Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel, with the exception of Sapphire.

Vengeance

Part 8
By Geraldine Cheong

Ororo Munroe scanned the darkness. She was frightened. Trapped within the collapsed building. Somehow she could see in the dark, she saw her mother, eyes wide with terror, mouth opened in a silent scream, arms reaching out to her...

"...no..." she breathed, "...no...No...NO!!!" She shut her eyes tightly, tried to push the vision from her mind, tried to convince herself that it was all a nightmare, that her mother was still alive.

Yes, it was just a nightmare, nothing more, all she needed to do was to wake up and she would see her mother again, all smiles, eyes shining, her voice floating over to Ororo like a beautiful melody.

She waited.

She prayed and hoped that her nightmare would soon be over. Maggots squirmed in her mother's eyes, mouth and cold dead fingers. The smell of rotting flesh was unbearable.

Finally, her nightmare ended. The rescuers managed to dig their way to her. They brought light to the dark and dismal place reeking of death. They set her free. She turned round to look for her mother...and found her. All she was staring at was the skeletal remains of a body that used to belong to her mother. A pair of empty eye sockets stared back at her, a hideous grin, bits of flesh hanging from her bones, matted hair...

She screamed.


Remy sighed. First Sapphire, now Jubilation.

He managed to put the distraught Sapphire in bed. She watched him, afraid that he might run off and leave her at the mercy of 'The Bad People'. He sat by her side, watching over her like an unmoving statue while she 'tried' to sleep. She finally dropped off to sleep. No sooner had he gotten up and stretched himself when he heard Jubilee returning to her room.

He could tell from her footsteps that she was frightened. She hestitated outside his room. He waited for a tentative knock that never came. Moments later, he heard a suppressed sob as she tried to open the door to her room. Her hands shook, her keys fell, she scooped them up and tried again.

He stepped out of his room.

"Jubes?"

She started, then wiped her sleeve over her eyes. She was trembling like a leaf in the wind.

Remy went over and took the keys from her, opened the door for her and guided her into the room. Once inside, she bolted over to him and hugged him fiercely, burying her face into his well-muscled torso and sobbing into his chest. He smoothed her unruly black hair.

Somethin' mus' 'ave really scared her bad for her to act like dis. I never should 'ave brought her along. Logan's goin' to gut me for dis.

"Wat is it, petite?" He asked tenderly.

She shook her head, then asked, "Can you not go and meet Genevieve tomorrow?"

"Say wat?"

"Please. I don't think she's human."

"You met her?"

Jubilee ignored him and continued, "She's insane. She wants to hurt you."

Gambit chewed on that for a while and finally decided to drop the subject.

"Aww...look at dis, you wet my shirt. How is Gambit goin' to sleep tonight?"

"Idiot." A ghost of a smile flickered across her face.

Remy grinned. "Go an' 'ave a nice warm shower, petite. Gambit be waitin' out 'ere for you, non?"

Jubilee nodded, obviously glad to get away from any discussion on Genevieve.

45 minutes later...

"If you ain' comin' out right now, I'm leavin'."

The bathroom door swung open in a minute or two.

"Took you long enough. Fallen asleep in dere?" Remy groused.

"Sorry, I was having a shower in there. Unlike you, I do not just empty a pail of water over myself and consider myself showered."

"Hey! Dat's low."

Remy's mood turned serious. "So, petite, wat really happened out dere?"

A look of dread crossed her face as she drenched up the hours old memories and laid it out in the open for Gambit.

Minutes after she had finished relating the night's incident to Gambit, Jubilee asked, "Will you stay here with me the rest of the night?"

"You mean watch over you while you sleep?"

"If you want to put it that way..."

"Alright, alright, I guess a second time won' hurt." Jubilee looked puzzled but did not question him further.

For a second time that night, Remy put a second distraught Lee to bed and watched over her while she slept.

End of Part 8