Looking around her, she takes in the desolate wasteland around her with a frown. This is her domain, as far as the eye could see. In front of her is gray land, no indication that life ever existed here. To her back is a forest, wild and untamed. But it is home, and it is hers. So why does she feel like something is missing?
Blink.
A huge mansion, surrounded by swarms of kids. She laughs, throwing back her head and tossing her mane of hair to the wind. Two girls separate from the crowd, gesturing to the laughing girl-child, one cracking her gum impatiently, the other smiling at the obvious joy on her friend’s face.
Blink.
The woman shakes her head as the scene ends. She wonders whether it was a memory, but it felt alien, as if another was pushing it upon her consciousness. She snorts, the only sound here besides the wind, and tells herself to forget it.
Blink.
She writhes in time to the pulsing music, shaking her head so her hair moves like her body. She is free, freer than she ever is during the day. Forgetting she is untouchable, that she is a freak. She recognizes the shapes surrounding her vaguely, each one is a friend, but the music has gotten a hold of her. It has touched her soul, and she can do nothing but surrender to it, can-no will not stop for anything.
Blink.
She shudders as the new scene ends, falling to the ground. The feelings are almost too much, for she has gone without emotion for too long, without companionship for just as long. She is no longer a force to be reckoned with, and this blank land is no longer her domain.
Blink.
A man, as ferocious and intimidating as a wild animal, his mere presence filling the doorway he stands in. And yet she knows he won’t hurt her, that he would rather die than do so. She runs into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist as he catches her up, beaming in pure joy. She kisses him, fingers twining into his hair as it becomes more intimate.
Blink.
She sobs as the memory ends, leaning her forehead against the gray moss beneath her. She knows now that they are memories, snapshot of a former life. Gasping, she watches as her tears land on dry ground and even drier greenery.
Blink.
The man’s broad expanse stretched over her, bronze colored and slick with sweat. Her hands scrabble along his back, exploring muscles beneath her fingertips as she climbs closer and closer to that impossible edge…And she is falling, fingernails scratching his back, wounds that heals seconds after they are inflicted, and he is plunging after her, roaring his release as he bites her shoulder.
Blink.
The tears fall in torrent now, and she feels another presence in the back of her mind, encouraging her.
Blink.
Giggling, she scoops out a lump of peanut butter with her index finger and smears it on the tip of his nose. He mock-growls and she giggles again, turning around to run. He catches her around the waist before she can get more than an arms length away, pulling her against his chest. His hands rest on the lump on her stomach, and he gazes down at it with a look of awe. She smiles and rubs his cheek, his muttonchops ticking her palm.
Blink.
Pain, that’s all she can feel. Her husband is gripping her hand, kissing her knuckles and whispering reassurances, his lips warm against her skin. Someone tells her to push, and she does, and a cry breaks through the pain.
Blink.
She’s dead. That’s all she can think about, that her baby is dead. No more midnight feeding schedules, no more little feet, and no more giggling bundle of joy. Her husband is down the hall throwing things in his rage, and soon she will go and comfort him. But now, now is time for her own grief.
Blink.
He grips her wrist, pulling her after him, and behind her she can hear shooting. Tears streamed down her face as they ran through the forest, hearing her home go up in flames behind her. The worst had happened. They had come.
Blink.
She swallows thickly, blinking back more tears. Her domain, the place she had spent months traveling to, was her old home. Picking her head up, she looks around, imagining where the buildings would’ve stood.
~~~~~
He watched the woman as she surveyed her land, looking like a queen. Watched coolly as her eyes went glassy, her body shuddered and fell to the ground, and she sobbed and clutched the ground, his eyes hard.
As she started to cry, however, his eyes turned tortured and anguished. As her cries went on, he restrained himself from rushing up to her, instead opting to fall back deeper into the forest. Pulling out a cigar, he bites off the tip and lights it, smoking it silently as he waits for her to notice him.
He watches as she picks her head up, his nostrils flaring slightly to take in her scent. Walnut and earth and something exotic, all tinged with a zing that belonged exclusively to her. Closing his eyes he breathes in deep, relishing it after so long a time without it.
And suddenly she’s there, her scent enveloping him like an embrace. He opens his eyes halfway, and looks down at the woman he hasn’t seen in over six years.
“Hello Marie,” he says, dropping his cigar and grinding it under his boot-heel.
“Hello Logan. It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” She reaches up to caress one of Logan’s muttonchops with the back of her hand, and Logan, barely breathing, nods. Smiling sadly, she tucked her hand into the sleeve of her coat and stared at the ground. “I thought so,” she remarked.
“Look at me darlin’,” he said softly, grabbing her chin.
Her big brown eyes looking at him, she whispered, “I’m ready now, Logan. I’m ready to face the world.”
Logan smiled and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her against his side. “I’m glad Marie. 'Cause so am I.”
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Author's Chapter Notes:
This goes into the ever growing pile of written at midnight fics, and probably mostly influenced by My Chemical Romance's 'Welcome to the Black Parade', along with jjblazer's 'Blind Alley' and, strange as it may seem, Jenn's 'For Now' series.