Chapter 8

Shortly after having had breakfast together they had agreed to discuss some of the things that had happened the last few days, mostly the things that involved the three mutants. Most of the questions concerned the things that had happened during the fight with the orcs in the room where they had found Gimli's cousin.

Some of them had seen Wolverine being hit by arrows, slashed by swords and wounded by spears, yet here he stood before them with not a scratch on him. No evidence of the fight other than his tattered clothes. Not only that, but it had looked like he had metal claws coming out of his hands…

And Gambit, they had seen him throw glowing things at his foes; seeing the glowing objects explode when they hit their target.

As for Iris, nothing had gotten close to her even though she was in the middle of the battle. It seemed she had not done much, but they had seen swords that had been lying on the floor suddenly rise and slash orcs as if they had a will of their own.

Needless to say, these things had puzzled them all, but they had never had the time to think of those things until now. Sure they had had a started a discussion about this before, but they had been interrupted by a Warg-attack. Ever since then they had no time to ponder on these things, to talk about the strangers. And what better time was there then now in Lothlórien since the fellowship also had to decide where to go from there.

"So I was correct to assume it was your presence I felt in my mind while we still were in Moria" Legolas said. Iris nodded.

"Yeah, that was me alright." Taking a look around, most of the fellowship looked unconvinced. The ones who looked like they believed her were Legolas, Sam and for some reason Aragorn. When it came to Legolas and Sam, she knew they would believe her. After all, they had experienced how it felt when she gently caressed their minds. As for Aragorn, she didn't question his reasons for believing her, but she thanked him with a little smile.

As the discussion progressed, the question of there the mutants were from rose.

"We're from a place called Earth, which is most likely in another dimension or galaxy or something like that" Wolverine said.

"Well, what I'd like to know is how we ended up here…" Iris said, receiving slightly shocked looks from Wolverine and Gambit. "What?"

"You don't remember, do you chére?" Gambit said.

"Remember what?"

"How we got here?" he asked her. Iris shook her head. "Chére, you teleported us here"

"What? No, I can't do that. I'm only telepathic and telekinetic. I'm not a teleporter" Iris said. This wasn't making any sense to her. How in the world could she have teleported them here?

"What's the last thing you remember, kid?" Wolverine asked.

"Well, Gambit and I were in the living room. He had just helped me with the gash on my forehead. The last thing I remember was I was walking towards the door and then it just went black…" Iris said. "Then all of a sudden someone's screaming… you know what happened after that"

"Darlin', back in the living room, you had a seizure." Wolverine said after a moment.

"It's true, chére, you did. I thought you fainted, but then your body started to shake. I couldn't hold you down by myself, so I called Logan for help. Even with both of us it was hard to hold you still. Then you started to scream... and then there was a bright light. And before we knew it, we were here."

It took a while for Iris to let the new information sink in. The question that passed again and again through her mind was 'how?'

After lunch Iris had grabbed her bag and started walking around by herself. With a pair of headphones on, Iris walked for some time before she came to a little lake. Sitting down in the grass, Iris closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Walking among the trees he came upon a lake, but also Iris. Iris, the mutant as her kind was called. Iris, the girl with the power to read your thoughts. That was it, wasn't it? She could at any time look into his mind, see his thoughts and perhaps his memories. This made him feel somewhat uneasy, thinking about that. On the other hand, according to all three mutants, their kind was feared and shunned by most. Then there was always the thing in the caves, in Moria. That had caught him off guard. He was not a person who liked things that caught him off guard. Nonetheless, he continued to watch her from a distance. She was leaning against the stem of a tree, seemingly asleep. She seemed quite peaceful. Maybe she was recovering from the shock she had when her two companions told her it was her who brought them here. Apparently she did not know she could do this. She was not the only one who didn't know that could be done. After all, they claimed to be from another world, or even another time. 'Enough' he thought to himself. There was no point on dwelling on those thoughts.

After some time of just sitting there, watching the light reflect on the water, Iris fell into a light slumber, a dreamless sleep. But the sleep did not last long. Waking from the nap, Iris didn't feel like getting up quite yet. It was so quiet and peaceful by the lake.

Entering the astral plane Iris watched the glowing orbs that symbolized the ones in her surroundings. Most of them were shining like stars, but a few were only glowing dully. Those were the ones who knew how to protect their minds. The glowing orbs were spread out all over, as if there actually were stars up in the sky. But the orb closets to her physical body somewhat drew her interest. She knew that orb; she had travelled with him for the last few days. Moving closer to it, Iris reached out and very gently caressed the surface.

His entire body stiffened. He felt a warm sensation inside his head. She was in there, he knew it. But the sensation only lasted an instant. He opened his eyes and looked over towards her. She was looking straight at him. That look… After a short moment he broke eye contact and turned around, leaving.

Returning to the little camp to have dinner, Iris ate but did not speak much. 'He' acted like the thing at the lake hadn't happened. To tell the truth, Iris had no idea herself if anything had happened. She had felt his presence and opened her eyes, looking at him. But he had been slightly miffed when she had looked at him. As if she had offended him or so… 'Whatever' she thought to herself. 'Why should I care what he thinks? It's not like he's blaming me for the death of Gandalf, is it? Is he?'

