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26. The End (Alternative 2)

Summary: Am probably flogging a dead horse, but with my recent (more than a month and a half of a slump), I needed something light (both in the mood and mental effort) to get my gears rolling again. Hope this works out.

“What are we-”
“Ssshh.”

“…”

“What I-”
“Ssshh!!”

“Hmph.”

Thump!!

“Wha-? What are you doing?”
“What do you think I am doing? Sitting dow-…mmph.”
“Sshh. I told you keep your voice down. This isn’t a game, and stop making those eyes at me. Understood? Speak up. Understoo-”

Pinch! Whack!!

“Ow. Wazzat for?”
“For not taking your paws off my mouth so that I could speak. An’ even more for smearing all that dirt there in the first place.”
“You do remember that you are a feral, don’t you?”
“Whatchu mean? Of course I remember…Grrr.”
“Ooh, the piddly growl. I am sooo scared.”

“Yeah well, at least I am not a crazepot like you. I seriously don’t understand what are we even doing up so early. And why do you even need me here? It’s not like you need me to use my powers to get ‘im anyway. You can do that on your own.”
“Huh? Oh!”

“What? Wha-Why are you looking that way?”

“I am just checking if the sun is rising from the right side…”
“Why wouldn’t it rise from-”
“…‘cause you complemented me. Me!”

Whack!!

“Ha ha. Very funny. Not!”

At first glance, it would seem that the two teenagers, one girl and one boy, were just standing around, well, crouching around, spending their time bickering as siblings are so wont to do…that is except for the almost three foot long growing around them.

What they were doing was something entirely different. They were tracking. Not any wildlife, neither for amusement or for prey…they were tracking something, or rather someone else. They were tracking the Oh-so-elusive wolverine. Elusive just not because of where they were, slam bang in the middle of the African Serengeti, but also because it just happened that this specific Wolverine was not only one of the most un-trackable specimens but also their grandfather, their grandpa Logan.

“Hrrm. Come on mall-cat.” Swiveling away, the taller of the two, fourteen and a half year old, Charles McDonald, started to move in the direction they were heading before their minor squabble. “Let’s get tracking. I want to get him before-”
“Don’t you mean ‘try’ to get him,” he frowned at the correction that came from his sister identical twin, Rose. Well, identical except for her dark-auburn hair against his jet black and her lighter skin tone against his darker one. Already on the duskier side, the month of so long stay with their grandfather had given Charles a killer tan. Thankfully enough, their eyes were the same deep blue ones, a gift from (depending on which twin one asked) from either father or their maternal grandmother.

“Hmph. Whatever.” Charles didn’t feel the least bit happy about his sister’s quip. “At least with me you’d actually have a chance, otherwise by yourself, you’d sooner find a Macys than grandpa…and that too here in the wild.”

“Phbbbt.” Rose stuck her tongue at her twin. It wasn’t her fault if she was born with a shopping gene, one seemingly even more potent than the x-one that made her a mutant, something that her ‘human’ brother was not. If that wasn’t enough by itself, her aunt Jubilee had helped her hone her bargaining skills to a lethal weapon…so much so that she could take down track an ‘On Sale’ sign from a mile away.

“Nice comeback.” Charles shot back even without looking at her. “Now start sniffing. I can sense he’s near by.”

“How’d you know-” A cursory draw of breath and Rose stopped mid-sentence, her easy stance going rigid as she caught the familiar scent of cigar smoke. It was almost faded, but to her above average sensory skills it was as clear as day. “Got him,” she growled under her breath.

“Not quite.” She tilted her head to see her brother flop down on the ground next to her. Following his line of sight, she looked up only to frown at the sight before her. Not twenty feet from the two of them, about five feet off the ground, lounging in the shade of an older than dirt, Acacia tree was their intended ‘target’.

“Aww man.” Rose fell down alongside Charles. More than an hour’s worth of tracking, not to mention the twenty plus miles they had covered, and it all came to nothing. Nada. Zilch.

“This sucks.” Went Charles.

“This blows.” Supplied Rose.

Seeing the older man leap down from the tree and come towards them, the dup started to get up, suddenly feeling very lethargic and tired. That they still had to get back to home…by foot, only added to the tiredness of defeat.

“What gran’pa,” Charles was the first to pipe up. “You couldn’t have let us win just this once.”
“Yeah,” Rose jumped into the fray too. “Now I to crybaby here whine how you are the only person he can’t seem to win from.” She gestured towards her twin.

