Home | Forum | Mailing List | Repository | Links | Gallery
 
 
Chapters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
 
 
 

The Companion Picture - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Dandelion
Last updated: 12/03/2009 06:26:08 PM

Chapter 32

"Your reputation'd be ruined if anyone saw dis, Lehnsherr," Remy remarked, leaning his cheek on his hand.

"My reputation was ruined the moment I started associating with you," Magnus replied good-naturedly.

"More people say that," Remy mused.

Magnus poked his skewer in the fire. "What did you call this again?"

Remy sighed wearily. "A weenie roast. And you know perfectly well what it's called. You just don't want to say it."

"And why not?" Magnus replied, spinning the skewer between his fingers. "It's ridiculous and I don't see the point in it."

"There is no point," Remy sighed. "It's just an excuse for guys to get together, drink and burn things. You're always looking for some deep purpose in everyt'ing. It's just a stupid waste of time. Leave it at dat."

"Stupid is not my forte," Magnus scowled, then viscously jabbed the skewer and it's badly charred hot dog into the fire. He straightened and leveled a gaze at Remy. "I also resent the fact that I have to come searching for you in the woods like Stanley and Livingston in order to talk to you. I'm harried in that house, surrounded by women at all times. It's enough to drive me into one of my much lauded psychotic episodes."

Remy snorted in laughter. "Poor Magnus, beset by beautiful women. My heart bleeds for you."

"Seriously, Remy," Magnus' voice dropped slightly. "What is the purpose of this?" He waved his hand around the clearing, gesturing to the rustic atmosphere. " I'm trying to figure out of this is a Walden Pond back-to-nature exile or a Heart of Darkness diary-of-a-madman exile. Brett is of the opinion that there is something about the letter that Lorna brought that sent you packing. Is she right?"

"Brett's got good instincts."

"She also knows you pretty well," Magnus folded his arms across his knees. "Despite your desire to remain enigmatic."

"Look who's talking," Remy quipped. "I'm sure she'll pull through wit' flyin' colors and all dat. Brett always lands on her feet."

"You're not in the house now, so you really can't say, can you?"

Remy looked at Magnus seriously. "Okay," he hedged. "What're you tellin' me?"

Magnus looked hesitant. "Brett said she was going to talk to you about it. Hasn't she?"

Remy shook his head.

Magnus looked even more uncertain. "This isn't my place to talk about it. It's between you two and I'm suddenly uncomfortable even mentioning it."

"Quoi?"

"Because whatever she's going through has got you written all over it."

Remy's lips tightened. "You sure you know her well enough to say dat?"

Magnus shook his head slowly. "No. I know you well enough to say it."

Remy sighed and leaned back, looking thoughtful. "If Brett said she was goin' t'talk to me den she is. I'll wait her out."

"Why wait?" Magnus insisted. "Why do you have this need to be out here?"

"It's complicated."

"Remy," Magnus rubbed his eyes then looked at his friend. "You've got no reason to be out here. We are your friends. You don't have to hide from us."

Remy didn't meet Magnus' look. He stared into the fire devoid of expression. Magnus could see the reflection of the flames in Remy's eyes and he felt a coldness grip him when looking upon his friend. There was something in Remy's expression that was too close to the feelings he had been subject to when his memories first returned to him.

Remy straightened to meet Magnus' eyes. "You're my friend, Magnus. I trust you wit' my life. When it comes down to it, I'm not goin' t'keep anything from you that you need to know. But dis... dis involves Brett before it involved anyone else. She comes first in this and I can't force her to see what she knows. She's got t'come to it all on her own. When she does then we can move forward. Not before then. Dat's why I'm out here. If I'm wit' her I'll just want t'make everyt'ing okay. And I can't do that dis time. I can't make things better for her until she knows what's wrong. So I've got t'wait until she's ready to straighten it all out."

Magnus was silent for several moments. "All right," he said, nodding. "When you two are ready, then."

The fire spit softly, sending sparks up into the sky. Remy watched them for a few moments. "How are you doing wit' the headaches?"

Magnus firmly quelled the grin that threatened his lips. "Fine. Fine. They're gone."