This train of thought always left Iris very uncomfortable. What if there was something she could have done? What if she let him fall to his death? She has telekinetic powers; surely she could have stopped his fall… All these 'What if's were killing her. They never seemed to stop. They were slowly eating her up from the inside.

"Hey kid" Turning around Iris saw Wolverine walk up to her and sit down beside her. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah"

"You sure?"

"Yeah" He glanced at her for a moment before asking how the gash on her forehead was healing. "It's healing just fine"

"Hey, just so you know, I'm here if you wanna talk, okay?" When Iris nodded he looked at her, then in the direction she had been looking. She had been watching the hobbits talk and just plainly enjoy themselves. The silence between them was not an uncomfortable silence, but a slightly understanding silence. Wolverine seemed to be sensing the need for silence, for peace, that Iris was feeling. How badly did she not want to just be in peace, like at the lake?

"I've never seen someone die before" Iris whispered. She did not want to say it aloud. It would have felt…wrong, if she had said it out loud. Wolverine nodded calmly. How could he be so calm at a time like this? After having seen all that death?

To Iris great relieve, Wolverine didn't say anything, only put his arm around her. Leaning her head against his chest, Iris closed her eyes. She wouldn't cry, she couldn't cry. But her body was no longer under her command and she felt her eyes fill with salty tears.

She was so tired, physically and mentally. She lay in his arms, letting the tears run like two streams, slowly flowing from her eyes.

Once more returning to the lake, Iris set down her bag and pulled out a little thing a very good friend of hers had made for her. It was very much like a MP3, but it was driven by solar energy and could hold almost every song she'd ever heard. Holding it in her hands for a moment, she was lost to the memories of the past for a while.

"Armand" she said quietly to herself, but shaking her head lightly she let go of the memory and turned device on.

After the last few days she needed something to help her get back to normal. She had had enough of feeling so down; she needed this to help her relax a little, to take her mind off all of this.

The music was loud and the rhythms spoke to the soul. And there she was, in the centre of it all. But something was off; he could feel it as he walked closer. She did not seem to notice him as he walked out from the trees. Now he could see for himself what it was that had seemed off. He had thought she had been sitting on a rock by the water, but she was not. She was sitting on nothing. She was hanging in the air, attached to nothing.

Standing up, the folds of the simple dress she had been flowed as if caressed by the gentle wind, only there was none. Somewhere in the back of her head, Iris sensed the presence come closer, but she simply pushed it out of her mind, once more getting lost in the music that filled the clearing.

There he stood, mesmerized by the combination of the music and the sight before him. He had not yet come to terms with the fact that she could move things by will, but to actually levitate… Closing his eyes for a moment, he took a deep breath and tried to get a hold of himself. 'What is this magic?' was one of the many thoughts that ran though his mind.

She could no longer ignore the presence. It was so hard to get lost in the rhythm and lyrics of the music when there was something buzzing in the back of her mind. Finally giving up, Iris opened up her eyes only to be met with the sight of him. Red eyes met grey eyes.

He felt a shiver go down his spine as she gave him a little knowing smile. After a few second he felt a warm presence inside his mind.

'I could hear you from a mile away, do you know that?' He could hear the words in his mind as clear as if she had spoken them out loud.

"Wha… What do you mean?"

'There's no need to talk out loud. Just think the words and I'll hear' she 'said' without moving her lips, other than to give him another little smile.

Holding her hand in the direction in which the music was coming from he saw a small metal device being lifted off the ground, hovering in the air for a second before flying into the hands of Iris. She touched one of the buttons and music changed into a more calm song.

"You don't have to worry about me reading your mind" she said, not taking her eyes of the device. Feeling slightly uncomfortable at what she had said he averted his eyes. "Why did you come here?" she said, this time looking him straight in the eye.

"You are not the only one who seeks solitude every now and then" he said.

"No arguing with you there" Iris said, rising a bit higher above the water surface. "Have you ever wanted to just spread your wings and fly away from it all?" Iris asked.

"We do not flee from trouble where I come from, if that is what you mean…" he said.

"That's not what I meant. All I asked was if you've ever had the wish to fly, free like a bird, soaring high above the ground"

"The thought has passed my mind perhaps once or twice, but there is no point in such thoughts"

"Would you like to?" Iris asked.

"I do not understand where you are going with this"

"Would you like to fly?" He watched her suspiciously, not quite sure if she was joking with him. "It's not that hard. All you have to do is to take my hand…" she didn't finish the sentence.

He didn't take the offer, but rather seemed slightly offended by Iris' suggestion. He looked disbelievingly into Iris' eyes for a moment before turning around and walking away. Watching him disappear between the trees Iris once more turned up the volume of the music and floated the little metal object she was holding towards her bag. That done she once more hovered a few feet above the centre of the lake, closing her eyes once more.

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Author's note:
Hello everyone. Sorry for not updating for so long. I moved not to long ago and started a new course at uni and in all that hooplahI kind of forgot thatI had not updated. Also,I have indeed written the next chapter, and hopefully i will remember to upload that one soon. Ifi do forget, feel free to remind me.