Chapter 01 |
Date Posted:
01.04.2006 |
** ** indicates telepathic
communication
‘ ’ indicates thought
“ ” indicates spoken words
It was Kitty who found her….broke
the news to her. The news she had been dreading to
hear.
The news of HIS return…..Logan’s return.
“Logan’s back!!”
Almost five months after they last met, out there on
the Serengeti, Logan had returned to the X-Men….but
not to her, not now….not after what she did to him.
Not after the way she betrayed him, him friendship,
his trust…..his love.
Not now.
----
They’d met near the Kenyan border. She found him,
no, he found her, tracking over two thousand of
miles of desert and savannah, following her scent
wherever possible, asking around wherever not.
He had found her…..come for her….come to her.
“Hey ‘Ro,” his growl carried none of its usual
confidence, instead filled with the pain of a man
who, by a freak accident, had suddenly attained the
one thing that had defined his whole existence….the
one thing he had time and again strived for….the one
thing that had always eluded him.
Until now.
However, the saying, beware what you wish for,
once again proved itself to be true.
----
The fall of the House of M, the illusionary
mutants-in-power world woven by a deranged mind of
Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, the
reality-bending daughter of Magneto, had global
repercussions.
Her three little words, ‘no more mutants’,
proved prophetic in themselves, her final burst of
power, wiping out more than ninety percent of the
world’s mutant population, rendering them human,
bringing an end to their mutancy….just as she
commanded.
Although not affected physically or genetically, the
mutant known as Wolverine, too had his world through
into chaos. Thrown into the illusion, a bizarre
thing happened to him…..he got the one thing he had
been searching for all his life, all his
previously ‘remembered’ life.
He got his memories, his REAL memories.
----
Tired but not broken, he had come to her, as he had
in the past. He could think no one else to turn
to….no one except his ‘Ro. no one except his ‘Ro.
Not even Xavier, who even if wasn’t already off the
radar, had lost too much respect in the feral’s
eyes…parting company after Xavier’s handling of the
sentient Danger Room, the artificial life-form
calling herself Danger.
She had welcomed him, not because she felt any
obligation towards him, one that had fulfill for the
times when he had been there for her, his gruff but
silent support acting as her rock, in her time of
need.
After all, not only were they teammates, not only
were they friends, they were the best of friends,
and maybe even something more, a fact she realized
many a times in the past, but something she never
admitted to, even to herself…..not until now.
----
“You sure about this?” He had asked her, his body
still recovering from the recent most attack on it.
It had been before the House of M. The X-Men had
just finished with their mission in Niganda and were
ready to return home.
“I am Logan. Now that I am back in Africa….I don’t
want to leave,” was her answer, her eyes not meeting
his. “I need some time alone….To reconcile all that
I have become….woman, goddess, x-man, myself.”
Suppressing a scowl at the taller, Vibranium suit
clad T’Challa, Black Panther’s offer to make
arrangements for her stay, and a grin at her
rejection of that offer, he had stepped forth, his
gloved hand rising to her bare shoulder.
“I understand,” he told her, and knowing him as she
did, she knew that indeed he did. He more than
anyone knew the need, the urge to get away once in a
while, not because you had got fed up with your life
and the people in it, but to find yourself.
“Thank you, Logan,” she answered with nary a smile.
Unlike the other times where they hugged at such
occasions, the physical touch confirming and
solidifying their bond, this time she maintained her
distance, her hands fisted at her sides, her stance
proud and regal. Was it because of the people, her
‘worshippers’ surrounding her, the other man
standing before…between them, or just something
within her, she still didn’t know.
All she knew was that even though she didn’t realize
the subconscious change in her, Logan did. Stopping
himself for going further than the hand-on-shoulder
gesture, he withdrew, turned around and walked away.
“I’ll tell the others,” he spoke over his back, once
again sparing her the looks, comments and questions
she would surely get from the others, even her
friend-cum-brother-cum-ex-partner, Remy, who,
knowing him, would within the blink of an eye, have
offered to stay with her.
Watching him walk away, she soon turned back to
T’Challa and resumed their conversation, missing the
look a pair of hazel-brown eyes gave her….just as
she missed the pain, anger and jealousy flash in
them at the kiss she shared with her ex-lover.
----
Gaining his memories, Logan or as he was named by
his parents, James Howlett had left the X-Men,
taking a temporary break to discover, not who he
was, he knew that now, but to discover what parts of
his life still existed….just as she had done just a
short time before.
He had spanned the globe, his repeated and erratic
slipping in and out of the grid unnerving various
security organizations, both known and secret.
SHIELD had placed him under constant surveillance,
or at least tried to, their agents on more than one
occasion losing their target.
Even the Avengers had been brought in, the memories
of when, in Captain America’s own words had jumped
fence still fresh in their minds. The news of his
attack on the Prime Minister of Japan’s convoy
adding oil to the fire.
They finally sent the Captain after him, his orders
to use whatever means necessary to stop him…whatever
means necessary.
Note: This was intended to be
a oneshot. However, after it crossed 7000 words, I
decided to split it up.
The updates will be coming along soon…just keep
sending your reviews!!
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