Concerning the hotel situation, we weren't as fortunate as the night before. I didn't really mind sleeping in some dirty, windowless room located above an equally dirty bar, but it certainly wasn't the right place for Marie.
That had been the very first thought to run through my mind the night we had first me as well: No place for her.
But we were currently in the middle of nowhere and had been lucky to find a place to stay at all, so we were in no position to complain.
After dropping off our bags in our room, we had returned downstairs for some drinks. Marie was sitting on one of the bar stools, occasionally sipping on her coke while I stood next to her, leaning back against the counter, a well-deserved beer in hand.
She had received some suspicious looks from the other customers, looking much too young to be here, but a scowl and a dark look shot their way usually convinced them to retreat.
I could tell by the thoughtful expression on her face that she was still thinking about the earlier incident in the diner and for about the hundredth time, I wondered whether I had pushed her a little too much today. It was obviously an uneasy subject for her to deal with and I didn't have enough sensitivity to approach it accordingly.
Eventually, all I could do was hope that she knew I was doing everything with the best intentions, even if it made her feel a little uncomfortable at first.
She had enjoyed the motorcycle thing incredibly much, that I could tell. And hopefully she would be able to retain the hint of freedom she had felt until she was ready for the real thing.
It would be a long and stony path to controlling her skin and I wasn't exactly the ideal person to help her with it. But I couldn't stop myself from trying because I saw how unhappy her mutation made her and that was one thing I couldn't live with.
Whatever had happened this afternoon was definitely a step into the right direction. So, yes, maybe it had been a bit of a violent approach to shut off her mutation. I still felt like I was recovering from a severe concussion, but I was doing my best not to let that show.
I smiled at the feel of Marie's arm slipping around my waist and her small hand settling down against my side.
“You okay, baby?”
Returning my smile, she nodded and a strand of chocolate-colored hair fell into her eyes. Just when I had lifted my hand to her face to brush it back behind her ear, I caught a familiar scent and instantly froze.
I wasn't sure what exactly about knowing Sabretooth was around made every muscle in my body tense, ready to crouch into a predator-like posture and attack any minute. Something about his presence sent me right into animal mode and I hated having Marie witness that.
She stared at my angry face, questions in her wide eyes; questions that I couldn't answer right now.
I searched the crowd for a familiar face and spotted Sabretooth by the door, shit-eating grin plastered onto his face.
“Logan, what is it?”
Her soft voice was close to my ear and I noticed I had unknowingly wrapped an arm around her and pulled her off her stool, crushing her body against my side, ready to protect her as well as I was able to.
My instincts urged me to let my rage run free and tear Sabretooth into a million pieces, but the more sensible choice was to grab my girl and make a run for it.
I couldn't afford to get into a fight with her around, it was too dangerous. And even though she already knew everything there was to know about my darker sides, there was no need for her to witness them in action. A cage fight was nothing against what this confrontation had the potential of turning into.
“Run,” I ordered, pulling Marie with me while I tried to make it to the back door and out of here before our disappearance would be noticed. I felt her heart rate pick up speed up and wanted more than anything to tell her that we would be fine and safe in a minute, but couldn't.
“What's the rush, Wolverine?”
Sabretooth appeared in front of us out of nowhere and snarled menacingly. I quickly pushed Marie behind me, supplying her with all the protection I had to offer.
“Don't you wanna stay and...chat?” Punctuating the last syllable, his fingernails grew into dirty crescent-shaped claws.
“Get out of my way,” I hissed, sliding out my own claws and receiving a few gasps from the crowd around us, that quickly backed away.
I heard Marie quietly whimper behind me and wanted to comfort her, but I couldn't afford to drop my defense.
“Guys, would you mind taking this outside?” the bartender bravely requested from the side, sheer terror appearing in his eyes when both Sabretooth and I threw him an angry look.
“This wouldn't be the first bar we wreck,” he told the terrified man behind the counter before turning back to me. “Would it, runt?”
Puzzled for a second, I wasn't entirely ready for the attack that was launched at me.
Receiving a terrified shriek from Marie, Sabretooth slammed his knee into my stomach, simultaneously slashing his fingernails across my throat.
The stinging pain was enough to make me stagger backwards, distinctly registering the warm, sticky feeling of blood spilling all over the front of my shirt. There was no time to wait for the wound to heal; he was already preparing another hit and I had to be fast.
I leaped forward, tackling him and ramming the claws up his rip cage, taking us both down to the floor in the process. Sabretooth choked, but wasn't hurt severely enough to remain immobile for more than a split second.
His hands were already on their way back to my throat and I was about dodge, roll off him and get ready for the next move, when he suddenly froze. His hands stopped in mid-air, trembling violently and a grimace of pain appeared on his face...
