Written in the Stars April 13th, 1912. 3: 17pm by Adréa
Disclaimer: The song is from Aida, so credit to Disney. The Scarlet Pimpernel... I don't know who it belongs to now, but it was written by the Baroness Orczy. Well, everyone else seems to own the X-Men. Marvel, Fox, Warner Brothers, Universal, etc. etc. Why can't I? Look! They'll work for twinkies and beer! It's true! They did this fic for twinkies and beer. Although I had to throw in a few steaks and peeps somewhere...
Author's Notes: I tried to make it not exactly like Cameron's movie! But some things kinda snuck in there and stuck. Be prepared for suckiness! (that even a word?) Big shout out and thanks to my best friend JenN who unknowingly gave be ideas and knowingly gave me every ounce of support she could.
Author's Notes2: I don't even own Amy and Jenn for they are based on people I know. I'm currently working on another fic involving them that would go much farther into their personalities, so sorry if you don't understand things or what not because they aren't well developed in this one. Now, on with the show!
Three and a half hours... Three and a half fucking hours of Marie Darkholme lying in Jean and Scott's bed, waiting for her to wake up. Logan didn't know someone could faint and stay out that long. Then again, if anyone lost consciousness around him, it usually was because he knocked them out.
Three and a half hours to also think about what had happened down at the Scotland Road.
After receiving a note that was slipped under his door, he had gone there in search of Marie. The perpetrators claimed to have taken her and would be willing to make an exchange. Being the noble little bastard that he had become, Logan was right and ready to comply. Things changed as soon as he got down there.
"Logan, let me look at that arm," Jean pleaded for the... he'd lost count of how many times she had asked him.
"Take care of her first," was the same reply that he had given from the beginning. Sure, he had delayed any treatment of his arm for hours that could have been taken from Marie to help him. There wasn't anything to do but wait until the girl woke up. But at least his head had stopped throbbing.
"Logan, it's obviously broken. It needs to be set before it can heal, that's why it hasn't already."
Dammit... Jean had a way of being persistent. Too bloody persistent as she started examining his arm without his consent. Logan hissed in pain as she did, it still hurt to high hell.
"Scott, I need you to hold him still."
Her husband immediately complied as she handed over something hard for him to bite onto. Pride was going to overtake his willingness to put it in his mouth, but she just shoved it in there as soon as he opened it and set his arm with a sickening twist, snap, and sound of more tissue tearing as the bone was placed back against the rest of it. Afterwards, Logan silently thanked Jean for the thing in his mouth, otherwise he might have woken Marie up by his scream.
Memories flooded back to him. Once he opened the door for the Scotland Road, he was greeted in a flash by the door being roughly slammed into his face, knocking him back. From there, two guys had jumped him. One of them he knew, the other he didn't.
Strangest thing was, the one he didn't know, who was short and had a greenish tinge to his skin, held binoculars in his hand. At times he would use them as if they were glasses. Victor and the new guy beat the shit out of him pretty bad. After he returned to the land of the conscious, he moved to leave when he burst in on Marie. Who then fainted.
It didn't make any sense. What was she doing there? The two bastards obviously didn't kidnap her, but then why was she there. He'd been given a lot of time to mull it over, but he still wasn't anywhere near to finding an answer.
A shuffle of fabrics and a moan brought his attention to the awakening Marie. She looked so peaceful then... Even while she'd been sleeping, her face was scrunched in concentration or something. One chocolate eye opened, then the other. Jean sat next to her and smiled kindly at her, in case she got startled when she woke.
"Wha... Ah..." Her beautiful sleepy eyes grew wider and she tried to bolt herself into an upright position. However an unknown force restrained her so she couldn't. Logan knew that unknown force was Jean's powers, but Marie wouldn't know that.
Those eyes of hers glanced wildly around the room, taking everything in. When her eyes fell upon Logan's he thought she would pass out again. "H-how... Ah... you..."
"What is it?" He moved closer. Marie was in too much shock to react in fear to him getting beside Jean.
"I hurt ya'... You... Ya' hurt me... then Ah... Ah scratched yer face... an..."
Aw, fuck! He had to move away. The claws threatened to pop out and were desperate to meet with flesh. Xavier hadn't been too sure, but now there was proof. The shapeshifter he'd been told about was on the ship, and fucking around with Marie, no less.
