Ancient Sunshine
"You is a brute, mon glouton. Do you have any idea what yo' are doing t' Remy?" Gambit hissed as he slowly picked his way through the lock. "What are we doing back in this hell-hole?"
"Unknown data signal transferred from the school to around here," was the answer Wolverine grunted. "Around the same time as the theft. Might be from Hunter."
"Mais oui, der coquette is rather like mon tante, terrifying," Gambit faked a shudder to make his point. "What are we looking for?"
"They mentioned something, a billet-doux," Logan racked his head for the plans of the Damon Institute. "This place's crawling with physicists, especially people respectable enough to be invited by the likes of Richards. At the Baxter, there was a fire at the conference, when they picked up something."
"A drop point?" Gambit quietly inferred as the door swung open with a quiet click. "Information, huh... den der love letter might be in a SD card or a USB. Easy to transport, safe, canna be tampered, simple to smuggle off. Well, fences might leave copies, but otherwise..."
"Just find a computer and stick this in," Logan groaned as he waved the USB around.
"Oui," Gambit muttered as he threw a faintly glowing card at a nearby camera. "Still... no one here-"
The door swung open and both mutants paused at the sight of many people sitting across each other and dealing cards. A few chips were scattered in piles and singles about the felt-covered table. Music, a guitar-drum combo drifted about.
Remy felt his hands twitched. "Blackjack?"
"We meet again, Mr LeBeau." Stiletto heels clicked as who else but the ringleader sauntered forward. "And how would I address your companion?"
Gambit's face would have turned pale, and did turn a more severe shade of white, as he looked at her. "Merde."
"Come now, language. I've heard of the Gambit, but to be working with the X-Men... well, there are a lot of words I could say, and none of them are quite so vitriolic as disappointed," was the blithe reply.
"Same kind?" was the faint reply. Gambit was not even going for the exploding cards... must be seriously terrified, Logan concluded. Of what, and of who, that was the question.
"You could come in, and we could play a game," Diana pleasantly concluded. "Or... would you prefer the hard way? I'm a sporting woman."
"A game?" Gambit echoed in disbelief.
"Yes. Or, oui." Diana motioned to the table, taking the end further from the table. "We play with chips. The condition is that whoever wins all of the other side's chips first wins. If you win, you and your companion may leave. If I win, you and him stay. Standard rules. You and your companion can team up if needed. If either side gets violent then we reserve the right to defend ourselves."
"Or I could run out of here," Wolverine slowly prepared to draw his claws. "With him."
Diana took a deep breath as she drew a card from her pocket. "Do you know the concept of Duel Monsters?"
"Non, Remy plays with big boy cards, not childish-" Gambit caught himself as chains snapped out of the card and paralysed his entire form. At the same time, Diana drew another card to lash out at Logan, the cantankerous X-Man falling to the ground flat.
"Play, and win, or forfeit," Diana shrugged. "The Arcadia Movement would love to take this chance."
The background music itself seemed to drift from the back, the words surprisingly portent...
She seems to come from everywhere,
Welcome to the dragon's lair,
Fingers running through your hair,
She asks you out to play...
Still downed, Logan groaned. It was not the groan of disappointment, but rather one of... pain. Hard it was to believe, the Wolverine was in pain.
"Pestilence," Diana's voice was helpful and informative and a lot of things that basically meant that she was hurting the Wolverine before the eyes of Gambit. "Attach to Warrior, Spellcaster or Beast-Warrior Type. Attack power becomes zero, and every turn the controller takes five hundred damage. Which effectively leaves the Wolverine unable to fight back and receiving periodical damage."
A grunt.
"And that's the kidneys," came the helpful murmur.
"Don't worry, Logan," Gambit muttered. "Der Wolverine, he has a healing factor. We only need to wait until the rest of them get here."
"Gambit..." Wolverine bit out. "It's not working?"
"Excusez moi?"
"Somehow... she turned off the healing factor," Wolverine bit out as his claws scratched at the floor, though the adamantium did not bite the planks underneath.
"Skill Drain works on mutants as well," Diana plainly replied. "Did you know how long it took me to find a copy?"
Fearless, brave Wolverine, lying on the floor, grunting for as long as cracks began to sound from his own body. Wolverine began coughing, and Remy did not like that cough. Gambit wholeheartedly agreed with Remy.
"If dis Cajun wins... you cure Wolverine, kapeesh?" Gambit growled. "And let us go."
"As far as outside the building," Diana nodded. "Or would you relish a challenge?"
"Non, no challenge, Gambit must be practical for once," Gambit swaggered to deposit himself opposite, picking up a single chip and two cards slid over by the dealer. "Hit me."
