So take me as I am,
or have nothing at all.
Take Me As I Am - Mary J. Blige
Ororo hadn't been quite keen on telling Charles the entire story of her and Victor, but something about his eyes made her pour her soul onto him over tea. She told him about the beatings, the rapings, the crimes, and everything else that happened. What broke her heart most of all was that Charles cried when she told him that she had left with Victor because of the incident in his bedroom.
He offered his protection, in fact, he offered to fly her out of the country that very night but Ororo refused. She wasn't quite done in New York and she had a bit of business to take care of.
Charles did not hide the fact that he thought Ororo was being very reckless in this Victor situation but he did not stop her when she argued against him.
Ororo had set off to find Logan and give him one last goodbye.
"The Wolverine!" The "referee" yelled amidst the cheers and jeers in the crowd. Logan looked at his oponent, a crumpled mess of a man and snarled. It had taken a mere fifteen minutes to knock this man into a bloody mess. His jet black matted hair was unkempt around his face and he was panting, nursing a broken rib.
Logan, however, was unscathed and panting. He punched a fist into the air and a few of the men cheered for him while the others called him all sort of nasty names. What he did not notice was the man in the very back of the crowd with the dirty blond hair, and cold brown eyes.
Victor Creed had found "The Grace" after he had nearly ripped his poor Lina to shreds. There wasn't much left of her when he was done and had he known that she was a poor little virgin, maybe, just maybe he would have gone just a bit easier on her. Just a bit.
He wanted to celebrate after his visit with Charles Xavier and his fun night with Lina and he had found just the place he was looking for. This place was perfect. There was illegal cage fighting, hookers, murderers, thieves, and every other dirty thing under the sun. His eyes had gotten glued on Logan or "The Wolverine" as everyone had called him. This runt bastard seemed to knock men down with the very glare of his hazel eyes.
That maniacal part of Victor wanted to challenge this Logan fellow, see what he was all about. Unfortunately, he had been to liquored up to give a damn that night. He watched as Logan left the cage without so much as a backward glance at his opponent. The front of his wife beater was stained with blood. Victor smirked. Logan rubbed his obviously aching knuckles and headed straight towards the locker rooms.
The winner was getting five hundred dollars tonight. Victor stood up, the Jack Daniels doing the walking for him. He could follow the Wolverine down the hall, wait for him to collect his money, and slit his throat and run off with the winnings.
Victor snorted. Well, that was just plain mean. He hadn't really cared about the money very much.
It was the kill.
There was nothing more exhilarating than a good kill after someone feels they've struck gold. That's how it was with David and even poor little Lina. That's the way it would be Ororo and if he felt the need, this poor bastard that just worked hard for his measly five hundred dollars.
Then, something stopped Victor dead in his tracks. For a moment, he thought he had been dreaming. A white haired woman had come through the door and went straight to the bar, talking to the owner. Victor headed towards the bar and he was ready to kill on sight but he pulled himself back when he noticed that she had ran after the Wolverine.
Who would believe his fucking luck?!
"Logan!" Ororo called, chasing after him down the hall. She blanched when he turned around to face her and there was blood smeared all over his white tank top. She had put the dog chains around her neck once she had left Charles' home. It was her bit of protection, she felt, until she had finally managed to leave this town.
He frowned at her and grunted.
"What the hell are you still doing here? You need to be gone."
She came even closer to him, so close that she could smell the man's blood on him. "Logan, he's here. I just wanted to tell you. I just wanted to say goodbye."
Without so much as a second thought, Logan seized her by the arm and pulled her roughly down the hall and into the alleyway where his motorcycle had been placed. The terrified look in her eyes calmed him down a bit and he held her arms firmly in his hands.
"You shouldn't even be here! You should be gone! This is crazy, Ororo! Why did you even come here?"
She frowned at him and bit her bottom lip. She wanted to tell him. She needed to tell him, but she thought better of it.
"That crazy bastard could be anywhere and I swear, Ororo, I swear on my brother's grave - if that man so much as even looks at you, I'm going to kill him. You're not making it easy though, running around like every thing's just fine."
"Logan, this is New York!" She argued reasonably. "He'd have to go through hell and high water to find me! I'm not crazy."
"Yeah, yeah - you are!" He pulled away and ran his hands through his tousled hair. "Look at you! You're here talking to me! God, Ororo! Am I going to have to think for you?"
Her demeanor changed and she suddenly seemed taller as she leaned her face in to his. "I don't need you to do anything for me! I thought it would be -"
"You thought?" He screwed his face up in an ugly frown and held out his arm. "There is a motherfucking psycho on your cute little ass and you thought...?! What did you think, Ororo? Tell me what the fuck you just thought."
"Don't talk to me that way," her voice had gone eerily calm.
"Don't do stupid things like come and visit me when you know he's on the hunt for your ass."
There was a pregnant pause between the two of them and finally, Ororo decided to speak up.
"Goodbye, Logan." She hated to end this on bad terms with him but if this were to be the last time they would see one another then so be it.
"'Ro," he started.
She turned to walk away.
"At least let me take you home. You shouldn't be out this late."
"I love you."
Victor's eyes narrowed to slits as he heard the exchange between the two of them. He stuck his hand into his pocket and fiddled with the keys to his car. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Logan and Ororo. His hearing had always been fucking magnificent. That's what his father had yelled at him so many times.
She loved him?
All those years with her and she couldn't bring herself to say it but spend a few weeks with a fucking illegal boxer and she was in love? This guy wasn't even handsome. What the hell was she on?
He wanted to blow both their brains out but he couldn't risk getting caught. It would be stupid to shoot two people when there was a bar full of nosiy ass morons right next to them. He leaned against the wall and watched the show before his eyes.
He could tell Logan was in love with her. Hell, he saw that the moment she had come running up to stop him and turned around. That dark brooding look he wore during and after his fight faded as soon as she had called his name. What gave this son of a bitch the right to so much as look at her? As far as Victor was concerned, he and Ororo were still dating.
So naturally, this bitch was cheating on him.
He was going to kill them.
First, he was going to kill Ororo.
Then he was going to kill Logan.
He would let them die together.
"Get on the bike," Logan whispered. He sat down and Ororo climbed on with him. When Ororo looked at his hands, she noticed they were shaking but she climbed on behind him, anyway. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her cheek against the back of his shoulder.
Neither of them noticed the car trailing behind them as he pulled out of the alleyway and made his way down the busy road.
Logan stared intently down the road and drove onto the highway. He sped along, his mind was completely at a blank. He did not want to turn around and see that beautiful white hair flowing around her even more beautiful face. The very thought of seeing her for the last time was killing him.
Why in the hell did she have to go and say a thing like that?
Before he had even realized it, Logan was pulling into her motel and parking his motorcycle.
Ororo climbed off and smoothed back her hair. Logan didn't bother getting off the motorcycle. She turned to stare at him, waiting for whatever hurtful thing he was going to tell her.
Instead, he replied with, "If you love me so much, why are you leaving me?"
She decided not to answer that. Slowly climbing up the stairs, she unlocked her door, and stepped inside.
Logan looked up at the door, sighed, and sped off into the night.