"Jus' like dat?" Remy pressed, looking suspicious.

"Lorna and I figured out what the problem was and fixed it."

"When did this happen?"

"A couple of days ago," Magnus' expression appeared far too casual.

"Oh," Remy smirked. "And since?"

Magnus narrowed his eyes. "What are you suggesting?"

Remy looked towards the sky with a grin.

"Wipe that smug look off of your face, LeBeau!"

Remy started to laugh. "Own up, Lehnsherr. You're stonewalling so much there's got to be something going on."

"We're just practicing making our powers work around each other. It's nothing."

Remy nodded emphatically. "Oh, nothing. Sure."

Magnus sighed. "All right, truthfully, that woman mystifies me."

"Really."

"Yes," Magnus lamented. "This is a woman who is obviously intelligent, self-sufficient, well-read and some of the things that come out of her mouth leave me gaping."

"As in shock?" Remy inquired. "What, does she swear like a sailor?"

Magnus shook his head. "No. It's just odd. We had a mock battle the other day, which I won handily and she swore revenge and called me 'Bub.' I had no idea how to respond to that. What do you say to 'Bub'? I haven't the faintest idea."

Remy chuckled. "Only one I ever heard say it on a reg'lar basis was Logan. And really, what were you ever supposed t'say to it?" He shrugged. "I think it was s'posed t'be some sort of intimidation tactic. Like dat's a hard one t'figure. Logan breathes and it's s'posed t'be an intimidation tactic."

Magnus looked amused. "Not that it ever worked on you, right?"

Remy grinned sheepishly. "Not sayin' the man ain't exactly what he says he is. But, non. I never felt too intimidated by him. I was taught different, y'see."

Magnus nodded. "But back to Lorna. Any suggestions?"

Remy blinked. "Suggestions? What? You? Ha!"

"So you're leaving me to flounder on my own," Magnus sighed, though a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"You? Flounder?" Remy laughed loudly. "Oh, that's fine. That's very encouraging."

Magnus scowled slightly. "Nice to see you receiving such pleasure at my expense. I think you're still bitter over the fact that you haven't gotten back at me for the Biltmore episode. "

"Yeah, so if someone can knock you off your footing while I'm still plotting my revenge more power to them. Or her as the case may be."

"Thank you so much."

Remy grinned. "Seriously, how's it goin'?"

Magnus stretched his arms over his head slowly. "Like I said, the headaches are gone. I have to admit I enjoy the practice sessions. It keeps me on my toes. She's an intelligent woman and I don't get frustrated and angry around her the way I recall doing in several other relationships. Lee has expressed an interest in our sessions. She claims she's going to come out to the beach with pom-poms and cheer each side accordingly."

"Sounds like something Lee'd do." Remy cocked his head to one side. "But as far as Lorna goes, you have been indulging in a sense of humor since I've made nice wit' you. Maybe you should just follow your instincts and give back as good as you're getting."

Magnus shrugged and looked non-committal.

"Or don't," Remy went on. "Continue to be a stiff."

"I am hardly a stiff."

Remy just grinned.

"At any rate, LeBeau, come back to the house quickly. I just don't think I can stand the English Patient one more time. Or Bridges of Madison County. Or Sense and Sensibility. I'm losing my patience with all of them. You need to come back so we can watch some bloody movie with lots of guns and explosions and maybe some John Wayne so I can feel like a guy again."

Remy burst into laughter. "You're not kidding me. You can't stand those types of movies."

"I'm beginning to understand their allure." Magnus looked inconsolable.

"Sure, Lehnsherr," Remy nodded. "I'll go get us the Dirty Dozen, El Dorado and the Searchers. Will that make you happy?"

Magnus chuckled lightly and stood up. He walked over to his friend and patted him on the shoulder. "Work this out with Brett and come home. That will make me happy." He smiled, turned and headed back to the house.

Brett hovered silently in the air amongst the trees as Magnus carefully picked his way down the darkened wooded path back towards the beach. She watched him in silence briefly wondering if he had picked up on her presence. Nah, she thought, Ah was always tops when it came to hide 'n seek.

