ENTER MAYHEM
CHAPTER 19: A VISIT HOME
Logan, Rogue, and Vincent were in the MX Velocity heading to Toronto. Vincent was both feeling relived to be going back to Toronto, even for a little while, and to be away from the mansion, he needed time away from there.
"Thanks for doing this you two," Vincent said. "this means a lot to me."
Logan didn't look away from his controls while answering. "Ya, well you've taken this kinda hard kid, ya needed this. Besides I don't get to go back to Canada too much, and there's a few things I could take care of there."
Rogue sitting next to him answered next. "And ah know for a fact that ya would be there for meh." Then silently added to herself. 'Besides ya given meh a lot of happiness, this is the least ah could do for ya.'
"Now when we get there, I'm goanna drop you two off, and meet you back at the drop site at the time I told you two, got it?" Logan asked them.
They both nodded
"Good, don't be late we're only going to be here for a day."
******
Rouge and Vincent had made their way to the orphanage, they had taken a few subways, and had to walk the last few blocks, but they didn't matter. They talked a little on the way, Rogue was getting a case of déjà vu all the time, because of the lingering memories she had.
He told her of some of his life here and for the first time in days he seemed to her to be actually a little happy for a change. Little did they know they would run into two people of his former life.
Mary was walking with Benny, to the orphanage; with Vincent gone they had agreed to help Father Michaels take care of the kids more. Benny and Mary had talked about Vincent and both agreed that not only should they had talked to him, before he had left, they also really missed him.
This was one of those times. "I miss him." Benny said. They had talked about this a lot, and didn't need to clarify with each other who 'him' or 'he' was.
"I know so do I." She returned.
"You still keep in touch though right?" Benny asked her.
"Well he wasn't written back in a almost a week." She was beginning to worry, either something had happened, or maybe he was forgetting them. "Besides it's not like he'll just show up because we want him....to?" She looked ahead of her, and going to the orphanage were two people her own age.
At first she couldn't believe her eyes, she thought she was seeing things, but there he was, there was Vincent.
"Benny... are you seeing who I'm seeing?" She asked him, hoping that she wasn't seeing things.
"Y-y-yeah, that's...him." Benny couldn't believe it either. They both just stood there looking at him, then both of them ran off to him.
"And here we are, the place that was home for most of my life." Vincent said gesturing to the orphanage. She noticed a slight smile on his face.
"Ya seem happy to be here." She said to him.
"In a way I am." Vince said. "After everything it's nice to be back here, even for a day. It's strange you know, I've been away not that long yet it feels like a life time ago."
"Plus I REALLY needed to get away from Bayville, to...sort things out, you know?"
She nodded her understanding, she too felt a little better out of the mansion, things there were tense and here they both felt like they could get a breather. She remembered that time Kurt and her weren't speaking after she destroyed that statue of Mystique and needed to leave herself.
"VINCE!" They both heard a female voice call to them, they both turned around to see a girl and a boy run up to Vincent, and both suddenly grab him in a hug.
"M-Mary?! Benny?! I thought you two would be at the store today?" Vincent asked them both, who reluctantly let go.
"We've been helping out here too since you....you left." Mary said. She had never been so glad to see her oldest and closest friend, who then reluctantly let go of Vincent.
"AHEM" Which came from Rogue.
Both Benny and Mary noticed Rogue for the first time, since they were too clad to see Vincent to notice anything else.
"Oh guys this is Rogue, she lives at the institute with me and the others." Vincent told them.
"Oh so you brought your friend here?" Benny asked.
"Actually ah'm his girlfriend." Rogue said and protectively looped her arm around Vincent's. Mostly because she still had a few memories of Mary and what she used to mean to Vincent, and there was no way she would give her the idea she still had a shot at him.
Mary was frozen, Vincent hadn't had the time to tell her that he met someone and the fact that this girl, who was a little taller than her, had this weird streak of white in her hair, and wearing gloves, black pants and for some reason a purple sweatshirt. [A/N: Think of the clothes she wore to the beach in 'The Culdron']
This girl, this GOTH had her arm wrapped around him, was pissing her off. She knew she had lost her chance with Vincent, but still she was jealous that this girl had what she had wanted and lost.
