by Gouki
Chapter One
Inside the M'Kraan Crystal
"C'mon, Red," Logan whispered comfortingly, "just hang on a little longer."
Jean Grey groaned softly. In Scott's arms, she squirmed in pain from the injuries she sustained from Havok.
"Lissen up, Cyclops," he growled as Scott stumbled along beside him. "I ain't never trusted you." Scott stopped for a second, his body tensed in anticipation for a possible confrontation. Not that it would have done him any good. He was wearing a blindfold to prevent him from losing control of his optic blasts, which also prevented him being very effective in a fight. Besides, he had injuries of his own that put him at a serious disadvantage if a fight were to happen.
"Yeah," Scott answered slowly, still carrying Jean in his arms.
"But what you did, tryin' to help those people escape from Apocalypse, shows me that you ain't the same as you used ta be," Logan continued gruffly. "And yer helpin' Jeannie here and now, even though ya can barely stand up."
Scott nodded grimly. "What're you saying, Logan?"
Logan looked down at Jean again. "This lady means more to me than anything. She trusted you to help her lead them people to freedom-"
"-and I failed." The grim look on Scott's face had gotten even grimmer as he spoke those words.
"No," Logan said, "there wasn't anything you coulda done about those bombs. What I was gonna say, before you interrupted me, is that you did yer best to help her save those people. So as far as we're concerned, the slate is clean between you and me."
Logan turned to continue on the path. The two men understood each other now.
"Just one last thing, though," Logan added. "If you ever betray her-"
His adamantium claws ejected from the housings in his right forearm with a metallic scraping sound.
"-I'll gut you six ways to Sunday."
Scott nodded. "We'd better figure out where we're going if we're going to help Jean."
That, Logan decided, was the problem, unfortunately. Wherever they were, it sure wasn't anyplace on Earth. The horizon seemed to shift its position constantly, giving a sensation of movement where there was none. The road they were on seemed to go on and on literally into infinity. As for physical features, there really weren't any to speak of, except for the road they were travelling on. Really, all there was to see were shapeless colors and lights, and the occasional floating crystal shards. If they didn't get past all of this soon, Jean would die. But where could they go? There were really only two directions for them to walk in: forward and back. They had agreed that they couldn't go back.
But was going forward doing them any better?
Finally, Cyclops shouted off into the infinity, "Where in hell are we?" He was answered by a young voice that seemed to come from all around them.
"Nowhere," it answered blithely. Then it changed its mind. "Or everywhere. It depends: where do you want to be?"
The voice awakened Jean, who was previously in a state of unconscious delirium. She groaned painfully and looked around. "Who's there?"
Finally, the voice was given a body. It was that of a young man, dressed in a green hospital gown. His eyes were glowing, and all of his dark black hair stood on end. He looked silly, yet ominous.
"My name is David," he answered genially. "How do you-"
He took her hand to kiss it, but upon seeing her injuries, stopped and gasped. He turned to Logan and Scott. "Why didn't you tell me she was injured?!!" Not that he'd really given them a chance to. He had just popped out of nowhere, which startled them into momentarily forgetting that their companion had life-threatening injuries.
Without waiting for them to reply, David snapped his fingers twice, and Jean Grey vanished into thin air.
"Jean!!!!!!" Logan shouted.
* * *
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
Westchester County, NY 1996 AD
This was it. One way or the other, Sabretooth knew he was free. Logan would either kill him, or he would escape. Either way, he would no longer be locked up in Cueball's basement being watched by some sap X-Man twenty-four hours a day. After smashing Logan's face into the floor, he made his way to the door of his cell.
Logan got up to stop him. "Step back from that door, Creed," he warned Sabretooth, the claws on his hands popped out, battle ready. He couldn't let him escape. "Or-"
Sabretooth turned back to face Logan. "Or WHAT, ya little hypocrite!" he shouted. "Go for it!" He pointed to his own throat with both hands. "All it takes is one good slash!" he taunted. "Right here, boy!"
The Professor was a fool for believing Victor Creed could ever be rehabilitated. He killed because of an addiction to death which could only be sedated in one of two ways: one, have a psion provide a telepathic drug, the "glow," which calmed the beast within, or two, just go out and rip some fool to death with his fangs and claws. Most times he chose the latter. Hundreds died at his claws, all for the sake of feeding his bloodlust. Many of his victims were friends of Logan. The Professor had taken Victor Creed in, to remove the Sabretooth, and save the man trapped within.
But Sabretooth didn't want that.
Logan was once in a similar situation as Creed. The difference being, Logan wasn't evil, and he was no killer. While Sabretooth was a slave to bloodlust, Logan merely struggled a beast within, something that made him a little wilder than most. Something that always begged to be let out, but was controlled. They were both similar animalistic killing machines physically, but mentally, they were as different as night and day.
But still, Logan wanted to let the animal out. He wanted Creed.
"Get some payback for Silver Fox!" Creed taunted. He knew all the right buttons to push. Silver Fox, one of Creed's victims, just happened to be special to Logan. She was his lover once, before fate separated them. Creed found her before Logan got a chance to try and start over. It was just the sort of thing that he needed to push Logan over the edge.
He couldn't be caged any longer. He never was a willing participant in Professor Xavier's rehab treatment. He just couldn't be caged. He had been a killer for too long. He couldn't turn out like Logan, a soft, weak do-gooder following Saint Xavier on some "holier than thou" sap crusade. He needed blood. He needed the glow. He needed anything but to be locked in Xavier's Shi'ar cage. Even if it meant his own death.
Logan was just the person to accommodate him in that matter, if only the little "Wolverine" could be pushed far enough.
"Let's you and me finish this once and for all!" Sabretooth growled.
The animal within beckoned at Logan. The claws were ready. He stepped up to Sabretooth. The claws were waiting.
Kill him, Logan.
He doesn't deserve to live.
Get it over with.
NO.
"It ain't up to me to punish you for what you done, Creed," Logan said slowly and carefully. "It's just up to me to see that you don't leave this room!"
The claws retracted into Logan's forearms. He stepped back.
It didn't quite happen the way Sabretooth expected it to. He expected some action from Logan. Oh well. If he ain't gonna try'n kill me, then it's--
"Dyin' time, boy!"
He leapt at Logan, roaring with all of the ferocity of his namesake.
* * *
Inside the M'Kraan Crystal
"Noooooo!!!!!!!"
Clarice Ferguson's shout echoed seemingly forever inside the walls of the M'Kraan Crystal. One second, she and Kyle were trying to stop Logan from getting into the Crystal. The next, she found herself, along with Kyle, being yanked into the Crystal by Mr. Creed.
"Mr. Creed, what are you doing!" she protested. He didn't answer, not at first. He looked off in all directions, observing his surroundings. Kyle was at his side, like a faithful puppy, also looking about.
They were on a crystal road which stretched out into infinity. No other distinguishable features could be detected to give them a physical sense of going anywhere. There were funny shapes and colors which all seemed to melt together, which made for a dizzying experience. The horizon, as it were, shifted back and forth and up and down, and floating shards of beautiful crystals moved lazily about. It was simple and overwhelming, all at once.
Clarice looked behind her. A portal opened, and within it, she saw the Age of Apocalypse meet a double doom, at the hands of nuclear bombs from the Human High Council and the M'Kraan Crystal's reality destroying crystallization wave. "Mr. Creed?"
"Had no choice, pup," he finally answered her. "I gotta make sure yer safe."
Clarice folded her arms across her chest. "Well, that's great," she muttered. "Isn't that why we were making sure that nothing got into the Crystal? So that nothing could screw up the timeline that was meant to be?" Her usually quiet voice was now dripping with sarcasm.
"So now I'm bein' lectured to by the girl I lectured to fer three years," Mr. Creed said with an amused smile. "You don't understand, Blink. I had to do that."
"Why?" she asked softly.
Mr. Creed shrugged. "I dunno. Just got a bad feeling, I guess." He regarded her resultant skeptical expression. "Before you go chewin' me out, I wantcha ta know that I did this to protect you and Kyle. I gotta real bad feelin' 'bout what might happen to ya in this new timeline." Before he could say anymore, he was interrupted by Kyle pulling his pant leg.
"What is it, kid?"
Kyle started hopping up and down and pointed to a portal that had materialized. The trio peered into it, and saw their home.
"That's impossible!" Clarice shouted. "I just saw everything get blown to hell, and now it's all back again?"
Creed looked into the portal as well. "Naw," he answered, "it's probably showin' us the most recent past. Look, there's Sidney fightin' some Infinites. And there's Holocaust gettin' the shit kicked outta 'im by that kid."
They watched the fight between Holocaust and the kid.
It didn't last long. "You owe me a rematch, punk!" they heard Holocaust scream. They didn't get to see this battle before, otherwise they might have tried to stop it. The leather clad kid had been holding a chunk of the M'Kraan crystal.
"And this time, we're fighting to the finish!" Holocaust made ready to fry the kid with a radiation blast. "Is that clear?"
"Crystal," the kid replied, ramming the chunk of M'Kraan crystal hard into Holocaust's chest, right through his life support armor. Both of them disappeared from the battle in a crackle of blinding light.
Clarice looked at Mr. Creed with a worried expression on her face. "What do you think happened to 'em?"
Mr. Creed shook his head. "I dunno." Kyle growled, ready to fight Holocaust, even though the Horseman was no longer there. "Easy, boy," Creed soothed, "somehow, I don't think he's gonna bother us."
The portal then closed, and a different one opened in its place. Mr. Creed peered into it. Within it, he saw himself.
Actually, he saw a different version of himself. The other Creed was fighting a different version of Logan in a high tech prison cell. They were killing each other in a brutal clawfight. Clarice looked over Mr. Creed's shoulder and gasped.
"Logan!" she shouted vehemently. "Only been here a few minutes and yer already messin' things up!" She started after him, but was held back by Mr. Creed.
"Not so fast, pup," he warned her. "I don't think innerruptin' that little scuffle is gonna be healthy for any of us. Besides, that ain't the Logan we know. And they prob'ly can't hear or see us anyway."
He pointed out that while the doppelganger looked and sounded like the Logan they knew, his claws were bone rather than adamantium-laced, and he didn't have the face tattoos, or the black costume. In addition, this version of Logan had both of his hands. The extra hand didn't seem to be doing Logan any good, because he was getting his butt handed to him by the other Creed.
The other Creed, in contrast to the one Clarice knew, looked and acted vile. He had bigger claws and sharper fangs, and he wasn't scared to use them. His hair was burnt off; his uniform was shredded and bloodied. He looked like he didn't mind ripping his enemy into tiny pieces, in fact, he was rather enjoying himself. To Clarice, the worst part of all were the things he was saying as he slashed up his enemy.
"Ya know, boy," he growled as he tore at Logan's face with his claws, "it surely ain't enough just to rip ya until ya dies!"
His knuckles cracked hard into Logan's already broken nose before he continued. "No, boy, after I kills ya and hangs ya out to dry, I'm gonna go after all them frails ya been sweet on!"
Logan's ribs gave an audible crack as Sabretooth stomped on his chest repeatedly.
"What's goin' on?" Mr. Creed growled, like an upset spectator at a wrestling match. He knew that Logan's healing factor was such that he could take the beating Sabretooth was giving him. Wild Child looked from Sabretooth to Mr. Creed, nearly unable to tell the two apart. He whimpered in confusion.
Mr. Creed patted him on the head, saying, "That ain't me, kid. Don't worry 'bout it."
But Clarice would be so easily soothed. She cringed as Sabretooth grabbed Logan by the hair and bashed his bloodied face into the floor.
"Ha! I'm gonna rip 'em just fer grins!"
Mr. Creed couldn't understand why his "twin" was winning so easily. Both Logan and Creed had mutant healing factors that worked just about equally. The Logan that Mr. Creed knew in the Age of Apocalypse had taken all this and more, and all but laughed it off in battle. Even without the adamantium, Logan should be able to take this.
"I'm gonna start with that uppity Jean Grey!" Sabretooth roared as he slashed at Logan. By now, Logan could hardly see. Not because he had been ripped up so badly, but because the raging hatred within him was finally blinding him to anything else except for one thing.
Sabretooth.
All of the feeling had left Logan's body. He was completely numb. And Sabretooth just kept on blabbing . . .
"Then maybe I'll mosey up to Canada and do that to Heather Hudson!"
Wild Child watched the slaughter with morbid curiousity, oblivious to all else. Clarice stood petrified, staring at the scene unblinking. Mr. Creed observed a subtle but important twitch in Logan's eye.
