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Remy had spent years dreaming of returning to New Orleans. They had since the day he had been banished; rushed through grief-filled goodbyes as he had to leave his home for good. Looking back on it, he probably deserved it. He had killed Julien Boudreaux in a duel the day after marrying his sister. Remy probably could have stood down; could have granted Julien mercy but he didn’t. He acted rashly and acted out of hubris. He knew that if he had been the one that had died...Well, Jean-Luc wouldn’t have left enough of Julien for anyone to find. The Thieves’ Guild weren’t killers like the Assassins’ Guild but it was foolish for anyone to underestimate a father’s rage.
So he had left everything he had ever known behind and headed out into the unknown. Remy’s childhood was...a mess. He had started his life abandoned and discarded for having the ‘devil’s eyes’. He had been raised amongst the rest of ‘Fagin’s Mob’ - a group of pickpockets that seemed like a piss-poor copy of their Dickensian namesakes. But Remy was good at picking pockets. He was a charmer with his words and, at the very least, his eyes always served as a good distraction. Remy knew he was a mutant and he knew he would always be hated for it so he might as well use it to his advantage, right? But he got too cocky and finally picked the wrong pocket. Jean-Luc LeBeau. Remy had seen the man before and his reputation certainly preceded him. The head of the New Orleans Thieves’ Guild. If he managed to pick Jean-Luc’s pocket...Well, that would be something he would be able to spend the rest of his life bragging about.
Unsurprisingly, he got caught. He didn’t actually know what else he was expecting. What he hadn’t been expecting was for Jean-Luc to see ‘potential’ in him; to offer him a home. Remy didn’t know why he accepted his offer but he did. For the first time, he found himself with a family. Jean-Luc as his father. Henri as his brother with Mercy as his sister-in-law. Then there was Tante Mattie - the closest thing he would ever have to a mother. He found friends amongst his cousins - Etienne and Lapin. For the first time in his life, Remy understood what it meant to be happy. He understood what it was like to be loved. But there was a w eight to being adopted by the head of the Thieves’ Guild.
The rivalry between the Thieves and the Assassins went all the way back to when both guilds had begun. They hated each other and it would never be a secret. As such, Remy found himself stuck in meetings with Marius Boudreaux and his two children. Just as Remy and Henri sat on either side of Jean-Luc, Julien and Bella Donna flanked either side of their father. Julien had never cared much for Remy but Bella...Well, Remy wouldn’t call her his friend but he wouldn’t call her his enemy either. They had an understanding of each other; teasing comments and jokes. Unlike most, his eyes had never bothered her. She just found them curious; she found him curious. Perhaps that was why they’d been arranged to be married. There was already an almost friendship between them - why couldn’t it blossom into love? A marriage between two rival guilds to finally unite them. It was almost too good to be true. And it had been. It hadn’t even lasted for a full day.
Remy wandered after his banishment. Where he was aiming to go, he couldn’t say. By then, he was aware of the true extent of his mutation. He could charge objects; fill them with kinetic energy and keep them on the brink of exploding like personal grenades. But he could control how strong each charge was. Sometimes, he’d charge a single card as a party trick. Other times, a single playing card would be all it took to take down an entire building. It was around that time that he took on the name Gambit. It was a way of distancing himself from his past and it felt...oddly fitting in its own way. He liked it. So Remy LeBeau was left behind as Gambit indulged in the life of a thief.
But Lady Luck couldn’t remain on his side forever. His powers began to grow out of control. He couldn’t control them anymore. He’d begun to charge things at random or overcharge them. He was...unstable and he was terrified . Of course, in hindsight, there were better ways to handle things. Gambit would later learn that perhaps Xavier’s School would have been a better choice. It would have saved him from the trauma that would follow. But it wasn’t the X-Men that found Gambit in his time of need. It was Nathaniel Essex. Mister Sinister. The man had sworn that he would be able to help; to give Remy back control as long as he did a few jobs in return. Tired and scared, they had agreed. So Essex had given him a lobotomy. There was no point trying to hide the truth behind pretty words. Part of his brain had been taken away to give him better control. It was also why he grew his hair out so long - to hide the scar left behind. Essex had ‘saved him from himself’ and Gambit was stuck in his debt.
Foolishly, Gambit eventually did believe his debt to Essex was paid. He was blissfully unaware that Essex would never see that debt fulfilled. So Gambit tried to live his life. He made friends, joined the X-Men for a while, and even found love in the form of Anna-Marie. Rogue...Once her name would have filled his heart with love, now it just left a foul taste in his mouth. His life had been good for a while. He had been happy for the first time since leaving home. Things had been good. Until Essex came calling once more. The Mutant Massacre. That’s what they’d go on to call it. Mister Sinister had just told Gambit that he was supposed to help take out a group of mercenaries - the Marauders. But it had been a set up. The Morlocks had been Essex’s real targets and Remy had been helpless to save any of them. But there had been one survivor. A child. Sarah. Somehow, Gambit had gotten her to safety.