Jean knew that for the good of the mission, she had to try and convince Marie that that wasn't Logan. "That wasn't Logan. As you can see, he doesn't have any scratch marks, just a wounded arm. Who you saw... was someone else..." This wasn't going to be easy, the confusion was etched clearly on the girl's young face. "Can you tell me exactly what happened?"
Marie debated with herself. She still trusted these people, for some unknown reason. And if what they were saying was true -- however mundane it sounded -- then that would explain why she felt safe being around Logan again even after he attacked her. "I went looking for him... When I met him he... he..." the words couldn't come as emotions overtook her. Soft sobs riddled her body and tears fell from her eyes.
Logan really wanted that bitch to pay for what she'd done to this girl. Injured arm, or no, she was going to greatly regret the day she messed with someone Logan cared about. That was a first... someone he cared about. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he cared about his employers. Certainly not compared to what he felt for this girl he'd met only once before and didn't know.
Once Marie had begun to stop crying, Jean moved to sit beside her in the bed. "It's okay... just, relax... calm your mind... I'm not going to hurt you." Careful not to touch her skin, Jean put one hand on either side of the girl's head and took a deep breath after closing her eyes. Really, the Prof' should be the one to do this, but he was currently trying to find someone else on the big ship.
Minutes passed before Jean broke the connection. She sat perfectly straight as she contemplated the information she had received.
"If it wasn't Logan... who was it?" Marie asked, breaking Jean out of her thoughts.
"His... twin. Identical twin. His... evil identical twin." The truth wasn't going to work in any way on this girl, so a lie had to be made in its place.
"Oh..." the girl seemed content with that, albeit surprised at the information. "Didn't know..."
Logan was still plotting the shapeshifter's death when Jean addressed him. "Logan, why don't you stay with Marie. Get her whatever she wants, we'll be right back." Gracefully, Jean got up and took her husband's arm, leading him out of their room and over to wherever the Prof' was.
Neither of them spoke for a good while. Just remained in complete silence. Logan could pick up the soft spoken words of the trio in another room, someone walking outside in the hall, the ships engines humming. That was the worst. He had enough trouble sleeping at night without his sensitive hearing picking up on the sound of the engines and pounded into his brain the entire night. That's one reason why he'd taken to sleeping more during the day, with more noise to make his hearing not know what to concentrate on, so it didn't pick out anything.
As much as Logan felt comfortable around silence, this wasn't one of those times, and he felt partially responsible for what happened. "I'm sorry about what he did..."
"It wasn't yer fault..." she said softly, her accent just beginning to fade a bit. She curled up some, bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She looked so much younger like that, so much more vulnerable.
"You need anything? Food? Drink? Me to find the bastard and beat the shit outta him?"
Ah, good. That brought a slight smile to her face. "I dunno about the last one, but the first two sound good."
A tray was wheeled over to her and the cover taken off of it. Different types of small sandwiches, fruit, and drinks filled enough of it to feed five people. Five people with an appetite as big as Logan's, which was currently making itself known at the sight and smell of the food.
Ignoring good manners for once, mainly because Logan wasn't the most well mannered person in the world, Marie heartily dug into the meal. At lunch, she had been so busy waiting for him that she'd barely touched her meal. Remembering lunch again brought up a question. "Why didn't you come to lunch?"
The hurt look in her eyes when she asked plummeted Logan's guilt into a full-blown trip. "It's complicated... I... I received a note and had something that I thought was a matter of life or death to deal with."
"Such as...?"
Dammit. Her eyes were so big and that food looked so good... and... Hell, there was enough there. He swiped one of the small sandwiches and scarfed it down before even thinking about answering her. To tell the truth... or to not tell the truth... that was the question... "Well, darlin'..."
Those cheeks of hers got that pretty pink color they do when she blushed again. "Yeah?"
Truth. "A couple of jackasses slipped a note under my door, saying that they had you and were willing to let you go for an exchange. It was all a load of bullshit and they jumped me down there."
Marie stared up in wide-eyed fascination for many reasons. One: She hated swearing. Really hated swearing, and hated people who did it excessively. But for some reason she didn't mind it with this guy. Two: He was gonna give himself up for her? That romance novel-riddled brain of hers started to work overtime again. It was a really romantic thing... something she didn't know existed.
"They hurt you..." she said, moving from her previous position to look at his arm.
"It's not bad, it'll heal..." Far faster than anyone else, was left unsaid.
"Let me see."
"No, it's alright, darlin'."
"Please?"