But knowing nothing good would come of this she would play nice. She didn't want to lose him a second time by pushing them both away, but that still didn't mean she had to like it.
"So why are you and...Rogue here?" she asked, while in her head she said 'What kind of name is Rogue?'
Vincent's face grew darker then. "I needed to see Father Michaels." Both of his oldest friends could see the pain in his eyes, and the strain on his voice. They knew something bad must have happened.
So they all walked into the orphanage, all the while Benny was asking questions like, what was living in America like, where do you live, and stuff like that. Vincent answered all his questions eager for the distraction.
They were in the main hall when Vince was suddenly engulfed in a group of young kids, they all had grabbed him, starting hugging him.
"Whoa there you guys, what's up?" Vincent asked. He was surprised but glad at their reaction, the kids were afraid of him when he left, but seemed to have gotten over it.
One of them a little girl with brown hair was the first to speak. "We're happy that your back, we missed you."
"Are you staying?" another asked.
Vincent got a pained looked on his face, he missed these kids. "No I'm just visiting for the day. I'm actually here to see Father Michaels."
There were a collection of groans, and pouting faces.
The same little girl walked up to Rogue, "Hi, I'm Sandy. Who are you?"
Rogue looked down at the little girl, she looked to Rogue to be no more than eight, and had this adorable little face. "Ah'm Rogue, ah'm a friend of Vincent's."
Sandy giggled a little. "You talk funny." She titled her head a little. "Why do you so much color on your face?"
Rogue would have been normally pissed off that someone had just said that, but because she was a little kid she let it slide. "Ah talk this way because ah'm from the south, and ah wear this because ah'm a goth, ah like ta wear it."
Sandy beamed up at her. "Can you show me how you do it, I like it."
Rogue was starting to like this kid.
"Oh no you don't Sandy. You know the rule no makeup until your seventeen." They all looked to far end to see Father Michaels come in. "It's nice to see you again Vincent."
Vincent walked up to him. "It good to see you too Father."
Michaels looked into Vincent's eyes, he had known him most of his life, and knew he wouldn't be here for a simple visit. He saw a look of pain in the youth's eyes, and he knew something horrible had happened to Vincent recently.
"You need to talk to me about something?" Father Michaels asked him.
Vincent held back the tears threatening to overwhelm him. He simply nodded. Father Michaels then placed a hand on his shoulder and led him to his office.
"Vince what's going on, did something happen?" Mary asked him vary concerned.
Vincent stopped, and looked to at her, they could see now the pain he couldn't hide any longer. "Rogue could you fill them in, on what everyone at the Institute knows?"
She nodded her understanding, as he left with the priest to talk privately. Mary turned to Rogue then. "What the Hell is going on?" She demanded of her.
Rogue glared at the girl, and she backed off a little. "Is there any place we could talk?"
"Yeah Vince's room is empty." Mary said. "I'll show you the way, come on Benny I think you want to know what's going on too."
*****
Meanwhile Logan was at a meeting point he picked out earlier to meet his 'contacts' as they were. He entered a bar he knew from a while back, is was filled with rough unsavory types that would kick your butt if you looked at them wrong, and served nothing but beer.
In other words it was his kind of place.
He looked around, and saw the three people he knew would be waiting for him. There was a tall dark haired man, with a redhead by his side at a table, and he was just in time to see a slightly short man return to the table with a beer, evidently for himself.
Logan walked silently up to them from behind.
"Where the hell is Logan, we've been waiting here for ten minutes, and I don't like this place." Said the tall dark one, who was clearly annoyed at being at such a place.
"James he'll be here." The red head told him.
"Heather's right James, you need to enjoy yourself a bit more." Said the short one with a French Canadian accent.
"I'll enjoy myself when we get the hell out of this dump." James said. "Eugene why did he pick this place of all places to meet with him?"
"Because I knew it would get under ya skin bub." Logan said from behind them, causing them all to jump in their seats.
"Logan! You nearly made me spill my beer." Eugene said with a smile.
