a tree. Belle was rambling
about a dress she had seen and wanted. Remy was paying little
attention to her words, thinking instead about what he could do to
get her to kiss him and wondering if she'd let him put his hands
under her shirt. So far, she hadn't let him, but perhaps today was
the day.

She finished her monologue by
taking a deep breath. "So, if I promise Daddy that I'll do all
my choirs without him having to remind me, do you think he'll buy it
for me?"

"Buy what?" he asked.

"Remy!" she scolded,
laughing. "Haven't you been listnin' to any'ting I been saying?"

"No," he admitted,
taking her hand. "I've been thinking."

"About what?" she asked.

"About how much I would like
to kiss you," he confessed. "Chere', you are so beautiful,
how can I resist?"

She snuggled close to him, putting
her arms around him and moving her head so her lips were almost on
top of his. "Would one little kiss help you feel better?"

He could feel her breath, warm on
his face. That was the only invitation he needed. Wrapping his arms
around her, he drew her even closer to him and began kissing her,
reviling in the warmth of her body and the way her lips softened
under his persistent kisses.

He might have succeeded in his
plans to get his hands under her shirt, if Julian, her brother hadn't
shown up, with his friends. Julian was a jerk, there was no two ways
about it, and in Remy's opinion, he was just way too interested in
his sister. There was something unnatural about it. Unfortunately,
Belle loved her brother dearly and refused to see what Remy saw
clearly. And Remy, being who he was, could never refuse the chance to
bait Julian.

"What are you two doing?"
Julian demanded, as he approached them, as if it wasn't obvious what
the couple had been up to.

"Nothing, Julian," Belle
answered quickly, wanting to avoid a confrontation. She drew away
from Remy, so she was sitting next to him.

Remy, however, could care less
what Julian thought. "I was kissing your sister," he
declared, grinning. "And enjoying every minute of it."

At that comment, several of
Julians friends laughed, which only served to fuel his anger. "Who
do you think you are, you lousy T'ief!"

"Julian!" Belle
protested.

"T'ief I may be," Remy
admitted, still grinning broadly. "But I am getting kissed by a
very beautiful girl, which is more than I can say for you, assassin."

That was all Julian needed to set
him off. He lunged at Remy, grabbing him by the shoulders and trying
to smash his head into the tree.

Normally, Remy would have just
pushed him away and laughed in his face, but Julian wasn't alone.
Julian had his friends with him and several of his friends were
jealous of Remy and Belle and annoyed at Remy's cocky attitude. When
Remy dodged Julian and stood up, laughing, the boys jumped him,
pushing him to the ground and began wailing on him with their fists.

"Stop it!" Belle
shouted, jumping to her feet and running over to the group of boys.
"You're hurting him, Stop it now!"

No one was listening to her. They
kept hitting Remy. As one boy slammed his fists into his nose, Remy
felt something crack and blood began spurting freely, spilling onto
his face. Like sharks at a feeding frenzy, the blood only served to
further aggravate Remy's attackers and the fists continued to fly at
him.

They might have ended up hurting
him much worse than they did, but as Remy fought to get away, he
scrambled at the ground, trying to brace himself. His fingers closed
around something hard and cold, a pipe joint that someone had lost in
the woods. Not quite knowing what he could do with it, but reluctant
to let it go, he clutched it tightly, cradling it in the palm of his
hand. As he held it, he felt something...the power, he'd been feeling
coursing through his body, starting to move stronger, flowing into
the pipe joint. It began to feel warm, almost hot. Instinctively, he
raised his hand and threw it at his attackers.

There was a brilliant flash of
light, followed by a loud explosion. Remy's attackers were all thrown
backwards onto the ground. He scrambled to his feet, not quite
comprehending what had happened, but knowing that he had caused it,
the power inside him had somehow managed to transfer itself into the
pipe.

"Mon Deiu!" Belle
shouted. "What in de world..."

Julian looked around where the
explosion had happened, trying to see what had caused it. All he
could see were small slivers of metal. "LeBeau, what was that!?"
he demanded.

