Logan Knows
A/N: This is the opening for a series I'm writing. It won't make sense 'till I'm through. If you're lost, don't worry. If it's any consolation, I am too.
[this] is a flashback
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Synopsis:
Someday, I'll write the story in its entirety. I can't tonight. Xavier's told the world about the existence of mutants, and humanity reacted in the worst possible way, waging a full-scale war on mutant-kind. 'Good Guys' became desperate and revealed their true natures, 'Bad Guys' worked with the 'good'. The war brought out the true self of everyone, testing them all, lasting five long, anguished years. The end? : Mutant- kind triumphs, but it is a bitter victory, won with the blood of siblings, parents, and children. During the course of the war, in the second year, Chase is taken captive. Devon stays alive for him, fighting for three years to find him. Just after the end of the war, she discovers his body, preserved in a genetic experiment compound. She destroys the compound, and all involved. Unknown to her, Wolverine has been tracking her since the war ended three months ago, and he is close. And that is where this begins. It is two weeks after she extracted her revenge. Devon is now twenty, and alone. She wanders the streets…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
… It is dark out. The moon shines cold, cold as the air, cold as Omni's heart. After she lost Chase, she lost any shred of Devon Denler, and was Omni in whole.
There were three thousand people in that building.
A fog covers the streets, hiding whoever, whatever, may be lurking in the shadows Omni cannot see. Her breath comes as fog as well, bursting in small clouds of white, to fade away in the cold, cold air.
Cold like her soul. Burning like her heart.
They hurt him.
Omni doesn't know what country she's in. Countries, boundaries, all ceased to matter when the war started. It was human against mutant, and they were the only alliances that counted.
[She had come into the building, two days ago.]
Omni is cold. She doesn't remember being this cold before. She is dressed in her battle suit. She seems to be wearing it more and more often lately. She pulls the long black leather trench coat tight around her, but she doesn't shiver.
[She had slipped through the hallways,-]
The smell of leather, which would have been imperceptible to most others, reminds Omni of someone she once knew, but who had fallen in battle. He too used to wear a leather trench coat, a brown one. Tan. He used to insist that it was tan.
[-killing those who got in her way.]
Just as another she had known used to insist that his fur was indigo. "It was, too, Kurt… It was…" Omni mumbles to herself. A pain of broken memory stabs her, but she doesn't flinch. She has seen too much, and welcomes the pain. It is better than the cold deadness that had crept into her when her first friend had fallen. In her drowning sanity, she struggled for a name, finally mumbling it to the frigid air. "Pietro."
[She made her way underground.]
Yes, poor brave, dead Pietro. "You used to be so fast, my friend. How did they catch you?" Now he is dead, cold and dead. Everything is cold. "Everything is cold." So cold. "So cold."
[She found the laboratory-]
Next to fall was Peter, strong Peter. Omni walks on, meandering unthinkingly through the winding streets. Fog swirls about her feet, wind swirls about her face, and everything is cold.
[-and the implements there worried her, bringing memories of pain she wished to forget.]
Her friends were dying. All were dying. Pietro, then Peter, then Remy, Kurt, Jon, and-
[Chase was in a holder of clear, viscous liquid. Medical statistics scattered the desks forming a semi-circle around the container, but dust had gathered thickly. Omni ignored the reports. She blasted open the container in a fit of rage, and the liquid gushed out in a flood. Chase came limply out, half-floating, into Omni's arms. She knelt to the floor, holding him, scrabbling wildly for a pulse she knew in her soul to be long gone. A scream of animalistic agony ripped from her throat, and-]
-Chase. She had destroyed the lab, hunted down and murdered all those who had escaped the blast. The fierce ache for revenge had been satisfied, leaving an empty hole in Omni's heart. She no longer believes in her soul. She finds herself on the doorstep of Damage's last headquarters. She walks to the roof, where she and Chase used to go to watch the stars and dream.
So much pain. So much agony, so much terror. Humans were dead. Mutants were dying. Earth was killing its children.
Omni was the only one who knew.
When she had reached into the mind of Charles Xavier to kill him, she had learned his darkest secret.
Mutants had won over humans because of a virus they had released, much like the Legacy virus. Once humankind was dead, it was supposed to go extinct as well. Instead, it had metamorphosed, and was killing mutants. It killed slowly, and was only noticeable when at last it tightened its grip on a life, choking it out.