The runt was about to lose it. All it would take was one more nudge . . .
"I really can't wait 'til I gets to rip up them YOUNG ones, like Kitty Pryde and Jubilee-"
Or Clarice Ferguson, Mr. Creed thought with a shudder. He didn't need to worry about it.
Before Sabretooth could finish his last sentence, Logan hopped to his feet. "That's it..." Logan roared, and grabbed him by the neck. He swung Sabretooth, face first, into the omnium-reinforced cell wall. Sabretooth's scream was cut off as all 345 pounds of his body was smashed into the wall through his face, shattering his front teeth. "You just stepped over the line, bub."
Logan was no more. The animal was let out. Only Wolverine remained.
"YOU JUST GAVE ME ALL THE REASON I NEED TO STOP YOUR FILTHY CLOCK!!!!!!!!"
Clarice was jolted out of her trance by this animalistic howl. She gasped in horror. "Mr. Creed! He's gonna kill you!"
Mr. Creed looked away from the scene. "Good."
Sabretooth sneered at Logan, "Oh, I do believe the lil' fireplug found the guts ta get heavy on me!" Even without front teeth, Sabretooth could still yap away.
"yOu SAiD iT, bUB!" Wolverine snapped. The human side of him was slowly slipping away, distorting his speech.
Clarice looked at Mr. Creed in dismay. "Trust me, pup," he told her softly, "it's better this way."
"But why?" she shouted, struggling to hold back tears, "what did you ever do that makes you so bad?"
"Not what I done," Creed whispered, "but what I was. What I was capable of becomin'. I was afraid this would happen. Y'see, there weren't no reason for a Magneto to come and rescue that Victor Creed from hisself here. So, I guess, here, fate just let him become that evil scumbag, since nobody needed him fer any good. Hopefully, Logan does the job right."
Clarice could not hold back her tears any longer. "NO," she choked, "you were saved. Can't they save him now? Can't they-" She broke off into sobs. Mr. Creed held her gently, rocking her back and forth, trying to shield her from the violent scene between Wolverine and Sabretooth in the cell. But she could not remove the scene from her mind. It didn't matter how evil Mr. Creed said his "twin" might be. He could still be saved.
She would save him.
"DON'T even think about it," Mr. Creed hissed. She didn't have to say anything, and he knew what was running through her mind. "Just forget about him. He wouldn't do jack fer any of us."
Clarice didn't answer. She just watched Wolverine and Sabretooth, tears streaming down her face.
Oblivious to their observers, Wolverine and Sabretooth continued their feud. "i'M fEd Up WiTH HoLdin' bACk thE wiLd paRt o' mE!" Wolverine shouted, his fist under Sabretooth's chin, ready to pop out the three claws.
"Then quit yappin' and do it!"
SCHLICK! The outermost claws ejected from Wolverine's wrist, but the middle, fatal, claw remained retracted. Wolverine growled animalistically, and stared into Sabretooth's eyes.
"Ya punkin' out on me, shortstuff?" Sabretooth shouted incredulously. "You pull this half-way malarkey out in the jungle, you'll be bad breath on a hyena!" Even that close to death, Sabretooth kept egging Logan on.
"I ain't lyin; you let me walk, an' I swear, I'll track down every livin' thing you ever cared about one way or the other-"
Tears still streaming down her face, Clarice watched the two animals as Mr. Creed held her. Her mission was clear.
"- . . . Kitty Pryde . . . "
Mr. Creed wished this would just get over with. They could have, should have, walked away, but they could not. Seeing Wolverine and Sabretooth ready to kill each other was a little too much to just ignore. Kyle was hopping around, agitated. Creed patted him on the head to comfort him with one hand, and continued to hold Clarice with the other.
" . . . Jean Grey . . . "
Hurry up and shut that joker up already, Logan!
" . . . Jubilee . . . Ororo . . . Cyclops . . ."
Mr. Creed looked down at Clarice again, an immense feeling of relief washing over him despite the horrifying event unfolding before them. At least the Clarice that belonged to this timeline would never be hurt by that monster. Not after Logan took care of him.
" . . . and I'll make 'em suffer a good long time before I kill 'em! I'm ready for that LAST BIG GLOW, LOGAN-"
Sabretooth paused for a second, and with a sharp intake of breath, finished, "-do it! Do It!!! D O I T ! ! ! ! !"
