On the Turning Away
Note and Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything, like characters and plots, from X-Men, but the extra characters not in the original series are obviously mine. This is now the fifth story (and most likely final) of the series, "Unspoken", which will take place after Days of Future Past in trying to have Logan remember everything from the past in the new timeline. This is a direct sequel to Remember Me, Remember Us as well. Enjoy!
It's a sin that somehow,
Light is changing to shadow
And casting its shroud
Over all we have known.
Unaware how the ranks have grown,
Driven on by a heart of stone,
We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud.
On the wings of the night,
As the daytime is stirring,
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord…
Using words you will find are strange,
And mesmerized as they light the flame.
Feel the new wind of change,
On the wings of the night…
May 25, 2023
It had been a dark and stormy day, something that was dragging over from the previous days and one that was not letting up either. Glancing out the window, one could still see power lines downed and trees in pieces, leaves and wires shattered like loose papers in the wind. On the inside, it was more chaotic. Children had finally gathered back in their darkened corners or had grabbed the legs of the adults passing by and carrying old-fashioned wax candles, all of them wishing that the storm would finally end and lives would be back to normal. The lights seemed to have carried a certain amount of stability, a taper through the hollering winds rattling the old windows.
For the past few days, ever since this had started, there had been a certain sort of nervous atmosphere in the air. It had been enough that it seemed like a haunted house and that power seemed to be flaring all at once because of how scared some of the children were and because of their bickering. That alone gave Danielle a major headache. As she strolled through the groups that littered the hallways, foyer and living room, she rubbed her forehead in dismay. She could feel everything, more so than ever before, and this awareness was alarming. Ever since she had been attempting to show Logan their mutual past and the horrible events that led them to their happiness, strange things had been happening, not just to her, but to Jay as well. It was not just that she was tired and feeling the effects of her efforts. No, it had been more than that, a tug towards a cold future that she had not felt in some years.
Danielle did her circuit around the usual hiding places, coaxing smaller children out from under the furniture and getting the older ones to stop taking advantage of their fears. Feeling somewhat satisfied with her duties (and also feeling that she was stepping on others' feet as they did the same thing), she left, passing a few teachers as she did. As she proceeded upstairs though, Jean stopped her. Glancing left and right to ensure privacy, Jean pushed her friends up the remaining stairs left to them and settled in a random doorway, away from anyone's hearing.
"You're not doing well." It was an accusation, a sharp one too, even from Jean.
"No," Danielle admitted openly. "I'm not doing well. What did you expect?"
"That you'd lay off for a while."
"Not now. It's been a day since I've stopped the marathon, Jean. I've reached a good stopping point, but not where the story should end."
"Oh?"
Danielle appeared embarrassed, not wanting to recall the events again. "My first marriage and this country in shambles because of it."
Jean nodded in understand. "It would be a good place to stop for some weeks, I would think."
"Would you think it would also be a good time to see if the town has a public phone open?" Danielle desperately wanted to change the subject. "Maybe a municipal office has something I can use? I can't go without hearing from my children."
Jean noticed the turnaround and decided to do nothing about it. "We can attempt it. However, I think it's extremely foolish and would bring more trouble than it's worth."
"But I need to contact Devon, Michael and Riley," Danielle confessed, envying Jean that she had her children home with her. She also was trying to still her aching head. "They wouldn't be able to call or come in and out. I'm sure the roads are still closed."
"They are," Jean allowed. "They might need to wait until Salem Center opened them up again. Don't worry about them, Danielle. They're all adults and can take care of themselves. They've proven it before."
It was natural that Danielle was so worried about those three. Michael and Riley had spent their early lives in their father's hands and had never lived it down until long after he was dead and buried. Devon had been supposedly rescued by the wrong people when he was an orphan and homeless and tortured until he escaped. He soon found Danielle, just as lonely as she was, and immediately trusted her open arms. Ever since then, she had been so protective of the three, more so than the other two children, and had always tried keeping in contact with them as much as possible. Danielle had been lax about it in recent years, ever since Riley started college, but her anxiety never ceased.
"I'm sure." Danielle seemed distant. "So, what now? We wait this out?"
"It's perhaps the most rational suggestion you've had in some time," Jean replied. "Come on. Let's rejoin the others."
Danielle nodded in agreement, following Jean back downstairs and tripping over the same things and children and yelling at them about the same things. In the meantime though, Danielle was stopped by Logan. Although she saw Celeste behind him and Daken with his friends in another corner, some thought pushed into her mind unbidden, thinking of all sorts of scenarios those two could have gotten into without her supervision. She gulped down the lump in her throat though, smiling at Logan.
"You hear from the kids?" Even Logan sounded nervous.
"No," Danielle admitted. "I thought of perhaps running out, but I think Jean persuaded me otherwise."
Logan grinned as Celeste rolled her eyes and walked away. "I think there might be another way."
"Don't you always have a plan?" Danielle quickly glanced at Daken and Celeste evenly before turning back to Logan. "What is it?"
"Well, someone's older brother seems to still have a motorcycle that needs borrowing. Apparently, he has not been using it as often as he lets on."
"Stealing Jay's bike, you mean?"
Logan shrugged his shoulders. "Same thing."