“Marie!”
I spun around, and rushed to her side. She was kneeling on the floor, one glove on the floor next to her and her bare hand wrapped around our attacker's ankle.
“Marie, stop!” I yelled helplessly, watching her shake and nearly sob in terror. She held up her other hand and motioned for me to wait, to let her finish the job.
Her innocent features showed a new sense of solemn determination and a strength that was beyond anything I had ever seen on her. She was really going to hold on long enough to kill him, there was no question about that.
But I couldn't let her do it...not because I didn't want him to die; hell, there wasn't much I wanted more than that right now, but she wouldn't be able to live with a murder on her conscience. It would ruin her, destroy her...she had been through enough in her life, she didn't need homicide on the list.
I felt like my mind was about to burst with the pressure of having to make this choice for her and struggled to remain focused.
I watched in horror for one more second before I grabbed a hold of Marie and pulled her away, to her feet and out the back door, following our original path. She stumbled after me with uncoordinated steps, protesting weakly when I scooped her up in my arms and carried her across the parking lot.
“Logan, he...the machine...Magneto...we have to...tell...the Professor....”
My mind was racing as I pressed her trembling body tight against my chest.
We had to get out of here fast, before Sabretooth could regain consciousness and track us down again. He would recognize the bike, so we couldn't take that. Without time to feel guilty, I cut open the door of the car that was parked closest to us and heaved Marie into the passenger seat before sliding behind the wheel and using one claw to turn the ignition.
She was muttering and tossing back and forth in her seat, caught in a state between being asleep and awake. It just about killed me that there wasn't anything I could do for her but desperately hope she would be okay after she got some rest, pray that I had made the right choice; and that I had made it soon enough.
Pulling onto the highway and pushing the car as fast as the old engine would allow, I took Marie's gloved hand in mine and squeezed it tightly.
My eyes shifted back and forth between her and the road restlessly. There was too much going on at once; all I wanted was to make sure she was going to be all right, to stop the car and hold her in my arms forever, calm her, make the big pile of mess in her head go away...but I couldn't lose any time, we had to make it as far away from the bar as we could as quickly as possible. If Sabretooth caught up with us again, I wasn't sure we would make it out as easily as this time.
He appeared to have a healing factor much like mine, which left me with no advantage and a realistic possibility to lose a fight with him.
“Cerebro....she poisoned...”
It seemed as if Marie's brain had received an overload of disturbing images from Sabretooth and was trying to shut itself off to process while she was fighting to stay awake. I wasn't sure what was the right thing to do here.
She needed rest and I was more than eager to put her out of her misery and let her sleep, but she was obviously trying to tell me something important. Maybe it was better to let her get it out first.
“The....he...he needs me to...oh....oh Logan.....no...please, no...”
“I'm right here, darling,” I said softly and her face seemed to relax for a moment when she heard my voice. I didn't know how much danger she was in and couldn't let myself imagine it.
If I lost her...no. I couldn't even think it. I had to be strong for her now...get her somewhere she was safe and where people could take care of her –
“We have to...get me...the school, Logan...the Professor...”
“Do you want to go back to Xavier's?” I asked, deliberately keeping my voice calm even though it was hard, because I was almost as shaken as she was just by seeing her like this. But I couldn't let those feelings take over, not now.
“Yes,” she breathed, lifting her head to look at me with great difficulty. Her eyes were surprisingly clear and she stared at my face in wonder, as if she had never seen me before.
“Okay, okay, I'll take you back, baby. You'll be fine.”
I hoped that I was telling her the truth, that she would be all right. I had fucked things up once again and put her in danger when I should have been more careful, taken better care of her...
“Warn him...we'll tell them....he won't...won't get me....Jimmy,” she muttered softly, her eyelids fluttering and then finally dropping shut while the grip that her delicate fingers had on my hand loosened.
“Who's Jimmy?” I asked in confusion, but Marie had already drifted off to sleep.
The dark shadows under her eyes were proof of her exhaustion. She had held on to Sabretooth longer than she ever had to me; even when she had used my powers to heal herself. His presence must be extremely strong in her head now, paralyzing her with whatever memories and murderous thoughts he might have.
Maybe it would really be all for the best to take her back to the Professor and have him do some sort of telepathy exorcism on her, or whatever it was that he did.
And then I would go back and find Sabretooth to make him pay.
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Chapter End Notes:
so...there's action, there's Victor...pretty unexpected ;) (yeah even for me. he just popped up out of nowhere and wanted an appearance in the story. might have to do with the fact that I wrote this right after I saw Origins)
...and I'm not sure if I got any of that right; I've never done either before.
opinions, please =D
...and I'm not sure if I got any of that right; I've never done either before.
opinions, please =D