Slowly, she lowered herself to the ground and looked towards the direction of the clearing where Remy still sat. Ah never expected playin' that game would prepare me for my future. Or rather my love life. Never expected Remy to be so damn good at it, either.

From the beginning it's been this way. Well, not exactly this way. It was just a harmless game of tag at first. Remy was always 'it' but it was fun. Ah just didn't realize that Ah was playing a completely different game than him. When Belladonna showed up it hit me that my game of chase was his game of hide 'n seek. And he wasn't playing it with me.

Our relationship went from tag to hide 'n seek to flashlight tag. The more Ah felt for that man the more Ah was in the dark as to who Ah really loved. Ah was groping in the dark and each time Ah thought Ah had found him Ah'd discover Ah found something else entirely. Things Ah maybe didn't really want to know. Things Ah couldn't forget even when Ah told him it didn't matter.

Who was chasing who then?

She looked towards the clearing again. Was he leading me into darkness so he could have company? Was I luring him into the light to be exposed the same way Ah was? When did it change? When did Ah start plunging into the darkness to show he wasn't alone? When did Ah pull back because he was too close to the darkest parts of my own past? When he did he start coming into the light to show how he had put his past behind him? When did he disappear again because he felt undeserving?

Ah'm just so tired of playing this game. There isn't any reason to continue it. And maybe we can start something new. We can stop chasing each other and be together for real.

She turned and moved towards the clearing and smiled as Remy looked up at her with a veiled expression of surprise. She silently made her way to where Magnus had been sitting and took his place. She picked up the stick and poked the embers of the fire and then met Remy's gaze. "Ollie ollie oxen-free."

"I've always wanted a crack at Forge's equipment," Kitty sat glowing among the implements Mystique had provided.

"Watch your mouth, Pryde," Pete Wisdom replied with a leer. "Someone might take that the wrong way and get ideas."

"You're referring to yourself, aren't you?" Kitty arched her brow at her paramour. "Get your mind out of the gutter, you horrible old git."

"I need something to keep me brain goin' into atrophy," Wisdom grumbled. "Watching you fiddle with some busted carburetor is boring. And it's a bit insulting considering the things you could be fiddling with."

Kitty shot a rag at him with a playful look of outrage. "Your legs work. You can leave any time you want." Her tone suggested that he had better not.

Kurt nodded, his eyes remaining on the schematics he was looking over. "Certainly, Herr Wisdom. If you would rather indulge in your preferred hobbies, we won't hold it against you. I'm certain no one here would object to your retiring to the out of doors where you may shorten your life without fear of Frau Doktor MacTaggart."

"You're saying I can have a fag outside without that Scottish witch chasing me with a fire extinguisher, ay?" Wisdom looked askance at the ceiling.

"Shorten your life?" Kitty mimicked. "Very nice, Fuzzy." The twinkle in her eyes displayed her good humor at Kurt's teasing. She was glad to see Kurt back to his normal self. Since Mystique's arrival he had become somewhat melancholy and often sequestered himself away with Moira to discuss who knew what.

"Ah," Wisdom waved his hand at Kurt dismissively. "Leave it to a German to bring death into it." Kurt chuckled softly at this retort as Wisdom continued. "I'd be doin' just that except that harridan has conjured up some sort of tempest out there. It's fit for neither man nor beast."

"Or Pete, either," Kitty piped up. "It is quite a storm. But if anyone has conjured it up it would be Amanda, Meggan and Shrill. They've been lurking about asking questions about the Soul Sword and generally giving me the creeps." She shivered. "I happened upon them yesterday out on the cliffs whispering to each other and thought I'd walked into some freaked out scene in MacBeth."

Wisdom laughed. "Yeah, those three are beginning to give witchcraft a bad name around here. Maybe I'll offer up Pryde's flying rat as a sacrifice to stay on their good side."

"I'm certain that whatever Amanda and Meggan are doing is..." he was going to say 'harmless' but he caught himself, "...their own business." He sighed. "I trust the two of them. And I suppose Shrill is nice enough in her way."

Kitty paused. "Kurt. The woman tried to kill me."

