Title: Unforgivable Sinners 2 : The Past Never Forgets
Summary: The sequel to Unforgivable Sinners. Yuriko, Stryker and Logan's pasts are soon to be revealed. Where will this journey to the past take them? How will it end once they rediscover themselves? Will they hold on to the past, or move on to a new future?
Note: This fanfiction occurs entirely in the X-Men movie-verse =). 'nuff said =)!
ROSEMEG = Yeap! The mystery keeps on coming ;)!!! Heheh...more mystery and ponderings in this chapter ;)! As for 'Nathan Waldman', there really is a CIA operative of that name. I was watching this one movie the other night and I saw that character, and I was like 'I hope he won't mind if I use his name'. LOL! As for COD, it actually refers to one Covert Operations Division in general =)! The people in a COD are merely called operatives/mercenaries/etc. LOL! Um, baby Stryker fanclub?!!! LMAO!!!
ANGELICA = Hmmm...since this little backstory focuses more on Stryker's past (before he became the EvilManStryker), the reason why Logan and Yuriko became his 'experiments' will be revealed in Yuriko's own past =)! But this part of the story will probably explain why Stryker came to hate mutants with so much passion =).
SKETTY24 = LOL typo =D!!! It's really okay =)!! Heehee! Anywayz, this chapter will focus more on Stryker's ponderings regarding Yuriko. After all, his younger self did seem to love her 'a LOT' (kind of a little spoiler there, huh? Lol). Hmmm...I guess it's kinda weird how such a great guy could turn psycho, huh? Lol. But all will be revealed...when they are revealed. (and that didn't make any sense x.x)
LORD LANCEAHLOT = OMG!!! It really has been a while since I updated the cursed mist!!! I actually have a few new chapters for it, and I'll post it some time soon =)! Thanks for dropping by =)!
Chapter 60: What went wrong
Stryker could still remember how Will's voice changed whenever he mentioned her name. Will mentioned Yuriko's name as if she was someone he deeply cared for, someone he would want to spend the rest of his life with. He referred to her as a dear friend, though the longing in his voice reflected his need for her to be more than just that.
So were they really friends before? Him and Yuriko?
Perhaps that would explain why he felt so drawn to her since the day she found him half-dead by the lake. He could still remember that day until now. She was the first thing he saw when he woke up in the cold, biting snow. His body was filled with so much pain and he couldn't remember a thing. His mind felt like a gaping void. He didn't know what was going on. He didn't even know who he was. And then he saw her looking down at him. She seemed like the first thing he had ever seen in his entire life. And yet she looked so familiar to him, as if he had looked upon her face countless of times before.
Then he saw the anger in her fiery, almond-shaped eyes. Her hateful voice filled his ears as she told him how much she detested him. She spat out his name as if he was the devil. She threatened to drive her claws into his flesh and she yanked at his body like she wanted to break him in two. He couldn't help but feel so lost, so confused and so scared at the time. He had just woken up, remembering nothing about himself, his body was in intense pain, he felt so cold and so sick, and the first person he saw wanted to kill him.
He felt like he had just woken up in a nightmare.
But despite the bitterness of his first encounter with her, he still felt the need to follow her. When she came back to ask him if he wanted to come with her, he complied. He followed her without question. He followed her without doubt. He followed her even when he knew that she might kill him without any hesitation.
Why? Why did he follow her on that day? He could have chosen to stay away from her and rediscover himself on his own. If he had done that from the beginning, he could have escaped all the physical and mental pain that he went through under her. But he chose to follow her. He chose to follow the person who wanted him dead. Why? Was it because she was the only person he knew? Was it because she was the first person he saw?
No. It was more than that.
Now he finally realized why he truly followed her on that fateful day. Now he knew the reason why he felt that inexplicable connection with her.
It was because of him.
Stryker breathed in and closed his hands into fists as he looked at his younger self. It was all because of that boy. Because deep inside of him --- still lurked that young man who wanted to stay by her side...that young man who wanted to hold on to her...that young man who used to be her best friend...that young man who remembered her face.
And even in the past two days when she had made him suffer, when she treated him without respect and made him feel the pain that he had given her, he still stayed by her side, because he couldn't escape that longing to be with her.
So now, a part of his past had been revealed. An ounce of his forgotten youth had been made clear. Now he knew that he did in fact have a past with both Logan and Yuriko, though much of it was yet to be seen, much of it was yet to be explained. There were still so many things that weren't clear to him. Like why the three of them ended up the way they did...why Logan, Yuriko and him ended up being the animal, the slave and the heartless tyrant that they had turned out to be.
