4 Ficlets For WriterVerse Challenge #3
Mar. 16th, 2015 06:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katleeptTitle: The Little Things
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: X-Men
Character/Pairing: Jubilee
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
writerverse Challenge #3: March Table of DOOM
Warning(s): SPOILERS!
Word Count: 936
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Marvel Comics and Disney, not the author, and are used without permission.
It's the little things she misses the most about no longer being human. She doesn't really miss the sun, because she can still feel it on her skin through layers of clothing and special suntan lotion. She does miss catching the waves in a swimsuit, though. She also misses gaining her sustenance from chowing down on chili cheese fries, nachos, and pizzas. She misses the innocence she once managed to keep, no matter what the world threw at her. She misses being with her friends all the time, and especially those, like Logan and Angelo, who have been taken from her.
She misses the beliefs she once held, that life was a big party to be celebrated. She tries to keep hold to that frame of mind, but it's so hard these night, when she's feeding off the bags of blood cloned from Logan's mutant blood. It's so hard now that she's buried so many and attended so many funerals. She's seen many of her friends returned to her -- they all have --, but there's still that unspoken fear hanging over them all that certain ones won't return. She feels so lost without Wolvy, even though she still sees his ghost every day.
Ghosts can't take pictures. You can't really talk to them, or at least not hold a conversation. She can't even tell the others she sees him for they already pity her too much. They say they don't, but she sees it in their eyes when they're not looking. She misses the days depicted in the family photos she still keeps. No matter where she goes, she has those photographs.
It's funny, too. She remembers Logan, 'Roro, and even the Professor telling her she'd miss those days when the rest of the team looked at her as a kid. A brave and crazy kid whose heart was bigger than the world, but a kid nonetheless. She thought they were all wrong. She couldn't wait to be a full fledged X-Man, despite the losses they endured practically every day.
But now, she knows they were right. She wishes she could have stayed that kid for a while longer. She wishes she still had that innocence. She wishes Logan was still here, talking and laughing and alive with them all. She wishes the same for Jean and for Sean and, later on, for Angelo and Everett. It's true what they said: Things are never the same after you grow up.
She considers telling Logan's ghost, but she doesn't think he can hear her. He just walks aimlessly through the school, still watching over them all although they now have to fight their battles without him. Soft coos bring her attention to where Shogo's on the floor, playing with the blocks Remy brought him from New Orleans. She stands, walks over to him, picks him up, and hugs him. A simple hug from the baby is what cheers her the best most of her lonely nights.
She looks down into his eyes, her forehead pressed against his. He's safe here. None of them will let anything happen to him. Even those who persist in giving her a wide berth because she's a Vampire and they know no more how to deal with a Vampire than most humans know how to deal with a mutant would never let anything happen to a baby in their home.
Yet his need for protection runs much deeper than the flesh. She understands that now, and why Logan, Sean, Professor Xavier, and all the others fought so hard to keep her out of harm's way most of the time. "I won't let anything happen to you," she vows again, whispering. No one's going to take him from her. No one's going to harm him, and no one's going to cut his childhood short. He's going to have as long and joyous a childhood as they tried to give her. She's going to see to it personally, Vampire or not.
She kisses his forehead. Her red eyes glance back over to the smiling faces of her family in the pictures she's now got framed and set up beside her bed. (No coffin for her, thank you very much.) Her lips twist into a wry grin at the fond memories depicted therein and the fact that she's never going to take another one. It's the little things she misses the most, like the fact that she'll never be able to take another family photograph. You can catch a Vampire on film, after all, no easier than you can catch the ghosts that walk through your walls of your room and your heart every night.
But that doesn't matter, she tells herself. Logan's an X-Man, the best there ever was, and he'll be back. So will Jean, eventually, and all the rest. She's just got to wait for them, and since she's Immortal now, her time is endless. She remembers Bishop and surmises that she truly will be the last living X-Man now. She'll wait for the others. They'll all come back to her with time, and even though she'll never be able to take another family photo, they'll always be a family. Despite everything, too, even though there's so many important ones of them missing now, they are more and closer of a family now than they have been in years. There is still much to celebrate, she thinks, a lot to miss but even more to celebrate. She hugs and kisses Shogo and starts her night officially, making the most of it and all she has as she always has of life.