Kurt's lips curled up, his fangs protruding slightly. "Well, she didn't want to, Katzchen. You're certainly no one to talk. I still have bruises from the beating you gave me."

"You deserved it."

"Wait. Wait. Wait," Wisdom waved his hands. "Pryde walloped you, Wagner? I'd pay to see that. Did I miss all the fun stuff around here?"

"Hardly," Kurt replied with a sniff. "It was rather boring until you came along, Herr Wisdom. It did smell better, though."

"Yeah, I've been around when you do your teleport thing, Wagner," Pete grumbled. "And what's this," he tapped Kitty's shoulder. "That other woman with the steel eye tried to kill you?"

"Ease up there, Galahad," Kitty grabbed his hand and held it against her, recognizing the protective look in his eye. "As you can see, I'm fine. It was complicated. She had her reasons. We worked it out. Thankfully, Amanda showed up and killed the guy who had possessed Kurt. So we've got the real fuzzy elf back."

"Possessed, eh?" Pete quipped. "Now it's just sounding like some melodrama."

Kitty shook her head. "No. Everything is fine."

"That so?" Pete looked up at the ceiling towards the sound of the pounding rain. "Why's she here, then?"

A soft murmur touched the edges of Magnus' mind. He recognized the sounds of hushed voices, but they were muted and merged together in a confusing muddle. They sounded far away, much like the life he lived before. Magnus heard the voices floating around him and wanted to wake up so he could hear them more clearly. He could not.

"...remains deep in the sleep of the Black Lotus," a voice near him said. He felt strong arms cradling him. Deep in the sleep? Magnus tried to force his mind awake. I can hear them. I can.

"..little trouble during the ceremony... less afterwards..." another voice. He knew that voice. Its cruel tones had caressed his ears before. Zaladane! Impossible. She was dead. He had killed her. He had to wake up now. He struggled against the deep and aromatic fog that clung to him tenaciously. He felt his body being lowered, he was kneeling now, hands bound before him. Imprisoned! He felt a fire burning in his soul. Never again! Never again! He felt cold hands placed against his temples and finally, finally he was able to open his eyes.

The scene swam in his vision, still affected by the cloud of the Black Lotus. He saw a crowd gathered. Among them the Savage Land mutates he knew all too well. They were waiting... watching... Another face caught his attention. A young man with golden hair, dressed as a native but as out of place as any other X-man. Alex Summers. Havok. His eyes were angry and mournful as he stared at Magnus. What is this?

Alex struggled against those that held him in place. He could only offer a helpless cry to Magnus. "Lorna!"

What?! Magnus' mind seemed to snap to attention at the same time a cold fire rose within him. Every fiber of his body burned with the power of magnetism as it flowed through him, faster and seemed to rip out of his body. The energy built within him fueled by the platform he kneeled on and he was certain that the forces of the earth itself used him as a conduit. And he heard himself screaming, yet it was not his voice. It was the raw and broken voice of a woman.

The magnetic forces of the earth ripped through him and he collapsed to his side his body still twitching from the sheer power. He felt strangely empty, devoid of the powers he had known for so long. He felt violated in ways he hadn't felt in years. And a woman stood over him, gloating, laughing. Zaladane in all of her cruel and twisted glory. She raised her hands and the magnetic energy that had once been a part of him obeyed her command. She sneered at him and laughed again. "Polaris is no more!"

Lee Forrester was dumped unceremoniously from her gentle slumber from two howls of pain and terror in the night. One was that of a man the other of a woman. Lee scrambled out of her bed just as it shook slightly and scooted across the floor and crashed against her door. For a moment, she could only stare at her bedframe a good five feet away from where it was supposed to be. She started briefly as the screams that had woke her ceased. Determined to investigate what exactly was going on she went to her bed and attempted to pull it away from the door.

It wouldn't budge. "You're not that heavy," she grunted, straining against the wrought-iron bed frame. She gave up with an angry sigh. "I did not have this problem on the Arcadia," she remarked pointedly. "Those two whacked out magnets I live with," she shook her head and turned towards her balcony doors, "obviously need my help."