"It...it was just a piece of
pipe..." Remy stammered, before he could think. "I-I
just...charged it..." He looked around, bewildered, feeling the
blood from his broken nose dripping down his face, spilling onto his
shirt. Stupidly, he thought, Papa is not going to be happy about
this. He just bought me this shirt...

"Just charged it?"
Julian repeated. "How can you 'just charge' a pipe, T'ief?"

"I-I don't know," Remy
admitted. He was too startled to think. "I just did...it was
like something inside me...a power.... and I pushed it into the
pipe..." he looked at the boys who had gotten the worst of the
explosion. Fortunately, none of them seemed badly hurt. A few metal
fragments had cut them, but they were more shaken than anything else.
"I-I am sorry..."

"Dat ain't normal!"
Julian pointed out, screaming. "You did something, you had
something wit' you, didn't you?"

"I swear, I caused it!"
Remy protested. "I-I don't know how... I just...did it!"

"Nobody can just 'do' that!"
Julian's face was bright red with anger. "Only people who can do
dat sort of t'ing are.." He stopped for a moment. Mutants were
making the news and very little of the news was good. People were
frightened of them. It was one thing to get a power because of a
radio active spider biting them, or as a gift from an alien life
form, but to be born with it, to have it be a part of you, just like
your hair color or bone structure, was just too odd. "Blessed
Mother, you're a mutant!"

"Julian, shut up!" Belle
snapped. "You shouldn't tell lies!"

"Lies?" Julian sneered
at his sister. "You heard him! He just charged up dat pipe wit a
power in his own body! What else could he be?"

"I'm sure he has a reasonable
explanation!" Belle protested. She turned to Remy. "How did
you make the pipe explode?" her eyes pleaded with him, begging
him to come up with a simple explanation for what had happened and
end this once and for all.

"I wish I knew," Remy
confessed, unable to look her in the eyes. "Like I told you, the
power came from inside me. I pushed it into the pipe... dat's the
only way I can explain it."

"He's a mutant I tell you!"
Julian yelled. "I always knew some'tin was wrong w'it him! Look
at his eyes, Belle, he's one of those damned mutant scum!"

"No!" Belle shouted.
"He's not a mutant, and even if he was, I don't care!"

"How can you say that?"
Julian demanded. "How can you stand there and insist it don't
matter? He's a mutant! You were kissing a...a...freak!"

Remy didn't stay to hear the rest
of the fight. Turning, he ran off into the woods so fast, he could
hardly hear Belle's protests for him to stay.

He ran home, even though part of
him felt ashamed for doing so. This morning you thinking' your a
big man, now you're running home like a child with a splinter in your
finger! What next, will you ask Papa to kiss it an make it better?

He had no intention of letting his
family see him. His plans were to run to his room, hide and think
things out. Unfortunately, as he ran into the yard, Henri was there.
His brother took one look at him and shook his head. "Remy, you'
been fighting again!" he scolded. Henri was a few years older
than Remy, which he thought gave him the right to act as a surrogate
parent at times. "Look at the blood all over your shirt. Papa
sure gonna be upset wit' you, that shirt's bran new!"

Remy stopped. If he ran into the
house, Henri would just follow. He hung his head.

Something about his baby brother's
expression told Henri there was more going on than just a common
fight. Remy never got embarrassed over a fight, usually, he came home
bragging about how he'd won and what a fool his opponent was. He put
down the ax he was using to chop wood and walked over. "Remy,
some'tin is wrong, isn't it?"

Remy pulled back as his brother
got within touching distance. "Every'ting is fine, Henri, leave
me alone!" Even as he spoke, his voice trembled, belittling his
brave words.

Henri studied his brother's face.
His lips were puffy from the pounding they had received and his nose
was swelling to comical proportions, spreading out and making his
eyes look half closed. "Dis ain't no ordinary fight," Henri
stated flatly. "You's hurt, and hurt bad. I go and get Papa..."

Before Remy could stop him, Henri
turned and ran into the house. For a moment, Remy debated if he
should run off into the woods again, but changed his mind. Henri was
certainly going to raise the alarm loud and clear to their father,
and if he ran off, it would just mean they would search him out.
Sooner or later, he'd have to face this so it might as well be now.
He walked slowly up to the house, his shoulders hunched over.