The End
Title: Connecting
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: X-Men
Character/Pairing: Jubilee, Wolverine, Ensemble
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge:writerverse Challenge #3: March Table of DOOM
Warning(s): SPOILERS!
Word Count: 1,133
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Marvel Comics and Disney, not the author, and are used without permission.
She sits alone where once laughter reigned. She can still hear the chuckles of yesterday, still sees Logan's eyes alight and alive with the love he'd thought he'd never have again after all he'd suffered. She missed him so much when he was gone, but she never blamed him for wanting to be alone with Mariko. She never really even blamed him for wanting to settle down, although that life was never for him. They each just wanted the other to be happy, but happiness never stayed with them for long.
It's left her again now. It's so elusive these nights with Shogo being the only companion she has who can still cheer her. He's safe with Laura now. It's funny seeing those two together, and Laura's still afraid sometimes that she might hurt him. But just as Jubilee has learned to cull her Vampire instincts, so, too, does Laura withstand the instincts of the murderer within her. Jubilee has to smile as she thinks of how carefully Laura handles her baby. She's more like her father, like their father, than she'll ever want to admit.
A breeze passes over the ground. Jubilee hears the telltale tingle of the branches above her head. She tries once again to clear her mind. Her red eyes open. She gazes pass the petals of the cherry blossom tree floating toward the ground before her. She can hear Logan's voice in her mind, teaching her, guiding her to be calm and to listen to everything around her.
He was always such a good teacher, when she really took the time to listen and obey him. She does so again now, listening to his gentle voice, listening to the night. She can hear the wind, the shifting of the trees, and the animals far away. She can practically hear the granules of dirt shifting beneath her weight in the ground. But there, suddenly, in a flash, is what she's been seeking for weeks.
When Logan first passed, she saw his ghost often, but it's gotten harder and harder to glimpse him. There's so much that goes on in her nightly routines, and so much to do in constantly saving the world as they've always done, that it's gotten hard to truly focus. But now, at last, she sees him. It's just a fast glimpse, but she knows it's him.
She feels the gentle, reassuring weight of his cowboy hat on her head. Her hands clutch at the ground, and for a moment, it's like they're full of cotton again. It's like she's holding once more to the teddy bear he gave her one of the many times he left her without giving her a real reason why. She eventually got to where she didn't need reasons. She understood that he just had to be away sometimes. He had to let his wolf run. He had to break from his pack, but yet, he was always there for and with them when they needed him the most.
Welling tears glitter in her red eyes. She's never once stopped needing him, if the truth be known. Even before she was turned into a Vampire, even during her time naively trying to lead a normal life, even during her time with Generation X, she never, ever stopped needing him. Her mouth opens, but there's something about the moment that she can not break. She can not speak, but then, she doesn't need to. They always understood each other so well.
His ghost is behind her in a flash. She can feel him so strongly, although she can not see him now. She can practically smell his scent on the night wind. He rarely wore cologne, but there was always something husky and wild about him. He had his own scent, like a wild animal who'd been deep in the forest for a long time, and indeed he was a wild animal though one who always came back to them when they needed him.
I need you now, Wolvy, she thinks fervently, and suddenly, there he is, his presence so strong behind her that she feels like she could reach out and touch him. She does let her hand go to her shoulder where she feels the reassuring pressure of his hand. She cups the air where she knows his phantom's hand is, and she thinks three things as strongly as she's ever felt anything with all her heart. She misses him. She loves him. She needs him.
Memories flash through her mind. He's always come back to her when she's needed him the most, just like she left her new team and learning when he lost part of his mind due to Magneto's attack on his adamantium bones (the bastard). Everybody had tried to reach him, but it only took one word from her to reach him. Now he's reaching back.
"I'm with you to the end." He told her that so many times; he proved his promise true even more often. A grin bursts onto Jubilee's face as she feels it again. She jumps to her feet and runs back to Laura, Shogo, and the rest of their friends who are waiting.
She feels like shouting the good news, and so she lets herself do so when she reaches those who wait. "HE'S COMING BACK!"
