10. The woman slept soundly again. Her initial start had gone by, but she didn't really seem to notice it at all.
Maybe she's a sleepwalker, the girl thought. I ain't never seen her asleep before. It sure was strange to have her get up like that, screaming, eyes wide open, and then...just lay back down and sleep. What if it's the other dude that is on her right now???? How creepy.
The girl shifted uneasily, but continued looking at the sleeping woman; she moved her eyes down to the glistering ring in a chain around her neck. She knew the woman would wake up the minute she touched that ring. She wasn't too sure that her powers worked too well on her. They had enough money, she had made sure of that, it should be enough to last them a week or more, but she wasn't the one who took care of finances.
The woman shifted uneasily, clearly showing she as having another nightmare.
Should I wake her? the girl thought.
Her dreams tended to get very violent, and this one seemed like it was no exception.
Alright, I think I will.
"Umm...," she bit her lip. "Gene? Wake up...come on, Gene, wake up....WAKE UP!!!!"
She shook the woman, who woke up in a start and reached for the girl's throat with her transformed left hand. The girl jumped back to avoid her but she had reached her. Energy slowly left her small body.
"STOP!" she cried with tears in her eyes. "Please, stop!"
Her powers had worked, she hurried to get away from the paralyzed woman, but found that her legs were very weak. She sat staring at Gene's dead eyes; they were full of rage and pain. You didn't have to be a genius to figure out she had it rough; her eyes cried it loud enough for anyone to hear. The girl crawled away and sat back near a tree.
She concentrated on her powers, however, still fearing the woman's rage. With a thump, the girl's control over Gene's movement seceded. She looked attentively, still breathing hard, at the woman standing in all fours, puzzled. Gene looked around wondering what had happened, her muscles ached too much for her to have done nothing. She kneeled down and looked for the girl. She found her near a tree, all scared. Suddenly, she knew what she'd done. She hurried over to her and reached for her head, but the girl recoiled.
"Rue...," she said, her raspy voice showed stress--she was going to lose it soon. "I'm sorry. I need to learn more control, I know. If you let me touch you, I'll heal you up and you'll be yourself in no time, ok?"
Rue nodded; she wanted to trust her, but having your energy drained isn't a feeling you soon forget. She closed her eyes and let Gene do her work--a warmth covered her body in a way that she'd never experienced before. It was as if Gene wasn't curing her, which she'd done many times before, but healing her with love. She truly felt Gene's love flowing within her.
She was way beyond healthy, but she continued to heal her.
"Gene, I'm alright now, really," Rue said. "Please, stop or you'll have no energy left."
"Are you sure you're ok?"
"Yea, besides, if you don't take care of yourself, you won't be able to take me to that Institute."
"You're right," she finally said, stopping her powers.
Gene's head throbbed and her breath shortened. She was trying to get used to having less energy than before while hiding the fact from Rue, who was as sharp as a tack. She looked at the girl, she was walking up to the stream with a canteen.
Despite her tall figure body, Rue was still rather small for a eleven-year-old. She was also starting to blossom into womanhood; the curves appearing on her body, though she tried to hide it, and the very defined muscles on her legs were proof of that. She had sun-tanned skin and pretty brown eyes; her well-formed curls cascaded down her waist in a brown river of hair. Her eyes reminded Gene of someone from the past; always full of wonder, always wanting to know, always so truthful. She was wearing a pair of black pants they had picked up along the way; though Gene told her that she should wear a nice blouse, but she chose a blue and white t-shirt instead. They were not as big as Rue wanted, but they did the job quite right.
"Who's Logan?" Rue's voice cut into her thoughts.
"Excuse me?"
"Logan...? Who's Logan?" she asked again with the, now full, canteen in her hands.
"Why do you ask?"
"Well, you were calling him all through the night while dreaming yesterday, and you did it again just a while ago. Who is he??"
Gene thought for a while of the best answer to that question, and the truth was that she didn't know. She remembered a man named Logan from her past, but who exactly was he and why was she calling for him, she wasn't sure. The mental block was still there.
"Gene?" Rue called out, impatiently.
"Well, to tell you the truth, Rue, I don't know that much myself. I know what Creed told me about him, but the bits and pieces I have myself is a totally opposite thing."
"So Creed was lying?"
"Perhaps. Or he could've been telling the truth and the mental block Magneto put in me is still messing things up."
"Oh, yeah, there's that still. Tell me, how did he do that?"
"A mutant called Mastermind helped him, he let him go afterwards. I guess he found no use to him. Alright, enough talk, let's pack up!"
Gene looked for the wooden rod she used as a walking stick, which she found it in the bag between the closing flap and the inside. She got it out and used it to push herself up, she walked toward the river carefully, knelt down and flung herself in the water. A cold feeling rushed through her, and she knew deep inside that a fever was coming. She needed to get Rue to Xavier fast.
Funny how the mind works, she thought. Here I am, trying to remember who is Logan, or anything about my past, but I can very well recall Xavier, the X-men and Jeff. Although I always get the feeling that there was someone else in the middle of it all.
