A/N: Guess who gets a double update? YOU do! Mostly because these two chapters couldn't go together any other way XD Thank you for reading!
MusicLovingPunkAnimeGirl: Is it bad that I get some kind of joy over you feeling so sad that this story is ending? XD Either way; I'm sorry? ;)
Amelia-bella1: Haha, well sorry for returning to my usual 1-per-week update schedule. And yes: Peter did deserve what was coming for him. You are partly right about the Paris bit ;) So read on to find out!
anonymouscsifan: Yeah Logan is kind of protective of everyone when he goes back in time -though he does it in his own, gruff way :) Oh and I think you'll like these two chapter, something PRETTY big happens ;)
Freedom Hunter: I'm sorry! :( That's just how it's gonna be… Hopefully you'll enjoy them, though! :)
Adrillian1497: Me too, it's weird to say that, especially after how long I've been writing this for… Anyways, thank you for reading this story :)
C.B. Weasley: Oh I'm sure you'll like where this goes… ;)
gracedreamcloud: Ohmygoodness! YOU'RE the amazing one! I'm so happy that you love everything so much :) 33 And yes: Peter has some guilt coming to him.
JediKendalina: Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying it :D
LSU lovePurple liveGold: BTW: awesome pen name dude! And thank you: I did try to make something different and hopefully original. And according to you: I have achieved that! :)
Most dialogue in italics is french being spoken.
Chapter 35/Chapter 37
"Peter, thank you very, very much," Charles said to the teen.
Erik held out his hand and they shook, "You take care," he said.
Erik looked at Nora during this exchange. They made eye contact, but her face gave away nothing. He walked up the steps and into the plane.
"Hey, I saw your flight plan in the cockpit," Peter said eagerly. "Why are you going to Paris?"
Nora perked up at the mention if Paris. She was leaning against the rental car, but as Charles and Hank turned to go up the stairs she made a split-second decision.
"Hold up," she said, abandoning the car she was using as support. "I'm coming with you."
"What?!" Peter looked at her like she'd just suggested they jump into a volcano. "But you- you..." He moved to put his hand on her shoulder but she batted it away.
"You don't get to say anything. And you do not get to touch me in any way." Her voice shook with anger. There was no way she was getting into a car -of her own free will- with him ever again.
Stunned, Charles and Hank moved out of her way as Nora stomped up the stairs.
Still a little off from her outburst, Charles off-handedly tossed Peter the keys to the car. "Do me and a favor and return it for me."
Peter nodded, "Okay."
"And Peter?" Charles said, looking down at the conflicted teen. "Take it slow."
It was meant as a joke, to lighten the mood.
Peter laughed as he got into the car. Though as he drove away he found his mind drawn to one thing in particular.
Nora.
He'd known she would hate him. From the moment it had became known that she had come back to him from the future, he'd had a sinking feeling that nothing good would come of it.
She hated him, and he deserved it.
.
.
.
So. The hairy one was from the future.
Nora briefly gave him her attention. Muscly… leather jacket.. spiky hair… and bone claws.
Cool, she thought, wondering if that's all there was to his mutation.
"You sacrificed your powers so you could walk?" Erik's voice brought her back to reality.
He and the shorter one -Charles, Nora reminded herself, the other man in Brooklyn- seemed to be fighting.
Charles clenched the armrests of her chair. "I sacrificed my powers so I could sleep. What do you know about it?"
His hair had grown out in the past ten years, Nora thought sadly. And he has the eyes and twitchiness of an addict.
This serum he's on… it can take away powers, she mused.
"You have no idea what I've done." They were still fighting.
"I know you took the things that mean the most to me." The two of the seemed locked together in this power struggle.
Erik growled, "Well maybe you should've fought harder for them."
Nora wasn't exactly sure what 'things' they were talking about, but judging by Charles' next reaction, that had been the last straw.
Furious, Charles jumped up. "If you want a fight, Erik, I will give you a fight!"
"Sit down," Logan ordered. Nora gave him a look. Who was he again?
Erik held out his hand as a sign for them to stay back. "Let him come."
Nora had been looking over the back of her seat as they fought, but now she was curled up in the cushion of her chair.
She slowly put her hands over her ears, closing her eyes in the process.
As Erik began to rattle off the names of their fallen brethren, Logan looked to Nora.
Her mouth was moving, but no words came out.