A cigarette flares in the shadows. She doesn't tell Remy not to smoke around her baby as most mothers would. The smoke, after all, is a part of him, and so, too, was it a part of Logan when he was alive. She knows, soon, it will be again. "Was there ever any doubt, petite?" Remy drawls from around his cigarette, but his gloved hands are busily shuffling his deck of cards, something she knows he does when he's nervous and won't admit it.
Ororo smiles gently. There's a new light in Hank's eyes and on his furry face. Her friends smile at her. Only Laura looks confused. She's tried explaining to her about their dead family members returning, but the girl just doesn't get it. She won't, either, with just words, but she will soon, when she sees it for herself when Logan returns to them.
There was no doubt. Jubilee and all of them know that. They wouldn't be in Japan tonight if there hadn't been. They'd all needed confirmation, but they have that now. She's seen him. He will be back with them again. He will come home to them again. It's just a matter of time. She grins and swings Shogo around in the air. He's gurgling happily, although he can't possibly understand the importance of the moment, but the rest of them do. They do, and they know Logan will return. Their family will be whole again. She can't wait!
The End
Title: In the Shadows
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: X-Men
Character/Pairing: Chamber/Husk
Rating: G/K
Challenge:writerverse Challenge #3: March Table of DOOM
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 989
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Marvel Comics and Disney, not the author, and are used without permission.
The first thing he noticed about her was how unmetropolitan she looked. She thought being a country girl who had so rarely visited the city was like wearing a great, big sign around her neck. She expected her new classmates to make fun of her accent, the way she dressed, and her other differences just as the human kids back in her old school had made fun of her because of first her brother's mutancy and then her own. She tried to hide it among them, even going so far as to practically swallow her "y'all"s and "Ah"s sometimes.
But it was her country side that first drew his attention. She was fresh and beautiful, and part of her beauty, he knew, was her naivety. She chose to believe the best in people, and a simple compliment went straight to the gel's head. She wasn't dirty like so many of the city girls he'd known, and her brilliant mind was also a thing of beauty, made so by its purity.
He loved the way the sun shone so brilliantly on her already bright, blonde hair. She was like bright, golden sunshine in the darkness of the city. That was why he first started calling her Sunshine. He can still hear her voice in his head sometimes now, but he knew he had to leave her. He couldn't put his darkness upon her, no matter how much she thought she loved him.
With time, she moved on her, as he knew she would, but he still remembers her so well, remembers that brightness and purity, the beauty of her laugh and her smile, her wide, innocent eyes, and the golden sweetness of her heart. He still remembers the way her hand felt in his and the way she made him feel like he was the coolest bloke she'd ever known. Perhaps he was, but he was also the darkest, the worst decision she could've made by far.
A part of him wishes she had stayed. That same part wishes he'd had the stones to tell her what she truly meant to him instead of only trying to show her when she needed him the most. He wishes he had been there for her more often, but he knows his departure from her life was for the best. She deserves better than him. She deserves some one as kind, good, and innocent as she was the first time they met.
Still, he thinks of her, he wishes things could have been different, that he could have been better for her, and he knows he always will. He knows, too, he'll always have a piece of her, a piece of her heart in his, a memory of her hand in his, and a certain, flannel shirt stashed away in the bottom of the trunk he keeps, always packed and at the ready, underneath his bed. When his days are the darkest, when his temper runs as dark and hot as Hell and he's ready to kill something, quite possibly even himself, he slips away into his room and into his trunk. He finds that old, flannel shirt of hers, the one she admitted was a hand-me-down from her big brother, Sam, although he'd already known it to be from how it almost swallowed her lithe figure.
His fingers knead that old, flannel shirt, and his memory flares to life. He knows it should smell of vanilla, apples, and most importantly of her, for he's never washed it and never will. He holds that old shirt, and he slips back in his mind to a time of more innocence, the greatest innocence he's ever known and a time when even he himself was more innocent than he is now (although at the time he'd thought there was nothing innocent about him nor could there ever be). He slips back to a time when a small hand held tenderly in his own was the greatest comfort he'd ever known (it still is) and when big, blue eyes looked up into his dark orbs like he held the whole world for them.
