Two months. That was all we were given. Two months of hope with our little girl. It had been enough for even me to believe the future held promise of being better.
Then the new line of sentinels appeared. More fearsome than the last. The tunnels, with the burgeoning community, were hit first. Nothing was left.
I didn't need to ask, we headed for Hank's. Marie and Laura would stay there. I would regroup with the others as battle plans were once again put into action.
My hands are perfect now. Time has passed, don't know how much. Don't care, cause the last day I was alive was the day I dug through the rubble until the flesh on my hands was shredded. The last rays of sunlight glinting off the metal covering my bones. I blocked out the Professor as I searched for the girls, following their scents through the debris of Hank's hideout.
I knew they all thought I'd gone over the edge, watching me frantically dig like a madman. Probably still think I haven't made my way back. We'd all been there before having lost comrades, friends, and loved ones. This was no different except that Marie and Laura where my humanity. The part of my life that that gave it any meaning.
I couldn't say when the rain began, covering the retreat of the others after I refused to abandon my family. Marie and Laura were gone, dead. I knew it, so did everyone else. Only difference was I was going to lay them to rest properly.
The sentinels converged from all sides, a red haze descended upon me. Flashing claws, severed metal limbs...I saw little and remembered even less. When I finally came to on top a pile of metal corpses, I was broken, worn, and alone, but finally able to complete the task I'd set out for myself.
Hank was first with his blue fur burned, protecting their hiding place. He'd been a good friend to the end. Marie crouched behind him, Laura clutched to her chest. Both crushed by the collapse of the ceiling of the cubby where they hid.
I fell down beside them, pulling them to me, trying to will them back to life. I couldn't help but think of the first time I held them both so close. This time drops were falling, but it wasn't the rain. Gently I kissed Marie's cold cheek and brushed bits of dust from Laura's dark hair. My girls were gone.
By the time my tears had finished mingling with the rain and a final kiss bestowed on both, Magneto reappeared, entombing their final resting place in metal. We exchanged no words, but there was an understanding.
Time marches on and so does the war. There will be no victory; any side you pick is a losing side. I have cut loose those people that were loyal to me. Let them choose their own fate. No need for them to follow me to hell.
My lot is tied to the Professor's, that is what Marie would want. I have returned to the front-lines once more, hoping to lose myself in the fighting and the pain. Only voicing my opinion when I can see a better way, a way that might end this wretched existence.
No matter how many times I die there is no reprieve from my living nightmare. I look at myself in the little mirror over the sink. I won't let myself think of how long it's been because that would mean I'm counting every day, know every minute. Even though I do know them and feel every last one. I died with them on that day; my body just won't admit it yet.
Leaving the bathroom I rejoin the others in the main area of the jet. It's become home to the four of us; Xavier, Storm, Magneto and I. It keeps us ahead of the sentinels and out of the destruction on the ground. They tell themselves it is to better coordinate the fight, but we all know it is only to keep them one day ahead of death.
The Professor located Kitty and the small team she's with. They've formulated a plan, one that will draw this war to an end. We'll see, I've heard it all before, those promises that no one can guarantee.
I look around at those gathered; a few of Marie's friends are here. It reminds me of how young she was, how young they are. This is no way for any of them to be living.
My hands begin to shake again and I hide it with the lighting of my last cigar. Can't tell if the tremors are from anger or grief, don't know if there is a difference. Don't know if I'd be able to tell. Or if I even care.
The talking makes me antsy. I've allowed myself to become another piece of machinery in this war. Something used to grind down and destroy. Anything to try and numb my body, my mind to the pain.
Before my brain can engage, my mouth does. I've volunteered for something that will require both patience and teamwork, two things I haven't possessed since that fateful day.
This chance being offered is more than I've had in a long time. Kitty says to think peaceful thoughts. When we begin I think of those moments I held Marie and Laura in my arms.
If this doesn't work out, maybe I'll finally die, never to see this life again. Maybe then I can quit counting.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry!