It was that time of the year again….more like that day of the year.
The day the whole mansion was abuzz with barely contained anticipation.
The teachers, some of whom had been students themselves knew it just as well as the students.
The day he came….HIM. The old man of the mansion.
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PAST
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HIM
He remembers that day as if it were yesterday.
He relives it everyday… the pain is as strong as ever.
They were together….until that day.
They were teammates, then friends, then family and then….in a blink of an eye….
She was gone.
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HER
She remembers that day as if it were yesterday.
She relives it everyday…the years have numbed the pain.
They were together….until that day.
They were teammates, then friends, then family and then….in a blink of an eye….
She was gone…..and so was he.
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PRESENT
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HIM
He is back, year to the day when he last was here.
Once a year he comes back….Why? To meet her…and to take in HER.
She is still around here somewhere….just as she is everywhere….just not next to him.
He can still feel her smooth skin. How silk flowed over it, her unique naturally sweet scent. How he used to love mixing his with hers, making it something even more special….his and hers, theirs. Her large, expressive sapphire blue eyes. How he used to love diving and getting lost in them. How he still wants to get lost in them…..and how he can’t.
They were the perfect couple, even their friends said so….ying and yang. Two have, separately incomplete, but together they made beauty.
She soothed his savage beast, her sight, scent or voice enough to silence it….while he, he gave the emotional freedom that she so craved, providing an outlet for her strict control.
They were naturals, both working in perfect rhythm with each other. She ruled the skies while he the earth. Mother Nature’s children taking care of her.
They were perfect.
Too bad perfection does not last…..just as theirs didn’t.
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SHE
He is back, year to the day when he last was here.
Once a year he comes back….Why? To meet her…and to take in HER.
She knows why he comes around. He still cares, he always will. After all, they are family.
She remembers riding his tails, following him wherever he went…wanting to be just like him. If he combed his hair one way, she would do the same. He wore his leather jacket; she would want to do the same. He smoked his Cuban cigar; she tried to do the same….and got hell for it and so did he…from HER.
Be like HER, he used to tell her. But no, she had to be like him….just like him.
Now…now she is just like HER.
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FUTURE (Soon)
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“Good morning Miss,” the children greet her.
“Good morning students,” she greets back, not failing to notice that their eyes are on the door.
He is going to come soon….The old man of the mansion.
Today is his day….they all know….they all wait.
He is already here, she can smell him.
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Minutes into the class, there is a knock on the door….a moment’s silence and hell breaks loose.
“Its him, its him,” the children cry out. “Its Mr. Logan.”
“Sssh, quiet down,” she silences them, her own eyes filling with tears.
“But miss…we want to meet Mr. Logan,” the tiniest girl in the class squeaks from her chair. She remembers Mr. Logan, she waits for him….every year. Why?
Because she has claws of her own….They are just bony growths of her knuckles but everyone calls them claws as does she now with pride rather than shame, and it all because of Mr. Logan. Everyone used to tease her, make fun of her, but that was before Mr. Logan…before he came to her class and showed his own. Since that day, no one teases her.
Since that day, they are cool…..she is cool.
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Silencing the class, she steps out and instantly feels years younger, a barely teenaged girl herself.
“Howya darlin’?” His ageless eyes light up at her.
“Good,” her tears don’t seem to stop…..don’t want to stop, and its alright with her.
“Been to see her,” he says knowing that he does not need to. She knows him too well for that.
“How is she?” She asks, knowing what the answer is going to be. He’s been to see HER….just like always, once a year.
“Good,” on their own accord, his lips curve up in a smile.
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“Hair’s grown longer,” he raises a hand to her head, running it over her silken tresses, just as he did years ago.
“Ummm-hmmm,” she automatically leans into his caress, her tearful eyes glimmering with love and affection.
“You like it?” She throatily.
“Hmmm,” he nods, both because it reminds him of HER and because it looks good on….anything looks good on her, just as it did on HER.
….on the mother of the woman standing before him.
….on his ‘Ro, his Windrider.
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Hours later,
Having spent his time with the wide eyed children, their complete attention on the man who is a legend among legends, one the pioneer x-men, the only one still living, he is now lounging by the lake where he had spent so many years of his life here, first alone, then with HER, then with both them, HER and her, ‘Ro and Kendall….and then after she left him and he left this place….alone.
“I knew I’d find you here,” he had already caught her scent as she rode the air currents to him, just like her mother.
He remains silent as she landed and settled down next to him, resting her head against his shoulder.
“I miss her,” he no longer has any problem with expressing his softer emotions, not with her, not in front of his cupcake, the child for whom he could do no wrong, the same child who now almost fifty years later is the headmistress of the same school she had grown up and studied in.
She does not say I miss her too, because she does not need to say, he knows she misses HER, misses her mother.
“I’ll see...I’ll….” He hesitates as he finds the correct words, not because ‘see’ is a wrong word, but because he sees her always, everywhere, she is always with him, but without actually being with him. “We’ll be together….soon.”
“Yes,” she does answer to that. Even though it pains her heart, she does. Already having lost one parent, she does not want to lose the other. Yet she knows that he is no longer alive, he is merely existing….except for this one day of the year.
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Soon….too soon in fact, the time for his departure arrives. The children have gone to sleep, as have almost all the other mansion residents.
“See you soon.” Her words are both a statement and a question, and maybe even something else...a plea.
“Sure kid,” his wizened, weathered eyes take in her regal appearance for one last time. She is so much like her mother that it sometimes pains him, reminds him of his loss, his wait. Twenty years he has been without her, waiting the day when he leaves this mortal realm and maybe if his luck holds, join HER in heaven.
He does not trust his luck; its been shitty more often than not. What he trusts is his love for her….and he knows that it is true.
Getting on his trusty decades old Harley, he rides off into the next day’s rising sun, only stopping once to look back at his daughter still standing by the gates….and the silhouette of her mother standing behind her, as if guarding her and waiting…waiting for his next return.
Maybe that one will be his final, one that will bring them together.
“See you soon ‘Ro,” he murmurs into the wind, its near silent tone as if whispering to him.
“See you soon my love.”
Note: Got the inspiration for this from the ‘Past Prime’ graphical preview of the ‘Wolverine: The End’ miniseries.
Hope you liked it. Please Review an’ let me know!!