He wishes still he could have held that whole world and given it to her, that he could've been the man she deserved, the man she needed, not just wanted, that he could have loved her like she deserves to be loved. He wishes he could have given her everything, and he doesn't know, because he's chosen to forget that she still has it, that miles away on a small, country farm in the middle of nowhere a girl who hasn't been as innocent as she looks for years now holds much the same way to an old, leather jacket. She clings to the leather, to the husky scent on it, and to the cherished memories it holds for her, and she wishes, she yearns with all her heart, that things could've been different, that she could have been the woman he needed, the sunshine to brighten the rest of his days and chase all his darkness away, the Angel he'd sometimes called her who had saved him from herself.
But then one of her many, younger siblings calls for her. Paige knows she is needed and puts away the dreams of yesteryear, hiding her most treasured object once more deep within the dark shadows of her closet, and goes to fulfill her most important role in life. She had to let him go. This wasn't the life for him. He would have been so bored. But she still wishes, with all her heart, that she could've saved him, he could've saved her, and they could be together now and for the rest of their days on this Earth. She wishes, but she knows it's all dreams, dreams that will never be fulfilled, dreams left to rest in the arms of a leather jacket deep in the shadows of her not-so innocent life.
The End
Title: Arm Candy
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: X-Men
Character/Pairing: Beast/Iceman
Rating: G/K
Challenge:writerverse Challenge #3: March Table of DOOM
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 643
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Marvel Comics and Disney, not the author, and are used without permission.
"For a man as graceful as you, you'd think bow ties wouldn't be a problem."
Hank's blue eyes raise to meet Bobby's even as his furry fingers become even more tangled in his tie. Their eyes lock, and Bobby instantly softens. There's just something about the big, furry hunk of a man that is his boyfriend that never fails to make him melt, even when he's completely iced up. "Come here," he says relenting, and secretly glad Jean taught him long ago how to tie his own ties.
Hank obeys, coming to his lover without any hesitation, and stands still, and towering, before Bobby as the younger man aptly strings together his bow tie. "There. Nothing to it. You can do it, too," he teases, patting his chest playfully and then flashing him a grin, "if you're as cool as me."
"I . . . " Bobby arches an eyebrow in question as his usually eloquent partner actually stammers. It's been years since he heard Hank McCoy stammer over anything. "Is that why you are still adorned in your bath robe?" he asks at last.
Bobby frowns. "A science conference isn't exactly the place for a guy like me." He wouldn't understand a word that was said there, and it's not like Hank had actually invited him, or any one, for that matter to watch his latest debate in person.
"I . . . I would appreciate your presence there," Hank speaks so quietly that Bobby wouldn't have heard him if he hadn't been standing right before him, his fingers absent-mindedly playing with the ends of his blue tie. Henry quickly clears his throat and, although looking abashed in his sweet, blue eyes, looks away from Bobby. His furry face is a perfectly calm mask, but Bobby's seen his eyes and understood that very moment before Hank adds, "However, I certainly understand if you have other, more entertaining affairs to attend."
He has comic books to catch up on and two new video games to play. Both utterly pale in comparison to spending more time with his beloved. "Nothing that can't wait," he speaks quickly, grinning. "I'll be ready in a jiff."
He rushes off to get dressed but not without catching sight of Hank's responding smile. It's big, toothy, and wide, covering his whole, furry face, and Bobby loves it. He knows he's going to be bored. He knows he's not going to understand anything that is said there today. He knows, too, he'll probably have a smashing headache long before the debate is over, not to mention having to fight down his instincts to slam the mutant haters that always rally at any debate at which his sweetheart speaks. But none of that matter.
He's going with Hank. He's going to be seen with his boyfriend in front of the public and national TV. He's going to be at his side as he takes on this debate that he knows is important to him. The whole world is going to see them together, and when Bobby does return to Hank's side and Hank takes his arm in his as they head out together, he realizes that the world isn't going to just see them as two mutant friends or team mates standing together.
Doctor Henry McCoy has quietly decided to come out of the closet. They're going to stand before the world as two men in love: one of the most brilliant minds in all of time and his . . . his arm candy, Bobby thinks, looking down at his hand on Hank's furry arm. Now it is his smile that covers his face. He leans over, kisses Henry's furry cheek, and beams even more when he answers with a peaceful and joyous smile. The world is going to see them as two men in love. He's never been happier!
The End
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: X-Men
Character/Pairing: Jubilee
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge:
writerverse Challenge #3: March Table of DOOMWarning(s): SPOILERS!
Word Count: 936
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Marvel Comics and Disney, not the author, and are used without permission.
It's the little things she misses the most about no longer being human. She doesn't really miss the sun, because she can still feel it on her skin through layers of clothing and special suntan lotion. She does miss catching the waves in a swimsuit, though. She also misses gaining her sustenance from chowing down on chili cheese fries, nachos, and pizzas. She misses the innocence she once managed to keep, no matter what the world threw at her. She misses being with her friends all the time, and especially those, like Logan and Angelo, who have been taken from her.
She misses the beliefs she once held, that life was a big party to be celebrated. She tries to keep hold to that frame of mind, but it's so hard these night, when she's feeding off the bags of blood cloned from Logan's mutant blood. It's so hard now that she's buried so many and attended so many funerals. She's seen many of her friends returned to her -- they all have --, but there's still that unspoken fear hanging over them all that certain ones won't return. She feels so lost without Wolvy, even though she still sees his ghost every day.
Ghosts can't take pictures. You can't really talk to them, or at least not hold a conversation. She can't even tell the others she sees him for they already pity her too much. They say they don't, but she sees it in their eyes when they're not looking. She misses the days depicted in the family photos she still keeps. No matter where she goes, she has those photographs.
It's funny, too. She remembers Logan, 'Roro, and even the Professor telling her she'd miss those days when the rest of the team looked at her as a kid. A brave and crazy kid whose heart was bigger than the world, but a kid nonetheless. She thought they were all wrong. She couldn't wait to be a full fledged X-Man, despite the losses they endured practically every day.
But now, she knows they were right. She wishes she could have stayed that kid for a while longer. She wishes she still had that innocence. She wishes Logan was still here, talking and laughing and alive with them all. She wishes the same for Jean and for Sean and, later on, for Angelo and Everett. It's true what they said: Things are never the same after you grow up.
She considers telling Logan's ghost, but she doesn't think he can hear her. He just walks aimlessly through the school, still watching over them all although they now have to fight their battles without him. Soft coos bring her attention to where Shogo's on the floor, playing with the blocks Remy brought him from New Orleans. She stands, walks over to him, picks him up, and hugs him. A simple hug from the baby is what cheers her the best most of her lonely nights.
She looks down into his eyes, her forehead pressed against his. He's safe here. None of them will let anything happen to him. Even those who persist in giving her a wide berth because she's a Vampire and they know no more how to deal with a Vampire than most humans know how to deal with a mutant would never let anything happen to a baby in their home.
Yet his need for protection runs much deeper than the flesh. She understands that now, and why Logan, Sean, Professor Xavier, and all the others fought so hard to keep her out of harm's way most of the time. "I won't let anything happen to you," she vows again, whispering. No one's going to take him from her. No one's going to harm him, and no one's going to cut his childhood short. He's going to have as long and joyous a childhood as they tried to give her. She's going to see to it personally, Vampire or not.
She kisses his forehead. Her red eyes glance back over to the smiling faces of her family in the pictures she's now got framed and set up beside her bed. (No coffin for her, thank you very much.) Her lips twist into a wry grin at the fond memories depicted therein and the fact that she's never going to take another one. It's the little things she misses the most, like the fact that she'll never be able to take another family photograph. You can catch a Vampire on film, after all, no easier than you can catch the ghosts that walk through your walls of your room and your heart every night.
But that doesn't matter, she tells herself. Logan's an X-Man, the best there ever was, and he'll be back. So will Jean, eventually, and all the rest. She's just got to wait for them, and since she's Immortal now, her time is endless. She remembers Bishop and surmises that she truly will be the last living X-Man now. She'll wait for the others. They'll all come back to her with time, and even though she'll never be able to take another family photo, they'll always be a family. Despite everything, too, even though there's so many important ones of them missing now, they are more and closer of a family now than they have been in years. There is still much to celebrate, she thinks, a lot to miss but even more to celebrate. She hugs and kisses Shogo and starts her night officially, making the most of it and all she has as she always has of life.