As she was coming back, Rue had already packed up everything. Gene smiled and pulled the robe over her head, her wounds were bleeding from the strain. Her head started aching bad and her body shivered. That fever was getting to her.
"Are you alright?" Rue asked.
Gene opened her mouth but nothing came out, so she nodded.
"Lost your voice again, huh?"
She nodded. They walked out in silence; Rue held Gene's hand, who squeezed it, but didn't look down at her.
A trucker honked, but Gene paid no attention to him.
"Where are you girls goin'?" he asked.
No answer. Rue looked at Gene attentively, but didn't say anything.
"Aw, hey, Ah didn't mean anything by it, Ah was just trying to be polite and offer y'all a ride," he said. "That is if you're goin' mah way."
Gene stopped and squeezed Rue's hand again. She understood the message.
"Well, alright, bub," Rue said. "But I wouldn't try anything funny, if I were ya. She ain't someone ta be trusted, so don't mess 'round with 'er, ya know?"
Rue loved faking accents, especially Sabretooth's. A thought flashed in her mind, it was just a second but it was there nonetheless. Someone, close to her, had said that before, but she couldn't quite place it.
Logan, her mind whispered. Remember him? Your...
She couldn't hear it. The stress was too high and the pain too much. They climbed up on the truck, Rue first, and headed for Bayville.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
11. Logan woke up and looked at the clock: 7:30. He groaned, knowing that little nap hadn't helped him a bit, and got up.
"Logan?" someone knocked on the door.
"Yeah?"
"Are you going to the hardware store? I need some things to fix Cerebro," Tom said, walking in the room.
An awkward, very long silence passed through them.
"Write everythin' down and I'll get it for ya."
"Thanks," Tom said, happy to walk out of there.
That was harder than I thought, he said to himself.
But it was needed, Xavier answered.
Yeah, I know. I just can't help feeling he didn't do everything he could to save her.
I'm sure he did. Still he misses her and he regrets things he has done.
You probed his mind?
His mind of sort of off-limits, but he isn't that hard to figure out.
Tom laughed all alone. It felt good to smile again.
What happened to the two men that survived?
Paul and Louis Verucci.
Yes, them. How are they?
Still in the hospital getting psychiatric help.
Like all of Faye's victims. When she doesn't finish the job, they'd sure wish she had.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They reached the trucker's warehouse on the outskirts of Bayville.
"Sorry, but this's as far as Ah go," he said. "About 2 miles that way, ya can find a nifty little restaurant, Akira's, Ah think. Anyway, it's a Japanese place, but they have some awesome burgers there."
"Thanks," Rue said, getting out.
As they started walking away, they heard the man utter a small cry.
"Damn this ol', beat-up piece of shit!" he cursed, holding his bleeding hand.
Gene and Rue walked toward the man. Gene looked at him straight in the eye. Immediately, he calmed down, his muscled relaxed, and his eyes turned glossy; she, then, raised her left hand to his and started curing him. When the man came out of his trance, he was standing alone, his hands were stained with blood but he had no cuts on him, though he remembered having one.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
12. Rue saw an empty construction area not too far from where they stood. They had walked towards the place the man had pointed, and the site was the first thing that they had spotted. The empty place on the Saturday morning showed them that the owner was a very understanding and probably very religious person.
"Why don't you rest here a little?" Rue said.
"What are you going to do?" Gene asked, suspicious, with her voice back for a while.
"Buy something, I'm starved!" she replied, lying.
"I know you're lying, Rue. No more stealing, ok?"
"But you need bandages for those nasty things and I am hungry."
"No, no more. And I'm not giving you any more money either. You can eat the stuff we bought before."
"That stuff doesn't taste too good."
"But we worked hard for it, and that's all you need. Besides, I don't need bandages, I'm fine."
"Yea, yea, yea, will you at least rest a little?"
"So you can sneak off the minute I close my eyes? I don't think so."
"You're gonna have to trust me cause I could use my powers on you right now."
"You wouldn't dare....," she said, her voice was barely a whisper now, but she could still be just as threatening.
"Wanna bet?" Rue said, raising her hands slowly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
13. Logan went out to get the supplies needed. With the house being destroyed and all, a lot of things were missing. The hardware store was his first stop for the day, he got out of the X-van and walked in the store. A new wax caught his eye for a second, he did need to take better care of his pride and joy after his little trip. He checked the time and noticed it was 8:36 a.m. It was unusually late, but he just shrugged and continued looking through the store. While he looked at the cables Scott wanted, a small girl crossed the street towards the store. He got everything and glanced at the clock on the wall: 9:48.
"Say, is that clock fast?" he asked.
"No, my watch says the same thing. I guess it's just one of those days that go by fast. $103.39," the man said.
Logan shoved his hand in his pocket and didn't find the money Charles had given him. He checked the other pocket and the locket was missing too. He looked down and found Xavier's blank check laying there. He needed it for later, but he could simply go back home and explain what had happened, though he, himself, didn't know.