He never told anyone about his involvement in the Massacre. How could he? None of them would understand. None of them could ever understand that he hadn’t had a choice . The thought of being back in Essex’s lab; the price of failure...It terrified Remy more than anything. He had seen what Sinister could do when Remy was a willing test subject. They dreaded what would happen if they were unwilling; if Essex gave up on the concept of morals entirely. But no secret remained so forever. They found out. The X-Men found out and they abandoned him. Rogue abandoned him. She hadn’t even looked back as she had left him to his fate in Antarctica. By all means, he should have died. He should have been forgotten out in the barren ice until some poor soul discovered his corpse years later. But someone did come back for him. Logan. The closest fucker he had ever had to a friend. The only one who seemed to actually care about Remy anymore. He had gotten him back to civilisation and he had been there when they got the news.
The Thieves Guild had finally managed to convince the Assassins to end his banishment. Remy could finally go home.
Logan had even offered to drive him back to New Orleans, determined to make sure he got home safely this time. Wolverine had a heart. Who knew? It was...odd being back home. Everything felt as familiar as it did foriegn. It was just as he remembered it but at the same time, it wasn’t . The decade he had been gone had aged the city just as it had aged Remy. He didn’t go home right away. He...wandered for a while. He took a stroll down Bourbon Street like some stereotypical tourist before walking down streets that he knew well. He traced his hands against each wall he passed, taking in the place where he truly belonged. By the time, he reached the LeBeau household, it was growing late and the evening had already set in.
Remy felt...younger as he stepped into the house, letting himself in without knocking. It had barely changed since he left. He tried to be as quiet as he could as he walked - if only to be an absolute shit and scare his family. It was a plan that failed spectacularly. Instead, faster than he could blink, he found himself pressed up against a wall with an arm pressing down on his throat. “ Who t’hell do yo- Remy?” His name was barely spoken above a whisper. “ Petit frere? ”
“Bonsoir, Henri.” Remy had barely finished speaking before his brother had pulled him into a bone crushing hug. For once, he didn’t complain. He just clung to his brother tightly. He had missed this. He had missed him . This...This was real. He was finally back where he belonged. “...Surprise?”
“Henri, what was-?” The voice that cut through their air was extremely familiar. Mercy. His sister-in-law. “Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Remy let out a shaky laugh, managing to escape his brother’s arms long enough to give her a small hug. “This one’s been fussing and fretting since we found out you could come back.”
Henri let out a scoff at that. “I have not! It’s perfectly reasonable to be concerned about my brother!” Remy couldn’t stop himself from smiling as the two dissolved into lighthearted bickering. He leaned back against the wall, keenly watching them until someone cleared their throat.
“What? Don’t you have time for your dear tante anymore?” Remy practically ran over to Mattie, moving to hug the older woman tightly. On his worst nights, all he had wanted was to talk to her; to spill out all of his problems and let her give him a hug that somehow made everything in the world feel okay. “Easy! You’re not a child anymore and I’m getting old! Show some respect!” Even as she gently smashed him upside the head, her voice was full of affection.
Remy snickered. “Sorry, tante.” Unlike with Henri, he didn’t mind her fussing over him. She was as good as his mother. It just felt...right. It felt nice to be looked after. Especially when he’d been the only one looking after himself for so long. He quickly found himself dissolving into conversation with Mattie, lost in the familiarity of it.
Then it happened.
An older hand moved to ruffle his hair as apparently that was still an acceptable way to greet your adult son. “...You sure you can see through all that hair?” Remy had spoken to Jean-Luc on the phone before multiple times but it was nothing compared to hearing it again in person. “You look like a mop, Remy.” As if to prove his point, he pushed his son’s hair over his face with a laugh. Remy quickly found himself joining in the laughter. Though, Jean-Luc stopped laughing rather abruptly as his hand brushed over something on Remy’s head. The lobotomy scar. Shit. “I-I’ll explain tomorrow, pere. I promise. Just let me have tonight. Let me feel welcomed home.”
The rest of the evening was one of the best nights of Remy’s life. It was full of laughter and teasing and normality . He was home. He had a family again. For once, everything felt right in the world. For one night, Remy was okay. It was the next afternoon that Jean-Luc called Remy into his office, choosing to talk to him alone. Once he started explaining what had happened, Gambit found himself unable to stop. He told his father everything . Sinister. Rogue. Antarctica .
Jean-Luc was quiet for a few moments after Remy finished speaking. “...Mattie would kill that girl on sight if she found out and I’m half-included to let her but...I wouldn’t do that to you.” He sat up slightly, reaching for his son’s hand across the table. “No one is going to ever hurt you again, Remy. You’re with your family and we’re going to protect you. I...I should have never let you go.”
Remy squeezed his hand tightly. “Careful, pere. People might think you’re going soft.” He teased. Spilling all of his secrets felt like taking a weight off of his chest. “You had no choice but to send me away. It...It would have been all out war if I stayed.”
“War would have been worth it to keep you safe from this.” He sighed. “...The long hair. That to hide the scar?” Jean-Luc tightened his grip on his son’s hand as Remy nodded. “You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of now that you’re home. We all have our scars - physical and mental - and it’s okay to bear them.”
“...Love you, pere.”
“Love you too, Remy. I’ve missed you. We all have. More than you’ll ever know.”