"Hello Logan, long time no see, you don't keep in touch." Heather said to him, despite what she said, it was evident that she was glad to see him.
"Well Logan this had better be important." James sternly said, obviously he wasn't thrilled to see Logan.
"I need your help for some information." Logan plainly said to them. "I'm looking for any information you guys have on someone calling himself Sinister."
"Your kidding, that's what he's calling himself?" James sarcastically asked him." Anyway why do you want to know about this guy?"
Logan gave him a dirty look. "It's none of your business why, the way I figure things you guys owe me a few favors and I'm here to collect."
Eugene set down his beer after a sip. "This guy must have done something to really piss you off."
Logan let out a low growl. "Fine you want to know why? I'll tell you, this sicko nearly a decade ago, took twelve children and experimented on them. One of them is with us now at Xavier's and we had another survivor, but.....she was killed."
"Oh God." Heather whispered, she was aware of Logan's own experiences of being experimented on like the rest of the people here, so she knew this was truly personal for him.
"Yeah my thoughts exactly." Logan said to her. "It was something called Project Prodigy, and it was most likely done somewhere in Canada or at least close to the boarder in the Sates."
"Are there any other survivors?" James asked.
"Four are unaccounted for, one's completely nuts, the rest are dead."
James took a moment to think about this, but Heather spoke up first. "We'll see what we can find Logan, I promise."
Logan nodded his thanks and left. "Wait your just leaving without drinking with some old friends?" Eugene asked.
Logan looked over his shoulder at him and smiled. "Sorry but I got things to do, as do you guys, I take a rain check on that." And with that he left them and went out back into the city.
*****
Vincent was in Father Michaels office, he had just finish telling him about what had happened. Meeting April, helping her to her new life, the information about who was behind the experiments, and how she had died.
At the end Vincent was being comforted by Father Michaels who hand his arm draped over his shoulder.
"It was all my fault! I should have saved her!" Vince cried out, tears falling down his face. "I got all this power and....and I failed her, and now she's DEAD and it's my fault!"
"It is NOT your fault." Michaels told him. "You did everything you could." "It's just that...I couldn't protect her." Vincent quietly said. "I couldn't save her. She never had a chance for a life like I did."
"You did give her a chance for a life Vincent. Tell me was she happy those few days."
Vincent thought about it. "Yes, in fact she said that was the greatest time of her life."
"Then at least she was happy before the end, you and the others showed her what life was like, and if anyone's to blame it's this Sinister character."
Vincent's fist tightened into balls, and started to glow. "Sinister." The pure hate came radiated from his voice.
"That man has done too much to me and others. First taking my life away, then the experiments, and now April's death." Vince was quiet for a moment. "I want to kill him."
"Vincent no!" Michaels beseeched him. "That is not the way I raised you, and you are a better person than that."
Vincent shot up to his feet and faced Father Michaels. "WHY NOT! If anyone deserves it he does, 'an eye for an eye' remember."
"Yes but remember to 'forgive those that trespass against you', Vincent."
"FORGIVE? I can never forgive myself, how am I supposed to forgive someone like that?" Vince yelled at him.
"Killing him will only make you more like him, he doesn't seem like a man who respects life, who isn't bothered by his actions. Tell me, if you killed him, do you think the pain will go away, could you just walk away from it like nothing had happened, for would it haunt you for your life."
Vincent seemed to calm down after thinking it over. He just sat down again shutting his eyes to the world. "I don't know what to think anymore."
Father Michaels once more put his arm around the young man. 'Why must this boy go through so much, please Lord help this boy' He silently prayed.
They talked on after Vincent could pull himself together, they talked on Vincent throwing all his pain out into the open, Father Michaels doing his best to help him through it. At the end Vincent felt just emotionally drained.
But after everything he did feel slightly better, and Father Michaels told him in time he would get even better.
***** Meanwhile, Rogue had finished telling Mary and Benny everything, Vincent wanted them to know. She told them about how he was experimented on, but didn't go into too much detail, that he escaped, and how they met April, and the events of her death.
"I never knew" Mary quietly said, a tear falling down her face, knowing what her friend had gone through his whole life, and what he was going through now.