The End
Title: Connecting
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: X-Men
Character/Pairing: Jubilee, Wolverine, Ensemble
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge:
writerverse Challenge #3: March Table of DOOMWarning(s): SPOILERS!
Word Count: 1,133
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Marvel Comics and Disney, not the author, and are used without permission.
She sits alone where once laughter reigned. She can still hear the chuckles of yesterday, still sees Logan's eyes alight and alive with the love he'd thought he'd never have again after all he'd suffered. She missed him so much when he was gone, but she never blamed him for wanting to be alone with Mariko. She never really even blamed him for wanting to settle down, although that life was never for him. They each just wanted the other to be happy, but happiness never stayed with them for long.
It's left her again now. It's so elusive these nights with Shogo being the only companion she has who can still cheer her. He's safe with Laura now. It's funny seeing those two together, and Laura's still afraid sometimes that she might hurt him. But just as Jubilee has learned to cull her Vampire instincts, so, too, does Laura withstand the instincts of the murderer within her. Jubilee has to smile as she thinks of how carefully Laura handles her baby. She's more like her father, like their father, than she'll ever want to admit.
A breeze passes over the ground. Jubilee hears the telltale tingle of the branches above her head. She tries once again to clear her mind. Her red eyes open. She gazes pass the petals of the cherry blossom tree floating toward the ground before her. She can hear Logan's voice in her mind, teaching her, guiding her to be calm and to listen to everything around her.
He was always such a good teacher, when she really took the time to listen and obey him. She does so again now, listening to his gentle voice, listening to the night. She can hear the wind, the shifting of the trees, and the animals far away. She can practically hear the granules of dirt shifting beneath her weight in the ground. But there, suddenly, in a flash, is what she's been seeking for weeks.
When Logan first passed, she saw his ghost often, but it's gotten harder and harder to glimpse him. There's so much that goes on in her nightly routines, and so much to do in constantly saving the world as they've always done, that it's gotten hard to truly focus. But now, at last, she sees him. It's just a fast glimpse, but she knows it's him.
She feels the gentle, reassuring weight of his cowboy hat on her head. Her hands clutch at the ground, and for a moment, it's like they're full of cotton again. It's like she's holding once more to the teddy bear he gave her one of the many times he left her without giving her a real reason why. She eventually got to where she didn't need reasons. She understood that he just had to be away sometimes. He had to let his wolf run. He had to break from his pack, but yet, he was always there for and with them when they needed him the most.
Welling tears glitter in her red eyes. She's never once stopped needing him, if the truth be known. Even before she was turned into a Vampire, even during her time naively trying to lead a normal life, even during her time with Generation X, she never, ever stopped needing him. Her mouth opens, but there's something about the moment that she can not break. She can not speak, but then, she doesn't need to. They always understood each other so well.
His ghost is behind her in a flash. She can feel him so strongly, although she can not see him now. She can practically smell his scent on the night wind. He rarely wore cologne, but there was always something husky and wild about him. He had his own scent, like a wild animal who'd been deep in the forest for a long time, and indeed he was a wild animal though one who always came back to them when they needed him.
I need you now, Wolvy, she thinks fervently, and suddenly, there he is, his presence so strong behind her that she feels like she could reach out and touch him. She does let her hand go to her shoulder where she feels the reassuring pressure of his hand. She cups the air where she knows his phantom's hand is, and she thinks three things as strongly as she's ever felt anything with all her heart. She misses him. She loves him. She needs him.
Memories flash through her mind. He's always come back to her when she's needed him the most, just like she left her new team and learning when he lost part of his mind due to Magneto's attack on his adamantium bones (the bastard). Everybody had tried to reach him, but it only took one word from her to reach him. Now he's reaching back.
"I'm with you to the end." He told her that so many times; he proved his promise true even more often. A grin bursts onto Jubilee's face as she feels it again. She jumps to her feet and runs back to Laura, Shogo, and the rest of their friends who are waiting.
She feels like shouting the good news, and so she lets herself do so when she reaches those who wait. "HE'S COMING BACK!"