This all must be so overwhelming, he realized. She spent months in the most extreme kind of solitary, and now she's having to sit through a shouting match that's been a decade in the making!
"You abandoned us ALL," Erik said forcefully.
The plane had gone into a dive, its axis completely off centre.
Charles had fallen back into his seat, leaving Erik the only one standing.
Hearing Hank's anguished cries from the cockpit, Erik let go his hold over the metal structure. Everything fell back into place as the plane slowly righted itself.
Once it was safe enough to stand, Charles got up and stormed to the front.
Logan said something to Erik, but Nora didn't listen to their short conversation. Something about survivors…
A grim silence took over the interior. Nora looked around cautiously. Well… that was interesting.
"Do they always do that?" She directed her question towards Logan. If so, I may need to re-think my choice of transportation.
Logan raised an eyebrow, "More often than you'd think."
"Hmm," she nodded as she stood up. "Well, I guess I'll clean all this shit up."
She snapped her fingers, Erik noticing how her hands shook.
And then everything was cleaned up. There was a neat pile of trash swept into the corner, and all of the fallen items had been put back in their proper places.
Erik and Logan both jumped at this -Erik more-so than Logan.
Nora noted this, wondering if he knew the future version of her.
She made her way to the back of the plane, searching for something to eat.
Nora knew that today wasn't the right date. She wasn't to go to Paris (along with the unnamed 'her') for almost another ten years!
Still… ever since she had talked to her much older self in that 1930's bakery… Nora had felt drawn to France… To Paris: her home.
She had not travelled to France -or even gone there on her own- since her coming to this century. Nora wasn't even sure if she was right in considering it her home anymore.
Yet now here she was. On a plane, of all things, returning to the city.
There was a strange fluttering in her stomach. Nora was not sure whether she liked it or not.
Score! She clapped her hands together silently.
While the popcorn microwaved itself to readiness, Nora flipped through a magazine she'd found in the galley.
It was 1973.
She'd missed so much.
The start of the grade twelve school year, her seventeenth birthday, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, New Year's…
She fell to the floor then, head in her hands.
Her shoulders shook and her throat closed up and her spine tickled, yet the tears would not come.
So much time… All just… wasted.
She wanted to hurt Peter. To make him pay.
But now she was nothing but confused.
He'd seemed almost… sorry, after she had slapped him. (It had been a good slap after all.) And then he'd been holding her in the car -she remembered that much.
Peter had acted the complete opposite of what Nora had been expecting… And so had she, now that she came to think of it.
And really, he was the last person she had expected to see in all of her imaginary breakout fantasies.
Sure, Nora wanted to hit him. She still wanted to hit him. Over, and over, and over; until his face was no longer a face and-
She stopped herself, shaking the violent thoughts from her head.
But what Logan had said had shocked Nora to the bone. Scared… frightened her.
June seventeenth, 1982. He knew the date. Something that only she (or two she's depending on how you counted) should've known.
The microwave beeped, signaling its end. Nora looked up then, blinking away her tears.
She ended up burning her fingers on the popcorn bag, and then dropping it on the floor.
"Shit!" The bag fell to the ground, splitting open as contact was made.
The popcorn spilled out in all directions, much to Nora's dismay.
She sniffed, now what was she going to eat?
Nora was so invested in her food, and her crying, that she hadn't even noticed the blinding golden light that had came out from underneath the bathroom door.
"Too bad," the elder Nora said. "I've been craving popcorn for months."
"Shit on a dick!" Nora cried, whirling around. She brandished a dull kitchen knife at her would-be assailant, until she realized who it was.
"Oh… you again."
"Yep. It's me." The older Nora scooped up some popcorn and munched on it happily.
The woman looked quite strange in the chef's uniform she'd found in the back of the galley. That plus her long grey hair made for quite the interesting combination.
After finishing about half the popcorn, older Nora sighed happily, stretching her torso around.
"Now then, it's good to see you, but-"
"-Good to see me?!" Nora cried. "What the hell do you mean by that?!" She reared back and punched her future self in the nose.
Older Nora stumbled backwards. The, steading herself, she took a defensive stance.
With each calculated punch, came an even more calculated block. The elder Nora seemed almost bored as she merely dodged Nora's final, desperate blow.
"You knew they were gonna put me in solitary! You knew about the torture and the experiments, and the… the..." Nora collapsed in the woman's arms, sobbing.