His father met him in the doorway,
took one look at him and silently bore him off to the kitchen. Not a
word was spoken while he gently administered to his son's injuries.
It wasn't until he handed Remy a piece of ice wrapped in a clean
white cloth that the silence was broken. "Rest this on your
lips, till they can't take the cold, then put it on your nose. Keep
alternating and maybe that'll keep the swelling down." He turned
busied himself putting away the first aid supplies and quietly
stated, "This wasn't an ordinary fight, was it?"

Much to Remy's horror, tears
started gathering in his eyes. He hadn't cried in years, but the
memory of the earlier day, coupled with the pain from the beating
were too much. He swallowed hard, trying to force the tears away from
his eyes. "No, Papa," he whispered, moving the piece of ice
up to his nose.

"I didn't think so." His
father continued to organize things in the first aid kit, so he
wouldn't have to look at his son. He knew Remy was on the verge of
crying and trying desperately to hang on to his dignity. If he was to
look up and into his son's eyes, he knew it would be the last straw
for Remy. "Suppose you tell me what happened."

Although his Papa's voice was soft
and soothing, Remy knew it was not a request, but an order. He took a
deep breath in an attempt to gather his wits. "It was Julian,"
he confessed. "Belle and I, we were sittin' and talking..."
subconsciously, he crossed his fingers, a child's charm against the
evil of his small untruth. Papa doesn't need to know we were
kissin. And we had been talking earlier, so it isn't exactly a lie...
"...an' Julian an' his stupid friends come up. Julian take one
look at us and decide we were up to no good and starts sticking his
nose in where it just didn't belong..."

"And let me guess," his
father finished with the kit and turned to look at his son. "You
were egging him on."

"Yes, Papa," Remy hung
his head for a moment, then looked up. "But Papa, he's always
annoying Belle and I. Why can't he just leave us alone? We weren't
bothering him!"

"I know," his father
sighed. "Keep that ice on your nose and tell me the rest."

"Well, finally I said
something that got him mad and he jumped me. I shook him off and
stood up, laughing at him, but his friends all gang' up on me. That's
how all of this..." he paused for a moment waving his free hand
to indicate the damage on his face, "...happened."

Jean-Luc studied his son for a
long moment. "I believe every'ting, you're saying," he
finally said. "But there is something more to this, isn't
there?"

The lie sprang so easily to Remy's
tongue. No, Papa, nothing else happened. We fought and they got
the best of me... He even opened his mouth to speak the words,
but stopped short. How could he lie to this man who had taken him off
the streets when his own mother had abandoned him, so long ago? This
man had given him a home, a name, a family. Remy not only respected
him, but loved him with all his heart. "Yes, Papa, there is much
more..." He looked away suddenly, the tears he had been holding
back winning, spilling down his face.

Jean-Luc gently put his hand on
Remy's shoulder. He didn't know what had happened to his son to cause
such despair, but whatever it was, he wanted to help. "You can
tell me."

Remy hesitated for a fraction of a
second before plunging into the rest of the story. He told his father
everything he could remember, how when he picked up the pipe joint he
felt the power flowing from his body into the object. He explained
the explosion, the flashing light, the noise and the fragments of
metal that had flown through the air as the pipe joint seemed to
combust.

"...Den, Julian he accuse me
of bein' a mutant. He say no one have that type of power 'less they
one..." He looked up at his father, the tears now streaming down
his face. "It true, isn't it, Papa? Julian is right, I am one of
dem freaks, aren't I?"

Jean-Luc longed to reassure his
son, but knew he couldn't. All he could do was try to soften the
blow. "It sounds likely," he said. "But that don't
necessarily mean you're a freak. It just mean you've got a gift."

"Julian's a freak!" Remy
burst out childishly.

"I won' argue wit' you
there," Jean-Luc agreed.

"He.. he don' look at her
like a brother look at his sister..." Remy began and stopped.
If I'm the only one who sees this, and I tell, I could come off
looking strange.

"He looks at Belle like you
look at Belle," his father finished. "Is that what you
mean?"

Remy nodded. "So, you see it
too."

