Always the Time
“The rarity is that you and Logan are soul mates.”
Ororo stares at Jack for only a few moments, her mind racing with what she had just seen through Jack’s reincarnation senses. She could remember the first time she met Logan, how gruff he was, how wild. She misjudged him as murderers as she, with Kurt, had witnessed him kill those guards in the savage land all those years ago. She then began to know him and found herself moved by him. That was a lie though, she loved him when she first saw him but found her attraction unable to over come their supposed view of life. He loved Jean though for so long. As Ororo began to contemplate these thoughts Jack brings her back to reality.
“Ororo Logan cared for Jeannie only due to the fact that he was reminded of someone in his life long ago.” Jack sat down at his desk turning his padded leather chair in a circle, playfully. “Let me explain this to you in terms that I understand okay.”
“Alright.”
“Have a seat first, I hate it when people stand and not make themselves comfortable. Tells a lot about them, the way they are if you know what I mean.” Jack replies
“You and Jean.” Ororo laughs as she finds a seat on his bed.
“Everything moves in cycles and circles. When humankind became more than an animal and became aware they received what has come to be called the gift of souls. That’s what some mystics and Romaine call it anyway.”
“Romaine?” Asks Ororo.
“Romaine are referred to mostly as Gypsies but that was mistakenly called Gypsy because many believed they were from Egypt hence the term Gypsy. However, they really came from the north reaches of India. Anyway, I am getting off track here. The gift of souls was given to the first Ten thousand. From those ten thousand sprang the human race. Well here tell legends and myths when the first of a sentient race raise they are immortal in a sense. Their souls are recycled so to speak, always touching more people but also to be with their first loves. Soul Mates, but in this world true soul mates are rare due just by the population size of Earth.” Jack stops and looks at Ororo as an expression formed on her face.
“So what you are saying is true?” Ororo asks
“I can’t tell you if it is true, hell according to Hank we all came from these giant beings miles high called Celestials whose reasons are not really known at all.” Jack replies with a smirk.
“Speaking of Henry he and Bobby are looking for you because they want a reunion of some kind.” Ororo says as she rises from her seat. “I have a lot to think about though Jack due to what you have shown me.”
“I don’t really think so Ororo. You already knew your feeling for him, and wondered if it was right. Well it is, as ordained by whatever powers you hold dear Hun. All I can say is what Jean once told you, swallow that pride and tell him because he may just be to stubborn to do it himself.” Jack responds as he walks Ororo to his door.
Ororo stops and turns to the man named Jack and asks a question that she wanted an answer to for awhile.
“What were Beast and Iceman saying about a reunion?”
“That would be our old garage band but that was a long time ago.”
“Hank, Bobby and you were in a band?” Ororo begins to laugh as the pair walk in the hall.
“Yeah well we were young and it just wasn’t we three it was Warren too. Slim couldn’t play anything to save his life and Jeanie was well tone deaf.”
“I know.” Ororo laughs a little more when she stops as she gets a message from Emma.
“Ororo assemble your team, Wolverine and X-23 went to Canada a few hours ago and I lost contact with Logan.”
******** ******* ********** ********** *********
Three days later the mutant named Northstar falls by the claws of a man that was an X-Man. He is no longer such though as his mind and soul are now held prisoner by the mysterious Hand, an organization of assassins and Ninjas. Days ago he was called Logan, James Howlett, Wolverine now he is a puppet due to the fact that he died and was brought back. Now he has come home to kill the X-Men by the order of those dark ones called the Hand. Standing in front of the mansion though is a tall blonde haired man dressed in a dark gray and green outfit. His boots are dark gray with leather straps, on torso a dark green strip out stretches to his shoulders. His gloves are green with what appears to be three spikes on his forearms. On his upper left chest area is embellished red “X”. His name is Jonathan Mitchell but as a member of the X.S.E. he is now called REFLEX. He knows what must be done, behind him stands an old man named Stick and is apprentice Electra. Without any words, the men named Wolverine and Reflex stare at each other. A battle ensuing in their minds is titanic, almost an opera.