Benny was just quiet, and didn't say anything, because he didn't know what to say he just stared at the ground, thinking about everything he had learned. He looked up to Vincent, he was like the big brother he always wanted, and to know what he went through, was such a shock to him.
"I think I finally understand why he never talked about his past." Mary said. "Who would want to relive something like that."
"Ah know." Rogue answered her. "When Vincent gave meh CPR durin' the fight I absorbed all his powers and memories through my own powers. Ah saw his whole life through his eyes."
"Is that what you do, absorb things like that?" Benny asked her.
"Yeah ah do." She said darkly.
It was then that Mary understood then that she couldn't control it, by the say she said it. Most her jealousy seemed to be replaced by one of pity. She didn't really hate her, she was just jealous of the fact the she and Vincent were together, but if she couldn't touch anybody, that was too cruel.
She could see that she really did care for Vincent through, and she was torn between not liking her and sad for her.
Vincent came in, his eyes were slightly red, but his face looked calmer than before he and Father Michaels had talked.
"So did she fill you guys in?" Vincent asked.
Benny silently walked over to Vincent and looked up into his face, then suddenly hugged him. "I'm sorry." He said to him. Vincent was a little shocked at first then returned the hug.
"Vince I..." Mary looked at him trying to find the words, he only just smiled a little and nodded his understanding and his thanks.
After this they left his room and Vincent asked Rogue if she minded if they could spend the day helping out around the place a little, she was reluctant at first, but she knew it would make him happy so she agreed to it.
They spent the next few hours helping with the kids, playing with them, and Vincent even did a little repair work done. It didn't take him long because now that everyone knew he was a mutant he didn't have to hide his powers anymore.
The kids were loving seeing him use his powers for the first time. Even Rogue was having a good time, though she wouldn't admit it. She was also being followed the entire day by Sandy, who was getting really attached to Rogue, and asked her a lot of questions.
But the time came to say their goodbyes, and as they were leaving Mary took Rogue of to the side to talk to her. "I want to say something you you, I know you must really like him, to come all this way for him so you better take care of him." She warned her. "Because if I find out you hurt him, I'll find you."
Rogue looked at her sternly, she nodded her understanding. "That's fair." She then went to catch up with Vincent.
They made their way back to meet with Logan, evidently Vincent wanted to see his old sensei, but he was told he was off visiting his grandkids, so they looked around the city a little before meeting up with him.
Rogue had noticed that Vincent looked more peaceful than he had in days, and was glad she had talked to the Professor about doing this. She was glad that he looked like he was doing better.
They met up with Logan, and they started on their way home. By the time they got back it was already dark out, and with everything they had gone through they both felt tired and decided to turn in early.
When Vincent got to his room, he found an envelope with a post-it on it. The post-it read: Thought you might like it, everyone else has one –Kurt.
He opened the envelope and there was a picture inside. It was of April the day before she died. He remembered that they were having fun that day in the back, and a couple of people were taking pictures.
With everything that had happened, Vincent guessed no one had the time to develop the pictures until now. The picture was of April hugging Vincent. She looked so happy and full of life. It was a good picture of her.
He walked over to a shelf in his room with the picture and placed it next to a few other framed images. One was of him and Father Michaels, another of him and his Sensei, with him holding up his first trophy he won in a tournament. The other was of him, Mary and Benny.
He placed the image carefully next to them. He decided that tomorrow not only would he thank Kurt, but would go out for a frame.
For the first time in days he had fallen asleep wasn't disturbed by any nightmares.
NEXT UP: CHAPTER 20: A SINISTER MEETING
That's right Vincent will meet face-to-face with Sinister, and you know he won't be happy to see him, but will Sinister let something slip about what he knows about Vincent's past to the others, and what will they think of him then?
Stay tuned for the next chapter, and remember review often, the more I get the more I work on it. :)
Oh and in case you didn't know who Logan was talking to in the bar, they were members of Alpha Flight. James MacDonald Hudson (Guardian) Heather McNeil Hudson (Vindicator) and Eugene Milton Judd (Puck), bonus points to those that knew who they were.
