Logan leaned on the dresser with one hand and removed a shiny object from Ororo's jewelry box with the other. He twirled it around between his thumb and forefinger.
Ororo's engagement ring. The one he had given her eight months ago.
This was the first time he had come up to her attic apartment since—Well, he didn't want to think about the since. He'd been avoiding the room and anything else that reminded him of her.
`Twice.' He thought. `That's twice now I've lost someone I was plannin' t'spend the rest o my life with.'
He wasn't feeling sorry for himself—not really. He was actually feeling sorry for anyone he felt was blind enough to fall in love with him. He was beginning to see himself as a jinx to those who cared about him.
After tending to the wounded, the X-Men returned to the site of the explosion. There was nothing left but ash and sand. There were no recognizable forms, human or otherwise. Ororo was gone.
There was a memorial service. He didn't go. He needed to mourn her on his own terms.
He couldn't help but wonder what it was he gave his heart to women like Storm, Mariko, and even at one time Jean. From the looks of him and his personality, you'd expect him to be with a bar brawling biker babe from hell. Yet here, he always fell for women who, while strong in their own right, were generally women of peace. They were gentle and not prone to violence.
`Maybe that's the problem.' He thought. `They say how you live is how you die. They live with me, they live with danger and violence.' He shook his head and looked around the room.
`This hurts too much.' He honestly would rather have had Magneto pull the adamantium from his body again, than go through the pain he was feeling now. It had been three weeks since she died, but it felt like it was an hour ago.
"Maat...?"
Logan looked up. Japheth came into the room. Since coming to live with the X-Men, this younger man had formed a close bond with Wolverine. Japheth had an older brother once. He was killed by the violence to bring about peace in his homeland of South Africa. While no one could replace his elder brother, he was beginning to think of Logan as one as well. Wolverine listened to him, to his problems. He witnessed his mistakes without judging. He taught him without lecturing. He knocked him over the head when he needed it. He was a friend. And now his friend was hurting, and Japheth felt it was his turn to be there for his brother—Even though he wasn't sure how.
Japheth looked about the attic. "Doll sure kept a hang of a lotta plants. Been havin' a bladdy time waterin' them all."
Logan looked about the apartment again. He hadn't noticed, Storm's numerous amounts of plants and flowers were all blooming and healthy, as though Ororo had been tending to them all along. They should have been dying from lack of care.
"You did this?"
Japheth shrugged. "Felt like I had t'do somethin', Maat. She loved these things. Couldn't just let `em get all vrot and such."
"Thanks, kid."
"Safe, Maat... Uh, you maybe wanna hop down t'Harry's for a swig?"
Logan thought about it for a moment then smiled.
"You don't drink kid. You can't drink."
"`Course I can! Pass a bottle of brew t'the girls—actually they'd probably eat the bottle. Still, we could go. We could get some poker goin' an' I could watch you drink, an' we could talk. I'd talk. You talk... if ya like. Or not. Whatever passes Maat."
`I see what you're tryin' t'do kid.' He knew the boy saw that Logan had one foot steeped in a puddle of self-pity and he was trying to pull him back before he got too wet. Logan dropped an arm on Japheth's shoulder and the two walked towards the door.
"You buyin'?"
"My turn ain't it."
"Mmm. Kid..."
"Ya, Maat."
"Yer helpin'."
"I'm helpin'?"
"Thanks."
"...Sawright, Boet. Anytime."
* * * * *
"What happened to me?"
"Doll, why do ya wanna worry yerself with thing like that for? There's time for that later."
"Victor, please. This is maddening! I cannot remember anything, I cannot remember you. Whatever happened to me, it was the beginning of all of this... I need to know."
She placed a gentle hand on his. "I understand you are trying to protect me from whatever memories you feel might be too painful. But this void... this emptiness... It is worse."
Ororo was seated in a cushioned chair across from Victor. It was only her second day out of bed... six days since she woke up. Across from her husband, the only people she had had contact with were Dr. Stevens and his assistant Ms. Kesh. The sterile room she had awoken in was a converted bedroom on one of the lower levels of this house. Their house. From what she had seen, the house was massive. Not quite as large as a mansion, but impressive in its own right. They were in New York City and had a beautiful view of Central Park. The doctor had said it was all right for her to move around a few hours a day, but warned her not to overdo it. She remained in the infirmary the rest of the time. At the moment, the happy couple was in the lavishly decorated sitting room with the impressive view of the park.
Victor sighed in defeat. "Alright. You win. Just didn't wanna upset ya more."
"I know."
"You remember I told ya `bout what we are, how we're mutants?"
Ororo nodded. She remembered being overwhelmed when she learned she was able to control the elements in the atmosphere. And then to learn how hard she must work to keep her power under control. Victor had heightened senses and a healing factor. This seemed somewhat familiar to her, as her own name had. Like a small spark of memory went off in her mind and only a thin ash residue remained.
"There's this group of mutants, they go by the name of X-Men. They're outlaws, wanted by almost every legal organization in the country. Hell, they're leader damn well destroyed all of New York a few years back.
"Anyway, they have this thing about collecting mutants, you know, to join them. They got this dream they keep talkin' `bout—mutants an' humans livin' together, as long as the humans do what the mutants want. That's what they call peace. Their policy is if you ain't with `em, yer against them.
"They've been after you fer years. They even kidnapped you once."
"What?"
"Yeah. See, they got like three telepaths on the team. They were controllin' yer mind, makin' ya think you were one of them. They even let you believe you were team co-leader fer awhile. An' they..."
"...They what."
Victor took a deep breath. It seemed to her that whatever he was about to say was going to be difficult for him.
"They made you believe you were in love with one of them... this little runt of a guy, by the name of Wolverine, or Logan. He and I got a lot a similar characteristics—same powers, same temper... I guess they thought, if they set you up with someone who was something like me, it'd be more real. You'd believe it.
"Worked fer a while, but as much as those mind witches could mess with yer thoughts, they couldn't mess with yer heart. When you figured out what was goin' on, ya they tried t'kill ya. Their telepath Psylock tried t'scramble yer brains fer good. I—stopped her." He held up his hand and looked at his claws. "I didn't kill her, that ain't my way. I just make sure, she couldn't get at ya again.
"We thought it was over with—that we could get on with our lives. Should'a known better. You was visiting one a my construction sites, lookin' fer me."
Ororo remembered him telling her that he owned a string of construction agencies and that she was a botanist. Just two people, trying to live normal lives, who just happened to be mutants.
"Ya musta just missed me by minutes. I wasn't that far away when I saw the building go down, in my side mirror. Got back there in time to see their ship, the Blackbird takin' off. At first, I thought they were maybe planin' t'knock down all'a my projects—ruin us financially. They I saw yer car..."
He shook his head slowly. "Didn't take me long t'find ya in there—just followed yer scent from the car to the direction ya'd gone. But when I found ya..."
He turned his face away from her, looking out the window.
`He is trying to hide his pain.' She thought. "Victor, I am all right. Dr. Steven's said in time, I will make a full recovery."
He took a deep breath. "I know Sweets, I know."
There was a sharp pain in Ororo's head, and she brought a hand up to her temple.
"`Nother, headache?"
She nodded slowly.
"Come on, I'll take ya back. You need t'rest."
Ororo allowed him to guide her back to the infirmary room. Once she assured him she was comfortable, he kissed her on the forehead and left so she could sleep.
As he closed the door behind him, Sabretooth ran a hand over his face, and grinned devilishly to himself.
"And the Oscar goes to..."
To Be Continued...
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