"I know..." She said, comfortably patting Nora's head. "I know… I'm sorry..."
Nora sniffed, "That's not enough… It'll never be enough..."
The door to the galley suddenly flew open, exposing the two of them to the gaping mouths of Erik and Logan.
Logan closed his mouth, gulping nervously as he saw the woman who, to him, had died just two days ago.
The older Nora's eyes flickered between the two men. She smiled sadly. "Long time no see, guys."
"What the fuck is going on back there?" Charles yelled from the cockpit.
.
.
.
"It's been a long time since I played," Charles grumbled.
"Don't worry," Erik settled back into his chair. "I'll go easy on you."
As the two masterminds settled into their game of chess, Logan found his gaze drawn to the two women sitting to his right.
The younger slept, -for the moment- a stray piece of hair waving back and forth with each breath she took.
The elder sat across from her, hands bridged just below her mouth. She stared pensively at the young woman. Logan knew that look. It was one of a survivor, and one of someone who had reached their final destination.
These two women. They shared a name, a language, some related abilities. -That is where the similarities ended.
Their actions, their stories, lives, ideologies. -All completely different.
Yet if someone were to compare their DNA, they would find it to be completely identical.
Nora let out a particularly loud breath. Then, Logan realized that she'd been slowly disappearing over the past few minutes.
As her body disappeared almost completely -only retaining its hazy outline- the older Nora slowly got up and crept over.
She knelt down next to the teen, casually lying her head on the arm of the chair.
He was about to return to his newspaper when she said, "You're staring, Logan."
His gaze met hers and he smiled wryly. "What are you doing here, Nora?"
"I'm on an errand," she said. "One that I need her for."
Erik briefly looked over his shoulder at them before returning to his game.
"You and your damn mysteries..." Logan muttered. "Would it kill you to give me a straight answer, for once?"
"I'm a time-traveler, Logan. It's my job to keep secrets."
He rolled his eyes, leaning back in his chair.
Nora muttered in her sleep. Words that neither of them could distinguish.
"Where is she?" Logan asked.
"I wish I knew," the older Nora murmured, taking Nora's hand in hers. She had begun to slowly reappear. "Time-phasing was never one of my abilities."
She was silent for a moment, only stroking the hand of her past self. Then she asked, "Did I die? You're staring at me like I've already died."
Logan paused, then nodded slowly.
"Kitty sent you back?"
Another nod.
It was strange to be told of one's own death, years, perhaps decades before it might happen.
"You're here," she said slowly. "That means everything is going to change."
"That's the idea," Logan said.
"Hmmm," she thought aloud to herself. "Then I guess some of it worked out..."
Logan didn't bother asking what she meant by that.
.
.
.
"It's time for us to go."
"What?" Nora looked up at her future self. "Why? I- I thought we were gonna go with them…?"
They were sitting the lobby of a car rental place. It was relatively empty in the warm Paris afternoon.
Nora had just walked Hank through his talking to the dealer. (All in french, of course.) And now she was sitting beside Erik in the waiting lounge.
"Come on." The older Nora looked impatient. Scared, almost. "We have somewhere to be."
"Alright, alright." Nora turned to Erik, then realized that time had been paused for the entire conversation. "… Just… let me say goodbye, alright?" She had no idea if she would ever see Erik again.
The elder Nora sighed, reluctantly leaving her with him.
Time resumed. Nora saw Charles, Hank, and Logan making their way through the parking lot. They would undoubtedly take at least half an hour between them all to sort through the mess of old cars.
"Where'd your friend go?" Erik asked, glancing up from his magazine.
"She's waiting outside." Nora shifted in her seat until she was facing him. "She says we have to go now."
"Go where?"
Good question. "I don't know," she said.
His head rose slowly until they made eye contact.
"You know… Just because she's you doesn't mean you have to listen to her."
He seemed almost uncharacteristically worried. Nora blushed, shrugging her shoulders nervously. "Yeah… but..." Her voice trailed off.
Then his hand was on her arm. Light, strong; holding her there. And she stared at him and he reminded her so much of him and she knew he had to be Peter's father. It all added up.
"Your son," she told him, getting up to leave. "He's the one who broke you out."
Erik nodded, he had suspected. Then he said, "Magda… How is she?"
She stopped. "Fine. Good, actually. After you left, she made her own way. -Twins an' all."
