a tender little moment during The Emerald City

warnings: giant collision of Earth-339 AU and Fateverse/X-Men Movieverse AU. mention of war and violence. language: pg-13 (for one use of f***).

pairing: Nate/Herald!Wade, Logan/Traveler!Wade.

timeline: June 2012.

disclaimer: i doesn't owns the movies, comics, or characters. or the assorted objects of pop culture reference.

notes: 1) another difference between Herald!Wade and Traveler!Wade: Herald!Wade will swear around kids, but Traveler!Wade has been trained not to (lest Halle Berry boot him out of her mansion). 2) hm...are there more notes? do you know? i don't know.

visit The Fateverse Glossary (merianmoriarty (dot) deviantart (dot) com/art/Fateverse-Glossary-174203180) for terms, concepts, Nodes, and important people.

Secrets

Hope watches Nathan and Wade and the other Wade talk with Doctor Richards. Franklin is supposed to be 'keeping her occupied' so the grown-ups can have their little discussion. Instead, he's explaining what they're talking about.

"It has to do with changing things in his DNA," he tells her. He has tried using more technical terms, but she doesn't understand enough about science just yet, so he's been working his way down to her level.

"Oh," she says. "Okay. Because it's the funny parts from Mister Logan that made his brain work wrong. That makes sense. Will he still heal fast?"

Franklin frowns for a moment. "Dad isn't sure. But the thing is."

She looks over to where Wade is fidgeting with Eight-Ball and the other Wade is holding the other crystal-ball-thing. "Which one?"

"The one that's lit up. The other one isn't thinking."

The other Mister Logan walks over and crouches next to them. "Hey, kids."

"Hello, Mister Logan," they both reply.

"Oh, you've heard of me," he says with a grin. "They tell me the version you guys have is shorter and meaner."

Hope snorts. "He's not nearly as mean as he pretends. I don't have any trouble with him, because he has a weakness for redheads and little girls."

He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, Wade keeps tellin' me I'm the same way."

"Are you?"

He chuckles. "I guess I am."

She looks over at the other grown-ups. Nathan and Wade look excited. The other Wade looks tired…so tired… "How long have you been looking for us?"

"Hm…maybe a little less than a couple of hours now," says Mister Logan.

"Then why does he look so tired, if it's only been a couple of hours?"

He doesn't say anything, and when she looks at him, he seems surprised.

"It's because of Nathan," Franklin says, and they both look at him. "Being around Nathan makes him think of too many things at once."

"Yes," says other Wade, startling them.

"You gotta stop sneakin' up on me, darlin'," mutters Mister Logan.

"Stop thinking of me as 'other-Wade,' Hope," he tells her with a lopsided grin. "It's way too dorky. If the wording gets confusing, just call me 'the Traveler.' Everybody else does."

The Traveler. It settles somewhere in the back of her mind, makes itself at home, fits like there was a certain little space just for it.

The Traveler settles down beside them with one knee up and the other leg stretched out. "Hey, princess," he says, just a greeting. Like he hasn't been hanging around with them for twenty minutes now.

"Hey, Wade," she says, and sits down to pat his leg. "You look tired."

"I am tired. But that's not important. I've got some secrets I have to tell you, and I need you to promise you won't tell anybody else."

She looks at Franklin and Mister Logan.

"They're okay," the Traveler says, waving a hand. "Jamie's coming home with me, and Frank knows when it's better not to tell people something."

"Okay," Hope says, holding out her pinky. "I promise I won't tell anybody about the secrets you tell me."

He smiles at her, and it's warm and comfortable, just like Wade's smile. Then he links his pinky through hers. "Better not, or I'll come back and tickle you to death." The smile goes away. "Things are probably gonna be okay for a while, but then they're going to get very, very bad. I know Nate's been telling you over and over that you're supposed to save the world, you'll know what to do when the time comes, blah-blah-blah. Well, there'll come a time when people start to ask you what they should do, and I want you to follow your heart when you answer them. Okay?"

She nods.

"You're gonna miss some of the worst stuff, because you'll have to leave—"

"Leave?" She doesn't understand. Leave Wade? Leave Nathan? Leave Laura and Neena and Inez and everyone?

He makes a sad face, like he wants to cry, but he smiles and pets her hair. "Yeah. Leave. You'll have to leave everyone. Everything. I know it's scary…and you'll have to be very brave. But if you don't leave, you won't be there after it's all over, and I think we all know you can't trust Wade to save the world all by himself. You need to be there to help him. Okay?"

"And that's what Nathan meant?"

He rolls his eyes again. "Nate never knows what the fuck he means. Sorry. What the eff-word he means. But, in a way, yes. When the time comes, you'll know what to do. Because no Wade I've met has ever raised you wrong."

She watches him for a while. "You're called 'the Traveler' because you've been to a bunch of different worlds, right?"

"Yeah."

"How many of me have you raised?"

The Traveler huffs a laugh, but he doesn't sound like he finds anything funny. "I guess…twelve or thirteen of you, personally. I don't think I've ever been to this timeline before, though, so there's probably a lot of others where there's a Wade raising a Hope."

She puts her hands over his on her hair. "You don't have one of your own, though, do you?"

He means the laugh he gives her this time. "Considering the Network uses you to fix broken timelines, I take that as a good sign. You know I love you, munchkin, but I love my home, too. It's the only one I've got."

"I promise I'll be brave," she tells him, very solemnly.

"That's my good girl," he whispers, and if he's crying a little, she can pretend he's got something in his eye.

.End.