"You came" I say
"Yes" He replies
"You brought the others" I say, two glittering tears half frozen on my cheeks. I sensed them through the earthlink off to the south, I also sensed the sliders, coming for me, a showdown, the very thing I was trying to avoid, is now inevitable. I'm not one to put on a big performance, I like to slip out quietly like a thief in the night, that's what I did when I escaped, wolverine caused a ruckus and busted through the fence. I waited, I bided my time and when we were on that mission… I waited, and when they thought I was dead, I waited, and when they disappeared…. I ran.

I don't like to make a fuss, I don't like showdowns and yet….

And yet I'm glad they came.

"Why?" I whisper to myself, he crosses over to me, thinking I was talking to him; he puts his arms around my shoulders.
"Because we care about you Ebs, X-men don't abandon their friends. Besides as wolverine so aptly put it this morning when we were on the plane "These punks need ta be taught a lesson".
I smile at that, better smile than cry…again; I have shed far to many tears in my time.
"Friends" I murmur
"Friends he whispers, I turn to look at him, my bare feet brushing the hollow I dug in the snow, touching the cold hard bare earth, and danger flashes in my mind.

It must have shown on my face "What?" He asks
"Their here," I whisper, panic exploding in my stomach as I say the words, I don't want to go back, I want to stay, I want ….I want to live. I turn to run, but his hand, ice cold now as he shifts form, his hand encircles my waist, turning me back again towards him.

"Not that, way" He says, taking my hand "I won't let them hurt you again Ebony, but you have to trust me"

Trust, what a novelty, and yet I do, I let him tug at my hand, lead me to a run, pull me back into the forest, towards whatever fate awaits us, I almost hope we do run into the soldiers, or 'those punks' a s wolverine calls them, I almost hope I get to watch them die on the end of my claws, slowly painfully…

Almost.