God dammit... He didn't know those eyes could get bigger. Apparently they could when she was giving the puppy dog look. Sighing reluctantly, he let her look at his injured arm. Which really looked worse than it felt. In a couple more hours, it would be completely healed as if nothing had happened. That would puzzle her, and that he couldn't come up with some excuse for.
Pain filled her eyes when she looked at it. Pain for what he had gone through for her. No doubt there were many other injuries that he was hiding. As much as she wanted to, she didn't ask what those were. The knowledge that someone was still willing to do something like that for her was new to her brain and her thoughts. Why did he do it anyways? He owed her nothing. In fact, she owed him for rescuing her book.
"Why did you do it?"
It was obvious by the way she said it, so softly, and with the expression of deep pondering on her face that she hadn't meant to say it out loud, and probably didn't realize she had. So Logan felt at ease not answering her.
But he'd guessed wrong when she looked up into his hazel eyes and asked it again, louder this time.
For the briefest of moments, he couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe, even. Her eyes held him so tightly in his place. There was so much hidden behind them. Pain, suffering, much like what she saw in his own. But there were other things in hers, too. Innocence, trust, and still one more thing he couldn't place. Those chocolate colored eyes felt like home to him. It was weird, and not just a little freaking him out. "I... I don't know..." he answered truthfully yet again.
Really, he didn't know. There was all this shit going on inside him that involved this girl, he wouldn't even be sure he could tell you that his name was Logan.
God... she just moved closer. He could feel her, smell her... Fuck, he thought he can even taste her, she was so close. And her licking her lips like that when they were just mere inches from his own was not helping matters at all. Nor was the fact that each others lips were all either of them were looking at.
Instincts kicked in and he moved forward, eyes never leaving her lips... full, red, inviting lips that would taste so sweet once he got just a little bit closer...
But once the door opened they both jerked their heads away and Marie fell back onto the bed, as if she'd been laying there the whole time. Hopefully her flushed face would cool down before someone noticed, nor would they noticed Logan's agitated clenching and unclenching of his fists.
Pansy-assed Scott stood in the doorway, oblivious to what had been occurring, or at least choosing to be. "Jean and the Professor need to speak with you, Logan. I can stay here with Marie."
"No offense, Scooter, but I'd rather stay."
~Logan, it is important.~
A deep growl resonated throughout the room at the Professor using his abilities to once again con Logan into doing what he wanted. Because Logan knew that if he contacted you like that, it was important. "I'll be back soon, Marie."
She nodded her head, auburn hair with the white streaks bouncing slightly with the movement. But Logan just couldn't resist running a finger down along one of the streaks and giving her a lopsided grin before turning his back and exiting the room.
Scooter might be a stick in the mud, but he could hold his own in a fight. Logan had seen that for himself when they'd first met.
"So, Chuck, what's so important?" he asked once he entered the room where Xavier and Jean were seated.
In normal custom, Xavier asked, "Logan, would you care to sit?" and in normal custom, Logan refused with a grunt and a shake of his head. It was some ritual they just couldn't break, but neither seemed very annoyed by. "There are things you need to know. I am well aware of what is going on between you and Marie, and I am in no way against it. In fact, I would much rather you two continue it."
"Good thing one of us knows what's goin' on, 'cuz I sure as hell don't."
Xavier smiled. "You will, Logan. You will. I know that Erik has plans for her, but I've still yet to determine exactly what they are. From what Jean has told me, there are other things. When your double assaulted Marie, he never touched her skin to skin. That, along with the fact that her parents never let her touch another human being arouses some interesting questions."
"She a mutant? It would explain the hair..."
"Yes, it would. And the no-skin deal," Jean mused, already in thought from what was said. "Until we are certain of this, Logan. It might be wise not to touch her skin to skin."
"But then we'd know what would happen. And who better to test it out than me?"
"No, Logan," Xavier said firmly. "It could kill you, healing or no. And that would devastate Marie. She has grown to care for you a great deal within a short amount of time, just as you have."
"This shapeshifter... Marie said that she injured her. Would she be able to hide that?"
Xavier thought a moment. "No, she would not. So whoever has an injured face, most likely is the shapeshifter."
"So I'll go out and look for the bastard." Logan turned to exit, but Jean's voice stopped him.
"Logan, we feel it best if you stay around Marie. Since she is wanted for some reason by Erik, she'll need protection."
As much as he wanted to gut the bastard, being 'forced' to stay by Marie wasn't such a bad thing in his book. With a different grunt and a nod, he agreed.
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