CHAPTER 19: A VISIT HOME
Logan, Rogue, and Vincent were in the MX Velocity heading to Toronto. Vincent was both feeling relived to be going back to Toronto, even for a little while, and to be away from the mansion, he needed time away from there.
"Thanks for doing this you two," Vincent said. "this means a lot to me."
Logan didn't look away from his controls while answering. "Ya, well you've taken this kinda hard kid, ya needed this. Besides I don't get to go back to Canada too much, and there's a few things I could take care of there."
Rogue sitting next to him answered next. "And ah know for a fact that ya would be there for meh." Then silently added to herself. 'Besides ya given meh a lot of happiness, this is the least ah could do for ya.'
"Now when we get there, I'm goanna drop you two off, and meet you back at the drop site at the time I told you two, got it?" Logan asked them.
They both nodded
"Good, don't be late we're only going to be here for a day."
******
Rouge and Vincent had made their way to the orphanage, they had taken a few subways, and had to walk the last few blocks, but they didn't matter. They talked a little on the way, Rogue was getting a case of déjà vu all the time, because of the lingering memories she had.
He told her of some of his life here and for the first time in days he seemed to her to be actually a little happy for a change. Little did they know they would run into two people of his former life.
Mary was walking with Benny, to the orphanage; with Vincent gone they had agreed to help Father Michaels take care of the kids more. Benny and Mary had talked about Vincent and both agreed that not only should they had talked to him, before he had left, they also really missed him.
This was one of those times. "I miss him." Benny said. They had talked about this a lot, and didn't need to clarify with each other who 'him' or 'he' was.
"I know so do I." She returned.
"You still keep in touch though right?" Benny asked her.
"Well he wasn't written back in a almost a week." She was beginning to worry, either something had happened, or maybe he was forgetting them. "Besides it's not like he'll just show up because we want him....to?" She looked ahead of her, and going to the orphanage were two people her own age.
At first she couldn't believe her eyes, she thought she was seeing things, but there he was, there was Vincent.
"Benny... are you seeing who I'm seeing?" She asked him, hoping that she wasn't seeing things.
"Y-y-yeah, that's...him." Benny couldn't believe it either. They both just stood there looking at him, then both of them ran off to him.
"And here we are, the place that was home for most of my life." Vincent said gesturing to the orphanage. She noticed a slight smile on his face.
"Ya seem happy to be here." She said to him.
"In a way I am." Vince said. "After everything it's nice to be back here, even for a day. It's strange you know, I've been away not that long yet it feels like a life time ago."
"Plus I REALLY needed to get away from Bayville, to...sort things out, you know?"
She nodded her understanding, she too felt a little better out of the mansion, things there were tense and here they both felt like they could get a breather. She remembered that time Kurt and her weren't speaking after she destroyed that statue of Mystique and needed to leave herself.
"VINCE!" They both heard a female voice call to them, they both turned around to see a girl and a boy run up to Vincent, and both suddenly grab him in a hug.
"M-Mary?! Benny?! I thought you two would be at the store today?" Vincent asked them both, who reluctantly let go.
"We've been helping out here too since you....you left." Mary said. She had never been so glad to see her oldest and closest friend, who then reluctantly let go of Vincent.
"AHEM" Which came from Rogue.
Both Benny and Mary noticed Rogue for the first time, since they were too clad to see Vincent to notice anything else.
"Oh guys this is Rogue, she lives at the institute with me and the others." Vincent told them.
"Oh so you brought your friend here?" Benny asked.
"Actually ah'm his girlfriend." Rogue said and protectively looped her arm around Vincent's. Mostly because she still had a few memories of Mary and what she used to mean to Vincent, and there was no way she would give her the idea she still had a shot at him.
Mary was frozen, Vincent hadn't had the time to tell her that he met someone and the fact that this girl, who was a little taller than her, had this weird streak of white in her hair, and wearing gloves, black pants and for some reason a purple sweatshirt. [A/N: Think of the clothes she wore to the beach in 'The Culdron']
This girl, this GOTH had her arm wrapped around him, was pissing her off. She knew she had lost her chance with Vincent, but still she was jealous that this girl had what she had wanted and lost.
