A/N: So this was an angst-ridden little piece that I got after watching X3. Please review.
Disclaimer: I don't own…
Closure
A moment between two unlikely people, reflecting on what they have in common.
The sun shone as the man found himself standing in the courtyard. It took everything he had in him to believe that someone he'd once so deeply cared for was gone. He blinked back the tears that stung his eyes at the thought of the years they'd spent together, and the years they'd spent apart. And in that moment, he realized that he'd be willing to do anything to have even one more minute back. He reached out and touched the stone, tracing the letters that formed the name: Charles Xavier. A sudden voice from behind almost startled him.
"What do you want?" The sentence was punctuated by the soft, metallic snikt of the mutant's claws. The other turned to face him.
"I came here with no intention other than paying respect to my friend." For a moment, Logan wanted to laugh. How could there be any evil intention? "Magneto" was no longer the threat he once was, only a harmless old man--a human. Before he knew what he was doing, Logan came to stand beside his ex-nemesis. It was silent for what felt like an eternity, both men gazing at the marble slab.
"He was a good guy," the Wolverine finally said. Again, silence. After a while, Magneto spoke again.
"We were both seventeen-years-old when we met, Charles and I. It started out simply as games of chess, but before too long, we both discovered our true common denominator. Charles saw being different as a good thing. He swore to devote his life to fostering peace between mutants and humans. I told him he was insane, that it would never happen. I was right--it will never happen." Logan raised an eyebrow.
"What makes you so sure of that?"
"Because, my boy, there is no such thing as peace. Not between mutants, or humans…" The old man's voice fell to almost a whisper. "Not even between friends." The fact that he had indirectly caused and could have done nothing to prevent Xavier's demise had mercilessly haunted Erik Lehnsherr until this moment. The mutant shrugged.
"I guess." An even more intense silence was ushered in as Logan took in the three markers that stood side by side--essentially all that remained of three of the most important people in his life. He sighed. "It's kinda amazing, everything that the Professor was able to do. I mean, there are so many kids in that school right now whose families think they're total freaks. And he…didn't, know what I mean?" The other nodded.
"I do."
"And now all of those kids are left without the one person who understood them most. But it's not just them--" Logan's thought shifted to Storm, and Hank, and lastly, to himself. He'd lost more than just the man who had opened up his home when there was nowhere else for him to go, but the man who had become almost something of a father, the undoubted leader and Patriarch of the only family Logan had ever really known. "it's us, too." Lehnsherr nodded solemnly.
More silence. After a few moments more, the old man turned to walk away. A sudden realization hit Logan, and he called out. "You were wrong, you know," he said.
"Is that so?" Lehnsherr stared coldly at the man who used to be his enemy. The Wolverine stepped closer and extended his hand. The other made no move to reciprocate the action.
"If peace between mutants and humans didn't exist, why the hell would you and I both be standing here right now?" Another tense minute passed, and Lehnsherr reached out and shook Logan's hand, allowing himself to laugh softly to himself.
"Even now Charles has his ways of getting inside our heads, doesn't he?" Logan smirked.
"Yeah, I guess he does." Their gazes locked one final time, and then only Logan was left standing there, watching as the other walked away, momentarily hoping they'd meet again somewhere in the not too distant future.