The balcony doors had been flung open, one hung halfway off its hinges due to the magnetic pull from the other room. She sprinted quickly between the doors and weighed her options. Lorna's balcony was about four feet away and perhaps a two-foot drop. It didn't sound like much, but it looked like a mile in the darkness. Lee didn't stop to think. She climbed up onto the stone wall that surrounded all the balconies and teetering for a moment launched herself towards Lorna's balcony. Emma Peel, eat your heart out.

The jump was successful, but Lee received a cut on her foot for her troubles. There was some broken glass on Lorna's balcony. Lee looked around her frowning. Leave it to me to find it. She picked her way slowly to the doors that led into Lorna's room, reached for the knob and grabbed nothing.

Looking at the doors a little closer Lee discovered the knobs were missing. They appeared to have been completely ripped out. Closer inspection revealed several small holes in the glass of the door. Looks like something just punched right through the glass, Lee mused. That explains the mess. She stuck her fingers through the knob holes to open the doors and almost pulled one right on top of her. The hinges had been ripped out as well. Lee propped the door against the jam and went into Lorna's room with a certain amount of trepidation.

Lorna was hovering three feet over her bed her arms held out as if braced against some massive pressure. Everything in her room that was metallic was pressed against the walls at the same level at which Lorna hovered. Her expression was strained and her eyes squeezed shut, as though her efforts were taxing her to her limits. Lee looked around her for a few moments standing in a moment that appeared to be frozen in time. Nothing moved and nothing made a sound.

Lee felt her breath catch in her throat. "Lorna!!" Her voice was too loud and too shaky, Lee knew. She was afraid of the silence in that room and in that house. Lorna's eyes snapped open and she fell from her position in the air, as did all the objects that had been hovering with her.

The terrific crash brought some of Lee's courage back. She grabbed Lorna by the arms and hauled her to a sitting position. "Lorna? What happened?"

Wide green eyes looked back at Lee for a moment as if not recognizing her. Then Lorna snapped back into the real world and grasped Lee's arms in return. "Lee!! Oh my God... oh my God... are you all right?"

"Am I all right?" Lee almost laughed with relief. "I'm fine. I cut my foot. What is going on here?"

"I was dreaming..." Lorna placed her hand against her forehead, piecing things together in her mind. "I was dreaming but it wasn't my dream. It wasn't me." Her eyes darted about the room erratically.

Lee shook Lorna slightly, trying to keep the other woman's attention. "What was it then? Lorna, come on, keep it together, huh?"

Lorna stood up, her expression slightly dazed. "I've got to talk to Magnus."

"What?" Lee tried to keep Lorna on the bed, at least until she started to make sense. "Just a minute now, maybe we should --"

"No!" Lorna whirled to face Lee. "I've got to see him now! He'll understand... he'll know, because I know. It happened to me, too." She turned and headed towards her door.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lee demanded. She refused to show it, but the entire situation was completely unnerving her. Lee hobbled behind Lorna, her injured foot keeping her strides shorter.

Lorna seemed decked with purpose. She lead the way to Magnus' room with strides that began determined but finishing desperate. The door to Magnus' room was locked. Lorna pounded on it. "Magnus!!" she shouted, her voice tinged with hysteria. "Open this door!! Open the door!!"

Lorna stepped back and held her arm out so that Lee would stand to the side. Lee pressed against the wall and watched with wide eyes. Lorna hunched her back, a snarl on her face and a fire in her eye. She pressed her arms against her chest and glared at the door as though it were her greatest and most hated foe. The ends of her hair crackled with static electricity Lee could hear a growl rumble deep in Lorna's throat. Lorna then flung her arms out in front of her. Lee felt a WHOOOSH and Magnus' door rocketed off its hinges, across the room, out and over the balcony to the ground below.

The crash of the intrusion sent Magnus, who had been sitting on the edge of his bed, straight to his feet. She went into Magnus' room following Lorna, her foot throbbing. Ow. Ow. Ow.