Once mutants were dead, the disease would likely alter again, and affect animals.
Earth was killing itself with its greatest defense.
The ability to change.
Now Omni stands at the edge of the roof, and looks out over the city. She now knows it to be New York. In some places, electricity works and those areas are lit as day. In others, shadows become night, and you are walking in gloom.
Omni feels her wings grow from her back, blood and night wings. Her claws of the same color spring from her knuckles, and she knows her eyes are glowing red. They haven't been green since Remy died, and she changed them to be like his. Four years ago. She almost remembers what it is to fly for the joy of wind over your wings, and nearly smiles, the first in more time than she cares to remember. But, almost as if her mouth refuses the gesture, she stops. Suddenly, she stabs her claws into her chest again and again. The pain hits immediately, diminishing as her healing factor kicks in. She cannot kill herself. She slumps to the ground, sobbing, defeated, exhausted.
"Chase!!" she screams to the sky, "Chase!!"
"…why?"
But she learned long ago that Heaven does not respond to pleas borne on pain.
She steps on the small ledge and looks down. It is many, many stories to fall. Even Wolverine would die.
Omni doesn't know where her last friend, Logan was, or if he even lived. She wishes she could say good bye.
And, spreading her arms as if to embraces the ground, she stiffly jerks off the rooftop.
"I always love you…"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Omni doesn't see the man racing up the building to stop her. She doesn't hear him as he bursts onto the roof, nor does she perceive him sprint to the edge as she jumps.
She is with Chase.
And Logan knows.
1 Fallen Embers
Once, as my heart remember,
all the stars were fallen embers.
Once, when night seemed forever
I was with you.
Once, in the care of morning
in the air was all belonging.
Once, when that day was dawning.
I was with you.
How far we are from morning.
how far are we
and the stars shining through the darkness,
falling in the air.
Once, as the night was leaving
into us our dreams were weaving.
Once, all dreams were worth keeping.
I was with you.
Once, when our hearts were singing,
I was with you.
(Fallen Embers, A Day Without Rain, Enya)
A/N: This is the opening for a series I'm writing. It won't make sense 'till I'm through. If you're lost, don't worry. If it's any consolation, I am too.
[this] is a flashback
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Synopsis:
Someday, I'll write the story in its entirety. I can't tonight. Xavier's told the world about the existence of mutants, and humanity reacted in the worst possible way, waging a full-scale war on mutant-kind. 'Good Guys' became desperate and revealed their true natures, 'Bad Guys' worked with the 'good'. The war brought out the true self of everyone, testing them all, lasting five long, anguished years. The end? : Mutant- kind triumphs, but it is a bitter victory, won with the blood of siblings, parents, and children. During the course of the war, in the second year, Chase is taken captive. Devon stays alive for him, fighting for three years to find him. Just after the end of the war, she discovers his body, preserved in a genetic experiment compound. She destroys the compound, and all involved. Unknown to her, Wolverine has been tracking her since the war ended three months ago, and he is close. And that is where this begins. It is two weeks after she extracted her revenge. Devon is now twenty, and alone. She wanders the streets…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
… It is dark out. The moon shines cold, cold as the air, cold as Omni's heart. After she lost Chase, she lost any shred of Devon Denler, and was Omni in whole.
There were three thousand people in that building.
A fog covers the streets, hiding whoever, whatever, may be lurking in the shadows Omni cannot see. Her breath comes as fog as well, bursting in small clouds of white, to fade away in the cold, cold air.
Cold like her soul. Burning like her heart.
They hurt him.
Omni doesn't know what country she's in. Countries, boundaries, all ceased to matter when the war started. It was human against mutant, and they were the only alliances that counted.
[She had come into the building, two days ago.]
Omni is cold. She doesn't remember being this cold before. She is dressed in her battle suit. She seems to be wearing it more and more often lately. She pulls the long black leather trench coat tight around her, but she doesn't shiver.
[She had slipped through the hallways,-]
The smell of leather, which would have been imperceptible to most others, reminds Omni of someone she once knew, but who had fallen in battle. He too used to wear a leather trench coat, a brown one. Tan. He used to insist that it was tan.