With a growl, the battle begins and the two gladiators meet headlong. This scene was played out on more than on occasion through the millennia as these souls who greatly respected each other had to fight each other. Each time the ending was different, each winning, each losing. One such battle is of myth and Legend, the war of Troy. One was the man named Hector, the other Achilles. The last time though was vicious, the last time one was an Indian from the Mohawk tribe the other a soldier. Now they have come full circle once again, crossing adamantium claws and gauntlets as sparks fly. Flurries of punches and kicks miss, block, and land on each other though neither gives quarter. Wolverine is a mindless killing machine, and Reflex cannot allow him to pass him. Logan has an edge though, his healing factor, Jack with his enhanced reflexes, danger senses, and fighting ability is still only human so to speak. He will fatigue, unable to hold for hours or even twenty minutes moving as they are. They move quicker than the eye can follow, neither gaining ground. Then it happens, a claw gashes Reflexes side as a bladed gauntlet stabs Wolverine in the throat, ripping the jugular. Wolverine roars as he blindly throws a swing, Reflex catching the extended wrist, then turning it inward, bending Wolverine’s elbow downward, shoving the three one foot claws into Wolverine’s own stomach. With a howl, Wolverine falls, and Reflex falls with him. His side torn open, his suit’s armor able to withstand the majority of it but for a man without a healing factor the wound is bad. Jack places his hand full of his own blood, onto Logan, as Stick rushes over to the fallen warriors. Jack fades into unconsciousness as he hears the old man say…
“Rest now I can do the rest.”
“Sure Yoda.” Answers Jack.
It has been four days since Ororo’s team returned from the Savage land where they had followed the Raptor like people, who had ambushed X-23 and Wolverine in Canada. Many things have changed, with Ororo giving up her leadership role to Peter and Bishop. Whatever happened there affected Ororo more than many could think, save one man. He now stands behind her in her green house. His name is James Howlett, the Wolverine, but to her he is simply Logan.
“Ya want ta talk about it ‘Ro?”
“Not really. How about you Logan?” She asks.
“Besides the shame no not really.”
“It wasn’t your fault Logan.”
“It wasn’t yours either Ro.”
“So where does that lead us next old friend?”
“As long as yer close ah don’t care.”
“I…I don’t know what you mean Logan?” Ororo turns to the man she knows she loves, her heart races and she curses that fact because she knows Logan can hear it.
“When Ah was deep into the darkness alone ah heard you scream, losing control. I also saw myself here ‘Ro.” Logan’s eyes reflect the sorrow he feels deep in his heart. Ororo can see it. “Ah was wild, Ah couldn’t control that. I tried. In the end, I had to be stopped but the cost was high. It was the same fer you too ‘Ro.”
“I think it was too Logan.” Ororo looked down at the dirt looking as though she was staring at an object there. After several minutes, Logan spoke softly.
“Jack, he did something as we laid on the ground. He touched me or somethin’ and Ah saw things.”
There is nothing but a white surreal landscape as Logan looks out trying to scan the horizon of nothingness. His senses are dull, his mind clear yet lacking. He is confused, not aware of where he is but aware he is where he stands. It is that moment that he hears a voice, one of comfort, from behind him. Logan turns as if in slow motion, his image dragging to catch up to the original. It is then he sees the man standing there, the man with blond hair and blue eyes.
“We are in the place in-between Logan.”
“Jack?” Logan asks his voice slightly echoing.
“We are just out of sync with the astral plane and the prime material in the ether. At least some call it the ether, I call it the In-Between.”
“Why are we..” Logan begins to say as Jack finishes…
“Here?” Jack smiles a little “We have just fought Logan, to the death so to speak. We both sustained wounds that are potentially deadly to people without a healing factor. I brought you here to witness certain events from cycles past where your soul has traveled. In this place, seconds are days minutes are weeks. In this place I can explain to you the cycle.”
“We were fighting? Yeah Ah remember but why?” Logan asks. His images becoming more in harmony with each other.
