Stargazing - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Cat Smith
Last updated: 01/02/2007 02:01:11 AM

Chapter 3

Remy was sat on some rocks in the desert outside Chandilar. He liked it there, cozy in its lonely emptiness, no-one to accuse him, no one to taunt him. Not that he noticed. He was thinking. The head of Rearchitecture's words hadn't meant anything to him. Just the tone he'd said them in. Thinking was a bad sign. It meant that he remembered.

Closing his eyes, he bowed his head. *I'm sorry* That word had been said so much, but never meant anything. Words _don't_, to a dead person.

Staring bleakly at the hot, uncaring desert, Remy felt cold inside, and hugged himself.

"Hey-ya! Whaddya know, company!"

Gambit's dark eyes narrowed. Someone was interrupting him being depressed. That wasn't fair. Turning slightly, the sight that greeted him wasn't the one he expected. An dungarees-clad alien woman stood there, leaning on a long spanner. Her skin was green, her large, round eyes blue, and her friendly smile lopsided. When Remy made no attempt to speak, she walked up to him and sat down.

"Lil said you were cute." She looked at him closely, scrutinising. "She also said you were human. Where'd ya get off with the star-mark..." she stroked the elegant curve on his cheek, "and the feathers?" She plucked one of the -thankfully- sparing black feathers from his head.

"Ow!"

The alien smiled again as she watched the feather float gently to the floor. "At least I got you talking! Come on. Share."

Remy turned his head to her. "Why? Who are y'?"

She shrugged. "I'm the plumber. But you can call me Chakra."

"Enchanté, I'm sure." He held out a hand. "Remy." Chakra stared at his hand, completely puzzled. The look on her face drew a smile from him. "It's what we do on Earth, t' greet people."

Looking unimpressed, she asked; "What, hold out ya hand and say Remy?"

A chuckle escaped before he could suppress it.

"What!?"

"Remy - it's my _name_. An' y' put your hand in mine and I shake it."

"Why?"

He blinked. He'd never actually thought about that. Why _did_ people shake hands? It was a pretty stupid form of greeting, really. Chakra looked expectant. "I... I have no idea."

"Oh." She picked her spanner up, and started drawing on the ground with it. Remy watched her, fascinated, as she drew a spigot in the sand. "That's my spigot. It keeps things rolling. It keeps things together. It doesn't tell me about you, though."

Remy smiled and gave in to her wishes. "Well, de first thing I can remember is bein' left on de streets on new Orleans, an Earth city, when I was five. Turns out, my momma was Shi'ar, an' had fallen in love with a human man. I think y' can guess what happened next. An'way, my momma - Dantei, her name was - was a Shi'ar warrior, and had t' return t' fight. I was left wit' my Father..." Remy shrugged. "God... um, Kythri only knows what happen t' him."

Chakra looked at him. "I'm impressed. So its kinda like an intergalactic love story?"

Remy chuckled. "Oui, somethin' like that."

Frowning, Chakra asked how he got to Chandilar.

"My momma died recently, an' she asked dat her son would be found. She gave a picture of me at 'bout four. Dey aged it t' make me older, and Lil recognised it. An', answerin' de first t'ing y' asked, de marks..." he sighed as a feather fell softly to the ground. "An' dese damned feathers, appeared afta I'd been on Chandilar a while. De docs say its prob'ly my body gettin' used t' what shoulda been it's native land."

"Cool. I think the feathers are nice - they suit you."

"Ha."

Chakra rolled her eyes. "Aw, come _on_! I'm not having you getting depressed again! Enough people around here are." Smiling kindly, she offered him what looked like a thick silver belt, with some sort of oxygen mask. "Here. Put it on. You'll need it."

Remy stared at it, and looked at her, the annoyance at being interrupted returning again. "Why?"

"'Cause ya goin' into the desert with me to fix the spigot," she said cheerfully, motioning at the drawing in the sand. "And you need that, or your lungs'll collapse."

"Oh, lovely..."

Grabbing his arm, Chakra leaped off. "Trust me, you'll love it. Even that grouchy old terran professor of Lilandra's loved it, so you're bound to."

At the mention of the leader of the X-Men, Remy looked up sharply. "Prof. Xavier?"

"Yeah. That's the one."

"Oh..." As Remy put on the oxygen belt, he thought of the X-Men, and Professor Xavier. How were they? were they all right? Was the Professor out of that prison yet? Closing his eyes, he sighed. He'd never know. After what he'd done, the X-Men wouldn't want to know him, and if they'd told the professor... he didn't think he could face him. As he looked up, he noticed Chakra start to lead the way, leaping and bounding across the barren plain. He looked after her a moment, and then started off after her, slowly. She turned, smiling at him, hands on hips.

"Come on! Jump! It's really great!" Remy looked at her, disbelieving. "Try it." At first Chakra thought he wouldn't do it, and would require more cajoling. But with a roll of his dark eyes, he took a deep breath and leaped forward.

*Whoa* He thought. He'd covered half the distance between himself and Chakra in one leap. *Dis must be like de Moon -- not much grav'ty.* With only a little nervousness, he took another leap.

"That's it," laughed Chakra. "You'll get the hang of it in no time." She winked at him and started bounding off.

He stared at her, then followed, yelling "Hey! Wait for me!"

The spigot was there in front of him, and impressed him. Even though it was a simple piece of metal, with no decoration, only a few knobs and buttons. It was like the woman he was with. Acted simple... but was very helpful, and was needed. Remy knew he needed her. His depression hadn't been helped by the fact that Chandilar was in ruins, and the citizens were as unhappy as he. But Chakra... she was just what he needed to lift his spirits. She was cheerful, happy, and very wise. He'd noticed that on the way here. Occasionally, she'd stopped and pointed out a pretty desert flower and told him about it, how it lived. Or she'd showed him where to look for meteor showers.

Remy thought perhaps some of the Shi'ar citizens could do with meeting Chakra.