But knowing nothing good would come of this she would play nice. She didn't want to lose him a second time by pushing them both away, but that still didn't mean she had to like it.
"So why are you and...Rogue here?" she asked, while in her head she said 'What kind of name is Rogue?'
Vincent's face grew darker then. "I needed to see Father Michaels." Both of his oldest friends could see the pain in his eyes, and the strain on his voice. They knew something bad must have happened.
So they all walked into the orphanage, all the while Benny was asking questions like, what was living in America like, where do you live, and stuff like that. Vincent answered all his questions eager for the distraction.
They were in the main hall when Vince was suddenly engulfed in a group of young kids, they all had grabbed him, starting hugging him.
"Whoa there you guys, what's up?" Vincent asked. He was surprised but glad at their reaction, the kids were afraid of him when he left, but seemed to have gotten over it.
One of them a little girl with brown hair was the first to speak. "We're happy that your back, we missed you."
"Are you staying?" another asked.
Vincent got a pained looked on his face, he missed these kids. "No I'm just visiting for the day. I'm actually here to see Father Michaels."
There were a collection of groans, and pouting faces.
The same little girl walked up to Rogue, "Hi, I'm Sandy. Who are you?"
Rogue looked down at the little girl, she looked to Rogue to be no more than eight, and had this adorable little face. "Ah'm Rogue, ah'm a friend of Vincent's."
Sandy giggled a little. "You talk funny." She titled her head a little. "Why do you so much color on your face?"
Rogue would have been normally pissed off that someone had just said that, but because she was a little kid she let it slide. "Ah talk this way because ah'm from the south, and ah wear this because ah'm a goth, ah like ta wear it."
Sandy beamed up at her. "Can you show me how you do it, I like it."
Rogue was starting to like this kid.
"Oh no you don't Sandy. You know the rule no makeup until your seventeen." They all looked to far end to see Father Michaels come in. "It's nice to see you again Vincent."
Vincent walked up to him. "It good to see you too Father."
Michaels looked into Vincent's eyes, he had known him most of his life, and knew he wouldn't be here for a simple visit. He saw a look of pain in the youth's eyes, and he knew something horrible had happened to Vincent recently.
"You need to talk to me about something?" Father Michaels asked him.
Vincent held back the tears threatening to overwhelm him. He simply nodded. Father Michaels then placed a hand on his shoulder and led him to his office.
"Vince what's going on, did something happen?" Mary asked him vary concerned.
Vincent stopped, and looked to at her, they could see now the pain he couldn't hide any longer. "Rogue could you fill them in, on what everyone at the Institute knows?"
She nodded her understanding, as he left with the priest to talk privately. Mary turned to Rogue then. "What the Hell is going on?" She demanded of her.
Rogue glared at the girl, and she backed off a little. "Is there any place we could talk?"
"Yeah Vince's room is empty." Mary said. "I'll show you the way, come on Benny I think you want to know what's going on too."
*****
Meanwhile Logan was at a meeting point he picked out earlier to meet his 'contacts' as they were. He entered a bar he knew from a while back, is was filled with rough unsavory types that would kick your butt if you looked at them wrong, and served nothing but beer.
In other words it was his kind of place.
He looked around, and saw the three people he knew would be waiting for him. There was a tall dark haired man, with a redhead by his side at a table, and he was just in time to see a slightly short man return to the table with a beer, evidently for himself.
Logan walked silently up to them from behind.
"Where the hell is Logan, we've been waiting here for ten minutes, and I don't like this place." Said the tall dark one, who was clearly annoyed at being at such a place.
"James he'll be here." The red head told him.
"Heather's right James, you need to enjoy yourself a bit more." Said the short one with a French Canadian accent.
"I'll enjoy myself when we get the hell out of this dump." James said. "Eugene why did he pick this place of all places to meet with him?"
"Because I knew it would get under ya skin bub." Logan said from behind them, causing them all to jump in their seats.
"Logan! You nearly made me spill my beer." Eugene said with a smile.