"Sometime I t'ink those
assassins have something' crazy runnin' around inside them."
Jean-Luc sighed. "Maybe it come from havin' the power, but
Julian's 'bout two cards short of a deck."

"Someone took his Aces and
gave 'im just the Jokers." Remy grinned, in spite of himself.
"But Belle's not crazy," he quickly added.

"Yes, Belle is okay."
His father straightened up. "If you're feeling up to it, let's
go outside."

"I'm feelin' okay now,"
Remy said and asked. "Why?"

"'Cause somt'in happened wit
you today. You've got some sort of power. Let's see if'n we can
figure out what it is."

Remy shrugged and followed his
father outside. For the remainder of the afternoon, Jean-Luc tested
his son, seeing exactly what it was he could do. It wasn't easy at
first, Remy was reluctant to try anything, but Jean-Luc persisted.
"If you got some sort of ability, you got to test it," he
pointed out. "You've got to know what you can and can't do with
it. Otherwise, it's just gonna be out of control."

Finally, Remy gave in. His father
started giving him objects, rocks, pieces of metal, small chunks of
wood, and had him try to "charge" them up. Remy
concentrated on the objects, but found it difficult to repeat his
early performance. Finally, he figured out if he just relaxed and let
the power inside of him flow to the object, without thinking about
it, it worked much better.

By the end of the day, the back
yard looked like a war zone, but Remy and his father knew quite a bit
about his ability. "Seems though you can charge just about
anything up," Jean-Luc pointed out. "But metal seems to
take it the best."

Remy nodded in agreement and sat
down on the back stairs. "It's pretty powerful stuff, I can do."

"Yes," his father
agreed, joining him on the stairs.

Remy looked down at his feet,
shivering, even though it was warm. "Papa, I'm not sure about
'dis."

"I understand," Jean-Luc
assured him.

Despite the assurance, Remy wasn't
too sure his father did understand. "It isn't right, this mutant
stuff. The world ain't fond of mutants. An' if what I can do is any
example, I'm not surprised. Dis'' is dangerous." He looked up at
his father. "I don't wanna be a mutant."

His father put his arm around his
shoulder, comforting him. "I know, it's a scary thing, this
power of yours. And you must be feeling frightened. But it's a part
of you, just like your hair color. You have t'accept it. If you keep
being afraid of it, you'll never master it."

"I know..." Remy sighed,
looking back down at his feet. "But why me, Papa? Why do I have
to have this power. People t'ink I'm strange enough 'cause of my
eyes. I don' need dis."

"Don' be so negative,"
Jean-Luc said. "Remy, you got to look at this as a gift. You can
do some'tin no one else can. It's always been that the assassins got
the power, while the thieves got the life. Now you come along and
you're a thief who's got power. Maybe you're destine for great
things, no?"

A small smile played at the
corners of Remy's mouth as he thought about the possibilities. Show
them assassins they don't have not'ing on us, he thought, the
thieves rule then. An' Julian, he can kiss my ass. Another
thought came to him and his smile turned into a frown. "Papa,
dis power has nothing' to do wi't the tithing, nothing to do wi't
being a thief."

"Does it really matter?"
his father asked. "Power is power. You're a thief wi't a power
now. That's what counts, not how you got the power."

"I suppose, Papa..."
Remy agreed.

"How are you feeling now?"
Jean-Luc asked. "You took a hell of a beating and now I been
working you like a dog. Do you feel okay?"

"I'm sore as hell, Papa,"
Remy cursed. "I feel like I've been used as a punching' bag for
an army or somt'in. Julain's friends may all be whimps, but when five
of 'em attack you, you sure feel it."

"I shouldn't have 'ad you
straining' yourself so hard this afternoon," his father
commented. "I'll send Henri for the traiter. Check you out, make
sure your okay."

"Papa, I don't need the
traiter," Remy protested. "I'm fine."

"That may be, but last I
checked, you're still not eighteen either," Jean-Luc pointed
out. "Which means I still got the right to decide what's best
for you. An I t'ink it best if you're checked out. I may know a
little about first aid, but your insides might be messed up."

Remy knew there was no point in
arguing. "All right, Papa, you do what you feel you must."