“That I don’t really know, only the woman and old man who appeared minutes ahead of you know that.” Jack looks away from Logan for a mere moment and then returns to look at the man named Wolverine, his eyes carrying a burden never seen before. “Look that way Logan and see where your soul has tread before.”
“Why do Ah feel like Scourge and the spirits of Christmas?’ Logan replies as he looks too where Jack pointed.
Where Logan looks out in to where a white void of nothingness was now a rocky shore and ruins of an old Greek temple may have stood. Logan stares at two men fighting with wooden swords and bronze helmets. One of the men is well versed in the art of war; the other is good but needs improvement. Within seconds, the second man is disarmed by the first and both laugh as they take off their helmets.
“Good Alexander your improving.” Replies the man who was the victor. He stands 5’10” tall; his hair is a sandy brown, his features well chiseled.
“Not as good as you though cousin.” Answers Alexander. He is about the same build as the first though his hair is lighter in color.
Logan looks on for a moment then turns to Jack with questions in his eyes.
“Who are they?”
“The younger is Alexander the older one is his cousin Achilles. Though if it makes it easier to know.” Jack waves his hand over the scene, changing the people. “Have you ever heard of the term Karma Logan?”
Logan looks at the two people now with his eyes in widen astonishment. The people, the one called Alexander turns into a Japanese American girl he knows well. Her name is Jubilation Lee. The other is He. Jack continues with his monologue…..
“We all have passed each other in other lives, from a brief instant to a life time. When we have wronged each other in one life it carries over so to speak in the next cycle until we can correct it. It is a bond that each soul has, which in some way is a divine joke. Each soul is cast from a type of cauldron from the first ten thousand, and each circles each other like characters written in an ageless play. Just each cycle of life the play changes slightly.
With this then scene changes to a boat to a man with blond hair and blue eyes looking westward. The man would be Jack the present but now he is a warrior prince. Soon a young man comes up from behind nervously. His features are reminiscing of Scott Summers the man called Cyclops.
“Brother I have something I must tell you.”
“What is it Paris?”
“I’m in love?”
“With whom this week little brother?”
“It’s not like that Hector. Its real this time. She is here on the ship now.”
“What?!”
Minutes later the man called Hector is standing in from of a blond headed woman, her eyes are ice blue, she is Emma Frost or she appears to be too the observer Logan. In this time she is Helen.
“You fool! Do you not know that this will start a war?” Hector yells “We must turn around at once if we can.”
“No brother don’t you understand? We are in love.”
“I am sorry Lord Hector but if you send me back I will kill myself.” The woman named Helen replies.
“Are you say’n Jack that I was Achilles and you were Hector? And that Scott and Emma started it?” Asks Logan turning toward Jack.
Jack scratches his nose slightly wrinkling it. “It isn’t Scott and Emma Logan, just there souls from another life.”
“No wonder I don’t really care for Emma or Scooter very much.” Laughs Logan as he turns back to the scene. Now he sees himself and others storm a beach, slaying many Trojans in his wake. Then he storms the temple of Apollo decapitating the golden statue of said god. Seconds later a woman charges him only to be knocked to the ground and a sword to her throat. Her eyes are ice blue her color caramel. Logan would know her as Ororo Monroe but here she is Persephone, cousin to Hector and Paris. Later the two become lovers and Achilles decides to leave the war, it is not in him to continue a war he does not truly believe in.
Within a week though he changes his mind after Hector kills his cousin Alexander in battle, Alexander pretended to be his cousin and paid the price. The following day Achilles himself kills Hector in one to one combat. Later he releases the one woman he ever loved, Persephone, and letting the body of her cousin leave with Hector’s father, who resembles Charles Xavier. Weeks later the walls of Troy fall as they are fooled by the gift called the Trojan Horse. That night Achilles slays the man who he was working for named Agamemnon, saving the woman he loved only to be killed by Paris.
Logan feels a hand on his shoulder and hears Jack’s voice as if it were fading..