"Hello Logan, long time no see, you don't keep in touch." Heather said to him, despite what she said, it was evident that she was glad to see him.
"Well Logan this had better be important." James sternly said, obviously he wasn't thrilled to see Logan.
"I need your help for some information." Logan plainly said to them. "I'm looking for any information you guys have on someone calling himself Sinister."
"Your kidding, that's what he's calling himself?" James sarcastically asked him." Anyway why do you want to know about this guy?"
Logan gave him a dirty look. "It's none of your business why, the way I figure things you guys owe me a few favors and I'm here to collect."
Eugene set down his beer after a sip. "This guy must have done something to really piss you off."
Logan let out a low growl. "Fine you want to know why? I'll tell you, this sicko nearly a decade ago, took twelve children and experimented on them. One of them is with us now at Xavier's and we had another survivor, but.....she was killed."
"Oh God." Heather whispered, she was aware of Logan's own experiences of being experimented on like the rest of the people here, so she knew this was truly personal for him.
"Yeah my thoughts exactly." Logan said to her. "It was something called Project Prodigy, and it was most likely done somewhere in Canada or at least close to the boarder in the Sates."
"Are there any other survivors?" James asked.
"Four are unaccounted for, one's completely nuts, the rest are dead."
James took a moment to think about this, but Heather spoke up first. "We'll see what we can find Logan, I promise."
Logan nodded his thanks and left. "Wait your just leaving without drinking with some old friends?" Eugene asked.
Logan looked over his shoulder at him and smiled. "Sorry but I got things to do, as do you guys, I take a rain check on that." And with that he left them and went out back into the city.
*****
Vincent was in Father Michaels office, he had just finish telling him about what had happened. Meeting April, helping her to her new life, the information about who was behind the experiments, and how she had died.
At the end Vincent was being comforted by Father Michaels who hand his arm draped over his shoulder.
"It was all my fault! I should have saved her!" Vince cried out, tears falling down his face. "I got all this power and....and I failed her, and now she's DEAD and it's my fault!"
"It is NOT your fault." Michaels told him. "You did everything you could." "It's just that...I couldn't protect her." Vincent quietly said. "I couldn't save her. She never had a chance for a life like I did."
"You did give her a chance for a life Vincent. Tell me was she happy those few days."
Vincent thought about it. "Yes, in fact she said that was the greatest time of her life."
"Then at least she was happy before the end, you and the others showed her what life was like, and if anyone's to blame it's this Sinister character."
Vincent's fist tightened into balls, and started to glow. "Sinister." The pure hate came radiated from his voice.
"That man has done too much to me and others. First taking my life away, then the experiments, and now April's death." Vince was quiet for a moment. "I want to kill him."
"Vincent no!" Michaels beseeched him. "That is not the way I raised you, and you are a better person than that."
Vincent shot up to his feet and faced Father Michaels. "WHY NOT! If anyone deserves it he does, 'an eye for an eye' remember."
"Yes but remember to 'forgive those that trespass against you', Vincent."
"FORGIVE? I can never forgive myself, how am I supposed to forgive someone like that?" Vince yelled at him.
"Killing him will only make you more like him, he doesn't seem like a man who respects life, who isn't bothered by his actions. Tell me, if you killed him, do you think the pain will go away, could you just walk away from it like nothing had happened, for would it haunt you for your life."
Vincent seemed to calm down after thinking it over. He just sat down again shutting his eyes to the world. "I don't know what to think anymore."
Father Michaels once more put his arm around the young man. 'Why must this boy go through so much, please Lord help this boy' He silently prayed.
They talked on after Vincent could pull himself together, they talked on Vincent throwing all his pain out into the open, Father Michaels doing his best to help him through it. At the end Vincent felt just emotionally drained.
But after everything he did feel slightly better, and Father Michaels told him in time he would get even better.
***** Meanwhile, Rogue had finished telling Mary and Benny everything, Vincent wanted them to know. She told them about how he was experimented on, but didn't go into too much detail, that he escaped, and how they met April, and the events of her death.
"I never knew" Mary quietly said, a tear falling down her face, knowing what her friend had gone through his whole life, and what he was going through now.