Remy blinked, pulling himself out
of his memories enough to stub his cigarette out on the window frame
and flick the butt out the window. That might 'ave been the end
of it, he thought, remembering that evening. But, as the
traiteur was fixin' me up, Belle's Papa had to show up with Julien.

He sniffled, scratching his nose
with the back of his hand as he thought of the "discussion"
that resulted from this visit. Normally, Remy liked Marius, Belle's
father, but tonight Julien had gotten to him first, filling his head
with so much garbage, he was unable to listen to reason. A lot of
yelling and screaming had gone down, mixed with conversation about
Remy and Belle. In light of the newly discovered genetic factor in
Remy's body, Marius wasn't sure if he should be friends with Belle.

"Saints above, you talk'in
like Remy's got a disease!" Jean-Luc roared. "He isn't
gonna hurt Belle!"

"How do we know 'dat?"
Julien snapped. "He's dangerous now. What if he goes out of
control?"

Of course, Henri felt it was his
right to join into the conversation too. Things went from bad to
worse, with so much yelling and screaming going on, Remy was sure
they could hear them in Baton Rouge. This is what its gonna be
like for the rest of my life! he thought. Everywhere I go,
people gonna wonder about me. I'm not a person anymore, I'm a freak
of nature. T'is is gonna cause more problems than Papa is letting on.
"SHUT UP!" he finally yelled, causing his
bruised ribs to sting with pain.

Everyone shut up immediately and
looked at him. Remy took a deep breath, "This is gotta be the
stupidest fight I ever see. I ain't gonna hurt Belle, I'd rather hurt
myself. An' how come Belle ain't here to offer her opinion?"

"Cause she's home crying, you
asshole!" Julien spat. "For some reason, she still like
you. You've been filling her head with so much trash she don' know
which end is up anymore!"

"I haven't been filling her
head w'it anything!" Remy cried, ignoring the trateur who was
motioning him to be quiet. "Belle can make up her own mind."
He turned and looked at Marius. "Can't you believe I would do
anything not to hurt Belle. She's one of de most important people in
my life."

For a moment, it looked like
Marius was going to say something, but Julien jumped in instead. "If
you really cared about her, you'd leave her alone, you Mutant Freak!"

Even though Remy had been thinking
similar things, he didn't need Julien pointing it out. Unable to
control himself, he leaped up an lunged at him. "You
Sonofabitch!" he screamed.

Before he could attack, Jean-Luc
interfered, grabbing him. "Remy, calm down!" he ordered.

"Why should I?" Remy
spat. "Who the hell you think you are callin' me names, you
damned Assassin! I may be a mutant, but you're the one who's the
freak!"

Julien lunged for him then, only
to be restrained by his father. The two boys stared at each other,
wishing they could get their hands around the other's throat. They
might have actually succeeded in killing each other, but Marius and
Jean-Luc decided to call a halt to it. Marius dragged Julien out of
the house and Jean-Luc had the traiter give Remy something to calm
him down and minimize the pain he was suffering. Then Jean-Luc
marched his son off to bed.

Where here I sit, Remy
thought, lighting up another cigarette. His ribs ached and his face
felt like he'd stuck it in a bee's nest. What am I gonna do.
People aren't just gonna calmly accept that I'm on of dem mutants. I
know Papa be a powerful man, but is it enough to keep us safe? Make
it even worse, I aint his son by blood. That never matter before, but
it'll matter now. People gonna think Papa should've left me walking
the streets...

He stood up slowly and walked over
to the other window in his room. Looking out into the night, he could
see the river that ran by the side of the house. "Dis is my
home," he muttered quietly. He had vague memories of another
home and a woman before he became a Le Beau, but that didn't matter.
This was the home that counted. "Every'one I love, every'one I
care about is here. Papa...Henri....Belle... Do I love them enough to
leave them? To go away from here so I won't cause them anymore
problems?"

Tears stung at the corners of his
eyes. The situation seemed hopeless, yet the solution was simple. If
he were to leave the problems would be over for his family. The
mutant would be out of their lives.

Swallowing hard to keep the tears
at bay, Remy grabbed his backpack and started packing.

End
Chapter One
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Choices

Chapter One