“She and you are soul mates Logan. You were from the beginning when the first ten thousand souls were given to man as a gift. Ororo needs you, loves you as you love her, get it right this time. You had your chance when you were younger as well but fate intervened and you lost your Rose, but your Rose is your Ro. That was why you called Ororo that. It wasn’t because you had trouble with her name. You knew it was Rose when you saw her that first time but the likeness in your subconscious pushed you to Jean. Make it right Logan; believe me we will just have to repeat it again over and over until we do.”
With this the world becomes black for the man named James Howlett, the man who is Logan, the mutant Wolverine.
“What did you see Logan?” Ororo asks her friend, her confidant.
“Something that assured me that no matter what ya will be here with me, fer me and it was time Ah stopped runn’n and be the man ya want me ta be.” Logan replies as he moves his hand to embrace Ororo’s.
Ororo looks at him with puzzlement in her blue eyes and her breath catches as she feels his lips touch hers. The passion pushing past her heart embracing her soul, her mind freezes, her wall crumbles as she kisses him back. “Marry me darlin.” Logan asks. “Ah can’t promise we won’t fight, and Ah can’t promise Ah may not be the most understanding but I can promise I will always be here to catch you and love you like no other in this world, past present or future.”
Ororo’s eyes tear up as she embraces this man of the wilds. The only legible word from her is “YES” as the clouds darken and thunder claps in rejoice, rain falls as angels cry in triumph.
Seven months later…….
“Tell me why we are here again Ro?” Logan asks his recently betrothed as they enter Harry’s.
“The band I’ve wanted to hear is playing tonight.” Ororo playfully kisses her husband.
“Yeah I know but we could have just had then play at the mansion.”
Inside Harry’s the crowd claps and whistles as the band plays on stage. The members are all to familiar as all of the X-family along with some Avengers are present. Tony Stark walks over to the shorter Logan and his Wife and smiles…
“I have to admit it they are good Logan.”
“Yeah I guess they are Tony.”
On drums Warren Worthington III, otherwise known as Archangel, On lead guitar strums the ever cool Bobby Drake, playing bass is the man named Henry McCoy. Singing is the man named Jack Mitchell….
“Alright this is for someone who just got married only a few weeks ago and her husband asked if I would sing it for her. So if you all don’t mind a change in venue I want them to come up and dance as well.” Jack says smiling.
“Ah hell.” Logan replies as he feels Ororo hug him.
“You said you didn’t want to come.”
“Well had to make ya believe it didn’t I.”
“Okay let me just tell you that this song was written by Mick Mars of Motley Crue for a good friend of his Tommy Lee and his then wife Heather Locklear or so the story goes but any tonight its for you Ororo Monroe-Howlett from your husband,…”
“Without you there’s no change
Night and day are gray
If I reached out to touch the wind
It wouldn’t feel the same
Without you I’d feel lost
I’d slip down from the top
I’d slide down so low you’d
Never never know
Without you, without you
I’m a sailor lost at sea
Without you my love
The world comes down on me
Without you in my life
I’d slowly wilt and die
With you by my side
You’re the reason I am alive
With you by my side
You’re the reason I am alive
But without you without you
Bobby begins his guitar solo as Ororo holds Logan in her arms. “You know its true ‘Ro.”
Says Logan in an unusually quite, somber tone. “When I was hurt from Magneto you brought me back.”
Without you my hope is small
Never leave me all alone
Let the fires rage inside
Know that someday you’ll know
Without you, without you
I’m a sailor lost at sea
Without you my love
The world comes down on me
Without you in my life
I’d slowly wilt and die
With you by my side
You’re the reason I am alive
With you by my side
You’re the reason I am alive
But without you without you
I could face a mountain
But I could never climb alone
I could start another day
But how many I just don’t know
You’re the reason the sun shines down
And the nights are not so cold
Only you when we are young
Only you when we grow old
“You helped me come back from me beast Ororo, you helped me when no others could. I felt like I had died when Vargas wounded you. If something ever happened to you I don’t know what I would do. I love you ‘Ro.”
Without you in my life
I’d slowly wilt and die
With you by my side
You’re the reason I am alive
With you by my side
You’re the reason I am alive.
“I love you too Logan.”
The end…..so tell me what how you liked it.
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