His jaw dropped.
"Yes. He has a sister. A twin." Then she whirled around and put her face directly in front of his.
"Now, listen. I know you're their father, and I know you may want to see them, and I know you mean well." She jabbed a finger into his chest. "But you keep your fuckin' distance from them, alright? They've gone through too much already, just to have some guy show back up pretendin'' to care!"
Nora was breathing heavily as she stepped back.
The words stung, she knew that much.
But they were necessary. The last thing the Maximoffs needed was a known 'terrorist' showing up on their front porch -father or not.
"Goodbye, Erik." Then she left.
With time frozen, the two Noras went into a boutique.
Nora had picked up a t-shirt and jeans back in the US, but after wearing them for twenty hours, it was time for a change.
"Thought you might want to get some new clothes," the older Nora said. She grabbed a few things for herself before heading into a change-room.
Nora really didn't care what she wore, as long as it didn't grab too much attention.
She picked out a blouse; white, long sleeves -but they could be buttoned up to her elbows.
Finding a pair of dull, patterned leggings, she held them up under a pair of high-waisted denim shorts.
"Ready?" Nora looked up as the woman exited the change-room.
She nodded solemnly, "Yeah, just let me put all this on."
Nora the elder nodded. Now she was wearing a large sunhat, long pants, and a simple grey jacket.
They left the store together, skirting down the block. Nora made sure they were heavily immersed in a crowd before she let time resume.
They caught a taxi to the outskirts of the city. The drive was long -almost two hours with all the traffic- and the older Nora did not say a word for the entire journey.
"Keep the change," Nora told the driver after she handed him seventy-five euros. (She had pick-pocketed it from a wealthy-looking woman.)
As he drove off, the elder Nora said, "You may think that will have made his day… he'll probably just spend it on drink."
"Why are you so cynical?" Nora inquired. She really was curious.
The woman began to walk into the forest bordering the beginning of the suburbs. "If you could see the things I have, you too would have a more grim view on life."
…What have I got myself into? Nora wondered before following her into the forest.
After twenty minutes of slogging through the thick brush, Nora called out, "Where are we even going?"
"Not where," her future self called back to her. "When."
They stopped next to a tree. It was extremely tall, seeming to stretch all the way to the sky. Old and gnarled, its bark was worn from hundreds of years of age.
The elder Nora promptly sat down, crossing her legs at the base of the tree's roots.
"Alright." Nora kept her stance. Steady, powerful. "Tell me: now. What the hell is going on."
The woman opened her eyes and stared right at Nora. "In approximately nine minutes, you will travel back in time. To France, on the exact day you first travelled to this century."
"Wha-? How can you be sure of that?!" Nora cried.
"I know that, because I did the same thing in my timeline."
"Okay, now I'm really confused." Nora sat down across from the woman.
"Our time-traveling, though uncontrollable, follows a pattern," the older Nora explains. "And since we share the same DNA -though technically from another timeline, I know that pattern."
"Okay then," Nora said, becoming aware of an almost painful tingling sensation at the back of her head. "But won't I have to make a bunch of random trips through this century when I turn sixty?"
The woman chuckled, then grew solemn. "No… You won't do that because -hopefully- if this all works out, that will never need to happen."
"Uggh." Nora put her head in her hands. All of this time-travel shit gets so damn confusing, she thought. And I'm the time-traveler in it all!
"Ow..." Nora cringed as the headache got worse.
She flopped onto her back, arms out on either side.
"I suppose you're now going to ask me why this is all happening?"
"What?" Nora asked.
"You must be at least a little curious," her older self mused.
"Do you know? Why this is all happening?" Nora looked questioningly at the woman.
"Nope!" She shook her head wildly. "Not even a little!"
Nora groaned again, partly because of the lack of answers, mostly because of her headache.
A cool breeze made its way through the clearing, rustling the trees' leaves.
"It's almost time," the older Nora said. "Take my hand."
Nora had already begun to glow. She clenched her eyes shut to stop the tears from coming out.
The woman put a comforting arm around the teen
"Does it… Does it ever stop hurting?" Nora asked through clenched teeth.
The woman nodded, the wrinkled that creased her forehead revealing her true age.
"Yes. Someday… I promise it will no longer bring you pain. Someday, you may look forward to traveling."
And for once, she spoke the truth.