Lorna approached Magnus but the moment he set eyes on her he moved quickly away from her. He turned his back swiftly and headed towards his own balcony. Lorna stopped and remained in the center of the room. Lee found a chair near the wall and sat down. She took the waist-tie of her robe and wrapped it around her injured foot then she too turned her attention to Magnus. Her angle gave her a different view than Lorna. Lee could see Magnus' hands shaking as he looked out the balcony through the hole that his door had made and found that very curious.

Magnus swore softly under his breath in German, viewing the mess Lorna had made. "Verdammt, woman, what did you do?"

Lorna stood in silence for several moments. "Look at me, Magnus."

He remained turned away.

"Magnus..." Lorna stepped towards him, reaching for him, touching his arm with her fingertips.

A violent hissing noise escaped him as he sucked his breath in through his teeth and jerked his arm away. His eyes burned into her, through her, and he seemed to Lorna very much like a caged animal: trapped, scared and furious.

She stared at him, tasting his rage on her tongue. Her dream refocused in her mind - she was on her hands and knees, Zaladane stood, naked and triumphant, a few feet away. Brainchild turned on some machine and she felt the power draining from her, painfully, ruthlessly... and the nightmares took shape around her. Blood on her face and hands, a burning child screaming for her father, the Shadow King... the Shadow King!.. furnaces filled with charred bodies and Nazis... Nazis... Nazis! She felt the howl rip from her throat - the very same scream she heard after Lee had awakened her. She didn't understand it. Could it have been true? Could they both have been tortured in the same way by the same woman?

"Zaladane..."

Magnus turned on her, fists raised in anger, inches away from her. "Do not say that name to me!!"

Lee bit her lip, clutching the sides of the chair and wondering if she would be able to insert herself between Magnus and Lorna before they killed each other. She recognized this anger and fury in Magnus. The Magnus she had known battled these rages hourly. It was in these violent peaks in which he had struck her away from him with his power. He was nearly mindless in these rages, capable of almost anything. Lorna appeared to be similarly touched.

Lorna did not cower though, despite her obvious trepidation. She remained still in the face of Magnus' fury, looking at him with angry eyes and an expression Lee could not begin to explain.

And Magnus, for all his flailing, had not touched her.

Lorna stiffened, balling her fists at her side. "I will say it!" Her voice was shrill. "She hurt me, too! Like she did you."

"No!" Magnus loomed over her like a storm. "Don't!"

"I saw it!" Lorna insisted. "I saw what she did to you! I saw everything!"

"Shut up!" Magnus raged. "You don't know! You can't!"

"Both of you stop it!" Lee shrieked, standing up. "Just stop before I knock your heads together!" Lee's eyes were too wide and her voice was too loud. He stance carried too much bravado. She was scared to death.

Lorna and Magnus started, as if they had forgotten her presence. Lee continued. "My foot is bleeding. My bed has a mind of its own and you both rudely interrupted a dream involving Mel Gibson, myself and an inflatable raft and the last thing I need to deal with is the two of you screaming at each other for God knows what reason! So cut it out, quit your noise and get me a Band-Aid!"

Magnus blinked then focused jerkily on Lee and Lorna separately. His mind snapped into full wakefulness, stinging him with its abruptness. He had still been deep in his strange nightmare trying to understand it when Lorna had blasted his door across and out of his room. She had charged in looking for him with eyes that mirrored a haunted expression he had known too well. His reaction had been to distance himself immediately, get them out of his room and away from him. Now - his mind working feverishly to process all of this new information - he was making some sense out of everything.

He had been Lorna in his dream - or her dream - or whomever it belonged to. And as he realized this other pieces fell into place. He remembered fighting Zaladane in the Savage Land and recognizing her power signature as that of Polaris - Lorna.

Was it true? He need only look at her to know it was. She stood tall and proud with tears coursing down her cheeks. "Zaladane?" he whispered, asking Lorna in that one word if that woman had victimized her as well.

Lorna nodded slowly, understanding.

"This is too much," he mused quietly and looked back at Lee, who sat down wearily, convinced for the time being that no one was in any danger.