He wanted to know why. But he doubted that he would find his answers here, in this past, because this part of his past seemed to have happened before the event that tore the three of them apart. Just by hearing how his younger self talked, he knew that this part of his past had occurred before they parted their ways, before 'he' became the mutant-hating monster that almost killed the entire world's mutant population. Yes...this all occurred before he became the man that he was now...the man that he didn't want to be.
And now, as he continued to look at his younger counter part, one question remained prominent in his fractured mind...and that question was...
What could have caused that young man to become the hateful, vile, and sadistic being that he had been for the past fourteen years? What triggered the hate and anger in his heart? What roused him to choose the path that had turned him into that twisted 'thing'?
Stryker breathed in and slowly walked to the currently preoccupied William. His fear of himself was now overpowered by his longing to look at the face of the man who he used to be. He wanted to see how he looked like before fate had twisted and corrupted his humanity. He desired to see the innocence that once lingered in his eyes. He wanted to see the part of him that he had lost when he became the man that he was now.
He walked between the bookshelves and stood right next to the young William Stryker. Standing this close to him made him feel as if he could hear the young man's thoughts. He felt as if he could feel what the young man was feeling.
William was still busy picking out which books to buy. Stryker's eyes focused on his face as he watched his every move. He still couldn't imagine how this young man grew up to become 'him'. William did say something about his work as an agent for a secret government division, but that couldn't have been the reason why he became the infamous mutant-hater. In fact, he was even working with both Yuriko and Logan, who were both mutants. And those two mutants were his best friends...were 'once' his best friends.
So what went wrong?
"What happened to you, William?" Stryker whispered as he looked at the face of his younger self. "What caused you to turn into me? What happened?" He whispered again. "What happened to your life? Why did you let it all slip away?"
But the young William didn't answer. After all, he couldn't hear Stryker, because as Stryker already knew, this was all just happening in his head. It was just a movie, a living vivid movie of his past where he was only an audience and a spectator of things to come. The only thing he could do was watch, listen and observe.
He reached out and tried to touch the younger man's arm, but his hand just went through William as if he was nothing but thin air, nothing but an illusion. At this moment, he really wished he could tell his younger self about the mistakes that he was about to make in the future. He wished that he could reach out to him and warn him about the darkness ahead. But it was too late for that now, for that young man's fate was already sealed. And Stryker was the proof of that. His existence was the living proof of that.
It was about time that he just accepted the fact that he could never change what was. He must accept the fact that he could never turn back time and stop things from happening.
A sad and gentle smile curled up Stryker's lips as he gazed at his young face. "We were once great men, weren't we?" He asked in a whisper. "We could have been great men, William. We could have been something more. But fate wasn't kind to us. It lead us down a path we didn't want to take." He whispered again. "It gave us no choice."
"And just by looking at you, I really can't imagine how you became me, because --- because you're nothing like me. You're nothing like me, William!" He said firmly. "And somehow, I feel like I've betrayed you. Somehow, I --- I feel like I've taken away the future that you deserve, the future that you should have had." His eyes continued to focus on the young man's expressionless face. "I really wish I could turn back time and stop it all from happening...stop you from turning into me. I really wish I had the power to erase that one event in your life that led you to live the life that I've had."
But if he really had the power to erase that milestone event, that one turning point in his life that provoked him to lead a twisted existence, would he really want to erase it? Because whatever it was that transformed him, must have been something very important to him. It must have been something 'huge', something phenomenal in his life... Something that was so strong, so significant to him, that it made him to want to give up everything that he once held so dear. So what was that 'something'? Or perhaps that right question to ask himself was 'who' was that 'someone'?
The door to the bookstore suddenly opened and Stryker turned his head to see who it was. Then he saw her. And he almost felt his heart stop. It was a young woman, more or less the same age as his younger counterpart, and she walked into the doorway like a living dream. She had wavy dark-brown hair that fell to the base of her neck, which matched the color of her beautiful brown eyes. She had full, smiling lips that accented her sweet, childlike face. She was wearing a plain t-shirt and an ordinary pair of pants. She looked so ordinary and so subtle, much like the kind of girl you'd see next door.
But God, she looked so beautiful to him. She looked so perfect, so stunning, so spectacular. He could spend the rest of his life just looking at that girl, because she was none other than his Karen. That was her. He knew that was her. Despite his fractured memories of his past, he knew that that girl who had just entered the bookstore was the girl he loved. He knew it right from the moment he saw her walk through that door.
Nathan lowered his newspaper and glanced at his new customer. Then his eyes suddenly lit up and a wide smile spread across his face as he recognized the young woman.
"Karen!" He said with a happy, excited tone in his voice.