SCHLICK! The middle card ejected, right up through the bottom of Sabretooth's chin and into his brain.
For all of the death that Clarice Ferguson had seen over the years, living in the Age of Apocalypse, nothing could have prepared her for this. In her eyes, Mr. Creed was the embodiment of goodness and decency. She had heard the other X-Men tell her how he used to work for Apocalyspe, but she never believed them. She hardly believed Mr. Creed when he admitted it himself. She had never been able to imagine what Mr. Creed could have been like before he was an X-Man, but knew that he couldn't have been THAT bad, otherwise Magneto could never have set him straight. That had to it. This version of Victor Creed didn't start out that evil, the world made him that way. She could have brought him back. Back to salvation. But now, there wasn't anything anyone could do. Sabretooth was dead.
Clarice collapsed into Mr. Creed's embrace again, and resumed her uncontrollable sobbing. Kyle, in sympathy, crawled over to her and licked her face affectionately as Creed held her.
"Don't worry, Clarice," he whispered, kissing her on the forehead, "that'll never happen to us."
Victor Creed decided at that moment, that Sabretooth had died within himself as well. A sabertooth cat was a savage creature, using its claws and teeth to rip flesh and crush bone. Victor Creed could no longer be a savage. He had too much responsibility now.
Which wasn't to say he wouldn't still get into to a rumble now and then. Hell, the three of them were headed into a strange, new world, where anything might happen to them. It may have well been the happy happy joy joy world that Bishop said it was, but there would be problems in even the most peaceful of worlds, and they had to be prepared. If any fights were to be in their future, Creed would fight them. He just wouldn't kill anyone, not if it wasn't absolutely necessary. No more Sabretooth. From now on, he was just plain Mr. Creed
He wondered if he could move the portal somehow, to get it to show them a different place on the same Earth. He tried moving it with his hands, but found this approach to be unsuccessful. The portal had no physical structure; it was just a hole in space which led to a different place than the one they were in. But he didn't want to enter where the portal was now, because of the feral man-creature that had just finished lobotomizing a doppelganger of Creed. He needed a more quiet place to hop into.
"Huh," Mr. Creed grunted, "now how the hell do I get this door ta move?"
"Just tell it where you want it to go," a voice answered. Mr. Creed looked around, searching for the voice's owner. "Come on!" it said. "Don't waste time looking for me, just tell the portal where you want to go."
Mr. Creed rolled his eyes, and said, "New York City. Central Park." To his surprise, and the surprise of Kyle and Clarice, the portal shifted its location, moving from the cell to the location he had asked for.
The voice had gained a body, which took advantage of the trio's surprise by shoving them forcefully into the portal before it could close. He didn't want them to lose their chance because they were gawking at the portal instead of utilizing it. Heck, they spent long enough staring at the fight for the portal to have closed a dozen times.
"Hey!" Mr. Creed shouted as he and the kids fell through portal. "What the hell!!!!!!!" His shout faded out as the portal closed after them, leaving behind a strange young man in a green hospital gown.
His glowing eyes slid across the horizon. He decided that he should take care of the other three that were still inside the crystal. Two men and one woman. He had taken the woman already, and healed the injuries she had sustained. He decided that he should return her to them now, seeing as how she didn't need help any longer. Besides the two were probably getting lost trying to find her.
They would no doubt be angry with him for not letting them know what they had done with their friend Jean. He wouldn't blame them, since he didn't take the time to explain that he was only trying to help. He didn't have time before; he only had time to heal and regenerate Jean. But he would try to make them understand.
He had to help. He had to make his father proud. He had to atone for the mistakes he made. They were honest, simple mistakes, but mistakes nonetheless. He had made everything wrong once, but was given a second chance. He would show them that he was capable of doing good. He would improve everything. The refugees he was delivering from an age of Apocalypse would help him.
And nothing would stop him from making things right.
Nothing.
A little word that I forgot to include in the prologue: I actually started writing this waaaaay back in 1996 when I was just a simple 10th grader, so please take that into consideration when reading it. It first saw the net as a fanfic contribution to Ryoga's Blink Page, and I've since moved it to my own page, BlinkingChaos.com. Anywho, R&R please, I love feedback!