“Yea-HEY! Who’re you calling crybaby, you dumbass.”

“You, who else, you-”

“Hey, enough of that.” Logan cut in before things went any further. ‘Them two’ll never stop this by themselves.’ “Yer scaring the critters.”

“Sorry grandpa.” The two quibblers apologized but without making faces at each other.

“Now come on,” Logan nodded his head towards the general direction they were to go in. “We gotta get back. Breakfast’s ready.”

“Oh, wha-you can smell that?” Rose queried taking a deep breath to try and catch a whiff for herself and scowling when she couldn’t, her question and actions causing Charles to burst out laughing.

“Nope,” Logan knew better than to feed the fire. “Yer mom told me,” he pulled out an X-insignia bearing communicator. “Now come on, let’s go, our ride’s here…” he gestured up, looking up to the skies, his lips curving up into a smile as he did so.

“Yay!” Both teens hooted at not having to trek all the way back to the village, or rather its outskirts where they were living.

“Go Gran'ma ‘Roro!”

---

Twenty-nine years and a few months ago,

‘Logan…Its time.’ Barely had the thoughts reached out, did the returning snarl get projected back him. Yet, even now, especially now, even with his own composure wavering on the brink of crashing, Charles Xavier knew what had to be and that it was up to him to be the one to convey the message.
‘Fuck you Chuck.’ The Wolverine wasn’t ready to listen, at least not to anyone external.

‘Logan.’ The soft, barely audible whisper of a thought floated across to him. ‘We can stop, even now. We can. I…’
‘NO!’ This time around, instead of anger it was utter and total hopelessness that called out loud. Yet, even though his presence was on the periphery, even Charles could sense the Adamantium strong resolve underneath.

It had not been an easy journey, least of all for the two people across the glass partition from him. Even though physical sensation had all but left her, both Ororo and Logan had been sadly thankful for it, for even if she could barely feel his (or anyone else’s) touch now, no longer did Ororo have to bear the severe tremors that grown in both intensity and frequency over the last five and a half months.

//Flashback//

Accepting and to an extent, making peace with the inevitable, the two of them weren’t all that surprised (or hopefully elated) when during one of their weekly visits to the infirmary, Henry had he had yet another idea that might work out to help Ororo. However, it took only ten minutes before the -snikt- of claws rang out in the lab and had it not been for Xavier’s mental blocks on Ororo, so would have lightning.

“You want to freeze her?” Had been Logan’s snarl, disbelief clear in his tone.

“Logan-” Henry had sighed. He had anticipated such a reaction. “That would be oversimplifying it. Cryo…”
“No.” Ororo had weakly shaken her head. An effort for her, it was a clear indication of her thoughts on the subject.

“How long?” A simple question, just two words and both Henry and Ororo were surprised and shocked respectively by the sudden change in Logan’s demeanor. “How long will she have to stay that way?”
“Logan, no…” Ororo flailed her hand towards him, grabbing and tugging at his shirtsleeve to get him to look at her. “Ple…”

Staring into her eyes and the tears rising in them, Logan steeled himself and asked again. “How long Hank?”

“I-I…it is difficult to say. Until a time we get a cure.”

“Weeks? Months? Years?”

“At least a few years.”

“A few years.” There was a momentary crack in the feral Canadian’s voice, but only just. A second later it was gone, replaced by a resolve, one that he knew that he would need, not only to get himself through it, but also convince Ororo. “We’ll do it.”

“No, we won’t.” Ororo’s denial was just as quick.

“’Ro-”

“No.” This time around it was Ororo’s turn to look away from him and had it been possible for her, she would have not only stood up, but actually flown away from the room.

“Ororo-” Hank started only to stop at the set of Ororo’s jaw. Looking up at Logan, he gave a slight nod before standing up from his chair. “I will leave you two alone to discuss this. Please…” he so much wanted to help one of his oldest and closest friends, and if only he had the time, he was sure that he could come up with a working cure for her affliction.

He needed time.

//Flashback//

Lost within each other, neither Logan nor Ororo noticed the third entrant into the room; not until walking up to the specially designed ‘cryogenic chamber’ that she lay in, Henry placed a blue fur covered hank on Logan’s shoulders.

“Its time my friend.” Maintaining the mind link, Xavier repeated the doctor’s words to the couple.

‘Logan…’ Ororo sighed, not wanting to let go of the warmth of peace and love that was surrounding her and Logan.