With the alacrity that must come from frequent association with colourful personalities, the dealer merely slid the card over. The other players had long ambled over to the sidelines to watch, and one soul was actually considerate enough to lend Logan his jacket as an improvised pillow.
"Call," Diana barely blinked at her two cards.
"Raise," Remy smirked as he pulled the card, frowning again. "Hit me."
Another card. Five, four three. Still under.
"Call. Someone, give the Wolverine a brandy."
"Raise. And dis Gambit?"
"Follow. You need your wits, Mr LeBeau. Unless, for some perverse reason you do wish to stay and have me inflict pain upon your very person."
"Non, non," Remy glared at the two. "Hit me."
"Call. Oh, and this is a Game of Darkness, so those who cheat would have to go through a penalty game, okay?"
"Raise. Whatever." A six. Remy's hand fanned out to show his five cards. "Twenty."
Her hand flipped the Ace and Queen over. "Vingt-et-un. Pay up."
It happened again. And again. Even when it came his turn to deal, and Gambit resolved to cheat.
How had the Ace managed to slip there even with the lack of sleeves about her person to hide the card, Remy hardly knew as one of his hands were drawn back for Diana to snatch the Queen of Hearts out of.
"You cheated." Her expression looked sad.
"Meh," Gambit debated his options. Logan might have looked slightly ill, but someone had given him a bright orange shock blanket, plied him with brandy, and given him a makeshift pillow. So far, the people present were not about to slit his throat open, since people with that sort of intention never treated their captives nicely. "I lose, I give myself to you. But... could you make Logan better?"
"He fights, I take it out on your hide," Diana briskly murmured, but drew another card and muttered. Almost immediately Logan seemed more improved.
"You is a nice femme," Gambit shook his head. "Why?"
Diana was saved from answering when Iemitsu entered the makeshift poker room. "Madam, we are under attack."
Behind, an explosion and the sound of cracking steel sounded.
"Already?" Diana looked irritated. "I have nothing on the Xavier Institute. Just go already. They'll kill you if you're here."
"Wha?" But Diana had already marched out with Iemitsu in tow.
"Can I show you the way out?" Iemitsu was still standing there. "And can Mr Wolverine stand? I fear that we may not be able to handle him."
"You... know?" Gambit stared at him.
Most would have flinched under his red and black gaze, but Iemitsu held his ground. "The Damon Institute will not hold for long."
"I'm fine," a shaking Wolverine hauled himself to his feet. "And I hate brandy."
"If you say so," the manservant looked unperturbed. "May I show you the way out?" An explosion sounded overhead, at odds with Iemitsu's calm politeness.
"... This is bizarre," was Wolverine's conclusion as he unsheathed his claws. "Now quit the bloody politeness. What's going on?"
"A mere attack upon the Damon Institute."
"A mere-?" All three men dived as the door was riddled by something resembling blunt force trauma and then, silence.
"A mere attack," Iemitsu repeated, dusting his cuffs off briskly as he got up after the bullet barrage. "Monsieur LeBeau, Mr Wolverine, the Madam is about to blow up the Institute. Please follow me if you wish not to get lost."
"She left you as a guide?" Logan snorted as the two mutants reluctantly followed one seemingly ordinary, if overly polite, manservant.
"A trusted guide," the man nodded as they walked, albeit slightly slowly. "As you may well know, I am Iemitsu."
"Jap," Wolverine slurred.
"Yes."
"You said that she was blowing this building sky-high?" Gambit interrupted.
"Only as a last-resort that is often resorted to more than should be comfortable. Hopefully we are not so overrun that she would need to do so."
They turned a corner, and two men charged the party. Gambit whacked his staff out, and one went down. The other was rapidly dispatched by Wolverine slamming him into the nearest wall.
The one Gambit had taken down wheezed, drawing a familiar card. "Ookazi!"
Wolverine only just narrowly avoided the fireball of intense heat. "What the hell was that?"
"A psychic Duelist," Iemitsu slammed the man into the wall again. The mook sank onto the floor. For good measure, Iemitsu also shuffled through their pockets and put away two decks of cards. "We should continue."
"We're heading up," Gambit realised. "Wrong direction."
"I assure you, it is the entirely correct one," Iemitsu murmured as he reached the grey-painted door. "Mr Wolverine?"
The door was certainly not Wolverine-proof, that much was clear when it was sliced to ribbons. "I don't trust you."
"I am not asking you to," Iemitsu murmured as he walked towards a ski-bridge to the adjoining building. "Madam, we are safe. You may proceed with the complete destruction of the Damon Institute.
