We stood together in the square under a sky the color of Arizona turquoise.
We'd been standing there for at least an hour before he asked me in that gruff way of his: "If you could do it all over again...would you?"
I knew my answer was an immediate yes, but my mouth was dry and for a second, I couldn't speak.
All the time that had passed between when we started our crusade and now, when the walls of Jericho fell and we were living in peace all over the world, there were plenty of bad memories. I remembered the day I died. It wasn't so much tragic as it was inconvenient, and after I got over the fact that I was dead, it really wasn't that bad. The body I had now looked exactly like my old body, only this one was a genetically engineered masterpiece of steel and organic flesh- the only real requirement I had for my mutant ability to work. Live tissue. Beast made it for me before he died.
I had loved. I had lost. So had he. We'd hated and been hated in turn. We'd watched the people we called family die-all of them. Some were taken by violence, others simply by time. Yeah...there were unpleasant memories that peppered the salt of decades of smiles and laughter with my family. But the dark clouds didn't overwhelm the sun. The happiness, the strife, the love, the faith...absolutely. It was worth it. Not everyone can say they lived to see their dream succeed. Even if I wasn't technically 'living'.
I wanted to declare 'Yes!' to him with confidence, but the word stuck halfway in my throat and wound up being a husky 'yeah'. I wasn't surprised to feel myself crying a little bit.
What *did* surprise me was that he was leaking too.
It was okay. That made it all right to stand together-the two most mismatched companions in the history of the world, a living dead girl and a man who couldn't die- in front of the tableaux in gleaming bronze that depicted the original X-Men, the heroes of our day and age. The ones who fought for justice in a time of bitter and scary change, the ones that suffered and fell for it. Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Beast, Jubilee, Iceman, Wolverine, Zombie, and Rogue, all clustered dramatically around a solemn Professor X, forever confined to his bronze wheelchair.
I kept looking at myself, cast in bronze. They got my nose wrong. And Logan was too pretty, they made him look like a damn supermodel. That was good though; it meant we wouldn't be recognized. Of course, after a hundred and fifty years, there was no one alive who knew us. A century and a half.
We didn't speak again. Instead, we gazed silently at the memorial. Day turned to night. The crowds that had gathered for the unveiling dispersed and we were mostly alone. Logan never tore his gaze from the sweet grin on Marie's sculpted face. For such an old guy, his memories of their life together were crystal clear. There was a small grin on his face and a tear in his eye.
We were the savoirs of the planet, for both human and mutant alike. There was a happy ending to the story after all, for everyone.
I smiled but I was also crying.
The answer was a definite yes. I'd do it all again.
But sometimes I miss them. I miss them alot.
I hope someday I'll see my friends again.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Story Notes:
While writing my responses to my author interview, I suddenly knew how Zombie's story ends. Especially while listening to "We'll Meet Again" by Johnny Cash. I had to write this one page sequel to Zombie's life. Her story deserves to be told, and I think its beautiful that the two who most antagonized each other wound up with their own kind of bond.