‘’Ro-’ Logan’s thoughts were just as torn. If only he could have had a few more days with her…if only. However, seeing her worsening condition, Beast had advised that the sooner they put her in Cryogenic Stasis the better the chance it would be of her body being able to salvage itself later on.

‘I love you.’

‘Ditto darlin’. Love you too.’

---

Twenty-seven years, almost twenty-eight...almost three decades, that is how long he had lived without her. No, not lived. Merely existed. True there were moments of happiness, like the day James finally grew taller than him, Kendall’s graduation, her marriage, then James’s…Kendall getting married to Mac’s kid, having a couple of kids of her own...James marrying an almost five year older Amiko, the birth of their daughter. There had been quite a few, but even in the joy of the time, there was always something, someone missing…for him at least.

He never left their house, he could not…after all, how else could he follow his daily routine of visiting her every morning and night, just sitting beside her, watching her ‘sleep’ while he told her about the events of the day, or just talked to her.

Sleeping Beauty…his sleeping beauty, how long had he waited for a chance to kiss her and wake her up. How long.

An’ now that he had her back, all thanks to Henry and Amiko’s research and some ingenious though still illegal gene splicing. In the end, her own blood came to her rescue…or rather her blood that coursed through Kendall’s veins. Even now, even after more than a year, Logan still amazed at how something so good came from something as bad as MGH, Mutant Growth Hormone. Sold and used as a drug, it had been the MGH or rather the exact methodology of how it worked that had set Hank and Amiko on the path that had ultimately led to them finding the cure…no, the combatants to battle and win against the disease destroying Ororo’s body.

Roused almost a lifetime after she had ‘gone to sleep’, Ororo had patiently gone through the lengthy and many a time painful gene therapy, all while trying to catch up with all that she had missed. While there had been many sad and tearful moments like when she came to know about Xavier’s passing away or realizing that she had been out for so long that not only had her children grown up, they had also married and started their own families. Kendall, her headstrong daughter was not only a mother herself now; she was almost as old as Ororo herself.

Still, in the end, the good outweighed and outlasted the bad…and all with an added benefit. Though not as potent, Kendall’s healing factor not only bolstered Ororo’s resistance but also cut her recovery time by almost half.

---

Present,

Ferried by their grandmother’s winds, the twins did not even wait long enough to touch ground before taking off running towards the relatively small yet spacious house that serves as the Logans summer home.

Propelled by their growling stomachs, neither of them waited for the two adults following them…for both of them knew what was to come next, and just as yucky as it is for a teen to see or even think about their parents making out (or worse, doing IT), going one up with their grandparents was down right freaky.


“Hmm.” Drawing his wife into his arms and taking a deep breath of her heady pheromones, Logan growled lustily. “Smells nice…good enough to eat.”
“Uh-huh,” even though she knew exactly what Logan implication was for, Ororo nevertheless put forth an innocent front. “James made the breakfast. We should hurry before it gets cold.”

“Cold?” Leaning in to nibble at her ear lobe, Logan rumbled at the way Ororo just melted into him. “Don’t seem like its getting’ any cold to me. Only hot.”

Quickly losing themselves in each other, the two stopped short at a shrill hail from within the house. “MOM! DAD!! Come’n get it.” Kendall called out aloud. “Before the twin tornadoes blow through everything.”


“…”

“What do you say we join them?” Ororo caressed his unshaven cheek, gently curling her fingers through the slightly graying hair.

“Uhn.” Logan frowned half-heartedly. “Yeah, sure. Man’s gotta eat…and so does his woman.”
“Ooh…his woman,” Ororo mock-swooned before smacking one muscled shoulder. “You know Mr. Caveman, it’s a good thing that I love you so much. Otherwise-”

“Love you too ‘Ro.” Even more so than ever before, Logan never a let chance go to tell it to her. They had gotten a second chance and just as she, he too intended to make the most of it.

“Ditto my love, ditto my Wolverine.’

Note: Well, this is the El Whacko-Loco, El Sappy ending that I had in mind (as the alternate) to this fic. As with the happiness in the other ‘sad’ one, this one has its share of angst and sadness (i.e. the missed years). However, while in the other one Rose and Charles (Kendall’s children) are seven years old, here they in their teen. The age and time difference is to explain the years spent in getting a working ‘cure’.

Now, let’s just hope that this helps me kick start my stalled to death fic-writing.

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