Magnus then remembered his own trauma at Zaladane's hands. He suddenly remembered what came before he slew her. The visions, his memories come to life before Zaladane and her minions. He recalled Lorna's words "I saw everything!" and felt sick to his stomach. Wasn't it enough that he had to live with those memories? Did Lorna have to be subject to them as well?

She seemed to know exactly what he was thinking and he remained uncertain as to whether he approved of that or not. She reached forward slowly and placed her hand softly on his arm. She caught his gaze with her own and smiled tentatively, trying to make him feel at ease. "I can't tell you how glad I am to know you."

"As if I didnae have enough troubles..." Moria MacTaggert groused for the umpteenth time. She was looking at her holographic matrix that displayed the Legacy Virus.

Mystique glanced up from her own work and sighed. She willingly traded Moira's mumbling for the icy silences of the others. The silence tended to get her back up and she found herself concentrating more on retorts and comebacks than the actual work at hand.

That was not acceptable with so much at stake. Mystique turned back to her work, polishing up a circuitry board according to Forge's schematics. Despite Moira's tendency to mumble the same thing over and over, Mystique felt better being around someone who was doing something about the Legacy Virus.

If they failed, Mystique felt better knowing that something was being done to counteract the virus itself. If it's not Black Pyramid it'll be someone else. She sighed lightly and rubbed her eyes. She was beginning to feel the stress of the situation. She didn't like being in the dark. She didn't like waiting. She worried about her options if Forge was unsuccessful in his quest. She had noticed Kurt looking pensive in the last few days and had managed to eavesdrop on bits of conversations between him and Moira. Kurt was making plans in case Forge did not come through. Raven sighed again. She could only guess at what that would mean for her.

It certainly did not help her piece of mind to remember the loss of Irene on this island. That would have to be rectified somehow. Raven couldn't let her mind stray from the task at hand and she was positive Irene would feel the same way. She rubbed her eyes and looked to Moira. "I was wondering..."

Moira ceased her mutterings and turned to look at Mystique. "Aye?"

Raven took a deep breath. "I was wondering if there was a marker or something, where Irene... was killed."

Moira blinked then took off her glasses. She wondered if Mystique was going to bring Destiny's death up. "Aye, there is." She took a seat across the table from Raven. "Even though you took the body with ye, I thought it fittin' tae make a memorial. It's on the north bank. I can show you where it lies tomorrow, if you like."

Mystique looked at the tabletop for several moments before meeting Moira's eyes again. "I would. I'd like that."

The sound of someone clearing their throat caused both Moira and Mystique to look up. Kitty leaned against the doorframe. "Are you finished with your piece there?" Kitty nodded her chin towards the circuit board Raven held.

Mystique nodded and stood up, wondering how long Kitty had been there. It couldn't have been very long, Raven thought. I'd have noticed Pryde hanging about, junior ninja or not.

"We've got the rest of it ready to go. Moment of truth." Kitty jerked her head behind her, motioning Raven to follow. Moments later, they were in the workshop that Kitty, Kurt and Pete had been setting up in. The console was an interesting hodge-podge of parts thrown together to make a significant looking comm-unit. It bore Forge's trademark streamlined look. Nothing appeared to be wasting space or power.

Kitty nodded as she checked over Mystique's work. "Everything looks good," she remarked as she fitted it into place and connected the wires. Kurt and Pete stood to one side thoughtfully as Kitty made the final adjustments. "Cross your fingers everyone," she murmured, then powered the unit up.

There was a silence as everyone held their breath and then a soft whirr as the console began flickering and communication with it's many pieces. Kitty beamed as Kurt patted her shoulder.

"Now what?" Pete asked.

"Now we wait," Kurt replied. Pete scowled at that.

"It's up to Forge now," Raven said quietly.

Kurt shook his head. "Not necessarily. If Forge can't help us, we'll do it on our own. We haven't even begun."

 

GambitGuild is neither an official fansite of nor affiliated with Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
Nonetheless, we do acknowledge our debt to them for creating such a wonderful character and would not dream of making any profit from him other than the enrichment of our imaginations.
X-Men and associated characters and Marvel images are © Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
The GambitGuild site itself is © 2006 - 2007; other elements may have copyrights held by their respective owners.