Almost in answer, ten round lights glittered in the distance, and Logan spied a set of metal racks containing something roughly like cannonballs but which military experience told him tended to be more damaging. "Shit... Run!"
Gambit might have argued, but the Cajun did have a whit of self-preservation, and when Logan said run, you ran, no questions asked.
Three pairs of feet had barely crossed the bridge when the barrage began, glass shattering as cement and concrete shattered under the sheer onslaught of projectiles. No casings dropped; there were apparently none to spend. Simple, elemental destruction, not like an atom bomb as much as a storm of something unexplainable, an elemental storm called upon to deal out judgement. Lumpy metal spheres, maybe twenty or thirty of them, flew out into the air. They exploded in a ripple of thunder and light. Spheres flew in deadly sprays, rattling off walls and tearing into concrete and steel with savage efficiency. The cannon-sphere flared into azure incandescence, energy from the shrapnel being absorbed and shed as flashbulb-bright bursts of light. The sound was indescribable, almost loud enough to kill all on its own.
And then, it was over; the cannon faded once its barrage was spent, leaving only an empty spot where it stood and the broken-down remains of the sinking building next door.
"Hello?" Diana was already calling a cellphone. "Looks like we got back our answer. It took destroying the whole building to handle it. At least, no one's inside."
Sirens were wailing in the distance when Diana finally deigned to move, only to be faced with a sharp adamantium claw. "Talk," Logan grated.
Blue eyes merely met feral gold. "Swords of Revealing Light."
The sabres of light pierced through both mutants, holding them into place.
"Iemitsu, let's go," Diana never looked back as she left.
"Oi! Leave some answers!" Logan bellowed, and continued bellowing for the three minutes it took for the Swords to wear off and for both X-Men to make their escape from the New York Police Department.
"A whole building," Logan grated as both men panted from their near brush with the law of New York. "A whole building, kaboom, and she never turned a hair. I think there were people still in there."
"Methinks... I think she doesn't see them a' people anymore," Gambit shivered. "That femme, if you're her enemy, she'd destroy you. Do' think she cares, using a scorched earth policy like that."
"No hesitation, just burn the whole thing down," Logan growled. "Think I like her style, if nothing else."
Deep breath. In. Out. In. Out. So Charles Xavier told himself as he prepared to immerse himself into the event about to happen. For the past few hours beforehand, he had been debating with a rather persuasive man.
"Dr Fudo..."
"Please, call me Yusei," the raven-haired man replied. While not looking particularly heavyset, the Japanese man clearly possessed an aura of reliability and dependability, as he had exhibited in persuading Aki and the twins to sleep before meeting Xavier in Baxter's lobby. "Mr Xavier... I may not have an understanding of the human minds, but I know something about bonds. I assure you that Ancient Fairy Dragon is a relatively harmless entity."
"Relatively harmless," Xavier pronounced. "You know that... that that dragon could be harmful if she chose."
"Ruka awoke when she was three years old," Yusei defended. "If Ancient Fairy had ill intent, she would've kept Ruka in the Spirit world instead."
"Pardon me, Dr Fudo, but... this talk of spirits... I may accept that perhaps, some people can inflict damage through a game, but spirits-"
"I'd submit, it is difficult to accept," Yusei spread his arms out in a vague gesture. "I suppose there is much more Duelist than Signer in me. If it weren't for Aki and Ruka's power, I would have had a lot more difficulty believing in the whole thing about the Crimson Dragon and struggles against ancient evil gods."
"Ancient evil-"
"Never mind that," Yusei stressed. "The point is, that while Ruka and Aki may slip up now and then, they are people in control of their destiny. For over two years already, Aki has managed to be able to love and think for herself when previously she would rather have depended on others."
What does a witch like me have to think about? So long as Divine shows me the way and loves me, then-!
No! You have to love yourself!
If I could do that... if I could... no, I can't! Can't you see that I'm suffering?!
Xavier picked up those fragments of memories, and more, and deciding upon one crucial fact. "Aki Izayoi was once a member of the Movement."
"Yes..." Yusei nodded. "I am... a friend. A concerned friend."
"Maybe more."
"Aki is... a precious friend of mine," Yusei hit upon.
Xavier privately thought that perhaps, more than that, but otherwise the physicist had hit upon that crucial aspect. "I think, that I understand. And Ruka? What do I tell her parents?"
Yusei sighed, setting his mug down to meet Xavier eye to stark, serious eye. "I think... perhaps, you could sit in with Ancient Fairy Dragon. If, perhaps... perhaps I could mediate with her. Ruka had entrusted me with Ancient Fairy Dragon before, I think I might be able to reach out to her."
Xavier had his doubts, but he had been admittedly at the end of his tether. It was an emotion that was prone to occur when he was confronted with anything quasi-magical.