"Don't you ever change?" Danielle sighed. "Roads are closed though. How are we getting out?"
"When there's a will –" Logan began.
"There's always a way," Danielle finished. "Ok, ok, I get it. Lead the way once you tell me how the children are being watched."
"Blackmailing the Fuzzball," Logan only answered, an air of mystery around him. "Now, come on."
Danielle did not bother replying and did not want to know how Logan achieved it. Instead, she allowed herself to be snuck out of the mansion, down the secret doorway into the garage. They soon found Jay's motorcycle, keys in Logan's hands. She climbed on behind Logan, taking the only helmet, and soon felt wind as he started it up and they fled, dodging debris down the driveway. The gates opened before them and the paved pathways leading away from the school appeared as if an obstacle course. Logan dodged each one, zigzagging all the way as Danielle held onto tightly (and wishing for some safety), and was soon parking near the police station. There had been people there already, many of them requesting certain things, but that did not deter the couple. They slipped through a side down Logan remembered and were soon down a hallway that led to an information desk. After bargaining with the woman behind it and threatening all sorts of things, Logan managed to have five minutes on a phone line. Using himself as a shield, he handed it to Danielle, watching as she dialed the familiar numbers. First, it was Devon, who did not answer and was left a tense message, begging for a word and to be careful. Next was Michael, who hardly heard them over the static and managed to understand not to come and to pass that to Riley. By then, the line was dead.
Danielle handed the phone back to the woman at the desk and felt defeated, sighing again as she and Logan left the same way they came in. Within ten minutes, they were back at the school before anyone noticed them gone, although she was sure that Jean, the Professor and even Jay at least knew their whereabouts. Jean gave Danielle a dirty glare too before returning back to her board game with Scott, Rogue, Bobby and some other children. Jay only winked, as if in a conspiracy and holding back its secrets, and went to follow his wife upstairs, papers in Fiona's tiny arms. Xavier was busily making his own rounds, Hank next to him and appearing very nervous, especially when he saw Logan. Danielle somehow did not want to know still. She only waved at Hank and Xavier, figuring out a way to get through this mess and find Daken and Celeste before they got into any more trouble.
It also left the two alone within the sea of bodies that continued to crowd and it felt stifling. Rubbing her forehead once more and seeing that her youngest children were safe (Daken at another board game and Celeste gossiping), Danielle tugged on Logan's shirt, motioning him to follow him too, and they left together, stopping in their room upstairs. Danielle lit a few candles with matches to give the room some illumination and laid on the bed, her arms stretched out to the other side.
Logan sat on the edge of the bed. "You're sick." The statement was plain and seemed to hit Danielle harder than she even expected.
"Huh?" She sat up. "What do you mean?"
Logan did not answer. This made Danielle a little frightened. He knew something was up. Granted, Logan always had a way of figuring things out. She did not know it would be this quick, although the frantic way in which she scrambled to make him understand the world they now lived in – the memories he seemed to have never known overnight – made her think that she was a little too obvious. Yes, she had been depressed too, reliving all of those years again and trying her hardest to live them down and coexist in harmony. However, it was never this intense before. She was cold, unwilling to feel the life she had been taught to embrace, and that was troubling too. She was sure that Jay was feeling the same way, providing all that he did, and that it would affect him the same way.
"Are you sure you want to continue?" Logan asked, uncertain of the response himself. "Are you ok?"
"What? I am fine. And of course I do. I think you deserve to know the truth." Danielle smiled, trying her hardest still to keep the headache away. "Not right now though. The last round made me an insomniac, I swear."
The last statement was supposed to be funny and it came out that way, causing the two to snicker in a moment of intimacy. However, the underlining tone had been serious. Danielle had not been sleeping for the past few days, less and less since that Friday before, which made the pull worse. Last night, which she spent talking to Jay until a grey dawn broke and Logan had been left to dream, she had been seeking it, hoping that she could escape the waking nightmare. However, every time she closed her eyes nowadays, two red ones, mirroring hers, would appear within the blackness…and it all had started on the day she decided to gather together all of those memories, spending all of her time and energy trying to piece together a life for a man who did not remember anything past 1973. While thankful to whoever it was up there that she did not have to rummage through anything before that dreaded year, Danielle would never admit that she was seeing a dead version of herself in her sleep. Not now, not ever.
"We have all the time in the world to finish this up," Danielle continued, accepting the embrace that Logan had to offer. "What matters to me now is that you understand and you remember everything. Even if it doesn't come back to you and that your other world is all you have and the only memories that you have, at least know that you were in the here and now. That matters to me, whoever you happen to be."
"Even if you don't seem the same to me?" Logan saw many similarities, but the same exact woman could never be.
"That's up to you." Danielle broke away. "I would love to stay married to you, even if you just are the father of our children. To me though, you would always be the same person and that's what matters. You've proven that you still are."
Logan smiled and kissed Danielle tenderly, holding her again. Yes, he mused, this was all that mattered to him too.
Yeah, everyone, I am back with the new story! Promised it would be up somehow. :D Anyway, I hope that everyone is having a great holiday so far. I might not post tomorrow, but soon. And before I forget, the inspiration of this story comes from the lyrics, which are Pink Floyd's "On the Turning Away".