Brave New World

 

There’s a face in the glass

Looking through the mirror

 

Remy is looking in the mirror at his reflection, then his red on black eyes catches something moving behind him.

 

At the maze of my past

It was never clearer

 

He turns around and sees Sinister standing in his room. Sinister smiles mockingly then walks into a tesseract. Remy looks around but realizes that Cerebro didn’t sense the mad scientist. He slumps to the ground in a cold fright.

 

On the distant horizon

The sun approaches

 

Remy is sitting on the roof, watching the sun rise. His heart does not lighten as everyday, the burden and secrets that he carries wears on his heart and soul

 

Better cover my eyes

Better hide the roaches

 

Remy frowns, sensing danger approaching. But considering the dangerous life he leads as an X-Man and as a master thief, it was nothing new. At least, those opponents he could beat.

 

In the best of my time

There was something better

 

Remy is looking out the window, watching the X-Men on a day off. Scott and Jean are arguing over rearranging their living room while Warren and Betsy were sunning near the pool. He could sense Bishop patrolling the grounds and Logan mediating in the woods. They were all his friends, all his family, and he would die for any of them. Especially her..

 

And the quest of my mind

Was to try and get her

 

Remy turns around slightly and spots Rogue weeding with Storm in her garden. He smiles as he watches her attack the weeds with the same ferociousness she fought Sentinels with. She was beautiful, perfect, the woman of his dreams..

 

Something simple and pure

As the thoughts in my head

 

He wants to tell her everything, everything about his past, about his feeling for her.. But she didn’t want to know, she sensed the darkness inside of him and it scared her. It scared her because it reminded her of the darkness in everyone, including herself. He just didn’t deny having a dark side. And it cost him her love, possibly forever..

 

Not the tears in the rain

Over me she shed

 

Remy remembered watching Rogue fly away, leaving him alone in the cold Antarctic night. He knows that it wasn’t her who condemned him to die; it was himself, the piece of his soul that she stole. It was his mind and soul that condemned him to death. It was rather fitting.

 

We were almost there

Still I was unaware

 

Remy walks through the darken corridors of the mansion, pausing briefly in front of a door in the women’s wing before going downstairs. He opens a door to the X-Men’s trophy room. Without a sound, he enters the room, not bothering to close the door.

 

Here in the Brave New World’s embrace

I watch the parade begin

 

Familiar faces of X-Men, past and present, pass through his mind as he looks at the pictures on the walls. The years pass as he watches the evolution of the teams; the New Mutants, X-Factor, past and present, X-Force, Magneto as headmaster, as an enemy.. So many pictures, so many years. Then he focuses on a picture of the current team.

 

Searching for one familiar face

And I wonder where I fit in

 

Remy notices how the original X-Men members always seem to stick together, as does the second generation of X-Men. But where did he fit in? Was he still an X-Men anymore, even after what he did. Although it was rather hypocritical of them to judge him when they had no right to, he really didn’t blame them.

 

How will I know if there’s a place

For me in the Brave New World

 

“Mon Dieu, why did I come back anyway? For Stormy? For Rogue? Why? Where do I belong, where does dis t’ief fit in?”

 

To be calm in the eye

Of the human storm

 

Remy remembers fighting all those villains along with the X-Men without breaking a sweat, without . Death holds no fear to him: death would only be a welcome release from his living hell. So he took chances, he made the ultimate gambit everyday.. and won. But there are some battles he couldn’t win: for the woman he loves so dearly, not even the battle for his soul.

 

In a house full of dreams

I am safe and warm

 

Remy leaves the room and walks through the silent mansion. All are asleep except for a certain uptight future policeman. Remy extends his empathy and senses the happiness, the pride, the joy that all of the former students have left in the house. All of them, mutant and human, always had a home to return to, even him.

 

Looking back at a life

Filled with warm embraces

 

“Home, what makes a place a home? De place where you belong is your home. My first home is Nawleans, w’ m’ family, Tante, Papa, even Lapin. I grew up dere, I found m’ first family, m’ father, a brother, n friends. Sometimes, I wish dat I never left, dat I never killed Julien, dat me ‘n Belladonna would live happily ever after. Dat road was lost t’ me long before I was taken off de street. Though it hurts to remember it, dose were de best years of my life.”

 

No regrets only memories

Of smiling faces

 

“De X-Men became my second family. I first came t’ watch over a child ‘n gained a family in return. Even met m’ future foster son, Bishop. Where did I go wrong dere? I don’t regret joining dem, though I wish dat I had done t’ings differently. But wishing don’t bring back de dead, nor does it change de past. All y’ can do is live everyday as if it were your last, ‘n enjoy every minute of it.”

 

We were almost there

Now change is in the air

 

“What’s next in life, I don’t know. But I’ll survive. I always do.”

 

Until now I held the zone

I ruled the world

 

Remy remembers his initiation as a thief in the New Orleans Guild, then his ascension to the rank of Master Thief. It was like he owned the world; there was nothing that he couldn’t do. He was invincible and would live forever. Like most young people, Remy never saw the dangers or the consequences of his actions, until it was too late.

 

I called it home

I never saw the down side

 

Remy remembers  the grim reality of life as he watches the Morlocks being massacred before his very eyes. He tries to stop Sabertooth from killing another one but gets a gut full of claws for his effort. Clutching his warm entrails, he manged to grab a little girl and ran down a side tunnel. He shoved the girl into the arms of a woman who was leading others out of there. Then he stood ready to defend their escape, after all, he had nothing to lose.

 

See the now see the Zen

There is no division

 

But that was in the past, and Remy had been trying to make amends for what he did. Didn’t that count for something? Did it even matter anymore? He had been judged and found guilty. And nearly paid with his life.

 

Through the eyes of a child

There is perfect vision

 

Remy remembers a time in the streets of New Orleans with a young mutant child. He found her in a house he was going to rob and figured that it wouldn’t hurt to keep her around. She was an excellent pickpocket and had excellent potential to be a master thief with time. It had been a while since someone needed his help. She gave him the courage to get his mind out of the gutter and back in action. Ororo saw him as a hero, as a good man. If she only knew the truth..

 

And the best of our lives

Resonate the hills

 

Remy shakes himself out of his reflective mood, it was dawn. Soon, the X-Men would be getting ready for their early morning workout. Perhaps, in the end, it was just how you lived that mattered, not how you died.

 

And the sun’s gonna shine

And you know that I will

 

Nodding to Bishop, Remy went back upstairs to get into his body armor and his bo. Maybe he didn’t belong with the X-Men, but he fought for the Dream that they believed in. Someday, he might start believing in the Dream.