A cigarette flares in the shadows. She doesn't tell Remy not to smoke around her baby as most mothers would. The smoke, after all, is a part of him, and so, too, was it a part of Logan when he was alive. She knows, soon, it will be again. "Was there ever any doubt, petite?" Remy drawls from around his cigarette, but his gloved hands are busily shuffling his deck of cards, something she knows he does when he's nervous and won't admit it.
Ororo smiles gently. There's a new light in Hank's eyes and on his furry face. Her friends smile at her. Only Laura looks confused. She's tried explaining to her about their dead family members returning, but the girl just doesn't get it. She won't, either, with just words, but she will soon, when she sees it for herself when Logan returns to them.
There was no doubt. Jubilee and all of them know that. They wouldn't be in Japan tonight if there hadn't been. They'd all needed confirmation, but they have that now. She's seen him. He will be back with them again. He will come home to them again. It's just a matter of time. She grins and swings Shogo around in the air. He's gurgling happily, although he can't possibly understand the importance of the moment, but the rest of them do. They do, and they know Logan will return. Their family will be whole again. She can't wait!
The End
Title: In the Shadows
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: X-Men
Character/Pairing: Chamber/Husk
Rating: G/K
Challenge:
writerverse Challenge #3: March Table of DOOMWarning(s): None
Word Count: 989
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Marvel Comics and Disney, not the author, and are used without permission.
The first thing he noticed about her was how unmetropolitan she looked. She thought being a country girl who had so rarely visited the city was like wearing a great, big sign around her neck. She expected her new classmates to make fun of her accent, the way she dressed, and her other differences just as the human kids back in her old school had made fun of her because of first her brother's mutancy and then her own. She tried to hide it among them, even going so far as to practically swallow her "y'all"s and "Ah"s sometimes.
But it was her country side that first drew his attention. She was fresh and beautiful, and part of her beauty, he knew, was her naivety. She chose to believe the best in people, and a simple compliment went straight to the gel's head. She wasn't dirty like so many of the city girls he'd known, and her brilliant mind was also a thing of beauty, made so by its purity.
He loved the way the sun shone so brilliantly on her already bright, blonde hair. She was like bright, golden sunshine in the darkness of the city. That was why he first started calling her Sunshine. He can still hear her voice in his head sometimes now, but he knew he had to leave her. He couldn't put his darkness upon her, no matter how much she thought she loved him.
With time, she moved on her, as he knew she would, but he still remembers her so well, remembers that brightness and purity, the beauty of her laugh and her smile, her wide, innocent eyes, and the golden sweetness of her heart. He still remembers the way her hand felt in his and the way she made him feel like he was the coolest bloke she'd ever known. Perhaps he was, but he was also the darkest, the worst decision she could've made by far.
A part of him wishes she had stayed. That same part wishes he'd had the stones to tell her what she truly meant to him instead of only trying to show her when she needed him the most. He wishes he had been there for her more often, but he knows his departure from her life was for the best. She deserves better than him. She deserves some one as kind, good, and innocent as she was the first time they met.
Still, he thinks of her, he wishes things could have been different, that he could have been better for her, and he knows he always will. He knows, too, he'll always have a piece of her, a piece of her heart in his, a memory of her hand in his, and a certain, flannel shirt stashed away in the bottom of the trunk he keeps, always packed and at the ready, underneath his bed. When his days are the darkest, when his temper runs as dark and hot as Hell and he's ready to kill something, quite possibly even himself, he slips away into his room and into his trunk. He finds that old, flannel shirt of hers, the one she admitted was a hand-me-down from her big brother, Sam, although he'd already known it to be from how it almost swallowed her lithe figure.
His fingers knead that old, flannel shirt, and his memory flares to life. He knows it should smell of vanilla, apples, and most importantly of her, for he's never washed it and never will. He holds that old shirt, and he slips back in his mind to a time of more innocence, the greatest innocence he's ever known and a time when even he himself was more innocent than he is now (although at the time he'd thought there was nothing innocent about him nor could there ever be). He slips back to a time when a small hand held tenderly in his own was the greatest comfort he'd ever known (it still is) and when big, blue eyes looked up into his dark orbs like he held the whole world for them.