Benny was just quiet, and didn't say anything, because he didn't know what to say he just stared at the ground, thinking about everything he had learned. He looked up to Vincent, he was like the big brother he always wanted, and to know what he went through, was such a shock to him.
"I think I finally understand why he never talked about his past." Mary said. "Who would want to relive something like that."
"Ah know." Rogue answered her. "When Vincent gave meh CPR durin' the fight I absorbed all his powers and memories through my own powers. Ah saw his whole life through his eyes."
"Is that what you do, absorb things like that?" Benny asked her.
"Yeah ah do." She said darkly.
It was then that Mary understood then that she couldn't control it, by the say she said it. Most her jealousy seemed to be replaced by one of pity. She didn't really hate her, she was just jealous of the fact the she and Vincent were together, but if she couldn't touch anybody, that was too cruel.
She could see that she really did care for Vincent through, and she was torn between not liking her and sad for her.
Vincent came in, his eyes were slightly red, but his face looked calmer than before he and Father Michaels had talked.
"So did she fill you guys in?" Vincent asked.
Benny silently walked over to Vincent and looked up into his face, then suddenly hugged him. "I'm sorry." He said to him. Vincent was a little shocked at first then returned the hug.
"Vince I..." Mary looked at him trying to find the words, he only just smiled a little and nodded his understanding and his thanks.
After this they left his room and Vincent asked Rogue if she minded if they could spend the day helping out around the place a little, she was reluctant at first, but she knew it would make him happy so she agreed to it.
They spent the next few hours helping with the kids, playing with them, and Vincent even did a little repair work done. It didn't take him long because now that everyone knew he was a mutant he didn't have to hide his powers anymore.
The kids were loving seeing him use his powers for the first time. Even Rogue was having a good time, though she wouldn't admit it. She was also being followed the entire day by Sandy, who was getting really attached to Rogue, and asked her a lot of questions.
But the time came to say their goodbyes, and as they were leaving Mary took Rogue of to the side to talk to her. "I want to say something you you, I know you must really like him, to come all this way for him so you better take care of him." She warned her. "Because if I find out you hurt him, I'll find you."
Rogue looked at her sternly, she nodded her understanding. "That's fair." She then went to catch up with Vincent.
They made their way back to meet with Logan, evidently Vincent wanted to see his old sensei, but he was told he was off visiting his grandkids, so they looked around the city a little before meeting up with him.
Rogue had noticed that Vincent looked more peaceful than he had in days, and was glad she had talked to the Professor about doing this. She was glad that he looked like he was doing better.
They met up with Logan, and they started on their way home. By the time they got back it was already dark out, and with everything they had gone through they both felt tired and decided to turn in early.
When Vincent got to his room, he found an envelope with a post-it on it. The post-it read: Thought you might like it, everyone else has one –Kurt.
He opened the envelope and there was a picture inside. It was of April the day before she died. He remembered that they were having fun that day in the back, and a couple of people were taking pictures.
With everything that had happened, Vincent guessed no one had the time to develop the pictures until now. The picture was of April hugging Vincent. She looked so happy and full of life. It was a good picture of her.
He walked over to a shelf in his room with the picture and placed it next to a few other framed images. One was of him and Father Michaels, another of him and his Sensei, with him holding up his first trophy he won in a tournament. The other was of him, Mary and Benny.
He placed the image carefully next to them. He decided that tomorrow not only would he thank Kurt, but would go out for a frame.
For the first time in days he had fallen asleep wasn't disturbed by any nightmares.
NEXT UP: CHAPTER 20: A SINISTER MEETING
That's right Vincent will meet face-to-face with Sinister, and you know he won't be happy to see him, but will Sinister let something slip about what he knows about Vincent's past to the others, and what will they think of him then?
Stay tuned for the next chapter, and remember review often, the more I get the more I work on it. :)
Oh and in case you didn't know who Logan was talking to in the bar, they were members of Alpha Flight. James MacDonald Hudson (Guardian) Heather McNeil Hudson (Vindicator) and Eugene Milton Judd (Puck), bonus points to those that knew who they were.