As it were, it took him a while to open his eyes to the forest. Dimly, he was aware of his physical body, and across it Yusei's own body. The other professor stood across him, not in smart attire and white lab coat, but now in a dark blue jacket over a shirt with dark trousers and brown gloves and racing boots.
"I think... I wore this during the one time I held Ancient Fairy Dragon," Yusei frowned down at his attire. He then looked at the shapely trees with their crowns of gold in sunlight, wan and yet bright, and sighed.
And you did, Fudo Yusei. Ancient Fairy Dragon was there, wings spread. Welcome to the Ancient Forest. You led the meddler here, I see. That meddler who dared to pry into Ruka's heart without permission has obviously not learned his lesson.
"Ancient Fairy Dragon," Yusei nodded in greeting. "Mr Xavier is very apologetic about his invasion of Ruka's privacy. Aren't you, Mr Xavier?"
"I'm a telepath, it's..." Xavier stopped in the face of Yusei's expression. Clearly, the raven-haired man was offended. It almost reminded him of Steve Rogers, though Xavier doubted that Yusei could do half the things Captain America did. "I... am sorry. Ancient Fairy Dragon... could you clarify? Are we in Ruka's mind, or are we in another world?"
We are in the Ancient Forest. The overlap, if you must know. Though, there are others like Ruka, who holds the keys to the world of Spirits.
"You are embodied in a card," Xavier pointed out.
I... yes, the card is my vessel in this time, as is Ruka. You have questions, Charles Xavier. Why I and those like I, why we can be alive though your science would argue otherwise. I answer you, that I exist, as I have existed since before the dawn of mankind, and will continue to exist. I am; so why are you questioning my existence?
Xavier could hardly debate the specifics in the face of such sagacity. "Of course, I did not mean to question your existence, but inanimate objects are not meant to hold living beings-"
Again, an incorrect judgement. By the strictest criteria of your mortal-kind, I would not be 'alive'. I exist. The closest you may judge is that I am sentient, and I am powerful.
Xavier felt that they had accomplished great progress. At the very least, the dragon had yet to shut him out. "I am appealing to you, Ancient Fairy Dragon. I have promised the girl's parents that I will help her. Ancient Fairy Dragon... the girl, Ruka, she is young yet. She has a future. Please leave her, please do not interfere in her future with regular society."
Charles Xavier, you are curious about our existence, but it is not in you to question this time. The dragon's great head cocked to one side. Not for a long, long time, and not by those like you. I swore an oath to protect the girl to my last breath. No matter the legends you mortals speak about my kind, we keep our promises. I will remain to keep my promise. I swear unto you, Charles Xavier, that I mean no harm to the girl, that only her ability and our shared fate keeps us together. Even if our bond is shattered, there will be a shadow of creation, that the universe will remember our bonds.
Idly, Ancient Fairy drifted over to be face to face with Yusei. Fudo Yusei... the one who made the bonds that defied fate. The one who averted the horrible future that would have happened.
Yusei barely blinked. "Ancient Fairy Dragon. We meet again."
You assist the tempestuous spell-caster and her guardian. One claw scratched at her cuff. It is an admirable choice. I hope that we will meet once more at the crossroads of fate with Stardust at your beck, but I dare not wish it.
Some part of Xavier commented that perhaps, the dragon was fond of Yusei. That part of him had clearly picked up too much from Logan.
Was there a deeper reason than what you already know that you request an audience? The dragon was clearly prone to mood swings, of a sort.
"What is it like?" Yusei spoke out. "To be closer than maybe even between siblings to Ruka?"
I... I see the nature of your question, Fudo Yusei, that as a spirit partner I am far closer to Ruka than can be achieved physically, the dragon nodded. Yes, that is a question that would allow you to gain insight, if not actual knowledge. It is risky; because I myself am here, undesirables like the last one may enter the spirit world with Ruka. And yet... it is a powerful bond, it goes two ways. It is a bond forged by destiny, one-of-a-kind, two hearts together in an intimate sense rather than the romantic sense. It is the undeniable trust that a Duelist has for those of his deck. I think, maybe you would understand it like that, you who hold bonds so dear.
Yusei nodded. "Because Duelists, no matter how powerful, need the cards first. So the cards become everything."
Xavier frowned, and continued to even as the forest faded around them. He then faced Yusei, who was now opening his eyes, and both men looked at Ruka sleeping on the bed.
At the side, Rua was still keeping watch.
Ruka opened her eyes, glancing at the Professor. "I don't think you understand."
"I don't think it's possible for me to," Xavier gently answered. "Yet I think I do. You have a very unusual friend, Ruka."
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