He wishes still he could have held that whole world and given it to her, that he could've been the man she deserved, the man she needed, not just wanted, that he could have loved her like she deserves to be loved. He wishes he could have given her everything, and he doesn't know, because he's chosen to forget that she still has it, that miles away on a small, country farm in the middle of nowhere a girl who hasn't been as innocent as she looks for years now holds much the same way to an old, leather jacket. She clings to the leather, to the husky scent on it, and to the cherished memories it holds for her, and she wishes, she yearns with all her heart, that things could've been different, that she could have been the woman he needed, the sunshine to brighten the rest of his days and chase all his darkness away, the Angel he'd sometimes called her who had saved him from herself.
But then one of her many, younger siblings calls for her. Paige knows she is needed and puts away the dreams of yesteryear, hiding her most treasured object once more deep within the dark shadows of her closet, and goes to fulfill her most important role in life. She had to let him go. This wasn't the life for him. He would have been so bored. But she still wishes, with all her heart, that she could've saved him, he could've saved her, and they could be together now and for the rest of their days on this Earth. She wishes, but she knows it's all dreams, dreams that will never be fulfilled, dreams left to rest in the arms of a leather jacket deep in the shadows of her not-so innocent life.
The End
Title: Arm Candy
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: X-Men
Character/Pairing: Beast/Iceman
Rating: G/K
Challenge:
writerverse Challenge #3: March Table of DOOMWarning(s): None
Word Count: 643
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Marvel Comics and Disney, not the author, and are used without permission.
"For a man as graceful as you, you'd think bow ties wouldn't be a problem."
Hank's blue eyes raise to meet Bobby's even as his furry fingers become even more tangled in his tie. Their eyes lock, and Bobby instantly softens. There's just something about the big, furry hunk of a man that is his boyfriend that never fails to make him melt, even when he's completely iced up. "Come here," he says relenting, and secretly glad Jean taught him long ago how to tie his own ties.
Hank obeys, coming to his lover without any hesitation, and stands still, and towering, before Bobby as the younger man aptly strings together his bow tie. "There. Nothing to it. You can do it, too," he teases, patting his chest playfully and then flashing him a grin, "if you're as cool as me."
"I . . . " Bobby arches an eyebrow in question as his usually eloquent partner actually stammers. It's been years since he heard Hank McCoy stammer over anything. "Is that why you are still adorned in your bath robe?" he asks at last.
Bobby frowns. "A science conference isn't exactly the place for a guy like me." He wouldn't understand a word that was said there, and it's not like Hank had actually invited him, or any one, for that matter to watch his latest debate in person.
"I . . . I would appreciate your presence there," Hank speaks so quietly that Bobby wouldn't have heard him if he hadn't been standing right before him, his fingers absent-mindedly playing with the ends of his blue tie. Henry quickly clears his throat and, although looking abashed in his sweet, blue eyes, looks away from Bobby. His furry face is a perfectly calm mask, but Bobby's seen his eyes and understood that very moment before Hank adds, "However, I certainly understand if you have other, more entertaining affairs to attend."
He has comic books to catch up on and two new video games to play. Both utterly pale in comparison to spending more time with his beloved. "Nothing that can't wait," he speaks quickly, grinning. "I'll be ready in a jiff."
He rushes off to get dressed but not without catching sight of Hank's responding smile. It's big, toothy, and wide, covering his whole, furry face, and Bobby loves it. He knows he's going to be bored. He knows he's not going to understand anything that is said there today. He knows, too, he'll probably have a smashing headache long before the debate is over, not to mention having to fight down his instincts to slam the mutant haters that always rally at any debate at which his sweetheart speaks. But none of that matter.
He's going with Hank. He's going to be seen with his boyfriend in front of the public and national TV. He's going to be at his side as he takes on this debate that he knows is important to him. The whole world is going to see them together, and when Bobby does return to Hank's side and Hank takes his arm in his as they head out together, he realizes that the world isn't going to just see them as two mutant friends or team mates standing together.
Doctor Henry McCoy has quietly decided to come out of the closet. They're going to stand before the world as two men in love: one of the most brilliant minds in all of time and his . . . his arm candy, Bobby thinks, looking down at his hand on Hank's furry arm. Now it is his smile that covers his face. He leans over, kisses Henry's furry cheek, and beams even more when he answers with a peaceful and joyous smile. The world is going to see them as two men in love. He's never been happier!
The End