[-killing those who got in her way.]
Just as another she had known used to insist that his fur was indigo. "It was, too, Kurt… It was…" Omni mumbles to herself. A pain of broken memory stabs her, but she doesn't flinch. She has seen too much, and welcomes the pain. It is better than the cold deadness that had crept into her when her first friend had fallen. In her drowning sanity, she struggled for a name, finally mumbling it to the frigid air. "Pietro."
[She made her way underground.]
Yes, poor brave, dead Pietro. "You used to be so fast, my friend. How did they catch you?" Now he is dead, cold and dead. Everything is cold. "Everything is cold." So cold. "So cold."
[She found the laboratory-]
Next to fall was Peter, strong Peter. Omni walks on, meandering unthinkingly through the winding streets. Fog swirls about her feet, wind swirls about her face, and everything is cold.
[-and the implements there worried her, bringing memories of pain she wished to forget.]
Her friends were dying. All were dying. Pietro, then Peter, then Remy, Kurt, Jon, and-
[Chase was in a holder of clear, viscous liquid. Medical statistics scattered the desks forming a semi-circle around the container, but dust had gathered thickly. Omni ignored the reports. She blasted open the container in a fit of rage, and the liquid gushed out in a flood. Chase came limply out, half-floating, into Omni's arms. She knelt to the floor, holding him, scrabbling wildly for a pulse she knew in her soul to be long gone. A scream of animalistic agony ripped from her throat, and-]
-Chase. She had destroyed the lab, hunted down and murdered all those who had escaped the blast. The fierce ache for revenge had been satisfied, leaving an empty hole in Omni's heart. She no longer believes in her soul. She finds herself on the doorstep of Damage's last headquarters. She walks to the roof, where she and Chase used to go to watch the stars and dream.
So much pain. So much agony, so much terror. Humans were dead. Mutants were dying. Earth was killing its children.
Omni was the only one who knew.
When she had reached into the mind of Charles Xavier to kill him, she had learned his darkest secret.
Mutants had won over humans because of a virus they had released, much like the Legacy virus. Once humankind was dead, it was supposed to go extinct as well. Instead, it had metamorphosed, and was killing mutants. It killed slowly, and was only noticeable when at last it tightened its grip on a life, choking it out.
Once mutants were dead, the disease would likely alter again, and affect animals.
Earth was killing itself with its greatest defense.
The ability to change.
Now Omni stands at the edge of the roof, and looks out over the city. She now knows it to be New York. In some places, electricity works and those areas are lit as day. In others, shadows become night, and you are walking in gloom.
Omni feels her wings grow from her back, blood and night wings. Her claws of the same color spring from her knuckles, and she knows her eyes are glowing red. They haven't been green since Remy died, and she changed them to be like his. Four years ago. She almost remembers what it is to fly for the joy of wind over your wings, and nearly smiles, the first in more time than she cares to remember. But, almost as if her mouth refuses the gesture, she stops. Suddenly, she stabs her claws into her chest again and again. The pain hits immediately, diminishing as her healing factor kicks in. She cannot kill herself. She slumps to the ground, sobbing, defeated, exhausted.
"Chase!!" she screams to the sky, "Chase!!"
"…why?"
But she learned long ago that Heaven does not respond to pleas borne on pain.
She steps on the small ledge and looks down. It is many, many stories to fall. Even Wolverine would die.
Omni doesn't know where her last friend, Logan was, or if he even lived. She wishes she could say good bye.
And, spreading her arms as if to embraces the ground, she stiffly jerks off the rooftop.
"I always love you…"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Omni doesn't see the man racing up the building to stop her. She doesn't hear him as he bursts onto the roof, nor does she perceive him sprint to the edge as she jumps.
She is with Chase.
And Logan knows.
1 Fallen Embers
Once, as my heart remember,
all the stars were fallen embers.
Once, when night seemed forever
I was with you.
Once, in the care of morning
in the air was all belonging.
Once, when that day was dawning.
I was with you.
How far we are from morning.
how far are we
and the stars shining through the darkness,
falling in the air.
Once, as the night was leaving
into us our dreams were weaving.
Once, all dreams were worth keeping.
I was with you.
Once, when our hearts were singing,
I was with you.
(Fallen Embers, A Day Without Rain, Enya)